The Blood Blade

  The Devourer and his generals tried to conquer the entire known world. The devourer forced people to work hard hours with no pay and little food to make his paradise. Only the unarmored could stand against him, during the final battle the Devourer was killed and his cursed sword destroyed. His empire fell and the four kingdoms were reborn.

  - Azardian Archives Years 740 – 750

  CHAPTER 1

  “Ezra wake up!” Alex said as he shook his friend awake.

  “I don’t have shift today, leave me alone” Ezra replied as he pulled his covers around him tighter and turned his back towards Alex.

  “We are being overrun now get your ass to moving” Alex said as he yanked the blankets off. “Just got word the entire Fale army has smashed through the border and destroyed Fort Robin. They are headed this way, I could see them from the gates”.

  “My armor” Ezra screamed as he jumped up and started searching for his armor.

  “There is no time Ezra” Alex replied. “They are bound to be here already, our best bet is to flee. Now grab your sword and follow me, almost everyone else has already left. I should have already left but I came for your worthless ass now let's move”.

  Ezra grabbed his sword and followed Alex out of the barracks. He could see men trying to hold the wall but the enemy was steadily streaming in and engaging anyone they could find. Ezra followed Alex to the back gate, an enemy soldier climbed over it and fell to the ground. Ezra pulled out his sword, he was new to the Royal Army but scored near the top of his class in swordsmanship despite just learning the blade three months ago. Outpost Riker was his first duty assignment since graduation from training and a war was happening literally in front of him. Ezra charged towards the man who rolled to his feet, something flew by Ezra quickly, it was one of Alex’s throwing knives which caught the man in the chest. The enemy buckled and Alex threw another knife which caught him in the thigh, Alex was horrible with swords but good with smaller blades, probably due to his former profession. Alex was a thief before he was in the army and always fought with daggers since they were better to fight in close quarters with if he ever was discovered inside of a building. He also kept throwing knives for a ranged weapon, a crossbow or bow and arrow were too bulky. Alex did get captured and was sentenced to the army or the gallows, Alex took the army. Ezra ran forward and ran the enemy through the chest with his sword just as another enemy made his way over the gate. This man kept his footing but was under siege immediately as Ezra was on him. His enemy gave away his movements too easily Ezra thought, his opponent would drop his left shoulder slightly when he was getting ready to swing, Ezra eventually timed him and stabbed him through the neck as the back gate came crashing down. A team of men had a battering ram and had banged open the back gate. A man wearing all red stepped inside, he had a reddish sword and the bottom had of his face was covered in a reddish mask leaving only his eyes and his bald head uncovered. The man raised his sword towards Ezra who readied himself.

  “It’s an Unarmored!” Alex screamed as he held back Ezra. “We can't win this fight”.

  “I can handle myself” Ezra said as he waited for his opponent. Suddenly just looking at the man hurt him, Ezra could feel his eyesight going hazy and his head started hurting a little.

  The man in red looked at him then switched his vision to someone behind Ezra. His red sword flashed and Ezra could see an arrow was cut in half. The next arrow the man in red dodged, then went after the archer. Alex grabbed Ezra and took off running around the man in red. The enemy soldiers streaming in seemed fixed on looting as Alex got them outside the outpost and headed down the road.

  “Take off all of your army shit” Alex said as he started stripping off his clothes. “Azard is done, we aint fighting them boys back there. The Fale has begun their occupation like everywhere else, the only people they kill are the soldiers”.

  “What are we going to do?” Ezra said as he took off his tunic and followed Alex running down the street.

  “Don’t know but we will find something” Alex replied. “I didn’t know the Fale started teaming up with the Unarmored though”.

  “Who are these unarmored you keep talking about?” Ezra asked. “I feel like I should know who they are but my mind is drawing a blank”.

  “I suspect a country boy like you probably never heard of them” Alex said out of breath. “Let’s start walking, If we see anyone we can always hop in the bushes”.

