I wake up with my back on the warm but prickly carpet floor and the fire just about still alive. I groan and curse under my breath as I get onto my feet and walk over to door, which is getting hammered on by a mysterious person. Rubbing my eye with the palm of my hand I open the door and I've surprised by who I find behind it. "Julia!" I cry out happily as my older sister flings herself at me and I hug her. "What are you doing here?" I ask, clueless of why she is here.
"To see you dummy! Maria, Mother and Lily are getting their bags from the pony and trap at the moment. Father is too busy with city work to come over. Anyway. Enough about us. What about you? You look so different!" Julia remarks, her voice like silk as she steps back to examine me, meanwhile as she does this I examine her as well. Her chestnut brown hair is flowing over one shoulder and her eyes are a calm blue colour, her body is full with curves, topped off with an captivating dress that is a startling yellow colour that almost matches my hair. She's taller than me by at least 5 inches, her skin the colour of gold. Maria and Lily might be the same, but at the same time they might look a little different as Maria always had strong blonde hair which topped off Lily's hair which was slightly duller.
"Oh! Look at your muscles! You make me so proud Darren! I'm surprised you haven't got a girlfriend or fiancé yet." She squeals in excitement as she pinches parts of my skin and I wince as she does this.
"And how do you know that I dont have a girldfriend?" I tempt Julia and she looks at me with pride. I then shake my head and she seems to not care. I hear footsteps going up the stairs of the building until I see my Mother's head peak into the room. She's wearing a simple dress that is brown with the minimum amount of frills and bows as a tailor would possbily allow on Mother's dresses. My father is one lucky man.
Her neck and body is quite slender, like her daughter Julia but more of an elegant and beautiful look than sexy. She's a head taller than me and her hair is almost identical to mine, except for she has hers tied up into small ponytail with the occasional lock of hair that has strayed onto her forehead. Her skin is not pale but a slight weakish colour of yellow, showing at she's been out less than her eldest daughter has. Her eyes are the same color as Julia's are. "Hello Darren. It has been a while. Um. Would you mind helping me with this?" Mother asks me as e tries to pull the bag up onto the last step but fails.
I crack a smile and let Mother rest on my rocking chair that she pulled out of my wardrobe, as I pick the bag up with ease, although it's rather heavy, Julia looks at my wardrobe with amazement. "How big is this?" She asks in wonder as I carefully place the bag down next to the foot of my bed.
"Um. It is actually a door to the next room, it's a joined wardrobe so it has all the clothes in little cubby holes. If you light a candle than you will be able to see what I mean." I fill her in and she does get a candles lights it before going into wardrobe and lighting the driftwood thats in the fireplace. I put on my shirt and go down the stairs to go help Maria and Lily with the remaining pieces of the bags.
As I get downstairs and go to open the front door Maria and Lily come tumbling through, yep, they are still the same as last time. Maria is just in a blue dress whilst her sister Lily is in brown dress like her Mother, their hair is also the same as before. They look up at me with exhaustion and I manage a cocky smile before grabbing the 4 bags and swinging them over my back and going upstairs. Maria and Lily are just behind me as I set down the bags in the other room and bring the first one in before going to the fireplace in my room and putting more driftwood in it and lighting it once more to generate more warmth in the room.
Sitting down on the edge of my bed I look at Maria, Lily, Mother and Julia. "Soo. Not to offend you but. Why are you here?" I ask nonchalantly as I peek outside to see that it's dark, perhaps early in the night.
"We wanted to see how you were going with being a knight. And other business that your sisters wanted to know. Although it might be inappropriate." Mother tells me scornfully as my attention slowly shifts from the three girls to Mother. Nodding slightly I point to my discard armour and stretch a little before wincing as my shoulder flair's up in pain from the bruise.
