The Blade

The Blade(Jacob Maurizio) The Blade

A frosty chill was in the air as fifteen-year-old Rowan of Varrock awoke from his sleep. He was lying in the forest of Greenleaf. He had been hunting when there was an explosion that knocked him out. “How long have I been asleep?” Rowan thought. Rowan walked over to the crater that had formed because of the explosion. There was a serrated, black sword lying in the crater. The forest he was in had always been shrouded in a feeling of mystery, few dared to venture into the magical forest. Rowan reached for the sword, picked it up and a shock coursed through him. Rowan dropped the sword in agonizing pain. There was now a throbbing, glowing mark on his hand. He reached for it again carefully and picked it up slowly. This time there was no shock, but there was still the glowing mark on his palm and it still throbbed in pain. He began his long walk home. on the way home he sees a company of Imperial soldiers marching along the road towards his village of Varrock. “This can’t be good,” thought Rowan. As Rowan walks into Varrock, he sees an Imperial officer standing on top of a wagon talking.

“To all able-bodied men and boys of Varrock, I have come here today to issue a proclamation from the Great Emperor Lucas Valerius IV. ‘By my power invested in me as Emperor, I decree that every village, town or city shall present one man, from the age of fifteen to thirty years old, for every two men of the population, to fight in the Empire’s Army. The Empire is ordering men to fight the Rebels in the West Empire.’ The town of Varrock must provide 100 men to fight in his majesty’s Army. We will randomly select them later today. Be ready in case we select you to join. that is all,” the officer stepped down and returned to his camp.

Rowan sees his friend, Will, standing in the crowd. Rowan walked over to Will.

“So, they're recruiting new soldiers now,” Rowan said.

“Yeah, I just hope they don’t take me,” Will replied.

“Ok, well I’ll see you tomorrow,”

“Good night,” Will replied and he left for his house.

Rowan walked back to his tiny farm on the outskirts of Varrock where he lived with his father.

“Hello, son,” Rowan’s father said as Rowan entered.

“Hello, father” Rowan replied, “I wasn’t able to get much meat while I was out, just one rabbit.”

“Did you hear? They are recruiting new soldiers between the ages fifteen to thirty. all able bodied men must report to the town square tomorrow. They’re taking 20 men from Varrock,” Rowan continued.

“Those damned Rebels stir up trouble just cause they don’t like something the Empire is doing and then we all have to pay for it. The Empire can’t keep everyone happy.”

“Yeah, well we have to report to the town square at 10 am tomorrow,” Rowan replied.

“Ok, well be better get to bed, it's late and we have to get over to the town square in the morning.”

“Well, good night”

“Good night, Rowan.”

Rowan and his father walked back to their rooms. When Rowan got into his room he got the sword back out. “What are you?” wondered Rowan “you’re unlike any other blade I have seen before. Maybe I will take you over to the Imperial battle mage in the morning."

Rowan was so tired after the day he fell asleep almost instantly as he laid down to go to sleep. The next morning when Rowan woke up, he decided he better pack whatever he wanted in case his name was called. He grabbed his coin purse with the small amount of gold he had been saving up, his bow, and some food he could find and put it in is pack. Then, he walked into the kitchen where his father was already up and making breakfast. Rowan sat down at the table.

“Well, today’s the day isn’t it? I do not have to worry about being called up, I am too old, but I hope you are not called. It will be awful lonely and difficult working on this farm myself.”

Rowan’s father sat two bowls of soup down on the table. After they were finished, Rowan and his father began walking towards town. An hour later, they entered town where there were Imperial soldiers everywhere from the camp. Everyone had gathered around the town square except for a few Imperial Soldiers to keep watch for enemies during the event. Rowan and his father stood next to Will’s family while they waited for the Imperial legionnaire to call off the names.

“I hope I don’t get called. I don’t want to have to fight those damn Rebels,” Will said.

“Me, too,” Rowan replied.

A few minutes later, the legionnaire began to call names from his list.

