Reborn: Flames of War (2 page)

“What are you thinking Rath?” Ash asked looking at the man who was only around five years older than himself.

“I don’t think they dressed up as bandits just for our benefit. This is a fairly well traveled road and there was a chance of them being seen by other travelers. That said, I think that they felt like they couldn’t lose, but just in case they took off anything that might give away who they were. The few items we found were kept by one man and he was most likely foolish enough to disregard the chance of losing. There are always some like that. He was most likely a noble’s kid and had far too high of an impression of himself and the others and a far too low one of his enemies. We try to train that out, but sometimes it is hard to do.” 

“I thought that knights picked their squire from the commoners,” Ash said while watching the flames of the fire lick at the air. “Why would there be nobles among their ranks.”

“You must understand that the knighthood is in a way its own nobility and there are even bloodlines in it, though not how you would think of them. Some knights pass their names to their squire if they think he will carry it well and some of those names have lasted through many generations, giving them just as much, if not more weight than some of the nobles. It is this reason that when a noble has more than one son, they will often send the one that won’t inherit to be a knight and often times pay a great sum to get them apprenticed to a knight with an honored name.”

“I see,” Ash said, looking at the items again. “Then we might be able to find out what family the knight belonged to, though I don’t know if it will help us.”

“I doubt it, though we can try,” Rath responded. “I don’t recognize the crest and there are nearly a thousand landed and non-landed noble families within the kingdom. It would take months to track down each crest. Not to mention many of the crests change slightly over the generations so it could be an outdated one.”

“I understand,” Ash said with a sorrowful sigh. “Then all we can do is keep an eye out for enemies. I and Seia will start making poisons that can be used in battle. We just need to stop by a town and buy some vials that can be used to hold it. Also, if any of you can come up with some workable countermeasures, I would welcome hearing them.”

“Then I would suggest that we purchase some extra short spears,” Tourn, the oldest of the knights said. Even though he was the oldest, he was still less than ten years older than Ash.

“What do you have planned?” Ash asked intrigued.

“We can get some notched short spears. They are often used when hunting monsters with a thick hide that you don’t want to get close to. They can be thrown at a medium distance, but still used to fighting close range. If we had two each, then we could use them alongside the poison to a devastating effect.”

“That is a good idea,” Seia agreed. “Many of the men in my tribe fight in such a manner, though it is not overly popular since we are not the fastest demon tribe so we do better from the rear ranks.”

The rest of the evening they came up with a number of ideas. Most of them were unable to be put into use, but they still come up with a number of thoughts that could be of use should they be attacked again.

It wasn’t until long after the sun had set that Ash was finally able to get to sleep. Throughout the whole night, Ash kept dreaming of the faces of the men who had died due to his sword. When he woke up sweating, Ash tried to shake the thoughts from his mind. Lately every time Ash closed his eyes, he would see the faces of dead men and dream of himself killing them over and over.

Once he had calmed down, Ash laid back down and tried one again to sleep.

11-2

It was four days after the pitched battle before they reached the next city large enough to have a store that sold weapons.

As soon as Ash entered the store, he was greeted by an older man and young woman. “My lord, welcome to our store,” the old man said bowing deeply. “If there is anything that you need help with, then we will do our upmost to serve you.”

When Ash left the inn they had decided to stay at, he had left everyone behind but a few of the knights. The reason for this was simple. He wanted to draw as little attention as possible but it seemed that even without his demon guards, he stood out in a crowd.

“I am looking for a number of short spears, and I need to arrowheads,” Ash said as he looked around the rather small store.

“We currently only have two short spears in stock, but I have more than two hundred arrowheads. How many does your lordship want?”

“All of them, and do you know where we might be able to get some more short spears, some braded wire, powdered thelmac, small waterproof bags, and glass containers?”

“If you need short spears, the only person in town who could help you is master smith Dulahan. He should also be able to help you with the braded wire,” the old man said. “For the rest, you should try the general store that is only two buildings down. If anyone has what you are looking for, it would be that old hag and if she doesn’t have it, she should know where to get it.”

“Thank you,” Ash said with a slight nod of his head.

After paying for the arrowheads and the two short spears, Ash left the small weapon store and walked down the thin street toward the general store.

The storefront he found was much older than the rest of those around it. The roof was missing more than a few clay tiles and wooden sign was so weathered that Ash couldn’t make out the words that had once stood clear on it.

