Chapter 1: I need a new shield.
The sweat dripped down her face stinging her eyes, she blinked them out keeping focus on her adversary. He wasn't going to give her time to wipe them away. With a swift step forward she anticipated the horizontal sweep of the blade and blocked it with her shield. As the blade struck the metal buckled to her right hand she used the force recieved to launch the blade in her left hand in a vertical strike to the torso.
It was anticipated and blocked by her father, catching her blade with his sword hilt and lunging forward elbowing the armor plate on her chest with enough force to knock the wind out of her. Emily Rosethorn reeled back to catch her breath.
The morning sun beat down on them hard, the sounds of metal connecting at high velocities was a common sound at the Rosethorn mansion. It was a beautiful two story mansion roughly fifteen thousand square feet. These mansions were usually gifted to the nobility or high ranking officers.
Shaking off the stars she was seeing Emily made a dash torward her father, her intention would be to attack him head on and use the reaction to flank around his side. Unfortunately, as the knight commander, he anticipated that. He paried the first horizontal strike from her blade, she didn't even get to move before his second strike.
Emily reactively tucked her shield into her torso absorbing the blow, she didn't have enough time to angle her arm to glance the blade off of it, so the shield took the force straight on. The stress fractures from the strike shattered her shield into several shards. Having taken the riposte full force she was sent tumbling backwards eight feet. She lay on the ground panting, she lost again. Her body was still recoiling from the strike, yet she made an attemt to stand.
"Enough..." Her father declared putting his blade down.
He walked over to his struggling daughter and offered a hand to stand up. Emily took it with a worn half smile. Her golden hair fell down last her shoulders as her hairtie had fallen out at some point.
"You are putting too much of your time into your shield maneuvers, trying to anticipate every attack when you should be pushing your target and creating openings." Her father instructed, with more concern in his voice than disappointment.
Her father was the royal knight captain, a position that came with a lot of responsibilities and required a severe amount of skill. She would be expected to work five times as hard as any prospective knight her same age, she nodded quietly still recovering.
"Dispite that you have shown great improvement, the training you have been doing has not been wasted. Your mother would have been proud of you." Her father praised her.
Emily nodded, her face softened more now with such praise.
"Will you be going now?" She asked with a slight bit of resentment.
Her father had become extremely busy over the last three years only making time to come home for a day or two every other week. It was evident that she didn't want to see him go again, but it was his responsibility to see the knights of the capital and lead them in protecting thier city and the nobility. Her father's face softened.
"You know just as well as I do that the kinds armies must be led, especially against the criminal activity that seems to have been increasing these years." He reminds her, massaging his temples at the thought of all the paperwork required behind each capture.
Her father stood up and walked over to the destroyed halfs of her shield, he chuckles picking them up and walking back to her. In his hands were two badly warped peices of steel, it had already received a beating before the todays sparing session. It barely held at his first few strikes.
"It seems as your newest shield has failed you again. Maybe I should hire you a personal smith to keep up with your constant abusal of your equipment." He chuckled obviously joking.
Emily's face brightened before realizing the joke, hot flush filled her face as her ebarassment grew. She took the two halves of her shield, looking at the warping that lead to its eventual destruction she frowned. This shield barely lasted a month, the steel even started wearing down the first week.
"Its just not strong enough..." She observed.
"A shields strength doesn't come from the metal its forged with, it comes from the will and strength of its wielder." Her father knelt down and patted her shoulder warmly. "As you get stronger your shield will suit your needs better, but it still needs to me taken care of. Your equipment can only take care of you as long as you take care of it."
Emily's father stood up and walked with her inside thier large mansion.
"Your birthday is in a month, you will recieve your blessing from the goddess and I am sure then your strength will grow at an unimaginable rate." Her father reminded her.
"You'll be there right? For my blessing?" Emily asked hopefully.
"Ofcourse!" He laughed loudy. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, even if the Demon King ressurected that day I would still still be there!"
Her father patted her shoulder and bid her farewell as he left to resume his duties. Emily went to her room to change out of her training armor, she took a warm bath and then changed back into her imperial knight training uniform. After a meal was brought to her by the maid she looked over the broken shield. She produced a small pocketbook and crossed out the name of a blacksmith, it was the last name on the list.
