The Blackroot Forest swallowed sound. Winter sun filtered weakly through ancient pines, casting skeletal shadows across the snow-dusted logging trail. It was eerily silent.
Within the small clearing designated as the Talons' training ground â little more than trampled snow and a fire pit ringed with frost-heaved stones â two groups stood facing each other like rival wolf packs.
To the left, arranged with rigid discipline, stood the twenty-five warriors House Fenrir had scraped together. They wore patched leather armor over thick woolens, faces grim beneath worn helmets. Spears held upright, shields resting against legs. They looked like men braced for a siege, not training. Their eyes held suspicion and resentment directed at Eirik, and at their own humiliated Lord, Leif Fenrir, who stood stiffly apart, avoiding eye contact.
To the right, slouching and radiating feral energy, were Olaf Stenson's recruits. Twenty-five men from frozen gutters and shadowed alleys, with scarred faces, missing teeth, and hard eyes that missed nothing. Threadbare clothing as armor, chipped axes and rusted daggers as weapons. Olaf stood at their front, arms crossed, eyeing the noble guards.
Eirik raised a hand. The murmuring died instantly. He projected his voice, cold and clear.
"Look around you!"
Every eye snapped to him.
"You see House Fenrir guards." He gestured toward the rigid block. "You see street fighters." He pointed at Olaf's group. "You see nobility. You see gutter trash."
A ripple of discomfort ran through both groups. The Fenrir guards stood taller, some offended. The street fighters hunched slightly. Leif's jaw tightened.
Eirik's voice hardened. "You see wrong. From this breath onward, forget what you were. Forget your houses. Forget your alleys. Forget your titles and your debts."
He let the words hang.
"Right here, right now, there are no lords, no guards, no thieves, no bastards. There is only one thing."
He paused, scanning faces. He saw suspicion in Olaf's eyes, fear in Yorick's, grim acceptance in a few, bewilderment in most.
"Talon Recruits."
The words landed like stones in a frozen pond. Murmurs started, instantly silenced by the declaration's strangeness. No title? No distinctions?
"Yorick!" Eirik barked.
The scribe stepped forward with a leather sack and sharpened charcoal stick. He moved toward the Fenrir guards with deliberate slowness.
"Strip your insignia," Eirik commanded. "Now."
Confused glances were exchanged. A senior guardsman, grey at the temples, his face scarred, cleared his throat. "Lord Eirik, our house liveryâ"
"âis a relic," Eirik cut him off. "It means nothing here. It marks you as separate. Division is death in the company we build. Remove it. Or leave. The Ice Mines always need strong backs."
Eirik's message was clear: if he could imprison Steward Bryn, ruin the House's heir, and make Lady Isolde abide by his wishes in days, he could crush any of them like a bug.
The guardsman's face tightened, but after a tense second, he unpinned the small Fenrir wolf brooch from his jerkin. Others followed, reluctantly peeling off identifying patches. Olaf's men watched with stunned disbelief. Seeing proud nobles shed their symbols was unsettling.
"Yorick!" Eirik called. "Numbers. One through fifty. Assign them randomly."
The process was awkward and tense. Fenrir men approached with stiff dignity, accepting numbered strips with barely concealed disdain, tying them around their arms like brands of shame. Street fighters were rougher, snatching the cloth, some tying it around biceps, others wrists, one knotting it around his head like a sweat band. Olaf barked at him to "look bloody serious." Leif received strip 'Twenty-Five'. He stared at the number, face pale, the linen absurdly clean against his worn tunic.
Silence followed. The twenty-five Fenrir guards stood stiffly. Their eyes held not fear, but smoldering fury barely contained by discipline and the reality of their hostage situation. They were veterans, used to respect based on lineage and loyalty. Being reduced to "Number Seventeen" by the bastard who'd broken their heir felt like deliberate humiliation.
Olaf's recruits shuffled, scratched, spat into the snow. Some leered at the stiff-backed Fenrir men, enjoying their discomfort. Others looked bored. Their numbered strips were tied haphazardly. They see this as temporary, Eirik assessed. A way to get coin, steal gear, and vanish when it suits them.
"Now," Eirik said as Yorick scurried back. "You are numbers. Not names, not houses, not histories. You see the man beside you? He's just another number. Your brother? Just a number. Your lord?" His gaze locked onto Leif, who flinched. "Just Number Twenty-Five. Understood?"
