Orsgadts
Fire and Ice

Galvey city prison contains only five prisoners. Two of them are drunkards who messed up in the city and three members of a horse-riding troublemaker who were dropped by Knights Fergus, Greg and Fiona. They are in the same cell.

The prison warden had just doused the drunkards with a bucket of cold water out of annoyance at their cries. The two drunkards seemed to have come to a slight realization, they were now curled up in the cold. Both of them nodded but in a small voice.

In the next cell, none of the three troublemakers spoke. After their clothes and weapons were stripped, they were now wearing dull brown and barefoot prisoners' clothes. The three of them sat as if they were fighting. None of them had a friendly face and no scars.

Greg enters with permission from Knight Fergus. As soon as he saw the three of them in the same cell, Greg immediately shouted. “Open the cell, separate them!”

Knight Fergus was shocked, so were the guards. The two drunkards jumped up and away from the side of the cell adjacent to the three vandals.

Honey, it's too late. The three troublemakers were already standing then the biggest one with a single blow instantly broke the neck of his closest companion. He repeated the same attack on his other partner.

Two dead bodies on the dirty cell floor. When the cell door was successfully opened, the last person grinned, his eyes moving wildly. He waited for a warden to approach and grabbed the warden's short sword and stabbed his own heart and his large, heavy body drooped to the prison floor, with no life.

“I didn't expect this to happen,” said the warden. His voice trembled in shock seeing the horror before him.

It happened so quickly that everyone could do nothing to prevent it. Greg checked all three, all dead.  The furious face of Knight Fergus made the prison guards retreat in fear.

“They are not ordinary people.” Greg opened the mouths of the corpses one by one. The guess is right, their tongues are cut off. It had been a long time since he had seen her. They showed up again for a reason.

“Killer from Orsgadt,” murmured Knight Fergus.

“You recognize it.” Greg medesah heavy.

“Yes. We caught some robbers in Regis. The hitmen disguised themselves as robbers and spread terror. It doesn't make sense. What brought them out of Orsgadt? It's worrisome. I have to warn the mayor.” Knight Fergus firmly gripped the handle of his sword in anger.

“That's best,” says Greg. “I will send word to the merchant troupe, remind them to be careful.”

Greg kicked a pebble in the street in annoyance. It should have come sooner. It's because of that silly guy.

“There is nothing you can do,” said Proner who appeared behind him. “Keep walking, assume we are enjoying the night,” he said casually.

“You followed me?” ask Greg. He walked without changing his pace.

Proner felt no need to answer that question. He was following Greg. “They are the lowest class in the Goenhrad hierarchy of troops. Although Goenhrad denies their existence, as you can see, they are real.”

“You are from Orsgadt, what is going on in Orsgadt?” ask Greg.

The proner gritted his molars. “I left him a dozen years ago. Orsgadt is getting worse. I don't know what's going on there right now.”

Greg was no wonder. Since the Orsgadt uprising, no one else dared to call it blatant. “I heard bad news from traders.”

“All settlements moved north. Only the south gate is opened and no one is allowed to pass through the second gate, the only entrance to the interior of Orsgadt.”

“Orsgadt makes second wall?” ask Greg.

“Yes. Only security forces can enter. In addition it will be closely guarded by the soldiers.” The Proner felt that there was something big prepared by the despotic king inside.

Greg stroked his chin then seriously faced forward. “How do you know all that?”

“People who make it out of Orsgadt often gather at certain drinking houses in each city. There is always news from Orsgadt.” Proner is grateful that there is still a small gap in the news source about Orsgadt in Artamea.

“Wait, what is it?” Greg pointed east.

Proner looked in the direction Greg was pointing. It was still night but to the east an enormous red light was clearly visible from where they stood.

“There is a small village at the east end, Bragha. Looks like a fire.” Proner is not a fortune teller but he believes there is something bad there.

People are out onto the main streets of Galvey city. They murmured and whispered to see a burning red light in the distance.

Greg ran towards Rhea's residence. He had to check on the girls. Halfway through the journey, he saw Knight Fergus and two soldiers riding eastward.

The Proner follows Greg but when close to Rhea's residence, he is told to stay away by Greg. The Proner obeyed and chose to stand in the shadow of the building opposite the Rhea residence.

“I'm fine. The fire was far enough away. Some people are figuring out what happened there.” Greg tried to escape from Rhea's embrace.