"I'm two ranks away from becoming a Paladin. I'm quite respected around here and another thing is that I'm the captain of the army. Which is a quite risky putting a whole army in the hands of a 19 year old. And... what is the inappropriate questions?" I tell them nonchalantly and I eye Julia and the other two. Mother rolls her eyes before grabbing one of the bags and going into the room in the wardrobe, as she does this Julia sits down in the rocking chair whilst Maria and Lily sit down on the floor, as if expecting a story or something. "What?" I ask them cluelessly as the three sisters glance at each other and grin menacingly.
"Have you been to a whore house yet? And-" Maria is cut off by my reaction, which is me leaping backwards and blushing in embarrassment.
"What are you talking about?! I've never went to a place like that! Sure I've gotten driunk a couple of times and done stupid things but I've always kept myself in check when it comes to that stuff." I explain to the three before calming down and sitting back on my bed.
"Well 'Kept myself in check' sounds like as if it was a bad thing. It's a way of life Darren. At least once in your generation you will have sex, its natural." Julia insists and I shake my head as she rolls her eyes and sighs in annoyance before getting out of the chair and walking toward me in a seductive way. "You must have... at least thought about something dirty once. Right?" She asks me as she lifts one side of her dress and bends her body toward my chest as I lean back with a deep blush appear as I become nervous with what she's doing. Grinning maliciously she hums a perky little tune as she purses her lips.
"Uh. Julia. Please don't tease me." I ask her rather quickly as I try to not think about her body that she's leaning toward me with. 'Don't do it. Tame the dragon. If you unleash it Darren than you will be stabbed in the back with the destruction that it's going to make' I warn myself mentally as Julia becomes more sexy with every inch she moves towards me and I hold a hand and stop her. She looks at my hand for a moment before her shoulders slump and she frowns at me. Going back to her chair she crosses her arms and glares at her sisters, who are barely managing to keep the laughing at bay from that little 'parade' Julia just did to me.
"Jeez. Sometimes you can be such a bummer Darren. Anyway. Where are we going to sleep?" Julia grumbles as I get up from my bed and walk to the drawing desk before rooting around in one of the drawers and find a wool material that is wrapped up into a ball and 2 knife's. Unraveling the wool material I pull one of the sides up to the wooden supports on the roof and sink one of the knives into both the material and the wood. "Ah. So that's a hammock right?" Julia asks as she points at it and I nod before doing the same with the other side but making sure there is enough space inside for me to actually get into it. Banging on the knives to make sure they're stuck pretty nicely I jump into the hammock and it holds, not seeming to strain under my weight. Which is quite rare as I'm only 10 stone, and that's pretty light for a 19 year old.
"You guys can sleep in the bed whilst I'll be in the hammock. That sound okay?" I suggest to the sisters and they nod eagerly before staring at me intently. "What is it? Oh. I get it. I'll be outside for a bit whilst you get dressed." I ask before realising what they need to do and I get up from the newly made hammock and rush out of the room. It takes 6 minutes for the girls to get dressed and after I'm told that it's fine to go back in they're in their nightgowns. Julia in pink, Maria purple and Lily is in yellow. I climb back into my hammock and fall to sleep just as my head touches the comfortable material.
I wake up once more to hear a clattering noise from downstairs quite possibly in the pantry. I glance over any sisters to see them sleeping quite peacefully, one looks like they are drooling as well. I lean out of the hammock and steal across the soon carpet before opening the door to the stairs slowly and going on all fours, making it so my whole body area is distributed to all four places instead of just 2. Crawling down the stairs halfway I strain my eyes to see in the dark. The kitchen is just like in an ordinary house with the usual chairs and table, cupboards, a sink and an icebox to store cold beverages and food in. Everything is fine except for a pair of eyes that are glowing in the dark, its quite possible they aren't a human.
The creepiest thing about them are that their just looking.
Looking at me.
