Chapter 37 - Duty of a Defender.
A few hours before the final events in the Great Forest.
Daylight streamed through the high window of the guest chambers in a sharp, even beam, grazing the edge of the desk, a neat stack of papers, and an unsealed envelope bearing the Aisengard crest.
Fray stood motionless, his back to Schtance. He held the unfolded letter in both hands, reading it one last time with methodical focus. Then, he slowly rolled the parchment and set it down on the desk. He shifted his gaze to the window, scanning the tiled roofs of Ockhaven and the spires of the eastern quarter framed against a pale, cloudless sky.
"Ørkgo, marskjål imperøbefaled nøsvi ambølir øksut nuncønå øk scrutøgransk finøformål."
[So, the Marshal ordered us to move out immediately and investigate the objective] Schtance said from behind him. Her voice was flat, pitched slightly lower than usual.
"Signøbety dørk nøsvi-is prøførst missøoppdrag er sekundøndre?"
[Does this mean our primary mission is taking a backseat?]
Fray didn’t move, letting the silence hang for a moment.
"Dørk vidøse rectøkorrekt."
[It appears so] he finally replied.
"Sekørsikr Aisengard-is totøll søvramakt øk scrutøgransk potensømulig perøkulis anomølavvikar er prøførst necessøvend."
[Securing Aisengard’s absolute supremacy and investigating potentially dangerous anomalies takes precedence.]
He turned to face her. His eyes were resolute, devoid of any hesitation.
"Tempøtid tøl initøstart."
[It’s time to begin.]
The second-tier corridor was deserted in the daylight hours, the servants were occupied in the lower halls, and the guards held the outer perimeter. Consequently, Aurey’s footsteps echoed with a crisp, rhythmic cadence against the flagstones.
He walked at a measured pace, a hand resting habitually near his belt. Suddenly, a flicker of movement outside the window caught his periphery. He stopped dead, his boot hovering inches above the next stone, and snapped his head toward the glass.
Two figures clad in black double-breasted coats with sharp red trim were blurring across the adjacent rooftop. They bounded along the very ridge of the roof with precise, rhythmic leaps, their trajectory locked strictly south, straight toward the Great Forest.
Aurey’s eyes went wide. He took three quick steps back, stabilized his stance, and sprinted straight at the window. In a fraction of a second, his body dissolved into a dense plume of black smoke with jagged, razor-sharp edges. The mass erupted through the glass, shattering the wooden frame with a deafening crash.
The black entity surged along the exterior wall, sweeping over the courtyard just out of arm’s reach. It shot through the arched gateway, forcing the startled guards to dive out of the way, before slipping through a fissure in the outer wall and bursting into the open fields, rapidly accelerating.
Hart was just crossing the courtyard, a stack of papers tucked under his arm, when the sharp splintering of wood from above made his head snap up.
A dense black cloud tore through the air at the second-tier level, letting out a prolonged hiss as it banked toward the southern wall. Hart tracked it with a tense glare, his brow furrowing deeply, neither the speed nor the direction of that flight sat well with him.
The two Aisengarders halted atop the outermost ring of the fortress walls in absolute silence. Fray stepped off the precipice first, not even bothering with a running start. Schtance followed without a second’s hesitation. A moment later, two heavy, perfectly controlled impacts struck the earth a second apart.
They straightened up in flawless synchronization, devoid of any wasted motion.
The gate guards whirled toward the sound, exchanging wary glances. Less than fifty yards from the gates stood two figures in uniform, attire that bore absolutely no resemblance to the Ockhaven guard.
“Hey, you! What are you doing out here?” one of the guards shouted, taking a bold step forward.
Neither Fray nor Schtance afforded him so much as a glance. They turned seamlessly toward the forest and took a few strides forward. But in the next fraction of a second, a dense black mass plummeted from the sky directly into their path. It slammed into the dirt with a violent crack, scattering a shockwave of thick smoke in all directions. Just as swiftly, the smoke condensed, molding into a solid silhouette that materialized into Aurey, his dark cloak still billowing as it settled around his boots.