A ragged chorus of "Aye," "Yeah," and reluctant grumbles answered him. Far from united.
"Good. First lesson. Formation. You are a shield wall. Or you are dead meat."
He gestured toward the trampled center. "Fenrir numbers One to Twelve, front rank! Olaf numbers Thirteen to Twenty-Four, second rank! Numbers Twenty-Five through Thirty-Seven, third rank! Thirty-Eight to Fifty, fourth! Move! Now!"
Chaos erupted. Guards moved with discipline, finding spots quickly, spears lowering into a rough line. Olaf's men stumbled, jostled, and argued.
"Oi! I was Thirteen, you rat! That's my spot!"
"Push me again, Forty-Two, see what happens!"
"Where the Frost is rank four?"
Eirik watched impassively. He let the chaos build, highlighting the gulf between groups. Fenrir guards tightened their formation. Street fighters grew louder, more fractious.
"Silence!" Eirik's roar cut through the din.
The bickering stopped. Fifty pairs of eyes snapped to him. He pointed at the most vocal brawler â a burly man with a broken nose and 'Forty-Two' tied around his wrist. "You. Step forward."
The man swaggered forward, cocky grin twisting his scarred lips. He looked amused, not intimidated. "Yeah, boss? Whatcha need?"
"You complained about your spot?"
"Just sayin' this lot," he jerked a thumb at the disciplined Fenrir front rank, "ain't movin' fast enough for us proper fighters." He chuckled, looking back for support. A few nervous titters answered.
"So, you believe yourself faster? More effective?"
"Course I am, boss!" Forty-Two boasted, slapping his club against his palm. "We all are! Ain't no stiff-backed parade-ground twats gonna win a brawl!" The insult was deliberate, aimed to provoke. Eirik saw muscles tense in the front rank, jaws clenching.
"Then show me," Eirik pointed to a cleared space in the trampled snow. "Attack me."
Forty-Two's grin faltered. "What? You?"
"You claim speed. Skill. Show me. Now."
Unease flickered across Forty-Two's face. He glanced back at Olaf, who stood impassive, arms crossed. Olaf won't interfere. This is between me and the bastard. Then aggression surged. A chance to knock the arrogant lordling on his arse in front of everyone.
"Alright, boss," Forty-Two growled, swagger returning. "If that's how you want it." He hefted his heavy wooden club, a crude but brutal bone-breaker. He took bouncing steps forward, loosening his shoulders. "Don't say I didn't warn ya!"
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He lunged. Not elegant, but explosively fast for his bulk, fueled by street-fighter instinct. A vicious horizontal swing aimed at Eirik's ribs.
Eirik didn't draw his sword. He pivoted sharply, leaning back just enough. The heavy club whistled past his chest, missing by a finger's breadth. The missed swing threw Forty-Two slightly off balance.
Eirik didn't retreat. He stepped in, closing distance before Forty-Two could reset. His right hand shot out â not as a fist, but stiff-fingered, targeting the soft nerve cluster below Forty-Two's ribcage where his swinging motion had exposed it.
Thwack!
The impact wasn't loud, but precise. It hit the phrenic nerve junction. Forty-Two's breath exploded out in a strangled gasp. Not just pain, but instant, paralyzing shock to his diaphragm. His eyes bulged. Forward momentum died. He staggered, gagging soundlessly, clutching his side.
Eirik kept moving. As Forty-Two doubled over, gasping for air that wouldn't come, Eirik's left leg swept up in a low, devastating arc. His boot caught Forty-Two behind the left knee â the common peroneal nerve strike. A sickening crack that wasn't bone, but nerve compression against bone.
Forty-Two's leg buckled like wet paper. He collapsed face-first into packed snow with a heavy thud, club tumbling from nerveless fingers. He lay writhing soundlessly, choking, one leg useless, agony locking his body. He couldn't scream; he couldn't even breathe properly. His eyes rolled back, showing whites.
Snowflakes seemed frozen in air. Fifty men stared, utterly stunned.
Five seconds. The entire confrontation had taken less than five seconds. No weapon drawn. Just two brutal, precisely targeted strikes. The loudest thug in Olaf's pack lay broken and wheezing like a landed fish.
Eirik looked down at twitching Forty-Two. His gaze lifted, sweeping slowly over Olaf's recruits. Every trace of smirking bravado was gone. Replaced by shock, disbelief, and chilling realization.
