《Locke》 Prolouge Spoiler: Spoiler Hello everyone! Thank you for reading Locke and I hope you enjoy my story. If you have constructive critsim please leave it as I am always striving to become a better author. I currently have enough content for three more chapters and have one book completely planned out at the moment. Once again thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment ¡°Is it done?¡±, a raspy voice wrapped in a dark cloak called out. Standing in the middle of the room surrounded by hooded and hidden figures stood a small man in dark leather armor shifting nervously under the intimidating gaze of the speaker. ¡°Aye my lord, they''re in place and ready to be unleashed upon your command.¡± quickly replied the servant ¡°Excellent, you have proven your abilities and usefulness to the Order, you have nothing to fear, for now.¡± The voice answered with harsh laugh. ¡°Return to Maston and await further orders, until such a time you will resume your previous role in preparation for future events.¡± Silently bowing low to the ground, the servant quickly backed away from the center of the room towards the exit taking every precaution to not lift his eyes lest the unintentional sign of disrespect cause his death. Once outside the dark room Jorm silently drew his hood over his brown hair as his eyes adjusted to the dim blue torchlight in the corridor. As usual the master of this castle showed an impressive display of both magic and wealth as priceless artifacts and floated up on pedestals lining hall. Not wasting any time as he exited the manor Jorm applied his glamour changing his appearance to that of a younger man seemingly just come of age with bright orange hair and a scratchy beard to cover a freckled face and weak chin. Jorm¡¯s eyes glowed green as his bonded mount Skurti appeared from the shadows with a flutter of black wings larger than the man himself and a matching curved beak that seemed to drink in what little light the crescent moon provided from behind the thick clouds of the northern duchy. Climbing upon the back of the large roc he said, ¡°Come Skurti, we fly south to Maston on the orders of our Master.¡± Five days later- Strenn Manor, Duchy of Strenn Cries of pain filled the chamber stone chamber as Gwen, a beautiful woman with eyes of emerald green and hair as black as coal screamed in agony as she struggled to push along to the rhythm of her midwife¡¯s counting to bring a new life into the world. Pacing uselessly in the corner of the fur lined room was her husband Grant Strenn lord of Strenn. The large, leonine man stood with broad shoulders and a tight jaw, dark, brown hair fell to worried, golden eyes as he watched his wife cry out, his helplessness at the situation only made him increase his pacing further. Finally, much to the relief of everyone in the room the cries of Gwen were added to by the softer and higher wail of a newborn child. Willum Strenn the firstborn and heir to the all lands of the Duchy of Strenn had just entered the world. Tears fell from Grant¡¯s eyes as he was handed the newborn to hold and looked down upon his own golden eyes staring back at him, and when all seemed right with the world panic struck once again as he heard the frantic cries of the midwife, ¡°Milord, I¡¯ll send a servant at once for a healer the bleeding will not stop!¡± and saw that the love of his life had ceased moving and was staring weakly at the father and son pair.Stolen novel; please report. Gwen knew she had but a few moments left as the midwife ran from the room and her husband bawled as he stroked her hair and let her hold their son, she smiled as she looked lovingly into eyes and whispered, ¡°Raise him the right way, with all the love you can give. Lead our son upon a path to greatness and show him how to be worthy of his name. I love you Grant, forever and always.¡± With a final shudder Gwen closed her eyes with a peaceful smile on her face and the only sounds in the chamber were the sobs of a desolate man and the soft coos of an unaware baby. Grant was unsure how long he knelt by her side until he felt the comfort of a blanket being placed on to his shoulders, ¡°My lord, the baby must be cleaned, and fed. Lady Gwen will be tended to my lord, but you must rest.¡± Pleaded the midwife as she took Willum from the arms of his dead mother. Grant stood wordlessly and walked out of the room leaving only the sounds of a suckling newborn and the crackling of a fire. As Grant wandered the halls of his manor, he noticed how stale the air seemed to taste and how dull the colors upon the paintings and tapestries of his halls were now that he had lost the only thing he had lived for. Maston, Duchy of Strenn Jorm peeked out from behind the ancient oak tree that he had been hiding behind for the past three hours as he watched the pair of fools Whern and Crasch try to once again mark down the damned patrol times. Following the wishes of his master,Maston was to be their biggest prize yet, but unfortunately for Jorm and the men under his command, pressure from the Kingdom of Einkir along the border had increased the security of all towns within 50 leagues of the border. ¡°Fuck, these peasants actually have a decent watch system in place for once.