Chapter 3

The Lost and the Found

He was standing in a field, only lit by his lantern. The air fridged, his boots doing well to keep the cold of the snow underfoot out. He looked around and couldn't see much past his own lantern light. A sense that he was waiting for someone was all he could feel.

You must find me.

He looked around to find the owner of the soft voice. It sounded so close, as if whispered into his ear.

Follow the path you're on and you will find the answers.

"Where are you? Who are you?" He looked around frantically to find nothing but the pitch black of night and the frigid cold. The lantern flickered out just as he watched the hooded girl from before step into its light.

Link came into consciousness by the brightness of a warm day.

He laid still with his eyes closed, a heavy tiredness deep in his body made movement a difficult task, in the moment. His skin was much too exposed and he was freezing. He could feel there was a blanket covering him, which didn't do much to keep him from most of the cold, but served well enough to protect him through the night at least. He also noticed the feeling he was moving. A terrible dryness in his mouth and throat settled in as the harshness of reality came into focus.

Link tried to move a bit and felt a sharp pain to his side, and was quickly reminded of the battle in the snow with the pig people. He remembered the blood, and his father on a horse, the men in town getting overrun, and then…

He didn't know how long he was asleep, how long he had been awake, or even how he managed to stay alive. He focused in on the sounds and smells around him for a moment. His head was in almost as much pain as his side. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, wincing against the sunlight, and noticed first metal bars framing a wooden cart. He very quickly recognized it as the same kind used to transport livestock, and sometimes criminals to the crown.

"You alive, mate?" A pitchy male voice with a thick Northern accent broke Link's concentration. Link turned his head in the direction he heard the voice. Leaning against the railing of the cart, another young blond boy peered over, concerned. "Oh thank the gods! I thought you wos right carrion food you wos!"

Link fought to focus, his eyes blurry and ill adjusted to the sun. Link took about ten seconds to blink the sleep out of his vision before he was able to take in more features of the owner of the voice. The boy was fairly thin and looked about his age, maybe even a couple years younger. Blond with blue eyes and pointed ears, much like his own. He was bundled up and wrapped in a similar dirty brown blanket.

"How long." Link croaked out before immediately bursting into a coughing fit. The air was dry and his throat burned as the words left his mouth. The pain to his side was blinding and only made the pounding in his head that much worse. Link groaned as he shifted to the side without a wound.

"Woah, woah buddy! Take it slow, mate. Ya been out for two days! 'Least thass how long I seen ya. Thems took me prisona a week 'n som a'fore ya got here." The young boy rustled around the hay that lined the cattle cart, and produced a small water skin. He moved closer to Link and placed the lip of the skin to his mouth. "Drink up, friend. Me thinks ya be needin' it now more then ever."

Link attempted to swallow but his throat was raw. He coughed a bit before settling himself and trying again. The water being nearly freezing cold was soothing as he swallowed, doing his best to ignore the pain.

The boy took the skin back after giving Link a generous time to sort himself out, and hid it under some hay. Link gathered himself after allowing the water to breathe some life back into him. He again rolled to the side that wasn't wounded. His midsection had been carelessly wrapped in a dirty cloth, and the surrounding area was soaked in blood. It was a mess, but he figured he was lucky to be alive to see it.

"Good yur sittin' up 'tis . I can't tell yah how bludy worried I wos." The boy moved up against the rails again and bundled himself in his blanket. He brought his knees up to his chest and looked down at his feet. "Name's Keyton Wellnore, son of Witten Wellnore, if you were wonderin'."

"Nice to meet yeh Keyton, name's, uh, Link Thendrim son of Theo Thendrim." His voice was raspy, but he tried to ignore it. The northern formalities always threw him off, but it was nice to feel slightly normal in this current situation.

Link looked around and noticed they had stopped moving. "What are they doing with us, do you think?"

The boy shook his head, his eyes remained on his feet.

"They took over my town. Tried runnin, but they got me, they did. Tied me up n all that like a pig.." He curled up tighter, closing his eyes. "Dunno where the rest'a me family is."

The weight of everything began to sink in. Link wondered about his family and how the battle turned out. If his father and the other men of the town did well against an onslaught of these things. He wondered if he was the only one they captured. His head was foggier than he realized, and thinking so hard made his face tingle.

He pushed his head against the bars to get a better look around. From what he could see, it was a line of similar carts, all empty aside from theirs. Some of them, as far as he could see, were filled with what looked like actual livestock. Others were just boxes and barrels stacked on flat wagon beds. On the other side, the beasts who had captured him looked like they were setting up a rudimentary camp. Spears and clubs were carried by every one of them. The arches set up their makeshift crows nests around a fire pit. Their camp was crude, but it seemed it was put up quick and efficiently. They had done this several times, he figured.