He turned to the Fenrir guards. Their rigid postures hadn't changed, but smoldering fury had cooled slightly, replaced by assessment. Cold calculation. They were warriors. They recognized technique, even brutal technique. This wasn't noble fencing; it was battlefield expediency. Efficient, ruthless. It resonated with something beneath their resentment.
Eirik crouched beside Forty-Two. The man flinched, trying to curl away. "Nerve strikes," he stated calmly, loud enough for all to hear. "In a real fight, while you're gasping like a beached cod, your opponent drives a dagger into your eye. Or caves your skull." He stood. "Get up, Forty-Two."
Forty-Two tried. He pushed up on his elbows, whimpering as his diaphragm spasmed. His left leg refused to cooperate. He collapsed back, shaking.
"Up!" Eirik commanded.
Forty-Two scrambled, panic lending strength. He managed hands and knees, then staggered upright, swaying violently. He stood on one leg, the other dangling, face contorted with pain and humiliation. Tears and snot mingled on his chin.
"You're alive," Eirik said, devoid of sympathy, "because I chose mercy. Challenge me again, and I won't choose the same."
He stepped away from trembling Forty-Two, positioning himself before the assembled, divided ranks.
"Look at him," Eirik commanded. "That's what division gets you. That's what clinging to what you were gets you." His gaze swept over Fenrir guards, lingering on removed badges and lingering resentment. "You. Fenrir men. You see disgrace. Your heir humbled, your Steward locked in ice, your House hanging by a thread held by a bastard." He saw flinches, tightened jaws. "You cling to past glories? There are none left. You think House Fenrir's name means anything in this clearing? It means targets. Targets for Gunnar's veterans. Targets for Garrick's ambition. Your noble blood won't stop a blunted spear in the Blackroot. It just makes your fall sweeter for them."
He pivoted toward Olaf's pack. "And you," his voice sharpened, dripping contempt. "Scraped from gutters and the Frost Pit. You see easy coin? A chance to nick shiny gear and vanish into snow?" He saw confirmation in shifty eyes, poorly hidden smirks. "You think survival means skulking? Think again. Out there," he jerked his chin toward shadowed forest, "against drilled killers? Your gutter tricks will get you slaughtered like rats in a granary. You fight alone, you die alone, and your bones will bleach forgotten while your precious stolen coins buy someone else's warmth."
The air crackled with tension, shame, anger, and dawning fear. Now, the pivot.
"Forget what you were," Eirik commanded, voice dropping lower but carrying just as far. "Forget the Guard. Forget the gutter. You are Talon Recruits now. You stand together, or you fall separately into the dark." He pointed at discarded Fenrir brooches lying in snow like fallen leaves. "That past is gone. Here, now, you fight for something new. Something you all lost."
He looked at Fenrir guards. "You fight for redemption. Not just for your House, but for yourselves. A chance to restore honor not with empty titles, but with deeds hard as northern iron. A chance to earn the respect stripped from you." He saw a subtle shift. Eyes lost a fraction of fury, replaced by a flicker of possibility. Honor is a potent lure for the fallen noble.
His gaze shifted to street fighters. "And you? You fight for a life. Not this hand-to-mouth, skulking-in-shadows existence. A real life. Purpose. A place where your cunning, your grit matters. A chance to shed the stink of the gutter and stand tall, paid in silver, not scraps." He saw hard eyes narrow thoughtfully. A way out.
He took a deliberate step forward, drawing himself up.
"You fight for the birth of something new. Something that will become legendary. The Stormcrow's Talons." He infused the name with weight, with promise. "A mercenary company forged in ice and blood. Your names will be sung, not whispered in shame. You will carve your legends together."
"That legend," Eirik announced, voice ringing with sharp authority, "starts with victory. Victory in the wargame. And for that victory?" He let anticipation build. "Five hundred talons. Split equally after the wargame. Five. Hundred. Talons."
A collective gasp ripped through the ranks. Olaf's men forgot everything. Eyes widened, jaws dropped. Five hundred talons? That meant ten talons each! A fortune they'd scramble to get in more than a year. Even Fenrir guards blinked. For guardsmen used to modest wages, ten talons was deeply tempting for a few days' work. Forty-Two, still leaning on a comrade, forgot his agony, gaze locked on Eirik with desperate avarice. Money talks louder than philosophy, especially in the snow.
"And why," Eirik challenged, "should you believe I can deliver this? Why believe in victory against Stormkeep's best?" He slowly, deliberately, drew the Fenrir longsword. Frost-steel glinted dully, the snarling wolf pommel a stark symbol.
