By The Sword - Homepage

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The world itself was shaking.

I fell to a crouch as the thought occurred. My grip tightened. My breathing accelerated. Blood pounded on the insides of my ears, ice-cold fire seeping in with each passing moment. The aches and pains in my muscles receded, despite the shaking, and I scrambled to balance myself over the stone.

I looked around, trying to keep my mind in check. To push back the fog. I couldn’t let the confusion overpower me. Because as soon as it did, I was all but useless. So I furrowed my brow and squinted, scanning the room. Clattering metal itched at my ears. It joined the splitting wood. But what I didn’t hear were voices. No large outcries. No panic. These were knights, I remembered, not common folk. They were trained better; they had no need for such things.

I repeated the thought in my head, trying to calm my addled brain. If they weren’t freaking out, then neither should I. There was no need to, I told myself. So I didn’t. I kept my lips pressed shut and I kept my senses keen.

From the corner of my eye, Kye crept up to me. She glared, entirely serious. Her form rushed up faster than I would’ve imagined in her crouched position, stalking with her bow at the ready. As soon as she reached me, an arrow was already notched. How she’d found time to ready herself when she’d been arguing only moments before was beyond me. But it didn’t matter. I had to stay focused.

Turning to her as steadily as I could, I pressed my hand to the floor. Cold vibrations slid up my arm like a snake underneath my skin. “What… the hell is happening?”

“I… don’t know,” she said, her tone firm among the chaos. Afterward, she spared a glance backward. Over toward the knight that was still somehow holding her ground.

When Kye looked back at me, she cocked her eyebrows. The intent was palpable. It disturbed my gut just to think about it—she thought we were being set up. That Lady Amelia had caused whatever was taking the cavern by storm. A bead of sweat trickled down my temple as I tried to balance while I thought.

After a second, I shook my head violently. The movement sent agony rippling across my skull. But I ignored it and focused on Kye. Her idea didn’t make sense. I knew Kye didn’t trust the knights here—and I knew she had a good reason. But the implication was more than a stretch.

A strong tremor shook me. I stumbled backward multiple paces, my hand scraping on the stone as I pushed off to stay stable. When I staggered straight, I flicked my eyes back to Kye. I watched the steady anger rising on her face. I didn’t let her sway me. With as much composure as I could summon, I shook my head. Kye glowered.

I crept toward her. “It can’t—“ My body jolted, pushing breath from my lungs. “It doesn’t make any sense.” She curled her lip at my response, but I knew she understood. Her fingers relaxed on the bowstring and she released tension from her shoulders.

A relieved breath fell from my lips. I teetered, forcing my body upright and ignoring the waves of pain ripping through my exhausted bones. Instead, I focused on the room. From what I could tell, there were more than a dozen knights in the barracks. All heavily armored. All highly skilled. I clenched my jaw even harder as my mind raced with possibilities.

Spawned from both irrational fear and rational preparation, battle encounters flew through my head. One after another. Stance after stance. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to beat one of the knights in my current body, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try. Then, turning my head to my companion, I noticed something. Her eyes were flicking between the knights as well, and her fingers were twitching as though in anticipation.

She was doing the exact same thing.

Warm pain flashed through my arms with another powerful tremor of the rock. My thoughts followed it, conjuring images of the forest. Images of the kanir and its blatant ferocity. My body moved on automatic to balance myself as the simple thought of the thing set a taste of sulfur on my tongue. Fear screamed at me. I pushed back, ignoring its calls to falter and using it for another purpose instead.

Never again.

Fight scenes came back to replace terrible memories. I latched onto them, flexing my muscles and clutching my sword. I could imagine myself swinging it. Dodging and weaving. Executing maneuvers. It felt right.

An immense crack of pure noise broke the violent ambience.

I jolted, wincing at the sudden and familiar sound. Whipping my head around, I blinked away the blur in my eyes to see the woman I’d watched before. The soundweaver who’d caused her fellow knight to cower in pain. Somewhere across the room, she was casting again. Except this time, after the noise, the ground calmed. The world responded to her cries, and she forced more and more energy into it until the shaking died down enough.

