Death Knight Box Set

by Michael Chatfield

  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 complained. “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 respect 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 ridden 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.

  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 arrested, 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 other. Gus was a large elephant kin. He was big and strong and acted 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 reminders of the wounds that had stopped him from continuing within the warfighting legions.

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

  “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 another 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 current 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.

  “Boys will be boys,” Carrie said, her fur creasing into laughter lines.

  Su smiled but didn’t say anything.

  “Well, best tell the rest of the convoy,” Su said with a harrumph.

  Phila increased her pace as he moved up and down the convoy.

  ***

  Su rode ahead with Gus and Dadri as they got closer to the camp area.

  He checked the ground before the carriages arrived.

  “All ri
ght, swing around in here. We’ll keep the bedar loose but ready to be hooked up, so make sure that they have spacing to do their business and eat,” Su said.

  The traders were old hands at this and they followed his instructions, creating a circle of carriages that could act as their temporary camp and their defenses if there were any hungry beasts looking for an easy meal in the night.

  There were a number of children with the caravans. The merchants travelled far and some brought their families, unable to bear the time apart. With that, they took on easier routes that were still profitable but safer, with short distances between cities and areas where there were few reports of bandits and aggressive beasts in the area.

  The caravans formed a circle as Gus rode in toward Su.

  “Any issues?”

  “No, but I could hear some people talking back some way and they were heading this way. Don’t seem like bandits, just a loud group of friends.”

  “No need for us to do anything then. This area is pretty safe,” Su said as he got off Phila.

  Gus joined him as they started releasing the straps on their bedars.

  “I’ll get a list up for the watch and check on the perimeter, not like you won’t in another hour.”

  Su didn’t say anything, focusing on brushing down Phila and getting some of the dust out of her fur.

  Everyone gathered together as they created fire pits and started to gather firewood and prepare the night’s meals.

  When in the cities, we fight one another for every copper, but out here we’re just people travelling from one place to another.

  Su saw Dadri moving from group to group, introducing himself and meeting with different people in the group.

  Su sat back, relaxing against his bedroll and the side of the carriage when he heard someone walk up toward him. “How’s it going, Carrie? Have you got dinner yet?” he asked, hearing the familiar steps of his friend.

  “Thought that I might as well get both of our servings, with how bad you are at forgetting when to get food.” She passed him two bowls of stew with hard bread stuck in them, softening. She groaned and sighed as she lowered herself to the ground, leaning against the carriage.

  The bedar looked up from their eating to see whether there were any treats before they went back to eating their prepared food again.

  “Another week, another city,” Su said.

  “The life of a trader,” Carrie said.

  They both started to eat as they got comfortable and ready for bed, knowing that it wouldn’t be long until they had to wake up again.

  Su looked up as someone stumbled across the camp.

  “Looks like someone had a bit more to drink with their food,” Carrie said in a knowing tone.

  Su pulled out a pipe and started to prepare it and pack it. He heard someone fall. He looked over to see a guard who had been sitting on a carriage had fallen off.

  Su put his pipe away, frowning. “It’s one thing for the merchants, but the guards...” he said as he got to his feet.

  Carrie left him to it as he walked over toward the man. He got a few steps before his head started to spin.

  “What?” His vision was swimming. He reached out, trying to stabilize himself, but his legs only collapsed beneath him and he was on all fours, looking around.

  “How did I get here? Wasn’t I standing?” Su turned back to look at the badger. “Carrie?” Her eyes were closing slowly and then flashing open.

  “Poison,” Gus said as he wandered into the camp, stumbling.

  “Poi—” Reality hit Su, clearing his mind for a few moments. It wasn’t long enough for him to completely collect his thoughts. One second, he was trying to move forward; the next, he was opening his eyes to a very different scene.

  His head was still blurry, trying to pull information from the sights and the sounds around him and draw upon the half-faded memories, his mouth working before his mind fully processed.

  “Poison...watch out...Gus...go warn the...where...what’s happening?” Su looked around. Everyone was in some kind of underground area. There was writing on the floor. Fires around the room showed they were broken into different groups: the guards and stronger merchants, the women, the children, the remaining smaller merchants and guards.

  Then there were the rough-looking people wearing worn cloaks, who were around the outside of the people, penning them in like beasts.

  Su moved around. He, like all of the others, had been hog-tied with a strong rope, making it impossible to escape.

  “You did well,” a powerful-looking human said, patting Dadri’s back. There was no longer the innocence of youth in his eyes.

  Instead, there was a dark and sadistic look that covered his expression as he looked over the merchants.

  The women averted their eyes and the children cried out in fear.

  The other cultists smiled and laughed, enjoying what was just a game to them.

