NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39
Stromgarde really had demons, the fearful whispers said. Yet the fear that spread among the palace servants was tempered by confidence in their king. After all, everyone knew he had beaten back a demon himself, and it was through his foresight that the demons were revealed in the first place.
While everyone admired Kyle, Kallum could only worry for his brother. Once more, Kyle was forced to take on a lot of work, except that instead of just supporting a family he was taking care of a kingdom. And once more, Kallum felt like he was in the way.
It was Kyle who did most of the work back on the farm. He woke up the earliest to feed the animals so that Kallum didn't have to. He always tried to carry as much of the harvests or feed or firewood as he could so that Kallum and Ma didn't have to. When Pa was sick, Kyle almost broke himself trying to do the daily work, insisting to still be involved even when the Martins came to help. And when Kyle got sick in turn, Ma and Pa had to literally tie him down to the bed to stop him from shambling up to help, and Kallum was reminded of just how industrious his brother was by struggling to get everything done in the time Kyle did.
"He's a dwarf in a boy's body," was what they liked to say before he was caught using magic.
The work wasn't as physically hard in the palace, but Kallum could see a similar exertion on his brother. He vanished to Light knows where for longer periods of time, and often muttered to himself in the same nonsensical manner as when he was concocting the wild plan to build a contraption to feed the cows.
Getting a pretty girlfriend like Jaina didn't help much either. Pa said Kyle wasn't spending anywhere close to as much time as he should courting the princess, whatever that meant, and Ma had to apologize to Jaina for Kyle being 'distracted', which the mage princess didn't seem to mind at all.
Jaina was nice. Kallum was glad that Kyle and her were 'together' as Ma put it. Contrary to what he expected from Ma's tales, Jaina was kind and fun, always smiling and talking with his parents during breakfast and dinner, and there wasn't the snooty air Kallum had noticed in some of the other nobles passing through the palace. She sometimes watched Kallum in his training and offered encouraging words, and shared stories about her own brother back in Kul Tiras.
When she wasn't studying magic with Pelton or muttering bad words over a cat-scented cauldron, she could be seen in the library or gardens with Kyle. They talked and smiled at each other in the same icky manner like how Ma and Pa did, and occasionally one of them (usually Kyle) would say something that made the other go red.
It was nice to see them together, and to have Jaina join the family. But the trouble caused by demons weighed on everything, dirtying the mood with heavy concern.
Kallum had gotten over his own nightmares from the cathedral rather quickly, mostly thanks to the words from Kyle and Jaina. He'd felt so useless back there, especially considering the fact that Kallum had been training to be a fighter. Kyle had dueled a demon, while Lora and the royal guard had rushed to the other demons without a thought. Even Jaina, a princess, fought.
And what about Kallum? He froze in terror, hugging his parents tightly as a few guards ferried them to safety.
Kyle had said that it was normal, that it wasn't cowardly, but Kallum found it hard to believe. He always imagined himself to be a brave knight that would beat back evil, but when the time came, when actual demons showed up, he was nothing more than a frightened boy.
The fact stung deeply, though Lora hunting him down for missing practice had solved the matter rather quickly.
"Why're ye wallowing?" the dwarf had roared. "What, just because ye din' do anything back then, means you won't do anything forever?"
Despite her own recovering wounds, Lora dragged Kallum out to the practice grounds and forced him into his training by swiping a proper, sharpened sword at him.
"There's more of 'em out there. Are ye gonna let them just kill ya the next time they come calling? So ye froze once, boo hoo. Ye gonna freeze again when they come for you or your family?"
The furious attacks and harsh words had effectively knocked Kallum out of his rut, and he was thankful to Lora for it. He also wished that she could do the same for his parents. Pa at least was returning to his old self again, no longer trembling at loud sounds and managing to do actual gardening instead of digging bottomless holes. Ma on the other hand was still staying strictly within the palace interior, and never went anywhere without her husband or sons accompanying her.
At least she no longer needed Kyle to assure her that the servants attending her weren't demons in disguise anymore. And having Jaina to talk to helped soothe her nerves a lot.
