Tales of the Trio: Unbroken

Chapter Nine

All his life Wesley wanted to impress his father, his dad was just another soldier like the rest, but as a kid that never stopped him from looking up to his dad as a hero. He often made his father teach and train him, when his father was busy he'd help his mom with things and then go and train by himself. When Wesley was old enough he joined the army, unfortunately he was only able to serve and officially train with his dad for a short period. His dad went out with a large portion of the army to clear out numerous roc tribes that were popping up and harassing the local areas, only about half the soldiers came back, his dad not being one of them. It took him a few years of raising through the ranks to gain access to the official report of that expedition, along with be able to talk to the people who were in that time. With that information he was able to piece things together along with rumors. At the time he wasn't exactly pleased with all either, and not sure whether to believe it or not especially since the report lacked a lot of information that the soldiers who survived had said to him. They told him a lot the report was just for formalities the ones leading the expedition shared it in person which wasn't uncommon but were told to keep silent about it, along with the other soldiers. It's also possible though that what the surviving soldiers weren't completely telling the truth, they could be traumatized not remembering things correctly, exaggerating, or who knows what. What he learned and pieced together mainly didn't make sense because it was unheard of but at the same time makes sense to why it was hard to figure out and left out of the reports to avoid spreading fear. Turns out these orcs were well trained and organized, was an army of orcs not tribes, which explains why they were a problem needing to be dealt with. Their kingdom wasn't the only one who had sent forces, others did as well. Unfortunately the armies weren't able to kill them all and many of the higher ranked ones escaped, it didn't help that the armies weren't fighting in unison just as allies so they suffered many casualties, overall the expedition was successful due to how many orcs had died and able to shut down the orcs operation. With the information Wesley has just learned from the ambush with Maximus it turns out ever since the surviving leader orcs escaped they have been getting more to join them, thankfully it seems not all the orcs are receiving that advanced training which he is assuming due to the random normal orc activities in their brutish unorganized ways are still common. As well as he hasn't heard of large orc activity it seems like they never rebuilt a large operation site which would make sense to why only the leaders and generals and their immediate subordinates would get training. However back to before after Wesley originally pieced the information together he trained harder so that he can be prepared for any enemy to come especially an orc army if they ever rebuilt assuming they were real, this hard training paid off as he eventually became the captain of the royal guard of Idradale and that the orcs are actually a threat from the information he gathered all those years ago.

     Every few years the best fighters in each of the kingdoms meet up at a central location to duel in a ladder styled tournament to see who is the best, he always got close to winning but hasn't won yet. Whenever he's not training other soldiers, strategizing or running events, he works on his technique and pushes to make himself better. He knows his dad would be more than proud but he doesn't stop pushing. Truthfully when he saw Maximus come into training that first day he saw himself in the kid, he decided to wait and see how he would improve before talking to him.

     Not to long before the day he saw Maximus for the first time, Wesley went out of the kingdom with a few of his friends and as they were out and about, they noticed some orcs bullying a smaller orc, Wesley decided they should step in and help the orc, so they quickly disposed of the orcs and turns out that smaller orc was named Yagak and was annoyingly thankful and claimed to be in Wesley's debt. Wesley who was beyond irritated with the orc dismissed it then him and his friends carried on. The night the captain and Maximus were ambushed, Wesley summoned Yagak and told him if he ever encountered Maximus or his two friends he was to help them, to his surprise Yagak already knew who they were since they were already being targeted by Stakûga, the orc general in charge of the realm. Ever since the captain killed his own men who were serving blindly under the corruption within the court he has been feeling extreme guilt. Even though he doesn't regret it, and that he did save the young trio it doesn't make it any easier on him, on the bright side though he has been able to maintain his cover. Him and his close friends, basically the other skilled guard members, their nightly dinners at the tavern have become secret meetings which would normally be suspicious but since they had been having dinner for so long it was a normal thing and not something to look twice at. They discussed any new information they come by, and how to go about things further. Each of them are still trying to figure out who in the court is corrupt, trying to discretely recruit allies, figure out which orc tribes are working with the head orc in charge as well as where he is located . They are busy most days so they have little time to figure things out, they could learn more however it would risk exposing that they are looking into things. Wesley found out that Verdell was captured and in the cells scheduled for execution the next day, so he paid him a visit as the captain of the guard on business, or at least that's what anyone would think, not knowing that they're working together.

     Verdell started to explain to Wesley that every night he was sneaking around, breaking into houses, and the castle itself skimming through documents trying to figure out whose corrupt, really anything that would help, he was on his way back to his house when a orc leaped at him, he pulled out his knives and they were fighting each other. This orc was none like any he's seen, it was trained in combat, stealthy, and quick, they were swinging at each other, blocking slices, kicks. Whenever he tried to sweep at the orcs leg it would dodge and try stabbing Verdell, which he would knock the orcs arm away and take his own swing but another block. Outside this story that Verdell is explaining, it would mostly easily be explained as watching two martial artist fighting it out to the death, that's basically how this fight between Verdell and the orc would look. Back to the story, finally after a while the orc bested Verdell, knocking his weapons away, pinning him down and quickly tying his arms tightly all the way up to his elbows so that Verdell was unable to move his arms or do any funny business, then lastly it gagged him. The orc marched Verdell to the castle and straight inside of it, the orc took him around to the study, and there stood the king who turned and smiled at them, the orc kicked the back of Verdell's knee to make him fall onto them. The king said "Good job Mâku, your masters claim on your skill wasn't exaggerated. Take him to the cells." That's when Verdell was knocked out, when he awoke he only had his clothing and he was locked in a empty cell. The last thing he said to Wesley was "Go to my house, there's a hidden hatch in the kitchen, I left a long letter for Lela. Give it to her unread the next time you see her."
Wesley agreed and he left and retrieved the letter storing it inside a pocket.

     Verdell's execution took place, however Wesley didn't attend it, he wasn't a fan of executions to begin with and out of respect he didn't want to see Verdell like that. All he knew for sure was that there was a skilled orc assassin and that the king was working for the orcs or with the orcs, oh and not to mention the king is putting up wanted posters for Dominic, Maximus, and Lela for treason against the crown and conspiring with orcs and there's nothing he can do to help them right now.