Chapter 11: Rifts

  A black-furred lion?

  Vendus looked at the creature in stunned silence.

  It took a few moments for him to come back to reality, only for him to unsheathe the dagger at his hip in a daze.

  Holding it to the moonlight, he saw engraved on the base of the metal, one of the variations of his family’s crest— the face of a lion, somehow etched in black despite the silver sheen of the metal.

  Vendus…always thought that his House’s titles and emblems were dramatizations to make them sound more majestic and grand.

  Black lions, golden dragons, seven-colored phoenixes…

  Weren't they all just exaggerations?

  As a noble child he was taught early of the separation between fact and fiction. Ironically, he was taught the existence of mana, and even goblins, but not that of the mythical beasts to which many Houses stemmed from. He wasn’t even aware of the hydras, basilisks, and thirty-meter tall serpents that roamed the Forests of Emiendel.

  They…were just mythical, right?

  Looking at the living, breathing, black-furred lion from his family's insignias right in front of him, that belief started to waver.

  Still…this was no time for idleness.

  Vendus looked at the creature’s heaving chest.

  The grisly wounds all over its bleeding body, as its flesh was gruesomely exposed to dirt and bacteria.

  He remembered when he touched the cub’s trembling body— it was burningly hot to the touch.

  To leave the creature in its current state wouldn't guarantee its death…but it was highly likely.

  A startling number of predatory animals died not from another apex beast, but rather from infection, disease, and sickness.

  Additionally, if the wind carried the lion cub’s bloody scent, and some other carnivore were to find it…

  The young boy sighed. Nevertheless…Vendus also had to think about himself.

  The time and effort it would take to nurse the creature back to health wasn't small— perhaps that was totally out of the question, for that very well could take days if not weeks.

  Another approach however, was to find the herbs necessary to disinfect and coat its wounds in healing-promoting gel.

  Yet…at his current junction point, delaying his journey by even an hour could mean the difference between life and death. Whatever time he took right now and right here, took away from his time to further the distance between him and his pursuers.

  Not mentioning the ordinary soldiers still looking for him, that woman in immaculate armor was superhumanly swift.

  Vendus weighed each decision…and yet, he had already chosen one in his heart, at the very first sight of the poor creature.

  The young boy stretched his hand, placing his palm on the surface of the creature’s fur. The lion cub flinched again, and yet, somehow it sensed that whatever touched him, had done so with…tenderness.

  Only a few seconds later in its blurry unconsciousness, did it sense something else…familiarity.

  …

  Walking through the woods, two pairs of metal clunking footsteps thudded heavily on the autumn forest floor.

  Although their armor made for quite a lot of noise; contemptible in the ears of a Ranger like Levian, there was simply utter silence between officer and subordinate.

  Ruby didn't quite fit in, nor wished to fit in into the rank and file. Consequently, the relationship between her and everyone else in their specific platoon, could at best be described as strained.

  An air of superiority and seeming disdain had always accompanied her(which was partly true), while the social divide between commoners and nobles naturally created an even worse opinion of her in the other soldiers.

  Unfortunately…the burden of cohesiveness, and the synergistic cooperation of the company, fell on Captain Luther’s shoulders.

  The captain glanced behind him, seeing the sour and sulking expression on her face.

  The politics behind the entire situation, was quite messy. In short, Ruby’s special case of conscription made it so that he was her direct superior, and yet, the apprentice-knight’s actual status, and strength was above his own.

  ‘She definitely has her reservations about that.’ Luther thought to himself.

  ‘Hmm?’

  He saw her face twisting in odd, funny expressions. Ruby’s mouth was moving rapidly but no words were coming out. She seemed to be enacting a whole play in her head about the circumstances that landed her in the royal brigades, rather than under the direct charge of a Knight on an active campaign.

  Not…that there currently was one going on.

  Luther was not sure whether to reprimand her for mocking her higher-ups, or straight out laugh hilariously at her charades.

  ‘Three months…!’ She thought silently, as she grinded her teeth loud enough for someone ten feet ahead of her to hear.

  ‘Three more damned months and—’

  ‘I’ll consider again if you’re ready, young miss.’ Her mouth moved exaggeratedly.

  Luther chuckled, his chest silently rising up and down as he read her lips.

  ‘‘Thinking you’ve just gotta tough out a couple more months huh?’

  “Huh!? What!?” She looked up with a surprised expression, getting out of her head as she came back to reality.

  “Of course not…Captain.” She said with barely contained distaste.