“I see you decided to stick your noses where they don’t belong” he said.
Schtance locked him in a cold, unblinking stare, her features carved from stone. Fray mirrored her stoicism, gazing dead ahead without a twitch of exertion. Behind Aurey, the guards exchanged bewildered looks, entirely unsure of who was supposed to be in charge.
“We deemed it more practical to assist the Queen, rather than sit here and—”
“Cut the bullshit” Aurey snapped.
“I know exactly why you’re heading out there. And I know why you threw the match against Aren during the tournament. So I’ll make this simple: take one more step, and you’ll deeply regret your arrogance.”
Schtance’s eyes narrowed into slits of razor-sharp focus. Fray, however, suddenly jerked his head up, staring past Aurey’s shoulder.
A wave of nervous agitation rippled through the guards. The metallic clatter of armor, hushed shouts, and the pounding of rapid footsteps echoed back toward the nearest outpost.
Slowly, Aurey pivoted on his heel and cast his gaze toward the Great Forest.
Massive, pitch-black pillars of smoke were churning heavily against the bright sky above the treeline. Deep within the dense canopy, cutting through the smog, rapid bursts of bluish-white light flickered incessantly, looking terrifyingly like erratic lightning strikes.
"My Queen…" the thought flared sharply in Aurey’s mind.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Fray fixed his eyes on Aurey’s exposed back and made the only tactical choice available.
He exploded forward. A concussive blast of steam erupted from his sudden launch, hammering the dirt and forcing the guards behind them to stagger back. Fray closed the distance to Aurey in a fraction of a second, launching a devastating punch straight at his spine.
With lightning reflexes, Aurey twisted from his hips. His hand blurred to his hilt, drawing the blade halfway from its scabbard, and caught the incoming strike with the broad, flat side of the steel.
The block held, but the sheer kinetic force blasted right through it. Aurey was sent flying backward through the air, landing in a deep crouch and skidding backward, his boots tearing a long, violent trench through the dirt of the open plain before he finally ground to a halt.
Bleeding off the momentum, Aurey snapped upright. He drew his sword completely with one fluid, ringing scrape of metal, and dropped into a combat stance.
Fray and Schtance exchanged a brief glance. They bent their knees slightly, and a building, dual-toned sound emanated from beneath the thick fabric of their military trousers, first, the sharp hiss of venting pressure, followed immediately by the deep, resonant mechanical hum of their prosthetics.
They propelled themselves off the ground in perfect unison. Steam-powered bursts cratered the earth where they stood, launching them dozens of yards through the air. They slammed into the dirt much closer to Aurey, landing with that same terrifying, calculated rigidity.
The guards broke into a run to assist him, but Aurey instantly roared:
“STAY OUT OF THIS!!!... FALL BACK TO OCKHAVEN AND LOCK THE GATES! THAT IS AN ORDER!!!”
The guards faltered, exchanging bewildered looks as they failed to grasp the logic behind his command. But when Schtance threw a cold, murderous glare over her shoulder, the debate ended. The soldiers immediately turned and bolted back into the city, sealing the southern gates behind them.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Aurey shifted his weight to his back leg and leveled his blade, pointing the tip straight ahead at chest height as he dropped into an impenetrable defensive stance.
He exhaled slowly through his teeth, locking his eyes on Fray, then Schtance, and back to Fray. His entire demeanor broadcasted one simple truth: they were not getting past him into the Great Forest.
"Ørk vøl tractøhandl hånir."
[I will handle him] Schtance said.
"Nøn."
[No] Fray replied, keeping his eyes fixed on Aurey. Schtance froze mid-step and glanced at him.
"Dørk vøl er rapøraskør øk effiktøvør tøl nødøfekt hånir simølsam. Extrøtillegg, hånir-is magøkraft er totøll difføruk åv normøl Waldruhm virømar. Nøsvi skølv er vigiløvakt."
