Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 40: Interlude: Gale

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 40: Interlude: Gale

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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The northwestern lands of the kingdom were the most recent brought in by the crown. My grandfather told me stories of the wars in his youth against the people there. Their nation’s name was stricken from history and their mountain-lords deposed one by one, as cities were formed by magic and might to convey the will of the king upon the land. As it happened to our lands long ago, it happened to them, and they became part of our people.

But their joining was recent, therefore some still remembered and some still sought independence. The lords that came to rule them were young and without houses of great power and might. Their strength was not yet like that of those of our own lands. People with swords of flame that could set whole villages in rebellion aflame with a single slash.

Therefore, of course, they rebelled as soon as they realized that their conquerors intended to abandon them as they did us.

And, so, beneath the eternal night made by the parasites controlling the monsters I found myself looking upon what the physician dearly wished to avoid.

A battle between the kingdom and those who rebelled.

I couldn’t help but see the battle unfold on the rocky soil at the mountain base like two beasts of metal and flesh clashing against one another.

The crown’s forces were well-armored and disciplined, but they faltered with the rocky ground and were fighting an uphill battle. They wielded spears with a hook on one side, a blade on the other, and a diamond-shaped head. Weapons more suited for killing monsters and large beasts than men. The sun beat down upon them, archers with short bows reigned small arrows upon them, and some slingers were also present that shot rocks at them. Still, they persisted, they aided each other, and held the line against the people of the mountainous region whose name was long stricken from history.

The people fighting against the crown were numerous and wild. They eschewed plate armor and favored leather and fur. Some had bare chests covered in war paints. They were larger and taller than many of the crown’s troops, much like the people who consumed the flesh of monsters in our lakeside village. Most wielded stone clubs or large hunks of wood, while some had steel weapons. They cared for the wounded, pulling back those who fell against the spears, but many died against the weapons… but not without killing in turn.

The two sides were evenly matched, two beasts of different make and composition, but… dying and hurting at the same rate.

The physician’s words resounded within me as I saw the carnage, the blood being spilled, and heard all the screams of the dying and injured.

In war, no matter who wins, they are victorious over a pile of corpses.

I felt bile rise up my throat as I continued to watch, and so distracted was I that I very nearly missed a faint presence growing close to me.

“Hold your ground.” I commanded towards the light that had just crested the corner of the path I had been following. It came from the side of the rebelling lands. “My name is Gale. I am a courier of vital news from the southern lands. It is regarding the cause of the eternal night.”

I never thought that I would be able to speak with such authority, but with my training came power and with power came confidence. Never enough confidence to underestimate battle, but enough confidence to speak instead of be spoken to. I knew that I at least stood on equal grounds with the Royal Knight of House Averi.

Djet’Is, the Dessert Heiress of the As’Kari tribe would be able to kill me with ease.

The irredeemable city-lord I’d met would be able to kill me with ease, too.

And, the Physician would be able to defeat me with a thought without even having to kill me.

I waited as whispered voices came forth, then the lamp moved out from the corner.

Such was the length between them and I, since I had heard them from afar, that the speaker had to yell.

“My name is Eli! I am the Gilia Resistance an archer along with ten of my companions! P-please, we know that you can kill us if you wish. We will not raise arms against you.” For a moment, I did not know how they knew I could do such a thing. Then, I realized that as hidden as I was from the common individual’s senses, those who were treading up this mountain with bows in hand to support their companions below would surely be gifted or trained to find those with strength. “We have no quarrel with you, warrior!”

Warrior.

A strange title for the daughter of a hunter, but it fit me well with my new strength.

“Then, stay still. I will come to you.”

I moved before they could reply.

I was tempted to leap towards them, but I did not have the same skill as the physician. I could not use strings to pull me towards surfaces. If I leapt into the air, I would provide an opportunity to be attacked. So, instead I took to a run towards them across the slim mountain road. It was covered in rocks and treacherous, but I knew that even if I fell from it I would survive. Since I had nothing to fear, I simply ran, aware of every stone in my path and discarding all the ones to small to step upon.

My wake upturned many lesser rocks, sending them scattering in the air, and before I knew it was before Eli, the Archer of the Gilia Resistance.

It was a young woman carrying a large bow over her shoulder. It’s make was of some sort of large bone and its string was steel. She wore a gray cloak that was mottled and blended with the surrounding rock, a similar cloth was wrapped around her bow. Her face was covered in a mask and her face covered in black warpaint so as to meld better with the eternal night. Her companions wore the same clothing, but on their backs were large arrows befitting the massive bow. They were of such size that they reminded me of the bolts shot by ballistae.

If Eli can only fire with the same amount of strength as one of those weapons, then she was of little threat to me.

She realized this with the speed and dexterity that I displayed, but stood her ground as though she had other course to fight back.

I suppose that, in her eyes, I was a predator of the highest order which confronted her entire troupe.

Her fear was palpable.

I could hear her heart racing within her chest, but still she remained firm.

Thus, I stood aside on the narrow mountain trail.