A large one of their ranks walked over to their cart with a couple of water skins in one hand, and a rusty violent looking spear in the other. It snarled as it shoved the skins through the bars. Link got a good look at these things, now the light of day as the beasts yellow-red eyes and a boar face glowered at the two boys, switching his attention between them. It grunted a low snorting sound, and continued walking on.

"Scary lookin bastards." Keyton whispered to himself before taking one of the skins and hiding it under the hay with the other one.

Before long another of its kind came, this one much smaller, around with a few large sacks. He sauntered up close to the bars, and pulled out two small loaves of brown bread. Again, like its comrade, pushed it through the bars, although with a bit more difficulty. Link stared at his breakfast with unwilling apprehension, his cellmate on the other hand made quick work of his crusty bread.

"Dunno how you can't eat. You sick o' som'fin?" The boy wiped the crumbs from his mouth, licking his dirty fingers clean. Link grimmased and turned away.

"Not hungry at the moment. Perhaps later." Link tore one of the least soiled bits of the cloth wrapped around him and wrapped the bread in it. His appetite was the least of his worries at the moment. He curled against the wood slats away from the cold and looked on out of the cage.

They continued moving after a while at the rest stop and stopped again after sundown. Most of the warmth was stripped away as clouds rolled while the sun set. Freezing cold winds blew through their cage as the sky threatened an oncoming snowfall. Link's blanket did little to keep him from the chill. He made use of the blood stained hay and stuffed his shirt and pants with it to add a bit more insulation. Thanks for the tip, father.

Keyton fell asleep before they reached the night stopping point. Link was almost envious he could rest, or eat for that matter. Link needed a plan, but wasn't even sure where to start.

The cages were put together quickly by the look of them. Wood slats reaching at least 3 meters high were enforced with a long metal slat that ran horizontal through the middle of the cage. The "roof" of the cage was also slatted, though the distance between each wood plank was much smaller than that of the "cage bars". Link nestled up into a corner of the cage, balling his body up as tight as he could, and stared out into the night as snow drifted downwards from the sky.

Sleep was nearly impossible for him. The frigid air, unending pain, and heart wrenching worry pushed hard against his heart and body as each moment passed. He thought deeply on how to escape, but his condition and situation kept him from getting very creative in his plans.

The night passed along, the fire pit died down, and the sounds of movement and various grunts and groans died off as the hours ticked by.

As he sat curled in his small, cold corner, his thoughts drifted to his favorite memories of cold nights like this. Wrapped in a blanket on his mother's lap as she told stories of old worlds and forgotten gods as the snow fell silently around their small and simple home. His father would regale them of his conquests as a young lad and they would sip at hot soup until he drifted off to sleep. What he wouldn't give to turn back time for only a moment to have some of that soup. His stomach made a loud and painful reminder on how long it has been since he had eaten. Thankful he got his appetite back, he unwrapped the bread he kept from earlier for a bite. The cold weather made the small loaf nearly rock solid, and hardly edible, but it didn't taste so bad and it was sustenance that was much appreciated at that point.

He sat, with a belly full of dark brown bread and chilly water, silent and still, shrouded in pitch black darkness. Strange he had never thought being a prisoner would be so boring. He also never thought being a prisoner would be as accommodating, either. Are they trying to keep us alive? The thought they could have killed him was much less troubling than the reason as to why they didn't.

His attention was startled back into his current state of reality from the sound of snow crunching. It was faint, but he was sure he heard it. Link figured it could very well be a patrolling guard, or a wild animal passing through in the night. He stayed still and slowed his breathing. The sound of movement stopped and the night went silent again just as soon as he heard it.

As Link was falling back into his memories, he heard the whistle of an arrow whip through the air, and the subsequential thump of it landing on its target. A few seconds later and another zipping of an arrow flew through the air, hitting something a bit further ahead. Something hit the snow shortly following. He couldn't make out where it was coming from in the dark, so he moved behind some wooden boxes and hid silent and still for a moment. He closed his eyes to focus in to possibly hear more arrows. After a short moment, again he heard the sound of movement through the snow, this time much faster and with more sources. He moved over to Keyton and shook his leg to warn his young cellmate of the oncoming danger. There was no response from, so Link moved in closer. Sideling up next to him to be able to speak without getting noticed. He shook the boy's shoulder and leaned in to whisper.

"Keyton. Keyton, wake up!" He was a bit frantic and tried to keep his voice low as he heard more movement happening from around them. Keyton removed the blanket from over his head, eyes still closed.

