The climb up Eagle Peak was brutal.
Loose shale shifted under their boots, sending gravel tumbling into the dark gorge below. A cutting mountain wind blew through the crags, biting through linen and gambesons.
Down in the dry wash two miles back, the eight village recruits remained with the horses, resting their injuries under the shelter of the overhang. Up on the heights, only seven made the final ascent: Jade, Mataranas, Numerius, Yuzon, Nathaniel, Nathanos, and Valerios.
Nathaniel pulled himself over a granite ledge, his breath ragged in the freezing air as he peered over the edge.
"Two hundred feet straight down," Nathaniel muttered, keeping his voice low. "If my boots give out, do not waste time digging a grave. Just take my silver."
Numerius stepped onto the ledge beside him, resting his two-handed mace against his shoulder. "Your boots have holes in the soles, Nate. Nobody wants them."
"Keep your voice down," Jade whispered, crouching behind a rim of rock. "Sound carries across these rocks."
Fifty yards ahead, where the trail leveled beneath an overhanging bluff, a dull orange fire pit cast shadows against the cliff face.
Two sentries sat near the charcoal embers. One scraped grease off an iron spit, while the other sat with an iron spear across his knees, nodding off into his chest.
Yuzon slipped his hunting bow from his shoulder. He signaled the sleeping spearman, then nudged Nathaniel toward the man with the spit.
Nathaniel rested the stock of his light crossbow against the flat rock.
Snap. Thwack.
Yuzon's broadhead shaft took the sleeping sentry through the neck, driving him back against the granite. An instant later, Nathaniel's crossbow bolt punched through the second raider's ribs with a muffled thud. The man dropped his spit, rolled into the dirt, and lay still.
[+1 Scouting]
[+1 Crossbow]
Nathanos moved forward, broadsword drawn, and shoved the dying sentry's knife into the scrub with his boot. "Clear," he muttered.
The cavern entrance opened before them, a jagged split in the granite smelling of stale tallow, roasting mutton, and damp earth.
Inside, the tunnel broadened into a wide natural chamber lit by iron braziers. Piles of stolen wool bales, grain sacks, and cracked kegs lined the walls. Near a central fire, six mountain raiders sat around an overturned cart bed, tossing bone dice.
Mataranas adjusted the leather brace on his left forearm, brought up his heavy cavalry shield, and drew his iron flange mace.
He charged the crude wooden gate at a heavy, rhythmic pace.
CRASH.
The timber barrier gave way under his weight, splintering off its hinges. Matty stepped straight into the circle, taking an axe swing on the metal rim of his shield. He hooked the haft aside and drove his one-handed flange mace into the lead bandit's hip.
The iron flanges crushed through boiled leather and bone. The raider folded with a short scream, dropping into the dirt as Matty shoved his shield forward to pin another man against a supply crate.
[+1 One-Handed]
[+1 Shield]
Numerius followed through the opening. With no room for wide footwork in the cavern, he rammed the head of his two-handed mace into an advancing raider's chest, throwing the man into a pile of grain sacks with cracked ribs.
Nathanos carved into the left flank, his broadsword biting through leather armor. Valerios matched him, his arming sword punching through an archer's throat before a composite bow could be drawn.
From the entrance, Yuzon and Nathaniel fired over Matty's shoulder, dropping two raiders scrambling across the high ledges. In less than forty seconds, the outer room fell quiet except for the popping embers.
Heavy iron hinges shrieked from the dark corridor at the back.
A broad figure stepped into the torchlight. He wore heavy lamellar plates laced over wolf pelts, his greasy black hair pulled back with leather cords. In his right hand, he carried a notched executioner's axe. Across his back rested three heavy iron throwing javelins.
Radagos.
Behind him stepped four veteran raiders wearing iron skullcaps and carrying curved mountain sabers.
Radagos stopped ten paces away, his bloodshot eyes taking in the bodies before locking onto Nathanos and Valerios.
"You," Radagos rasped, his voice rough as grinding stones. "The pups from the creek. Should have put you in the ditch with your parents."
Nathanos stepped forward, his knuckles pale around his hilt.
Radagos's right shoulder dipped, his hand reaching back for a javelin.
"Shield!" Jade yelled.
Having drilled the warning into his head on the road, Nathanos dropped into a low crouch, pulling his wooden shield flush to his helmet.
CLANG.
The heavy iron javelin drove two inches into the seasoned wood, stopping a finger's width from Nathanos's brow. The force shook his footing, but Nathanos yanked the iron head loose and cast it aside.
"Die in the dirt," Nathanos snarled, closing the gap.
The chamber rang with the crash of steel.
Radagos brought his executioner's axe down in a sweeping diagonal. Nathanos parried, sparks showering across the stone floor.
The four bodyguards moved to encircle Nathanos, but the Calamity Squad closed the angles.
