Iron Forged

Chapter 1 - A dream or a memory

Private William Lockhart was dreaming, he knew that, William had the same dream every night. But this was different, the bruised sky glowed the same purple, the dirt and grass remained stained the same arterial red he remembered. It was the same battlefield, the same corpses, but one thing was absent... missing... gone. He looked left and right; tripping over corpses, an arm here, leg there, and uncommonly a fallen Orc would lie surrounded by the puny humans it had ripped to shreds in its last few breaths. William knew this battlefield, in his lifetime of soldiering he had seen plenty, but he knew this battlefield. On this battlefield lay a body. A body of a man William had regarded above any other; He knew this battlefield alright, it was Keepers Rock...

William woke up, instantly regretting it as his old bones clamped up in protest. Not that William was old mind, only around 36 to his count (admittedly never his strong suit), but when in an army where the average rate of survival was 2 years, he was positively ancient. Williams mind reeled and nausea threatened to arrange a meeting between his face and the dirt floor of his tent; but thoughts continued swerving through his sleep mugged brain. What was that dream? Why was he missing? What had woken him up? Williams's hyper sensitive survival instincts began to kick in; what had woken him? He leapt up quickly to surprise any would be assailants and pulled out the huge serrated knife he kept in a sheaf on his thigh...

High pitched squeals caused him to open his eyes, it was a boy, couldn't have been more than 20 years of age. William had said boy pinned on the ground and had his knife resting on the kids throat, suddenly the nausea caught up with him and William rolled off the lad onto his back and cursed the temptations of alcohol with every word he could think of. The boy blushed as red as the parade-ground uniform he was wearing, now decorated with a fine layer of dirt and other less identifiable substances. He stood slowly and straightened his cloak, making the attempt to clean the gold frocking decorating the sleeves.

"Well, well, well haven't we got a foul mouth this morning." The boy muttered, his cheeks returning to their normal colour. There was a cultured air to the boy's speech that made William forget his head and his short lived blood feud with alcohol. One didn't last as long as William had in this army without the ability to spot officers from bearing alone. "Good that you haven't grown slow in your old age," the boy added, stroking the waist high, many headed lizard that had appeared at his side it's many yellow eyes followed Williams movements and if a Hydra could be said to glare then this one did. William grinned, ignoring the barb. "Just old habits, Sir."

He lowered his head, and sheathed the knife still clutched in his hand suddenly embarrassed and not a little terrified. A young summoner like this one, fresh from Volcans, might try to impose his authority by flogging or even hanging troopers for minor infractions. And holding a knife to said summoners throat was by no means a minor infraction, he shook his head at the sorry state this army was in; thinking back to simpler times when... No he couldn't think of that now. He grinned in spite of himself he supposed he'd have plenty of time for melancholy if this boy decided that the regimental hangman required some practice. The Summoner looked at him oddly, perhaps guessing the thoughts passing through the old soldiers head, and held out a hand, William replied in kind.

"My apologies for the language Lieutenant" William said, bemused at the unexpected honour "oh and for the whole knife thing." He hurriedly added.

"No soldier the fault was mine, I suppose an old soldier like you never sleeps, not truly" William raised an eyebrow at those last words. To tell the truth he was worried by the lack of firmness in the Summoners grip and the well-manicured fingernails. His father had always said you could judge a man by his handshake, and from what he had seen from this kid, his Dad was right.