"Comin' to get warm with me, aye?" His voice rattled and broke the stillness of the night. Link covered his mouth with his hand, moving in close. The boy pushed back away. "Look, I donno know wot kinda boy yeh think I am-"

"Shh! I think we are under attack." Link whispered forcefully, cutting off Keyton. The boy froze and listened in the stillness for any sign of Link's claim. The silence was nearly deafening.

"You gone crazy or somfin?" The boy whispered back. Link couldn't see his expression in the dark but could imagine his perturbed reaction.

"Shhhhh! There was movement. I heard arrows, and feet on the snow." Link kept his voice as low as possible. The two of them sat in silence together, this time for a bit longer. Keyton sighed, disappointedly.

"I don't hear nuf-" Keyton was quickly cut off by a blast of a horn. The two sat quietly still. "Wot the bloody fu-." Seconds after the horn blast, loud and violent movements pounded every surrounding surface. Keyton shrieked and retracted under his blanket, curling up tightly and cursing words Link hadn't known existed.

Madness had exploded around them as the pig-beasts ran about the campsite. Vicious snarls wretched out, and gnashing, gargling battle cries shreeched and squealed. A few lit torches in the hands of their captors, created a broken view of the battlescape. Every few minutes, he would see figures coming into the firelite to make quick work of the monsters. He was sure the attackers were human, but he wasn't sure they were friendly either. He heard cries of pain mixed in with the sounds the monstrosities made. The sound of steel meeting steel, and wood, and flesh came from every disnerable direction. He watched as arrows from the darkness struck the creatures heads, and looked on as they crumpled onto themselves. Their torches left burning in the snow.

After what felt like 20 minutes, the sounds of fighting and the movement between the torches slowed until it was, again, completely silent.

"Are there any unlike these kin alive?" A womans voice echoed out from the darkness. Keyton shot up from his blanket,

"Hello! Yes!" Keyton shouted loudly into the night, his voice bouncing off in the distance. "Gods be praised. Please! We been taken, we have!" He rapped at the wooden slats. Link wasn't to thrilled of making their presence known to some possibly new problem to deal with, but if it meant getting out of this cage he was all the more for it.

A group made their way over to the tiny wooden cell and worked to open it. Each of them hooded, with cloth covering their faces. Their colours not visible in the near pitch black. One, straggling behind, moved through the others with a set of heavy dark keys to the gate of the cage and opened the lock.

"C'mon then. Hurry!" The one in front spoke quickly. She also had a Northern accent, however she carried her words with more conviction and better pronunciation. Link could tell from the voice it was a woman, but the face cover, hood, and darkness made it impossible to make out any features aside from two red brown eyes.

Keyton skittered out of the cage without hesitation. Link followed a bit slower, behind him. Making sure not to agitate his side much.

"Come with me. We have horses. You'll ride with us to the rest stop in the north, after that the caravan will take you to Terrimekke." The woman spoke as fast as she moved, and Link hadn't a moment to react much aside from following her lead. He did, however, take note of the large half empty quiver and tightly strung bow slung across her back.

"Oi, I could hug yeh lot. I thoug' we was dead, we was!" Keyton's teeth chattered as he spoke through a dream of tears and snot. Him and Link were given heavy lined cloaks and they got them out of the cart.

A line of their party sat on horseback in the distance, torches lit up the area around them. The girl took her glove off and used her fingers to produce a loud whistle.

The line of her fellow party members on horseback immediately made their way over to them with the additional horses in line. Link watched as the horses moved in on them and the lights seemed to blur. The boys clambered onto a horse with another rider for each. Link's breathing sped up, and his vision swirled. He figured he was more tired than he thought. The rider noticed him losing consciousness and quickly secured Link to him. The blond boy grasped at the rider, but as he grabbed their hand, the world around him fell away. First the light of the torches, then muffled words that were exchanged between the group, and finally silence.

The smell of cooking meat and horse shit brought him back to consciousness. Link sat up in the bed he was on, much easier this time than in the cage, and quickly noticed the new clean tunic and trousers he was wearing. He lifted his tunic up to see that the wound on his side was, surprisingly, gone and he felt better than he had in days. His clothes were soft and warm, though unfamiliar. The colors and style were not anything he was used to in his region, but had noticed similar clothing of travelers that made their way through his town.

Link looked about the room and could see he was in a huge low lit tent filled with piles of blankets, sacks of clothes, personal items, and sleeping rolls of several colors and styles. A simple lantern hung from one of the supporting rods, and a sigil of a bird carrying a spear displayed itself on a shield that rested against a chair set up toward the back.The sigil of Teremikkie. He knew it from his childhood when the parades would come in from the Kingdom. His boots were standing upright at the foot of the bed, and he put them on as he continued to look around the room.

