The Bloodied Shield

by Michael McKenzie

  Instead, Fel nodded stiffly, keeping in mind what that God had said to him.

  "What is your name?" Fel questioned.

  "Do not speak to my boy!" Grigs raged and tried to stand, but this time it had been Jeria who reached down and forced him to the floor. The entire room was already on the verge of taking up arms.

  Jeria was closer and was more than sure he could cover the distance and kill the Swordsman before any harm came to their grandson.

  "Jeria." the boy spoke up defiantly, raising their fists yet again to defend the people at their back.

  Fel glanced up to the Worg Rider who shared the name.

  "I yield to you, Sir Jeria." Fel returned his gaze back down to the little boy, then offered a bow as he again, retreated a few steps further. "I will keep my distance of your Father."

  "Jeria!" Grigs demanded in a raised voice, and his eldest son quickly moved to be embraced by his Father.

  Then the Master Thief turned his ire on Fel once more. "What the hells are you doing here?!"

  "Fel had already stated that Razzar brought him here." Gray, the Fox, spoke, appearing as if from nowhere. "Indbore Fel's services to Lord Gorgreen have ended, on a very sour note."

  "Fel had also saved your Wife and Children from a Shin-no-Kage."

  Jeria turned on his feet to look around, and Hayabatsu stepped forward, offering up the name of the man slain as well as a brief explanation.

  "Jusu?" the Rilstarin Samurai offered an impressed nod. "That took skill. But I have no grievance with Iji Jusu."

  "Gorgreen." Fel spat the name out. "He was hired by Dalitrous Gorgreen."

  "And the Akuza?" Zansui asked, slowly standing up.

  "According to what few survivors who were willing to talk in exchange for their lives." Charles offered up, having remained near the entrance. "They were prisoners already of the Port District. They were freed and armed with Din weapons by Dwarves in black leathers, and told to kill the Family here."

  "His own son." Grigs choked, and clutched at his own, starting to rock from where he had forced to sit. "His own godsdamned son."

  Charles moved over to stand next to the table and inspect the body of Triden.

  "I will issue a City-wide alert for these Dwarves. They will be caught."

  "They are of the Guild. Keystone's Shadow Guild." Grigs offered with a growl. "I can help you hunt them. I know where they will go I-"

  "-will rest and heal." Zansui again settled next to Grigs.

  The Tiefling leaned into his Wife and wept, overcome with emotions. His Father was dead, his Mother murdered by the man who saved his children.

  Grigs' mind was a sea of torment and anguish, and Jeria did not like seeing that once happy, smiling face twisted to reflect the torture within.

  Jeria turned slightly, indicated that Fel, Razzar, Hayabatsu and Charles follow him with a gesture. A moment more, he silently dismissed his Raiders.

  The group, lead by Jeria, headed out back, where they had already lined the bodies to be carried out on litters.

  Jeria was immediately drawn to one line, where there were birds of various species laid out like little soldiers on the canvas cloth. Jeria recognized one, a brave little thing that had landed on his shoulder and introduced itself first.

  Rainbow and Arrow both were hovering over them on branches, and the fluttering of wings above told that all of Zansui's avian flock were here to mourn the passing of their brothers and sisters.

  "Even the wee ones." the Worg Rider lamented, kneeling a moment to touch the canvas. It was the first sign of genuine grief from the male, and Jeria rose again to regard them all.

  With more silent motions, Jeria dismissed all those present and made sure his healthier Raiders would keep back eavesdroppers. Hayabatsu even reinforced them with his own Samurai, before they all stood in a semicircle with each other.

  "This, is what the Akuza is capable of." Jeria gestured around himself. "A place of peace and hospitality turned into a slaughtering ground because of Politics."

  "This will not go unanswered." Lord Charles noted, and nodded towards Fel, "With his testimony-"

  "-no." Jeria snorted, regarding Fel. "I don't trust you and you, in turn, do not trust me."

  "This is your fault to begin with," Fel replied in an even, calm tone. "I want to mount your head over my fireplace."

  "Whenever you are ready to die." Jeria spread his arms out, yet Razzar stepped between them both.

