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

by Michael Chatfield

  “I can do that. What will you do?”

  “I’ll put this army to some use. I’ll head up through the camps and the villages to the north, place them on trial one by one, and create Guardian Flames, passing information on how to defeat the Drafeng and have the flames telling people about the history of the land,” An- thony said.

  “Should fill in some gaps and get them ready for what is about to come,” Cecilia said.

  “I don’t think that anything will get them ready for what’s about to come,” Damien said in a deep voice. “If you need help, I am sure that Epan and Ilsal will do what they can to assist you. They’ll need to clear out their own gates first, though.”

  “With the flames lit, there are a number of elves who have un- der- gone their Guardian trials. We should be good on our own for some time. It will be hard to get anything like unity between the different races, though. This fight is upon us too soon,” Cecilia said. “Well, it won’t matter if we’re all dead. We need to do what we

  can.” Cecilia let out a sigh and nodded. They could only try now. “Laisa is now clear of the humans but they don’t have any fight-

  ers here.”

  “I’ll send some people to protect them and train those willing to learn. We haven’t forgotten the strength of the United Army and there aren’t only elves in the Deepwood,” Cecilia said with a wry smile. “The third, fourth and seventh United Armies have been mobilized already. We’ll sweep the Deepwood, then coordi- nate with Epan and Ilsal to sweep through Selenus. We know how to make the Guardian Flame en- chantments and can lay those down in the cities we visit. I’ll push those out in advance.”

  “Good. We can coordinate through the Guardian Flames as we ad- vance,” Anthony said. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “And you, too, Anthony. Let’s go on an adventure once this is all over.” Cecilia smiled and then disappeared.

  “Still a troublemaker,” Anthony said, feeling his smile from be- fore. He turned to Damien. “Round up the members of the Church of Light, that saint and her people. The others will stay here, but they will be our ticket into the other villages and cities

  along the border. I’ll go

  and find Tommie.”

  The two of them split apart.

  Anthony’s wings spread out and he flew to Todd’s tavern, the Gnome’s Stumble.

  The building had been cleared in a hurry. There was food and beer across the main room, creating a stink. Someone had opened the win- dows to clear out the smell. Anthony went back outside, looking at the attached stables where he could hear someone work- ing.

  He walked into the stables to see the Gnominator standing up- right, with wires supporting and holding it up.

  Tommie had pulled off its armor, repairing the gears and machin- ery underneath.

  “I should be done by tomorrow morning,” Tommie said as he saw Anthony and kept working.

  “We talked to the elves in the south. They are looking for your dad and they’ll send information as soon as they know anything about him.”

  “I sense a but.” Tommie looked up from his work.

  “There are Doomsday gates that are appearing across Dena. We need to head to the north, clear out the camps and villages, and use Guardian’s Judgement to re-establish order. Only when we all pull to- gether and we don’t have to worry about a weakness in our rear can we deal with the Drafeng. We can meet up with the woken Guardians and start to pull people together, and push the Drafeng back.”

  Tommie lowered his cutter, his body relaxing. He waited some time before he looked up. “I’ll come.” He looked at the metal in front of him with new determination.

  “You can still look for your father,” Anthony said.

  “He would understand. And with you two, you need someone who’s sane to make sure you don’t get into trouble. I’ll finish my re- pairs and take the trial,” Tommie said.

  “You want to become a Guardian?”

  “You’re a good poster boy—let’s just say that,” Tommie said. Anthony let out a laugh and smiled.

  “Keep your armor on,” Tommie warned. He seemed to have a flash- back as he shivered. “Go do what you need to. I’ll finish this up first. I’ll do the trial in the morning and sleep while we’re travel- ing.

  “I thought you hated sleeping on beasts?”

  “Doesn’t mean I can’t do it when I’m drained,” Tommie said, not looking at Anthony as he kept shaping the metal in his hands.

  ***

  Claire had not slept or done anything but create Guardian Flame en- chantments before they left Ascen.

  She had to have created hundreds if not thousands of the de- vices. People from Epan and Ilsal had secretly entered the city. Guardians that Anthony and Aila oversaw as they took their trials appeared, assisting in settling down the city.

  The judges all worked together to help give the city direction. The lands around the city were all modified and crops were grown upon the soil. Merchants hesitantly arrived in the city. There were all kinds of goods for sale; the Guardians had cleared out the nobles and their ill-gotten gains. Selling off their useless junk, they gath- ered money to pay people, food to feed them, weapons and armor to ready the United Army that was being trained up.

  Guardian Flames were starting to appear in other cities, assist- ing in cleansing the corruption and giving rise to the oppressed.

  “I didn’t think that the corruption ran so deep,” Aila muttered to herself as they were riding Ramona and Ryan. Rachel was trail- ing be- hind, carrying their supplies.

  “Corruption is not something that takes over in a short period. It can take years or generations for it to infiltrate a society, but once it is in place, it is incredibly hard to remove. It is easier to just give in than to try to go against it.