¡± spat Whern ¡°Well, sometimes I like to fight before I fuck so maybe there will finally be someone to keep us entertained eh brother?¡± replied Crasch with an almost toothless smirk. Standing each at over two meters both large brothers made for an intimidating sight. Whern stood a half a hand taller than his brother but was nowhere near as broad and seemed to be made of whipcord and roped muscle instead of the hulking mass that was Crasch who stood wrapped in his leathers while the large battle axe he carried rubbed against his cloak. The dark headed brothers were born with large brows and protruding jawlines, so much so that some idiotic people had even made the mistake of asking if they had been cursed by some God or Goddess before birth when too deep into their cups. Whern laughed at his brother¡¯s lechery and replied, ¡°Aye, and it looks like they¡¯ve let the fool back onto the night rotation. The idiot hasn¡¯t been able to stay awake once the past three nights. Tell Jorm and get the boys ready Crasch we attack tonight.¡± Bjorik smiled as he pulled his golden hair out of his face revealing clear, ice blue eyes and a warm smile covered in a thick beard. He never imagined that the southern breeze could be so fresh and clean here when compared to the cold mountain air that he called home, but after his son was born everything around him seemed to be bathed in a new light and the whole world seemed to have a sense of clarity. As he left his forge for the evening, James one of Maston¡¯s guardsman called out to him in greeting from the door of the tavern as he passed on his way home to his family. He could hear the clear alto notes of his wife''s voice singing in their native language before he saw Treja attending the garden with their newborn son, Locke, sleeping peacefully while swaddled in cloth and slung across her small chest as her long, golden hair came dangerously close to tickling the babe¡¯s nose. ¡°Evening love¡±, he called out with a grin ¡°you wouldn¡¯t happen to know where a man could find shelter for such a cold night do you? Perhaps even share the bed of a beautiful maiden such as yourself?¡± Bjorik could practically hear her eyes roll as she scoffed a reply, ¡°For a horrible brute of a barbarian such as yourself? I¡¯m quite sure you¡¯d just eat me out of my home and leave me for some other pretty thing that catches your fancy!¡± ¡°Nonsense, for there is no other woman as beautiful as you, and no other¡¯s cooking could compare.¡± he laughed as he grabbed his wife and child in his arms leaving a kiss upon each of their heads and an extra upon Treja¡¯s lips causing her to blush and giggle. ¡°Come love, it has been a long day and would love to make it a long night as well.¡± he said as he carried his family inside with a swagger. Several hours later the couple lay asleep in their bed holding one another and covered in sweat as the child lay in his cradle at the foot of their bed unaware of the carnage soon to befall the city around them. 1.1 It begins Jorm called forth Skurti and the accompanying men around him called for the bonds in their souls and empowered themselves with what magicks they could. Several creatures emerged from their bond¡¯s soul space and latent energy seemed to fill the air as these hardened killers prepared to deal death and carnage. Under the cover of complete darkness, the men approached Maston from the south where James was on duty at the gate in a drunken stupor for the second night in a row. Whern approached the gate slowly as the rest of the troop stopped at the edge of the torchlight accompanied only by his serpent Awanyu, the feathered snake slithering silently through the grass and up over the wall. Grabbing onto the left of the serpents two heads Whern rode the beasts straight up the stone wall and watched for any passing guard patrols or civilians as Awanyu slid towards the sleeping James and quickly struck the man in the throat with its large fangs and followed up on its strike by coiling around the man''s chest squeezing the life out of the unfortunate guard even as venom flowed directly into his jugular. Once assured there was no other person near the gate Whern applied oil both to the hinges of the gate and the thick, iron crossbar and quickly opened the gates to the brigands with nary a sound. Quickly pouring in through the breach, his fellow bandits split off the troop of 500 men began moving through the city which began to immediately come alive as the brigand¡¯s bonded were unleashed upon the hapless citizens of Maston. Cries of anguish and despair soon filled the air as the scent of blood and smoke began to rise. Crasch lumbered through the city atop his impressive dire bear deftly swinging his axe with one hand at the people trying to flee through the streets laughing as he did so. He soon met a small troop of guardsmen that had organized some form of resistance and charged head on with a roar, woefully unprepared for the impetus of such a charge and were quickly stomped underfoot or had limbs hacked off in quick succession. Filled with bloodlust he dismounted his beast and strode through the carnage with a grin plastered on his blood-spattered face as he spotted a young, dark haired woman frantically running away from him he gave chase after finally finding something worthy of him to satisfy himself urges. Treja leapt from the bed in a panic as she heard the cries of the unfortunate souls outside ¡°Bjorik! Quickly get out of bed and arm yourself! We are under attack.