Death Knight Box Set Books 1-5: A humorous power fantasy series

by Michael Chatfield

  “To use slaver collars on other races...” Anthony shook his head. “I can do your Eyes of Truth, but it would just be us and one other in the room, and what you see would have to be sworn to secrecy,” Anthony said.

  Etheras felt like this human was between a rock and a hard place.

  “The rest of you leave us. Ralo, lock the door behind them,” Etheras said. This human is interesting. If he tries to escape, Ralo might be skittish but even he can fight against five humans and still win as long as they don’t call on their familiars.

  The guards left the room. The one who had dropped the tool on his foot tried to hide the hobble before the door closed and locked behind them.

  Anthony stepped out of the rack with a series of snapping nois- es, breaking the manacles that were holding him, and waved his arm that still had a manacle stuck on it.

  Etheras and Ralo pulled out their weapons as they looked at the skeleton head.

  The manacle came apart and embedded itself into the wall as Anthony grabbed his helmet and pulled it off.

  “Hey, that hurts. I know I won’t win any beauty contests but I’m not that bad-looking. I had plenty of girls who liked me when I was younger!” Anthony held his helmet under his arm. As the oth- er two backed away, he moved to the table where the Eyes of Truth was and sat down, putting his helmet down.

  “Still think you’re older than me, Etheras?” Anthony chuckled as Etheras coughed. “Oh come on, if I wanted to, I could have bro- ken out of those handcuffs at any time. Now you’re all scared seeing an undead wandering around?” The light orbs in Anthony’s eyes rolled around before he sighed.

  Ralo and Etheras felt awkward and they didn’t know what to

  do.

  Anthony looked into the Eyes of Truth. “My name is Anthony.

  I do not wish anyone harm, but if I am attacked or I see injustice then I will assist and kill if needed. I abide by the Guardian’s code and I am heading to Ilsal.”

  Etheras saw that everything that Anthony said was truthful. “Now I have a few questions for you both.” Anthony turned his

  eyes on them.

  Etheras’s sword blade twitched. Ralo raised his completely and tugged on the door.

  The shadows moved, turning into a mask that had a gloating smile.

  Ralo let out a yelping noise, falling on his animal instincts. “Solomon, stop being a dick.” Anthony frowned at the demon

  face that pouted and faded back into the door.

  The doors, the windows—all of it is blocked by that familiar. What kind of familiar is it? A named familiar? Those are the kinds that only the legion commanders of the human armies have.

  “So, tell me, how did this start? The fighting between the beast kin and the humans?” Anthony sat back in his chair. “Starting from the war.”

  “Which war?” Etheras asked, trying to buy himself time as he thought of ways to get out.

  “The war,” Anthony said.

  “The war when the races were supposed to have united against a common enemy, that folklore?” Ralo said, panicking.

  “Yes, that war,” Anthony said.

  Etheras’s heart jumped. Was he part of that war? Was he on their side? On our side?

  “The races were peaceful. The elves continued to be secretive; the dwarves went to their mountains. Gnomes wandered the lands as the goblins moved from place to place as hunting patterns dic- tated. The humans and the beast kin settled down, reclaimed lands, grew in population. Then the humans started to make trade poli- cies and treaties with different beast kin groups, bribing officials and using other means to get the beast kin to unknowingly sell out their own people.

  “A trader who had connections to powerful families used those agreements to gain power. He worked with his fellow traders and his countrymen, as well as their church, and took over control of the lands to the west, controlling the trades there.

  “He stopped hiding his own greed and his desire to turn beast kin and other races into his slaves. The beast kin rallied together and created a border. We didn’t know who was part of his group or not, so we evicted them all and gathered our strength. They sent our own people wearing slave collars at us. Those that they cap- tured, they turned into meat shields. We had to kill people from our own clans under the effect of the slave collars. By that time, he had created a proper military and named himself as emperor, ad- vancing his army to the cities along the border, raiding to kidnap

  our people and sell them in his markets. Killed people in the street; said that they were devil worshippers. Created devil hunters, part of the church to search out and destroy evil, kill beast kin and those who care about them. Even kill people accidentally, because some- one blames them for an unfounded crime. Human justice for their job, to cleanse and purify the land.”