  “Once it is removed, it is easy for it to take root once again as there are more gaps left in the system afterward. If we just needed Guardian’s

  Judgement, then we wouldn’t need the Guardian Flames. We wouldn’t even need that many Guardians. Just one trial—boom, done.” Claire laughed and shook her head.

  “Guardian’s Judgement is just a tool, not a solution. The Guardian Flames connect everyone together with instant commu- nication across Dena. People can be dispatched in hours or days in- stead of weeks and months that it would take a messenger to reach the other party and then for them to travel to the location needing aid. Once the corrup- tion is removed, if it is deep, just like we saw in Ascen, people need to step in the way of that corruption coming back. What would have hap- pened if after those trials we just left?” “Then there would be a lot of judged people helping out the inno- cent. The...” Aila frowned as her imagination painted a dark

  picture.

  “The former slaves might turn on their masters, gathering the courage to kill or hurt them. Meaning that another Guardian’s Judge- ment would be needed to convict them. People would start to look at how they could avoid judgement and carry out their crimes. They might even figure out a few ways to do it.” Claire shrugged. “People don’t need to just be saved; they need direction as well. So with the city in a period of growth, giving people jobs, allowing trade to continue, building more fields, this expansion takes their mind off the past and look toward the future. With the judges, the Guardians, and the people we brought over, they can start to create an administration to run the city, bring people in from all areas of Ascen.

  “We didn’t give them a clean slate; we gave them one that is covered with cracks and marks. It will take time for them to come back. If done right, they will be stronger than ever. If not, then it will regress again. Order, peace, whatever you want to call it. Like corruption, it takes time for it to grow, but once it grows and spreads, then it is hard to be destroyed. Someone smart once said

  that the peace of today was paid for by the blood of yesterday, to- day, and tomorrow. To have peace, there need to be people who give what they have for the society they care

  for—serving the who
le, joining the military, joining the Guardians, the administration and leadership.”

  Claire’s words left Aila thinking as Ryan continued to carry her on- ward.

  With Laisa, Anthony not only removed those corrupt officials, he placed new ones who would change the path of Laisa. In Skalafell, he left the Black Rags. In the Deepwood, once he found that leader and reported it higher, they dealt with it and he didn’t do anymore. He didn’t do any- thing in Epan and Ilsal as there was already a system in place. In Ascen, didn’t he leave Claire and me with the Guardian Tower to establish con- trol?

  ***

  Tamarra walked into the command center. At this late hour, there were still people working.

  “Doomsday doors have been seen across the islands,” the over- seeing general said. He was a gruff-looking hobgoblin.

  “Send out the closest units to destroy the doors before they ful- ly materialize. Make that our top priority. Activate all of our mili- tary units. We are now on a war standing. Unveil the lit Guardian Flames across the islands,” Tamarra said.

  A human communication mage came over to the duo from the side and held out a piece of paper. “Top priority message. One of the gates seems to have materialized already on Yelling Atoll. It was missed due to it being in barren lands,” the communication mage reported.

  Tamarra looked up at the general. “Focus on destroying the gates that are not established already. Spread scouts across the is- lands with sensing spells to track every damn gate. Move the allied fleet to attack and bombard the location from the sea and move forces from Epan’s middle cities to the south. Make sure that they

  destroy any doors they find along the way or else they could be flanked,” Tamarra ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The hobgoblin started to yell out orders as the al- lied forces of Epan and Ilsal went to work.

  “There is a message from the elves,” one of the judge liaisons said, stepping forward.

  Tamarra looked at the message from Watcher Cecilia. “Damn.” Tamarra put the message on the table.

  The general finished giving his orders and communication mages started to send them out to relay stations across the islands that would pass the information to the necessary commanders. Others went to the Guardian Flames and started to relay informa- tion to different cities.

  Thankfully Claire made a ton of the Guardian Flame enchant- ments in her time here. With them, we can know what is happening across the islands in real time.

  “We aren’t the only ones seeing them—sightings from the el- ven side as well.” Tamarra pointed to the letter that the hobgoblin picked up and studied.

  “Inform Watcher Cecilia of our situation and pass her informa- tion on to the other groups we are in contact with,” Tamarra said.

  “The Watcher also says that she has activated her armies to clear the doors in her lands and hopes to work with our forces to sweep into Se- lenus. She has sent agents into the beast kin lands to place Guardian Flames but she needs more.”

  “Use our channels to give them half of our stockpile,” Tamarra said.

  The liaison nodded as one of Tamarra’s aides moved away to talk with them.

  “Seems that it has started.” Tamarra looked at the map in front of her. Claire told me about what would happen. Still, a part of me thought that it would never happen again. Now that it’s here, Tamar-

  ra took a deep breath and rubbed her face, I don’t think that I’ll be getting much sleep in the coming days.