After a flurry of boisterous noises reverberated energy straight into the earth, the shaking calmed to a light tremor. It settled enough that standing up became an achievable goal. A goal that, as the rest of the tumultuous noise dampened, most of the knights were achieving. Coming up from their hunched, crouched, or lying positions, the knights rose back up on their mats and looked around. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kye do the same.

“It is over,” a familiar voice said soft enough that it didn’t grate on my ears yet loud enough that it echoed off the walls. I knew who it was before I’d even turned.

What I saw, though, was not what I’d been expecting. Lady Amelia stood with her head hung low as her words trailed off. That had been expected. But she was also still standing perfectly steady, her feet planted in the exact positions they’d been in when the shaking had started. Painted on her look was a fractured, pained look that felt burdened by more weight than she let on. And under her feet, I could even see small dents in the rock where her heels had dug in.

The awe of it didn’t reach Kye the same way. “What in the world’s name was that?”

Lady Amelia took a breath. “A quake of some kind.”

Kye’s eyes flared at that, and she took a step back. But her fury didn’t die. “Obviously that’s what it was. But that’s not what I’m asking.”

Lady Amelia straightened, her mask of composure recovering. “This isn’t the first.” She darted her gaze up to watch the confirmation from the knights around the room. “They have been happening more frequently in recent times.”

Kye took half a step back. The look in her eyes softened. “Why?”

The single word said everything. It dragged with it all the curiosity. All the anger. All the confusion. All the memories. I knew it as much as they did about quakes, after all. They weren’t specific to this continent. As one of the most primal features of the world’s wrath, they happened everywhere. Even back in my home kingdom, they’d wreaked havoc on our land.

Memories burrowed their way to the surface as my eyes fell to the floor. I remembered my home. During my childhood, before I’d ever been to a royal court, we’d dealt with a quake. Even now, despite so much of the past blurring away—fading before I even have a chance to grasp it, I remembered that morning, It was seared into my mind.

The way I’d woken up. The shaking. The chaotic vision of broken glass and splintered wood. Dirt flying through the fields. The rock that cut a gash over my knee. My mother’s screams.

The quake had decimated our crops. It had forced us into debt. Stolen whatever money we’d saved up to help my father in his condition. I remembered it all so clearly. Because that was when I’d begun my odd-jobs, after all. My little quests. That was the year I’d first picked up a sword.

“—and she may be back,” Lady Amelia said. I blinked, rising out of the restless waves to return to reality. I turned, surprised by the knight’s low and foreboding tone. The sorrow was clear, but there was more to it as well.

Kye averted her eyes. “Who?” she asked, the question hanging in the air. To me, it looked like she already knew. But she was scared of the thought. Scared enough to hope it was something else.

Lady Amelia’s eyes locked with my companion. “The mother of destruction.” Kye’s face flashed pale. “Rath herself… she may be returning. Her slumber may finally be over.”

Kye swallowed and took a step back. My eyes widened, the unknown information somehow scaring me too as Kye’s face paled. I didn’t understand what the head-knight had said, but I didn’t need to. My former cellmate’s reactions were enough. With the mention of the new name, I mentally set aside the question for later and simply let the silence stand in the room.

And stand it did. As soon as Lady Amelia’s words had finished echoing off the cavernous stone walls, the left over quiet held us all up by the throat. It challenged us to speak in a way so deceitful that none of us dared follow its call. Everyone seemed to know what Lady Amelia had said. They all knew the context behind it. But I would’ve sooner been caught dead than letting my question echo in the void.

Kye lowered her bow slowly. She flicked her eyes up, holding a stare with the head-knight. Fingers twitched as she took the readied arrow and put it back in her quiver. Her shoulders slumped as she did. She wasn’t here to fight anymore.

Kye shook her head. Then she swung the bow over her shoulder and strung it on her back. As soon as she did though, her brow furrowed. I saw determination rushing back.

“Really?” she asked, the single word echoing through the space.

