Irinia woke with a start. Mina had entered her room without waking her and was sorting through clothes in the closet. The air was less humid than it had been the previous day, but just as hot. “What are you doing in there, Mina?”
Mina shouted from the closet, “Gathering your nice clothes, Princess. Your brother has arrived and your father asked me to bring you to the throne room.”
She got out of bed rubbing her eyes. “When did Garan return?”
“Late in the night. He arrived with less than half of the men than he left with. Not one of them look as though they have had any sleep in days.” They had probably marched straight home through several nights to make up time. Things must be as bad as Croix said.
Irinia entered the closet and pulled the dress that Mina handed her over her head. It was a very lightweight fabric, as were most of her clothes, that was ideal for a hot day. She tied the azure sash tight around her waist and sat on the stool by the mirror. Mina began to tie a ribbon into her Irina's hair to keep it out of her face.
“You look beautiful as always, Princess. Let’s go down to meet with your father and brother.”
They made their way towards the throne room. At the end of the hallway leading into the throne room they could hear voices echoing down the hall. Her brother's voice was the easiest to be heard.
“Father, we need to prepare the soldiers for the defense of the city. We are about to be under siege. I think that a preemptive strike would work best.”
Her father's voice followed, “Garan, you made good time on your trek back home. They are most likely still days behind you. We have time. Tonight your sister is going to perform the ceremony at the festival. We will increase the guard and put them on alert but I do not think that we will have to use them.”
Irinia and Mina had reached the throne room at this point and were standing under the arch of the entryway. Another voice sounded from the corner of the room to their right. “You may want to take heed of the boy's words, Toran. You know as well as I what those things are capable of.” It was Croix. He was crouched against the wall in the corner.
“That is why I hired you. I know you will guard Irinia with your life as well as any others.” Toran countered.
“That is true, however, why put them in that situation in the first place? Strengthen the guard on the city perimeter and deal with the situation there before it gets into the city.”
“Are you going to perform the task I asked you to do or not?” Her father was beginning to grow angry.
“Of course. I said I would protect the girl and I will do as much. I cannot guarantee the safety of everyone else though. Those people are the ones that I’m worried about.”
“The guard will protect them. That is their job and that is also why you are giving them specific training on how to better combat the daem today. Unless you have something useful to tell me, get out of here.” Her father pointed a finger the entrance she was standing in. He noticed the two women then. He looked uneasy letting them see him act in such a manner.
Croix stood and shrugged. “As you say, friend. You know as well as I that a few hours of training will never suffice to combat that menace efficiently. The daem haven’t been around these parts in some time, but their numbers have been increasing exponentially as of late. You have been maintaining the Lens, correct?”
Was he must have been referring to the tower in the middle of the city. She had never seen it used for anything, but had entered to explore once several years ago. It was a winding climb around a whole bunch of glass with various glyphs on it. It was basically a large stone tube with convex glass walls in the center and concave glass in the middle for the floor. Like a huge multi-lens magnifying glass. The building itself did not seem practical at all. The only people inside cleaned the glass and never did anything else with it.
“I have an entire staff dedicated to that damned thing as you had requested though I don’t see the point of it.”
“Good. Hopefully you never will.” He walked to the entryway to stand before Mina and Irinia. “I think that we may be able to keep our bigger problems under control then. I wish the night well.” He looked at Irinia and said, “Will you accept my invitation?” Irinia nodded. “Excellent.” Croix turned and walked backwards down the hall. “Toran! Have some good wine. That has always helped.” He smiled and turned out of sight.
When he turned the corner Garan turned back to his father. “I think you are making a mistake, Father. But this is your choice. I wish everyone the best.”
Garan walked heavily towards Irinia and Mina and flashed them a weak smile as he passed into the hall. Her brother was typically high strung and fast to anger, but he always tried to stay strong for those around him. Today, he simply looked exhausted.
The King sighed. “My apologies. That was supposed to go very differently than it did. Please, ladies, I need some time to think.”
“We understand.” Irinia said. She grabbed Mina by the hand and pulled her along. Mina was dreadfully afraid of confrontation and the argument in the throne room left her shaking.
Trying to put her at ease Irinia asked her, “Would you like to come with me?”
“To where?”
“The training grounds. Croix is training a few of the guards to combat the daem in close range.”
Mina nodded. They made their way to the training yard. It was only a few minutes to walk from the stairs of the castle. The grounds were positioned in such a way that higher ranking soldiers, the king, or whomever else could watch the soldiers train from most higher points in the castle. It was also in plain view of the public to show the citizens that skilled soldiers were defending them.
