(UNEDITED)

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Eyes cast up, and heads bowed down
The sword descends, an oath to the crown
Metal on their body, weapons in their hands
The king declares them, protectors of the lands!

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"Chins up, lads", the man in leather armor growled; with his glowering green eyes, he surveyed the line of young men in tattered and dirty clothes, and at the sight of their skinny bodies, he scowled. "Well aren't you a fine batch of sticks"

Garik and Ino observed them from afar, eyeing the new 'recruits' to the army, a batch of boys who had never lifted a sword, their eyes either ablaze with fury or sad and hopeless.

"This is ridiculous", Ino grumbled, munching on an apple tart and perched on a barrel. Garik, who was by his side, nodded grimly. "They can't just go around and force us to kill for them, not after the king's latest scandal-"

"You're lucky", Garik stated, sighing as he stared off into the distance. "You have a few more days to enjoy your stay here before you get sent off to some stupid army camp, I only have today, tomorrow they'll drag me off and force me to lay my life for a kingdom led by greedy, good-for-nothing--"

"I won't let them", his brother said firmly, his fist trembling with determination, nearly crushing the tart in his hand. "We promised each other when I joined in the family eight years ago, remember? We stay together and fulfill our dreams no matter what"

"Yeah, but we've been over this yesterday, I have to go. You heard what they said, all boys from sixteen to twenty-one have to go, our opinion is no match for their power"

Ino sighed, eyes cast down in defeat. "Do you think that even if we become knights... do you think that you'll ever be able to be the inventor you want to be?"

"They'll have to kill me before I give up on that idea", he replies, gritting his teeth, eyes ablaze with anger. "It doesn't matter if I become a knight. I will be an inventor, I will fulfill my grandmother's last wish, whatever it takes"

They stayed silent after that, watching as one of their friends, Calvin, get shouted at by one of the army representatives, the poor boy was the Baker's son, only seventeen. He couldn't imagine what would happen if the boy left, his old and frail parents were probably going to struggle to support their sick daughter who, poor child, still couldng walk after the accident.

And now Calvin was forced to leave his family.

It made Garik's blood boil and his hands clench into crackling fists.

"They're leaving tomorrow, Ino. Which means that I-", he heaved a breath, "I will be going soon. The only reason I'm not in the line now is because our mum asked for a day to at least celebrate my birthday before I go"

Ino didn't reply, instead he titled his head back leaned against the wall of Calvin's house, inside, he heard the faint crying if Calvin's sister, Clarissa. It broke his heart. Clarissa, the poor girl couldn't walk, without her brother, he didn't know if their old, frail parents could support their child.

Parents.

That reminded him, his parents. His poor mother, they were very much against the idea of their adopted son, and their son, to go to war. But luckily their mother was a former servant of the castle, she recognize one of knights who owed her a favor, and he reluctantly gave them one more day off before he was delivered to the castle.

Their father.... Their father wasn't in the best position though. After he had collapsed in front of the knights two days ago, screaming about a 'shadow clan', he was in hysterics, waking up screaming and crying, his forehead burning and his palms sweaty.

At night, Ino sneaked into his room and watch with a shattering heart his once stoic, independent and strict father plead and beg in his sleep, pleading for Garik and Ino, whispering their names, tears streaming down his face, begging for 'them' to kill him and spare them... It shook Ino very much.

Who would do that to their father?

Their mother said that their father would be okay, he just needed rest, he hoped she was right.

"Come on, Rik. Don't you think we should head home?", he suggested, hoping to distract him from the thought before he went berserk and started screaming about how unfair it was.

"Yeah", he said, after a pause, his eyes not leaving Calvin, who had his eyes cast down and had his hands clenched in crackling fist. "You're right"

With a firm grip on his arm, Ino led his brother back to the house, Garik didn't resist, but his brother could sense the tension of his muscles, the way his eyes flashed every glance he gave to Calvin.

Besides the fact that they hated each other since children, Garik and Calvin had a bond, it didn't matter how many tarts stole, nor how many times they fought over the same girl, it didn't even matter how many times they shattered each other's egos, they were the closests of friends.

As they trudged inside the homes, Angel looked up from her toys, her eyes red and puffy. When she caught them staring, she looked away hastily.

His heart sunk, even though he wasn't related to her by blood, Angel was still his sister, the wet side of her cheek sloppily dried, told him that despite how strong she pretended to be, she was still a child, who was about to lose her brothers, and her father too.

Ino winced. He shouldn't of thought of it like that. Their father would be alright. He would be. He has to be.

The rest of the night passed by in a blur, they celebrated Garik's birthday with such festivities that even the knights temporarily staying in the village showed up to the party.

Outside, the adults were chatting in groups, drinking and eating. Inside, the younger of the party-goers were; Angel was with her friends, Alexander and the other boys were hogging at the food or ogling at the girls, and the girls were chatting amongst themselves and playing with the younger kids.

The living room was crowded with people, the wooden floorboards thumped every time a child playing tag ran, the furniture was pushed to the side to give room for the kids playing games at the center, while at the kitchen were the food his mom prepared. It wasn't fancy or anything, but it was definitely noisy, that was why Ino preffered to stay upstairs.

Creeping up the stairs, he sighed to himself, "I wonder if I'll ever fit in here", he asked himself, "I guess I'll always be that one introvert..."

