Those Left Behind

Broad avenues stretched through the surrounding district, flanked by multistory buildings, some rising as high as six floors. Their facades were constructed primarily of brick, dressed stone, and plastered masonry, lending the streets a substantial, orderly appearance.

Horses with sharply defined shoulders and powerful legs hauled carriages and cargo carts through the capital, their muscles tightening beneath the skin with every heavy step as traffic thickened along the polished stone streets. A crowd had gathered around a bulletin board beside the pavement. Newspapers had been pinned across the pristine timber, each bearing the same masthead in large type at the top of the page: Brighter Tiria Newspapers.

“This is what our taxes go to?”

“Seems like it. Guess the Army needs more out of the young ones in their branch.”

“That kid is a soldier. He owes that weapon to Tiria.”

“The government only stepped in after those people tried to kill him.”

“Idiot, he’s a national hazard! Our lives are in danger as long as he’s alive!”

Dirk slipped past the crowd with his face angled away from them, careful not to invite recognition. “Jeez.”

“Excuse me. Commander Lionel Dirk.” The man hurried after him and fell into step beside him. “I’m Phillip Evans with Brighter Tiria Newspapers.

“The Army has been suppressed by the Crown Warden. It’s safe to assume you ordered the branch to do so after hearing their crimes were made public yesterday.

“An unknown supernatural strategic weapon. Commander Duncan Mercer placed under arrest. Would you mind commenting on any of this? Does—”

“I have no comment.”

Phillip stopped.

Dirk didn’t.

Zay stood beside one window while, across the room, River occupied another with a newspaper spread between his hands. The others were scattered throughout the room. Against one wall, the captured assassin’s body remained slumped where they had left it.

River lowered the newspaper. “Dirk was right about people not taking a liking to this situation.”

“We don’t have time to worry about public opinion,” Khyrie said. “We need to figure out where the assassins took Warui.”

“Why they need him is just as important,” Kiel added.

Zay watched people still crowded around the bulletin board through the glass, then he suddenly stood before the checkpoint between Valeria and Seria.

“Zay!” Ela was sixteen again. “You didn’t let us know ahead of time!”

“Welcome back,” Lio said.

“Mmm.”

“Did you even get any of our letters? You never wrote back."

“I was too busy... but I received them.”

“Jeez. The Army is that rough?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Ela lit up. “Anyway…”

Zay already disliked the sound of that.

“Two weeks ago, we hit the Emmerson bakery in inner Seria.”

“You dumbasses. That was you two?”

“People in the neighborhood needed food,” Lio said.

“You know about it?!”

“Wardens were all over it even in Valeria. Listen. Cut that shit out.”

“Awwww. Why?…”

Something River said failed to reach Zay. His fist struck the window frame.  “Tsk.”

“Captain.”

Zay stared coldly at his fist. “Is the assassin dead?”

“Yeah, he… died from blood loss not too long ago.”

Kiel shifted. “Captain, why did we have to come to the capital?”

“The government’s involved somehow.” Zay’s voice was dry. “The wardens stationed here must know something.”

“But Commander Dirk said—”

“Do you kids not understand?!”

The room fell still. In all their years serving under him, none of them had ever seen their captain carry himself like this.

“People don’t share the same motives just because they wear the same insignia. An individual could be compromised too.”

The door opened, and Malia entered with Sarah close behind, dragging a bound and gagged warden between them. Sarah shut the door. “We—we got him.”

Zay was on the warden immediately, seizing him by the collar and slamming him against the wall. A muffled grunt escaped through the gag as he dropped to the floor. River and Sarah both stepped back.

Zay took hold of the warden’s hand and bent his smallest finger backward.

A snap.

The warden screamed against the cloth, tears immediately gathering in his eyes. Zay moved to the next finger. Another snap followed before he pulled the gag free.

“AAAGGGH!”

Chena and River both flinched. Sarah angled her face away, while Khyrie and Kiel remained fixed on him.

“Zay,” Malia said. “Slow down and ask a question first.”

“Tell me. Do you answer to anyone who isn’t Lionel Dirk?”

“No, I swear! I don’t!”

Zay drew his cutlass and drove it into the warden’s thigh.

“AAHHHH! PLEASE!”

Malia threw out an arm. “Zay!”

“If you have information useful to us, I suggest you say it now. Either way, I’ll get it out of you.”

“I—I really only answer to Commander Dirk. We—we’re supposed to leave your group alone!”