Emily threw the book against her wall. She wasnt angry she lost, she was angry that another shield failed her. 48 of the most well known smiths in the country couldn't produce a shield that lasted longer than a month. Sure she was rough with them but that was the point. Standing up to pick up her book she closed the cover, inprinted on the leather was an elegant design of a shield embossed with an eagle. "The Aegis"
She knew her obsession with the tale was a byproduct of her mothers death, she was shield maiden for the King's army. She met her father while fighting together and the fell in love. They built a whole life together, had a daughter... She died when Emily was six. Her father shut himself away for a whole year after her death, yet even during his grieving he still took time for his daughter. Read her stories about fairy tales and her favorite: The Story Of The Hero. Listening to those stores she belived the Hero was invincible, with a magic shield that protected you from harm you couldn't die. If her mother had owned that shield, she would be alive today.
Another thought in her mind pursed her lips. She was so distracted by the sparring match she forgot to tell her father, that she was having the dreams again...
Leaving her family's mansion she walked into the market district of the city, in her uniform she would usually pull looks from the passersby. Being a imperial knight in training was an honor, much was expected of her as she became older and fulfilled her duties to the King. Emily walked through the markets perusing the stalls, specifically for the works of black smiths. Passing over several stalls with fine equipment and weaponry, she had seen all of these smith's work and they didn't meet her standards...
"Golden Mountain Peak Forge, two weeks... Steel Scale Forge, six days..." Emily refered back to her book regarding all of the names of the blacksmith shops.
No new names, all ones that couldn't muster. While foregoing todays attempt to find her replacement she felt a strange sensation. She only felt this during her dreams, an odd sense of contentment or a feeling of deja vu. Looking around she didnt see anything strange or out of the ordinary, yet clear as day above all the cacophony of the market she could hear a voice. A woman's voice.
There was an odd sense off familiarity from it, she felt like it was an old friend of hers, yet she didnt recognize it. Following nothing more than just a vague sense she turned into an alley, she could hear it clearer than before. It was for sure the voice of a woman, it had an ethereal quality to it as it seemed to be having a conversation with someone. Emily could only follow her senses while listening to half a conversation.
"Are you going to the church again?"
"Of course I dont want to stay here, its far too dreary here alone and you're always gone for so long. I get so bored..."
Emily's sense pinpointed on the sound, she turned the corner and was confused. She didn't see a women, just a tattered looking man in a cloak. She watched him walk further down the alleyway not paying her any mind. He seemed to be making his way to the religious district. She didnt understand why but her heart lurched whe she saw the man, something deep inside her reacted to the figure. She couldn't move as he continued on. After a minute she felt her body unfreeze, without reason she kept going after him.
After five minutes of following just out of thier eye sight. Her blood froze when the voice returned clear as day.
"You're being followed." Said the voice with a slight bit of edge.
Emily ducked into an alcove, her ears straining to catch something more. She did she heard the man's dry voice, he sounded younger than she expected.
"Are they Imperial?" The dry male voice asked, seemingly to no one.
"I think so, they have Imperial symbols on thier clothes. Its a woman." The voice relayed.
Emily's rears started ringing, how did they know? She hugged the wall of the alcove tightly anticipating some kind of intervention.
"I don't care. Lets pick up the pace, I want to be home by sun down." The dry voice declared.
Emily leaned out ready to follow an now running target but she watched him turn a corner. Keeping careful to not gain thier attention she stalked forward and tuned the corner to see, a dead end. The the sides of the alley were tall homes. At the end of the alley was a solid twenty food brick wall. She steppd into the dead end looking for any sign of the cloaked man but there was none. Shaking her head she heard distant church bells. Her heart raced, she was going to be late.
The bells rung drawing mass crowds to the beautiful white marble cathedral, the doors opened revealing a massive inner sanctum with elegant stain glass windows with depictions of the goddess. Each week the Holy Church held a special sermon for grieving families and loved ones to listen to the holy scriptures and honor the dead. Emily made it a regular routine to be apart of the sermon. Each week she would file in amongst the pews and listen to the reverend recite passages from holy texts. Usually how the goddess blessed all the races with the ability to feel, to love and to experience pain and loss. In this was she meant fo all of us to be closer to her.
At the end of the sermon grieving loved ones would bring flowers to lay at the statue of the goddess's feet. People would often take time to pray that thier loved one would be in heaven with the gods and angels. Each week Emily would wait till the end of the reading, file into a line with the others and wait her turn to lay flowers. When it was her turn she layed down a white rose on the pedestal. She held her hands together, intelaced her fingers and knelt down.
"Mom, I miss you. I pray you're watching over us, I hope you can see me get my blessing." She whispered.
Emily stood and turned to walk out of the church, walking past long line of waiting patrons she froze as she saw the cloaked man. This time his hood was down. He stood in the line, his blue-green eyes fixated on the stainglass window. He had fair skin and blue tattoo lines under his eyes going down to his neck. His hair was tangled mess of dark brown, he had to have been in his mid twenties. Following his gaze she saw that he was looking at the depiction of the Goddess's disciple, Priestess Istaye. In his hands he seemed to be holding a red rose and to be holding something on the end of a chain, his thumb caressing something gold. He didn't pay her any mind, Emily sat back down in a pew and silently watched him.
