Kin and Kith

Awakening the Blood

^^ Arthur ^^

--- Jacobs POV ---

I opened my eyes slowly, three weeks later. Something wasn't right. "Samantha." I said softly, and my personal servant came in.

"Yes, Prince Jacob?" She asked, just as quietly.

"Please wake Titus urgently, and ask him to give me a status report of the Castle, City, and Wall. I feel something amiss... The birds are not singing, and the snakes are not hissing..." I said.

She nodded. "I noticed as well. I'll do as you say, my prince. But please, let the girls get you ready, just in case."

I nodded and stood up from my bed, and strode over to my closet as she left, closing the main door. The servants entrance opened, and six servants came out, all women. Men were not allowed in my chambers. One cleared her throat. "What garb shall we dress you in, your highness?"

"My armor, and under that, my magic clothes. There may be... Unpleasantness, today." I said. She nodded and they started to dress me in my protective garments, then my full-body armor.

Mother had it mirrored after fathers battle dress, so it was black, forged from sturdy material that could stop any sword or arrow, and was 100x lighter than steel. The original was made to mirror a dragons armor. Scales of nigh-impenetrable armor layered over each other. It left no weak spots except the junctions of the limbs, (armpit, groin, back of knee, inner elbow) and allowed great flexibility.

(Scaled Kevlar plates. Yes, Kevlar exists here. This world is a Post-Modern-Apocalyptic wasteland returned to ancient customs, plus magic and fantasy elements.)

Finally, I lifted my sword from its rack, and my dagger. My sword was made from my fathers shortsword/dagger, and soon I would don his full sword. I held my helmet in the crook of my arm and marched towards my door, dismissing them.

They left, bowing, and I silently poisoned my weapons with an extremely powerful paralytic toxin, strong enough for even an elephant, with a tiny cut. It would have no effect on a demon, as they had no corporeal form, and only my father had ever killed even one, but it would stop anything else.

I slipped on my circlet, and then my helmet, the eye-slot wide enough not to restrict my vision. It was covered in shatterproof glass, so not even that was unprotected.

Then I opened my door, and thanked the gods for my armor. A spear came through the open doorway, and would have impaled me, if not for the armor. Instead, I was tossed back. I drew my dagger on a reflex and tossed it, the spinning blade nicking two attackers faces, and narrowly missing the third.

I cursed my luck, as the two fell and the third grinned. "Poison, hmm? Smart. But now you're out of options, little bo-"

A sword exited his chest, and I grinned. "What was that? Options? Continue, please." I waited sarcastically, and Titus sighed.

He grunted and pulled his sword out of the man, carefully pointing the spray so not even a drop entered my room. He looked at me. "Are you alright, my prince?"

"Yes. Those two are simply paralyzed. Poison on my dagger." I pointed at the dagger imbedded in the wall, and he yanked it out.

"Good throw, your highness." He grinned, then grunted as he stepped on his leg. There was a large cut in it, and what looked like a broken sword tip.

I grabbed it and cleaned it. "There were more than these?"

"Yes, master. All but yours are dead." He knelt.