Lady Amelia finally broke the stare. “Yes. The Scorched Earth have returned more powerfully than we expected. And their… activity in the mountains has coincided with the quakes.”

Kye wanted to curse. I saw it painted between the lines on her face. But she held her tongue. And so did I, placing my sword back in its sheath. The soft sound of metal scraping on the scabbard was the last thing I heard before the head-knight continued.

“However,” Lady Amelia said and raised her voice. “The rumors of Rath are nothing more than that. Rumors. False information proliferated by her cult to bring destructive myths back into our minds.” She straightened up. “It has nothing to do with you or your organization.” Color returned to Kye’s face. “So, I suppose we should retrieve what you came for, then.”

The ghost of a smirk floated at Kye’s lips. She nodded. Lady Amelia nodded back, turning toward me and doing the same a second later. I bobbed my head, returning what appeared to be a friendly formality.

The head-knight then pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. She stiffened her posture—however that was still possible given the way she was already standing. The sound of her step forward all but announced her address to the room.

“Knights of Norn,” she started, her voice booming. “I have the obligation to escort these two representatives from Sarin”—she gestured back toward Kye and me—“to a package for their lord. It is in the apothecary’s guild, which is not far. However, given the quake, we can never be too careful. So I will be taking at least two of you with me.”

A soft murmur weaved through the crowd of the knights like a disgruntled snake. Though, it didn’t get loud enough to disrupt their leader. They all listened. A few looked concerned, but just as many of them were poised and prideful. As Lady Amelia cleared her throat, the murmur ground to a halt.

The head-knight scanned the room. “Rik.” She pointed to the large hammer-wielding knight I’d been watching when we entered. “And Vlad.” Her gaze slid over the crowd toward a taller, sword-wielding knight of slimmer build. They both had the same light-blue trim on their armor. “You two are coming with us.”

A smile grew on the face of the hammer-wielding knight. He nodded, sparing self-referential glances toward his peers before walking over. The other knight—Vlad, she’d called him—appeared unfazed. He collected his weapon, sheathed it, and started toward us.

Lady Amelia smiled. “The rest of you stay on high alert.” Her voice dropped lower, still echoing off sleek stone walls. “And start cleaning up the barracks.” A disgruntled murmur spread through the remaining crowd at that. Though it died with a simple glance from their superior. Without any further complaint, the knights got to work.

I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to Kye. Despite the growing smile on my face, I kept the intimidating leader in my peripheral vision. Because with the quake that had just occurred, I had no reason not to be cautious. No reason to trust someone my companion was shaky on to begin with. But flicking my gaze to Kye, I had another topic in mind.

“Who’s Rath?” I asked in a hushed tone.

Kye froze. Her jaw tightened. But after a second, she lent to my ignorance. “A high dragon,” she said. I blinked, images conjuring in my head at the simple mention of a dragon. Kye tilted her head. “The… the first, actually. Supposedly the most powerful of the dragons to ever exist.” Kye rolled her shoulders. “Her draconic soul can conduct and manipulate enough magical energy to split a mountain in half.” Kye swallowed. “As well as raze the remaining rocks to ash, as far as the myths go, anyway. I only know of her from legend… old, unproven, impossible legend.”

I nodded shallowly, trying to store away the information in my head. Licking my lips, I found my mouth dry and coughed. Kye shot me a sideways glance; I waved her off, taking a deep breath as memories streamed back. Stories, myths… legends just like Kye was talking about. We’d had them in Credon—about dragons, even. Though, none specific enough to mention a dragon by name. And none that were true.

The sound of a certain knight clearing her throat brought me out of my thoughts. I straightened, going rigid as fanciful tales faded back into memories. Looking toward Lady Amelia, I saw her staring directly at me. She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head before turning on her heel.

A heartbeat later, we were on our way out. The commanding head-knight dragged her summons along with her. Kye followed behind them. And once again, I fell in line only a step removed as she left, passively dragging me in her wake.

The apothecary’s guild, as was happening often in Norn, was larger than I’d expected. At first mention, I’d assumed the guild building would simply be a medium-sized stone structure that mirrored a bureaucratic office. I’d thought it would serve as the administrative headquarters for the apothecaries, storing supplies and acting as a office where they would organize.

