Rainer felt something was off the moment he woke up. Maybe it was his many years of experience or perhaps it was a side effect from being around so much magic so often, regardless Rainer had a distinct feeling that something was wrong.

Yesterday had been a decisive victory, a victory that had come at the cost of some tired magic casters alone. A part of Rainer was both disturbed and disgusted with how the battle was won, after all killing a man should be a personal thing not some mass slaughter from a distance, but he couldn’t argue with the results. The demigod had promised an overwhelming victory and she had delivered that in spades. Rainer could complain about that, and neither could the rest of the army’s leadership.

Carefully maneuvering around his command tent Rainer found himself strapping on his training gear by sheer habit alone. A faint grin crossed his face at his unconscious actions, he was approaching forty years of age now yet at times he still felt like the young squire that needed to practice each morning. It lent credence to that old saying, you’re only as old as you feel. Of course, Rainer’s access to multiple skilled mages who would happily keep their “Father” healthy and spry might have helped things as well.

Grabbing a training blade and adjusting the leather bracer on his left arm Rainer left his tent. Outside he was immediately flanked by two of his knights and one of his slaves, though Rainer tried very hard not to think of them as slaves too often. It was easier on everyone involved if he didn’t treat the kids as slaves, but Rainer couldn’t bring himself to see them as his children either. The middle ground Rainer had found was treating the mages as he would particularly gifted squires training under him, and so far that seemed to be working wonders.

In truth Rainer was more than a little uncomfortable with acting as surrogate father to his slaves, and the personality quirks his slaves had developed hadn’t helped matters much. Out of all of them Rainer felt that Josh was the most normal, though the boy’s eating habits and predatory nature could be unnerving to those unfamiliar with him. Maybe that was why Rainer kept Josh by his side instead of one of the more spell oriented mages under his charge.

Glancing at Josh as he walked he noted how the boy was moving. Josh didn’t so much walk as he did prowl, his every movement radiated a grace usually only seen in big cats. The yellow eyes that peaked out from behind the boy’s long messy hair seemed to size up everything they saw. Rainer knew that Josh used his magic to enhance and alter his physical body and abilities, the boy could probably overpower men three times his scrawny frame’s size. Rainer had always thought that Josh would make one hell of a knight, and the rest of his company shared Rainer’s evaluation of the boy.

Trying to mask his internal worry Rainer asked the question.

“Josh, did you find out what sort of ritual our… guest conducted last night?”

The demigod worried Rainer, she always had despite the assurances his superiors had made that she wouldn’t be an issue. Despite all his talent and skill Rainer was still a man, a mortal and unmagical man at that, so being so close to a person with the blood of gods flowing in their veins was unsettling to say the least. He may have granted his permission to the demigod to conduct her ritual on the camp grounds, but he didn’t trust her farther than he could throw her. He had sent Josh to observe and discover whatever he could from the ritual as the demigod cast it.

Josh merely nodded.

“Sarah or Lux would have been better, but I did manage to figure out the gist of it. The ritual was some sort of cleansing thing, making the mana around the camp denser and cleaner. It also seemed to draw in lots of the ambient mana too. My guess is that spell yesterday drained her damn near dry, and this was a way for her to recharge quickly.”

Rainer considered that for a moment. It was true that Josh’s magic tended to be more physical and as such he was less skilled at the more mystical arts than the others, but Josh was the one that Rainer trusted the most out of all seven. Sarah and Lux might have been able to tell him more, but Sarah’s obsessive nature made Rainer hesitant to use her for much outside of combat and Lux had disobeyed an order for the first time making him an uncertain factor as well. That left Josh or Carter, and Carter had little experience with magical espionage.

Still as long as the demigod wasn’t posing a danger to the camp Rainer didn’t really need to know much more about whatever she did. The business of the gods and their children was above his pay grade as far as Rainer was concerned.

***

Rainer ducked a wild swing and stepped into his opponents guard, the overextended swing went harmlessly past him as he jammed his blunted blade into the leather guard piece protecting his opponent’s chest. It would have been a killing blow in a real fight, of that Rainer was certain.

Stepping back and letting his opponent catch their breath Rainer started his evaluation.

“Your technique got sloppy as the match wore on, you started creating more openings than you could ever hope to keep covered and you stopped making feints. Still that overhead chop of yours has improved, damn near dislocated something parrying that away…”

Rainer grinned at the young knight in front of him. Haner was a new addition to Rainer’s company but the young man was shaping up to be an excellent knight. That was for the best as Rainer only allowed the best to work with him and his men, it was how he had forged the Steel Lions into the top knight company in all of Avalon. Maybe even all of Eden as well.

Rainer commanded five hundred knights in total, his lions as he liked to call them, and another three hundred squires and trainees on top of that. Those numbers coupled with the seven slave mages assigned to him made the Steel Lion knight company all but unstoppable, and a huge asset for the kingdom’s use during a war.

“Josh, why don’t you show Haner here how far he still has to come before he can call himself a true lion.”

Rainer stepped out of the training ring and saw that the crowd around the ring parted for the scrawny yellow eyed young man. All of the lions knew Rainer’s charges, and all of them treated the mage slaves with a healthy dose of respect. More than a few times these men had been personally saved by one of the seven mage slaves, and all knew that each of the seven were combat proficient. Even still, the lions treated Josh with more respect and awe then they did the other six. To the Steel Lion knight company Josh was a member in all but name, and the boy’s fierce temperament and wild fighting style made him one of the strongest members in the company. Rainer even knew that his men whispered that Josh was unbeatable in physical combat, that nothing outside of magic could stop the young man.