I realise this and slowly start to withdrawal when I spot another pair of eyes, these ones seem to belong to a human as they don't shine in the dark. With the dying fireplace's last flames that are lighting up the room above I can just about manage to see an emblem on the human's chest. It's a crow holding a scroll and an axe in its beak, the emblem of Dangar's kingdom. Which means that they've somehow infiltrated the city. I crawl my as back up the stairs and close my door behind me, making sure to lock it and preserve time for me to get my sword and alert everyone in the castle walls. I grab my armour and put on the shoulder guards, vambraces and chest piece quickly but also quietly.
I tread my way towards my drawing desk and rummage through the three drawers before pulling out a matchstick and a bottle-like explosive, its black with a quick burning wire sticking out of the bottom of it. It doesn't harm anyone, but damn does it make one hell of a attraction. Which is why Lidan and Tenaga soldiers take a liking to them so they can alert people rather quickly without going to the bell and alerting them that way. I creep toward the mantle of the stone cold fireplace and running the matchstick across it quickly, as to make it set on fire before holding it underneath the wire and watching it catch alight. As I do this, I hear footsteps coming from near the door and watch the doornob turn a little before not giving in. I rush towards one of the shutters before opening it and hanging out so I'm as high as I can possible get without climbing onto the roof of the building and, with all my strength, toss the explosive into the air just as the wire reached the red line, which is 2cm away from the actual gunpowder itself.
The night air strikes me like an axe and I find it quite cold but also humid at the same time with small puddles of water later around the courtyard, showing evidence of a light shower of rain early this night.
A few seconds later an almighty boom and whistle goes off which almost pierces my eardrums in the process and I hear scuffling of feet in houses all around me as people exclaim what that sound was. I breath in a lungful of air before shouting out at the higst point that I can. "WE ARE BEING ATTACKED! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT! WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!" I lunge back into my home as my sisters and Mother are walking around clueless of what is happening. I look over at the door to see its being banged on repeatedly. I take my sword the sheathe and put my other arm out to protect my family, who huddle behind me in fear of what is going to happen next.
The door strains as it buckles and groans on its hinges as something thrown at it and I feel like it won't last the next attack. The door drops off its hinges and fllls to the floor as I get a good look of who, or what burst through the door; a 2m high monster stands in front of me with black leathery skin , broad shoulders and a malevolent look in its eyes. It weilds its claws that are possibly 7 inches long as weapons and it reminds me of an orc which has gotten a really bad tan. Behind it a woman emerges from the doorway and takes a step towards my sisters and Mother. She looks possibly in her low twenties, black long hair and green eyes, she's wearing basic armour that covers the majority of her body and limbs. She is halted by me as I flash her a look that stops her. Her eyes narrow as she spots the colour of my armour and seems to hesitate for a moment before signalling for the monster to attack.
It growls before rushing forward and trying to take a swipe at Lily's face. But I stop it short by darting in front of it and jamming my sword between its hand and slice downwards, causing the hand of the monster to be cut almost in half and black blood starts to flow from it, my sisters faces drain of colour and they look a little queasy from me drawing blood. Meanwhile whilst I battle the monster the woman creeps toward my family and I curse before holding out my free hand and reciting a magic chant and aiming it at her. "Gawœß zêúæ!" I chant and a small flame curls out of my hand and hits the woman in the head, causing her to stumble backwards from the aftershock and pain from the fire ball. Looks like she might be out of it for a while, which gives me a chance to finish off the monster
"Your a magic user? Darren, you have way too many secrets." Maria exclaims as I cut into the bone of the monster's arm as it goes to elbow me. Kicking it in the knee I knock it slightly off balance and run it through the shoulder blade before holding out my hand once more and chanting another magic spell, this time it's a telekinesis spell. "Fwñaç!" It hits the monster in the chest and I direct my arm up before quickly bringing it down, the magic imitates my hand movement and raises the monster into the air for a moment, before slamming it into the carpet which has floorboards underneath it. Which groan in protest and a couple of them snap under the force and weight of the beast.