[It will be faster and more efficient to take him down together. Besides, his magic is fundamentally different from that of ordinary Waldruhm warriors. We must be careful.]
Schtance offered no reply, slowly shifting her gaze back to Aurey.
The two Aisengarders slowly and smoothly fanned out, circling the motionless Aurey in wide, symmetrical arcs. Aurey held his ground, his eyes darting between them, tracking their every footfall.
In the next instant, Schtance abruptly transformed her arm. Her leather glove split along the seam, and the bronze plating beneath reconfigured with a harsh metallic clank, unleashing a dense volley of energy straight at Aurey.
Aurey slipped into a split-second dodge, stepping lightly backward, but Fray perfectly timed this exact movement. Morphing his own arm into an extended blade mid-stride, Fray launched a blistering slashing attack from the second angle.
Aurey gracefully brought his sword up, catching Fray’s attack with a soft, deflecting parry that guided the blade away.
At that moment, Fray felt the shadow beneath his boots moving against the direction of the sunlight. He immediately vaulted backward, clearing the danger zone.
Suddenly, Schtance charged from the opposite flank, delivering a sweeping strike with her mechanical arm-blade. Aurey violently parried the blow, forcing her arm to recoil, and instantly countered with a devastating spinning kick.
She caught his incoming leg in an iron grip, twisted it with her wrist, and retaliated with a straight thrust kick dead into his chest.
Aurey dissolved into thin air a fraction of a second before impact. The dark cloud swept sideways in a tight arc, reforming into his silhouette a short distance away.
He took one more measured step back, assessing the two Aisengarders. Fray and Schtance held the copper blades of their transformed arms at the ready, locking them into a tense combat stance.
Aurey tightened his grip on the hilt of his black sword. The runes engraved into the steel slowly filled with a thick purple aura, which immediately bled across the entire length of the blade.
The Aisengarders instantly registered the shift, making micro-adjustments to their stances. A heavy, ringing silence fell between the three figures as each waited for the other to make the first move.
In the next heartbeat, Fray and Schtance burst into a blistering sprint from two different angles. Aurey drew his sword back over his left shoulder in a wide wind-up, then viciously slashed forward, unleashing a massive, crescent-shaped wave of purple-black energy right from the blade.
Both Aisengarders immediately vaulted in opposite directions, letting the devastating crest of the shockwave pass right between them.
While still airborne, Schtance managed to raise her mechanical arm to intercept a high-leaping Aurey, who was already coming down on her with an overhead strike.
The black sword bit several inches deep into her metallic armor plating. The sheer kinetic momentum of the blow sent Schtance flying backward, but she touched down in a wide slide, instantly recovering her combat stance without losing her balance.
Aurey landed hard on his feet and instantly brought his sword up to meet an incoming energy volley from a charging Fray. The searing blast merely grazed the dark blade, knocking Aurey back with a minor but palpable impulse.
Giving his opponent no time to recover, Fray closed the distance in a flash, delivering an opening overhead chop with his copper blade, throwing the entire weight of his body behind it.
Aurey caught it on a slanted block, smoothly redirecting the incoming momentum aside. But Fray, without breaking the arc of his swing, instantly shifted his trajectory, following up with a diagonal upward slash.
Aurey pivoted on his heel, letting the humming metal pass millimeters from his torso. Fray relentlessly drove a third strike, a direct attack straight from the hip, forcing Aurey to catch it on the flat of his blade, absorbing the sheer force with a rigid block.
In that exact moment, the right section of Fray’s mechanical arm reconfigured into a narrow bayonet, immediately shooting forward in a straight piercing lunge. Aurey swatted it away with a sharp twist of his torso, deflecting the point wide.
Fray instantly harnessed the momentum of his miss, converting it into a wide, horizontal sweep at neck level. But Aurey ducked under the whistling metal, and seamlessly countered with a short, brutal jab, driving the pommel of his sword straight into the lower joint of Fray’s mechanical elbow.
