Derreck barely registered the chaos around him as he guided the wounded and weary knights inside the store over to the corner of the apparel section where he threw the clothing on a nearby table to the floor to place the bleeding knight on it. The employees were still reeling from the surreal sight of knights, orcs and Derreck’s amazing heroics, but Derreck didn’t care about the stares, his sole focus was on the injured knight before him. Her armor, heavy and ornate, had been breached by a deep slash running along her side. Blood seeped through the cracks in the plate, staining the metal a dark crimson. He franticly stripped away layer by layer until finally pulling away the padded gambeson and removing her helmet he now saw that she was most definitely a woman.
He leaned over her, his hands steady but his heart pounding. She had bright red hair, streaked with sweat and dirt, clinging to her forehead. Her skin was pale, her breathing shallow. But what caught Derreck’s breath were her eyes they were barely open at times but he saw they were a brilliant green with tiny flecks of gold that sparkled even in her pain. She was a warrior, unmistakably, but even in this moment, there was a fierceness to her beauty that captivated him completely.
Shaking himself from the trance put pressure on the wound with one hand as he searched through his bag with the other for a solution. Derreck’s gaze shifted for a moment to the red-haired knights armor now lying on the floor that’s when he saw it—the rose insignia etched into her shoulder pauldron. His blood ran cold.
The Order of the Rose…
He stumbled backward, his mind whirling. This wasn’t possible. The Order of the Rose. It couldn’t be. He glanced back at her face, and the realization hit him like a punch to the gut.
"Amelia," he said to himself, stunned.
He came back to side keeping pressure on the wound
One of the knights, Lady Ashley Raznik a raven haired pale skinned girl of one more than 17 who normally had a determined look that could be seen plainly through her spectacles that lined the freckles on her face but now her eyes were tired clutching a holy talisman imbued with magical energy, knelt beside the table. She looked down, her face full of sorrow as she started sobbing. “I… I can’t. I can’t heal her,” the healer murmured, her voice breaking. “I’ve exhausted all my mana. If Lady Amelia falls… the Order of the Rose falls with her.”
Derreck’s mind raced. He knew what needed to be done—what was possible and what wasn’t. Grabbing a can of Monster energy drink from his bag, he handed it to the young healer. “Drink this,” he said, urgency in his tone.
Lady Ashley blinked, confused. “What is this?”
“It’s an energy drink, I mean a powerful mana potion. The caffeine and sugar will replenish your mana enough for you to cast a spell but it’ll take a minute to hit your system. She hesitated a moment until Derreck growled “Just drink it”, in a stern commanding tone. The young healer, too desperate to question him, gulped it down.
His coworkers, watching from the sidelines, exchanged bewildered glances. “what the hell is Mana and how does he know anything about it?” one whispered.
The red haired knight had regained consciousness now telling her knights “try not to look so sad” all of them came to her side ready for orders or much to their regret final wishes. She turned her attention to Derreck still searching his bag of a first aid kit which he was now almost certain was in another bag buried somewhere past the tree line. She put her hand to his cheek as he shifted his attention to her she said, “you are the knight who rescued me, boldly defeating a mountain orc champion with but a dagger and spoke in their own tongue words that stopped the others in their tracks”. Tension grew as the people around them began to talk. Did she say that right, with just a knife.
The reality of Derreck’s heroics was setting in as she continued “you are an amazing warrior to defend and shelter helpless knights with no alliance or promise of reward” her voice now started to grow weaker “you are a knight without peerage in morals and in action, I fear I do not have much time left but all I have left I pledge to you, I am yours in body and soul and all that I am and all that I possess is yours, take good care of my knights, I can tell by your actions you will lead them well” she drifted out of consciousness again as all her knights now looked to him. He glanced up at the group of knights surrounding her, noticing for the first time that they were all women, save for one—an old knight with a grizzled beard talking urgently to Paul. Derreck felt a feeling of breathlessness as her hand dropped from his cheek, he looked back to her face now almost white. She was dying, No. Hell no. he thought as he reached into his bag pulling out another monster drink placing it in front of the young healer, this time he didn’t need to say anything as she started to drink. He then produced a torch lighter from his vest and a hunting knife. He quickly lit the lighter much to the shock of the knights and applied the blade to it.
