Chapter Four Hundred And Twenty Eight – 428
The rain was pouring sideways as a brutal battle played out before them. Felix looked beyond Isla and the waist-high balustrade to a muddy field that had once likely been very nice. The battle involved members of the Fiend's Claw, those warriors he'd brought with him from Nagast, but it also contained a number of faces he'd never seen before. A great deal of them, in fact. Dwarves, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Orcs outnumbered his Claw ten to one, all of them clad in ill-fitting mail and wielding heavy wooden clubs instead of proper weapons. The Claw weren't using naked steel either...but that was about as far as their concessions went. As Felix watched, honed limbs met weak, untrained flesh, every strike laying out a club-wielding foe.
"What's the point of this?" Beef asked. "Are those guys Untempered?"
"They are," said a voice, serene and smooth as placid waters. Zara Cyrene, Naiad and Chanter of the Cantus Sodalus stepped up beside them. A small smile adorned a face only lightly touched by age, her ochre skin creased with laugh lines, and her aquamarine hair cascaded down her back in waves. She was clad in the dark black robes of a chorister, now accented with a belted purple sash around her waist. Felix raised an eyebrow at that. "A gift," she said, inclining her head toward Lieutenant Errol.
The sweaty Lieutenant sketched a hasty bow. "A well deserved one. As I told you before, you are first among our number, Lady Zara."
"You're one of my Shadows now, too?" Felix asked.
"How else can I hope to keep track of your miraculous achievements? It seems that whenever I let you out of my sight, you annex another Territory." Zara's cool serenity turned warm, a sensation echoed through her Spiritnot that he trusted that entirely. She was Master Tier, likely at the higher end, and Felix had never been able to read the woman. She smiled as if she knew his every thought, revealing shark-like teeth. "Consider me glued to your side, now. A shadow in name as well as title."
"Wait wait, why are your soldiers fighting a bunch of villagers?" Beef asked Felix. "That seems kinda villainous."
"They wish to join up," Zara stated. "A test was required. One on one instruction is always the most fruitful, but with so many looking to join the ranks of your Claw, Felix, it was decided a mass application must be devised."The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.
"This is how they determine the rankings among the lowest of our military," Vess said slowly. "The newest, greenest recruits are pitted against the seasoned veterans, and talent will out. Or that's the hope."
"Like, just hope the good one's kick ass?" Beef asked before nodding. "Alright cool. So like, the exceptional rise to the top. I like it."
Felix let out a long and judgmental "Hmmmm." His brows furrowed. "This doesn't seem a good way to assess anyone's true capabilities."
"It is not. What if real aptitude is missed, or someone turned away that would be useful in a role that isn't immediately obvious?I will admit to not being a fan of this practice, but it is an...acceptable method of establishing a baseline, if done properly." Vess' mouth tightened and she pointed into the rain-lashed grounds with her chin. "And Darius knows his business."
Sure enough, Darius Reed, Chosen Hand of the Duke of Pax'Vrell and Vess' former guardian, stood stiffly at the far side of the conflict. The distance, even through the heavy rain and lightning, was nothing to Felix's Perception, and he watched as the man panned his gaze across the flailing combatants. It certainly seemed like the man had things under control.
Felix admitted to himself that their time in Ahkestria was by necessity a short one. Memory stabbed back at him, of Haim, the former leader of the Paladins, and what he said. "They are willing to leave Ahkestria?" he asked Zara. "To join up with someone they don't even know?"
She nodded. "They are. Many either have no homes due to the flooding, or the Paladins, or both. And it isn't just warriors; almost every single one of them has a family in this estate, mothers and brothers and fathers and sisters that they wish to care for. I have spoken to many, and they all share the same sentiment that burns in the recruits below. We have only been training them a few hours, but...can you not feel it, Felix?"
It was his turn to nod. Felix did indeed sense the harmonies weaving across the battlefield. Hell, he'd been feeling pangs of it throughout the entire compound. Fear in all its varieties, inchoate rage, and weeping sadness were the bulk of it, but more lay around their Untempered Spirits. It forced his jaw open as he peered closer at the untrained miners and poorest Ahkestria had to offer. Even as some struggled to rise from brutal, bruising hits, the ephemeral song did not stop. "Conviction. I don't hear a single note of doubt, from any of them."
"Truly?" Vess asked. Her brow was furrowed and her nose scrunched. "I can only hear pain."
"Lord Autarch!"
Holy shit. Felix clenched his jaw and swallowed, unsure how, or if, he should respond. Belatedly, the green recruits also fell awkwardly to their knees, mimicking the others with considerably less grace. Felix settled on a single, downward nod and tried to project a sense of approval and confidence. Beside him, Zara chuckled. "What?" he asked.
"It's a good effort, but unclench your jaw before you break a tooth," Zara said through her kind laugh. "But Vess' teachings haven't been in vain, I see."
Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw Vess shift a little. Perception being strange as it was, he could pick out the smile that stretched her lips...just as he sensed the hobbling approach of someone else. Felix turned toward them and froze, his greeting halted by shock.
"Ah, hello everyone," Atar said, supporting himself on Alister's blue-clad arm and his thin, metal staff. "Felix."
"Atar," he said through his shock. "What happened?"
The fire mage's skin, once olive-toned, was now an unrelieved gray the color of cold ash. His hair was longer but just as curly, except it was an ethereal platinum blonde, only a shade or two from pure white. His eyes, however, were the most startling. Half hidden by his hair, they burned like the embers of a banked fire, as if they would flare up at a moment's notice. He was a bit emaciated and stooped, and the hands that clutched at his staff and Alister's arm were not steady at all, but his snort of amusement ignored all of that. "Speak for yourself, lizard boy."
Felix held up his clawed hands and smirked. "Touch."
"Why are you out of your bed, Atar?" Isla asked, somewhat harshly. "You're still recovering."
"I told him that, but he refuses to listen," Alister said with the look of a long suffering saint. "It was either help him, or watch as he fell onto the floor and crawled his way out."
"Burning ash, I needed some time away from there. Fresh air, movement. Something," Atar groused before narrowing his eyes at the Chanter. "And you have no say in what I do. You're still new."
Felix bit his lip to keep from smiling too hard at that, and tried to focus on his friend. "What happened?"
Atar licked his lips, opened his mouth and then shut it again. "Not here. Find me later. Shouldn't be a problem for you, since you got all stretched out. What, did you eat a giant too?"
The smirk of amusement on Felix's face faded slightly as a game of word association flared across his Mind. Giants led to Frost Giants, which made him think of those within his Stronghold, held fast within the Mirk Enclosure spell he'd crafted weeks prior to protect his Territory. The thought arrived, an urgent nugget that had become buried since his fight. "Haim," he said, spitting it like a curse.
"The High Justiciar? What about him?" Zara asked. "Pit told us of his defeat at your hands."
Felix waved his hands. "No, no. It's what hehe said that the Triumvirate was sending forces to Nagast, to tear down the barrier. The Hierocracy is coming for my Territory."
Zara's expression hardened, her mouth firming around her words. "I see. I had expected as such, butCome. Let us retreat somewhere more suited to this conversation. All of us."
Felix didn't have a problem with that.