“Roark of Varrock, Richard Miller, John son of Richard, Morris Hale,” he continued calling a few more names until on the nineteenth name he said “Rowan son of Marcus, and Will Cooper. Everyone I called is required to report to the camp outside the city within two hours or you will be flogged when found and charged with desertion; you are now officially soldiers of his majesty’s army and will be dealt with accordingly if you break the rules. You are dismissed.”

“By the divines, I have to serve in the Imperial Army,” Will said.

Rowan just stood there too shocked to speak, Will’s mother started crying.

“They can’t take him!” Will’s mother said.

“It’ll be ok, he’ll be serving the Great Empire,” Will’s father said.

“Well I guess this is good bye” Rowan’s father said to Rowan, “I really wish you didn’t have to go. I’ll miss you, I love you.”

“Good bye father I love you, too,” replied Rowan.

Will’s parents were saying their goodbyes. Then Rowan said, “Well we should be going, we don’t want to get charged with desertion.”

“Ok, let’s go” Will said.

Rowan and Will slung their packs over their shoulders, and made their way to the Varrock Imperial Camp.

When Will and Rowan got there, the twenty men from Varrock were standing in front of the camp.

The legionnaire began speaking, “I am the commander of this camp. my word is the final word. I am Legionnaire William of Talonstead. You are all beginning as privates. We are meeting up with the twelfth legion under the command of General Tudor. You will be completing your training on our way there. We will be assaulting Fort Russlan. Rebels 2 weeks ago massacred the one-hundred Imperial troops stationed there. They overran the fort. We need to take it back. We will be facing a rebel force of about 10,000. Report to the quartermaster to get your tents, and get a good night’s sleep, we have a big week ahead of us.

Rowan and Will went to the quartermaster to get their tents. After they received their tents, Will said, “I think I’m going to bed. We start training tomorrow and I need to get some sleep.”
“I have some business to take care of first,” replied Rowan, “go ahead,”
“Ok, well good night,”
“Good night.”

Rowan walked over to an Imperial Guard.
“Can you tell me where the battle mage’s quarters are?” Rowan asked.
“Sure, walk down that row and turn on your first right, it’ll be the tent a little bigger than the others,”

“Ok, thanks” Rowan said.
“You're welcome, have a nice evening,” replied the guard, “you're new around here aren’t you. Are you one of those new recruits from Varrock?”
“Yes, I was called up,”
“Well, my name’s Rofan of the Imperial province,”
“I’m Rowan son of Marcus,”
“Well have a god evening see you later,”


“What the hell?” said Rowan as he was drawing his sword.
“By the divines” said Rofan “what in the name of Versa is that?”
“They’re elves, at least hundred of ‘em!”
“Go alert the legionnaire,” Rofan, “I’ll begin lighting the warning fires!”

Rowan ran faster than he had ever before in his life. He ran to the legionnaire’s tent. by this time most of the camp was awake and scrambling to prepare for the fight. Rofan’s warning had warned them soon enough. A guard stopped Rowan right outside Legionnaire William’s tent.

“What business do you have with the Legionnaire?” the man asked.
“I have to warn him of an elven force heading towards our camp,” replied Rowan.
“Ok,” replied the man, “you can see him.”
Rowan entered the tent.
“Legionnaire,” Rowan said, “there is an elven force of at least hundred coming towards our camp.”
“When did you see this solider?” asked Legionnaire William.
“I was asking for directions from a soldier on watch and we saw them coming,” Rowan said. “I ran here as fast as I could to warn you.”
“Ok, you’ve served me. well get ready for battle. Are you one of the new recruits from Varrock?”
“Yes, sir,”
“You show promise, solider”
“Ok, prepare for battle,” the legionnaire said.
“Sir, yes sir,” replied Rowan.

Rowan ran out of the tent and grabbed an Imperial shield off the ground. The legionnaire ran out of his tent.
“Battle positions men!” yelled the legionnaire.