Paul asked frantically “hey Derreck, do you know what you’re doing” “shut up, you’ll make me lose count” was Derreck’s only response as he slowly counted watching the blade glow red then holding her in his arms he placed the heated blade to the wound in her side pressing deep as she regained consciousness with a painful scream as she tried to flail out but Derreck held her firmly. Finally the ordeal was over and the knife fell to the floor, he had stopped the bleeding but if there was internal damage he didn’t know with his limited first aid skills. He shouted to Lady Ashley who was now finishing off her monster “you need to prepare to do it now, you’ll only get one shot before you’ll be wiped out so don’t bother with diagnosis magic just cast area high heal with a small cone of effect and it should be enough to stabilize her until you regain your strength”
She looked at him confused, he seemed well versed in the healing arts but he didn’t look like a healer. But she didn’t question him, she gathered up all her mana centering it in her core as she grabbed her talisman of Elsbeth the goddess of mercy and held it in between her hands as she prayed to the goddess deeply then recited in the ancient tongue her spell area high heal as her hands lit up with a kind of electric green energy that filled a circle around the table the whole ordeal from start to finish took several minutes, the healer knew why this warrior had to stop the bleeding to save her, if he waited or had her use more mana to close the wound she would probably fail to heal the internal damage deeper inside, he must know a lot about the healing arts, but if that was true why didn’t he simply cast healing on her himself. And then the ordeal was over as Lady Ashley completed the spell then collapsed to the floor as the knight came to her aid.
Derreck checked the wound that no longer looked like a discolored purple, the scar of where he burnt her would stay but whatever internal injury was probably gone. She groaned in her sleep as reached to cling to him which made Derreck’s sense go wild, it had been a while since he held a woman, and one so beautiful. He shook himself from his thoughts and finally broke free from her embrace as several knights came to check on their commander.
As he walked away from the table he could see the shocked looks of the crowd except for the old knight with a grizzled beard who gave him a nod of respect for saving his commander, the employees that knew him didn’t know what to make of all this, even Tom the old man that worked in the sporting goods section that always tried to talk to Derreck on break even if he didn’t want him to now had no words for him, he seemed to know things about what those things were out there and a lot more like how this magic stuff worked, but how and would he even answer if they asked, Derreck as the rumors said was a difficult person to talk to. there was a period after his wife left where Derreck didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, which made everyone want to ask more so had taken to openly telling people to fuck off even on the sales floor, he even screamed at a cashier once who cornered him on break to ask in a nosy way why she hadn’t seen his wife in a couple months. That little display landed him in the office but it wouldn’t be the last time. Over time people stopped asking and filled in the blanks with rumors but Derreck also got a reputation for being an angry standoffish person who would probably just say something mean to you if you did talk to him.
Derreck made his way to the grab and go drink section at the front of the store, he could feel the eyes on him as he grabbed more monster energy drinks to stuff in his bag. It was Paul who finally approached him, the last person he wanted to see as he started to crash from the adrenaline rush.
