Scurrying through a maze of tents, the squire hurried towards the commanders tent. He quickly grasped the flap of the building to pull it open but thought better of it. Although he had been thoroughly trained in proper etiquette at the academy, his nerves almost got the better of him. He then took a second to compose himself so he wouldn’t make any further mistakes and upset the commander.

  “Squire Coil here to see Commander Eirson,” the squire loudly announced just outside the tent. There was no reply for a few moments before deep bellowing voice replied “Enter.”

  Squire Coil took only one more second to wipe a little dust of his breastplate before entering.

  “Sir” Coil greeted as soon as he entered the room. He made sure he keep a neutral face when he was in the presence of the commander but to say he was terrified was a understatement. The commander stood at a very intimidating height of around 6’6 with a strong, thick build of mostly muscle. The stature of the commander wasn’t the part of the commander that truly scared the poor squire though, no, it was the man’s eyes that truly struck fear into the young man’s heart. The void, the abyss, and the deeps of the night couldn’t compare to the darkness of the man’s eye or to the coldness that they held. It was as if his eyes pulled the very sunlight from the air around him.

  “Yes?” Answered the commander, patients clearly being to fray.“Uh…. Oh forgive me commander! I bring word from the frontline.” The squire said as he realized he had been staring at the commander without talking.

  “Has Sir Rey finally received word of the enemies intent to surrender?”

  “No sir, not as of yet at least but Sir Rey sent me to inform you of the information he has learned from the spies within the bastion,” said Coil.

  “What information would that be?” asked the commander is a low voice.

  “They said that the enemy intends to surrender tomorrow at noon unless the receive reinforcements tonight.” Coil stated in a tone that only slightly showed his disappointment. As this was his first true siege, he was not happy about a surrender without any true fighting or a chance to take the castle in a battle.

  “Tell Sir Rey to halt fire on the castle until they surrender tomorrow then, it will show that we are informed of their intent and prevent our new castle from being even more damaged than it already is.” The commander then narrowed his eyes onto the squire and add,

  “and don’t let Sir Rey hear the disappointment in your voice when you tell him. You may have wanted to do battle but there isn’t a man alive that would want to fight more than him if given the opportunity but he knows the battle is over. Now off with you!”

  With a quick salute the terrified squire fled the tent back to the front to inform his master. The commander then slowly walked across the tent while musing to himself.

  “These squires get younger and bolder every year. His armor is basically still wet from the quench and he’s already trying to get himself killed in battle.” With a sigh the old knight picked up his sword that had been left sheathed to the side and carefully strapped it to his hip. Then the man began to stride out of the tent to make his rounds in his camp, informing his lieutenants as he went of the plans for tomorrow.

  The silence of the next morning was strange to Eirson. For weeks every morning started to same way, with the sound of boulders hitting a rock wall. This morning however there was none, for a moment Eirson almost panicked but he soon remembered he had ordered a halt to the bombardment and smiled. Eirson took deep pride and knowing that he not only prevent a few needless deaths but had also won a castle. Of course he knew that he hadn’t technically won it yet but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little smug about it, he had won at last. These last few weeks of war against the castle had been tougher as the seasons had started to change with winter fast approaching he know that after a couple of more weeks he would have had to ask for more support from the crown or retreat. Both of these options struck Eirson as a great way to lose his position as a knight commander so he was pleasantly surprised to find he had won the war of attrition. Attrition was definitely not the way he thought he would win but after seeing the castle’s great walls and cliffs surrounding it he knew he wouldn’t be able to force his way in as planned. Eirson pushed those thoughts back and rose from his bed. It was growing closer to the time of the surrender and he needed to get ready. So after getting dressed in his armor and having a bedfast of dried meat and bread he set out with his guard, not that he really needed then he thought. He was known for his swordsmanship when he was younger and although he had grown older he had not grown dull.

  As noon was almost upon them Eirson stood next to Rey on the front.

  “What shall we do if they don’t surrender, sir?” Asked Sir Rey.

  “Resume firing” stated Eirson “but I dont think they will change their minds. They didn’t receive any reinforcements during the night?”

  “Not of significance, Sir”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They did receive a rider earlier today but I assumed it was just a messager returning so I didn’t move to intercept.”

