They Were Born Upon Ashes
Read They Were Born Upon Ashes Online
Authors: Kenneth Champion
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #Fantasy, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Coming of Age, #Epic, #Sword & Sorcery, #Epic Fantasy Sword and Sorcery
They Were Born Upon Ashes
Glory Beyond Battle Book 2
Kenneth Champion
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by Kenneth Champion
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter One
Nick Bint walked along the streets of Genold City with the king’s man Jeffrey. The king himself lay dead in a pool of blood in front of Castle Teon. The city was in the most chaotic state it had ever been in.
The two men walked south where the fighting took place between the Refect and the inmates of the arena. As the two men walked closer there was no familiar sound of the clashing of swords or the shrieks of dying men. Rather, in its place was complete silence.
The streets were cold and empty as the two arrived to the location of the battle. Dead bodies piled up along the dirt road. Refect stained with red and inmates burnt to a crisp in every direction and along every wall.
“Let’s keep moving,” said Jeffrey.
“Where do you think they went?” asked Nick
Jeffrey let out a sigh and continued to walk. Nick followed his steps.
He could understand that Jeffrey was in no mood to talk. Nick knew that Jeffrey felt as if he single handily let down the city and that he could have prevented the death of the king.
There was a full moon in the night sky as the two moved along the narrow streets of Genold City. The light from the moon shined brightly. Only the alleys with tall buildings surrounding them were too dark for the eye to see that night.
Nick looked down a dark alley as they walked by. They heard a noise coming from the end of the alley. Nick and Jeffrey put their hands on their swords.
A man dressed in the glorious white prison attire came stumbling out of the alley.
“Whoa, that’s a king’s man. Hey, how much money would I make if I sold your gold armor?”
Jeffrey pulled out his blade.
“It was a joke. It was a joke. Calm down there, buddy. I’m a free man now; why would I pick a fight on the day I got out? I’m going to get myself a few drinks up the street here. Do you guys want anything? I’m buying!”
Jeffrey sheathed his sword, turned, and continued walking down the street.
Nick said nothing as well and continued to search for any sign of the three king’s men who were in the battle.
They heard a whistle coming from the rooftop of a tall building up ahead. As they approached the building they found the king’s men and the two elderly men from the council sitting on the balcony.
“Well, the battle here stopped when the six commanded the Refect to let the inmates go. The Refect follow the new king blindly of Genold City. Where did you run off to?” asked Reed.
“We went to the courtyard,” said Jeffrey. “The king is dead. The six have taken the city.”
“We heard,” said Reed. “Word travels faster than feet. I’m sorry, Jeffrey.”
“I am too,” said Jeffrey. “We must go north to Ralton and gather as many loyal swords along the way.”
“We were thinking the same thing,” said Reed. “You lead the way.”
The five men came down from the balcony and joined Nick and Jeffrey on the bloody street. They walked further south, communicating with every Refect they came across. Every Refect made the decision to either stay and make good on their oath to protect Hentrio and its new leader, or follow the king’s men to Ralton and support the late King Dedan Hudson. The decisions were split fairly evenly. Some stayed and some joined.
By the time the group made their rounds through the city they had gathered a few hundred loyal swords and nearly one thousand civilians who no longer wanted to live in Genold City. The crowd following the king’s men made their way to the outskirts of Genold City. The king’s men and Nick were soon to follow.
The outskirts of the city walls were not the prettiest of sights. The grass was overgrown and brown. It was a rocky area with some giant boulders and little rocks scattered all over the ground. A person could not walk more than two feet without stepping on a hand full of rocks.
Nick looked back at the city as he sat upon a boulder. He had had such high hopes for what Genold City could provide for him, and what he could provide for it. Those dreams came crashing down as the six took their place upon the throne.
The king’s men were gathered around in a huddle discussing important matters. Nick decided not to interrupt those men. Nick already respected and thought highly of all of them, even though he didn’t know all of their names. The last thing he wanted to do was disrespect them or invade their privacy.
However, after about fifteen minutes the group moved from where they were standing and huddled around Nick.
“Nick, I’d like to personally thank you for your efforts tonight. It means a lot to me and everyone surrounding you here,” said Jeffrey.
“You’re welcome, but at the same time I wish I could have done more.”
“You did all you could do. We all wish we could have saved our king, Nick,” said Andrew.
Andrew was the eldest looking man in the group and Nick knew him briefly from the council, where hours before he had launched a fire attack at him.
“I think it’s time we all do our formal introductions,” said Andrew. “My name is Andrew Terrax. I have been on the king’s council for fifty years and I am, as you know, a supreme Reza.”
Nick stood up off the boulder and shook Andrew’s hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, Andrew,” said Nick.
Another elderly man walked up and put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. He had a resemblance to Andrew’s face; Nick could see it in his eyes. He was a Reza with blue wrinkled skin just like Andrew. He had a shaved head and a white mustache.
The man looked at Nick and said, “My name is David Terrax. That’s my brother’s hand you just shook. You better have washed that hand recently, Nick. As you might have noticed, my brother and I are not king’s men. We are just two men who sat on the king’s council. But, hey, it’s nice to meet you.”
David put out his hand and Nick shook it. “Nice to meet you as well.”
Another man stepped forward and put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. He was a Paplon wearing the gold plated armor. He was exceptionally tall and muscular. He had a Mohawk with his black hair and his eyes were wide open and circular at all times. Nick used to remember seeing people from Vincot that had the same bird eyes as he called them.
