Iron Blooded

The mist was thick in the light of day.

It swirled around our bodies as we cut our way through the bog. Behind me, my men fanned out with their spears held at the ready.

Kato’s foot slipped and splashed into stagnant water. I cut him a look, then realized he couldn’t see my face beneath my visor.

I raised a hand and signaled for the men to stay silent.

What I had learned about fiends from Gills, was that they were highly adaptable creatures. Able to live in any climate, fiends made their homes in areas they knew well. A fiend’s hunting ground was a dangerous place to be, and we were in the heart of it.

I was careful to place each step as I walked, eyes darting between the ground and the mist around me. A tree loomed out of the fog and my gaze was drawn to its bark. Claws had worn thick gouges into the bark.

We were on the right path.

Looking ahead I could see the spears of the men of House Basset bobbing along. Lord Dacon’s men were less subtle with their heavy plate armor. They clanked and rattled at every step like a pair of pots and pans.

Draxus rolled his eyes to the heavens when one of the men slipped in the mud and fell with an almighty clatter.

Lord Dacon’s knights had insisted on accompanying their Lord into the field. I could understand their reasoning, especially after having suffered a traitor among their own. But when I had suggested they remove their plate and travel in light armor the idea had been dismissed.

It became quickly apparent that moving across the bog undetected would be impossible. As the sound of Lord Dacon's men faded forward I turned, intending to signal for us to follow.

Ahead I saw the mist rise and stir as a shadow shifted. It could be a soldier or an animal but I wasn’t willing to take the risk.

I signaled for my men to halt. My breath was loud in my own helmet as I scanned the spot where the movement had been.

Carefully with my free hand, I drew my sword.

“Signal to Lord Dacon’s men,” I whispered to Jorgen. "Let them know we've made contact."

The soldier saluted and took off at a careful lope. As he disappeared into the fog I signaled the men to move forward. We advanced in a half moon, weapons raised and ready.

A sound cut the air. I turned in time to see the mist ebb and flow inward as if it were suddenly filling a vacated space.

I saw the attack coming in the moments before it happened.

“Wall!” I shouted and my soldiers answered the call. Men moved into either side, forming a bristling square. Of steel.

The Fiend paced just outside of our line of sight. I caught only glimpses of it. Glowing eyes in the fog and a pair of thick horns that looked like they could gore a man where he stood.

My pulse was racing as I waited for an attack that never came. After a long and tense moment, the creature faded back into the mist. I let out a breath.

“It should have attacked,” Muttered Draxus. “Fiends are territorial.”

“Not if It’s luring us in.”

We remained in formation, unwilling to expose ourselves to an enemy that could be lying in wait. After a moment Jorgen returned.

“I can’t find them, Ser William,” he said.

I frowned at him.

“Can’t find them? What do you mean? It’s a mass of men at arms some eighty men strong. How did you miss them?”

Jorgen swallowed and shook his head.

“They aren’t there sir. Just their footprints in the mud and then they just… stop.”

Just stop? What the hell was he talking about?

Keeping my eyes forward I ordered our line to move back and to the left, towards the spot where the main body of men should have been. There were footprints in the mud and moss, scores of them.

I followed the tracks with my eyes and saw the place where they stopped. The ground beyond was pristine and untouched.

“What the fuck,” whispered Draxus from beside me. “This can’t be right."

He stared around at the ground, searching.

"You can’t lose track of eighty men in ten minutes, it’s impossible.”

“Yeaah…” I said, chewing on the inside of my lip. “It is."

Draxus turned a question gaze to me but I was already stepping out from the shield wall with my sword raised. He shouted a warning the moment before the Fiend struck.

Separated from my shield wall I was vulnerable.

The beast was horrifying to behold, ten feet tall, horned, and snarling. It bore down on me with a roar that was loud enough to rattle my ears.

I held my ground despite my instinct to run. Then I waited.

The beast panted, glowing eyes boring into me. I studied it closely, and noted the furry body and the glowing markings carved into it’s skin. There was something to it, a strange sheen of something that seemed to shimmer around it.

I lifted my blade and gently but firmly pressed the sword through the place where its stomach should have been. The monster didn't react.

