The Chronicles Of Rhaxtyx

"Knight Captain Damian of the Third Knight Order, at your service."

After saluting the group, this knight called Damian smiled and looked at them. Rhaxtyx was as usual, Roman was looking at the knight weirdly but Miriam was the only one who understood their situation. She was the only one who had an understanding of this person standing in front of them.

"Hi, my name is Rax and these are…" (Rhaxtyx)

"Roman."

"Miriam. Your name is kind of familiar."

"Well it may be. There are some folks that know of me."

"Really? Are you famous?" (Rhaxtyx)

"You can say that. Before that though. What was that? Getting chased by the Imperial Knights is not easy to do. You must've been a huge pain in the a.s.s or you really don't want your lives."

The trio looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Seeing their troubled faces, Damian understood the general situation.

"It's okay if it is something you cannot say. I have my own secrets as well."

"Thank you for understanding Ser Damian. And thank you for helping us as well. Not many would do that given the situation." (Roman)

"Oh it's nothing! I have my fair share of problems."

As he said that, he looked down on his own clothes and armor. He was wearing a tattered chain mail armor. It was obvious that he, at some point, had a hood to his chain mail but it was non-existent at that point of time. He had dirt all over him and the leather on his sword hilt was scratched and damaged as well. His chain mail had damages around it and there was even a clean slash around its waist. This all meant that Damian was on the run for quite some time.

"I'm not going to ask what they are. In return I'd appreciate that you don't ask as well." (Rhaxtyx)

"Fair enough."

Damian had a heavy accent to him. His light brown hair was oily and was messy. He fixed his gauntlets and his chain mail. Miriam was still looking at him, trying to determine something until Rhaxtyx prodded her and asked.

"What are you looking at?" (Rhaxtyx)

"I'm sure I saw him before. Heard his name at least." (Miriam)

"Really? He must be really famous then. Want me to ask him?"

"No wait. Master!"

"Hey! Yeah, umm. I wanted to ask you a question." (Rhaxtyx)

"Sure." (Damian)

"I'm sure I saw you before, or heard about you at least. Can you tell me about that?"

"Haha. Well my friend, everything has its due. For the time being, where are you guys going? We might help each other on the road."

"We were thinking about going to the capital." (Roman)

"Really? Well good luck to you then as I'm leaving the country."

"Leave? To where?" (Rhaxtyx)

"To Hillan Imperium, my homeland."

"I see. Well good luck on your-" (Rhaxtyx)

"I know you." (Miriam)

"Miriam?"

"Excuse me?"

"There's a legendary Knight Captain who refused his post. A captain that accomplished more than one can achieve throughout their life. Because of his tactics and achievements on the northern mountain ridges, he was thus named the Dire Wolf. That is you aren't you?" (Miriam)

"That is quite the deduction. I'm not going to reject that idea but I'll also not say that it is necessarily true either. Think what you may."

"So you were the legendary fighter huh?" (Roman)

"Roman you know him too?" (Rhaxtyx)

"He became a legend after the Ten-Year Skirmish in the Northern Ridge. Us blacksmiths would talk about him as well, thinking about crafting a weapon for him and all."

"That is a bit too much don't you think as well? Haha." (Damian)

"What I wonder is that what is a person of your caliber doing here in that attire." (Miriam)

"Well let's see… None of your business? You better not stick your nose into stuff that doesn't concern you, young lady."

Damian's became threatening and his eyes turned cold. His body was relaxed and his arms was to his side but the trio could feel his sword like aura easily. They thought that this man in front of them cut them into pieces in seconds.

"No no. We are not trying to do that Mr. Damian. We were just-" (Rhaxtyx)

"Curious about things that you have no idea how deep they are? Look I can understand you concern about me and my situation but some things are best left unsaid. I also have my concerns about how you are {Disguised} yourself to hide your white hair. We will be on our separate ways after today and probably won't see each other again ever. So I suggest we bid our farewells and leave. I don't ask you about your circ.u.mstances and you don't ask about mine, how about it?"

"What?!"

Rhaxtyx and Miriam immediately took positions to attack while Roman took position at the back to protect Kai if needed. Badgey jumped down from Rhaxtyx's head while dropping the {Disguise} on itself. They were all in position and ready to brawl. When everything ended, Damian looked at them and clapped.

"Great teamwork! I admire how you went to the back to get the child to safety." (Damian)

Seeing this, Rhaxtyx got confused and asked while lifting his eyebrows.

"You are not going to attack?" (Rhaxtyx)

"Why would I? I already told you I won't meddle with your stuff right?" (Damian)

Damian started walking. He was looking at their formation and inspecting it. He even fixed any problems were present with it. After he thoroughly inspected and told them their shortcomings, he smiled and spoke with a cold voice.

"Oh and believe me, if I wanted to attack, I had enough chances to even kill your friends. Like I said, let's bid our farewells and go our own ways. I still have to cross the border today."

"If you really want to cross the border from here then I suggest you change your route Dire Wolf. There're a lot of soldiers and knights around." (Miriam)

"Is it about the recent demon attack? Your blaze of glory is all over the country. Good thinking, I suppose. Thanks."

