The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 45: Old Man Anthony 3

Anthony had seen many travelers in his journey but never a boy so small, with so much grace and confidence traveling alone. Anthony had seen enough nobles in his time to realize that the boy was from a good household, Why was he alone though.. Well not like he cared much.

Nagging his nephew just like usual Anthony spent his time trying his best to pull himself together and plan the journey ahead. His money was almost finished, the fare was much more than he expected them to be. He would have to do something if they wanted to travel any further. And then the scout came bearing a grave news, knights were following their wagon.

Anthony was not sure, but who else could it be? How the bastards had found them only god knew. This was not good at all.

In their journey Anthony and Sam had found a piece of metal that was supposed to be a runic tool with all the inscribing on it, actually it was Sam who had found the thing lying around in one of the inn where they stayed for a night.

Anthony was doubtful as to boy's story about just randomly finding it but morals were something he did not have time to teach the kid right now, he himself was thinking of using his old hands to rob someone.

Seeing how the always clean and handsome noble boy had money, Anthony and Sam tried selling it to him. Anthony was prepared to be rejected or paid just few coppers for it but to his surprise the boy did not even negotiate and paid the first price they quoted. However Anthony could tell that the Boy was not stupid, he knew what exactly they were doing and still he chose to do it.

Reasons only he knew, most likely because they both looked terrified of the people following them.

They reached the village called Ravensong from where they could finally leave for Fearunia. With enough money with them they didn't have to do much haggling and found a ride that would take them first thing in the morning. Anthony was afraid that the knights following them would catch up but they had no other choice, they couldn't ride a horse in the night not that they could afford to buy one.

Believing that they would have at least a night before they come, Anthony and Sam went to the tavern to eat something.

The events that happened in the tavern were anything but desirable, his own lord Silas never showed such overwhelming power and spread fear while trying to get the boy. But the lord beyond Dawnstar..? Anthony didn't even think that his nephew's fame had reached another kingdom.

However the end of that confrontation was far bizarre than what he expected, his nephew had finally given him an answer as to where the lightning bolt had went.. it was still inside his freaking body.

Anthony thought this was finally his last day but the handsome kid's childish scream fell on his ears and believing the kid even he couldn't explain why Anthony ran towards him in hope of some miracle, and the kid proved true.

When he finally came back to life, his nephew was perfectly fine. He couldn't explain how but the kid had saved his life and many others. According to the villagers the whole knight squad had died in the explosion. But the knight captain had survived, he still had to gain conscious though.

Realizing what was going on, Anthony immediately grabbed necessary items and his nephew and ran like hell to the wagon parking area and found one which was leaving for Faerunia. They couldn't turn back after coming so far, if they could just reach any town hiding won't be a big deal.

Yet even this thought failed him as some stranger other travelers reached Ravensong before their wagon could leave and captured them. They were the real knights of lord Silas.

Anthony felt really conflicted but for now he chose safety over freedom and promised the knights to go willingly back with them. And so they started a return journey to lord Silas's lands. It just had barely been a few hours riding and they had stopped to make a camp when night fell in the woods between Ravensong and Emberlock.

However even this peace did not last, in the middle of the night Anthony was awaken by the sounds of exclusions and swords clashing against swords. When he finally cleared his eyes and focused, to his absolute shock the burned knight captain had followed them beyond a reason to come after them even when he was graciously injured and was in dire pain.

Anthony knew killing his friends was not something easily forgotten, which was why he had accepted the protection of Dawnstar knights.

Anthony grabbed Sam and started running in this chaos but in seconds he heard blood chilling screams as knights after knights fell in front of the crazed monstrous Faerunian knight. Pushing them all down with one powerful energy blast that even made Anthony and Sam fall to the ground, the burned captain jumped high in the air and landed right in front of Anthony and his nephew.

There was nothing he could do, he could not even speak or even lift a finger as the burned knight grabbed Sam in front of his eyes and jumped away before the remaining knights could reach him again. Only 4 out of 10 knights had remained. It wasn't all for nothing though, they had injured him enough.

The remaining knights filled with hope of vengeance chased the crazed knights day and nights, and so did Anthony with them. They traveled at the fastest speed possible but still they could only get traces of the crazed knight and never him in person. They went farther and farther in Faerunia searching for the burned knight and the miracle child but found nothing, until they finally did one day.

They followed the trail and finally realized where they were going and first time in the knight's chase of vengeance Anthony saw seeds of doubts and hesitation. He himself was shaken, he thought this was just a border skirmish of petty lords who were too greedy to care for others, but this was much more sinister than that.

The royal family was involved somehow, the crazed knight was going for the capital the seat of power for the Fearunian royalty.

The Dawnstar knights looked terrified but their mission came first before anything else, if not killing the killer of their friends than at least saving the kid was a necessity and something that their lord had instructed them to do, they had to bring the kid back no matter what. And so they infiltrated in the capital of the Faerunia, the harbor city of 'Seraphim Luminara'.

Anthony and the knights finally caught up to the burned knight but it was too late to attack him by now, 20 knights and three times the number of foot soldiers were escorting the burned knight who still had Sam dragging behind him while tied up with a rope. Anthony's heart bled every time he saw his nephew, but he endured.

Finding solace in the reassurance that at least he was alive, at least there was still a chance to save him. So they followed behind till they reached the capital city and saw the burned knight dragging the tired kid to the palace directly.

Anthony however in the crowd of thousands of people who just watched his nephew dragging away had somehow found a person... A person he could never forget.. His savior and only person in all these mess who had helped them for no reason at all.

Anthony knew it was a lot to ask the little kid, but if he could believe in anything he would like to believe in those clear deep blue eyes that saw all and understood all, despite being a kid younger than his nephew. Just maybe.. just maybe somehow he could help..

Anthony won't be a worthless geezer asking for help though, he had some real valuable information that any noble would die for. Dungeons were the reasons noble families had formed, Anthony didn't know much but he knew that knowledge about a location of a dungeon with all it's monsters was far more valuable than gold and silvers.

All nobles craved strength, he for one knew where one could get it.