It had been a long couple of days in the Everwood. The sort of training wed done, as well as the survivalism that went hand in hand with it, was almost as familiar to as breathing at this point. But itd been harder on my sisters, and by the end of the second day they were visibly exhausted, so wed returned early to allow them the comfort of a night in their own beds before we returned by horseback to Seryndon.
As they trudged up the hill towards , I could see it was the correct decision. Sera was still fatigued, but the black bags had faded from her eyes. Annette followed alongside her, head turned towards her sister, saying sothing I was too far away to hear.
Sera shoved her lightly, and Annette stumbled but recovered quickly. Within a minute they were in range.
Ready? I asked Sera.
Ready to get this over with. Sera rotated her shoulder, glancing at the regint in the background grimly. She was wearing gaudy, high steel armor, so bright, well-polished and reflective it was almost a mirror. Id worn the sa thing to the letter, only my breastplate bore a golden crown. Would feel better about it if I thought we stood a chance in hell. She stared down at the base of the hill, where Cephur had organized the regint in long lines by banner. Down below, five hundred n stood at attention, their arms clasped behind their backs.
The strategy is sound, Annette said, then glared at . Though I will not be forgetting that this part was your idea. Whereas Sera and I were both dressed in battlefield attireimpractical as it wasAnnettes frilly yellow dress was so eye-catching and stereotypically princess that the contrast was comical.
We were going to play on their expectations of us. At least, for the mont.
Itll be fine, I told them, though in truth, I still wasnt sure. Seryndor wasnt far from Whitefall. If you climbed a tree, you could probably still see the castle from atop the canopy. Unfortunately, that ant there was an utter absence of monsters to hunt. Id pressured Sera as much as I could through sparring while Vogrin continued to work with Annette. But because of her responsibilities at the castle, Maya had been unable to join us until today.
Technically, this was still only a training exercise. Not actual combat, but as close to the real thing as we could get. Especially considering how solidly we were about to stoke their fire.
Further down the hill, Alten stared at the regint. He glanced at as we approached. Remind of this exact mont next ti I complain about a lack of action.
Cold feet? I asked.
Hardly. He fell in step with as I passed. But I think Ill have my fill for a while.
Its not like itll be over. As soon as this business with the regints settled and we give them a night to nurse their wounds, were headed to the sewers.
Alten chuckled. Never thought Id be telling soone else they need to learn to kick back. Relax a little.
Im always relaxed.
Hope you lie better to them than you do to .
We fell silent as we approached the regint. They were well-disciplined, and no one jeered or spoke out of line as we approached. Still, I could feel the weight of it as a thousand eyes lingered on , and imagine the picture we must have made. Two nobles, fair of skin and lacking helts, wearing bulky armor that would serve them well in an organized line but was terribly impractical for anything else. A guardsman clad in honor he didnt earn. And of course, a small girl hiding behind them all, peeking out shyly.
I grinned at Maya as I approached, and she rolled her eyes. Shed seen this trick more than once, though perhaps, never quite on this scale.
I stood before Cephur and shook his hand.
The commander leaned in to whisper. I really hope you thought this out.
Of course. I always know what Im doing, I said, cocky, dismissive, and loud enough that the closest mbers of the regint could hear .
Cephur shook his head in resignation and walked away, standing next to Maya off to the side.
I held my arms out, as if offering a grand embrace, augnting my voice with wind magic so it carried. Boys! And ladies. I grinned wider as nurous male and female soldiers scowled. Today is a montous mont. Because each and every one of you has the honor and privilege, the abject delight of greeting your future king.
There was zero response save the clank of shifting armor; it was silent enough that I could hear wind whistling through the trees nearby. I let my smile slip a little, as if it surprised . Yes, Ive heard in great detail that so of you are less than pleased with this passing of the torch. Others are apparently doubtful enough of my birthright to request trial by combat. And your banner lieutenants, I shook my head, apparently would prefer to sit down and talk. n of action indeed. I looked at all this drivel your commander shoved in front of , the trials, the interviews, and do you know what I thought?
I put a hand to my ear and turned my head toward them, as if waiting for a response.
Fuck this, a voice said, near the back.
I pointed towards the direction of the voice and grinned. Exactly. Fuck this. Im the son of King Valen, after all. Why bother taking you on one at a ti when I can do it all at once?
A dangerous air ca over the regint in the wake of narrowing eyes behind helts, and for a mont, I thought they might start the trial then and there. But even though I was intentionally aggravating them, they remained disciplined. I hoped they were angry enough not to notice the complexity of the scenario we were about to unveil.
Banner lieutenants. Step forward.
Salven, a violet infernal, was the first. He held the sigil of a bat within a moon over his head. He had a fighters build, and a heavy spear at his back. His mouth was quirked upward in a small smile.