¡± She cried as she wrapped Locke in cloth to be placed in his sling. Up in an instant Bjorik quickly donned his thick leather armor and went down to the cellar where he kept his mace and Warhammer. Bringing them back upstairs he handed Treja a pair of daggers and her rapier that hummed with electricity once placed in her hands. Treja¡¯s eyes glowed an electric blue as she called forth Temest to reveal his true form. What was once a small tabby colored house cat quickly grew to the size of a pony and sported a thick mane of fur along with a stripe running down its back as its coat turned an icy blue. ¡°Gods woman, I am still jealous of you every time I see that.¡±, said Bjorik the love in his voice out of place for the situation they found themselves in. Cries of pain from just outside ended whatever Treja was going to say next as she ran forth to confront whatever was causing the people of Maston harm. Once outside, she and Bjorik saw a giant of a man catching up to and then pushing a young girl to the ground as he began ripping her clothes off and quickly unbuckled his trousers. Sickened by the display Bjorik charged the large man with a roar holding his hammer ready to strike the rapist dead.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Despite not having any warning the man quickly pushed the girl away and whirled to meet the charge with his large battle axe. As the two weapons met in challenge a wave of force erupted around the men raising a cloud of dust to blanket the area. Trusting her husband to win the fight she ran to the girl who sat against a wall staring blankly ahead as she sobbed. Bringing the girl up to her feet Treja told her to run as fast as she could away from the town and to not stop until she couldn¡¯t see the smoke any more. Once the girl had gone, Treja turned back to her husband in time to see a great beast of a bear charging toward her husbands¡¯ side with bloodshot eyes. Willing Temest¡¯s energy through her body she directed a bolt of lightening through her rapier and with a crack struck the bear squarely in the chest causing it to crumple to the ground in a heap. As soon as the beast was struck the brigand clutched his chest in pain as the bond, he felt burned his soul. A momentary distraction was all Bjorik needed to bring his hammer down upon the man¡¯s head and cover himself in grey matter. Joining his wife as they ran through the city scenes of carnage played out around them, and though they helped where they could there was just too much for them to be able to stop entirely as they made their way through the city towards the closest gate. Jorm viewed the destruction below from high in the sky atop the back of Skurti as he looked for his target, his Master had told him the last two carriers of the sacred mountain bloodlines had fled from his clutches and had finally been tracked to Maston where they had gone into hiding. Even if he had to sacrifice himself, he would at the very least kill the carriers if they couldn¡¯t be brought to heel. Jorm watched for the couple and finally found them as they easily killed Crasch far below him. He directed Skurti to follow them has he dropped to the ground and approached Whren who has thoroughly enjoying to young children next to the corpses of what he assumed were their parents were being fed upon by Awanyu. Narrowing his eyes at the scene, Jorm sent a waved of force from his hands into the brains of the children killing them instantly and slapped Whren into the building next to them. ¡°Focus you fucking idiot, your brother has been killed and our true prey is escaping.¡± Seeming to not process the situation at first clarity suddenly shone through Whren¡¯s eyes as he howled with a mixture of rage, fury, and sorrow. ¡°How? And where is the cunt that did it? I¡¯ll burn the fucker alive!¡±, Whren exclaimed through clenched teeth. ¡°The east gate is where are they are headed. Coincidentally the person who killed Crasch is also one of the people I am here for so come with me.¡±, replied Jorm as he mentally called for Skurti to come and pick up the pair of men. Hurriedly flying with Whren and his bonded beast in tow Skurti made directly for the eastern gate of Maston where Jorm could see the blonde-haired couple easily killing some of the bandits below. Dropping Whren behind the couple and then landing before the gate Jorm dismounted trapping them between the two men. It wasn¡¯t until coming to eye level with the couple that he noticed a Treja¡¯s chest. ¡°You killed my brother you piece of shit!¡±, shouted Whren as he began to channel his magicks. Bjorik scoffed at the man shouting at him and with a shout of challenge he charged towards the enraged man as Treja began to channel her own magicks as another man appeared accompanied by an overly large roc.