"Now maybe you can tell us what happened to the envoys of the Imperium." (Miriam)

After Miriam dropped that line with a smiling face, the atmosphere around them dropped to a chill and everything was as if they were moving slower around them. It looked like they found the reason he was like this. Damian was looking at them with killing intent in his eyes, especially at Miriam.

"It was an easy deduction if you ask me. Miriam is a smart girl so it is easy for her to understand like this. That and town criers announced of your arrival a couple of weeks ago." (Rhaxtyx)

"Haa. Let's go to a more suitable location first." (Damian)

Damian led the group deeper into the forest, towards the behind of the tree trunk they hidden under. There was still military presence inside the forest like the occasional patrol or a checkpoint on the main road. The usual wild and the rare magical beasts were either shooed away or slain for convenience's sake by the hunting teams. This also substituted as practice and a way for soldiers to relieve themselves through combat.

After a much careful 15-minute walk, they reached a place with a lot of trees around it. So much that even looking around gave you nothing but trees in sight, a good place to hide. Damian untied his sword and sat on one of the tree stumps around while gesturing to the group to sit down as well. Kai was still in Roman's arms so he looked for a place to comfortably place her to the floor.

"You can put the little one there. I sleep there so it should be fine."

Damian pointed at a tree trunk that had leaves gathered under it, seemingly creating a bed. Roman put Kai on the 'bed' and returned to the group's side.

"So. Things are pretty easy to understand actually. I was with my troop and two envoys from the Imperium…"

----------------------------------------------------------

2 weeks ago, inside a forest near the Capital City of the Kingdom of Herron.

"You three, stay in front of us. Find a suitable camping place along the road." (Sir Terry)

After Sir Terry gave his order, the three men he pointed at left in a hurry while the remaining two joined the group, protecting their flank.

"Your men are good listeners. I'm impressed." (Damian)

"Oh please Sir Dire Wolf, you flatter me."

"I speak the truth Sir Terry. But my guys are better."

Said Damian with a c.o.c.ky smile. Sir Terry's interest was piqued as his eyebrows were lifted. They then proceeded to brag about their soldiers one by one. After ten minutes of this, everyone was bored; including the said soldiers.

While the two commanders were bantering, the envoys inside the carriage was having a pleasant tea time. Ambassadors Karl and Ben were oblivious to what was happening outside. They had tea and a personal bard to keep them entertained on the journey, which did a great job according to the customers.

The carriage was modified for maximum comfort so it was one of the most stable carriages in the whole Imperium and Kingdom. It shook very little as they moved, ensuring a comfortable ride. This coupled with a bard was a dream come true for these ambassadors.

As they were having their teas, they had a pleasant conversation as well. They talked about what to expect, what to agree upon etc. The bard was specifically selected from the Imperial College of Bards so he had a vow to uphold in situations like these. He couldn't leak anything he heard in that carriage.

"I think we should ask for some border. You know, some new land would be fine." (Ambassador Karl)

"We were specifically ordered not to ask for impossible and condescending demands like that. This is a Kingdom, not a pathetic country that needs our protection. Herron can wage war on us whenever they-" (Ambassador Ben)

*Neigh!*

*Crash!*

"What the hell?!" (Ambassador Ben)

They heard a loud crash and the carriage was abruptly stopped. Their tea was all over the floor now and they were as well, accompanying it to the floor. All three of them were on the floor.

"What happened out there?! Hey!" (Ambassador Ben)

Even though he yelled and demanded an explanation, no answer came.

"That's strange. Dire Wolf would answer immediately." (Amb. Ben)

"You! Bard! Take a look outside!" (Amb. Karl)

Ambassador Karl violently pointed at the bard and ordered him. Even though the bard had enough of them, especially enough of Karl during the journey, he had a duty to uphold so he didn't have much choice. He popped his out of the canopy and was frozen in place. After not giving any kind of sound and answer to the ambassador, they got anxious. Karl kicked the leg of the Bard and demanded an explanation but what he got was silence, followed up by the falling outside of the bard.

"Hiing!" (Karl)

"What the hell!? Hey! Knight Captain Damian! I demand an explanation!" (Ben)

"Well I don't know him but I can certainly provide an explanation."

What answered them was the voice of Sir Terry. Well it resembled Sir Terry but it was deeper than his voice. The canopy opened and there was Sir Terry, waiting on his horse while wiping the blood from his sword while smiling.

"I'm sorry to inform you, esteemed guests, but all your escorts are dead unfortunately."

"Who-who-who-" (Karl)

"Are you an owl perhaps? Heheh. You don't need to know who I am. Just know this, what'll happen to you will be a strong message towards the related parties. Be thankful of the role you play in this grand scheme of things."

-------------------------------------------

"They attacked my men and killed them mercilessly. Their understanding of a camping spot was an ambush. Che! I should've seen it coming!" (Damian)

"There was nothing you could do Ser Damian." (Roman)

"Even though I know that…"

"How did you manage to escape actually?" (Rhaxtyx)

"I was lucky enough and fast enough to avoid most of their lethal attacks and got some superficial wounds to pass me as 'dead'. They left after killing the ambassadors and I left the place as well. The Kingdom betrayed us!"

"There's something going on, that's for sure, but not like what you think to be." (Miriam)

"What do you mean by that?" (Damian)

"That ambush and attack, even the lines used… They do not align with what the Kingdom would do. It is more in line with how the Dynasties operate."