Marcus stared at the 50-caliber flintlock pistol pointed at his chest, held by Buck, his captor.

  "You really think that you both can take me on?" The knight choked up on the knife using only one hand and then flipped it around, holding it by the point and lowered his free hand toward the pistol on his belt as he inched forward to stand on the balls of his feet.

  "This thing will blow a hole in your antique armor." Shooter cackled after producing a pistol of his own and brandishing it at the knight while closing in.

  Then the knight shifted his shoulders as to turn toward Shooter. "Is that so?"

  "Two-on-one, old man." Buck cackled.

  The two mercenaries were a half-dozen paces each from the knight, on opposite sides.

  The knight then slowly spun and stood upright, his stance offset, almost squaring off with Shooter. "I see. That is a good point. It appears I'm outnumbered." He loosened his hold on the pistol, letting the barrel rest on the leather belt at his waist and sighed. "I hate it when that happens."

  Buck grunted and stood his ground. "Can't always win, old timer." He adjusted his grip and steadied his aim at Marcus, with his tongue dangling from the side of his pursed lips.

  The knight pivoted his torso toward Buck, who was behind the armored warrior. "Too true." He took a step back in retreat, bringing himself closer toward Buck's line of fire. "But before you shoot, you should know that you forgot one small detail."

  Buck squinted and looked at the knight. "What's that?"

  A shot rang out. Marcus winced.

  From the knight's hip a shot cracked and hit Buck square in the stomach. His legs buckled beneath him and the mercenary's weapon fell his hands to the ground.

  With the flick of his elbow, the knight hurled the dagger at Shooter, sinking it into his right breast. The remaining mercenary fired his shot.

  The knight was hit. He staggered back and spun, falling to one knee, hovering over Buck's dead body. "I don’t do guild work. It’s beneath my station." He panted and struggled to his feet. After righting himself, he pulled another dagger from three attached to his baldric, then walked over to Marcus.

  "We don't have much time, get on your feet." The knight had a massive dent in his pauldron, a ring of black soot around the point of impact. He used his hips to swipe at the ropes while puffing and wheezing. After a few moments, he hacked away at the bindings and freed both Marcus and Layne.

  "Get him." The knight pointed at Shooter. "Toss him in the river. Leave his belongings on him so his body won't float near the top." Then he motioned with his head. "And the dagger too, don't take it out."

  Marcus rushed over to grab Shooter's arms and Layne hurried to grab the mercenary's legs.

  As they closed on the ridge of the raging flow, it was clear Shooter was still alive. He was gasping while choking on blood that dripped from his mouth. "No. Please." The mercenary sputtered and looked up at Marcus.

  The mechanic hesitated. He'd never killed anyone before.

  Layne frowned and started yanking at Shooter's feet to get momentum so to swing Shooter into the river. "Let go. I'll do it."

  Marcus looked up to find a committed and intentful Layne, a fury burrowed in his best friend's eyes never seen before.

  Despite the apparent hatred held by Layne, Marcus suddenly felt like it was a betrayal of everything they went through together to simply leave the deed to Layne alone.

  With a deep breath Marcus followed Layne's lead and helped swing Shooter. After reaching shoulder height, the two hurled the mercenary into the rapids. As Shooter flew into the water, Marcus was met with his terrified expression. The mechanic shuddered and the mercenary disappeared into the rapids.

  The knight struggled, but with his one good arm, dragged Buck along the ground and tossed the body into the river. Then he turned and pointed at the pole and rope, "get rid of that too."

  Layne rushed over to the pole and with two hands gripped near the top, snapped it in two with three furious pulls and tossed it into the water. Only a small nub still jutted from the ground.

  Marcus swept up the rope and threw it away in kind.

  In the distance, a volley of gunfire rang out.

  The knight knelt and picked up Buck's pistol. As he wound up to throw it away, he looked at Marcus, then stopped and jammed it in his belt. "We don't have much time, come with me."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The three departed, traveling along the river's edge until they got to a footbridge. Then they crossed and climbed over a tall dirt embankment that spanned the length of the opposite side of the tidal creek. Once they crested and descended, they were in a damp mangrove forest where the knight led them to a path carved through the thick brush wide enough to walk single file.

  At the end of that path, on a small dry islet amid the trees were ruins of stone structures. The walls were only waist high with sections that were once twice Marcus's height. Inside the largest structure with the tallest walls was a stone circle fireplace, and two other warriors just as heavily armored as the knight sitting on rubble and staring at a small fire.

  The moment the knight entered the room, the two other warriors stood and readied to draw their blades. Without a word, the knight removed his helmet and raised his gauntlet waist high toward the two. They sat back down but stared wearily at Marcus and Layne after the mechanics entered.

  The knight placed his helmet on a stone shelf and let out a deep breath. "First, I owe you an introduction." He sat down on a flat-topped pile of stones. “A real introduction.”

  The two warriors rushed over to pull the knight's dented pauldron from his armor after removing his gauntlet.