Mataranas met two sabers on the left flank. He took both blades against the face of his cavalry shield, stepped inside the reach of the nearest man, and swung his one-handed flange mace upward into the raider's knee.
Numerius caught the third guard, his two-handed mace smashing through an iron skullcap.
Nathaniel fired his crossbow into the final guard's thigh, leaving Yuzon to drop him with an arrow to the chest.
In the center, Nathanos was losing ground.
Radagos absorbed a cut to his forearm and drove his armored shoulder into Nathanos's chest, throwing him back against a stone pillar. The breath blew out of Nathanos's lungs, and he dropped to one knee, losing his grip on his broadsword.
Radagos raised his axe with both hands, stepping in to finish him.
Valerios cut across the floor.
He dropped low, sliding across the slick stone, and drove his arming sword with both hands into the unarmored leather behind Radagos's left knee.
Tendon and muscle tore under the blade.
Radagos roared, his leg buckling beneath the weight of his lamellar armor. The warlord dropped onto both knees on the stones, his heavy axe slipping from his fingers and clattering into the dark.
Nathanos kicked the axe away.
Valerios scrambled up, chest heaving, his face contorted in raw fury. The memory of his father dying in the dust and his mother cut down by the burning wagons filled his eyes.
Valerios raised his sword high with both hands, coiling his muscles to sever Radagos's head.
Jade saw the blade begin to fall. He stepped forward, opening his mouth to shout.
"Valerios, stop!"
Nathanos shouted the command.
Nathanos lunged in, seizing his brother's wrists and wrenching the blade aside. The steel struck the stone wall, throwing sparks into the air.
Valerios struggled against his brother's grip, shaking with rage. "He butchered them, Nathanos! He slaughtered Mother and Father! Let me kill him!"
"Stop!" Nathanos yelled, shaking him by the tunic until their eyes locked. "Look at him! If you take his head, Faroc and Dena are dead! He is the only one who knows where they took our brother and sister!"
The names broke through the fury.
Valerios stiffened. The wild look in his eyes faded into hollow exhaustion. He lowered his sword, his hands trembling.
Mataranas stepped behind Radagos. He laid the heavy metal rim of his cavalry shield flat across the warlord's neck, resting his weight on it until Radagos's face pressed against the stone. Matty held his flange mace directly over the raider's ear.
Nathanos drew his dagger, pressing the tip against Radagos's throat.
"Speak," Nathanos said, his voice flat. "Where are they?"
Radagos spat a mouthful of dark blood onto the floor, his breath wheezing through broken teeth. He felt the cold iron of Matty's flange mace against his skull.
"Alive," Radagos rasped. "I did not kill them."
"Where?" Nathanos pressed the blade in, drawing a bead of red.
"A slaver company," Radagos wheezed. "Operating out of the southern border posts. Chagan's band. They buy young captives for the salt mines and city houses. They travel slow with heavy wagons and draft cattle."
Radagos squinted up through swollen eyes. "Keep me breathing, and I will point out their trail. Cut my throat, and you can search the southern sands until your hair turns white. You will never find them."
Nathanos stepped back, his chest rising and falling slowly. He wiped blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, then turned to Valerios.
"Here is the plan," Nathanos said. "I am taking Radagos. I will take Tacteos and four of our recovering recruits, bind this butcher to a mule, and track the slave markets south to free Faroc and Dena."
Valerios stepped forward. "I am going with you."
"No," Nathanos said firmly. "If both of us vanish into the southern wastes, our family line ends the moment we meet an imperial patrol. You must go into the towns, Valerios. Take the remaining recruits. Hire men, take contracts, build our clan's standing. When I bring Faroc and Dena back, we need silver, a hold, and steel at our backs."
Valerios looked down at his boots, then gave a slow, stiff nod. "Understood."
Near the rear alcove, Nathaniel knelt by an iron-bound chest behind the timber barricade, working the latch loose with his dagger.
The lock gave with a dry click.
"We have coin," Nathaniel called out, sifting through the contents. "Roughly two hundred silver denars, dyed linen, and iron knives."
He reached into the bottom straw, lifting out a small wooden box wrapped in oiled wool.
He pulled back the cloth, revealing a curved fragment of heavy bronze. It was covered in imperial knotwork and the worn carving of a three-headed dragon, green with age.
"What is that?" Numerius asked, looking over Nathaniel's shoulder. "Looks like old scrap."
Tacteos, who had climbed the trail to bring his medicine satchel to the fighters once the cave fell quiet, stepped into the cavern and caught sight of the bronze.
"By the gods," Tacteos breathed, kneeling beside the box. "That is imperial craft. Look at the scales on the rim. That is an ancient relic of the unified Empire, from before the civil war."
As Jade touched the cold metal, a chime sounded in the minds of the squad.
