by Ryan Evans
Dark Wolf’s Awakening
Alpha Rising #1
Ryan Evans
Copyrights
Copyright©2018 Ryan Evans
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persona, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to my family and friends who encouraged me to read or put up with my reading depending on the situation. A special thanks to my wife, Kara, who was always supportive during this project. She was my sounding board, my editor, my proof reader, and my first beta reader. Without her, none of this would have been possible.
Chapter 1
“Get up pups, we’re wasting daylight!” After six years of hearing an instructor’s grating voice yell the same damn thing every morning, you’d think I’d be used to it by now. My brain understood the need to get up, but my eyes just didn’t seem to agree with it and stayed shut.
I heard the other trainees stirring and knew if I didn’t follow suit, I wouldn’t like the consequences. No matter how much I liked to sleep, it wasn’t enough to risk five lashes first thing in the morning.
The growl inside my head signaled my inner beast lodging its own complaint about the intrusion into our rest. As beast-kind, we all had an animal side lurking just beneath the surface. Gaining control of the predator within had been a large part of these past six years of training. Despite our learned control, the beast stayed just below the surface, waiting to be unleashed.
Being beast-kind did come with some perks. When we wanted to, we could shift forms, becoming half man, half animal. This gave us many advantages, but allowed the predator a much stronger hold of our thoughts. While our discipline and skill at arms made beast-kind dominant in battle and feared by our enemies, our animal sides acted as a trump card that no one wanted to face.
I couldn’t blame them; our beast forms were impressive. We became much stronger and faster with greatly heightened senses and faster reflexes. We also regenerated from wounds that would kill many other races. While our powers were stronger in our shifted forms, they remained, to a lesser extent, in our human forms as well.
That power enabled the Soltaran Empire to rule an unparalleled territory. Because of our predatory natures, our culture was one in which strength ruled, and we were constantly warring with someone or attempting to expand our borders. The downside to such a culture was that, without an outside focus, we would again wage war amongst ourselves for status and wealth, weakening the empire as a whole.
The thump next to my head alerted me that my bunkmate, Tristan, was up and moving. “Come on man, it’s our last day as trainees. No reason to get the whip today,” he said as he moved towards his locker next to the head of the bed. That one thought gave me the strength I needed to get out of bed. Finally, after being sent to the Silvanti Battle Academy at fifteen, we would be real soldiers.
Each noble house regularly contributed a certain number of troops to imperial campaigns. During campaigns, a noble army’s performance guaranteed prestige, standing, and loot from the field of battle. As such, noble houses only accepted those with the greatest potential. They spent years conditioning and drilling their recruits to be an unrivaled force of warriors. House soldiers also learned how to read and write along with some history, math and tactical training lessons. That level of education was beyond most commoners and reason enough for many to try to make it through the house battle academies. Among those accepted, only the ones who proved themselves worthy graduated. When not fighting for the empire, house troops fought with rival noble houses and protected house assets. This constant activity ensured their skills remained sharp.
Each noble house was eligible to be enlisted into an imperial campaign every five years. This, along with protecting their own interests, meant that they had to almost constantly replace losses and recruit new trainees to their battle academies. Acceptance into a battle academy came with a twenty year minimum service agreement, but that included six years of training, preparing you to tackle any obstacle you faced.
In large towns and cities, where work and apprenticeships were scarce, commoners lined up to volunteer their children to house battle academies at the age of fifteen. They hoped to give their children the best chance of attaining honor and glory along with a better life. If someone didn’t make it into a battle academy, the imperial army would take them. The imperial military was always looking to replenish its ranks from the most populated areas. Though it didn’t compare to academy training, the imperial army still gave young beast-kind the ability to better their lot in life.
Conscription by the empire got you out of the overcrowded city, but meant only one year of training before serving for a minimum of six years. Once trained, an imperial soldier could be sent anywhere. If they survived their initial obligation, they had to decide whether to stay in the imperial army for another six years, or discharge out into the civilian population.
The empire released discharged soldiers at once. They released them at their current location with any money they’d earned along with their basic equipment. This practice resulted in a constant flow of beast-kind from the crowded central cities to the frontiers.
Though being taken away from your home and never seeing your loved ones again was daunting, it was better than becoming one of the countless beggars or gang members that infested the lowest rungs of imperial society. As the Soltaran Empire valued strength above all else, charity and mercy rarely touched the lowest citizens’ lives.
The Silvanti Noble House was wolf-kind, and as wolf-kind, we learned the value of being a member of the pack. Wolf-kind considered themselves the backbone of the empire. Lacking the size of the bear-kind or larger feline-kind, like lions or tigers, we were still strong enough to fight head on with our enemies. Though we weren’t as nimble or stealthy as the smaller beast-kind like weasels, foxes and coyotes, we were stealthy enough to track and stalk our prey when needed. We were the middle ground, able to adapt to any situation.