In that split second, Schtance appeared at Aurey’s flank, aiming a devastating downward slash straight at his back. But Aurey once again dissolved into dark smoke. Schtance’s blade cleaved through empty space, its momentum carrying it directly toward Fray’s chest. Fray had to instantly snap his own blade up, blocking his partner’s attack at the absolute last moment.
Schtance hesitated for merely a fraction of a second, just enough time for Aurey to materialize at her right side and deliver a crushing punch straight to her face. She staggered back with a harsh wheeze.
Fray immediately capitalized on the opening, driving a devastating kick straight into Aurey’s abdomen and sending him flying a good thirty feet across the dirt.
He gave his mechanical arm a quick shake, testing his elbow joint for structural damage, while Schtance spat a wad of blood onto the ground. She wiped her split lip with one sharp motion, smearing a scarlet trail across her cheek.
Aurey, meanwhile, slowly drew himself up. He took a short, ragged breath, feeling a dull ache radiating through his abdomen, beneath the thick fabric of his Aisengard trousers, Fray’s leg was also entirely mechanical, giving the blow a staggering amount of weight.
Fray narrowed his eyes slightly, noting that Aurey's hands were completely empty. But a moment later, a dark blade began to slowly materialize in his grip out of a swirling, smoky substance, coalescing into solid steel right before their eyes.
Fray muttered, his gaze locked on the manifesting weapon.
"Hmm… intøresspenn…"
[Hmm… interesting…]
He continued in a flat tone, still not looking back at Schtance.
"Ørk initøstart tøl comprøforstå kvømåte hånir-is magøkraft operøs. Dørk vidøse kvørquis hånir-is aptøevne habøhar spesøfikk limøtgrense øk frigøned."
[[I am beginning to understand how his magic operates. It appears each of his abilities has a specific limit and a cooldown.]
"Ørk observøiakttaed."
[I noticed] Schtance replied.
"Hånir nøn kånne evadøunn nøsvi-is angrepøtar sempøralltid møkum dematørsvinnøng. Aptøevne sømilis dørk dubiøtvilløs ponølegg koløssal pressøstress supå hånir-is nervåtur. Kvåndo hånir nøn kånneed distøavstand sølfse longølang postøtter hånir-is ultøsist dekløvik, øk nøn kånneed evadøunn ørk-is slågikt totøll, dørk signøbety hånir-is pandørm er limøtgrenset ån kvånmye enørgikraft dørk kånne konvørt ån spesøfikk tempøtid."
[He cannot evade our attacks forever by dematerializing. An ability like that undoubtedly places a colossal strain on his nervous system. Given that he couldn't distance himself far enough after his last dodge, and couldn't avoid my strike at all, it means his Pandorum is limited in how much energy it can convert within a specific timeframe] Fray added.
Fray unhurriedly drew himself up to his full height, the gears of his mechanical arm clanking as it reconfigured back into a combat blade.
"Nøsvi vøl viksør tøvvo resultømar møkum ønnus slågikt. Nøsvi urgøpress angrepøt durøunder hånir-is frigønedar, øk synkrønt urgøpress hånir-is pandørm tøl søvralad hånir-is sentrøsentral nervåtur—"
[We will kill two birds with one stone. We press the attack during his cooldowns, and simultaneously force his Pandorum to overload his central nervous sys—]
Fray cut off mid-word, suddenly sensing a presence behind him. He violently threw his blade up, blocking a massive downward slash from the rear.
Schtance whirled around in shock, but Aurey was already right behind her, having somehow bridged the distance between them in a fraction of a second.
She barely managed to throw her blade up into a desperate block, but the kinetic force of Aurey’s strike was so immense that her metal blade shattered in half with a deafening crack, spraying shrapnel in all directions. Without losing an ounce of momentum, Aurey followed through with a devastating roundhouse kick to her stomach, launching Schtance far off to the side.