The Silver-Steel cut through the illusion like a knife through butter. The image warped around the blade before eventually scattering away into the mist.

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“It’s… not real?” Kato sounded amazed.

“No,” I said. “And neither are the disappearing footprints. Look,” I stepped forward and held the flat of my blade at chest level, cutting through the illusion. The air seemed to pulse and shimmer, and then the mist dropped away.

Before us, the tracks continued on into the distant tree line.

“Sorcery,” I said. “Someone or something is fucking with us.”

“We need to find Lord Dacon."

There was an urgency in Draxus's voice and I could guess why. Whatever was manipulating our surroundings would be doing the same to his men. If Dacon’s company got lost in the swamp or worse, if they were lured into a trap - the battle would be bloody.

Reluctantly, I agreed.

We trudged forward as fast as we dared in the low visibility.

The prints led us forward and to the right, around a small pond covered in algae. There were the telltale signs of a struggle here and there. Strange circular marks on the ground and the deep imprint of boots as the men made a stand.

Strangely, there were no bodies here.

Draxus and I exchanged a look just as Hade came up beside us. His armor glistened with condensed mist.

“Ser William,” he said. “The presence of sorcery is making the men nervous. If we don’t rejoin the main body soon..”

He trailed off but I got his meaning. We were sitting ducks out here. Fifteen men against an unknown threat with the disadvantage of magic and terrain. The odds weren’t great. I thought for a moment and then shook my head.

“We press on,” I said. “We have to rejoin Lord Dacon’s men, that is our priority.”

Hade hesitated but I held his gaze, trying to convey confidence I didn’t feel. After a moment the soldier nodded and turned away to relay my orders. Draxus caught my eye.

“Are you sure this is the right course?”

“No,” I admitted, dropping my voice so the men couldn’t hear. “But I see little alternative. If we retreat now do we have any guarantee that we won’t be picked off? Whatever is doing this is trying to control us. It wants us confused and indecisive. I plan not to let it have its chance.”

We continued on and I let Draxus and Kato take point as I scanned the mist for any sign of something unusual. No more spectral fiends came for us, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.

Then I spotted the first body lying face down in the shallows.

I splashed in beside him and gently rolled him unto his back. When I saw the corpse had eyes I let out a breath.

“Sorry, soldier,” I said as lowered him gently back to the water. I brushed his eyes closed.

“What killed him?” Asked Kato.

I examined him carefully.

“I see no wounds. It looks like he.. Drowned but that can’t be right.”

Draxus crouched beside me, water lapping at his boots.

“You’re right,” he said. “No indication of any kind of wound or even blood loss. It’s almost as if he just dropped dead.”

“Could have been a heart attack,” said Kato from beside us. “Man could have seen his own reflection.”

Draxus gave him a hard stare and Kato threw up his hands.

“Poor taste, I know.”

Something caught my eye. I leaned down, lifting the soldier's neck and turning it to the side. There were tiny marks hidden behind his ear. It looked like two pricks the side of my pinky nail.

“Bites?” I asked.

“Looks like stings.” Said Draxus. “What could…”

Several paces away the water rippled.

“Get out of the water!” I shouted, at the same time I stood and turned to face the threat. I had a moment to glimpse a mass of dark green scales before the creature rose from the water.

It struck at me, and the force knocked me stumbling. I felt the wet bank beneath my feet and struggled up, sword held out to strike. The creature had already dove back beneath the water, its scales rippling in the dark water.

After a moment, the water went still.

“What,” I said through panting breaths. “Was that.”

Draxus grabbed me by the arm and helped me back onto solid ground.

“Basilisk,” he said. “And where there is one there are usually more.”

“Lovely. Any idea how to kill them?”

“They hate fire,” said Kato. “At least that’s what the stories say.”

“The stories?” I turned to look at him. “You’ve never encountered one before?”

Kato and Draxus exchanged a look.

“As far as we knew they were extinct. The basilisk was one of the most hunted monsters before the time of the God King. Its fangs alone are worth a fortune, never mind the venom.”

At the look on my face, Draxus shook his head.

“Blackbriar,” he warned. “I know that look. Hunting a Basilisk is dangerous business.”

“So is everything else we do,” pointed out Kato. “We might as well make some coin.”

