Friends and Foes
Chronicles of Gaius Decimus - Part 1
Gaius trudged along behind the Sunspear soldier for what seemed like hours. They had passed through the
capital city of Kamadan, avoiding the merchants calling out their wares, and continued across the sandy
plains to the Sunspear Great Hall. Finally, the towering golden statues were visible, and he knew they
were close. His father had told him about the Great Hall during his childhood, but the actual sight of it
could not be explained with mere words.
As they passed through the main entrance, the Sunspear soldier turned to him, gestured toward a table at
the gate and walked away. Gaius took his place in line behind the throng of other new recruits. Finally,
it was his turn to approach the table. Standing there were two men, one of them very official looking,
holding a piece of parchment and a quill; the other, a frail-looking man that looked on the verge of
starvation.
As he approached, the scribe looked up at him in a bored sort of way. "Name?"
"Gaius Decimus, taking the place of Pyro Matic. He was too sick to ser-"
"Good. Hand?"
Gaius paused. "I'm sorry?"
Looking annoyed, the scribe said, "Hold out your hand."
Gaius did as he was told, though not quite sure why they needed his hand. The old man staggered forward,
took his hand, and examined it. After a few seconds time, he released Gaius's hand and muttered
something to the scribe. The scribe began scribbling something onto the parchment.
"Dervish. Your group is on the east wall, all the way in the back. NEXT!"
Gaius picked up his belongings, and followed the scribe's instructions to join his fellow
Dervishes. He sat down off to the side, away from the crowd, and looked around at the others. Many of
them wore elaborate robes, inlaid with gold and jade, while others had reinforced theirs with iron and
steel. Gaius's robes were, by far, the most tattered-looking and worn out of anyone in the group.
Before he could think anymore on it, someone nudged him on the shoulder and sat down beside him.
"Pah, nobles. Not to worry, most of them are just pompous, overfed sons of Skree. What's your
name kid?"
Gaius smiled weakly, and held out his hand. "Gaius Decimus. And you are?"
"Dj Eko Fresh. Pleasure," Dj said as he shook Gaius's hand. "So, you have any family
that are Sunspears?"
"No, my family originally came from Tyria."
"Oh really? What's Tyria like?"
"Actually, I've never been. I was adopted after they immigrated to Elona. They never really
mentioned much about Tyria, but I know that it was war that forced them to move south."
At that moment, the deep bellow of a horn echoed around the Great Hall, immediately silencing all of the
recruits. A somewhat tall, slender woman climbed the stairs in the middle of the hall, and turned to
address the crowd. Whispers began to spread around the room, as more and more people saw her.
Gaius looked at Dj, who was staring in disbelief. "Who is she?"
"Th- that's Kormir, the Spearmarshal, leader of the Sunspears. I've never seen her in
person... I can't believe she showed up for our first day of training."
Kormir, looked around at all of the recruits, smiling slightly. "Ahai, new Sunspears! Today, you
begin your training that will prepare you for the horrors we will face at the hands of Warmarshal Varesh
of Kourna. And make no mistake – we will face horror. Prepare yourself! Starting today, we prepare to
fight back!"
Everyone started cheering, yelling, and pumping their fists in the air. Amidst the commotion, the
trainers began rounding up their professions' recruits and directing them to the training fields.
Gaius gathered up his things, and hurried after Dj and the other recruits. Training had begun.
After a solid month of grueling exercises, suffering in the desert heat, and sparring long into the night,
Gaius and his fellow recruits were finally ready. They were now loaded into ships, sailing across the sea
to Gandara. Gaius breathed in the sea air, his heart hammering in his chest with the excitement of the
coming battle. Dj sat beside him, grim determination on his face. Before long, the towering fortress of
Gandara could be seen on the horizon. Fires blazed from the watchtowers, and horns could be heard over the
crashing waves.
As they drew closer to the looming fortress, drops of rain began to fall, gently at first. The closer they
got to the walls of the fortress, the harder it began to rain, until every soldier was drenched. In spite
of it all, Gaius looked over to see Dj laughing.
"Well, at least we won't be thirsty!" Dj yelled over the pounding rain.
Soon, though, their laughter was silenced; they could see movement in the towers through the rain, and
before they knew it a rain of arrows was streaking its way towards their boats.
"TAKE COVER!" Kormir shouted, and every soldier grabbed a shield to protect themselves. The
arrows crashed into the wood and steel of the shields, which caused anger amongst the soldiers, but
thankfully no injuries. Gaius could hear several recruits shouting things like "Bloody cowards!"
and "Just wait until they taste my blade."
They blocked several more hails of arrows, until finally the boats landed on the shore. Kormir yelled
something that Gaius couldn't hear, and immediately all the soldiers roared and charged forward.
Gaius and Dj followed, but were soon stopped as a flaming arrow soared through the air and sank itself into
Dj's thigh. Dj did not shout, but merely pulled the arrow out of his leg. The arrow was removed, but
the wound was still bleeding and burning.
"Let me take care of that," a small tattooed man said, as he staggered over and waved his wand,
muttering an incantation. He walked over and clapped Dj on the shoulder saying, "There – hic – ya are.
Little Frank's the name, pleased to – hic – meet ya."
Gaius looked at him in disbelief. "You're drunk? In the middle of a battle?!"
"What better time?" Frank asked, smiling at him lazily.
Gaius and Dj exchanged looks, and Dj stood back up. "Well, what are we waiting for? They'll all
be dead before we get there at this rate. CHARGE!"
And the three of them started sprinting towards the gates, where their fellow soldiers were already locked
in fierce battle.