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  “I’m having the time of my life.” Her satirical tone finally slipped through.

  “Hahahaha!”

  “What!? What’s so funny!?”

  Luther sighed, coming down from a good laugh.

  “Tell me again, what do you think about your fellow mates?”

  ‘Where’d that question come from?’

  Ruby paused for a moment, before inhaling in a deep breath and reciting, “The royal brigades, one of the finest places the people of the Kingdom of Aelin could ever serve. Talents from peasantry to nobility can be found amongst its ranks, for the royal divisions pride themselves in its unity, fellowship, and…”

  “I asked what you think of them, not a text-book definition of what they are.” He interrupted.

  Ruby clicked her tongue in irritation, crossing her arms as if closing herself off.

  “C’mon. Be honest.” He said goadingly.

  “Don’t you already know?” She replied, annoyed.

  “Nothing that’s not hearsay among the soldiers. At my age, you don’t believe everything you hear even if everyone’s saying it.”

  “Now tell it to me straight, clearly.”

  “What you really think, instead of the rumors going around that your Ladyship, sees everyone else as useless.”

  Ruby paused at his words, before speaking, “...I don't think about the others that way.”

  Luther smirked, as if satisfied that his guess turned out correct. He replied, “Then what do you think about them?”

  “...Not much.”

  “I know I’m better than them.” She said without an ounce of pride, as if it was only natural.

  “But so what?”

  “I’ve always been better than my peers.”

  “They think I look down on them at every second of the day.”

  “But they couldn’t be more wrong.”

  “Why would some rabble occupy space in my mind? And I don’t have that kind of petty mindset anyway in the first place.”

  “...Ugh.” Luther massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming through.

  “You truly don’t understand why you’ve been sent here, do you?”

  “I do.” She answered fast, without more than a moment’s gap between Luther's question and her own words.

  “In fact, I know why better than anyone else.”

  “What is it then?” Luther asked, seeing that he could catch a glimpse of how she saw things through her own particular lenses.

  Everyone saw the world through their own eyes, both literally and figuratively, and when one spoke, they naturally exposed the perceptions and viewpoints they accumulated and held onto.

  “The only reason I’m here is to wear me down.” She replied.

  “Make me more submissive, obedient…mindless. Someone who doesn’t ask questions and does what they’re told.”

  “That’s what the military’s for. And that’s what people in power create when they need someone to do their bidding.”

  Luther sighed, “Is that really all you gleam from this service?”

  “What? You’re gonna tell me different?”

  Luther opened his mouth, a mentoring tone could not help but fall from his lips, “It’s much more than that young lady. Have you ever tried to actually connect with your comrades?”

  “There’s a reason why you’ve been sent specifically to the army, and not to another expensive teacher.”

  “Living the experiences you need to, are much more valuable than reading them in a book, or listening to someone spout off about them.”

  “Tch…whatever…” She replied.

  Ruby grumbled under her breath, “Why do all these old men feel the need to ramble to me in the same way…”

  Luther sighed…before realizing he was actually spouting off to her just now.

  He coughed a few times before thinking, ‘How can I get her to learn…’

  ‘Should I engage her in more group activities with the female soldiers?’ He thought to himself, before seeing orange hues from afar.

  “We’re soon approaching the main camp.”

  In the distance the two could see a mass of torch lights, and hear the hustle and bustle of an active site during dinner time.

  “Ruby.”

  “Yes, Captain?” She replied absently.

  “Besides our talk…I need you to help keep someone in check.”

  ‘Babysitting now? Seriously?’

  “Fine. Who?”

  Before Luther could answer, a body collided with Ruby’s armor.

  A thin and relatively frail-looking man bounced off of it as if it was a wall, and not a person behind it. His head rang like a bell, reverberating in intense dizziness. At the same time, the drink he held in his hand spilled onto her silver-white armor, coloring it in an interesting shade of grape wine.

  “Hahaha!”

  “He flew, he damn near flew!”

  Jeers and laughter followed as a group of rowdy and boisterous individuals sauntered over. Leading the pack, a ginger-haired man named Arwin paraded himself at the front.

  Looking at Ruby’s armor he barked, “Hey hey don’t mind the dye! Armor’s meant to get dirty after all, hahaha!”

  “Reynolds, make sure you apologize!” A voice from the group teased.

  Another voice shouted, “Remember to wipe off every drop of wine off that…impressive…armor…”

  Their eyes were still on Reynold’s pathetic figure, when their gaze slowly trailed upwards.

