A Sorceress From the Future

Chapter Seventeen

“And just what do you think you are doing here?”

Luke’s face was etched with frustration as he flitted his eyes to his men. For some reason his crow had not yet returned and time was running out, he simply could not wait for his assassins to return. Luke shoved back the feeling of dread that was forming in his throat. They could not have been killed, could they? But how? Their weapons had been laced by the vessel; no magical creature stood a chance against them.

Unless they were overpowered.

Them being overpowered meant that Luke and his new band of soldiers could suffer the same fate. Once again, Luke swept his eyes over his soldiers; his nostrils flared. These men were strangers to him. What if there were mage sympathizers among them? What if their fear overcame their loyalty to Chi? With is assassins he was certain of where they stood, he had handpicked them personally from their homes and overseen their training. All his assassins had possessed hidden vendettas against magical creatures. These men, on the other hand, were drafted into the Knight Sect because it was a mandatory requirement for every household to offer one child for the protection of the kingdom. Usually, the children offered to the Sect were family rejects.

“Look Luke…woah, see what I did there?”

Luke let out a groan; this was going to be strenuous.

“Yes, we can all rhyme Lawrence…”

Lawrence’s excited expression morphed into a pronounced pout. His cheeks flushed crimson as the rest of the men chuckled at his expense.

“Quiet!”

The men heeded their new leader. They were not pleased to be here, they had never had to actually conduct a mission. Most of them had never even gone beyond the Chi walls. As much as they could all foresee the adventure, the possibility of confronting a magical creature was quailing, vessel or not.

“As I was saying, my closest friend has been taken by sadistic creatures and the girl-“

“Yes, what about the girl Lawrence?”

This was the perfect opportunity for Luke to single out the mage sympathizers.

“Do not act as if the girl was not taken too-“

“How do you know that she is not one of them? Maybe her kidnapping was simply a ruse…”

Luke let a small smile play on his lips. At least one of his soldiers had a mindset like his own. He made a point of memorizing this particular soldier. As he did so, he felt a sense of familiarity engulf him. Yes, this was no soldier, this was a guard, the guard.

“Tofu? Why are you here?”

The attention diverted from Lawrence to the frail freckled soldier. Despite the piercing gazes, Tofu retained a stoic appearance, his own gaze focused on his prince.

This was his only chance.

“My father was murdered by a magical creature during a scouting mission beyond the walls. He was King Matthias’ esquire…Quite a brave man…”

Tofu waited for Luke to send him home. He was not a soldier, he had trained to be a guard. The Knight Sect had rejected him due to his anorexic figure. The thing was, Tofu had grown up as an orphan, his father was the only family he had known and after his death, Tofu was forced to fend for himself. As much as Chi had food in abundance, there were still some greedy people in existence. People who made a living out of making other people’s lives like his, miserable. Tofu had been malnourished all his life.

Luke regarded Tofu with utmost curiosity. Who would have known that the first man he would trust among his new soldiers would a border guard? Granted, the man was in no shape to fight, he was a bag of bones yet Luke felt loyalty reverberate from this young lad. The men could use him, he could use him,

Baric could use him.

“Lawrence go home, Tofu you can join us…”

Lawrence felt his heart plummet to his stomach, he had to go with them. He had blown his chance with the girl, for some reason he had offended her and when he had gone to apologize, both her and Barry had vanished. He couldn’t help but feel responsible.

If only he had been there…

Luke shifted his attention to the rest of his men. They were currently in the woods outside Chi. Luke knew that most of his men had never been outside the wall. Frankly, he did not wish to be outside here either. Luke knew that Dawson was plotting against the Tenaci bloodline.  Dawson was a greedy man and Luke was certain that the man would do anything to get the throne. But surely the council would never permit this could they? Sure, they were not vocal and most had never even uttered a single world in council meetings…Luke sighed, all he could do for now was rescue his brother, kill the girl and return home. Hopefully Stephen and Sabrina would talk sense into the rest of the council members.

“Men, you know why you are here…My brother was abducted from his home, within the palace walls, within the Kingdom…the magical creatures have never been this bold, they know we possess the only thing that can destroy them…The purpose of this mission is to retrieve my brother, through whatever means possible…”

The men shared worried glances; the underlying meaning of that statement was that their lives were dispensable but the prince’s was not. Luke regarded the men once again, apart from Tofu, he was certain that these men would vanish at the first sight of confrontation.

“I understand that this is new territory for you and usually I wouldn’t ask this of you but I have no idea where my assassins are…Still, these are your lives you are giving up so if anyone of you wishes to leave…”

Lawrence watched silently as some of the men shared nervous looks and turned to leave. Luke had anticipated this, he just hadn’t expected so many of them to quit. By the time he was doing a head count of the remaining soldiers, there were only seven men left inclusive of Tofu and Lawrence.

“Well, I suppose you will be needing me after all…”

“Quiet Lawrence!”

“No I refuse to be silent! You need more men yet you still cannot allow me to accompany you? I may not have had training in combat but I learn very-“

“Quiet!”

“No I will-“

Luke dashed towards Lawrence and covered his mouth; he was sure he had heard something. Movements? But magical creatures rarely roamed these woods.

Key word being rarely.

“Look what we have here boys…fresh human meat…”