  "Though I would like to see this grudge match play out, you pulled us out here for a reason?" Razzar's little companion spoke, a hint of impatience in the canine's voice.

  "Why is he here?" Jeria demanded, fearlessly pointing around the ancient Elf to Fel. “The truth of it, the unfiltered word of it or this truce is over and you both die.”

  The threat had not been just leveled at Fel. It was aimed at Razzar as well, and the Elf’s face twisted in mild annoyance.

  "Elandra Warstalker," Fel answered for himself. "I have been charged to seek her soul and free her."

  "Her soul?" Hayabatsu asked, obviously surprised.

  "That is news to me as well," Charles observed, looking grim as watched on. "But trust me Lord Hayabatsu, I have a feeling this is going to get twisted and dark."

  Jeria's body started to tremble. In rage. In excitement. The expression on his face could not contain the shock and surprise. Nor did it hide the fact that he was now seeking someone off to their right and away. There was no one there.

  Yet he seemed to have gotten a confirmation.

  Jeria's face hardened considerably. His words were low and threatening, hinting that he was on a knife’s edge in exploding into a fit of violence.

  "I. Am. Listening."

  "It appears Ulimax and Gorgreen were working together." Gray started to speak, and Jeria turned around to peer at the marble bust of Elandra as he listened.

  "The story is complicated and convoluted, as the Gods seem to enjoy it, but a renegade God by the name of Xander in possession of an artifact, in which Elandra's Soul is somehow trapped within."

  "And the only one who knows where this fucking God is, is Dalitrous Gorgreen?" Jeria demanded and shifted to stare balefully at Fel.

  "If I'd known where this 'fucking God' is do you think I would be standing here listening to you four prattling on like hens?" Fel replied evenly. "If I had the choice I would be heading to Muun and strike for the Cracked Peaks, I hear they speak the common tongue there."

  "As well as most of Kirran, where you would fair better with your bloodthirsty nature," Gray reported, and Razzar turned sharply on the man. "Now be silent."

  "This is your fault, Razzar." Jeria accused with venom in his tone, and the Elf found the Rilstarin Samurai had stepped within arms reach. "If you let me kill that shit of a Noble on our first meeting then Elandra's Soul would be free!"

  "We are trying to coax Xander out of his hiding place so he can be-"

  Razzar saw the punch coming, not only from his perspective but from Gray's as well. It was fast, masterfully thrown, and Razzar moved to swat it aside with mild annoyance. Jeria was acting like a child and-

  -that was a Dragonfist.

  The impact knocked Razzar clean off his feet and tumbling across the grass and into a tree. The Elf settled rather comically, nearly upside down, and the other three backed away as Jeria marched after.

  Razzar was on his feet, ready to defend himself, but Jeria stopped well short of chasing after him.

  "You tricked me into targeting the Thieves Guild. If I had slain Gorgreen instead then Grigs Father would be alive right now! Those Birds, those Innocent fucking Birds would be alive right now. My grandchildren would not be scarred for life because of your manipulations!" Jeria raged at the Elf.

  Yet Razzar squared himself, and they could hear the knuckles cracking in his fists.

  "Ulimax would still be in hiding with Elandra's Soul if you did not force Gorgreen to act." Gray snarled, mirroring the barely contained anger in Razzar. The Fox stood on the E
lf's shoulders, its back arched and its tail fluffed. Neither of the beings were happy it seemed.

  "Do you think I enjoy sulking in the shadows and pushing pieces about like some aloof player of a game that involves more lives than the leaves of the trees above us?!" the Elf stepped forward, pointing behind himself towards the East. "To have some smoldering lizard with wings telling me that if I do not do this quiet and paced then I not only risk the lives of my kin but everything?!"

  "I would have slain the thing posing as Gorgreen nearly two hundred years ago and none of this would have been relevant if not Char and his meddling." Razzar checked his face for blood, then came closer to Jeria. "I would rather slaughter that thing and be done with it then let it linger on our realm any longer."

  "Then why don't you?!" Jeria demanded, unafraid, nor relenting.

  "Because I've been told the price for attacking early would cost me my Daughter."