I was quite wrong. Instead of separating the management from its primary workplace as had been common in my home kingdom, the apothecaries in Norn combined them. Which created the enigma of a building that was an oddly functional hybrid of sparse offices and large hospital main spaces. The expansive and elegantly designed structure consisted of the same masterful stonework in its foundation and supports as most other buildings of Norn. But it also used much more wood and glass in its construction, letting in natural light and only adding to the magical tinge that seemed permanent in the air.

Straight from the entrance, the building stretched into a space littered with desks, chairs, and research equipment on one side and a plethora of infirmary beds on the other. Working in tandem with the large windows, intricate sconces sat on nearly every pillar of the building’s interior and gave the area a cozy, golden glow.

From the moment we’d arrived, Lady Amelia had barreled ahead without stop. And as we stormed past the various apothecaries still working or cleaning up damage from the quake, she didn’t appear to be letting up. Watching the dark, strained, and exhausted expressions on the mages around me took away my urge to even look at the other side of the room. The quake would’ve been particularly damaging here, I guessed. In a place that actually cared for real people.

Still though, we marched without hesitation. Nobody stopped Lady Amelia and her guard of knights all the way until we approached a polished wooden door tucked away at the back of the building. Stopping in front of it for only a second, the head-knight glanced around before opening it and leading us inside.

A curious grin sprouted across my lips. The room we walked into looked like a back room—one that wasn’t accessible to the common-folk of Norn. And judging by Lady Amelia’s slower pace along with her increased hesitancy, I wasn’t far from the truth. The space was dark—much darker than the rest of the building had been, and it was lit entirely by firelight without even a single window.

Marching straight as an arrow—despite Kye’s reserved apathy about it all—we made it past the tables and chairs. We walked past the racks of glass vials and notebooks that looked completely unharmed. Almost as though the room had been completely detached from the destruction of the quake outside. I shook a shiver off my spine, eying the knights ahead. Even though I trusted them more than my companion did, I couldn’t help the sense of unease that scratched at my neck.

All at once, we stopped. I blinked, twisting forward to see the clean-cut stone brick that made up the back wall of the room. There, embedded in the rock, was a metal box. Made of what appeared to be matte, unpolished steel. It looked locked shut, and it didn’t have a handle or any other mechanism of which to open it.

Lady Amelia stepped toward it. The lack of such things didn’t deter the head-knight.

For a moment, I considered opening my mouth. I considered rattling off a question about the room we were in, the box she was attempting to open, or what package Arathorn had even requested. Yet I found myself pursing my lips instead. Unable or unwilling to disobey the will of the silence.

Lady Amelia took a deep breath. The simple sound reverberated off the smooth stone walls. She extended her hand and pressed it firmly against the surface of the safe. Instinctually taking a step back, my unease thickened. My eyes flicked around, and everything felt… wrong. I’d assumed she was trying to open the box, but—

Movement. I widened my eyes, turning and scouring the wall. Still standing before the metal box, Lady Amelia’s face contorted. It became pained. Tense. Drawn. As though she was focusing on something I wasn’t aware of.

Movement. Again. I furrowed my brow and dropped a hand to my sword. As far as I could tell, the motion was coming from the wall. From out of the stone itself. But when I watched it, all I saw was grey. Stark, motionless grey. Then the movement came again as a stream of slight tremors through the rock.

The stone was moving, I realized. Not shaking. This wasn’t a quake again. But it was trembling in coordinated, squared lines as though a worm was burrowing between spaces in the compact rock. The recognition of it made all of the tremors obvious and revealed the stone wall almost as something living. A sort of creature with energy pulsing through its veins, each leading in lines toward the metal safe. They worked in tandem with the subtle movements of Lady Amelia’s fingers.

I stared in awe at the display of magic. The display of manipulating energy to change the world itself. It was the kind of magic foretold in myths in my home kingdom. The kind supposedly long lost to time. But things were different here, I reminded myself. Especially that which I’d thought impossible before my first encounter with the beast.