  “What did the beast kin do?”

  “We called the clans once again. We created a border and made sure our people were safe. The human emperor and his Church of Light are an infection, one that can only be cut out. The cost would be too high, so we build our strength and wait.”

  Anthony shook his head and pulled his helmet back on. “It seems that Guardians are in great demand. Once I’ve finished in Il- sal, I’ll have to return to have a talk with this human emperor.” An- thony stood and raised his hand.

  There was a whistling noise and then a crunch as the blade came through a wall.

  “Whoops, sorry about the wall.” Anthony shook the scabbard, clearing it of dust. He affixed it to his belt.

  “Okay, so to protect my identity and current predicament, I’ll need the two of you to swear an oath where you promise not to tell anyone about me being all bony and stuff. Also that you won’t let anyone know what you’ve told me. To everyone else, this was just a routine questioning. Do you have any more questions you want me to clarify?” Anthony asked.

  Etheras felt as though nothing were under his control ever since the other guards had left. “Do you intend to harm us or our families or people we care about?” Etheras asked.

  Anthony pulled off his helmet and looked into the Eyes of Truth. “I promise that I do not intend either of you harm, or your families.” Once again, his words rang true.

  Etheras relaxed a bit more. He answered all of our questions and although he had some of his own, he really doesn’t intend us harm. No one can lie when looking into the Eyes of Truth device. He hasn’t used any spells or any secret arts.

  Etheras put his sword away.

  “Captain?” Ralo said in a high-pitched voice.

  “Put the blade away and swear the oath,” Etheras said. “If he wanted to, he could have killed us long ago.”

  “Not that I want to!” Anthony waved his finger at them. “Why is it because you’re strong, people always think you want to go and destroy everything! I was perfectly happy being a gardener, but no! I had to go and be a Guardian! Well, it was to impress a girl, but that’s not the point!”

  Seeing Anthony flustered, Etheras’s last apprehension fell away. “I will not reveal the contents of our chat here, your abilities,

  or the fact that you’re undead as long as you do nothing malicious,” Etheras said.

  “Fair,” Anthony said.

  Power congealed around Etheras. A piece of power winked in- to his body. He felt it enter his soul, binding him.

  Etheras looked at Anthony. “What is this?”

  “A soul binding oath. I’ve had plenty of people make an oath and then as soon as I let them go, then they turn on me. Don’t wor- ry—if you look at it closely, you’ll see that my oath is involved in it as well. Guardian’s oath, so pretty much covers everything,” Antho- ny said.

  Etheras studied the bond on his soul. He could feel it linking them together, a pact between the two of them.

  Etheras looked at Ralo.

  Ralo shakily lowered his sword. “I swear the same oath as Cap- tain Etheras.”

  The power within the room distorted and Etheras could feel a new oath was created.

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nbsp; “Right, now, my next question: have there been any issues in the area? It is my job to keep the peace, help out and all of that,” Anthony asked.

  “Everything is good. I heard that there was a problem in the city Fissat,” Etheras said.

  “Hmm, okay. I’ll take a look at it. Will I need papers or some- thing?” Anthony asked.

  “Uh, yes.” Etheras pulled out a few documents, putting down Anthony’s name; then he signed off on it before he used his seal on it and passed it to Anthony. He didn’t feel tense or threatened by him, even though the beast part of his brain was screaming out in danger.

  “Thanks! Hope you have a good day.” Anthony tapped the pa- pers to his helmet as he walked to the doors. The shadows were sucked into his armor before he opened the doors.

  “’Scuse me, sorry, coming through!” Anthony said, holding up his papers, as the guards moved forward.

