Andrew led the way as they headed back toward the great hall. “Come, it is time to return to Durres.” As they passed into the grand hall, Alexa let out a shocked squeak as two men grabbed her arms from either side. Anika and Andrew spun back to her and Anika drew a dagger. Conner’s two younger brothers held Alexa. “Lookie what we found. A murderous little bitch.” Lord Devos stepped out of the shadows then with a man that Alexa felt bore a striking resemblance to lieutenant Tannis. “Ah, goddess Anika, you saved me a lot of trouble bringing this traitor to me. I thank you. the Praetorian guard has already been summoned. After all, the death of the son of Senator Palmos cannot hardly be overlooked.” “Lord Governor Devos, you will release Alexa now. If you don’t, you will find I am far more than you can afford to offend.” Andrew said coldly. “Son, don’t play here.” Governor Devos said, snapping his fingers. Twenty home guard stepped out of the shadows and surrounded them. General Ezra
The throne room the the High king of Dragard would normally be a bustling place. After all, the kingdom had been at war with the Jerean Empire for over fifteen years, and courtiers, emissaries, and administrators would be flying down the halls all hours of the day and night. Today, however, the room was silent as the king sat pensively staring down at eight of the kingdom's most deadly warriors. The Dragon Squad had earned their stripes, and now stood before him in splendid formal regalia, complete with impressive gold knotwork on their shoulders denoting them as having the highest ranks afforded to officers in the king’s army. The King finally stood, and gestured the warriors forward. “My gods of war, come forward.” The eight stepped forward and bowed low, and saluted fist to heart. Six were men of various heights, and two were striking female warriors, who today had chosen to don their elaborate war paint for the public ceremony. The King loo
Anika, the newly minted goddess of war, made her way onto the private train bound for Placida. She was still in her formal regalia as she was sure the lord governor would find out she was on her way and set up a greeting committee. She groaned at the thought of more public appearances. The black and green war paint she wore made her flame-red hair blaze in stark contrast. As she boarded, she noticed a tall, lean man reclining in one of the few luxury seats aboard, reading a file. At first, all she could make out was a standard field uniform and standard short-cropped brown hair, but just as she was about to question who he was, the man lowered his file. Anika snapped to attention. “Commander!” “At ease, ‘General’ Anika,” came the slightly sarcastic baritone voice. “we know each other better than that. If you are ready, tell the conductor that we are ready to leave, then have a seat.” “Yes, sir!” said Anika, snapping another salute, her tone full of re
The black hoverbike slipped around a corner and flew through intersections. Most people just thought a motorcycle was weaving through traffic. Few realized a high-end, powerful hoverbike was next to them. As the rider neared the port city of Durres, feelings of rightness began to settle on him. It had been 15 years since he first left Durres. Back then he was only a young starving boy of 12 who had just lost his parents. However, despite the pain of memory in this city, coming back now, this place just felt right to him. ‘thinking of making this home?’ said a telepathic voice in his head. ‘yes, Raya, I believe we will call this place home once more. It will take some work, but I think we are up for the challenge.’ Replied Andrew. ‘Andrew, this place… you may be feeling good about it, but it gives me the creeps. There is so much…. Wrong about this place.’ said Raya. ‘There are likely some bad people around. We will
Five men in black formal suits were hurrying over to him as if they expected him to turn to smoke and vanish if they were a second later. This would be people from the Devos family then, thought Andrew. People walking in the park gave way, and many ducked out of the area fearing some sort of police action was underway. Several even tried to hide, not wanting to attract the attention of these imposing men. The men scanned the park and began to fan out as if they had lost track of their prey. Little did they know that Andrew was a master of avoiding detection. The lead suit turned onto the walkway with Andrew's bench only feet away and froze, startled. Andrew was just sitting nonchalantly playing with his phone, but a simple glaring glance from Andrew made it clear he had been aware of the group’s approach the whole time. The leader spoke without introduction “the Devos family master wants you to come back to Vroengard, he has business to
At this time in the heart of Durres, a well-known local family was having a company meeting. The family business group specialized in commercial construction and had part ownership with a well-recognized cosmetic sales subsidiary, among their other various family businesses. The Eisen family was discussing future plans and the patriarch was looking over proposals from his sons for future expansion. At this point in the development of the company, relationships with the right people and companies were essential to secure new contracts. Without strong ties to larger families and their business groups, the Eisen family was unlikely to be able to grow any farther and may even stagnate. Mathew Eisen had been able to build the family to its current Hight on his own. his sons, on the other hand, were less than desirable when it came to business prowess. They were more interested in living off the company’s profits and enjoying life. Each vied for power trying to get more funds, witho
As jay made his way over to the construction site on the outskirts of town, he thought through how to make the workers remember him. He could be cruel, that was easy enough. Those day laborers might respect a firm hand. He may be young, but he was still a rich second-generation heir of his family. He figured he could win favor by belittling the foremen in front of his men if he was not being strict on-site safety…Jay paused in his line of thinking and decided “eh, let's just check and see how things are going and go from there”. He had never been one for grand plans. Jay rounded the corner in his model S5 sports car. While this was not a super luxury car it still cost over $70,000 of the kingdom gold. Most people in this district were lucky to afford a bicycle, let alone a car. As he approached the gate to the site, he noticed there were not the usual EISEN GROUP logos on the fence that was customary for a family construction site. The company never missed an opportunity to
“Kid, you better check your facts before you go getting hot and bothered. Now I am going back to training. Hope you figure your shit out.” And with that Andrew turned to go back to his training. Jay tried to stop Andrew from turning his back on him “I said I want to see your foremen not talk with you, you ungrateful pissant! If you ever want work again you will do what I say!” “Kid, I don’t work here, I live here, I train here. Now piss off,” said Andrew over his shoulder. Jay Eisen spluttered “You don’t even work here?! What are you some vagrant squatter? You will leave now!” with that threat, Jay tried to pull out a handgun. Unfortunately, Jay was not one skilled in the use of such a tool, and the magazine dropped to the ground. Well, he still had one round, right? Jay pulled the trigger. CLICK. When you try to use a gun, the loudest noise in the world is a CLICK with no bang. Jay’s eyes got big and he scrambled for the magazine, sco