Link finished his morning routine and moved out into the campsite. From the look of it, he figured it was still the morning. The site had been lived in for a while and the ground surrounding the area looked freshly cleared of snow. Several of the large tents were set up in a sort of semi-circle around a larger common area. To the far left of the common area looked like a sort of mess hall that was set up under a tarp where people sat at long wooden tables, enjoying the meat Link had whiffed from before. Another area looked like a medial tent and supply area and had a healer working on fixing up some of the freshly wounded soldiers.

"Link! Oi, mate!" A familiar pitchy male voice shouted from the side. Link turned to see Keyton walking towards him with a plate of food in each hand. "Lookin' tip top, mate! Good thing, aye? Here, you sure do sleep lots, you do." Keyton handed Link a plate, who in turn nodded in thanks. The two made their way over to the eating area and took a seat in the middle of one of the long wood tables.

"What happened? After we got here, I mean." Link felt the area around where he pulled the arrow out to be sure. The wound was completely healed with no scab or scar left behind. "Was I asleep for long?"

"Not that long. Not as long as before if you be meanin' that." Keyton ate quickly, talking between each bite. "You wos right out you wos." His cheeks were round with food as he continued without slowing. His words became more difficult to understand as he spoke with his mouth muffled with food. "Thef 'ealer usef some magicks or somefin. 'ooked bran' new you di'!" Link nodded, taking a few bites of his breakfast. It wasn't much, beans eggs meat and bread, but compared to the icy loaf from before it was a beloved sight. The taste was actually fairly decent so far as military food would go.

He really wasn't sure what Keyton was saying, but he felt by his tone it was good. He thought of paying a visit to the healer sometime later to thank them.

A tall, thin man with a young face walked up to the table and handed Link a folded piece of paper.

"The commanding officer is requesting your presence after you finish breakfast." His voice was higher than Link had expected. He nodded in thanks and opened the small paper. Gold tent with the red trim.

"Gold tent, aye? Sounds fancy." Keyton leaned over Link's shoulder to read the note. "I think that one is behind one of those." He pointed to the line of tents Link had come from earlier, noticing only now the much larger golden yellow tent behind them. Link finished his meal, giving the bits he couldn't finish to Keyton and made his way over.

The inside was set up more like a situation room than living quarters, and reminded Link of a similar room back home inside of the town hall.

Desks piled high with scrolls and maps lined the edges of the space. In the center of the area was a very large, round table that took up a good portion of the area of this tent. Scrawled and etched over every inch of its surface was a large, very detailed map of the entire kingdom and surrounding land mass.

Alondria.

There were small markers of different colors dotted across the map, and were accompanied by small figurines of horses and tiny wooden red rectangles with miniature flags sticking out the top of them. He figured, based on the look of the map, those represented the camp. He noticed there were a handful of others like it scattered across the map in various locations.

"Mornin', lads. Nice to be able to meet you two not covered in blood and shit." A young woman clad in a nearly full set of armor stood near the map table looking up at the boys with a bright smile. Her voice was familiar and her eyes reminded Link of the girl from that rescue party.

"Frankly, it is nicer even for us, it is." Keyton teased.

"I could only imagine." She walked over a bit closer. "My name is Fiona, I'm one of the tactical supervisors for the Terrimekki army." She held her hand out and smiled brightly. She was young for sounding like anything important for an army. Her tone and demeanor reminded Link of his mother in a way. Link took her hand and shook it. Her grip was much stronger than he expected.

"Now that I got all out, who might you two lads be?" She took her helm off, placing it on the table. Her hair was a brown red, and braided to the side tightly. He stared at her eyes and noticed a reddish gleam. Link was sure they were more red than brown, but he couldn't tell by the lighting. Could it be her?

"Link of Thistlebrand. I can't thank you enough for saving us."

"And I'm Keyton. At yeh service, ma'am." Keyton pushed Links hand out of Fiona's and shook hers violently. "I truly, TRUELY cannot thank yah enough! We wos good as dead we wos!" He kissed her hand and stepped back to bow deeply. "I am forever in your debt!"

Fiona laughed lightly, though visibly uncomfortable.

"It was my pleasure to rescue you." She didn't sound sarcastic, but it felt like it was. "By the recent order of the king, our faction was given orders to find and secure any captives of the foreign enemy. Since these other beings started to appear, we've noticed quite quickly they had a pattern of abduction to their attacks."

She moved closer to the table, waving the boys over for a look. The two, momentarily hesitant, looked to each other for comfort before joining her. She pointed to a few markers near the eastern shore of the land. He remembered the travelers talking about where they started showing up.