Paul started instantly with questions “Derreck what the hell is going on man, and don’t give me that attitude you always do. You know something about what’s going on I mean you have to. You knew what those dragon things were flying around out there, and the first thing you did was start making weapons like you knew something was coming and when it did according to her you spoke their language and killed them with just a knife, then this whole magic discussion. You weren’t guessing at what to say you knew exactly what she had to do to save that woman’s life. So you know something and you’re going to tell us right now so help me.” Paul clenched his fists, his cool demeanor that he normally projected in the store was gone replaced with frustration that Derreck knew hid his fear of not being in control of anything about this. But Derreck knew Paul couldn’t control anything that was coming.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Derreck laughed at Paul’s Suttle threat, he had wished many times that Paul would try him just once but now it didn’t seem very important. He casually grabbed a Redd’s apple ale off the shelf and opened it in front of Paul as he took a sip, it was warm but satisfying. He grabbed another and walked past Paul without a care and said “we’re in Varinja, in the lands of the north where the orc hordes are gathering to raid settlements before winter comes. And we are all going to die here”. Paul looked shocked at Derreck’s plain words as he walked by him with a smile as he was covered in the blood of several orcs and the knight he saved. Derreck started to walk away as the crowd gave him a wide berth. There was a clear silence until a voice from the crowd cried out “what do you mean die. And when”. Derreck looked over his shoulder and replied casually “in the morning’ most likely. Those orcs have already returned to the horde and their chieftain will ride for vengeance on his fallen champion they may already be here, but they’ll wait till morning. orcs prefer breakfast before slaughter”. A panic rose up as people tried to find a way to save their lives, Paul looked to the knights to protect them but the old knight with a grizzled beard looked towards Derreck unmoving. The old man had seen many battles and could tell the look of desperation and defeat on the faces of men but this man had none of that as he confidently walked off.
Derreck had pugged up the sinks in the men’s front restroom where he poured a gallon jug of water into each where he added soap as his phone set up on the edge of the sink nearby was playing AC/DC’s you shook me all night long, he was thankful that he was old fashioned and still kept most of his music on his phone and didn’t just stream it. Paul approached quietly with a small crowd of on lookers crowded into the bathroom’s narrow entrance that were demanding answers from Derreck, if he knew something they of course had a right to know. Derreck sensed Paul’s approach and knew what he would ask before he even started. “hey Derreck, uh, you have a lot of people concerned about all this talk about everyone dying and I’m not quite sure how you know about all this stuff but these people have a right to what the hell is going on.” Paul was cut by the sound of Derreck’s many knives being dropped into the soapy water of one of the sinks, the blood of his recent kills still present turning the water pinkish red, the thought of him cleaving through those monsters with ease frightened Paul to the point where he calmly walked away to explain to the small contingent “he’s probably busy right now destressing from all the commotion lets give him some time” as Derreck stripped down to clean to clean off with a wash cloth. A large women with a deep voice was the first to speak up, she was very familiar to the girls at customer service as the pushiest customer they’ve ever experienced, she came through the store about once a week to complain about something to the point where one manager up front who no longer works in the store told her she must need to hit her complain muscles today or she might lose her gains.
She came forward to confront Paul instantly. “oh, hell no he needs some time, he says we’re all dead we might not have any time left to prevent that so if you wont get any answers from him I will”. The large woman stormed forward as Paul motioned almost half heartedly for her to stop. She thunder over to Derreck who paid her no attention as he finished scrubbing off the foulness of battle. “You, I don’t know who you think you are but we’re not dying here. Your gonna put away your little toys there that don’t scare me and tell us what the hell is going on, we have a right”. The large woman was interrupted by Derreck’s war clubs slamming onto the sink still covered in blood and tissue, a small piece of intestine had fallen off of one of them to which Derreck simply brushed it off the sink towards the woman who backed up so she wouldn’t be hit by it, reality was setting in for her to now that he used those weapons to kill those creatures without hesitation. Derreck simply chuckled at her for a moment then said “you have a right yeah, you have no rights, not here. Here you have your wits and your two hands which wouldn’t get your big ass to the front door before your dead if I wanted it and there’s nothing in this shithole that would stop me. Being a whiney bitch gets you nothing here without something or someone to back it up for you remember that. As for what I know it’s a lot about this place, more than any sane man ever should about a place that isn’t supposed to exist. As for how, well you would never believe it, I have no way to prove it, and most importantly I just don’t fucking care to explain. So when you stand there looking like your important demanding you have a right or a privilege or whatever the fuck special treatment you think your ever gonna get from anyone here just remember, we both know exactly how far you would get. Got it”.
Derreck unplugged the sinks to let the water drain as finished cleaning his collection of weapons and dressing in his new clothes acquired from the apparel section as the large woman backed away when a group of knights came through the mass of people into the now overcrowded bathroom to speak with Derreck, at first puzzled by the noises coming from the little box near him. The old knight with a grizzled beard made his way through them to come to Derreck’s side kneeling “my lord, my lady Ameila begs an audience from you this evening as matter discussing her loyalties in this matter” Paul had snuck into the conversation. “good, that’s good we can have these knights defend us when these monsters come, that’ll work fine. I mean they’re used this kind of thing, right”.
