When I woke up it was not very comfortable. I was laying on a bed but it was lumpy and small. I sat up and glanced around the room. It was small and sparsely furnished. There was a small window that let in dim light, I must have slept through most of the day. Somebody had changed my clothes and I was wearing plain cotton clothing like a commoner would wear.

It was the Apostate that spoke back to me. “Huh, money, you think you can bribe me. Just because I work for money doesn’t mean I can accept any counter offer I receive. You must understand that if I did that them my reputation would be ruined and nobody would ever hire me again.”

“So where do we begin?” I asked. It was the morning after I had arrived at the capitol and I slept long enough that I think I was on a normal schedule again.

“The grand library is our first stop. It is the least risky so we will begin there.”

“The grand library? Do you think anything would still be there. It has been a hundred years and surely Eyyo would have had his agents look through it for anything.”

“I don’t think our journey is that urgent.” I muttered to myself and the Slayer. “We can delay ourselves long enough to take a safer route down the waterfall.”

“And here I was waiting for you to scream in terror as you fell down a waterfall.”

I had been picking my way down the edge of the waterfall trying to find a way down that wouldn’t kill me or break a limb. I looked to one side partially expecting the Slayer to be there, obviously she wasn’t though. “Was that a joke that you just made?”

I motioned vaguely, “How is the battle at the walls going?”

Sir Janet looked grimmer then normal. “Only bad news unfortunately. Scattered reports mainly. There aren’t many who are leaving the front line to give us details. The injured that are falling back from the wall are our only source of news. I’m not certain if the reports are to be believed however.”

“What are they saying?” I think I already knew what she was going to say but I needed to hear it anyways.

The Slayer’s warning game me enough time to jump to one side and avoid the arrow that was aimed at my heart. The remaining orcs were drawing their blades. They were poorly made things that barely qualified as a sword. Orcs may not be the best sword makers the be blades were sharp and orcs were strong.

A drew my sword and called for guards but I didn’t expect anyone of them to arrive. They were still fighting the other orcs at the bank and where unable to hear me shout. There we a dozen of them approaching me.

It was possible that the servants of Eyyo would attempt to kill me while the soldiers were fending off the orcs. I had Sir Janet assigned to protect me during the battle and give me any advice that I needed.

The next day was the calm before the storm. You could see the orcs gathering just outside arrow range. We had no idea how long they would wait. They would wait until all the orcs had arrived and them pour upon us like a flood. There was no knowing how long that would take and the tension was thick as mud. We needed to be alert for when the orcs attacked.

I spent the new couple of hours helping my knights organize the rest of my soldiers. I honestly didn’t do much compared to them. I generally had more luck understand money and economics then war. Still I had received classical noble training so I wasn’t completely useless.

My dreams were wracked with horrible visions. I watched myself in third person doing terrible things and each time I smiled and laughed as I committed one horrible act after another. Then there was a moment of calm where I stood on an empty field. There were flowers flowing in a pleasant breeze which felt pleasant on my skin. There was a small house sitting off in the distance. It was made of bricks and smoke was rising from the chimney.

It was nearly a month since my encounter at my old family keep when on of the rangers told me the bad news. The rangers are a squad of scouts that are in the crowns servitude. They watch the borders of the kingdom and ensure that nothing is amiss through the kingdom. They protect the kingdom but they also serve as the King’s eyes and ears throughout the land.