Behind Fray stood a dark replica of Aurey, woven entirely from the dense black substance and mirroring the exact contours of his silhouette.
The clone attacked with the same inhuman speed and ferocity as the original, but with every block Fray made, a bizarre sensation traveled up his arm, the feeling of striking a dense, heavy mass that actively absorbed kinetic momentum.
Fray glided backward, dodging straight thrusts and rigidly parrying lateral strikes, his mind constantly analyzing his opponent's behavioral patterns.
Realizing the shadow blade was overpowering his stance in head-on clashes, Fray abruptly shifted tactics. He abandoned hard blocks entirely, relying strictly on intercepts and deflections to redirect the phantom's weight.
Three times the smoky clone broke through his guard, pressing the Aisengarder to the brink, but each time Fray managed to break the distance, using his mechanical arm as a rigid lever to push himself back.
On the fourth breach attempt, Fray perfectly anticipated the angle of attack. He pivoted sharply, letting the dark blade whistle a millimeter past his torso, and then threw his entire body weight into a brutal slash straight through the center of the shadow figure.
The dark substance instantly split along the cut, dissolving into settling smoke and briefly engulfing the air around Fray.
Fray spun around just in time to see Aurey, dozens of yards away, rapidly closing the distance on Schtance. She was holding her ground in the distance, laying down heavy suppressive fire from her prosthetic arm, which she had reconfigured into an energy cannon on the fly.
Finally, Schtance touched down in a backward slide, coming to a halt shoulder-to-shoulder with Fray, who stood absolutely motionless, studying Aurey with a piercing gaze.
The Queen's Sword, Sir Aurey Dane, also came to a standstill opposite them. He regulated his jagged breathing with deep, measured inhales and returned his body to an impenetrable defensive stance. His right hand held the dark blade raised to eye level, while his gaze, aimed right through the steel, remained perfectly even and utterly cold.
Fray called out loudly across the open expanse separating them.
“You realize that we are adapting to every new trick you throw at us, don't you? ...Do not think we are blind to how much you are exhausting yourself.”
“I could say the exact same about you” Aurey replied, not moving a muscle.
Fray slowly shifted his gaze to Schtance, letting it linger on her for a second. Schtance maintained a grim silence, but her chest was heaving with deep, rapid breaths, the relentless volley of energy blasts was taxing her system with colossal intensity.
Fray looked back at Aurey.
“Don't be a fool. We want nothing from your Queen. Just step aside, and you get to walk away alive.”
Aurey gave a short, humorless chuckle.
“I couldn't care less whether I walk away from this battle alive. The only thing that matters to me is my duty. The duty of a defender. So I will make it abundantly clear to you. You are not getting past me.”
Suddenly, from behind Aurey, from the direction of the Great Forest, a distinct vibration and tremor began to build in the earth. A moment later, the sounds of a ferocious battle reached them, the roar of an erupting blaze and the heavy, echoing crack of ancient trees crashing down.
Fray’s face hardened into stone, his eyes narrowing to slits. Without even turning his head, he spoke to Schtance.
"Deaktivørkøng limøtgrensar."
[Disengaging limiters.]
Schtance shot a quick glance at Fray before locking her eyes back on Aurey.
"Rectorrekt."
[Understood.]
A low, concussive wave of compressed air blasted outward from both Aisengarders simultaneously, violently flattening the grass around them. A steady, piercing light began to bleed through the thick fabric of their military trousers, emanating from the energy crystals embedded deep within their mechanical prosthetics. Immediately after, a faint, hissing trail of steam vented from beneath their collars, rippling down the length of their spines.
In the very next heartbeat, an identical, chillingly artificial blue light ignited in the eyes of both Fray and Schtance, entirely consuming their irises.
Fray uttered a single word, his voice flat, hollow, and utterly devoid of inflection.
“Die.”
Next chapter: Chapter 38: The Cursed Child.