“Do you know anything about the government or the assassins?" Zay twisted the cutlass deeper into the warden’s thigh. Flesh ground wetly around the blade as blood widened across the floorboards, seeping into the timber. With every slight turn of his wrist, steel scraped against the wood beneath him.

“AAUGHH! I DO! I SWEAR IT!”

River, Chena, and Sarah refused to look.

“Let’s give him a break—”

“I overheard this warden call Warui a walking weapon at the memorial. He doesn’t deserve the luxury of a break.”

The warden’s breath hitched.

“So tell us what we need to know.”

“I—I’m sorry for calling the kid that. It—it was just—”

“I don’t give a shit. Do I look like the kid?”

"...The—the two assassins at the memorial... I remember them!

“They were holding the reins of a cargo cart we let through the western checkpoint in Seria that same day!”

“Why wouldn’t you report that?”

“Because—because the government told me to let them through!”

Malia could only stare, while Khyrie and Kiel exchanged a look across the room. River’s mouth hung slightly open, and Chena went rigid. Zay punched the warden in the eye.

“AHHH!”

“I’M NOT LYING!”

"I believe you. I’m just making sure you keep talking. Why did the government authorize them to enter Tiria?”

“The document said they were freelance specialized operatives... needed to deal with an Avelorn-related security situation!”

Malia spoke under her breath. “And that situation has to be Warui.”

“Where is this document kept?”

“It—it was only shown to me at the checkpoint. The officials’ messenger had it.”

“Where is it now?”

“I don’t know. I could’ve taken it, but I didn’t feel like doing the paperwork.”

Zay ripped the cutlass from the man’s thigh and drove it through his forearm, pinning him to the floor.

The warden screamed.

“Next time, do your damn job, you glorified watchman.”

“He’s giving us the answers we want, Zay. Tone it down.”

Zay ignored Malia. “So the government has the document, and only you know about this?”

“Yes…” The warden trembled. “Yes!”

“Looks like I got lucky. You’re the only preservation bastard who came to mind as worth interrogating."

“Thi—this isn’t interrogation. You’re enjoying this.”

Zay’s face gave the warden nothing. “Believe me. I don’t.”

Nobody spoke.

“I’ll find the messenger myself.”

“No, we’re not putting them through hell like this warden.”

“Malia, the document will prove Mercer’s innocence.”

“We can go about this differently.”

For several seconds, neither moved.

“Fine. I’ll ask Dirk to redirect any cargo carts leaving Tiria to the southern checkpoint in Valeria.”

Malia gave her agreement, and Zay was gone a moment later.

Black.

They were running.

The street blurred beneath their feet.

"They’re going to catch up. We have to fight."

"Remember what Warui’s friend said about their weapons."

“I haven’t figured out a way around them. Did you?" Ela asked Lio.

“Forget making contact.” Lio kept track of the figures behind them. "Evade. Go for the body."

“I need to help you guys fight. There’s five of them.”

“No, Warui. We’re supposed to protect you.”

“And did you forget? Don’t distract us.”

“I can fight. What did I do all that training for?”

"That was half a day. You got better, but be real with yourself."

“And what if you get outclassed?”

Warui opened his mouth, but Ela cut him off. “Or they completely ignore us because you put yourself somewhere vulnerable? If we stay between you and them, we don’t have to consider any of that."

“But—”

“Believe in us. Why do you think Zay trusts us?”

The street slipped away.

“What kind of guy was Captain Zay growing up?”

Ela and Lio sat beside Warui in the grass.

“He was always the scary quiet kid in the neighborhood.”

“Yeah. And he never went to the schoolhouse. Ever... but he came around eventually.”

Warui smiled. “I’m guessing he only came around to you two.”

“Yup, he’s never said it, but me and Ela always keep our word.”

“Zay realized it early…”

Warui was running again.

“I’ll…

“I’ll stay out of the way.”

“Thanks.”

“Finally!”

Ela and Lio stopped together, drawing their cutlasses in the same motion. They knocked the backs of their fists against each other’s shoulders before settling into two-handed grips on their cutlasses.

The five assassins closed in, arranged in a triangular formation.

Ela sank low, and the instant they entered her range, she drove her cutlass straight down the middle.

The formation split.

Three left.

Two right.

Ela dropped her hips and swept the cutlass hard across both attackers, forcing them to spring backward.

Lio vaulted over Ela’s back, carrying his cutlass through another wide sweep. Cloth tore beneath the blade.