"You boys aren't the only ones we've saved from their caravans the past few weeks." She tapped the rim to the large table with the map. "They have a type. Blond haired, blue eyes. Male and female all look around 15-20 years old. Pointy ears. They started back on the eastern shore, near Deradeia."

"Magiks and ugly pig folk. O' course it started at Deradeia." Keyton scoffed. Link only knew it was where the academy was.

"Exactly why we are adding to our ranks to go and check out the source. Which brings me to the reason for our meeting, to be honest." She picked up two of the horse figures that sat off to the side.

"Wot you gettin at? Aye?" Keyton questioned, his tone suspect.

"We need you to join us!" Fiona explained cheerfully. "In the army. Any able body is necessa-"

"Woah. Woah. Woah!" Keyton exclaimed, cutting her off. "You want us to fight for yeh? I thank yeh for savin me life, but I plan also ta keep it usin it for some time!" Keyton moved to leave from the tent. "Let me know when yeh be off to Terrimekki." He moved past the two guards at the front and lifted the flap to exit.

"You know you don't have a choice." The words were direct, sharp, and commanding. Impressive for her youth and size, he thought.

Keyton stopped moving and slowly turned to face her, his hand remained gripping the tent fabric.

"Come again?"

"There is an army of beasts rampaging through the kingdom, and you wouldn't think the King would need to react?" Her tone changed. She was commanding and stern in a way Link only noticed from when they were being rescued.

"Any able bodied young men will be recruited to the King's army for protection." She contained to walk closer as she spoke. Keytons expression soured quickly.

"I'm no bloody criminal!" Keyton squeaked out irritated.

"If you wish to be sent to the Kingdom, there is a small caravan riding off for the keep in two days, before sunrise. However, I must advise that they will conscript you into the King's direct guard once you arrive. And, I promise though, you're better off here."

Keyton stood frozen, his eyes locked towards the floor. He breathed out slowly before walking out of the tent.

Fiona switched her attention to Link as they were left standing alone. She shook her head in quiet disappointment.

"And you, then." There was a playful grin on her face. She knew something he didn't. "Fight with them or fight with us?"

Link took all this in with a grain of salt, and with the resolve that one would have when there was no better choice.

"I'll stay here. I lost my family during the battle back home. If I can travel with you I have a better chance at some closure."

Link would hope as much, anyway. There was no guarantee that he would get much information, let alone be sure they made it out in one piece. He wasn't sure he believed what he said.

"People seem to think the walls will keep these things out. They don't realize those same walls also keep things in." Her tone was dark, and low, but sounded knowing. Link internalized a momentary flash of fear and swallowed it.

"Your friend there is an interesting fellow." The girl laughed and moved over to the table again.

"Well, I've only known him for 3 days or so, but I would have to agree." He chuckled lightly to himself. Interesting isn't the word I'd use.

Link walked a bit closer to get a better view of the map. He scanned the eastern shore reading the name of the towns and ports. There, in the south, written bold black ink was scrawled the word Alondria. His ears perked.

"Fiona, how far is this place?" He tapped his finger on the word. Fiona looked over at where he was suggesting to and looked back with an incredulous stare."Do you think we could go there?"

"Unless you plan to go sightseeing. Why there of all places?" She seemed genuinely concerned.

"I…" link paused for a moment to choose his words carefully. "Before I was captured, I was told by a friend to reconvene there if we lost each other during the battle." Link couldn't think of a better way to handle this. He wasn't very good at lying but figured it sounded truthful enough. He could feel his palms getting sweaty and deeply despised lying.

"Alondria? The ruins?" Her expression was locked into a blank but calculating stare. Her eyes locked into his before flirting about the rest of his person. "But why? I am sorry but I don't understand."

"Ruins?" Link felt he was as confused as she was now. He hadn't known much outside of Thistlebrand, and from what it seemed he knew even less than that. Fiona took a moment to make sure Link wasn't joking. His expression proved his seriousness in his quirery.

"You don't know much history, I assume?" Her tone was more annoyed than she really lead on to be. Link shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Ah, I see." She shook her head and smiled at him. "Care for a quick history lesson while I have you?"

Link nodded back and smiled. She seemed to enjoy this and he figured he would just go with the flow at this point.

She learned over the table map and moved a white horse and a black horse around the markings. The black horse she placed on the point for Alondria, the white horse placed on the marker for Terrimekkie.

"The quick version is that, roughly 100 or so years ago, Alondria used to be the Southern Kingdom, and Terrimekkie was the North Kingdom." She moved the horse closer to the black horse slowly. "There was a war over a land dispute and an assassination of the northern Kings daughter the day before her marriage to the Southern Kings son. It was a bloody siege that lasted 15 years and in the end, Alondria fell." She flicked the white horse and knocked over the black horse. "Now we exist today as one Kingdom." She seemed a bit brighter than the context of the story.

