Not as They Appear Chapter 1 v2

The insect-winged avian came at me in attack. I made a downward slice, which proved to be the final blow. The creature faltered as if stunned, but fell to the ground with a thump. This one had given a good fight, something I hadn't had in a while. After a few minutes rest, I slowly limped back to the city, keeping my eyes averted from the bloody and still-twitching corpse.

The next morning I sat on my bed, groaning and grunting in pain at every move. It took a while before I finally felt limber enough to do my chores and get to work. I walked to the docks, halfway across the city from my house. I'd been in Guiseppe for a good three months, but for some reason, I hadn't moved to a house that's closer to my job. After all, Guiseppe is a pretty big city; the capitol of Horsfall to be exact. The king resides here in this town, though we rarely see him. When we do happen to stumble across him, he's surrounded by guards, and therefore, no one has really gotten a good look at him.

That's why I was surprised when a royal messenger approached me while I was ready to start sailing into the lake.

“Hello. Are you Tyler Nicola?” He asked in a monotonous voice that was deeper than I expected. I stood up from the pile of rope and nets that I had been untangling and nodded.

“Y-yes, I am.” I replied, looking the red and grey garbed man up and down. His shirt was crimson and he had a grey piece of cloth that started at a point at his mid-torso and presumably ended on the other side of him at the same spot. The Horsfall symbol was in the middle of it.

“King Stefan has asked for you.” He monotoned. “Please follow me.” He turned, and my assumption about the odd article of clothing was correct. He started walking away and I realized he was going to leave me behind. I jumped out of my water-craft and jogged to catch up with him.

The castle is the oldest part of the city. The stones were actually quarried here in Guiseppe, back before it became the largest port on the continent. The town of Guiseppe was a very large stone quarry until the stone became too deep to retrieve. A small group of fishermen had made a camp next to the town and apparently gave the townspeople the idea that they could fish instead. Many other cities were on the other side of the lake, including Orsino, Cremona's capital.

We approached the castle, walking over the wooden drawbridge that served little purpose nowadays. We hadn't had a war in thirty years. I nodded at a guard but, as expected, didn’t get a reply. I’ve heard stories of what happens to guards who don’t stand still, and it’s certainly not pretty. King Elliot, Stefan's father, had definitely been strict in his day.

The front double door loomed in front of us. It was big, about twice a man’s height, and was made out of oak. The line where the door met at the center of the half circle was surrounded by several other vertical lines, about three finger widths apart all the way to the end. It was probably a little disorienting to find where the doors opened at while in the chaos of battle.

The messenger pushed one side open and walked into the large room. In the back were two staircases leading to the right and left sides. Pillars were arranged on the ground level at ten meter intervals, and in between them, on the walls, were swords, shields, and statues of armor. A servant approached. He was garbed in a royal blue tunic with white breeches and had oily hair that seemed to be thinning, brown eyes that held no light, a straight, pointy nose, crooked teeth; the clothes were the only thing nice about this man.

“Hello, sir,” he said, in a barely tolerable high and nasal voice. “Can I help you?”

I turned to the messenger to hear his reply, but found empty space. I turned back to the servant, confused. “Uh, I'm Tyler Nicola, and apparently King Stefan has asked for me.” I half-muttered, half-stuttered, not expecting to speak to this man.

“Yes, right this way please.” He took me back to the staircase and used the one on the right. We passed three hallways, all adorned with armored statues and paintings of long-dead kings, before entering a door near the end of the right-side balcony. A dining room was behind the door, spreading thirty paces long and half that wide.

Several long tables were lined up around the room, and a lonely figure sat at one near the middle. The servant bowed and backed into the hallway we had just taken, closing the door behind him. Once the servant had left I started to approach the sitting figure. From what limited sight of him I had, he was garbed in a black tunic with short, balled cuffs at the sleeve. Below it was a white undershirt that extended to his wrist.

“Good morning, Tyler. Please, come have a seat.” The voice that came from the man was regal, but was also nasal like the servant’s. It was tolerable though, so I felt like I wouldn’t have any problems listening to this man.

I quickened my pace as I kept walking towards the figure. I reached the table and sat down across from the young-looking man eating a breakfast of sausage, eggs, and bacon. A little bit of egg stuck to the side of the man’s mouth.

“Excuse me, sir, but I'm not sure why I'm here.” I said. “Especially while you're still eating breakfast.”

He grinned, the egg on the side of his mouth moving a bit and irritating me. “I have something I wanted  to discuss with you, and I think that you're the only person for this job.”

I felt a little excited that the king had chosen me, but I still thought that he had made a mistake. “Sir, there are hundreds of men in Guiseppe, I myself have only been in the city for two months. Surely there is someone else more...” I struggled for the correct word. “...qualified.”

He just grinned bigger. “No, Tyler. I'm sure I've already picked the right man for the job.” He took a bite of his food as I shrunk in my chair.

“Oh, okay,” I muttered silently. “Alright, so what did you want to discuss? What kind of job do you want me to do?”

The king swallowed his bite. “There are some bandits running around Guiseppe. I want them disposed of.” His face showed no humor, only seriousness. I realized that he wasn't joking around.