Both assassins rolled clear and came up kneeling, clear knives forming in their hands before they hurled them. The other three released transparent tomahawks at the same time.

Ela and Lio rolled together to the right, coming up back-to-back. “Lio, follow up faster. We'll pressure the separated two to keep distance between them and the other three.”

They fight in coordination even when they have to adapt.

I see why they wouldn't want me—

The other three assassins closed together, three clear objects meeting between their hands and fusing into a single transparent stake.

“WAIT, TURN AROUND!”

Ela cast a quick look his way.

The stake crossed the distance.

It entered her skull.

Blood and brain matter burst from the other side.

Ela’s body collapsed.

The stake came for Lio.

He avoided it. "Ela! Get up!" Both assassins behind him kicked the backs of his knees.  “GAH!” 

Lio dropped, and a foot crashed into the right side of his face, hurling him several feet across the ground. His cutlass struck the pavement point-first, and Lio used it to haul himself upright just as five clear needles came flying toward him.

One entered each arm.

One his sternum.

One his right thigh.

The last his forehead.

The impact carried him backward, pinning him against the wall.

For one terrible instant, grief and instinct pulled against each other. Warui had no hope left to cling to, no possibility that either of them would rise again, and he knew hesitation would only give the enemy another body. His grip hardened around the hilt.

 The five assassins rushed him.

He drew the cutlass, then something Zay had said returned.

"Tell us. How’d you call out the sword?”

“I put my hand out. Then it was just there.”

“Did you imagine anything?”

“No, I think… I didn’t want to die.”

“I figured.”

“What do you mean, Captain?”

“Think, kid. Twice at Fort Avelorn, then again during an assassination attempt. That weapon decided to show itself under immense stress. I know Malia said that, but she didn’t consider that maybe you just can’t recreate those situations.”

Zay again.

Later.

“Make sure nobody sees your face, and if we get into a fight… we’ll see if it works.”

The assassins were almost on him, his cutlass still clenched in his right hand. He raised the other and opened it.

The assassins came to a stop.

Warui clenched his fist and dark red filled his hand.

Instantly.

No accident.

The handle was simply there.

Warui charged them with the dark red weapon in his left hand and his cutlass in his right. The five assassins entered his range, and Warui swung both weapons at once. They scattered backward, two breaking to the right. Warui went after them with both blades raised.

“AAAUGH—”

Something inside him dropped away.

His vision darkened from the edges.

Warui stumbled.

Black.

Warui opened his eyes.

Everything shook. He sat in the back of a cargo cart, its wooden interior reinforced with steel fittings. A cloth gag had been forced into his mouth, the fabric thoroughly soaked with his saliva.

Warui tried to move, but metal pulled against both wrists.

Chains.

Each arm was fixed to the wall behind him.

Voices came from outside.  “Things are a little tight right now.”

"Oh, go ahead, sir. We understand."

The rear door opened and sunlight entered in a thin sheet. A warden looked inside and his eyes found Warui. “What are—”

A man appeared behind him and shoved him into the cart. His wrist flicked. A clear needle flashed across the narrow gap and punched through the warden’s head, dropping him to the floor. Eyes rolled upward, mouth still open.

The assassin climbed inside and shut the door. Three knocks against the wall sent the cart into motion.

Warui opened his fingers.

Closed them.

He concentrated.

Then dark red.

The weapon appeared in his hand, but a clear needle immediately pierced his wrist and pinned it against the wall.

“GNH!”

The weapon vanished at the instant of impact.

“How far until the checkpoint?”

“Half a day, give or take,” someone called from the front.

The assassin walked past Warui toward the front of the cart.

The clear needle in Warui’s wrist began to liquefy, running down his skin before evaporating.

“Improvised missions suck.”

GKI: Generally Known Information

The Capital City of Tiria

The capital is Tiria’s largest center of government, commerce, and administration.

Its central districts developed around Lindell Palace, where national officials conduct the affairs of state.

Unlike the Valeria and Seria, extensive use of brick, dressed stone, and plastered masonry is common throughout the capital.

Broad avenues surrounding the palace accommodate carriages, official processions, and commercial traffic. Many buildings rise several stories. Beneath portions of the capital lies an extensive network of foundations, cellars, service passages, and state facilities. Among them is the Underground Prison, a massive detention complex maintained beneath the city.

The Crown Warden maintains a considerable presence throughout the capital.

To many Tirian citizens, residence in the capital represents opportunity and social advancement.

To the government, it is the place from which the rest of Tiria is expected to obey.