  "My name is Arminius of New Canterbury." The knight said.

  "Your shoulder's dislocated." One of the warriors with slicked back, blue-grayish hair spoke plainly, holding the battered pauldron. He was young, despite his hair.

  "Fix it, Caeso." Arminius nodded to him.

  Caeso, the blue-grayish-haired warrior, put the pauldron and gauntlet on the shelf next to Arminius's helmet.

  The other warrior, with bushy red hair walked over to a pack and produced a bottle, uncorked it and offered it to Arminius, who took a swig and handed it back.

  Caeso reached into a pack and produced a belt and offered it by placing it in front of Arminius's mouth. The knight shook his head and Caeso threw it over his own armored shoulder.

  "Ready?" Caeso stood to Arminius's side.

  "Do it." Arminius spoke firmly.

  The red-haired warrior reached down and firmly locked Arminius in place with two hands, one on the knight's chest, and the other on his back. Caeso raised Arminius's arm above shoulder level. As soon as the warrior brought it above chest height, the knight winced and groaned.

  In one swift motion, the warrior yanked Arminius's arm, and a dull pop filled the room. A gravelly grunt came from the knight, and he lowered his arm, rotating it and reaching toward the red-haired warrior, who placed the still-open bottle in Arminius's hand.

  Marcus and Layne stood in silence as this was happening. Injuries like this weren't uncommon when working on big metal objects.

  Silence filled the room as Arminius took another swig of the liquid from the bottle and handed it back to the warrior. Caeso offered the pauldron to the knight but was refused.

  "Just give me a few minutes to settle down." Arminius spoke, staring beyond the wall between Marcus and Layne.

  Marcus cleared his throat. "We never got a chance to thank you for saving us."

  Arminius blinked and straightened his posture. "Don't mention it." He cleared his throat. "You might come to regret it soon enough." The knight laughed with his belly. Then he pointed at the fire. "Come, sit. No sense in everyone standing for no good reason."

  Marcus stepped forward and sat on the uneven stone floor before the fireplace, across from Arminius. Layne looked at the knight, then to Marcus and sat next to his friend.

  Arminius pointed at his exposed arm. "If it was a long gun, at that range I would have been in trouble." He shrugged his shoulder, rolling it with sharp exhales. "You know why they called him 'Shooter'?"

  Marcus shook his head.

  "Because he could shoot at the ground and miss." Arminius smiled.

  "Why'd they call the other one 'Buck'?" Layne tilted his head.

  The two warriors came to stand on either side of the knight with a mild rigidity, arms crossed.

  Arminius leaned forward and squinted at Layne. "It's a long and layered story but to keep it brief, have you ever gone hunting?"

  Both Marcus and Layne nodded.

  The knight sat up and looked away for a moment. "Male deer like to strut and posture, but in the end they're just prey animals." Then he looked at Layne. "What do you call a male deer?"

  "A buck." Layne spoke plainly.

  Arminius pursed his lips for a moment. "Today was just fate for those two. There are worse ways to go than a clean death.”

  The image of Shooter's desperate face as he was hurled into the river crossed Marcus's mind.

  Layne glanced at Marcus for a moment. "Well, you still got hit by Shooter." Layne looked at Arminius and pointed at his own arm.

  The red-haired warrior stopped crossing his arms and stood upright with a step forward.

  Arminius laughed and raised his hand. "Baldmund." He turned to look at the red-haired warrior.

  Baldmund retreated and returned to crossing his arms with a frown.

  The knight locked onto Layne. "A blind squirrel will find a nut, sometimes."

  Marcus cleared his mind. "Why did you bring us here? Amurad will be looking for us and will grow suspicious if we're not back soon."

  With a deep sigh, Arminius nodded. "I want to stop this invasion. You want your father's upright back. Let's make a plan to get you into that machine and get it away from this Amurad."

  Marcus stared at the miniscule flames of the dwindling fire inside the stone circle, lost in contemplation. He shook his head. "I've been trying the entire time I've been there. I can't do it because of the medallions he has."

  "Because of the medallions he has..." The knight trailed off. "Ah, you mean he has lockout inhibitors?" Arminius nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. "I see. That complicates things."

  "Look, if I knew how to bypass it, I would have already." Marcus didn't hide the frustration in his voice.

  "I understand, but aren't you one of his mechanics? How do you move them around? Can't you just steal one of them when you're working on them?" Arminius crossed his arms and looked at the fire. "Inhibitors are used in place of a coded pilot. The machine will run but in a reduced capacity." He shook his head and returned his attention to Marcus. "I'm rambling, what were you going to say?"

  "We can't move them, only he and his goons are the ones allowed to handle running them. We just fix them when they get beat up or broken down." Marcus sighed.

  "I have an idea." Layne looked to Marcus then the knight.

  The two focused their attention on him.

  "Aren't we supposed to be moving camp tomorrow?" Layne blinked.

  Marcus's eyes widened. "I think we can make this work."

  Arminius smiled. “Let’s put together a plan then.”

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