Link wished he had known this history prior and felt almost embarrassed to ask. How could he possibly explain he got the idea from a dream. The whispers were real, though, and his determination to complete his task was strong.

"I'll go alone if I have to. I only need to ride there and back." Link wasn't going to let up on this. Now that he knew this place was real, it meant some answers to questions he was bombarded with both in the waking worlds and beyond. Fiona again had to process his request.

"Alone? Out there? Alondria is along the shoreline where a majority of those creatures have set up camps. I would be sending you out to your death." There was a heavy stillness. She rubbed at her chin for a moment. "However, we will be sending a group of fighters to meet near Garrendale, which is a town that sits in the middle of Alondria and Deradeia. That's here." She placed the white horse she had been holding near the Garrendale marker on the map. "It's a days ride from there to Alondria from that point. Should you still wish to go, that is."

For him, this was as close to a win as he could get for the moment. Link nodded and smiled brightly. He felt a little more hopeful in his situation, at least.

"Thank you. How long before we leave, then?"

"It won't be until after your training. Three weeks, every day. We're gunna get you lot ready to fight before we send you off on missions." She had a strong way of speaking which Link noticed he really enjoyed. However, waiting three weeks to finally get some questions answered was not as appreciated. He knew if he wanted to do this, it would have to take some time.

"Go enjoy your day off, then. You start training tomorrow before sunrise." He nodded in agreement to the terms. It was exciting to him that he would be taught how to fight before facing these creatures again.

"Thank you, Fiona. It's a pleasure to work with you." With that, he bowed and made his way out of the room just as another was coming in. A large, broad shouldered man with ornate plate armor and adornments filled up the entry space of the tent. Link moved past the large man and off to the cots.

"New recruits or have you finally a man to marry." The man's voice was playful but rich and deep.

"Ah, general Jorgin! Always recruits, and never anything else." Fiona said playfully. She saluted before bowing deeply. "You've arrived much sooner than I had anticipated. I'll put on some tea."

"No need, Fiona. Although I appreciate the offer, I am afraid I must be off again. I came to pass along a message from the King." Jorgin produced a few small rolled pieces of paper from a satchel attached to his belt. Fiona took it from Jorgin in one hand, the other took out a small knife that was sheathed against her thigh. She carefully sliced the wax sealing and read the message.

"Another request for return? Of course he thinks so little of me to believe I cannot do my job. Tell the King that I will be returning once I've found a lead to the source of these monsters." She crumpled the letter and tossed it onto the large round table.

"This isn't up for debate, Fiona. He has been calling all commanding officers of the Seven Factions back to the keep. The armies have massed just south of the kingdom and we will need every able fighter-"

"There are men and women disappearing only to be found days later as sinew and bones. Between his 7 fractions, he can spare one." She was clearly annoyed. Her usual demeanor broke slightly with her grievance towards the King.

Jorgin shook his head.

"You know how the King gets. When he orders his officers to do something, regardless of the lineage to his bloodline, he will reprimand anyone who cannot follow through. You've seen it in the past, Fiona." Jorgin was a kind and gentle soul hidden behind a Rough and rugged man. His face was imposing with scars and wrinkles under a thick black beard and brow. His eyes, however, told a tale of a man who has his family's interest at heart.

"I will return in two months. No sooner." Her tone was defiant and unwavering. A power in her voice that came naturally. "Tell my father he should be patient. My work is saving lives." Jorgin knew when she would not be reasoned with.

"When speaking of business, please refer to him as the King, Fiona." His expression grew indignant, and the tension was thick. Jorgin didn't wish to create ill will between him and his cousin, but her refusal to her father's demands was growing more defiant. "He will be made aware, but do not be surprised of his reaction and any retaliation that follows."

"I do not fear him. I fear what could happen if we cannot find the source of these creatures. What good is fighting armies that will never cease?"

"That will be a conversation for you and the King, Fiona." Jorgin glanced over at The man bowed and left the tent before another word was spoken. Fiona stood with her eyes fixed on the exit for a moment before heading off to another sectioned room of the tent.

The following day, just before sunrise, Link and eight others met in the training yard to start their first day. The air was crisp and the sun glistened off of the snow capped trees surrounding the camp. They were all issued blunted swords and shields, and started the day swinging and learning techniques. Link had a vigor in him he hadn't felt in a long time. Even before all of this.

In a later part of the training day after their rest, they changed their training to a sort of skill tournament. A line of judges, mostly high ranking officials, sat off to the side of the training yard that was cleared out to host the sparring sessions. Each rank, A-D, sat at the end of a bench with his corresponding letter "D" for his rank. Keyton and Link were the last to sit, and were stuck as the last two.