The battle of Varrock was beginning and this was sure to start yet another conflict between the elves and humans of Troania.
Rowan drew his sword and ran to where the men were taking up positions. Rowan heard an Imperial officer nearby yell “Archers, fire!”
Rowan saw a volley of arrows fly up and hit the elven force killing at least twenty of them.
He heard the officer yell “Reload, aim, fire!” again and saw another volley of arrows hit and kill at least a dozen elves. The elves were almost upon them now and Rowan braced himself for impact. The elves hit the Imperial force hard and at least twenty men and elves were killed in the initial impact. Rowan saw a man fall next to him. Then, he stabbed an elf in the stomach. Next, to him he saw the guard Rofan from earlier.

“Fancy meeting you here” he said as he chopped an elf’s head off then deflected a blow from and elf’s mace. Then, he stabbed him in the leg, Then, cut his head off.
“Yeah, what do these elves want anyways?” Rowan said as he deflected a blow from and elf’s war axe then, delivered a killing blow with his sword to the elf.
“I don’t know, us humans of Troania have always been enemies with the elves, they’re probably taking advantage of the rebellion to hit us when we aren’t at full strength,” Rofan said.
“An elf almost stabbed Rofan in the back, but Rowan stabbed the elf in the head before he could finish the move.
“Thanks,” Rofan said.
“No, problem,”

Right after Rowan saved Rofan; an arrow whizzed by and impaled a solider next to him in the head.
“They have archers!” yelled Rowan.
“Yeah that was a close one,” Rofan yelled back.

The battle continued onto the night with elves and Imperial troops falling left and right. An hour into the battle, Rowan had just fallen back a few rows to take a break when he saw Will lying dead on the ground.
“Oh, no,” yelled Rowan, “not you Will!” A single arrow shot to the head had killed Will.
“Not even a day into his service he had been killed. He was only fifteen, just old enough to serve,” thought Rowan.

Suddenly, Rowan felt a dark hatred for the elves. They had killed his best friend. His best friend since he was five. They had been friends for ten years and now here he was dead on the ground of a battlefield. Killed by those damn elves. Rowan felt a hatred for those elves unlike anything he had had felt before. With a yell, he charged back into the battle to avenge his friend’s death. He killed every elf he saw. He stabbed left and right, slicing elf’s heads off and stabbing them in the stomach. Not one elf survived his wrath. More than one elf begged for mercy as they lay wounded on the ground, but as they had not showed mercy he did not show any of them mercy. Finally, more than two hours into the battle, more reinforcements from the Imperial Army came to help fight the new elven reinforcements. The original Imperial troops, wounded and tired, fell back to allow the Imperial reinforcements that had arrived from the main Imperial camp in Greenfield Province to fight out the rest of the battle. The troops had to drag Rowan off the battlefield.

“They will pay!” yelled Rowan, “I won’t stop until every last of those elves are dead. They killed him! They killed Will!”
“Calm down, Rowan,” Rofan said to Rowan, “the reinforcements will take care of them.”
“If it wasn’t for those elves,” yelled Rowan, “Will would still be alive!”
“Your leg has a bloody gash in it,” Rofan said, “we have to take you to the medical section.”
“I’ll kill them all!” yelled Rowan.

Rofan and another solider lifted Rowan up and carried him to the medical district of the camp. By this time, Rowan had passed out from blood loss and was not screaming anymore. Once, they were there they dropped Rowan on one of the tables and a doctor came over.
“What do we have, here?” asked the doctor.
“He got a sword cut in the leg and he’s passed out from blood loss,” replied Rofan.’
“Ok, I’ll cauterize the wound, close and bandage it,” the doctor said.

Therefore, Rofan stood there and watched as the doctor cauterized the wound to close it. Then, he took a bandage and wrapped the wound in a bandage.
Rofan sat there for the next few hours until Rowan woke up.
“My leg hurts like hell,” Rowan said.
“Your leg was cut during the fighting and you passed out from blood loss. the battle’s over though. we killed almost all of them. about fifty got away and we have about 250 who surrendered or were captured. about 1,120 elves lay dead and about 860 Imperial troops lay dead.
“Did they get Will’s body, yet?” asked Rowan.
“I don’t know. you could go over to where they're putting the dead Imperials. they’re burning the elves bodies. They are collecting the Imperial ones, though. they will send them to their families.
“Are we still heading for Fort Russell?” Rowan asked.
“It’s going to be delayed, but yes we are. we’ll have the Imperial reinforcements stay with us. The captain of Greenfield Imperial Camp said we could keep them for the Battle of Fort Russel. In addition, we will have General Tudor’s 7,000 troops with us. Therefore, we should have enough troops to assault the fort and retake it from the rebels.”