Seeing his parents so badly affected, and his brother so busy, Kallum resolved to train harder. Next time, he won't freeze and be useless. Next time, he'll help his brother and protect his parents.
It was great for his spirits then when one of the guests came walking in on his training with a booming compliment.
"Good form, boy. Needs more power in them strikes, but good form." The dwarf that entered with Kyle was lightly dressed, even compared to the miners Kallum had met, and had streaks of blue paint all over his bare skin. He beamed a grin at him from under a thick, braided red beard before giving Lora a glance. "Heh…and don't let that hag tell you otherwise."
Knowing better than to pause mid-practice, Kallum simply gave a nod as he kept attacking at the practice dummy, while Lora turned on the visitor with a glare. "Oi, who're ye to make a comment? The boy's as good as I say he is."
"Peace, Lora," Kyle interjected with a placating gesture. "This is High Thane Falstad Wildhammer, of Aerie Peak."
Kallum almost stumbled at the title, recognizing the name of the much storied dwarf who took part in the liberation of Grim Batol. He corrected his strike quickly enough, though Lora, who didn't seem impressed in the slightest, snapped a glance his way to show that she noticed. Great, that's going to be at least another afternoon of pushups in loose armor…
The other dwarf cocked an eyebrow at her. "And how good are you gonna make him? Thinking of setting the boy on a whole clan of orcs?"
"If he has to," came Lora's curt reply. She then gave a short wave that signaled for Kallum to take a break, allowing him to actually focus on meeting a renowned warrior.
Kyle idly tossed him a cloth to wipe the worst of the sweat off while he spoke to the blue-painted dwarf. "My brother wishes to be a good fighter. So long as he remains interested, I see no problem in having Lora honing his skills."
With himself now reasonably clean, Kallum bowed and introduced himself as Pelton had taught him, and felt a stirring of elation at one of the heroes of Grim Batol smiling at him.
Falstad then gave Kyle a look, and then turned to Lora before scoffing. "Pfft. Even in Aerie Peak we've heard of the Maiden of Rage. Trust me, young king, your brother's more than good enough by most Alliance standards." Then Kallum felt the weight of Falstad's gaze on him, sizing him up. "Not that it's a bad thing if he gets better, mind you. Just needs to grow into finding a good weapon."
"And stick to solid, dwarven warfare," Lora added.
"Of course. Way he is right now, I'd wager he'd be a match for a Silver Hand paladin."
For some reason, the other dwarf glowered. "Stupid tin cans have too many rules though."
Falstad frowned with similar disapproval at that. "Ah, right. Their 'duels'. Meh, so long as you're getting smacked to your face, it's honorable enough, I say." That earned a nod from Lora and a chuckle from Kyle. Then the frown vanished, and the Wildhammer dwarf stepped up to give a heavy but friendly slap against Kallum's arm. "Anyway, keep it up, lad. Your brother's being all magical and whatnot, he'll need someone grounded to watch him."
The boy could only stare in awe at the dwarf before him as he processed such a praise, completely tuning out whatever his brother snarked in reply. He watched as Kyle led Falstad away from the training grounds, and only the sudden yanking of his collar brought him back to the present.
"Awright, break's over," Lora grumbled. "Back to position. To make up for your uncalled for rest, I want double the swings. You so much as scratch the target without me giving permission, and-"
"I'll be doing laps for the whole of tomorrow," Kallum finished with a sigh, and dragged himself back to the dummy. "I know, I know…"
With his tutor being in a prickly mood, Kallum didn't dare bring up the whole 'Maiden of Rage' thing. Maybe he'll ask Kyle. Or get Kyle to ask Falstad. Refocusing himself, Kallum picked up a weighted practice sword, and began swinging again at various angles, stopping the strikes as close as he could to the practice dummy.
"I meant it about your brother," Falstad said as they walked in the palace hallways. "Not many fighters out there able to swing weapons like that. That Lora's gonna mold the lad into something fierce."
Kyle nodded with some interest. "I guess it's better than becoming a knight?"
"Much better, trust me. You know about Lora's past?"
"Master Krasus told me it's best not to inquire, as she's…sensitive about it."
