Chapter 1
There it stood atop the hill in all its glory, the early light of dawn reflecting off of its brilliant stone walls bathing the town below in a radiant light whose color rivaled that of gold. The Lion’s Keep had stood guard above the town for as long as anyone could remember and was a symbol of pride to everyone it stood watch over.
Everyone that is, except Thexan. For him it had simply been nothing but a constant reminder of how much he had failed in everything he tried to do. However, not wanting to dwell on the thoughts of his past any longer, he continued forward making his way into the winding alleys that made up the darker side of the grand city. The part of the city where the radiance of the keep never seemed to reach, the side of the city which he and his brother had called their home.
Moving quickly, knowingly avoiding all the traps that were ruffians looking to make an easy living off the suffering of others, he made it to the hole in a wall that was his home. Thexan saw his homes door, and saw that the interior was illuminated. Thexan walked to the door and opened the door. As soon as he entered his home, he was greeted with the sound of a whetstone on a blade. He knew immediately that his brother, Arcann was home and that meant Arcann had succeeded with his hunt and that they could complete their contract and get paid. With a few short strides, he saw his brother, who looked almost identical to himself, minus a few scars missing from the fresher face of Arcann, and saw that he had only bad news concerning his hunt.
Arcann’s face said it all. The worry in his eyes shot up tenfold when Thexan walked in, and his whetstone moved away from the part of the blade he was sharpening. This was unusual, as it was a ritual for Arcann to sharpen his sword nightly. Thexan watched Arcann act flustered, trying to correct his whetstone’s path on the blade. “Arcann…. Please tell me you finished the contract…” Thexan asked with a sigh.
The contract in question here was to hunt some monster out in the wild that had been harassing one of the villages close by, and Arcann had insisted that Thexan had already done enough for the week. The thing that Thexan was working towards was a contract out into the wild, as an ambush against an orcish war band that had already sacked two different villages. Being two lowborn men, they couldn’t kick up enough men without gold, and the contract that Thexan had allowed Arcann to fulfill by himself was enough gold to bring at least 100 men under their command, and without that gold their personal accounts would be empty and they wouldn’t have nearly enough men to fill the ambush.
Sighing heavily, Thexan knew they were in a jam. He was just on his way back from accepting the ambush contract and finding a sellsword company to hire and fill their ranks. The sellsword company was a bit peculiar but fit the brothers’ secondary goal of saving their village from bandits that were harassing people as they sought refuge from the orcish warbands.
Arcann spoke quickly, addressing the elephant in the room. “I’m guessing you already accepted, huh?” Arcann said. “I’m guessing you couldn’t hunt the beast successfully?” Thexan threw back at him.Dropping the sword back into its scabbard, Arcann set it and the whetstone aside. “Why don’t you go hunt the damn beast yourself?” Arcann muttered. A hiss of frustration escaped from Thexan’s mouth as he said, “Next time, don’t say you can do something alone when we both know you’ll need me to think for you.” If there was one thing Arcann hated, it was being called dumb, or being told that Thexan should do the thinking for him.
Tossing his sword aside, Arcann threw a punch at Thexan, missing by less than an inch or so. “The big brute can’t even think past the first hit!” Thexan exclaimed, just looking to rile him up even more. Thexan moved lightning fast, throwing an uppercut, then moved into a hard shove of Arcann’s chest, knocking him backwards into the table.
Arcann shot his body up, pissed about being knocked around like a child. The rage in his eyes spoke wonders about his current ability to think, and Thexan took advantage of that. Arcann shot towards Thexan like an arrow, trying to knock him on his back so that he might clobber him, but Thexan simply side stepped the charge and laughed as Arcann stumbled and fell to the ground.
Calming down a bit, Arcann sat up. Panting at the rage and the charge, Arcann shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Thexan looked down with a dismal expression and said, “Look, we don’t need to fight like this, but next time cut the bravado you think you have.”
As Arcann opened his mouth to speak, there was a shrill scream that could be heard from outside. Both Thexan and Arcann deftly took their swords in hand, ditching the plain leather scabbards from their iron swords, and were out of the house.
