Page 28 of The Night Prince

“Why won’t they speak of their triumph?”Rhalyf asked, clearly flummoxed by this lack of pride in their kills.

His best friend was often a tad bit overzealous in discussing his.He’d go into great detail, describing his kills with relish.The more dangerous, the more daring, the more zeal filled his voice as he regaled everyone with them.Many were surprised at what they saw as his bloodthirstiness, because he was so easy going in all other ways.Sometimes Aquilan believed his best friend got out all his aggression through these battles so that he could be so easy going.He wondered what would happen now that the war was over and that release would no longer be there.

“They saw all their friends and family killed, Lord Neres,” Baston answered grimly.“Many people have become emotionally unbalanced since the Leviathan’s first attack and the remaking of the world five years ago.Some have even gone completely mad and run into the rifts that randomly rip open the air around them.They’ve embraced the death that they had eluded before.”

“So you don’t speak of it for fear of generating an emotional harm?”Aquilan asked softly.

“Yes,” Baston answered firmly.Then his jaw muscles clenched and released.“Though it would help me in my own quest to prove that humanity can fight that much easier if we did.But I won’t risk my boys’ mental health over it.”

Rhalyf lifted his eyebrows at Aquilan, clearly thinking that this was the General’s fancy and not the truth.

But Rhalyf wasn’t there when I saw the Shadow.I had sent him to lead other Battle Mages elsewhere.So I cannot blame him for doubting the General’s words.

“But back to my greater point, Declan managed to secure a bartending position at the Sudden Dawn Inn, one of theonlyhumans to do so, despite it being a service job that should be accessible to many more of my kind.Granted, he’s able to control crowds better than most, but still, he should not be the only human bartender in town.”Baston was smiling again as he spoke of one of his sons.

“I’m impressed!”Rhalyf chuckled.“Dwarven taverns are not for the faint of heart.”

“No, but Declan can handle himself.If you’d seen him take down six orcs like I did–

“Now, you really are pulling our legs, General!Six orcs?!”Rhalyf laughed, more delighted by the lie than offended.

Humans weren’t strong or fast or anything really compared to other species, especially toorcswho could crush skulls with their bare hands.So Aquilan was lifting an eyebrow, too, but Baston did not even crack a smile.

“Yes,six.By himself.He conked one over the head with a chair,” he recounted, miming some of Declan’s actions.“He disarmed another before knocking that orc unconscious with his own hammer.He snapped the third one’s leg.He smashed the fourth one’s head into a wall.There’s still a mark where it happened.The fifth he slammed with a two-footed kick through the front door.”

Rhalyf’s mouth was hanging open in evident shock and even more amusement.But Aquilan wasnotamused.He could almostseethe Shadow moving just like that.With ease and deadly precision.

“And the sixth?”Rhalyf asked.“You’ve only gone through the fate offive, dear General.”

“Ah, thesixth.Having seen his brethren dispatched so thoroughly, he set down his weapons and asked to join Declan’s clan.”Here, Baston grinned fondly.

“Oh, you tickle me, General!”Rhalyf laughed delightedly.“A human with anorcfollower?!”

“I thought Snaglak would be angry–intent on revenge–for Declan’s complete and utter victory over his clan-mates.But Snaglak gave Declan a toothy grin and clapped his hands together in delight at Declan’s martial mastery,” Baston told him.“He called Declan a powerful leader and pledged to join him and do whatever he says.And he has.”

“You actually saw this fight?”Rhalyf goggled.

“I did.”The General nodded.“But don’t take my word for it.Both my boys and Snaglak will be at the Dawn.You can ask them yourselves what happened.Declan will likely downplay his prowess, but Snaglak will detail it for you with sound effects.”

The last had Baston wincing as if those sound effects had been very loud.

“I cannot wait to meet your boys, General!”Rhalyf slapped his right thigh in glee.“They sound marvelous!Don’t you think so, Aquilan?”

Aquilan found himself nodding stiffly.The Shadow–Declan, he reminded himself–would be just the sort of warrior to fight like that, to fight to the end, against impossible odds and not to stop.

Iefyr.

“Well, if Declan is as resourceful as you say, no wonder he is a bartender for Helgrom,” Rhalyf continued in his happy way. “That dwarf has high standards.”

“Yes, and my other son, Finley, is as clever as Declan is strong and fast.He is preparing to take the entrance exam for the Taranth Academy of Magic and the Arcane Arts,” Baston said, puffing his chest out.“He’s learned so much of your history and skills that he has created a role-playing game around it all.It’s quite accurate from what people tell me.He’s the one who is teaching me Katyr.”

Rhalyf was blinking.“Ah, Finley thinks he’s going to be accepted into the Academy?”

“But humans have no magic, General,” Aquilan found himself saying stupidly.

“He will pass the entrance exam, which requires no magical ability, I believe,” Baston answered without doubt.“That is all that is required to attend the Academy.If he isnotadmitted then it all but prove my greater point that while you saved us from extinction, you have not made a place for us.Prejudice is rampant.As I’ve stated, few people will hire humans for jobs that they can clearly do.None whatsoever have been allowed into your academies. Most are expected to simply donothingwith their lives and simply accept their lot as second-class citizens.”

“Doingnothingis quite glorious, in my humble opinion, General.I’m rather looking forward to all thenothingI shall be doing now that the Leviathan are back in their holes,” Rhalyf said as he tossed his wild mane of dark hair over his shoulder.

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