  “On the farm not many things reached me out there” Ezra admitted. “But you were acting like I was going to fight a bull armed only with feather”.

  “You might as well” Alex replied. “The Unarmored are real, I know better than most that they are not to be played with”.

  “You still haven’t told me about the Unarmored” Ezra replied.

  “I think they are some kind of fighting religious group or something, like the Knights of Justice” Alex replied.

  “Who are the Knights of Justice?” Ezra asked.

  “What do you mean who are the Knights of Justice?” Alex said shocked. “Living out on a farm must have kept you sheltered from everything. What do you want to know about first?”

  “The Unarmored” Ezra replied.

  “I don’t know too much about their history” Alex admitted. “But I do know they train to fight, normally they train since birth but they have been known to train older children. Fighting them is impossible except for the best of warriors, you saw how the one in red chopped that arrow out of the air didn’t you?”

  “It could have been luck” Ezra replied.

  “He was far from lucky, that was all skill” Alex replied. “Some people say they have magic powers and can see right through to your soul. Anyway, the magic they supposedly have lets them know how you are about to fight, that Unarmored would have known your moves before you did them. You would have been chopped to pieces in no time”.

  “You believe in magic?” Ezra said as he started laughing. “No one can know my moves before I do them”.

  “The Unarmored can” Alex replied. “And they don’t just take anybody to train either, you have to have that special something they are looking for. A couple of years ago they had a split in their group, they used to be all around but more than half disappeared. They were an odd but friendly group, used to help out the local city watch if things were too rough. The group that left though turned back up wearing masks which covered the bottom half of their face and with a shaved head, even their women had no hair. They immediately started fighting with the other, if you ever saw one of their bouts you never would have dreamed of trying to fight one of them”.

  “You know a lot about the Unarmored” Ezra replied. “I admit though, while I was trying to fight him he did something to my head. I could feel my vision getting cloudy and I had a small headache”.

  “Told you it was magic” Alex smiled. “I cam across the Unarmored when I was stupid enough to try to rob a temple without recognizing what it was. I had my daggers and my throwing knives, the Unarmored was an older woman, her staff had me on my back and gasping for air. It was like trying to fight a swarm of flies, you can see them but you can't land a blow. She called the watch and I was thrown in jail, while in jail Baron Flowers gave me a choice to either join the army for the upcoming war or meet the gallows”.

  “I knew about you being caught but I didn’t know an old woman kicked your ass” Ezra laughed. “Did she hit you with her cane or a bag of dried fruit?”

  “Sod off you knobber” Alex said as he shook his head at Ezra. “You couldn’t have taken her, she was way too fast”.

  “Why do they call them the Unarmored though?” Era asked.

  “Because they wear no armor” Alex replied.

  “No shit” Ezra replied ir
ritated. “Why don’t they wear any armor?”

  “Their power comes from the heart is what a lot of people believe” Alex replied. “The metal blocks their power some kind of way. If they wore armor then they would not have access to thir gift. Everyone of them you see will have no armor, the sword they carry though is what gives everything away”.

  “The red sword?” Ezra asked.

  “No one knows how they got the sword red” Alex explained. “Many blacksmiths have tried adding red dye to a blade, before I was a thief I was an apprentice smith and I have tried it myself. Their blades are just better though, they will tear a normal weapon apart during a good duel. Whatever they do to make their swords red, I wish I knew”.

  “What about the Knights of Jerod?” Ezra asked.

  “The Knights of Justice” Alex replied. “Another group, they follow the Laws of Justice. They are kind of like a religious group except they don’t follow a god really. They follow the teachings of some bloke who died a long time ago. Their headquarters are here in Azard but Knights are all over the place. They are real easy to tell, all Knights have to be a certain height or weight. Only men can be a Knight of Justice and only real big men can, normally they are just tall but they make exceptions for the especially brawny. They walk around wearing thick plate armor and a shield, at all times. Even in the summer you can find them still wearing the same get up, for weapons they have a sword but all of them carry a small mace to deal with anything that has on armor. The Knights of Justice normally help out the various kings or lords in the lands they are in”.