“Greg, you're back. I think .…” Fiona fell silent to see Rhea and Greg embrace.

Emune came down from the stairs and immediately grabbed Greg's arm. He pulled her towards the chair and forced her to sit down. Greg was surprised, he did not expect Emune to have such power and speed. Rhea looked annoyed at Emune's actions just now.

“You all right? Tell me what's out there?” ask Emune.

“Is there any more buggers?” ask Fiona who joined sitting on one of the chairs.

“No. I'm not going east. Better be careful. Knight Fergus I saw was heading there,” replied Greg.

The three women sitting in the chairs nearby sighed. Greg told them to go back to sleep. He will be on guard all night.

***

The troupe of horsemen who had been messing around had arrived outside Bragha village, the village at the eastern end of Galvey. No activity was seen from outside the village. There were no walls or fences protecting the village from outside attacks.

“It will be quickly finished, Djorn,” said one of the troublemakers.

Djorn, the head of his group was a large tall male, only a dark horse could run while holding its weight. He carried a large sword and an axe on his back. His eyes stared ferociously as if wanting to flatten the village before him.

“Urgy, burn that village,” his orders with his heavy and haunted voice.

“You heard that? Burn that village!” exclaim Urgy loudly. Insanity was evident in both eyes.

The group of vandals moved to surround the village from all directions. The torches were lit then with one shout from Urgy, they threw torches at the village. The village was just a small village where the majority of the buildings were made of wood, so in an instant the fire raged on the roofs, walls and pillars of the building.

The villagers ran in fear. Panic hit everyone. Some people tried to put out the fire with water taken from a small pond near the village well but in vain because the fire was already too big.

Smoke is high. The villagers had no choice but to gather in the middle of the square because outside the village there were people dressed in black who were ready to lung at anyone who came out of the village. The babies and little children were crying, the women were screaming in fear. The men with guns tried to protect them.

In one of the barns in a corner of the village, a girl awoke from her sleep. His white hair was tied high. He carefully came out of the barn and was surprised to see flames everywhere.

The girl was about to run out of the village but there were black shadows moving threateningly out there. He could hear their happy cries as he saw the chaos that was happening in the village. If it does not leave immediately, it could become ash or fall prey to whoever caused this fire.

The cries, screams and shouts that filled the night air left him claustrophobic. Anger builds up in his brain. This can't be allowed! Those criminals deserve to die, he thought.

“I hate humans but still good enough to save them,” he said slowly.

The girl pressed her palm against the wooden wall and patted it gently. A swirling cold mist was moving to cover the village. The villagers could not even see their own hands because the fog was so thick.

Like life, that cold mist swept across the sea of flames and defeated it in an instant. After all the flames were extinguished, a portion of the cold mist gathered in the middle of the village. Once again the fog split into pieces, darting out of the village.

The fog turned into sharp ice pegs then pierced the black-clothed people who were shocked to see the flames burning the village had extinguished. None of the ice pegs survived, including Djorn, its chairman.

As the girl pulled her hand from the wooden wall, the cold mist gradually disappeared. The fire was extinguished and the vandals were defeated. He had to leave immediately before anyone realized his existence in this village. He grabbed his bag and wooden stick and then slipped out of the village and moved in the shadow of the trees.

Villagers who were aware that they had survived the fire and hordes of troublemakers were grateful and hugged. Their village was almost completely covered in flames but thankfully there were no casualties, only a few people were injured by falling and colliding. The men immediately checked outside the village. They were surprised to see dozens of corpses of black-clothed men surrounding the village.

Knight Fergus arrives in Bragha. Somehow, the fire was extinguished and there were dozens of corpses all around the village. The village chief explained that they could not see anything because the fog was thick and knew that the fire had gone out.

The bodies were collected as one outside the village. Everything will be buried immediately after being inspected by the Galvey authority.

“Poor business. Very bad,” muttered the knight. This is the worst day in Galvey, according to Knight Fergus. He checked the bodies. Their bodies seemed to be pierced by something but he did not find the weapon that killed them.

He knew Djorn. The violent man who had never let his opponent die so easily was now a corpse with a gaping hole in his forehead. Maybe it was just my feelings, thought the knight, they all looked shocked and horrified.

After giving instructions to the two soldiers who had come with him, Knight Fergus returned to the city. He sent emissaries to Renard Castle which housed Galvey and the surrounding towns. Looks like it's time to be on standby. Something big, evil and terrible will appear out of nowhere.