As he walked inside, he found the inside of the store looked much different that the outside. It still had a feeling of being old, but more in the way of a treasured antique.

When the small bell that was hanging over the door rang, an old woman looked up from where she was seated behind the counter and stared at him with eyes as cold as iron. After a brief look, she returned to reading the old book in her hand as if nothing had happened.

Ash wanted to ask the old woman for what he wanted but he couldn’t wait to look around as well. The store was separated into four sections; food, clothes, tools, and oddities.

The food was common things that were grown in the area mixed with a few imports as well as salt, and other spices. The clothing was made mostly of wool and cotton, but there were a few pieces made out of silk and other more expensive fabrics. There was a large display of tools, many of which Ash had no clue what they were for. The oddities were just a jumble of things that didn’t fit into the other areas. It was here that Ash found a large swath of treated leather. It was a finished bag, but the leather could be used to make what he needed.

After looking around, Ash picked up the four largest pieces of fabric and headed toward the counter. “I would like to buy these,” Ash said as he placed the leather on the counter.

“Silver per square foot,” the old woman said without looking up from her book. “I was also looking for some powdered thelmac and glass bottles.”

“What size bottles?” the woman asked disinterested.

“Any size you have, but I would prefer ones about the size of an antidote bottle that one would get from the adventure’s guild.”

“That is easy enough,” the woman said as she finally looked up from her book. “How many do you need?”

“Three to four dozen if you have them,” Ash replied.

“Let me go look in the back,” the old woman said before getting off her stool and hobbling into the back room only to return a few moments latter pulling a crate with great difficulty behind her.

“These are the bottles that adventures sell to me. I normally sell them to the traveling merchant that comes through twice a year. I sell them to him by the ounce. Pick out what you want then we can weigh it and figure out the cost.”

Ash looked through the bottles and ended up with a little over a dozen of the small vials that were used for antidotes. He made up the rest with slightly larger potion bottles.

“How about powdered thelmac?” Ash asked after he had finished picking through the bottles.

“I don’t have any and I haven’t a clue where you could get it,” the woman said dismissively. “What do you need it for in the first place?”

“We are mixing it with poisons to make a trap for monsters,” Ash said thinking quickly.

“I see, powdered thelmac will absorb the poison without clumping together. I would suggest your try a mix of ground rice and chaff. We use it to clean up messes because it soaks it up without sticking to the ground. I have some in the back if you want to check it out.”

“Please,” Ash replied slightly interested.

The old lady brought out a small cup of a slightly brown powder that was just a hint on the grainy side. To test it, Ash poured a small amount of liquid on the powder and just as he wanted, it absorbed the water like a sponge, but didn’t stick together like flour would have.

“Do you think this will work for your needs?”

“Yes, it will work perfectly.” Ash responded. “Do you think you could spare about five pounds?”

“Easy enough,” the old lady said with a cracked smile.

With his purchases in hand, Ash headed to the smithy. The smith agreed to make the short spears and braded steel rope though it would take four days and that was even with Ash paying nearly three time the normal price for the rush order. Thanks to this, Ash was able to design the blade, so he was able to have a small groove running from the tip of the blade to until about an inch before the wood would start.

Since they were going to be stuck in town for a few extra days, Ash thought it would be a good time to start making and bottling poison.

Ash didn’t have a large number of poisons that he could make, but Seia did. It was his time with her clan that had given him the idea for bottling the poison since the clan did just that and traded it to other clans for things they needed.

Ash started making the sealing poison while Seia made her strongest paralyzing poison. Ash had some paralyzing poison as well, but it was only worked about 40% as well as they one that Seia could produce.

It took over four hundred MP for Ash to fill one bottle. After filling two bottles, Ash took a break. Seia on the other hand could only fill bottles slowly since her was made internally instead of being converted from MP, so it took her three hours before she could completely fill a bottle. Though it took a great deal of effort, one small antidote bottle which was just slightly bigger than a thumb held enough poison to be used four to five times. Of course there was some wastage but with poison prepared in advance everyone could use it instead of just Ash and Seia.

After spending half the day filling bottles Ash decided that it was time to get a bit of fresh air. When he announced his plan to leave the inn for a bit to walk around town, his wives complained. Ash had wanted to only take a few of the knights, but since there was nothing important that he was going to be doing, he couldn’t think of an excuse to make them stay behind. In the end Ash, Seia, Tolarea, Gena, and Li left the inn together.