Rowan got up out of his bed, and limped to the place where they were collecting the Imperial soldiers’ bodies. He found Will’s body and sat down next to it. “I can’t believe he’s really dead,” thought Rowan, “we’ve been friends for ten years and now he’s dead. He’s really dead.” He remembered all the fun they had when they were kids.
“He was alive and well just yesterday,” thought Rowan, “they had just been talking about how they didn’t want to be recruited yesterday. I just can’t believe it.”
“I’m going to avenge your death, Will. I will kill every last one of those damn elves.” Rowan said.
“I still haven’t talked to the battle mage about this sword,” thought Rowan, “It’ll be good to get something else on my mind other than Will’s death.

Rowan walked to the battle mage’s tent. He walked in while the mage was enchanting a sword. The battle mage turned around.
“Hello,” said the magus, “can I be of assistance?”
“Well, I’m one of the new recruits from Varrock, and I was earlier this week hunting out in the forest of Greenleaf.”
“That is a mysterious and strange forest,” said the mage, “isn’t it?”
“Yeah, well while I was hunting there was an explosion and this sword appeared, it was black and it had a serrated blade, and it looked as if an electrical current was flowing through it. I picked it up and it sent a shock through me that was agonizing. Although, when it was over a glowing mark appeared on my hand,” Rowan showed him the mark.
“Yes,” the mage said as he was looking over the mark, “do you have the blade with you?”
“Yes,” replied Rowan, “it’s the sword I’ve been using. I just used it in that last battle.”
“May I see it?” asked the magus.
“Sure, although it may harm you,” replied Rowan.
“Nonsense, I have gloves that prevent any enchantment from affecting me. I use them when dealing with potentially precarious magical artifacts. I believe I’ve heard of this when I was studying about magic when I was a mere apprentice,” he said, taking the sword. It’s merely known as the Blade. no one knows who forged it or where it came from,” the magus continued, “however those who wield it are known to wield immense magical powers.”
“Like what?” Rowan asked.
“Well once you touch it you gain the ability to cast magic, is one example. Another ability is that you have greater reserves of strength for casting spells,” the mage said. “Nevertheless, you still must train to reach that level as any other mage would have to train. Also,” the magus continued, “only one person can wield it every one-hundred years. if someone else attempts to touch it before then, depending on how much they touch it, they will be shocked by a very painful, agonizing shock similar to the one you experienced when you first picked it up.”

War horns sounded outside.
“Not again,” thought Rowan.
“What the hell is it this time?” the mage said sounding aggravated, “not another battle!”
“Rowan stepped outside and saw a force of about 500 Rebel troops heading towards the camp. The war horns were still sounding, and people were scrambling to take positions against the Rebel army.
“We have about 2,000 troops still here,” said Rowan, “they can’t really think they could win, can they?”
“They probably are trying to delay the Imperial advance,” replied the mage.

Rowan picked up his shield from earlier. “I still have not received my Imperial armor,” thought Rowan, “I’ll have to remember to do that after this, I can’t keeping fighting armorless.”

Rowan went to his position from the last battle. the Imperial troops had formed up by now. Legionnaire William rode out on his horse.
“What do you want traitorous dogs, you can’t think to win with that pathetic thing you call an army.”
“Hello William” a Rebel officer said as he strode out on his horse.
“You,” said William, “you traitor.”
“Who’s that?” Rowan asked a sergeant next to him.
“It’s General Anthony Valerius, he’s the Emperor’s cousin. He is a former Imperial General.”
“I have my orders from Lord Richard to stop you by any means necessary from taking Fort Russel,” General Valerius said.
“Richard is a traitorous dog just like the rest of you, he only rebelled to take the throne and you know it,” replied William.
“Who’s Richard?” Rowan asked the sergeant.
“He’s the emperor’s brother,” the sergeant said, “he didn’t feel like he had what he deserved. he was governor of 3 of the 8 provinces in the Empire. Therefore, he used the three provinces he governed to revolt against the Emperor, establish his own Empire, and eventually take the throne from his brother by force, thus, starting the Civil War of Troania.”
“Ok,” replied Rowan.