The rest begrudgingly followed.
Mari, a stout, dour looking human woman with a scarred-out eye, which she mostly directed toward Sera, making no effort to hide her hostility. Id asked Cephur to let it slip that Sera was aiming for her banner, and from the looks of it, hed delivered.
Atherya, a light elf with a turned-up nose who looked more annoyed by this ordeal than angry, and lacked any weapons beyond the bow at her side and a well-stuffed quiver, with the banner of an azure gryphon.
And lastly, Zin, a dark elfstill a rarity to see in the human cities even in this new era. His black eyes glittered from beneath his helt. There was a long thin blade at his back, and he bore the banner of a red wolf.
Alten, get to work, I said, taking turns staring each of them down as Alten brought each banner lieutenant a large sack, tied with a rope. After a rote hesitation, they unpacked them and puzzled at the contents. I lifted my voice with the air again, projecting outward. Inside these bags you will find several tools for our contest. You will begin by selecting approximately half of your banners. Once this is done I made a show of looking around for Annette as she attempted to stay hidden behind , to a few chuckles and snorts from the crowd, then took her by the shoulders and placed her in front of , pointing the small gilded ring at her waist and the ribbons attached to it. There are two ribbons, attached to a simple ring. They are to be placed on your front right hip and visible at all tis. Once the blue ribbon is gone? Congratulations, youve been recruited into my regint.
And when the orange ribbon is gone? Salven asked. He had a quiet, thoughtful way of speaking, but there was a spark of amusent in his expression that gave pause. The other three were clearly angryfor good reason. Only Salven seed to get a kick out of this.
When the orange ribbon is gone, you can rejoin the supplental forces here in Valhalla.
I see. And what reinforcents will you be bringing, Prince Cairn? Salven asked, elevating his voice so it carried.
I turned my eyes upward, as if doing the ntal math. Two hundred-plus of you, four of us I imagine thats about equal.
The din grew, and by the ti it crescendoed the soldiers were more angry than stoic.
Lot of pomp and circumstance for sothing thats gonna be over in seconds, Mari growled.
Seconds? Aethrya responded, looking up and down dismissively. Itll be over for him the mont it starts.
From what Id heard from Cephur, it wasnt an idle threat. Aethryas banner was range focused, and Aethrya herself was a better shot with a longbow than Tamara. That theyd be using padded arrows would do little to hamper the debilitating force of a well-placed shot other than curbing the lethality.
Beyond the archers, the rest would be using blunted steelwhich, while less lethal than the sharpened alternative, was still a far cry from wooden training blades. The mages would be expected to pull their punches as well, but I didnt doubt that this could turn nasty with the tone I was setting. I needed to place special emphasis on safeguards.
I ignored them and moved on. Now. What we are enacting is a grand lee, not unlike a tournant. Your goal should be to disarm or incapacitate your opponent, take their ribbon and move on. But as anyone whos ever attended a tournant can tell you, accidents happen. I held up a smooth bronze-colored cylinder like a torch and twisted the base. A bright golden ball of light ejected straight up, flying up high into the sky and slowly arced, leaving a lingering trail of smoke. Send up a signal if you, or anyone around you, has been badly injured. The supplental forces will co to your aid, and our honorable emissary will co to you via horseback.
There were slow nods of acceptance, though Mari seed to accept the idea of not letting us all bleed out on the ground more slowly than I would have liked.
Well, Id insulted them, flipped the raven in their faces, and acted the fool. I wasnt too worried about the lieutenants. Now it was ti to ensure a random soldier with a grudge didnt slit my throat in the chaos.
Win or lose, regint or no regint, drinks in Topside are on tonight! I held my fist skyward.
For the first ti, they cheered. And why wouldnt they? Id just given them full license to stomp not one, but two nobles asses into the ground and then offered to pick up the tab. Three of the four lieutenants returned to their banners with the bags, imdiately selecting mbers for their smaller groups and organizing them by officer.
Only Salven lingered, looking back at the chaos in amusent. You know, my grandfather recently returned to this plane on account of a recent developnt.
Congratulations, I said, doing my best to keep a straight face.
Apparently there was a heartfelt speech. Not only by a human, but a human mourning his fallen infernal master. From the sound of it, he washow should I say itnot that much of a dickbag. Rather genuine, by all accounts.
The mory of Veldani swept over and I felt myself frown.
Anyway, Salven said, smirking again. I look forward to seeing your reputation in action.
I watched him go, beginning his selection and passing out ribbons to his n. Despite the familiarity, and the kindness in his words, I got the sense that he wasnt going to go easy on . In fact, I suspected Salven was the lieutenant I needed to be most wary of. If he knew of , he also knew this wouldnt be nearly as straightforward as the rest were expecting it to be.
I turned and signaled the others.
Reviews
All reviews (0)