"Link! Good luck!" Fiona called out to him, standing near the surrounding training yard. Link smiled back at her with a wave.

Fiona sat with her fellow senior officials that lined the fences of the yard. First up was D rank, he's rank. As the matches went on Link noticed some of the officials mocking those who couldn't seem to handle their way around a weapon. Others stood quietly and watched with stoic attention.

The boys went in two at a time, and the winner would move onto the next, only coming back to the bench if defeated. The sword handling skills of the group varied drastically, which made for interesting matches. Some quite obviously never held a sword in their life, others had enough skill to last a handful of rounds before losing to a misplaced step or parry. The line of judges scrawling on something at the end of each match made Link nervous.

Keyton went up and was quickly defeated. Link then as the last finally was up next for his skill assessment. He drew a breath and made his way to the sparring area. The line of officers remained silent and contemplative during the majority of his performance. The match started and was over in seconds, and he took the victor over the boy who defeated Keyton just a moment before. The crowd cheered, and Keyton from the bench exclaimed his support the loudest. Link realized during his sparring review the officials were very noticeably mummering about his performance. Some of the officials that were seemingly uninterested in prior exhibitions had now locked into his showcase.

The next boy took the platform, one who was the first to win. Again, in a matter of minutes, the match was over and Link again the victor. He wasn't quite sure what happened, but he knew whatever he was doing was working.

"Send someone from rank B." Fiona shouted from the stands. There was a short pause before Link noticed some shuffling around before someone from another line of soldiers get up and take stance. Link glanced over at Fiona who smiled softly back, and nodded her head.

Link's sparring partner looked young, but when the match started the boy was exceptionally skilled. This match was longer, and had Link taken back a bit. Whoever he was fighting was strong, and well versed in the ways of his weapon handling. After a minute or so later Link was able to make contact and win the match.

There was another silence followed by quite conversations between everyone. Link watched Fiona's face light up as she talked in a hushed voice to her colleagues, switching her focus from looking at them to back at Link. She gestured at him a few times as she spoke, which made him nervous again. What's her deal anyway…

Fiona picked up a few of the sparring weapons and made her way to the field. The hushed whispers seemed to get a little more rapid.

"I am extremely curious now." She looked excited. A beaming smile wide on her face. She had dimples, and Link felt annoyed for noticing something like that.

"To be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing." He felt nervous about fighting her. He couldn't explain it, but this nervousness was a little different.

"Well, whatever it is must be good enough to take out the second best in a rank 3 higher than you." Her smile softened and her demeanor changed to something almost serious.

She took a sword stance that he hadn't seen before, and he took his in response. The whispering and murmuring seemed to have stopped. He took in a slow breath. Focus.

The moment the signal was given, she was on him. Her movements were quick and so much stronger than her frame would reveal. She swung at him with calculated precision, and her reactions to anything Link was doing were so well timed they could have been rehearsed. Link held his own for a while, pushing her back to defend against his blows. In a single wrong stroke, she tripped him and pinned him on the ground under the tip of her blade. Half the crowd cheered, the other half groaned in displeasure. Link was impressed however and excited to learn her swiftness. She moved like the sword was part of her. He felt a sense of pride fill his heart.

"You're an incredibly skilled fighter for a farm boy. I'm starting to think you're keeping secrets from me." She moved her sword away from Link's face, held her hand out. Link took it and used her to stand, this time meeting her strength in grip.

He wiped as much of the mud off as he could and chuckled a little.

"I have no secrets, ma'am. Just know how to fight I guess." It was hard to explain that he honestly didn't know how he managed to defeat who he had. He could hardly remember the matches he won, but he could remember how effortless it felt to handle the weapon. He remembered at least how it felt like he had been doing this for a long time. Much longer than made sense.

A few other high ranking officials came over to them, their hands outstretched in greeting.

"Link, it is wonderful to meet you. I'm officer Daggon. Fiona has told me a lot about you." Daggons voice and inflection ranged in joyous and inspired rapture. He almost sounded like his father.

Daggon grabbed Link's hand and, before Link could react, the large bodied man pulled him in for a tight hug. "Lad, it's been a long time since I've seen such natural skill of the blade." He pulled the two of them apart, his hands holding strong to Links shoulders. "You have promise, boy! I am excited to watch your growth, lad!" The man looked older than he sounded. A sparsely kept, peppered grey and black beard rounded his face. His head was bald and glemed against the sunlight.

Fiona pulled a small pine whistle from one of the pouches strapped to her leg. The high pitched whistle carried over the sound of conversation, and silenced everyone.