Ash didn’t have a specific destination in mind and just simply wandered through the streets. The town wasn’t very big and from Ash’s best guess it was only a fifth the size the duchy capital city but it was still bigger than any of the villages they had passed through so far.

Unlike small villages that had no real guards on the border, this town had two different armed groups. Ash had only seen them from afar, but he figured that they belonged to the two bordering nobles. Thankfully none of the armed soldiers had approached Ash though he could feel their eyes on him wherever he went, though it wasn’t unexpected. When they reached the center of the town where a large fountain bubbled water and people gathered to fill large wooden buckets, Ash noticed one of the armed groups moving toward them. Trying to ignore them, Ash looked at the fountain. Ash already knew that it worked through a magical device since Emelia had the same thing in a smaller version for her servants to use in the center of her garden.

“Sir…We need you to come with us,” One of the guards said taking a single step in front of the seven men that stood behind him. They looked nervously at Ash and the four women behind him.

“Why?” Ash asked with a slightly bored expression on his face.

“We have received complaints,” the man said his voice weak and not holding the ring of authority. “It is just so that we can verify your identities and give peace of mind to the residences.”

“Fine,” Ash said rolling his eyes. He didn’t really want to go through the hassle, but he could understand the position the men where in. They were tasked with protecting the town and demons were a myth used to threaten children. Ash expected that they thought that he and the others were just partial demons and not full blooded since they were only heard about in rumors and stories.

Ash and the others were taken to a building near the edge of the town that held the crest of the lord who was in charge of the town. They were led through the building to a rather large room located in the back. As they were walking, Ash couldn’t help but notice that more soldiers had been gathered and they looked like some sort of miniature parade with all the gawking eyes.

Inside the room they were taken to a man in his late fifties who was sitting in a chair waiting on them. When Ash entered the room, the man got to his feet and gave a polite nod to Ash and then to each of the women behind him.

“I am commander Tray Grinder,” the man said as he offered them a seat. “I apologize for having you brought here so suddenly, but things as they are many people within the kingdom jump at every shadow.”

“I don’t quite know what you mean,” Ash responded. “Has something happened that I was unaware of?”

“News has spread that the duchess Hawkwing made a deal with the demons and is planning to take over the surrounding lands. It has made the people a little jumpy when someone with even the smallest amount of demon blood is around.”

“That is absurd,” Ash said rolling his eyes.

“I agree,” the old man gave a short laugh. “If there was still a nation of demons, they would have been seen before now.”

“No, there is certainly a demon kingdom, but it is absurd that they would make a deal to take over the surrounding lands,” Ash said and the man’s eyes narrowed. “There would be nothing in it for the demons.”

“You seem sure of yourself,” Trey said.

“Well I am the head of the delegate for both the Hawking lands and the demon kingdom, so I hope I would be sure of myself.” When the man’s face started turning white, Ash started to fear he had given him a heart attack.

“Del-egate,” Trey said after a long silent moment.

“Yes we are headed to the capital to speak with the king and see if we can end this war peacefully,” Ash explained. “The king has already been notified of our intentions and I hope he listens to wisdom. Otherwise many of the fears the people have might just come to pass.”

“Are the demons really that strong?” the man asked his voice shaking.

“Tolarea compared to the human army, how much stronger do you think the demon army is?” Ash asked as he looked over his shoulder at the giantess.

“That is hard to say my lord,” Tolarea said with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I don’t know the size of the king’s forces, but we only fielded about 4% of our total forces in the last battle. I would guess that if we decided to attack the humans, it would take less than a quarter of a year before they were completely wiped out.”

Ash and Tolarea continued to discuss what would happen during a war while the man’s face turned as white as a sheet. After a while, the man regained his composure or at least enough of it that he found the strength to talk. “If you are a peaceful delegation, then there is no reason for us to question you further,” the man said weakly.

“It should have been clear from the markings on our carriage,” Ash replied getting to his feet. “But I can see how mistakes can be made. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to return to our inn before our comrades think something untoward happened to us and war breaks out,” Ash said in a joking manner, but what little color Tray’s face had recovered instantly drained.

“O-of c-course sir,” Tray said in a trembling voice.