“I do not directly oppose the crown, but they are no friends of mine. Their actions have led to many of my own people killed. I come here to share with your people knowledge I know that they will withhold from you.” The words were recited and practiced. Something the physician insisted that I say before I had left. He had insisted to me that we must do our utmost to limit the fighting between peoples, at least until the current threat of the parasite was solved. He said he’d wash his hands of the kingdom and its troubles after. I had wondered how he cared so much, yet would decide to look away and not fight for a more just cause. Now, just after seeing one skirmish between no more than a few hundred people, I saw his reasoning. It would be difficult to care for people after seeing their savagery to one another. “Go onward—

I turned as a noise reached me, and the archer turned in the same direction as well.

The shrieking of monsters in the distance and the sound of many limbs thundering towards the battle.

“What is the course of action for your people when the monsters come? What becomes of the battle now?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

The archer looked past me towards the path which would lead them to a position overlooking the forces of the kingdom.

Those below will continue to fight, they will continue to die, until the battle is over.

I said nothing as I went forward with teeth gritted past this battle, past this place, and past these people.

The physician hardened his heart, because if he did not, then he would lose it.

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The youngest of the kingdom’s cities stood before me in a state of disrepair and near-ruin.

Rather than a center of life and production, I looked upon something barely clinging to life.

The fields surrounding it were upturned and muddied, or fallow and bereft of any tending. Some stalks of grain sprouted from select patches, and hardy stalks popped out of one area or another. The bones of herd animals lay solitary and alone, picked clean by carrion birds. Ruins of farmhouses and silos were in every direction, with only a few being repaired alongside their accompanying fields. Small packs of monsters watched and waited on the fringes of the reach of the towers, their bestial senses smelling weakness in a monolith of stone, wood, and steel that should’ve otherwise warded them off.

They were correct in their beliefs.

The majority of the city’s smokestacks were bereft of smoke, meaning no work was being doing within it. The docks for flying ships were empty save for one and it was servicing a singular ship, nothing close to the fleets of merchant ships and war ships that hovered over the last city I had visited. Much of the walls were scarred by flame and under repairs. Of the four cardinal gates, only one was open and functional, while the other three looked blocked off by hasty fortifications.

How many people had died for this city?

How many had the lord of the city slaughtered alongside his guards?

How many people died with justice and duty filling their hearts?

How many people could’ve instead fought against the monsters that darkened the sky and sent all their kin wild?

I wondered about these things, the physician’s actions coming clearly to memory with each question, and I understood his stance more and more.

All the while, I forced myself forward while some part of my heart told me to run back and give the physician all the help I could give.

Still, though, my feet carried me towards the burnt bastion of stone surrounded by graves and fallow fields.

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The people living in the city did so in squalor and filth. I passed through the front gate without being noticed. They had no one present who could find someone with my strength amongst their guards. Women were accosted as well as men who were young and smaller in stature. Merchants found themselves having to bribe their way in to sell their meagre goods in the city.

The instant I walked in, I was beset with the scent of filth and rot.

The physician had made latrines and places to bathe the priority after creating defenses and getting shelter and food. In the city, garbage filled the streets, the filth from processing meat and vegetables lay in piles alongside human waste and refuse. People used the gutters into the sewers as places to relieve themselves. Plots of land where ruined buildings from the fighting were turned into garbage dumps.

Merely stepping into it made me wonder if these people could hope to help against the creatures that inflicted the eternal night upon us.

Then, there was a shift in the wind and I looked up to find someone falling toward me at great speed.

Stone shattered beneath armored boots, and I found myself looking upon a knight. His armor was held together by bands of steel and hammered rivets. The cape on his back was tattered and burnt. However, still, his power was more than apparent and roiled off him in waves. Heat, strong enough to slowly make the rocks at his feat glow, radiated off of him.

He stood as tall as Djet’Is and brimmed with power short blonde hair reaching his shoulders and blue eyes.

“Declare yourself, warrior.” He did not speak with the same accent as those of the region. No. He spoke like the knights that came to settle in our village. Those who chose to ride out and help others, instead of hide behind the walls of cities. The success of these people in warfare suddenly made sense. Their rebellion was heard by many other knightly orders and they left to aid these people. Just as I had done. “This city is under my protection and that of my companions. My name is Halga and I am its guardian.”

I could not speak of the normal folk, but this knight wielding heat with such ease, was a talent we could not ignore.

“I come from the south with a message. The creators of this eternal night have been found. It is a malign monster from the depths of the Earth.” The pack on my back suddenly felt heavy as I raised my hands to show I had no weapons. Halga had not drawn his blade, and he nodded as he listened to my words. I wondered if he could tell truth from lies. Some knights had such a power, according to those I spoke to. They were beings blessed by divinity and beyond the norm. “I have come here to ensure that the truth is known to all and provide the means to find and kill these creatures.”

I waited for a long moment as Halga simply stared at me, but soon enough the heat he exuded dissipated.

I took note that many others had fled from him, and some had collapsed, alive but unconscious.

“Very well, then. We will listen to your words and look upon what you share. If you are no spy of the kingdom as my senses say, then we will welcome the news you share.” Halga shook his head and approached me with a nod and extended hand. I took it and he took note of my grip. “Are you a knight of the kingdom? Have we met before in a tournament?”

My strength was enough for an esteemed individual such as Halga to take note.

I answered him honestly.

“I am not. This strength hat I have is merely a few months in the making. If we are to survive, many will have to become as strong as I, and I have the means to make them stronger, too.”

I did not wish to stay here.

I wanted to help the physician.

However, I will only leave after ensuring that they know what they need to do.