I shook my head with regret.

“It’s too big a risk, and even if it wasn’t we’re running on borrowed time. Finding the Count’s Son is our first priority. We can make a stand with more men, but by ourselves, we’re too exposed.”

Kato blew out a breath and nodded.

“Then we go on.”

We reached a spot where the terrain grew uneven and sloped downwards. We had our footing, careful not to slip and fall. I watched the water to either side of us, noting the ripples just beneath the surface.

The basilisk was following us.

“Are basilisks capable of illusion magic?” I asked. “They say some old beings have sorcery in their blood.”

“Don’t think so,” said Draxus. “I suppose it’s possible but as far as I know basilisks are beasts. This all seems far too calculated for a creature. Even one as old as a basilisk.”

I grunted.

If sorcery was involved it could mean the presence of a magic user. I remembered the Goblin shaman who attacked Lord Blackthorne on the field of battle. I knew there were monster races capable of sorcerey, but this somehow felt different. Isolated.

I was so lost in my own head that I nearly walked into the back of Draxus when he stopped.

“What is it?” I asked. He pointed and I followed his gaze. The mist was stirring again among the trees. Shadows seemed to sway to and fro. I gave the signal for my men to ready themselves and drew my shield up.

What stepped out of the fog wasn’t at all what I’d been anticipating. The tall shadow form resolved itself into a black-cloaked man wearing a familiar silver mask.

A Darkblade.

I blinked in surprise.

“Blade, Where is your mistress?” I called.

The Darkblade came to a stop, watching us impassively through the dark holes of his mask. He made no attempt to answer me.

“They take a vow of silence.” Said a voice.

I jumped and whirled to see Xandria standing beside me. I hadn't heard her approach and yet she was only feet away.

She was wearing reinforced leather studded with steel. One of her daggers was in her hand, and I saw black Icor crusted along the blade.

“From the moment the Inquisition takes them in at thirteen they train." Said Xandria. "From that moment on they won’t speak a word. It's just their way."

“That’s…” I started.

“Impressive?”

“I was going to say lonely.”

Xandria’s shoulders rose and fell.

"Darkblades are merely a tool, as are we all in the hand of the God King. His radiant majesty wields us against Kadia’s enemies.”

It seemed more like the God King suggested others fight his battle but I decided to keep my doubts to myself.

“Why are you here, My Lady?” I asked Instead. “I was not aware Lord Dacon requested your presence.”

Xandria laughed. “The welp doesn’t know what he needs. I warned him not to wander into the bog alone but he insisted that he could handle himself. Thus is the pride of men.”

She glanced back towards the water where the soldier still floated face down.

Draxus shifted beside me. I could sense his anger without turning to look.

“Tell me, my Lady,” he said, the derision in his tone sharp. “Was it you who ordered the hanging of those villagers? Or was it the man you serve?”

Xandria tilted her head, smiling fading.

“Mind your tongue, son of none,” she warned. “Or I might have cause to take it from you.”

Draxus smiled coldly.

“That is your way, isn’t it?”

Xandria did something then that surprised me. She flinched as if she had been struck and averted her gaze. Her throat bobbed minutely before she turned away.

“We should keep moving,” she said briskly. “My second Blade will guide our way."

I watched her stride away, silent bodyguard following behind. I turned to Draxus.

“What was that?” I asked in a low tone. The giant shook his head, jaw clenched.

“Later,” was all he said before striding forward after the Inquisitor. With no other options, I nodded to my men.

“Stay sharp,” I warned Hade in an undertone. “There is something about this I don’t like.”

The soldier arched a brow at me.

"Ser."

I scratched at my chin, eyes on the back of Xandria's head.

"It feels too convenient," I said.

Hade shrugged.

"It is the Inquisition's duty to hunt the evils of this world. They say for the Darkblades it's a compulsion. Something they can't resist."

As if sensing my gaze the Blade turned his head slightly in my direction and I glanced quickly away.

"Is it true they can read minds?"

Hade's shoulders rose and fell again.

"I don't know Ser William," he confessed. "But I know they give me the creeps. The way they move all silent and all - it's unnatural."

He wasn't wrong. There was something about this situation that didn't sit right with me. And I intended to find out what.