  “So the Knights of Justice and the Unarmored are nothing but groups of crazy people who want to be the law?” Ezra asked. “Why not just join the watch or just make one group”.

  “The Knights hate the Unarmored” Alex replied. “They see the Unarmored as wanna be’s, the Knights used to pick fights with the Unarmored, up until recently the Unarmored were peaceful for the most part. The group of unarmored that are now walking around wearing red, I personally saw one of them kill a Knight of Justice and stick his head on a spike before leaving town before any of the other Knights could find him. There are a lot more Knights of Justice than there are Unarmored, but seeing one of the red Unarmored with the Fale army is scary”.

  “I was brought in the army so quick I don’t really even know much about the Fale” Ezra replied.

  “Well I know all about them” Alex replied. “I know they just want to take things over, only people really suffering will be the nobles. Commoners like us are already getting shitted on, just as long as they don’t treat people like the Devourer and we will be good”.

  “The Devourer?” Ezra said confused.

  “Why am I giving you a damn history lesson while we are on the run for our lives?” Alex asked. “Honestly Ezra, you have to be the dumbest farm boy in all of Azard. Why in the hell would they press you into service and why did you sign up?”

  “I never signed up” Ezra admitted. “I just remember getting kicked by a cow and woke up in a building with some man in an army uniform looking over me. He told me that I am going to join the army like every peasant and they pressed me into service”.

  “What did your Da say?” Alex asked.

  “Don’t know but I bet he was angry” Ezra replied. “Now who is the Devourer? No one is following us and we still have some time before we get to Union”.

  “We aint going to Union, are you daft?” Alex asked as he made a left turn and started walking in the brush. “Those folks in Union will turn us over for being soldiers quickly, the Fale offers rewards for that kind of thing. We are going to Laton, we can keep our head down over there until we know more. When the Azardian army strikes back we can either join back with them or let everyone believe we are dead. No one is going to look too hard for a couple of nobody’s like us, especially since a lot of folks died during that assault”.

  “I am sorry for your loss” Ezra replied. “I had just gotten to this unit, you are the only person I really know”.

  “Don’t you sorry me” Alex replied. “I didn’t like any of them, they knew I was a thief and gave me shit about it the entire time. You are the only friendly face I knew which is why I grabbed only you and made it out of there. They can all rot in the ground for all I care, I won't lose any sleep over them”.

  “So about the Fale” Ezra asked.

  “The Fale are ran by an Emperor” Alex began. “They conquer places and give them a choice, either submit or be destroyed. The Fale Empire are known for being harsh to enemy soldiers, they don’t believe in sparing enemy soldiers under no circumstances. If you try to give yourself up they kill you. If you try to join them, then you are a traitor and they kill you. If they capture you, they kill you. In Laton we just need to find jobs, I can get by on stealing or maybe gambling. Well at least until I can get hired on as a blacksmith, what can you do?”

  “I have only worked on a farm before” Ezra replied.

  “Well you should be able to do all kinds of things” Alex replied. “There is a lot of work to be done on a farm”.

  “I can lift things” Ezra replied. “And milk cows”.

  “Well anyone can do that” Alex replied. “At least you have decent size on you but you are far from the biggest guy I have seen. I’ll find something for us to do, maybe you can help me cheat at gambling, but I am guessing a farm boy like you has never gambled”.

  “How far away is Laton?” Ezra asked. “We still need to get decent clothes, right now we look like two guys who threw off their uniforms. We need new boots and pants, maybe do something about some clothes”.

  “That won't be hard in Laton” Alex replied. “It is a big city and filled with rich people to rip off. We can hide out in the poorer part of town. And I haven't been exactly honest with you”. Alex finished as he pulled out a coin purse.

  “Where did you get that at?” Ezra asked surprised. “You have never had that kind of coin before”.