A soft click echoed through the space.

My lips parted as questions rose to my tongue. As thoughts raced through my mind and started my imagination running wild, I wanted to confirm what I thought. I wanted to know about Lady Amelia and her magical abilities. After living in Ruia for more than a month, I knew far more about magic than most scholars from my past life. But it still wasn’t enough. If I wanted to make the beast pay, I needed more than that. I’d wanted experience, after all. And knowledge came directly with that.

I straightened up. “What kind of—“

Lady Amelia turned, her eyes straining not to widen and her face flushed faintly pale. Her stiff and worried posture cut me off before she’d even spoken.

“It’s gone.”

Beside me, Kye shook her head. She stepped forward and glared at the head-knight, her fingers already twitching toward the bow on her back. “What do you mean it’s gone?”

Lady Amelia turned to her. Brown eyes met Kye’s with a gaze of pure ice. “I mean it’s gone. My statement was as simple as that.”

Kye squinted, furrowing her brow. That obviously didn’t sit well with her. “How can it just be gone? Isn’t this safe well-guarded? Our lord’s package was extremely important to—“

“I know,” Lady Amelia interrupted. She cut Kye off before the huntress could ramp up. “This room is kept unknown. It is guarded by both physical and magical means.” The head-knight glanced back at the now-open safe. In the middle of empty air sat an equally empty holder for some kind of vial or sample. Lady Amelia clenched her jaw. “The package was here. But it isn’t anymore.”

I heard the force in every word—the anger bubbling just under the surface. She hadn’t been expecting the package to go missing, then. She’d expected to come into this room, retrieve it, and send us on our way. I could see it all in the stunned concern painted between the lines on her face. She’d wanted to deliver it, I realized. And yet…

Unease scratched again on my neck. I sneered, grasping for my sword as I strained myself. Perking my ears and sharpening my eyes, the unease only heightened its presence. Something was off.

And I could tell I wasn’t the only one to feel it either. Beside me, Kye stopped as well. Her glare softened toward the head-knight and she stepped back. Light air drifted out from her only a moment later as energy swirled in her eyes and she started casting. As she started straining her ears and concentrating on… something.

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. Blood roared in my ears.

A slam.

My blood ran cold, flooding with white-hot steel as I whipped around. My fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword, tearing it out of its scabbard as quickly as I could. Scanning the other side of the room, I took a deep breath. I was not getting caught off guard this time.

Flicking my eyes to the wooden door, I furrowed my brow. It was… closed. Motionless and undisturbed, exactly as we’d left it when we’d entered. There was nobody there. Nobody who had entered. Though, possibly someone who had exited. The simple fact that I didn’t know, though, was what irked me the most. I gritted my teeth and hunched over, battle stances already playing before my eyes.

“You mortals never learn,” a voice whispered. Cold, sinister, and ever-present. I shuddered, stiffening up as the woods both echoed off the walls and off the inside of my skull. It wormed its way into my consciousness and taunted me. I bit down harder, trying to shrug the sound away.

Steeling myself, I dragged my gaze across the room as smoothly as possible. I searched every shadow, corner, or crevice I could find. Yet… there wasn’t anyone there.

“Doing what you do… it cannot go unpunished,” the voice whispered again. It seemingly enveloped the entire space, staying at the same volume despite pressing in from all sides. I pursed my lips, latching onto its words as best that I could. Partially so that I could understand what it was saying, but also so that I could picture their source and imagine tearing them to shreds. But no matter how much I focused on it, I couldn’t find anything else. No other information or direction that it had—

The corner.

I froze, darting my eyes over. There, appearing almost out of thin air to lean against the wall like he’d gotten bored of existence, was a man. Tall with tanned skin and fiery red hair, the man smirked. His eyes flicked over to us, glaring in an instant and almost holding our collective attention in the palm of his hand.