Derreck broke in “over half of them are still waiting to receive treatment for their wounds while their healer is recovering from manna exhaustion, not to mention they almost fell to a raiding party, even if it was a Suprise attack it was just a raiding party what do you think a whole horde will do”
“this place is pretty sturdy we could keep them out” a customer added as the crowd grew bigger.
“This place is designed to invite people in not keep them out, to many entrances no gate no towers to reenforce the corners, no hills or mount to stop troops advancing, and most importantly no time to implement any of that or the people, all of you are too busy fight amongst yourselves to do anything while the leaders that no one elected over there”. He paused as he gestured to Paul and his remaining management staff “they’ve done nothing to really prepare for the threat, or the coming winter where we will run out of food and starve if we don’t all die tonight or tomorrow or whenever they decide to end it. I mean we would have to really scare the shit out of them to halt that kind of advance I mean we would need”… Derreck stopped short an idea came to him, it was a long shot but it might work especially since he knew what orcs feared in battle most, not knights or beasts not even other orcs. No what orcs feared most in battle were fire mages, fire terrified them. And if that trick would work it might be enough to draw out the warlord, without him they wouldn’t fight. It might be enough. “I’ll see your Lady now” he told the old knight as he made his way back out into the sales floor, a sea of confused panicked faced looked back at him ready to break from the pressure. He met Paul’s gaze, he seemed noticeably concerned at something none of them could explain they only knew that Derreck’s words weren’t wrong once since they first came here and many people started to look to him for some kind of hope in this nightmare. He gave Paul a smirk as he looked out across the crowd. “I’ll meet with their leader and work out a plan.” Paul looked at him confused, he was so certain they were all dead a moment ago and now he was making plans. But the look in Derreck’s eyes was different then before, Paul had never seen that look before in the whole time he knew Derreck it was beyond confident, he had it before he rode out to face the orcs the first time.
Derreck moved closer to pat Paul on the shoulder, a friendly gesture to ease the crowd’s fears and nothing more as he said “don’t worry I won’t let any die here as long as I’m alive. I promise” Paul’s eyes widened at Derreck’s words, if he knew anything about Derreck it was that he was the only man Paul knew that still kept his word, if he promised then it was done. It was something Paul abused in the past to get Derreck to stay after his shift or complete any job Paul needed done, he knew if Derreck promised it was as good as done. And now with this smile and air of confidence he would promise that. Paul did his best to calm peoples fear as Derreck walked through the store, he could see the panic on everyone’s face as they prepared for what could be their last night.
He stopped at one point to direct one of the manager’s to hand out blankets to everyone so they wouldn’t have to sit on the floor then made his way to the back offices where he knew lady Ameila was recovering in the training room, it was an encounter he didn’t want but he needed her knights for these people to survive the battle to come if he failed. He still wasn’t sure why he didn’t slip out the back receiving door and simply run off into the night, maybe it was the terrified faces of the children he saw as he passed, maybe it was the confident stares the knights gave him as he gave out orders. He didn’t know exactly, he just knew as much as he was prepared to be a bastard and just leave now that push came to shove just to survive, instead he just naturally took command. And now he was willing to test his new found reflexes, his untested little toy he made that morning that would show these orcs what kind of fire mage he was and maybe make an impossible promise to Paul of all people come true.
He laughed knowing that little troll was spinning it right now that Derreck knew what he was doing and if he promised then it would happen. It was true though call it a weakness or a curse but if he promised then he would do it somehow. He didn’t know if his courage would hold long enough to keep his promise but he would find out. In front of him was the training room door and a bigger issue, the Lady Ameila Barzod Daughter of great king Thuragon princess of the Holforth kingdom a woman he knew very well. And if she did what he thought she would he would have to try and refuse with all he had or it may cost him the future.