  “I was the first to see the enemy” Alex replied. “I sounded the alarm and personally ran to Captain Hansel’s room once I saw him yelling directions. I figured an asshat like him wouldn’t be needing this so I took it off him. First thing I have to do is find a leather worker and make myself a custom made vest to keep my throwing knives”.

  “How many do you have left?” Ezra asked. “You were throwing a lot of them during the escape”.

  “I only have two left” Alex said sadly. “I need to get more of those made, that is the other first thing I need to do”.

  “You have mentioned three first things we need to do” Ezra replied. “I say finding some clothes should be first, why don’t we just buy it instead of stealing?”

  “Because the guy we buy them from would sing like a songbird if the Fale is in his face” Alex replied.

  “I thought you said no one would come looking for us” Ezra asked.

  “They wouldn’t be looking for us” Alex explained. “They would eventually be looking for any soldier. Better not take the risk, steal some clothes and burn these. Hopefully there are no Knights of Justice or Unarmored in town. And before you ask, not the Unarmored who walk around wearing red. Any of those Unarmored will give us problems if we are caught thieving”.

  “We just need to stay out of sight then” Ezra replied.

  CHAPTER 2

  Telrin Fallow was once the right hand of the Devourer, after the Devourer’s death, Fallow has continued the Devourer’s Legacy by dismantling the Unarmored and bringing forth a new era of the Sullied.

  -Master Bacco Skey, High Council Member of the Unarmored

  “Keep look out” Alex said as he looked across the street at the grand estate. “You see a big house like that? They always keep their windows on the upper floors unlocked, they don’t believe anyone can get to them. Most thieves can't, but I train for this sort of thing. Take notes, maybe you can be a good thief one day”.

  Ezra watched Alex run across the tree, jump to grab the top of the fence then pull himself over.
Ezra barely slowed down as he sprinted across the lawn ran up the porch and leaped until he could reach the edge of the roof and pulled himself up on the balcony. Alex snuck into a door, just like he said, it was unlocked. Alex was inside for no more than three minutes before he walked out the door carrying some items and leapt over the railing to the ground and landed almost soundlessly. Seconds later the items he was carrying were tossed over the fence, Alex followed soon after.

  “Let’s find a good place to change” Alex said as he handed Ezra the items he was carrying. “I did the hard part, you get to be the pack mule”.

  Ezra followed Alex down the road, once he thought he saw two members of the city watch but it was dark already when they got into Laton. Now though the sun would be coming up soon and they were both tired and needed a place to sleep. After an hour of walking Alex walked up to a house like he owned it. The door was locked but Alex pulled out his dagger, stuck it between the door and the frame and jiggled. The door popped open and Alex motioned for Ezra to follow him. Ezra was hesitant but walked into the house and could see it was empty, sort of. There was furniture but not much and it was scattered, a table, an old stuffed chair and wooden chair. Garbage was all over the floor, not the smelly kind but papers and random clothing items. It looked like someone moved out in a hurry and did not bother to take everything.

  “How did you know this place was empty?” Ezra asked.

  “Because a place like this would have at least had curtains so riffraff won't see in” Ezra replied. “Those are sheets and a blanket hanging over the window, someone in this town must have gotten word and left to travel deeper into Azard. Let's get dressed in here and burn the stuff we have on for heat. It doesn’t look like none of the stuff here we can really use, maybe this is a good place to hide that sword you are carrying around”.

  “Why would I want to hide my sword?” Ezra asked.

  “Because it is the cheap junk any new recruit gets” Alex replied. “But we may need it later, but for now we can't be seen with it. We are going job hunting, maybe not today though, I am tired and the sun will be up in an hour or so. Maybe when we wake up we can get all the things we need and find better housing. Anyone in this neighborhood would know whoever lived here has left, it would be suspicious to see us living here. What we need is a hole in the ground, if it is abandoned even better since we won't have to pay rent, now let's get moving”.