The clamor of soldiers in armor could be heard on the street outside the training grounds. Once they were near the training yard they found a place to sit that had a nice view of the guards. Also where Croix could see them. She wanted to make sure that he knew that she had attended.
There were twenty guards total at present. They were all a part of the King's royal guard. Nine of them had lances with them. Others had a mixture of different types of swords or axes. One particularly large-framed fellow had a war hammer. Croix stood before them, arms crossed and leaning against a wall. He was turning his head side to side looking them over. He pointed at the men who had come with lances on the end who had a lance. “All of you, get rid of your lances. You will need shorter weapons.”
They looked at him with confused stares. One of them spoke out, “Sir, with all respect, this is the weapon we were trained to use.”
“They are useless against the daem without proper training. You will need close range combat skills to fight them.”
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The same guard, “But Sir Croix-”
“Strike at me with your lance.”
The guard stared at him unsure how to proceed. Being separated from other kingdoms by the forest and sea the soldiers of Larin only ever sparred with each other. “I cannot. I wouldn’t want to harm you.”
“You won't. Strike at me.”
The guard assumed a combative stance. He squatted there for a moment and then lunged at Croix with the lance. Croix sidestepped the lance, kicked the guard square in the plate of armor on his chest knocking the guard flat on his back, and knelt on his chest with one knee. His hands were still clasped together behind his back. He looked down at the guard, “Dead.”
Another guard stepped forward. “Our armor will help protect us.”
Croix chuckled and shook his head. “No. Give me your chest plate.” The guard reluctantly removed it and tossed it at Croix's feet. Croix knelt down to pick it up and strapped it to a dummy post. Feeling around his cloak he produced a curved object and held it up for the guards to see. It looked like a black bone. It was longer than a hand length and curved and looked very sharp. Even at a distance you could almost feel how sharp it was.
“This is a sentinel claw. Sharper than any of your blades. Any contact with one of these with render your armor useless.” Not all the guards were convinced. “Allow me to demonstrate.” He walked to the dummy post that had the armor strapped to it.
A crowd was beginning to gather. Croix felt around his cloak some more and produced two more claws. He placed the three claws in between the fingers on his right hand. Pulling his arm back his swung at the armor and cut right through it. The top of the post behind the armor fell to the ground indicating he had also cut through the post behind it. Murmurs could be heard from the crowd and the guards' mouths were agape in awe. Croix put the claws back in his cloak and turned to the guards again. “Useless. Sentinels aren’t the brightest of the pack. If you can sidestep a their first strike you can try to stab it in the ribs to stagger it. Be wary though, even it you run it completely through, it won’t die. A sentinel has a single smooth gem-like eye in the middle of its face. The pointy end of whatever you are using needs to go deep through that.” He paused for a moment. “And no, it is not as easy as it sounds. They are incredibly fast and usually attack in groups so you only have one opportunity. Even if you stagger one, another one will pick you off before you can finish it. Don't miss and be ready for the next attack. Kill one, counter the next one, kill that one, repeat.”
He began to search his cloak again and produced three sticks that were a bright orange color. He placed them in between his fingers in the same fashion he had done with the claws. “Grab some short swords or daggers, whichever you prefer, so we can practice.”
Most of the guards pulled their daggers out from their belts while a few traded spears for short swords at the weapons rack. When Croix saw one start to move forward he held out his free hand, “No no no. You react, not attack. Unless you think you are faster. By all means, try.”
The guard charged him with the dagger and a shout. Croix's movements were fast, very fast. Irinia could not follow him. He was in front of the guard’s charge and then he was not. When she noticed he was suddenly behind the guard he said, “Got you.”
The guard looked down and saw three bright orange lines across his chest. He put his hands on his face and pulled away only to see orange on his fingers as well. The other guards were chuckling. He looked into the fountain near the street and saw three lines across his face. Another series of gasps from the crowd. Irinia did not feel like this was a thing to celebrate. They really were ill-prepared.
The guard was still touching the lines on his face while looking in the fountain. “Are they truly that fast? I didn’t even feel it...”
“That’s usually how it is honestly. I’m faster, but some are that agile too. They can radically change direction so you need to be ready for that as well.”
“Reactions. Who wants to try next?”
A tall and lanky guard stepped forward. “I will.” He said with a shrill voice.