  Razzar came face to face with Jeria, and though his scarred lips had never once moved to form words, the Elf bore his teeth at Jeria.

  "Now ask me what a Father would do for his Daughter."

  Jeria's hostility lessened. There was a moment more, and he turned away, defeated. Yet there was still anger on that face, the urge of murder in those eyes.

  "I lost children." Razzar continued, now returning to that circle. "I lost grandchildren and their children's children to evil. I know the pain of it."

  "It never dulls. It never fades. It never goes away."

  "It gnaws, and claws at you." The Ancient Elf touched the eye patch. "And I will never allow it to happen again because I was impatient and needed to act now when my blood boiled and my hate keen."

  Razzar leaned against his halberd, looking once more like an old elf, though this time with a pained look clearly on his unmasked face. Gray had relaxed, and nuzzled into Razzar's cheek, before settling once more around their neck.

  "Razzar would like to express the importance that what has been discussed here be kept in secret. The talk of Gods and the like would be surely frowned on by others and easily dismissed."

  "I find it quite amusing, because who would believe us?" Hayabatsu observed, though glanced around them. "In truth, I had once encountered the Dishonored One in my youth."

  "I caught a man within our temple to A'aterasu well after the Temple had closed for the night. He wore strange armor and bore a strange weapon that was nightmarish to behold. I demanded to know his identity, and when he looked on me, I fell to my knees, I could not move."

  "Nor could you stand," Fel observed and gritted his teeth at the similarity.

  "All he had said, was that ‘you know who I am’. And then he disappeared."

  "My friend Reikard had been the only one to believe me," Hayabatsu noted, offering a weak smile. "I had all but forgotten the encounter until now."

  "That is how they work unless you concentr-" Gray started to explain, bult halted as Jeria slowly turned towards Hayabatsu.

  "-Dark hair, beyond their shoulders. Impossibly green eyes." Jeria started to describe someone. "With sickly skin highlighted by bright red armor that seemed to be made of faces frozen in terror?"

  Hayabatsu swallowed hard, the color drained from their face. "Yes. Yes, that is him."

  "I've seen him before," Jeria observed, and bared his teeth, growling like a feral dog. "Why have I seen him before?!"

  "Regardless of the whys and the hows and what for." Gray spoke up, their tail flicking. "It is more than apparent that the Gods have an interest in what transpires in Westwatch. Gorgreen is currently at the center of it all and it would be dangerous to simply attack him directly."

  "Why is Xander here anyway?" Charles asked, folding his arms. "If we are going to be discussing this why is a God here and what is their connection to the oh by the Gods."

  As Charles was asking his question, he seemed to answer it himself. The color on his face drained, and he covered his mouth with a gauntlet.

  “Unless, he is going to unleash the Invaders en-mass from here."

  "What are the Invaders?" Hayabatsu questioned, now looking to Jeria for an explanation.

  "Something even I fear." Jeria offered in return and approached them again. "What are we waiting for then? When can I free my Wife?!"

  "When the Darkscales attack. Xander will make his move then and will expose himself to the world." Gray offered, and Razzar turned towards Jeria once more. "Razzar says that they will not be hard to miss. They will be tall, blond-"

  "-and a rainbow of colors in his eyes," Jeria growled darkly, and the Ancient Elf looked rather surprise that they knew that feature.

  "Oh I can not wait." the Worg Rider snarled, trembling with renewed rage. "I just can not wait to get my hands on this Xander."

  "Remember that they are of Godkin stock, Jeria." Gray and Razzar frowned. "That love tap you gave Razzar would be suitable to slow down a God, but this one has existed on our world for more than twenty millennia. They are connected with an enemy that outnumbers even the blades of grass we walk on."

  "So we are plotting to Assassinate a God then?" Hayabatsu interjected, garnering the Fox's attention.

  "You are most agreeable to this topic of discussion my Lord Hayabatsu." Charles pointed out with a smirk.

  "It is not the dream of any adventurous soul to be lead into battle by Razzar the Red?" Hayabatsu questioned back. "But in reality, I owe Elandra for her services to my people before we knew we were doomed."