  Chapter: Weight in one’s eyes

  Tommie made sure that the last of the boxes holding the Gnom- inator were secured. The horse looked strained already with the weight.

  “I miss Rachel.” He sighed as he stepped before the Guardian Flame.

  “I want to be a Guardian,” Tommie said before he could think his words over more.

  The flame created a trial as the different judges looked at Tom- mie. “Let’s see how worthy I am,” Tommie said.

  The judges of the Tribunal didn’t waste any words. The eyes ap- peared around Tommie and his eyes closed, his head slumping

  forward. He opened his eyes a few minutes later but in his eyes, he seemed to have aged years. He looked at the Guardians with a new

  respect and bowed his head to the judges.

  He didn’t feel as wound up as before. Not only was he more con- fident having learned about himself, he felt as if his mind had been opened to a new world. He had been focused on his Gnomi- nator, but down the different paths in his life, he had used dwarven rifles and pis- tols, human swords and beast kin hammers, goblin explosives. There were a lot of explosives. A slight grin stole on his face as a goblin-like twinkle appeared in his eyes. Elven arrows and even elemental magic: he had used it all. The tools didn’t matter; it was the user.

  If my father died, then I will mourn and preserve his memory. If he did not, then I will hug him and tell him of my travels. Spending my time here—I will only regret not going with my friends.

  Tommie had found his truth and his path.

  He looked up, waiting for them to tell him he had failed.

  68

  “Do you agree to carry out the duties of a Guardian, sworn to pro- tect this Dena, its people, whether human, beast kin, gnome, dwarf, goblin, elven, or elemental?”

  38

  “I do,” Tommie coughed out, choking a bit on his own spit, sur- prised.

  A few among the trial tried to hide their smile. The gnome gave a wink and a thumbs-up like a proud grandmother, making Tom- mie’s face heat up.

  “Repeat after me, the Guardian Oath,” the hobgoblin wearing a backpack filled with explosives said.

  *** “Tuckered ’lil guy,” Damien said.

  The group was headed north out of Laisa, following the half- dirt road. Their mounts ran at a pace they could maintain. They had a long distance to cover and they needed them if they wanted to get into the other cities. Arriving on a dragon would be a bit of a giveaway.

  Three more people tried to become Guardians, but were denied the test and given the status of acolytes. They would need to train up be- fore they could take the test. The Guardians did not want young people searching for glory or power; they wanted people who had lived a life, who had learned along the way. Tommie was young, but he had seen a great amount of the world; he had gone through his own tests and tribulations, through highs and lows.

  “Easier to disguise him as a bunch of supplies that way.” Antho- ny looked back at the pack horses. One could hear snoring from one of the sacks.

  He looked to the others in the group with them. There were several warriors from the Church of Light, the saintess, and two priests.

  “Defilers,” the saintess said under her breath.

  “Well, this will be a lovely journey,” Damien comment- ed. Anthony pulled off his helmet.

  A few of the Church of Light people screamed as Anthony grabbed his skull and turned it around, facing them. He cackled and snapped his teeth together. The group went pale.

  Damien pulled his helmet off as well. “Undead isn’t a good look for you—you look absolutely bat shit.”

  “I was having fun,” Anthony complained. Damien rolled his fiery eyes.

  Anthony shrugged and grabbed his head. As he tried to put it on the right way, he went over a bump, juggling his head around. He yelled, before he caught his head with his foot.

  “Are you having fun playing head ball?” Damien tilted his head as Anthony worked to grab his head off his foot.

  “Really.” Damien snorted. “Put your foot in your mouth.” Damien couldn’t hold back anymore and he laughed and slapped his leg.

  Anthony winced, seemingly in physical pain, as he retrieved his head off his foot and put it on his spine.

  “Too good, too good,” Damien said, starting to regain his sens- es. “You need your head checked,” Anthony muttered. “Weren’t you

  taught to be respectful to your elders?”

  “Well, the way I see it, you were sleeping that entire
time. So like you weren’t really living, right? I was up and running around, so that makes me your senior,” Damien said.

  “I was born before you!”

  “And asleep for like centuries!”

  “Hey, sometimes you just need to take a nap!”

  There was a noise of annoyance. As if by reaction, Tommie’s hand appeared out of his sack and threw a spare part at Anthony.

  Anthony and Damien winced at each other and looked back at the pack horse. Tommie was already asleep again.

  “Did he even wake up?” Damien asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t think so.” Anthony held the spare part. He put it into his saddlebags, noticing the looks that he was getting from the oth- er mem- bers of their group.

  “They look gloomy,” Anthony said with a thumb.

  “What does it matter what they look like? They’re a bunch of dumb pricks who followed the Church of Light, slaughtering and mur- dering innocents for their own sadistic code of honor,” Damien spat.

  “We cleansed the lands in the name of the Lord of Light! You un- dead creatures of darkness!” the saintess yelled out.

  “Letanya, you’re the one who betrayed Tysien, right?” Anthony said.