The man waited his turn, not once did his eyes waiver from the stain glass portrait. Once he made his way to the front he layed his rose amongst the others and knelt down in prayer. Emily's eyes widened as the inner sanctum seemed to brighten, she looked around to see if anyone else noticed. No one else reacted, as if no one else could see it. Clearly she could see the room brighten, as if the opaque lights floating in the air around them all shone holy golden light. She had only ever seen this once, in her dreams...
She watches the man stand up finishing his prayer, he turns to walk out of the church. She can see tears lining his face, and under his cloak she saw briefly a silver glint of what looked to be a sword. Her ears pricked at the sound of the etheral voice again.
"The Imperial woman, she's here again." It observed almost with an indigant tone.
"I don't care, she cant follow us home."Replied the man.
His eyes found her immediately, his blue-green eyes scanned her for hostility. Her heart lurched when they made eye contact, like seeing an old best friend for the first time in years. There was something familiar about him, something she saw from her dreams. The staring match ended as the man was appoached by the clergyman. A stalky older man in a priests robe, cheerfully approached him smiling. Emily watched at they shared a conversation briefly and the cloaked man produced a small set of bells and a hammer for the priest to take. With a handshake the deal was done and the man walked out of the inner sanctum of the Holy Church.
Emily made a break for the door, stepping out of the doors on to the marble steps she scanned the crowds. Nothing, there was no sign of him. She stepped back into the chaple and found the priest attending to the scriptures. His eyes fell upon her as she approached him.
"Ah, my lady. Is there anything I can help you with?" The old man asked rubbing his hands together.
"That man, the one whith the cloak. Who was he? What did he give you?" Emily started firing off questions in a curious tone.
The priests eyes narrowed. His expression guarded evermore slightly.
"Ah my lady that man is no one of important, a hermit who operates a forge on the far side of town. He makes things for people who cant afford guild forge prices. I ask that you don't report him to the authorities my Lady, he helps so many of the peasants living in the city." The man answered, his request surprised her.
"He's not apart of the guild, so thats why I haven't heard of him... Father, may I see the hammer he gave you?" Emily asked.
"You are the the Knight Captain's daughter are you not, why do you seek this man?" The priest asked.
"Its not for official buisness, my father has requested a smith outside of the guild to work for him. We have little faith in the guild's ability." She lied.
The priest too a long look at her, his eyes seem to understand something.
"Indeed, I am sorry about your mother. I was the one who married her to your father, I knew her as a child. It was a terrible day when we lost her." The priest seemed to connect her claimed distaste for guild forges with the death of her mother.
The priest handed her the set of bells suspeneded off of a silver handle, and the hammer. Emily carressed the handle of the bell, it was an elagant design with a floral pattern. With a flick of her finger she sent the bells to ring. It was the most delicate sound she had ever heard, like tiny chicks calling from a nest for thier mother.
"What is this for?" Emily asked the priest.
"A young widow recently had her baby, we asked if anyone could provide something to soothe the child as it has trouble sleeping. He came to me and told me he had a way to soothe the child. I didn't understand when he explained it to me but seeing it now it makes more sense." He answered.
Emily handed him back the bells and inspected the hammer. Its handle was repaired finely as it looked much older than the metal. It was a white ivory with holy designs marked into the grip. It felt ergonomic and easy to handle, she swung it in the air and felt its density would have naturally have betrayed its form but it was incredibly well balanced. This felt on the same level as the kingdom's most renown smiths. He head felt hot just thinking about it, her eyes found the makers symbol.
Her eyes widened, it was a intricate depiction of the original historic design of the holy sword. The design was most common when refering to it when she was a child, later in her life she heard the nobility had formally changed its depiction citing that the new design was more "accurate". The going rumor was that the nobility who were the descendants of the Hero had the sword locked up in a vault somewhere, so no body questioned it. The delicate depiction of the original holy sword was surrounded with a ring with small letters lining the top and bottom of the imprint. "Aegis Metalworks." Emily's skin prickled, someone else who cared about the holy shield as well!
Returning it to the priest she asked maybe a little too quickly.
"Uh- W-where does he work? His forge?" She asked fumbling her words.
The priest shook his head and the feeling of elation she felt simmered down.
"I dont know where he lives, or where he works. He comes every week and offers his services." The priest answered.