  Charles nodded slowly. "I never knew her as well as I should. There were always the stories of her battling the Whispering Plague long after others had gone home. I was eight when they buried her."

  "I was the last person she ever healed," Fel noted, offering a long sigh. "Damnation or not, I at least owe her an attempt."

  Razzar listened, and nodded as much as the Fox on his shoulders did, before turning to Jeria.

  The man's shoulders slumped in defeat. His body was racked with an internal conflict the Elf knew all too well.

  The demand to act now. To throw caution to the winds and not bother to think of the consequences.

  "We must wait." Jeria reaffirmed, sucking in a lungful of air. Again, the male peered out towards nothing, consulting only what he could see.

  Markus Warstalker, the specter that haunted the Rilstarin Samurai. They offered a reassuring smile and gestures to be patient.

  "We will bury our dead. We will heal our hurts. We will prepare for War." Jeria began more calmly, yet drew closer to Razzar to stare into that one glowing eye.

  "But If I ever hear my Elandra call to me again, begging for freedom, I will not stop."

  Razzar tilted his head slightly. "Razzar considers it acceptable."

  Jeria did not nod, but they turned sharply to Indbore Fel. "So long as you seek Elandra's freedom, you are welcome here."

  "Once that is over, my suggestion is to run as far, and as fast as you can away from Grigs."

  "I am not afraid of him, nor you." Fel challenged back.

  "I don't doubt that," Jeria observed, stepping around them all to head inside. "But I've seen you both fight. You may be the better Swordsman."

  "But Grigs is the better Fighter."

  They all filed after Jeria then, even Fel who had been slightly reluctant. Razzar had been the last.

  Before they stepped through, both Elf and the Fox on their shoulder turned to glare back to where Jeria had moments before.

  Markus, with a neutral, dead expression, offered Razzar a slight bow of the head.

  Razzar, in return, pointed at the specter in silent warning.

  <><><><><><><>

  The Ceremony for Triden's Cremation had been brief. Only the Warstalker Family had been in attendance with a few key staff members from the Stone Samurai. They did not return to the Tavern, instead, they turned over the Control of the Establishment to Lord Hayabatsu for the duration of their stay.

  The Warstalker Family moved into a small estate that once belonged to a Merchant two days after putting th
eir dead to rest. The Merchant had been killed somewhere during Ulimax's return, and their lands and Treasury defaulted to the Kingdom. These particular Estates were closer to Lord Jakuul's home within the Port District, as well as the City Guard Barracks.

  Grok did not like the yard in the back and showed his disdain for it by pushing over a section of the fencing to inspect the neighbor's, who protested, verbally, before Grok won them over with their Worgish charm.

  The children had all curled themselves up into their room, with what was left of Jeria's Raiders, a full thirty with many still hurting, providing security inside while Crusaders of the Blue Rose of Rebekka's Honor Guard posted outside. Dratin herself, despite still having an arm in a sling, sat in the foray connected with the children's room in her mintly repaired Dragoon Armor, with warhammer present.

  The Black Iron Clad Broodling Warrior stilled fumed with a lust for battle, and it showed with her constantly readjusting the grip on her Warhammer. Dratin was more than ready to unleash her wrath on any intruder that had the gall to approach the innocent in her charge.

  The Warstalkers and their guests had gathered into the dining room for a Family meeting. Jeria had been noticeably absent, and in the Worg Rider’s Company, he took with him Indbore Fel, mostly to keep the Swordsman out of Grigs’ reach.

  Grigs had placed a dwarven crafted urn that held his Father's ashes on the mantle. During the meeting Grigs had turned to it more often than not, still trying to come to terms with why Triden's own Father had both Triden and his Wife murdered.

  And that was where Grigs had been standing when everyone finally took their seats.

  "I can still hear him telling me my knife throwing is horrible." the Tiefling commented lowly, before turning to regard the rest within the room. There was Charles, Zansui, the City Liege Rebekka, and Islin who was being escorted by a Din in Crusader armor apparently.

  Not to mention both Razzar, and Trezzar the Red.

  "What of the Akuza?" Grigs demanded suddenly, their eyes settling on Charles. "Did we capture them all?"