I was lucky to be here. I was an orphan, and most of the time, orphans were destined to live and die on the streets before reaching adulthood. My mother had been fortunate enough to come across an orphanage in the eastern-most city of the empire, Tor’s Rest, when she was near labor. The story was that they’d taken her in, and when she died after childbirth, raised me so I might make it to the age of enlistment.
My mother refused to tell anyone her name or my father’s identity and could only name me Valian before she died of complications. Such situations didn’t happen often in the empire. The bonds of family held beast-kind together. We valued them above all else.
It was also rare for noble houses to accept orphans into a battle academy. Luckily for me, Tor’s Rest, as the empire’s eastern-most city, was smaller and close to the frontier. Due to the needs of the area, the supply of young men and women never quite met the demand of the noble houses who called the city home.
“If you do
n’t get up, you’re going to be last in line for the bathroom,” Tristan said, his teasing voice cutting through my musings. Reluctantly, I rolled out of my bunk.
“Thanks for looking out,” I muttered as I started grabbing my gear and heading to the wash room across the hall from our barracks room.
“No worries man. You know I’ve got your back,” he said in his customary upbeat tone as I stepped out of the room. It was an inside saying between us, something we’d been saying to each other since shortly after we met six years ago.
The barracks room sported thirty two-man bunks arranged in lines across the floor. Each bunk had a locker on either end of it for personal effects. Only fifty of the beds were occupied as our class had lost several trainees over the years. Across the hall was an equally long room with several areas to relieve one’s self. It also had a central fountain supplied by a well to distribute fresh water for shaving and hygiene needs.
The sewage ran through pipes to large metal tanks buried in the ground that were cleaned several times a year by slaves of the house. In the summer, even with the distance from the tanks to the actual room, the smell was unbearable, and you learned to take care of business quickly.
Several other buildings, much the same as our own, surrounded us. These other buildings housed different age groups completing the same training. Across the training grounds, the same setup housed female trainees.
The battle academy issued each trainee a large metal cup in their standard gear. While in the barracks, I used it for grooming. When completing field exercises, its uses extended to anything imaginable.
I filled my cup with cold well water and splashed some on my face, trying to focus my brain on the day ahead. The cold water did the trick, and I went about brushing my teeth and shaving my face with the straight razor in my kit. Once I finished, I poured the now dirty water down one of the drainage lines and returned to my bunk to put away my gear. After that, I worked on putting on my clothing, leather chest piece, greaves, vambraces, tabard and sword.
Beast-kind military uniforms were designed with mobility and our duel natures in mind. Our under clothes included a sleeveless shirt and sturdy pants. Both items of clothing had seams along the edges that would allow them to tear in half without damaging the bulk of the clothing should we have to shift forms in battle. On our feet we wore sandals bound with a leather cord that would easily break away, preserving the sole of the shoe. Our leather armor, tabards and belts had a similar design, ensuring that only some thread and a minimal amount of effort was required to restore our gear should we have to suddenly shift forms.
The pants and shirts we wore were repaired and patched in many places, but still serviceable. New (as in new to us and in decent shape) trainee clothing was issued every six months, and they expected us to maintain our gear until the next issue. They gave each trainee a needle and thread and taught the basics of clothing care and stitching, so a tattered training uniform was unacceptable and would earn you several lashes.
Several minutes later found me standing next to Tristan in the front row of our morning formation. We were split into five groups of ten and stood two rows deep in each block. Today was a special day, and that meant that the female trainees also formed up in ranks near our own. The battle academy prohibited us from coming into contact with the opposite sex, but we regularly saw them training on the grounds just as we did. Beast-kind didn’t hold one gender stronger than another, and the females were just as capable as the males. Upon graduation, the gender ban would be lifted, and we’d be placed in joint squads.
A senior sergeant and two subordinate sergeants led each training group. Each year of our training, new instructors took over our groups to strengthen our ability to adapt and cope with changing command styles and personalities. The training sergeant in charge of our group this year was a grizzled veteran by the name of Iglias. He was a rough looking wolf-kind with scars across his arms and face from past battles. Despite his appearance, he still had a bounce in his step and a prowess in weapons and hand-to-hand training.
We stood at attention, facing forward. We didn’t dare move a muscle as we waited for our morning briefing before starting the day’s activities. An easy way to get a couple of lashes was to move while in formation; as trainees on our last day, we’d learned better a long time ago. In fact, at this point, we rarely ever had to face punishment as we had had the rules beaten and carved into us with training blades and whips over these last six years. I reasoned that the female groups had much the same experience.