General Valerius and Legionnaire William returned to their armies.
“I know many of you have served under General Valerius when he was still loyal to the Empire of Troania, and I know many of you know the men over there, but they are traitors. They are not our friends anymore, they are the enemy. Remember when you are fighting that they betrayed the Emperor by revolting. they had no right to secede from the Empire. It was pure jealously. Richard wanted the throne. He thought he deserved it. Therefore, he betrayed us. Now, we go to battle. remember, do not show these traitors any mercy!” yelled William.

The men cheered, and took positions to brace themselves for the rebel charge. As the Rebel force charged towards the Imperials, Rowan once again heard the same Imperial officer say, “Archers, fire!” and as in the last battle, Rowan saw a volley of arrows hit the Rebels and a few dozen fell. However, there was only time for one volley because right after the hail of arrows hit, the Rebels were upon the Imperial troops.

The Rebel force was destroying the Imperial line; the 500 Rebel troops were somehow inhumanly powerful. they were killing solider after solider, the Imperial troops stood no chance.

Rowan drew his sword and began fighting. the only reason he was even standing any chance was the special powers of the Blade. Then in the distance he saw a mass of Imperial troops, at least 10,000. The few Imperials that were still standing fought with new vigor. With the reinforcements they had hope.

After two more hours of fighting the last of the Rebel troops were dead. General Valerius was in custody and more than 3,200 Imperial troops lay dead. Legionnaire William walked up to Rowan, “you fought well, Rowan,” he said, “that was a very costly fight. However, now we have General Tirania’s troops with us. We will surely take Fort Russell with our combined forces of our 1200, Tirania’s 7600 and Tudor’s force of 7000. Come with me, there is someone you need to see.”

A few minutes later Rowan was standing inside the Imperial Command Tent.
“I would like to make you lieutenant. you will be in charge of a force of about 500-700 troops. You fought bravely and I believe you would make an excellent commander,” said General Tirania.
“Me, a lieutenant?” asked Rowan, “but, I’m only a recruit.”
“Yes, but you’ve showed great capability and promise,” he replied.
“I would rather just stay a normal solider,” Rowan said.
“Ok, it’s your decision, but my offer will still be available if you change your mind,” Tirania replied, “dismissed, solider.”

Rowan left the tent and went back to his tent. he needed some sleep, they were to begin marching again to meet up with Tudor’s army. “I wonder if General Tudor is having trouble like us, too,” thought Rowan, lying down onto his bed, “well, I guess we’ll find out soon.”

Rowan woke up the next morning to the sound of bells ringing, which meant it was time to prepare for the march. Rowan began packing his things and put his tent in one of the carts. An hour later, the Imperial column began to slowly move forward.

Six hours into the march they stopped to take a break. for most of the soldiers it was lunchtime. Rowan got in one of the lines for his daily ration. After waiting 15 minutes, he sat down on a rock with his lunch. Two hours later, it was time to move again and the Imperial Column began moving once more. An hour later, they came across a field littered with thousands of bodies and blood. This was once General Tudor’s army. The tents and carts were burning. The asses and horses were lying dead with their carts. The army’s chickens and cows were lying in pools of their own blood. Tudor’s army of 7,000 lay dead on the ground, with arrows and vicious cuts all over them.

“Damn elves, they did this,” Rofan, the guard that Rowan had befriended, said.
“How can you tell?” asked Rowan.
“Well, they have marks from where they were hit with magic like the elves use,” replied Rofan.
“There are human mages; the Rebels could have done this.”
“They also are hit by elven arrows, and on most of them the heads have been beheaded,” Rofan continued, “They take heads as a prize.”
“There’s General Tudor,” Rofan said pointing, “The elves killed him, too.”
“This means war. We’re going to war with the elves again.” Rowan said.