The sound of sniffles stopped him in his tracks. He followed the sounds to the source of the disturbance: the half-ajar door to his father's room.

"Please! Not him--Serafino is not him! Stop! Please!", the sound of his father's cries made him creep into the room. Upon seeing him, his father's eyes widened and Ink stepped back cautiously.

"Ino", he breathed, his voice astonishingly calm, the panicked look in his eyes gone. "Listen to me. Get Garik, take my carriage--not the one I use for my work- and go to Berzul, find the witch, stop the war. Quickly, before they arrive--"

BOOM!

The sound of exploding glass and screams cut him short and from the window, warm light blazed into the room.

Ino rushed forward to look out the window--and gasped. The baker's house was on fire.

"Father!", he said, staring in shock as knights surrounded the burning building.

"Clarissa!", the baker screamed, almost rushing inside the building-before he was held back by the knights.

"Father help me!", a faint voice of a girl pleaded from the inside of the house, the flames around it almost reached the roof, leaving black ash and smoke as it licked the house's sides

"Men get me water", barked the knight, who was keeping a struggling Calvin from jumping into the house, "Quickly!"

"They're here, the shadow clan - they're here", his father said, and whirled to him, grabbing him by the shoulders so roughly, he winced.

"Get out of here, now! I'll get Clarissa out. NOW!"

The young boy nodded and ran out the room as quickly as possible, a strange sensation pulling at his gut. He took one last look out the window and what he saw sent shivers up his back-- on tbe hill overlooking the village, stood three lone figures mounting horses as black as coal, cloaked by shadows as dark as night and brandishing gleaming weapons as deadly as the forest.

He knew then and there what they were--the shadow clan. What they were, he didn't know, but his gut told him one thing: run.

Dashing down the stairs, he found Garik all alone by the sofa, everyone else were outside.

"Garik, we have to go", Ino said, voice sounding weak even to himself, but he tried to persuade him best as he could.

He expected Garik to hesitate, roll his eyes, or just give him an incredulous look, instead he just stared past him with a look of horror.

Ino spun and stiffled a scream--there, out the window, a man ,holding a dagger with blood stains, stared at him; although he couldn't see his features clearly, he could see his smile, and it made him want to crawl into hole and hide.

In a flash, the man vanished.

The blonde boy's insides did a flip. Silently, he gripped his brother's arm and tugged on it trying to pull him to the door in the kitchen that led outback. Garik didn't resist, but Ino could feel him stumble trying to follow him, it was getting harder for him to steady his own heartbeat.

A man. Blood-stained weapons... shadow clan?

He led his brother outside to the two carriges situated there: one was the purple heavily decorated carriage pulled by Mona and Arch -their best horses--, the one his father used for delivering nobles from kingdom to kingdom; and the black and simple carriage pulled by Sturt and Wish, Ino's favorite horses.

Garik (who was white-faced) climbed into the carriage which was had clothes and food prepared in it-- no doubt his father's work.

"Where are we going?", he asked, sounding pained, though Ino didn't know why. He was acting suspicious; his hand was pressed to his abdomen, as if he was hiding something. Garik probably saw the look on his, because he scowled. "I'm fine, just-- DUCK!"

Thump!

An dagger embedded itself into the carriage's side. Ino spun and yelled out as he was lifted off the ground and slammed onto the carriage causing pain to flare at the back of his head. With despartion, he clawed at the hand clamped around his throat but to no avail.

"Hello there", the hooded man asked, in a hoarse baritone voice.

Ino tried to kick his captor, only ending up flailing and squirming in mid air. He couldn't see his face, but his hands-- his hands were scarred, stained with blood and tattoed with strange markings that looked suspiciously familiar.

The grip on his neck tightened and his vision went hazy.

Suddenly, a yell came from the side and a blow to the face sent the man stumbling. Ino dropped to his knees and sucked in a breath. Pulling him to his feet, Garik said some words that
he couldn't hear but he understand the message: get up.

A grunt came from the man and he punched Garik on the gut, causing his brother to double over, groaning. The man laughed, not a hearty laugh, but a cold and humorless one.

Ino charged at him and tackled him to the ground, there they wrestled and dodged each other's punches. He was strong, Ino could feel it every time he failed to dodge a blow, it almost rattled his teeth out.

In fact, he received a blow so hard he was knocked off the man, he felt liquid trail from his lip and he tasted blood in his mouth.

The man stood up and reached into his belt ; he saw a flash of metal when Garik appeared and threw a wooden bucket to the man's face. Ino winced as the man stumbled back in surprise.

Recovering from his shock, the boy delivered a right hook to the man's hidden face - causing him to fall- and ran to the front of the carraige. Swinging himself into the driver's chair, he waited for Garik to  get in and shut the door. With a yell, he sent the carriage into the forest, the horses galloping into the green foliage.

His blood went cold, his heartbeat rose to a unforgiving crescendo and the fear that he tried hard to surpress clawed its way out of the damned hole he buried it in.

He didn't know what was happening, nor why it was happening, but one thing was sure.

He had to get away.

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A/N:

Oh gosh, my whole body is aching, I  got two injections and finished my exams.

Ugh the life a student.

Yeah this chapter is quite sucky but gosh darn it I don't care, I'm going to edit this soon, not now, but soon....