My eyes widened. My heart thundered. My mind spun, lurching into action as I scanned over the man to take stock of his form. After all, I had no idea of how long he’d even stay standing in the physical world. Judging from his standard cloth pants and a tunic that were both lined in sharp orange, he almost looked ordinary. But that connection stopped as soon as I saw his ash-black boots that appeared to wriggle around on their own. I swallowed, my gut tying into knots. Then, as if on cue, the man gestured out to all of us, pointing with metal gauntlets that looked to be made of permanently scorched steel.

I clenched my jaw. My breathing accelerated. And no matter how long I stared at the arrogant man, his smirk didn’t go away. His piercingly contrasting blue eyes tore through my soul as though he already knew everything about me.

Well, everything about him made me sick.

“Who the hell are you?” someone said behind me. I turned, recognizing Lady Amelia as she took a step forward.

The red-haired man chuckled, the sound worming into my consciousness like an invasive parasite. I turned, watching as he took his sweet time to respond. “I would say that is none of your concern… But I guess it really is, isn’t it?”

“So who the fuck are you?” Kye asked. Her eyes flared with energy as she started casting even more furiously, already notching an arrow in her bow.

The man didn’t chuckle this time. He only stared for a moment. Mocking. Baiting. Taunting us with the simple fact that he was alive. “My name is Keris, if that is what you were requesting. But I feel like you would like more.” None of us showed a response to that. We didn’t even offer an ounce of satisfaction.

Keris’ smirk dropped as he watched us carefully. The blue in his eyes sharpened. “I am here to correct an injustice,” he said, cutting straight through his own bullshit. “You took something from the mother, and I am simply allowing it to be returned.” He glared anew, burning hatred punctuating his gaze. “And making sure it is not taken again.”

I stopped, stepping back half in confusion and half under the weight of his stare. Taking a breath, I ventured it was more of the former. Because I didn’t know who the hell the red-haired man was and yet he was accusing me. He was claiming that I’d stolen something from him. Even when I’d done nothing of the sort.

I blinked and shook my head. The realization came down like a crumbling mountain.

And Kye seemed to come to the same conclusion. She whipped back toward Lady Amelia and growled. “What exactly was that package?”

Lady Amelia hesitated, her eyes flicking back and forth between the ranger and the imposing man who boiled my blood. Grinding her teeth, she stepped toward us. “Dragon’s blood,” she whispered and brought an end to the longest moment of my new life.

The world around me slowed. It ground to a screeching halt as her words echoed in my head, bringing up too many related ideas to count. Dragon’s blood? How did they get dragon’s blood? I swallowed, only adding to the lump in my throat. Why did Arathorn need dragon’s blood?

Beside me, Kye straightened up. She swallowed her curses and drew the arrow in her bow further back, still aiming at the intruding man.

“And too much of it too,” a voice said right next to me. I jumped, snapping my head back to the actual threat in the room. The man—Keris, he’d called himself—smirked. “It does not fare well for you to be getting on her bad side when her ire is so near.”

A brief, splitting wave of mental pain. It sliced through my brain like a million pinpricks before falling away and leaving both confusion and anger in its wake. I glared back at Keris, the hairs on my neck standing on end. Something about what he’d said was… wrong. It reminded me of something so familiar yet far away it was as though I was seeing the future. Shaking my head at all of it, I let my eyes bore into the grey cloth of his tunic.

Keris chuckled, the laugh morphing into a demonic cackle in short time. “Although,” he started, rolling his metal-clad wrist. “You are almost no threat to me. As I am sure you would all agree.”

The corners of his lips tweaked upward. A motionless glass vial shattered across the room from him. I flicked my eyes to it, fighting them not to widen too far. Keris’ lips tweaked downward again, and another vial broke in time.

“Then let us leave,” Kye said, her voice slowly losing life as the man revealed the extent of his power. The dread I’d felt before ceased being an itch and transformed into a scar that reminded me all too well of how screwed we all are.

Instead of giving her a response, Keris laughed. His laugh quickly warped into a cackle. At once, the color of his eyes changed, shifting out of piercing blue at the edges and turning to a color that reminded me only of an undying flame. And then his cackle picked up, booming throughout the room as my vision was filled with light.