  “Let him past!” Etheras growled.

  The beast kin moved out of the way, shooting questioning looks at Etheras and the pale Ralo.

  “Now what?” Ralo asked.

  “Keep your oath, or else you’ll die,” Etheras said in a low voice. Ralo shivered and closed his mouth.

  ***

  Aila looked up as Ramona lifted her head and looked in a direction, looking happy as she turned her head to Aila.

  Tommie was at a stall, bartering with the sheep beast kin. “One silver and fourteen coppers, best I can do,” the sheep kin

  said.

  “Ah, fine deal!” Tommie reached into his bag and pulled out the money.

  The sheep kin took it and quickly gave Tommie a bottle of brown sludge. “Good doing business with you,” the sheep kin said.

  “Have a good day!” Tommie stored the sludge away. “Ramona’s all perked up. Looks like she wants to go some-

  where,” Aila said.

  “I didn’t hear any fighting,” Tommie said.

  “Probably best we go and check out whatever has her all inter- ested.”

  “Okay.” Tommie held out a snack for his mount, who wolfed it down happily.

  Tommie got on his back, patting him. “Who’s a good boy,” Tommie said.

  The lizard cub let out a pleased cry and shook his shoulders, happy with the praise.

  Aila’s mount looked at her with a pouting expression.

  “Uh, I don’t have any treats.” Aila opened her hands with an airy laugh and weak smile.

  She only seemed to pout more as she hung her head.

  Aila could basically read her thoughts: Why didn’t I get a rider who had more treats? What’s the use of this one?

  Ramona let out a croak and started walking down a street; her children followed, with Aila and Tommie along for the ride.

  They walked down the street, headed out of Enni.

  Anthony walked out of the alleyway and grabbed Ramona’s harness, sitting atop her.

  “Well, should be three days’ ride to the coast and we can get a boat from there,” Anthony said, as if he had been in the saddle the entire time.

  “Huh? What—how? When did they let you go? Why?” Aila asked.

  “Och, could hurt someone’s feelings with that,” Anthony com- plained. “Just a quick chat. Got me some papers, too. Certified nice human!”

  Anthony added, under his breath, “Wish that there wasn’t a need for it.”

  But the others could hear him.

  “So, you’re free to go, just like that?”

  “It took some convincing, but they were okay with it,” Anthony said.

  “Good thing I got that deal. Where we going to next? I heard that they have the ore that I need in Ilsal, only place outside of the dwarven mountains, and they hold onto it like, like, uhh... welll...”

  “Like dwarves?” Anthony answered. “Well, yeah.” Tommie shrugged.

  “Mining resources are finite. They don’t like to let anything go in case it might go to waste. Biggest hoarders I ever did know. Good people, but they treat their storage rooms with the same re- spect for their ancestors,” Anthony said.

  “I’ve only run into them at the under market,” Aila said. “Only race I know that don’t like the appearance of elves.”

  “The rougher, the more hardcore dwarf, the better,” Anthony said, chuckling to himself. “Straightforward, too.”

  Ramona led them down a road out of the city. “Can’t we stay for another hour?” Tommie asked.

  “Probably not the best idea in my company. We can get the items you’re looking for in Ilsal, at better prices, too. And your items will sell for a higher price there. Not many people going to be interested by items that were made in Radal right now, I don’t think.” Anthony sounded almost sad about it.

  “Come on, adventures abound!” Anthony said as he smacked Ramona, standing up in her stirrups.

  She increased her pace and the two younglings let out excited squeals. The people of Enni watched the trio ride through the streets and head out of the city walls.

  ***

  Captain Etheras stood at the top of the watchtower, watching them heading deeper into Selenus, his expression complicated.

  “Keep our oath, Anthony,” Etheras said. “Or I’ll hunt you down and make sure you remain dead.”