  One of the more drunken ones in the back blurrily made out two figures, before stammering out, “Ca— Captain!”

  Before his eyes inevitably panned towards the figure everyone else was staring at, who in comparison might just be much worse.

  The young woman before them, armor and all, could be seen trembling in abject fury.

  “Incompetent, disgraceful fools!” A shout imbued with mana shook the surroundings, causing the small crowd to recoil back or even fall to their butts.

  “These are the quality of individuals you’d want me to connect with?”

  Ruby easily shoved several individuals from her path, not distinguishing between punching bags nor harassers. Nobility was in her blood, but perhaps not in her character.

  As she left however, a passing comment fell from her lips, “The royal army’s soldiers— nothing more than incapable imbeciles…”

  Luther watched her walk off, strangely feeling the same futility as a father did with his teenage daughter.

  And despite her harsh words, the men at his feet no doubt needed to be reprimanded. Wine was an indulgence they were allowed to have, but not one they could get wasted on. Not mentioning the breaches in code of conduct, and the subsequent charges that followed…but if they woke up hungover in an emergency, or an attack, it'd be all over for not just them, but for everyone else around them.

  All the other soldiers began to sober up, if not pick themselves up from off the ground.

  Sour expressions were left on many of their faces. The words she casually spoke no doubt cut many of them, or even reopened some wounds, but thinking about who she was, they could only resign themselves to doing nothing about it.

  Feeling something from off to the side however, they turned their heads towards Captain Luther, who held a stern and foreboding expression on his face.

  Being berated by her Ladyship’s fury almost made them forget that they had to face the actual consequences of their actions, and behavior.

  Predictably, they assembled before him like little children, waiting for the commander’s reprimand and judgement.

  The matter was supposed to end there, but…

  As the young apprentice-knight was walking away, a hand placed itself on her shoulder.

  Almost instinctively, Ruby swatted the dirty thing away.

  “Tch. Who the hell!?”

  She turned her head, expecting the ginger-haired man who previously paraded himself in front of the group to be behind her.

  Scoffing, she thought, ‘Hurt ego? Trying to look tough in front of your boys?’

  To the surprise of everyone’s gaze however, the person who prevented her from walking off was Reynolds.

  His small and thin frame contrasted against Ruby’s own. The young woman was no goliath, standing only at 173 centimeters, but her status, strength, and personality all combined to make her quite imposing.

  Despite that all however, Reynolds still spoke…

  “...Take it back.”

  “What?” Ruby looked at him in irritated confusion.

  He spoke slowly in a solemn tone, “What you said about the men of the royal army…”

  “Take it back.”

  Observing his bloodshot eyes and sniffing the alcohol from his breath, she thought, ‘Wow. Drunken courage?’

  She scoffed again, “Aren’t you that whelp who was being pushed around?”

  “You didn’t even fight back, but you’re speaking up to me now?”

  “...You’re all disgraces.”

  She continued berating, “What a sight! How can you expect me not to—”

  Interrupting her, his lips quivered, “My brother died serving under the royal army!”

  “I— I won’t allow you to taint that memory…”

  A tinge of regret welled up in her, as a surprised expression shot across her face.

  For that moment she didn’t quite know what to say, but a voice shouted from a distance not too soon after.

  “My father died serving too!” Arwin said. His fists naturally balling up at the thought of his memory.

  “My cousin lost his left arm in the battle for Westpeak.”

  “My older sister never came home from her last deployment…”

  “Kirin and Torel lost their lives fighting off bandits from remote villages…”

  Now instead of a boisterous group making senseless noise, they were airing their sorrows and grievances. Their drunkenness, was due in part to those same pains.

  Slowly however, their sorrowful cries started to turn into furious insults.

  “How can someone like you know what we’re going through!”

  “You strut around like you’re better than us all, better than the people that died for your lands and your wealth!”

  Out of frustration and shame, Ruby was about to shout something along the lines of, “Well that’s what happens when you’re weak!” or “That’s just what you commoners have to endure!”

  Before she got the chance to however…

  “Enough!” Luther shouted with mana-imbued thunder. Only, unlike Ruby he had charged his shout to the maximum limits possible. The surrounding forest shook, as birds and small animals quickly flew and scampered away.

  Everyone in the surrounding vicinity covered their ears, with Ruby gauging that he had used just a level of sound below what would cause deafness and bleeding ears.

  A wave of undeniable authority assaulted them, one that held the special quality of order and stern benevolence.

  “Return to your quarters and rest! You will gather before me tomorrow!”