  “Thank you, master.” Dadri bowed his head to the man.

  The man sent him among the ranks of the cultists and stepped forward so all of the traders could see him.

  “Don’t worry, your lives will serve a greater cause. Instead of pining for wealth and riches, you will create chaos, create a new Dena for us all. All things come from chaos and all things will return to it. This is our fate! This is our destiny!” The man raised his hands up and lights of different colors appeared from his body, as though he had a million glowing lights trying to burst free.

  He stifled a cough. Blood appeared on his teeth as he smiled.

  Su shot a look over at Gus, whose eyes moved to Su’s broken horn and his bindings.

  It was hard to move hog-tied, but he could roll over and flop about like a fish.

  Su looked to the others, capturing their eyes; he’d need them to make a ruckus.

  One let out a yell and jumped forward; the others joined in as Su and Gus used the cover, getting close to each other. Su braced his head against the floor, making it look as if he were stuck as Gus contorted his body bit by bit, cutting his bonds.

  “Silence!” The “master” waved his hand.

  The cultists stepped out and kicked or punched the restrained guards on the ground, sending dirt into their eyes and noses. With their limited ability to breathe, they started coughing and panicking.

  “Cultists! Power of chaos! Nothing but bandits, child killers, and murderers!” Carrie had somehow got rid of the rope that was meant for her mouth.

  “You dare to call us bandits! We are leading Dena into a new future. We’re more paladins than those puppets of the Light!”

  Carrie started laughing, forcing it out.

  Su caught her eye. All the attention was on her, allowing Gus to work harder. The rope was nearly broken.

  “Puppets? You’re the real puppets! Nothing but a bunch of idiots, believing in one another’s lies so that you can rationalize killing others for some greater good. You don’t have a cause—you have an excuse!”

  The master raised his hand; a brilliant ray of color shot out and hit Carrie.

  She screamed out as her body started to contort and change. Her bones broke and her fur burned away.

  Gus and Su screamed against their bindings as those near Carrie leapt back in fear.

  The master coughed; it was wetter now. He looked tired, but his eyes were still filled with that crazed look as he stepped forward toward Carrie’s body.

  It looked as if she had fallen down a cliff, breaking the bones in her body, and then set on fire.

  “That’s better. Don’t worry, your ignorance has been cleansed with the power of chaos.” His eyes fell on everyone lying down. “You’ll all be saved by the power of chaos, and I must thank you for your selfless sacrifices!”

  The traders all tried to move, to escape as the cultists moved among them once again, kicking them back.

  Gus worked harder to break his bonds, his and Su’s eyes resolute.

  Even if we die, I’ll take at least one of these bastards down!
r />   ***

  Anthony’s head snapped to the side, staring through the trees as if they didn’t exist.

  “What is it?” Aila asked.

  “Cultists of the chaos lords.” Anthony’s voice was perfectly cold as he wrapped his hand around his sword.

  “What?” Tommie asked.

  “Stay here. I’ll handle this.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to work together? You make too much noise in that armor. I can scout it out,” Aila said.

  “I can watch the gear!” Tommie hissed-yelled, his face pale.

  Anthony could tell he was terrified of possibly getting into a fight. Not everyone is a warrior.

  “Thank you, Tommie, Aila. I will take you up on both of those offers. Solomon can help you with getting closer to the cultists. They should have a warren or something that they’re using in order to stay hidden. With the power that they’re using, they must be up to something and by the markings back a ways on the road, there was a caravan moving down this way not long ago,” Anthony said, looking at Aila. His glowing eyes froze her. “Time is of the essence, Aila Wranoris.”

  Aila quickly got down as the shadows moved. In the darkness, she could barely make out Solomon as he wrapped around her. She could feel him, darkness mana, wrapping around her like a wet towel.

  “Wow, I can hardly see you unless I’m looking right at you. You blend into the night perfectly.”

  “It should be much easier for you to hide. The more Solomon shakes, the easier it will be for you to be seen. He can guide you to the location of the cultists. If you need me, just tell Solomon and he has his way of getting a message to me,” Anthony said.

  “I’ll be back soon.” Aila stepped forward and ducked into the underbrush. She moved through the forest. Her light footsteps were soundless as she flitted across the ground like a specter.

  She passed a cleared area. There were carriages all in a circle, with bedars tied up and sleeping. Fires smoked and sputtered as they ran low on fuel.

  She moved to the nearby stream, her eyes glowing as she used a tracking spell. “There you are.” She found an entrance hidden behind a boulder, leading downward.

  Her feet stopped as she discovered a magical trap at the entrance. “Crude and elementary.” She checked around as she started to disable the trap.