Our instructors arrived from behind us without our knowledge. They liked to do that, looking for lapses in discipline. I heard no yelling, so I assumed that we must have passed. They took up their positions before us and came to attention. After a short time, I saw several people walking out in front of our formations from the corner of my eye. Unfortunately, being at attention, my line of vision remained limited.
“Relax trainees!” The call echoed out across the field and we all took a relaxed stance and turned our heads in the direction of the new arrivals. To my surprise, five Silvanti nobles stood before us. Even if you somehow missed their officer ranks or the different pattern of their tabards, their nobility was apparent in the superior quality of their armor and clothing. Each one of the people before us also had the cool outward confidence that only beast-kind nobles showed.
Officer ranks in the noble houses, while looking the same as their imperial counterparts, were awarded differently. For noble houses, ranks represented standing and time within the house instead of military skill. The highest rank would be that of house leader, two golden stars, and was the same as an imperial general’s rank insignia. His second wore the rank of colonel, a silver star. Various important council members and influential senior nobles retained the rank of major, a golden triangle. Younger but experienced nobles had the rank of captain, a golden circle. Any young nobles with less than three years of battle experience would have the rank of lieutenant, a silver circle.
Noble houses armies were much smaller than the imperial army, ranging from hundreds to thousands depending on the size and prosperity of the house. Imperial armies tended to number in the tens and hundreds of thousands. Sergeants were the same for both house and imperial armies and wore the black X as their rank. Lines over the X denoted an elevated position or senior sergeant.
In the field, imperial soldiers and officers respected the ranks of house troops, but didn’t defer to them. Imperial officers stayed in charge of the imperial forces and treated the various houses like independent mercenary companies. They gave out tasks or general orders to the noble houses and left the details for the house nobles to figure out.
The nobles, as members of elevated bloodlines, were considered the pinnacle of what beast-kind strived to be. Everything about their beastly advantages was stronger than that of the commoners. They even lived much longer and regenerated faster than us. With a clear divide in ability, it was easy to see how such a stratified society had come into existence.
Every noble possessed a gravity about them that radiated out to other beast-kind. That power was known as their aura. This aura often caused commoners to respect and look up to them just by their being present. The size and effect of a noble’s aura depended on the strength of their bloodline. The oldest families had an undeniable charisma that even affected other nobles.
If all of that wasn’t enough, the nobility also had easier access to their shifted form. Beast-kind commoners were limited to one change in a twenty-four-hour time span day or night that only lasted three or four hours, but the nobles were able to shift more often and for longer periods. It was even rumored that the oldest bloodlines didn’t have any limits to their number of shifts in a given timeframe. It was said the older the bloodline, the closer the beast was to the surface.
The five in front of us all wore tabards made of expensive fabric. Their armor underneath included fine metal plated leather complete with vambraces and greaves. Where our own armor an
d weapon belts had a thread seam, theirs had metal clasps. The clasps would bend when the wearer shifted, allowing the armor to stay on the newly shifted beast-kind. It was expensive to have equipment made in such a way, and the clasps only lasted for four or five shifts before they needed to be replaced. Regardless of the cost, being armed and armored in combat, no matter what form you took, offered a clear advantage.
Even their tabards and under clothes had a fancy leather cord stitched in that would allow for them to expand when they shifted. The only thing that wouldn’t stay on them would be their sandals. It would be improper for the nobility to be seen naked by commoners after they’d shifted back after all.
Where our uniforms appeared weathered and faded, theirs were spotless and bright. All five wore a long sword and dagger around their waists, and the hilts of their weapons had fine detailed silver accents, not like the plain hilts and worn leather of our own short swords.
The middle figure was a tall man with broad, strong shoulders. He had salt and pepper hair, tan skin and grey eyes. He stood near six feet tall and had to weigh over two hundred pounds. His posture was straight and proud with no signs of age affecting him. As he was a noble, it was impossible to guess his age, but his greying hair indicated that he’d been around for a while. He wore the rank of colonel, which marked him as the second in command for all of Silvanti House.
The man to his left appeared to be a little older. The older officer was taller than the colonel but hunched over somewhat. He appeared thin and wiry with pale skin, dark hair, and darker eyes. Combined with the look of arrogance on his face, I saw no reason to trust him. He wore the rank of major, indicating his importance to Silvanti House.
The other three nobles were lieutenants I judged to be about my age. One of the two women had a strong resemblance to the colonel as well as sharing his eye color. She was not as tall, coming in at around five foot eight with a toned, thin frame. Her hair was a dirty blonde color and ran down her back in a braided ponytail. I couldn’t help but think of her as an attractive woman.