"Rank D assessment is over! We will now be assessing rank C. Clear the field!" Her voice was strong enough to carry over the sparring area. The other officers quickly shook Link's hand in congratulations before taking their seat. Fiona didn't join them and waved goodbye before leaving off towards the north side of camp. Keyton, aware of the gestures, made sure to reset Link about his new status as teachers pet.

That night, after dinner, Keyton and Link set up their sleeping rolls near each other. The two talking about their families and their plans and whispering hopes for an unknown tomorrow before drifting asleep.

In the day that followed, the focus on Links skills were noticed by the entire camp. Link overheard murmurings about him and his discernible skills. He was unsure of how to feel about all of this attention from officials and other soldiers. Link wasn't here to purposefully achieve greater than anyone, and wanted to play his cards right as best he could. He didn't feel he had any place to be any more upset or driven than the rest of those who were in the same situation. He had his reasons for doing his best to learn how to be a better protector if only for himself and his kin.

Keyton and Link quickly became closer friends as training took a toll on their bodies and minds. The training on the second day was harsh and rigorous. He was sore, and tired, but he felt less alone with a friend to see him through all of this madness. Keyton's cheerful and somewhat over reactive personality made it easier to endure the backbreaking work.

At the end of the training, as the sun began to set, there was again another tournament style sparring session. Fiona sat amidst the other officers as she did before. Flanking her was Daggon Merelyn and another man he had come to know as Conor Lopps. Conor was shorter however much more stocky in build. The two men he had come to find out were not only very close to miss Fiona, but ranked among the top fighters and weapon masters in their Faction. Some had claimed that the two were among the top five in the entire army. This rumor, however, was always being vehemently denied by both of them that there was any actual truth to those stories.

This time Link was in the middle of the line, and when he stepped up Daggon waved and clapped.

"Aye! Let's have him try to run through rank C!" Daggon shouted, and the others made proclaims with him in agreement. Fiona watching intently with a sly smirk. Link shook his head in agreement and a motion was made to bring up the first fighter.

The challengers in this rank were slightly more difficult than his own. Link was swift with his first few fighters, but on his fourth his body began to tire. Though, before he realized it, the matches were over and soon he had run through all of rank C. After the final blow was dealt, the entire line of officers exploded into roarous applause.

"Take a seat Las, save some glory for the rest of us!" Daggon said through elated laughter.

Link joined Keyton on the bench who was still a bit salty Link hadn't thrown the match for him. The two made up over a shared water skin and a laugh.

After the matches were over, Fiona made her way over to Link with Daggon and Conor.

"Impressive. Second day in and we have the makings of a top rank fighter." Daggon gave a firm but gentle tap on Link's shoulder. His smile was so kind and infectious Link couldn't help but crack a grin himself.

Conor stepped up closer to Link he could tell this man was probably shorter than him. But his shoulders and demeanor made up for his lack of height.

"Poinnty hears. Yanno lad ees kinda foonay. I'm prehee surprised thars su many a yah left." The man's accent was strong and northern. Link had a hard time recognizing some of the words but could get the gist. What does he mean by that?

"I get them from my mom's side, actually." He wasn't quite sure how to answer the man's statement and attempted unsuccessfully at diffusing the awkward tension.

"He is a great find indeed!" Daggon chuckled out.

The four of them talked a little while longer, and Link was able to learn more about these men. However their intention for him was still unclear aside from being drafted into the army.

The dinner was somewhat solemn as the following day would mean that those headed for White Shard. Many of those who made friends were saying their final goodbyes to their fellow men in arms. Keyton and Link stayed up late into the night speaking and making plans to reconnect somewhere, sometime in the future.

Before sunrise of the following day, Keyton left for White Shard Keep in the north after a heartfelt send off. Those who stayed trained from sun up to sun down almost every day for the following weeks. Some days, allowing them to relax their bodies and minds, giving Link a chance to get to know his comrades and assist with training the other soldiers. He couldn't seem to get over how eerie it was that the features of all the captured were extremely similar.

Link continued to dream of strange and vivid visions during his training. Some brought painful memories of his family, who he missed dearly.

Some were abstract, as if Link was seeing someone else's memories; Faces of people he has never met in his life came to his dreams as clear as if they were in front of him. Each time he woke to the silence of his barracks, sometimes he would hear another soldier somewhere in the room quietly crying. It wasn't hard to forget they all went through something similar. The thought, oddly enough, usually helped him back into sleep. We're all stuck here, now.

After three painful and grueling weeks, Link was given active soldier status and added to the ranks. He could out skill every other class, and was out fighting even some of the senior soldiers. He attributed it to his father, and having a good arm for splitting wood. Combat seemed almost natural for him, and the officers took note. The time to move on was drawing near, and Link would keep to his promise.