I frowned. “But I'm just a fisherman. I mean, occasionally I'll kill monsters, but other than that, I'm sitting out in the open water, scooping up fish for the market. Also, don't you have plenty of soldiers? Why don't you use any of them?”

The king didn't move. “'Occasionally kill monsters', huh?” He repeated, after a long pause. I caught The hidden meaning behind it. I bit my tongue.

“That...that was once, a long time ago.” The look on his face made it evident that he didn't believe me.  “Anyway, you haven't replied to my perfectly valid statements.” I silently cursed him for bringing back the memory that I wanted to forget, but listened to his explanations.

“You're right, you are just a fisherman. However, my people saw your latest display with the mastia last night. They said that you did well for yourself.” He dabbed at his mouth with a napkin and pushed his plate aside, seemingly done. “As for my soldiers, yes, I do have plenty of those. But sending a troop of soldiers to get a few bandits is overkill, not to mention noisy. Bandits have taken on guerrilla tactics, and sending my soldiers in there would be sending them to certain death. Suicide by king, if you will.”

I couldn't hold out any longer and gave in. “Fine. I'll do it. How many are there?”

“Three companies.”

One company was made up of around thirty bandits, so there were about ninety men running around and looting from the townspeople of Guiseppe.

“Hmm, ninety men, huh? You certainly want me to be challenged, don't you?” I moaned. He chuckled, finally giving another sign that he still had some humor in him. “Alright, so where are those camps at?”

The king snapped his fingers and a servant appeared, a different one than the one who had brought me here. He brought a folded piece of parchment that I assumed was a map. It was. The servant unfolded the map on the table in front of me and the king.

The map showed the entire continent in color. It was mostly green, but had some tan patches in areas of Eckbar, the country to the northwest, and Xionao, the country to the northeast. Some white was also visible at the top and bottom of the map where the beginnings of the poles lay. The king pointed to a couple of red circles in the woods of Horsfall and Cremona, the country to the east.

“These are the camps’ location as of last night,” the king explained. The servant laid down another map, a close-up of the camps, on top. He pointed to a grey point on the new map. “This is Guiseppe, and here is the closest camp to us.” He moved his hand to the red circle which was a few fingers away from the town. Two other red circles within a hand of the first were visible.

“It’s about a day’s ride to the first camp,” the servant said in a quiet, whispery voice. “The other two camps are about three to four days away.”

The king turned to me. “If you wish for a horse, we can provide you with one.”

I nodded. “That would be great, thank you. I'd like to request a pack of food as well.”

The king nodded in replay and snapped his fingers again.

Another servant came, this time from behind me. He bowed. “Yes, My Lord?”

“Get this young man a pack of food to last him a couple of weeks.”

“Yes, My Lord. It will take but a moment.” The servant bowed and retreated the way he had arrived.

The king turned to me. “Let me see your blade.” The servant who had brought the maps looked uneasy.

“Are you sure, Your Highness?” he asked, his voice heavy with caution.

“Yes, I trust this young man.” He gave me a look that backed up his statement.

I pulled out my steel longsword, and held it out to the king with both hands. He took it and looked it over. He handed it to the servant next to him. "This blade needs sharpening, take it to the blacksmith.” He looked at me but still continued talking to the servant. “I would replace it, but I know how men can bond with their swords. Besides, this is a nice sword; it would be a waste to get rid of it.”

The servant bowed, walked over to me and stood, waiting for something. I took off my scabbard and handed it to the servant, who sheathed the sword before leaving.

“You may stay here until your sword has been sharpened,” Stefan said. “It should be done within the hour. Do you have any plans on how you shall execute this mission?”

I nodded, as I actually had been thinking about how I would go through with this, and had come up with a basic idea of what I’d do. “I’ll get started early tomorrow morning. Do you have an estimate of where they may move the camps?”

The king nodded and pointed at the map on the table. His finger lay on the circle closest to Guiseppe. “It’s probable that they will move westwardly, then south to attack Toal.” Our closest neighbor city, Toal, was definitely the closest target from their location, besides Guiseppe of course.

“The other two groups are probably going to loot cities in the other countries of Tasgall and Cremona,” The king continued, pointing at the other two circles and following the path he was stating verbally. Tasgall was our direct northern neighbor. It stood between us and Sheedy; we’d probably still have a war going on if it wasn’t there.

“You still need to follow and check on these groups though, Tyler. Do what ever you need to in order to take care of them.” The king put an emphasis to make sure I understood the meaning behind the words. No bandit left alive.

“Got it,” was all I said. The servant who went to get food came back with a loaded pack.

“Ah, and here’s your food.” He motioned for the servant to set it down on the table. The servant did and then whisked away.

“Actually, I'd like to leave it and the horse here for the night. I'll come and pick them up in the morning, just before I leave.”

The king nodded, understanding. “I shall tell the men let you in and get your things.”

“I'm sorry sir, but I must go. I have some errands I need to get done before my trip.” The king just nodded and waved his hand in a shooing gesture.

“Yes, your sword should be done soon, so I’d advise staying in the foyer until it is returned to you. I want to wish you the best of luck.”

“Thank you, sir.” I said, before finally leaving the room.