I jab my sword strongly into the chest of the monster and pierce its heart, it let's out a bellowing roar as it quickly erupts into dust. I then shift my focus onto the woman to see her on both legs and rushing towards Lily, who has no idea what's happening. As the woman reaches out to grab my sister I go for an upwards slash and manage to cut her hand off in one swift move. She screams out in pain as she stares at the stump that used to have her hand attached to it, blood is pouring out of her wrist like a broken fountain and just as I go to knock her out she takes a knife that was possibly stashed in her clothes and sinks the blade into her neck. As she does this her eyes roll up so I can see the whites and she falls to the ground, lifeless and broken as I hear blood gushing from the fatal wound in her neck.
I turn around to see if my family is fine to find out that Mother has fainted from a sheer amount of shock and distress. I discard my sword before helping my older sisters Maria and Julia safely place our Mother onto my bed and let her rest before I go to my drawing desk and pull out my small magic book, which is almost the same as a dictionary. "Um... Wcav?" I hesitate as I trip over the unfamiliar word and I hold out my palm towards the lifeless body of the woman. The blood slowly soaks up into an imaginary sponge and disappears from existence and I turn to my sisters.
"Look after Mother. And if anything happens." I pull out the knife from the dead woman's neck and hand it to Maria, who looks like the most able at the moment. "Aim to kill who ever has the same emblem as that woman." I tell her calmly as I feel a slight drain as I realise that I was wounded whilst fighting the monster. I pick up my sword and sheathe it into my scabbard before going to the broken door and I'm about to exit when Lily stops me.
"What about your wounds? There's a big red stain on your shirt near you stomach. Are you sure you are okay?" She asks, clearly worried for my health.
"I'm fine. I must group up with my army and tell them what has been going on. See you later." I brush it off and run downstairs before groping my way towards the front door and opening it. Closing it behind me and running towards the hall where my army always meet if something important is or has happened. It takes me no little than 10 minutes to get there and as the hall comes into my view I can see several oups of the army already standing to attention and waiting for me. These guys don't waste time when it comes to this stuff. The giant firepits surrounding the hall are all ignited so I can make out people's faces quite clearly. As I come to a slow walk I regain my breath and stand on the front of the groups, I do a headcount and it comes down to 300 people. Which is quite a large amount but I'm used to ordering around thousands of men.
"Alright men! I want you to go from door to door and search every single building! We have been attacked by Dangar soldiers with the aid of Banfor! Spread the word to other able men that you find! But do not kill the enemy! Only capture and secure as we need them so we can find the wear abouts of their king and central forces!" I bark out to the 300 soldiers and they scatter as I salute to them and they do the same. I spot Sir Kyle a Sir Thorn walk toward me with grim looks on their faces.
"As I was alerted by your signal from that explosive I saw at least 20 men each strewn up against a wall with a spear through their chest. I was also ambushed by several men who tried to injure me, but failed as I caused them to hallucinate and pass out with my magic." Sir Thorn informs me and I nod, shifting my attention to my colleague Sir Kyle.
"I see that you were injured from battling. How did you detect the enemy?" Sir Kyle asks me cluelessly and I scratch my head a little before filling the two knights in with what happened. "Well. We must have the doctor examine your injury." Sir Kyle insists and I nod before heading towards the southwest of the city to go to the medical ward.
* * * * *
It takes an hour before I'm managed to be examined by a doctor as the ward is slightly full with wounded people that were either ambushed, overwhelmed or just managed to escape. I lift my tunic and let the doctor examine the nasty cut, which has taken a good deed of blood from me. After 2 minutes of examining it the doctor lifts the tunic over my head before putting salve onto the wound which causes it to sting slightly and he then uses a crude looking needlend a ball of metal wire to stitch my wound together and then wraps the wound tightly with a good length of bandage as to make sure I don't open the wound again.
"There you go. Make sure to not push yourself or you run yourself at risk of opening that wound again." He tells me he puts the needle and ball of wire away in a cupboard. I thank him before going back to my home and clearing up the mess of the fight that I had.