Falstad rolled his eyes. "I guess you can say that… You want to know?"
Kyle shrugged. "I think I'll ask Lora if I do. Sounds like it's safer that way."
The dwarf nodded sagely. "Huh. You're not wrong there." The lone survivor of clan Steelhide was not someone anyone wanted to get on the wrong side with.
"Anyway, that little peptalk aside, how sure are you about Stromgarde?"
The young king shook his head ruefully. "Valoghan is sure that at the very least, their palace is corrupted. Considering he's being cautious about not alerting them, estimates are a bit vague, but we're guessing that at least the entirety of their ruling body have either been beguiled or enthralled."
And with Valoghan being a close peer of the annoyingly enigmatic Krasus, and this boy king his student, Falstad didn't like that he couldn't doubt the claims much. "Hmph. Knowing that, you're not gonna charge in to nip it in the bud?"
Kyle shook his head again. "We fear that with how obvious this is, there's a trap in play. Either the corrupted king and his court are bait, or they're being brazen because they have something in store for anyone who might oppose them. Alterac barely has enough people to hold its borders as is. Until we can figure out exactly what we're dealing with, I dare not send anyone to their deaths in Stromgarde." He exhaled a drawn out sigh. "Besides, if it's truly only Galen and his cronies who are corrupted, we'd need to prove it to the populace, or the bloodshed that'd follow would ruin the kingdom further."
Huh, it shouldn't be surprising for a student of the red dragon to think too much, but seeing such a serious face on the boy was a bit disconcerting. But Kyle had a point, who knows the designs of demons. It was a shame for Thoras to be felled so cruelly, but it might be worse to simply barge in and upend Stromgarde in a senseless massacre. For all they knew, it was what the demon masterminds behind the damned souls of Stromgarde had in mind, though to what end Falstad could only begin to imagine.
"Thus far, I have…observers watching over their muster," Kyle continued. "They're just drawing levies and training up new footmen, but there's no sign of any dark rituals yet."
"Hm… You think they're going to throw their people at you…for some reason?"
The boy shrugged. "Maybe. Or they're just waiting for the right moment to pull off something."
Kyle paused in his walk then, and turned to fully face Falstad. "I've been told that it is a dangerous gambit, but…but let's say I conduct a preemptive decapitation strike, right in the palace…"
Falstad raised a brow at him. "If all of this is a trap like you imagine…"
"Yeah, it'd be bad… But knowing what you know now, would Aerie Peak support my action?"
The high thane frowned and tugged at his beard as he pondered the question. Would the clans of Aerie Peak support such an action? Without a second's thought, but…
"You'd need to give solid proof. Words and claims have proven useless." One only needed to look at the Alliance
Kyle gave a resigned sigh. "Yeah, I thought so."
"Don't think you'd be bagging a demon with that stunt?"
"I think they're ready to make a martyr out of Galen."
Falstad hummed with annoyance. That sounded about right for underhanded bastards.
"Well…ain't much I can do to help, unfortunately." Not as a High Thane, being stuck in damned clan politics… Still, he gave a reassuring smile, from one ruler to another. "But know that the gryphons and storm hammers of Aerie Peak will be there if Alterac has need of them."
"My thanks, and Alterac will be ready to support however it can should Aerie Peak require it, High Thane."
"Falstad," he insisted at the smirking boy.
"Right. Now let's see, you've seen our toilet system, the repeater bows, and Lora… Would you care to see our murloc befriending project?"
Author's notes: Honestly, I might delete and redo this whole story. Originally, I'm supposed to wait til 50 to do a sort of retrospective and decide, but it's clear that the go-with-the-flow and outside POV style isn't working here. Not enough plot checkpoints to reach, not enough opportunities given to flesh Kyle out, not enough of a lot of things compared to Focused Fire. I should've stopped at around chap 21 or so, but I thought I had enough fumes to keep going til the next spark of idea. Too many vague ideas that are harder to link together compared to FF, especially when trying to drag them towards the goal of having the orcs/demons first impressions of a Reaver popping up in front of them, or the skies darkening with the Golden Armada.
I'll give myself this weekend to figure out how things go I guess.