Again Croix crouched low. This time he did not wait. He leapt into the air. The guard sidestepped him and swung the dagger towards Croix's ribs but Croix pivoted on his heel and a screeching sound could be heard. Three orange marks on the back the tall soldier's armor. “Dead. Nice dodge though. You need to think ahead of them.”
Croix stood straight. Looking forward he shouted above the din of the city, “Princess! Would you be so kind as to join me down here?”
The guards protested. One burly fellow on the end said, “You cannot get the Princess involved in combat training!”
“She’s not fighting. I want to see something.”
Irinia dropped down from the short wall she was sitting upon and walked Croix's side. He looked at her and asked, “What could be done to better block and counter an attack like that. If we see any daem at the festival it will be mostly sentinels.”
Irinia was unsure what to say. “Just go with your gut,” he urged her.
She bit her lip and tried to recall his actions. It was difficult since she could not really see they first one. She felt something click into place as she recalled small pieces. “They try to strike at whichever side is opposite of their approach?”
He smiled, “Precisely. As I said earlier, the sentinels are not intelligent creatures. They only know one thing, and that is to kill, and that they aren’t as good at as others of their kind. If you see one coming at you from the front be ready at your back. Remember Irini- the Princess' words. They may save your life.” Croix reached into his cloak and dropped several dozens of the markers he was using. “Practice amongst yourselves.” Saying that he turned and hooked his arm onto the Princess' arm. “Would you mind accompanying me for a few moments, Princess? I would like to talk with you about tonight.”
She glanced back at Mina who was grinning ear to ear while violently nodding her head. Irinia sighed at that and said, “Shouldn’t you continue the training?”
“A few hours of training won’t prepare them for anything should the daem attack tonight.” They walked out onto the street between the crowd.
“What did you want to talk about?” They were still pushing their way through the thick crowd. Being a Princess made it easier as people would make a path for her to pass, but the streets had more people on them than usual because of the festival preparations.
“I advise against performing in your ceremony tonight. There is going to be a problem.”
She tilted her head. “How do you know?”
“I talked with your brother yesterday. This is typical behavior of their scouts. They will progress slowly at first and pick up speed as they go. While your brother’s group may have gotten ahead of them the beasts will be close behind. I believe your father is making a mistake not trusting your brother’s observations.”
She straightened her back, and took her arm back. “He asked me to perform in the ceremony tonight and I will. Regardless of any danger that there may be. If there is danger then the people will need to me help keep them calm. Normalcy is best here.”
He raised an eyebrow still looking forward. “Even if it’s a false calm?” She did not have a retort. He was right. If the daem attacked there was little the guards could do to protect the people. She had Croix as a personal guard, but everyone else would be at the mercy of those monsters.
Croix led her through several side alleys. Finally, they emerged on the street again and back into the bustle of festival crowds. “Here you are. Until tonight, Princess.” They were standing across the street from where Irinia was to prepare for the festival.
“Thank y-” She started to say but when she turned, Croix was already gone. How does he do that? She crossed the street and entered the building.
Several hours had passed since Croix had left Irinia. Wandering around to make sure they hadn’t changed any of the layout since his last visit was in no way entertaining, but it had to be done. The sun was setting and Croix could see the people of the city running from place to place lighting lamps so that the streets would not be dark in the night. It had been a long time since visiting this city. The advice had been accurate. “Go to the coast on the west, Artifact. There, a port city. You will find a Pillar.” He recited the words to himself.
He continued down the street but stopped at a small home. He looked up at the one trees standing behind the house. It was a tall and slender tree, tall enough that it almost reached the top of the wall. He looked around and saw that nobody was looking. He gave it a good shave to see if would support his weight. Quickly, he scaled the side of the house finding whatever foothold or handhold he could. Once atop the house he jumped to the tree. He climbed up to the top and perched himself on a branch. Looking out to the city he could see all the street lamps lit and the bright blue and orange lights from various alchemist and magic shops towards the city's center. More importantly he spotted the most direct path to the Lens from where Irinia was performing.
Leaning forward, he lost his balance but caught himself on the trunk of the tree. Then he felt it. Deep cuts in the side of the tree. In the light from the setting sun he could make out the curved shape that cut into the tree. He turned and jumped up onto the wall. The same marks were on the top of the wall and appeared to continue up the wall from the other side. The sun sank below the horizon and the sky went dark. “Well, shit.” He jumped down from the wall to the roof of the house then to the ground. He burst into a sprint towards the city center, where the Princess would be performing in the next few minutes. Experience told him this would happen. People had been warned, yet nobody listened. History continues to repeat.