The air seemed to still, and blue text floated before them:
[Tutorial Main Quest Completed: Radagos Defeated] [Ancient Relic Discovered: Fragment of the Dragon Banner] [Key Figure 1/2 Fully Activated: Valerios of Clan Pethros]
[CRITICAL NARRATIVE CHOICE: DISPOSITION OF THE ARTIFACT]
[Option A: Entrust the Fragment to Valerios]Consequence:
Preserves the canonical destiny of the protagonist.
Faction Impact: Relations with Valerios increase to Sworn Brother standing (+25).
Relations with Nathanos increase to Trusted Kin (+15). Clan Pethros becomes a dedicated ally.
Squad Position: Zero political heat from imperial inquisitors.
The Calamity Squad remains free to operate as an elite independent mercenary company.
System Data: [Decrypted Progress: 2/2 Complete. Vector: Imperial Restoration aligned with Home Link.]
[Option B: Retain the Fragment for the Calamity Squad]
Consequence: Alters the canonical timeline. The Calamity Squad claims the sovereign path to kingship.
Faction Impact: Valerios remains an ally (Standing +30), but feels slighted by the loss of his family's recovered relic.
Squad Position: The Calamity Squad takes ownership of the Dragon Banner questline.
The five of them must seek out Istiana or Arzagos directly to forge a custom kingdom.
Danger: Imperial lords and Vlandian barons will hunt the squad as imperial pretenders.
Numerius looked at the script, rubbing his chin. "Option B gives all five of us the banner. We could use it to claim our own crown later."
"Think it through, Num," Yuzon said, his tone dry. "We are five Level 6 skirmishers in second-hand armor, signed to a mercenary company. If Lord Thomund, Captain Rodrik or any vlandian and emperial catches us holding an imperial royal relic, they will take our heads and steal it. We do not have forty men, let alone a kingdom."
Nathaniel pointed at the screen. "Yuzon is right. Plus, look at Option A. Preserving Valerios's path establishes the link home. That is what we need."
Jade looked at the bronze piece, then at Valerios, who was watching quietly.
The squad agreed, and Jade mentally confirmed Option A.
[Choice Confirmed: Entrust the Fragment to Valerios] [System Status: Canonical Timeline Preserved] [Relation Increased with Valerios +25
Total Relation: 55 (Sworn Brother)]
[Relation Increased with Nathanos +15
Total Relation: 45 (Trusted Kin)]
[Decrypted Data Unlocked: Coordinate Anchor Established]
Jade lifted the box and handed it to Valerios.
"This came from your family's caravan," Jade said. "It belongs to your clan. Take it, Valerios. You will need it more than we will."
Valerios took the bronze, his fingers tracing the engravings. He looked up, the hardness in his face giving way to deep respect.
"My family owes you everything," Valerios said, his voice steady. "When Clan Pethros has men and steel at its back, we will answer your call."
"Stay alive," Jade said, gripping Valerios's forearm. "And keep your guard up."
Nathaniel divided the coin. He gave sixty denars to Nathanos for travel expenses, ten to Tacteos for medicines, and took eighty denars for their squad, leaving sixteen silver for each of the five.
Nathanos tied Radagos with heavy hemp rope, hauling the wounded warlord toward the mouth of the cave.
"We take the southern path before sunrise," Nathanos said, offering a curt nod. "May the roads treat you well."
Valerios packed the relic into his satchel, gathered his four recruits, and turned toward the western road to begin his journey through the towns of Calradia.
As the brothers moved down the trail, a pale grey light crept over the eastern crags.
"Its already dawn," Yuzon said, looking at the sky.
"The patrol," Nathaniel said, checking his crossbow. "Rodrik wanted us linked with Captain Mira's screen on the high ridge."
"…."
"Move!" Jade said.
They hurried down the shale paths back to the dry wash, threw their saddles on, and mounted their horses. Kicking their mounts into a gallop, they spurred them up the narrow gorge trails toward the high northern ridge.
Twenty minutes later, they crested the granite saddle overlooking the broad highland plateau.
The sounds of battle met them before they cleared the trees: screaming horses, splintering wood, and the thunder of iron on shields.
The Calamity Squad reined their mounts to a halt at the tree line, staring out across the open ground.
Captain Rodrik had sent them to link up with Captain Mira's forward screen of forty light cavalry.
Two hundred yards out on the rocky plain, Captain Mira and her forty Golden Boar cavalry scouts were locked in combat with roughly one hundred Battanian warriors.
It does not look like a desperate defense. It was a cold, one-sided massacre.
Captain Mira rode at the center of the slaughter, her massive two-handed sword swinging in brutal, shearing arcs from her saddle, cutting down Battanian skirmishers like ripe wheat. Her forty armored scouts swept through the fractured enemy lines in disciplined hammer-and-anvil charges, riding down unarmored archers and crushing their flanks.
The Battanians were breaking, trapped in the rocks and getting systematically cut to pieces by Mira's veterans.
Numerius let out a low whistle, lowering his mace.
"Looks like Captain Mira did not need our help," Numerius murmured.