Emily nodded and thanked the priest for his assistance, she walked out of the Holy Church crestfallen. She would have to start her search from scratch, maybe even ask her father for help if it came to it. Taking out her book she wrote down the new name. "Aegis Metalworks." She snapped the book closed with a new sense of determination. She had to find who this forge master was, get him to make her a shield and find out who that voice was...
The following three days passed slowly and yet when it mattered to her there wasnt enough time. Emily attended her daily knight training five days out of the seven day week, her mind constantly distacted with new theories to locate the unknown forge master. In the evenings she would patrol the streets looking for the slightest hints of his whereabouts. The past few days produced nothing.
The afternoon sun shone in brilliantly through the windows of the classroom, the warmth provided would ease anyone unfocused into a dozing sleep. Half of the knights in training weren't listening, 'Historic strategy analysis" or just "History" wasn't on the top of anyones favorite class list. It certainly didn't help that the instructor wasnt very charismatic either.
Instructor Lethewic Parsely was a gaunt man with a mess of tawny hair. His robes were always wrinkled and he always had his rounded glasses glued to his stubby nose. His voice was a monotone drawl that in itself would put anyone to sleep. It didn't help that that for hours he would egnore his students while teaching his class.
"And so... As you all may know the Hero drew his forces around the crowds of demon kind... He provided a distraction so to his forces could retake the keep while he drew them out.... Can anyone tell me what the scriptures say guided him in his efforts?... Hrm... Ms. Rosethorn?"
Emily completely egnored her name being called, her attention was entirely in a sketch of the "Aegis Metalworks" symbol she drew from memory. She was working on the swords hand guard when her friend Tabitha tapped on her shoulder.
"Hes calling you..." She said in a mousey voice
Tabitha had been Emily's friend since she started her imperial knight training a year and a half ago. She had a small frame with delicate mousey features and chestnut brown eyes. Her staight brown hair fell below her shoulders and often over her large rounded glasses. Emily straightened, looking at her instructor.
"Yes, Sir?" She asked causing several quicked snickers around the room.
With a shake of his head and a neading of the bridge of his nose Instructor Lethewic repeated his question.
"The scriptures say that the Hero was guided by the words of Lady Istaye, and as well the spirit of the holy sword. They say that only the priestess and the Hero chosen by the blade could hear her voice." Emily answered.
The instructor nodded and then paused.
"Her voice? There is nothing in the scriptures that indicates... The the spirit of the sword was a woman..." He shook his head again.
"Please sit down Ms Rosethorn, your answer was correct... For the most part..." He conceeded resuming his lecture to more snickers from the classroom.
Emily sat and rolled her eyes. Why did she belive that, well it felt right... Like it made sense. Her mind drifted to the soft etheral voce she heard in the alleyway. She didn't understand why. She attempted to continue her sketch but was tapped again on the shoulder by Tabitha.
"Whatcha drawing?" Tabitha asked curious about Emily's new creation.
Emily flushed at her sudden intrest. She slid the drawing over for her to see.
"Oh, is that the old Holy Sword design? Wasn't that considered out dated by the nobility?" She observed keenly.
"Yeah, well its something I have been looking into recently. Someone in the city is going by this name and design and I need to find him." Emily admitted.
"Is this about your sheild? Did you break it again?" Tabitha mused teasingly.
"What no, I didn't break it my father did. Besides it was weak anyway..." Emily mumbled.
They both spoke for a while until the end of class, in which she and the rest of the students filed out of the class and over too the training grounds. Outside the institutions walls the training ground was a flat patch of ground with a circular running track surrounding a training center with a sparing pedestal. All of the students drew around the instructor as a new announcement was being declared.
Instructor Gwen was a tall incredibly fit woman with short red ginger hair. Her eyes were stoic blue lenses that matched her imperial armor. She led the practical instruction class along with contructing the training regimen for her students. The scars on her face wrinkled as she smiled. She always refered to them as "knights" even though they were still only in training.
"Alright knights I've got a big announcment for you all. This is gonna affect you all!" Instructor Gwen started.
"Did you finally find a boyfriend?" One of the male students asked causing an eruption of snickers from the crowd.
Instructor Gwen's face didnt change, it had become well known that she was actively looking for a boyfriend. Yet she kept scaring them all off with her brute strength and the requirement that they had to be able to beat her in a battle. A difficult feat considering she was the fourth strongest imperial knight in the kingdom.
"Of course not, I beat the snot out of the last one! But thats not what we are here to talk about! In two days i'll be taking the whole class out to explore and clear a dungeon!" She declared tiumphantly, the snickering died down immediately.
Emily's face paled. She needed a new shield before then, maybe it was time to reach out for help.