  Commander Eirson sighed inwardly. He knew Rey had failed but at this point one man wouldn’t make a difference and he was to tired of this campaign to chastise the noble. Whenever he did he would always end up making other nobles mad for upsetting the order they had set up. Eirson knew that his lineage as a commoner had not helped him climb to his position but he had managed to persevere regardless. Now was not the time to have his lieutenant absent so he would let it slide. While deciding this, Eirson saw the gates to the castle wall open ever so slightly and then immediately close, leaving only one man walking towards the front. This man didn’t surprise Eirson in fact sending out a lieutenant to negotiate a surrender was a normal tactic but the thing that did surprise the knight commander was the fact that the man was clad head to toe in lime green armor with a matching lime green sword on his hip. Not a single speck of skin could be seen under the armor as the man strode towards Eirson.

  “Halt and state your name and intent!” Exclaimed Rey stepping forward to meet the man.

  “Before I state that I would like to address your commander if you would be so kind to tell me his name.” Stated the man as he grew closer to the front and as he did it become very noticeable that this man was quite large with a strong build and the height to match. This didn’t intimidate Eirson though for his height was still superior to the man by a few inches.

  “You may know you have the honor of addressing knight commander Eirson of the wolf legion.” Said Sir Rey in a smug tone.

  “It truly is a honor to know your name then” said the lime green knight that then immediately followed the statement up with, “I challenge knight commander Eirson to a duel with the reward being the command of this castle. If you win we surrender but if you lose then you leave.”

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  This statement caught the entire front off guard as most turned to gaze at their commander for a answer. If Eirson was stunned then he didn’t show it. He immediately gave the order to fetch his shield and prepare a circle for the duel.

  Once every thing had been prepared the kinght commander walked confidently into the circle of stone and took a firm stance.

  “I, knight commander Eirson of the wolf legion accept this duel with the agreed upon rewards with the clause that this battle will be to the death.”

  The man in lime hurried to make some small additions to the rules about weaponry allowed and such but Eirson simple to use what he wanted and then the oath of the duel was completed. A shiver of energy ran through both of the men as they knew the oath would now be honored by enforcement of the world meaning the if broken then the world would exact its punishment of death upon the guilty party. And with both parties in the circle the fight began. Eirson charged forward with excitement as he would get to show off his advanced swordsmanship against an obviously strong opponent when suddenly the man in lime stated “by the way my name is knight and my intent is to destroy you.” These were the last words Eirson heard before there was a bright flash and a bang.

  Small pieces of metal and blood fell from the sky as chaos ran rampant around him, yep it was another Tuesday. Knight slowly let his sword now smoking sword drop to his side and began to leave. As he came to the edge of the circle he turned to the now smoking crater of what had been knight commander Eirson and said, “I expect you lot to have cleared out of here within the day.” He then stepped out of the circle before being blocked by Sir Rey who had his sword drawn and leveled at Knight with a barely kept rage in his eyes.

  “You foul cheat, how could you use magic in a duel!” Rey roared.

  “Magic? What magic?” Asked Knight with a sincere tone of surprise and shock.

  “The magic you used to blow our late commander to bits!” Shouted Rey.

  “I did no such thing,” said Knight in a exasperated tone. “I simply used my sword.”

  “What sword has that sort of destructive power?” Asked Rey is a tone that showed a odd mix of anger, skepticism, and apprehension.

  “This one.” Knight said flatly as he leveled the tip of his sword towards Sir Rey. It was then when Rey saw that the sword had a round opening in the tip and a piece of tnt inside and that was the last thing he saw as it hurled at him at a binding speed striking his sword and going off. This time with the fall of their commander the entire legion fell into a helpless state of panic as men fled away from the castle and the crazy man in lime. As for knight he simply trotted towards the castle while stripping off his lime armor and casting his now empty sword toward to ground. Under the armor, Knight had wore his usual attire for after duels due to his rule about never wearing the same armor he used for a duel again thus he had prepared in advance to strip off his armor, he really didn’t want repeat to mistake of having to walk home naked after his first few duels. It had been rather awkward explaining that rule to the city guard that stopped him. His rules had to be followed regardless of his embarrassment for they were part of him just as his left arm was.

  “I’ll have to thank that tiefling at the bar for introducing me to the concept of explosive enhanced weapons when I get back.” And on that note Knight reached the city wall and knocked on the city wall twice as was his rule of always knocking twice before entering any room with a locked door and waited for it to open.