"Look at this blade," Eirik commanded, holding it aloft. "Days ago, the man who owned this," he nodded toward Leif, "tried to kill me. I was an illegitimized bastard. Kicked around by everyone. Worth less than mud on their boots." He let the memory hang. "Look at me now."
He met their eyes one by one. "Legitimized. Baron Cedric's acknowledged son. Holder of this," he tapped the Fenrir blade. "With House Fenrir itself bound to me, pledging resources, their heir at my side." Undeniable proof of his ruthless ascent.
"I took everything they threw at me," Eirik continued with cold conviction. "The contempt. The plots. The steel. And I broke them. Because I fight smarter. I fight dirtier. I fight to win." He slammed the sword point-first into frozen ground beside him, steel biting deep with a sharp crunch. It stood there, quivering.
He stepped closer to the rigid ranks, gaze sweeping over numbers on their arms.
"You are Recruits. Numbers now. But after we win?" He paused. "After we shatter them in the Blackroot, you become Talons. Brothers-in-arms. Shareholders in a company that will make kings and lords take notice. You will have coin in your purse, steel at your side, and a name that commands respect." He looked at Fenrir guards. "Redemption." He looked at gutter fighters. "A new life." He looked at Leif, whose face was pale with hate and dawning, terrified comprehension. "And the honor of restoring your House."
"I will win." The absolute certainty in Eirik's voice brooked no argument. "Gunnar relies on discipline. Garrick relies on arrogance and talons. I rely on this," he tapped his temple. "On cunning. On traps they won't see coming. On forcing them to fight on our terms, in our ground. And on you."
He let his gaze rest on them. The silence stretched with the weight of his words.
"Formation!" Eirik snapped, shattering the quiet. "Ranks! Front to back! Shields up! Spears level!"
This time, the chaos was less. Fenrir guards snapped into position with ingrained speed. Olaf's recruits, still buzzing from shock, hunger, and lingering fear of becoming the next Forty-Two, stumbled but moved faster. Eyes darted toward the sword in the ground, toward Eirik's impassive face, then toward their comrades.
"Olaf!" Eirik called. The scarred man stepped forward. "You know these men. You brought them. Pick two. Your fastest. Your quietest. Bring them to me." He turned to the Fenrir ranks. "Senior Guardsman!" The grey-templed man who'd objected about livery stepped forward, face rigid. "Your name?"
"Goran, Lord Eirik," the man replied, the title grudging but there. Progress.
"Goran. Pick two of yours."
While Olaf and Goran selected their men, Eirik's mind raced. Only a matter of time until Gunnar's scouts infested this forest. Jens was laying the teeth â the log traps. Fisk was brewing the cloud bombs. Now he needed the eyes and the signal.
Olaf returned with two wiry men and Goran presented two veterans. "Fourteen, Nineteen, Eight, Eleven," Eirik addressed them. "You are now Scouts. Learn this forest better than you know your own scars." He pointed toward deeper woods. "Gunnar will send scouts. Find their likely paths. Watch for their markers. Learn their routines. But do not engage. See, remember, return. Understood?"
"Aye, Lord Eirik," chorused the recruits.
"Signal," Eirik continued. He raised his hand to his mouth and produced three sharp, piercing whistles, mimicking a snow-finch common in the pines. "That means 'Enemy Sighted'. Clear?"
Nods all around.
"Good." He turned back to the main group. "The rest of you? You learn to hold a line. To move as one. To trust the man beside you, even if yesterday he stole your bread or arrested your cousin. Right now, that man is just a number. His number holds the line, your life depends on it. His number breaks, you die." He gestured. "Form shield wall. Fenrir front. Olaf's men behind. Close order! Lock shields!"
It was clumsy. Fenrir men knew the drill, but resented bracing against the backs of men they despised. Olaf's recruits fumbled with unfamiliar shields, pushing awkwardly. Grunts and muttered curses filled the air. Eirik prowled the line.
"Tighter! Number Twenty, your shield gap could drive a cart through! Forty-Five, stop leaning, you're making Thirty-Six stumble! Think this is a game? Think Gunnar's veterans will tap you politely?" He kicked the leg of Thirty-three who was half-heartedly pushing his shield. The man stumbled, cursing. "They will hammer you into pulp! Five hundred talons turns into a funeral pyre if you don't lock SHIELDS!"