"Now all of you, give me fifteen laps around the track. Now!" She barked.
All of the students began to run around the training grounds, Instructor Gwen pointed out the boy from earlier.
"And you Mr Kamil, give me twenty laps for that question." She chided
More laughter erupted from the students as they all followed in.
The afternoon sun was falling in the sky, it would be two hours until it turned dark. Emily was waiting at the institution gates for Tabitha. Seeing her walking out amongst the crowds she ran over hooking her in her inner elbow and pulling her aside. They found a quiet place away from prying eyes, locating a small patch for them to sit in they spoke.
"What the hell Emily? If you wanted to talk you coulda just asked." Tabitha complained in her mousey voice.
"I need your help, your magic You can locate an object or person with magic right?" Emily asked with a little too much desperation in her voice.
"Yeah, but its selective on what it works on. Is this about a boy?" Tabitha prodded with a slight mischevious smile.
"No! Well techically yes but hes older than me... But thats not the point!" Emily retorted with a flushed face.
This only served to fuel Tabitha's sly smile. She produced a grimoire from her bag and flipped to a page in it.
"Mhm, sure... What am I looking for, I need a name, a word or an image if you have one." She instructed her tone dropping to something more focused.
Emily slid over her book with the sketch of the forge branding on it. She watched as Tabitha pressed a dainty finger on the image and her other hand held the grimoire. She chanted a few words at the paper glowed. Emily could see the blue light surround her book and then fill in the dark lines causing the draeing of the holy sword to glow in silverish light. She watced as the lines began to trace torward the west side of town. Just as she was feeling hopeful something went wrong.
There was a flash of light and a snap as the magic puttered out. Both of them looked astonished as the blue light faded and the page with the branding ripped itself from the book and incinterated immdediately.
"What happened? What was that?" Emily asked still in shock.
"I think whomever you wanted to trace didn't want to be traced. Who ever it was was powerful enough to reverse trace us back and sever the magic." Tabitha explained with a newly found intrigue. "Who the hell are you looking for Emily?"
Emily crossed her arms still sitting, she didn't have long only two days. She had to try again.
"We need to try another word, somthing that matters here." She thought out loud.
"Alright, what do you got?" Tabitha's curiosity was getting the best of her.
"Try, Aegis..." Emily offered.
Following the same ritual the pages lit up with blue magic, a new focus this time. They both watched the line follow the same path westward and this time it stuck. Emily's skin prickled, they were on the trail. They both took off following the direction dictated by the grimoire, it showed a straight in the direction that they needed to go like a compass. After running for what felt like an hour they finally found it.
Nestled in the compact area of the lower class city was a small forge, the oustide has a small shack with firewood and charcoal. The walls were an old stone wall and the roof wasn't particularly high. Emily watched at the smoke billowed from the chimney up top, she could smell the familiar heat of a forge. Walking up to the door they both saw a old wooden sign with the same branding of a holy sword. They looked at the grimoire, its beam of light shone straight ahead right into the door. Emily knocked on the door.
"H-hello? Is anyone home?" She called out, yet there was no answer.
She gripped the handle and pushed the door open, they both stepped into the dimmly lit forge. Inside was a typical forge, the front room had been repurosed with a hearth, a kiln and an anvil. To the right Emily saw a small sitting area with a table, it was dark but she could see a plate of half eaten food. A silver twinkle caught her eye, looking across the forge area hanging on wooden peg in the wall was a sword in a scabbard. She gasped as she stepped forward for a better look. It was a beautiful recreation of the original holy sword design, it was so perfect to looked like something out a fairy tale. Emily was halted by Tabitha's trembling fingers on her shoulder.
"Em-Emily y-you need to see this." Tabitha called to her, her anxiety enounciating her mousey voice.
Emily turned to Tabitha who was shivering violently, her attention was engulfed in the grimore new direction. A chill drove its way up her spine as the grimore now pointed behind Tabitha. Emily's eyes slowly made its way to the new figure behind her, his tall figure stood out in the darkness only lit by the glowing book with the floaing words "Aegis". A darkened gloved hand reached over and closed the book ending the spell imediately, the only light in the room was the light reflecting off of his blue-green eyes.
"And who might you be?" Said a low toned voice...
Thank you for reading Chaper 1 of CannonFodder Rebirth: Living only after the war is over! Please stay tuned for the next chapter coming out hopefully before the next year. Im currently working a 60 hour a week job while working on this on my freetime. So updates are only going to come out as I can get to them. Thank you again for your time, I hope to see you for the next chapter:
Chapter 2 : Crouching blacksmith, Hidden dungeon.