  As knight made his way through the fortress he did his best to avoid people, not because of being in a sour mood or for personal reasons but it was instead because on this particular day he had a rule saying he couldn’t talk to anyone after 2:05 in the afternoon. This of course would make receiving his rewards for dueling the commander harder to claim but as always he would be doing all of his business by mail, whoever had come up with the idea of sending letters was truly one of Knight’s favorite people because without it he was sure he would have killed countless of his employers due to his rules as well as other reasons but if anyone asked it would be because of the rules.

  As Knight finally found his room he had been lent by the commander of the fort he noticed a letter had been delivered to his room and was now resting atop of the small desk in the corner of the room. At first Knight contemplated not opening the letter because of the rule about being silent but eventually he decided that reading a letter didn’t quite count as speaking as long as he didn’t reply today. Crossing the small room in three strides he quickly snatched the letter from its resting place and ripped the envelope open and began to read.

  The contents of the letter weren’t immediately apparent to the untrained eye due to the way that people were required to write when both putting in a secret request to Knight for help and when talking to Knight in general, because with his rules it often took only a small mistake in word choice for a kill marker to be placed on your head. Luckily, most people that engaged with Knight on a regular basis knew about the banned words and steered clear of them even if it could get in the way sometimes and lucky for the writer of this letter they avoided any of his rules this time. The point of the letter was best summed up to be a request to meet in person to discuss a new job at the capital that would pay him a princes ransom if he succeeded and gave him an address and dates that the client would be available to meet up. As Knight looked at the request he couldn’t help but feel that something was off about the letter. It was simple parchment with a navy blue ink taking form of beautiful flowing letters. It was nothing like the usual crude lettering that he received from mercenaries or young nobles. There was also something incredibly familiar about the handwriting that Knight couldn’t quite place.

  Well money is money and it’s not like I can turn down a request anyway; Knight thought as he commited the address and date to memory. Crumbling the parchment into a ball Knight focused intensely as the ball suddenly caught fire and burned away.

  Burning these things are always such a waste of ki.

  As Knight prepared his meager possessions for his departure from the fort he felt an sudden shift in the air pressure around him which come mean one of two things: either someone was about to hit him with a object from behind or he was just about to gain a new major rule, and seeing as how after he dived across the floor and saw no one standing behind him, he quickly got ready to receive the rule. Over the years Knight had found that it was best to find a secluded area to stay put in during a rule change to prevent any unfortunate mishaps from occurring, he knew that his reputation as a eccentric wouldn’t save him from the wraith of the local authorities if he burned down a town due to the rule. So Knight simply took off his armor and placed it gently to the side of his bed and sat down in a lotus position. When he closed his eyes and focused he knew that it wouldn’t be long before the rule showed itself to him. It wasn’t uncommon he Knight’s rules to change but it was definitely rare for him to get a major rule change. Usually with minor rules such as him only being able to talk during a certain time yesterday were often predetermined months or even years in advance with little to no focus from knight needed to understand and follow them, but when major rules changed, especially ones that took effect immediately, that is when things became complicated. This changes didn’t happen often and when they did it could take a few minutes of focus to absorb what the rule truly meant. Thus Knight sat on the bed slowly breathing in and out while focusing on the rule that drifted lazily into his mind and as soon as it was in complete view it snapped into place like it had always been there. Knight opened his eyes and slid off the bed and immediately placed his armor back on, gathered his things, and left.

  In the hall of the fort, Knight found a solider to ask some directions to the nearest town and was please to find that it was only a hour of so walk from the fort towards to the west.

  “What are you heading to town for?” Asked the solider as for nervously looked up at the imposing figure in front of him.

  “Oh nothing much there is just something there I need to pick up before I set off to the capital,” said Knight in the most inconspicuous tone he could muster.

  “Oh,” the solider exclaimed “I see, well happy hunting.” With that the solider scrambled out of sight while still trying to desperately hold on to what little composure he had left. Knight let out a small sigh as he watched to man go. He knew he could be intimidating at times but he couldn’t help it. Was it his fault he was a large man? Was it he fault that he had a rule stating he needed to in full body armor for most of the day? Was it truly his fault that he had a reputation for destroying people that annoyed him? Well maybe the last one but the other two definitely weren’t. Anyhow now that he had a direction he needed to head out, his new rule had been urging to follow it since he had received it and he couldn’t do that without what was in that town. So Knight began his walk towards the town, scaring unfortunate travelers as he went in his new pitch black armor.