  Chapter: Changing Times

  “Leader Su!” A scout came back, waving at the ram beast kin riding the large bedar beasts that was able to support their weight.

  The beasts looked like a mix between beaver, ox, and horse: the head of an ox and the build of one with longer legs like a horse, but much wider to support the extra weight. The fur, webbed feet, and tail of a beaver allowed them to move through the land as well as on the water. They were the mainstay beasts of Selenus, from the warfighting bedar legions to the trading routes across the land.

  The scout’s bedar was older and looked annoyed at being rid- den so hard.

  Su’s bedar, Phila, let out a grunt in greeting. The other bedar’s grunt sounded as if it were filled with complaints.

  Su frowned to hold back the smile that threatened to break his grounded exterior and patted Phila. He had come to know these beasts after his time in the legions. He had been wounded and transferred back to the rear to the supply trains, where he learned how to become a trader. He left the legion and worked with one of the traders he knew from his military days before he was able to set up his own trade convoy and do his own routes.

  “Calm down there. What was your name again?”

  “Dadri, Leader Su,” the scout said, his tongue hanging to the side of his dog-like features.

  “Were you able to find a place for us to rest tonight?”

  “Yes, Leader Su! There is a clearing just off the path with a stream running nearby and it is on a rise so the rain should, uhh, run off ?” Dadri said, not sure of the word he was looking for.

  “Good. Show Gus the location,” Su said.

  “Sir!” Dadri rode back to find Gus, another guard.

  213

  Dadri was brand new. Their scout had gotten into a fight and was arrested. Needing to leave, they’d had to hire on a new scout. Dadri was new but he had decent skills.

  Seems we’ve been plagued with accidents: one of our scouts gets ar- rested, then we break a wagon wheel so we have to waste a half day repairing it. Thankfully we’re not too far behind schedule.

  Gus rode out with Dadri, the two of them nodding to each oth- er. Gus was a large elephant kin. He was big and strong and act- ed mean on the outside, but he was a soft-hearted soul who was always smiling when he saw the younger generations, and was shy when pretty girls approached him. He tended to frown and cough or grunt a lot to hide his nervousness.

  Su reached up to his broken horn, one of the more visible re- minders of the wounds that had stopped him from continuing within the warfighting legions.

  “Well, you only ache when there’s something bad about to hap- pen or it’s going to rain. By the clouds, I’ll say it’s rain.” Leader Su nudged Phila, who started walking again.

&nb
sp; “Leader Su, have we found a camp yet?” Old Dame Carrie, one of his oldest companions and badger kin, asked as she chewed on some nuts, spitting the shells to the side.

  “Dadri, the new lad, found a clearing—sent Gus to check it with him,” Su said. Phila greeted the two bedar that were hauling Carrie’s caravan.

  “How far we behind, you reckon?” she asked, offering him a nut.

  He declined as she tossed it back, cracking the shell with her teeth.

  “I’d say a half day. We can probably make it up with a few hard days of riding, be an early start next couple of mornings,” Su said, shifting in his saddle to get comfortable.

  “Ah, it’s always late nights and early mornings—best way to stay young!” Carrie laughed.

  They rode in companionable silence. People talked to one an- other or slept, as the wagons rolled over the well-worn road.

  Gus returned sometime later with Dadri.

  “Place looks good. The new guy did well,” Gus said. “How far?”

  “About an hour. Get there a half hour before dusk at our cur- rent pace. We’ll need to speed up a bit if we want to set up camp in the daylight,” Gus said.

  “No camp. We’ll ring the carriages tonight,” Su said. “Early start tomorrow then?”

  “You reading my mind now?”

  “Just known you too long,” Gus said, his trunk lifting up as he flapped his ears.

  “Making me feel old now!”

  “Don’t worry, you only look as old as you feel!” Gus headed back to his position in the caravan.

  “You!” Su threw some nut shells at the elephant kin, who kept going as if he didn’t hear anything.