“I am the second commanding officer of the Hentrio army, right behind the great Jeffrey,” said the man. “I appreciate what you did to try to help us even though you just met us, and a few days ago you were an inmate in the Vincot Arena. I’ll tell you now that I still see you as an inmate and I don’t trust you at all. My name is Jacob.”
They shook hands and nodded to one another. Nick had reason to believe that none of the men surrounding him trusted him at all. Jacob was just the first one to be the most honest and upfront about it.
The final man who wore the gold platted armor that Nick had not formally meet yet stepped forward. He placed his hand on Nick’s shoulder. He looked him dead in the eyes. He was a Paplon with a lean muscular build and was about the same height as Nick. He had two scars above his eyebrows that looked exactly like the letter x. His long brown hair was fitted in a ponytail and he had a clean shaven face.
“My name is Tyler,” he said. He stepped back and opened a secret compartment on the chest piece of his armor that revealed dozens of daggers. “They call me the master of daggers. Glad to meet you.”
The two shook hands and Nick said, “Nice to meet you as well. It’s nice to meet all of you. But I don’t really know what my purpose amongst you is. You all are great warriors or supreme Rezas. I don’t know if this is the right place for me to be right now.”
“Nonsense, Nick,” said Jeffrey. “You have greatness inside of you; I can see it. We all can sense it. Now we just have to set you upon the right path.”
As uncomfortable as Nick felt to be thought of so highly he did not have much of a choice than to agree with their insight and follow their lead.
Hundreds upon hundreds of more civilians flooded the gate and joined the ever-growing group as word spread of the king’s men traveling to Ralton.
Tyler walked up towards Jeffrey and asked, “What of Dani and Ron? We have two king’s men who were in Castle Teon when this all happened. What do you think of their fate?”
“I believe they are alive and well,” said Jeffrey. “What do you think?”
“They are either alive and well or dead and buried.”
“We can only give it time,” said Jeffrey.
Jeffrey walked over to a nearby boulder and stood on top of it. “Gather around everyone! Gather around!”
The hoards of people came flocking over towards Jeffrey.
Jeffrey took a minute to look at the thousands of horrified faces before he began to speak. “Firstly, I want to apologize. What happened tonight was a travesty that we took every measure to prevent in the past. We knew that the king had no living wife and no living children or relatives. When he would have eventually passed away, the council was to elect a new king. We always were aware of the possibility of someone murdering the king to take his place on the throne. There is no law that can prevent that from happening. I’m sorry that we failed you all, and I am sorry we failed our king.”
A tear rushed down Jeffrey’s eye and he quickly wiped it away. He took a deep breath and continued to speak. “We will wait here for a few more hours to let as many people as possible join us as we move up north to Ralton. I am going to send a few men back into the city to gather food, water, and other supplies before we begin the four day trek. It will not be an easy walk but you have all made the right decision to join us rather than live in a city that resembles hell.”
Jeffrey jumped off the boulder and rejoined his group. He sent Jacob and Reed back into Genold City to gather what they needed. The two men gathered all of the supplies with a horse and carriage. It was filled to the brim with supplies, so the two went back in for another horse and carriage carrying identical supplies.
While the men were on the second trip Nick walked over to Jeffrey and asked him, “Why do we go north to Ralton? What is the plan?”
“Ralton is the safe way to go. Heading north is always the smartest route. Plus, Terrel is up north as you know, and even further north is Palgon. If we were to head east towards Vincot we would have nowhere to run as the Baston Sea surrounds it. This also goes for the west with Bounch Hill and the south in Ameros. We can’t run any further where the sea lies, so Ralton is always the go to. Especially when we have thousands of citizens to watch over.”
“That makes sense,” said Nick. “But what do you think will happen now? The six have taken the capitol and the throne. There is no way they will stop at just Genold City.”
“They will undoubtedly try to expand their reach. It’s just a matter of when. We can try our best to defend the cities of Hentrio, but right now the Refect Army is split in Genold City. Even if I send word to each city, who’s to say the results will be any better? The Refect are sworn to protect the crown. If they deny that oath then they are no longer Refect. They are simply civilians. Refect train their whole lives to become who they are and it’s not an easy decision for them to follow us.”
“Well, we can’t just go to Ralton and not try to warn the other cities of what has happened,” said Nick.
“I know, Nick,” said Jeffrey. “I’ve instructed Jacob and Reed to collect three ravens we can send to our neighboring cities with word of what transpired tonight. You have wise words, Nick; that’s good to hear from a young man these days.”
Jeffrey took his leave and joined the elder brothers Andrew and David.
Nick sat alone upon a boulder and looked up into the night sky. Stars appeared in the night sky. There weren’t as many glistening as usual because the full moon polluted the usual dark night sky with bright light.
An hour passed by and the night grew colder. It was nearing the winter months and everyone could feel the chill as the night progressed. There were still groups of people coming out from the city and joining the move to Ralton.
A civilian Paplon girl came up to Nick while he sat and waited on the rock.
“Cold night tonight,” she said.
“Yes, it is quite cold,” replied Nick.
“It’s such a shame what happened to our king,” she said.
“It’s a horrible tragedy,” replied Nick.
“I’m sorry. My name is Katherine Bates. What’s your name?”
“My name is Nick Bint.”
“You are the Hetha they talk about then, yes?”