Rainer honestly couldn’t ask for a better example to push his knights to greatness, nor had he found a better method to break in a new recruit than to send them into a match with Josh. If they survived in one piece then the knight was lion material, if they didn’t… Well if they didn’t then Lux would get more practice putting people back together. It was a win-win situation as far as Rainer cared.

Settling into the crowd to watch the latest match Rainer felt a sudden sense of unease. This was a scene he’d seen countless times before, yet something about it still bothered him. Rainer shook of the thought and decided it was simply a case of too much wine the night before.

Rainer watched as Josh approached Haner in an unhurried prowl, Haner put up his guard like any good knight would but he was obviously unfamiliar with Josh’s fighting style. Seemingly without raising any sort of guard Josh approached the knight and slowly began to reach out with his left hand. Haner made a preemptive swipe at Josh’s hand with his blunted sword, but the blade found only air. Almost faster than the eye could follow Josh had ducked under the swipe and moved in close to Haner. A hand with a grip of steel grabbed Haner by the face and suddenly the young knight was smashed flat into the packed dirt headfirst.

Haner was unconscious, understandable really. At least the young knight’s head was still intact, it was clear that Josh held back so as not to hurt the man.

Rainer bit back a sigh. It could hardly be called a match let alone a spar, but that was usually the case when Josh entered the ring. Only the most senior knights could put up any sort of fight with the boy, and Rainer himself was unsure if he could win a match with Josh. It was one of the reasons that Rainer and Josh no longer sparred.

Haner was in one piece and didn’t appear to have any shattered bones, that was equivalent to a ringing endorsement for the young knight. Soon enough Lux would have Haner back on his feet and Rainer could get back to deciding where he wanted to position the young knight.

Rainer froze. Suddenly he noticed what was bugging him earlier, Lux was nowhere in sight. Usually the boy would be standing front and center at the ring to watch the various practice matches and heal the seriously injured, but today Lux wasn’t here. Rainer thought back to early yesterday morning, it had been the first time Lux had disobeyed an order so Rainer had used the slave crest to punish the boy. Perhaps Lux was still upset about that, Rainer might have to talk with the boy and address this before it grew into some larger issue. One of the first things Rainer’s superiors had warned him about before he was allowed to act as master to a unit of slave mages was to keep the slaves happy and loyal. Rainer couldn’t allow small issues to grow into larger problems, and he certainly couldn’t allow one of his charges to develop resentment or a grudge.

Rainer turned to call for a runner to fetch Lux when the screams started.

Josh was by his side in an instant, the young man’s head tilted up as he scented the air. Rainer looked at the mage just as the surrounding men turned to seek out the yellow eyed youth as well. Josh looked up and Rainer felt as if those slit pupils stared into his very soul as the young man spoke.

“I smell rot and death. Probably undead, lots of undead. Coming from the west…”

Rainer nodded and looked out at the men gathered around him, his men. His lions.

“Well, you heard our mage... What the fuck are you lot still doing standing here!?”

With that there was a flurry of movement as knights rushed to find their equipment and head into battle.

***

Rainer found himself standing between Carter and Ike watching a battle unfold before him while all the while wishing he was in the thick of it swinging his blade alongside his men. There were disadvantages to being in a position of command, and being forced to stay out of the fighting was one of them in Rainer’s opinion.

“Where did they even come from…”

Rainer didn’t expect an answer as he oversaw the last of the undead get swept aside without much trouble, still it didn’t surprise him when one of his charges spoke up. However, what was said floored him.

“Looks like Lux made them, but it was a really sloppy job. More wishing with mana then actual spellwork…”

Ike spoke with a confidence that told Rainer he didn’t doubt his statement in the least. Ike wasn’t any good at necromancy, but he could read mana signatures with a skill that was almost uncanny, Rainer couldn’t really doubt him if the boy said that this was Lux’s doing. That didn’t change the fact that Rainer was shocked though, this all seemed to come out of left field. Lux sending unsupervised and feral undead into the camp could be taken as an attack against Avalon, in short it was treason. Rainer couldn’t imagine why Lux would do something like that when he was one of the more loyal of Rainer’s charges.

“Why? Why would that kid do something like this…”

Ike turned and looked at Rainer, and to Rainer’s eyes it seemed that the boy was confused.

“Why? Isn’t it obvious? Lux doesn’t like being a slave so he chose to forget that he was one in the first place, yesterday you reminded him by using his crest for a punishment. Lux probably hates you for reminding him of what he was trying to forget and decided to leave, the undead were likely sent here to distract you from calling him back…”

Rainer knew that Ike liked to dig around in peoples’ heads, most of the time Ike knew what was going on more clearly than anyone else around him but he never seemed to share his insight without prompting. Of all of Rainer’s charges Rainer understood Ike the least and feared him the most. At that very moment Rainer thought of simply killing Ike, it was a mix of frustration at the situation and that ever present fear that Rainer felt whenever Ike was around him that made the idea appealing. Still it was an unrealistic thought. The other slaves were close to Ike for whatever reason and killing the kid would throw the whole of Rainer’s carefully established dynamic out of whack.

Still Lux was a problem, and that boy would certainly be deserving of severe punishments for his actions today. Rainer could easily just vent his negative emotions on Lux during the boy’s punishment, that way he wouldn’t have to worry about how others saw his actions. Lux was very bad so Rainer had to make sure he was suitably punished, not even Sarah and her overprotective nature would be able fault Rainer for being a bit cruel in how he punished Lux for this.

Focusing his attention on the link between his mind and the slave crest belonging to Lux that usually went ignored deep within his subconscious Rainer tried to activate the crest’s punishment function. Rainer didn’t feel a response from the link, so he tried to activate the recall command that was part of the crest’s core programming. Again there was no response.

It was like Lux was dead.