30 THE IRONSIDES

When I finally awoke from my strange dream, I replayed the details of my sudden wake-up in my head. Perhaps Cyril had a bit too much fun. He hadn't done enough for me to take extreme measures, but he had done enough for me to remind him of his place. A day full of surprises was waiting for someone.

Once outside, I waved to my guys that were standing ready and led them to Dmitri. Oddly enough, the blacksmith was awake, even cheerful. Last night wasn't tiresome, but apparently uplifting for him.

I left my guys to try on the new armor, told Dmitri not to hurry with my gear, and went to have breakfast.

When I returned I couldn't believe what my Light guys' rags had been turned into. Only leather straps remained intact; there was no rust, no bent edges, or holes — the armor looked brand-new. Looking at it glimmer in the morning sun, I felt bad that they would have to expose it to the teeth of the undead. What am I on about? They'll just take it off and train in the gambeson. Things will go faster, and nothing will be destroyed.

"Cat, how come Cyril got a shield?" Lena asked with obvious resentment in her voice, pointing to the small black circle with blood-red stains along the edges that was in Cyril's right hand.

"My prrecccioussss," he couldn't resist pulling her chain.

"Stop it! Such behavior is not worthy of Light!" I made the right decision picking this element. Imagine saying something like this to the adepts of Chaos or Darkness! But Light, it seemed, supported a hierarchical system. "You're both paladins. But you, Lena, you're the master of ropes, so your priority is control and healing. Cyril is the master of daggers, which isn't ideal for tanking, but he should always try to take the first blow and cover you since we've no other option. That's why he got the shield."

"I see," Lena whispered quietly.

Seriously? No arguments? Things going too smoothly always made me suspicious.

"Today we'll try to get some Black Rock. You'll get a chance to strengthen pieces of your armor sets." Seeing the happy smiles on their faces, I waved my hand, gesturing them to move.

"Cat," said Dmitri, who was standing by until now and pondering. "Your guys told me something about a sacred fire. What kind of an ability is that?"

I considered spreading rumors about my flame, but the blacksmith seemed too excited. Was he hiding something?

"You can't make Light without flames," I answered as evasively as possible. "Why? Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Well, no. I just didn't expect to hear something like that," he said, embarrassed. "Seems like a very strong ability to have. Congratulations!"

Hunched over, the redhead disappeared into the forge, and I led my wards to the cave. Strange guy that Dmitri. You think you know him, and then, boom, another mystery. And he wasn't the only one. To be honest, I had a feeling that everyone around me had some secrets.

Some half a mile away from the camp we encountered a Dark squad. They had stopped to regroup before entering the forest. Judging solely on appearance, they looked much more serious than we did. There were almost twice as many of them, and they were all above level twenty. Shouldn't there be six of them along with the new chick? Marina seems to be missing.

"Don't pay attention to them," Dasha commanded and stared at our new weapons with suspicion.

"Hey, look, Stas," shaking his crossbow, Sergei still couldn't resist from commenting. "They've got it mixed up! They're levelling-down! What a bunch of losers!"

There was something wrong with their discipline. They were showing insubordination. Was it a feature of their element? Whatever it was, judging by her character, Dasha wasn't going to let it slide. But why was she silent?

"Prepare for battle," I commanded.

I hadn't finished my command when a huge and hairy beast silently jumped at us from the bushes. This six foot tall colossus should have made much noise wading through the bushes. Even as it jumped though, I saw it, but didn't hear it.

Fortunately, the darks were on its path. With two punches, one at Stas, the other at Sergei, the level twenty Werewolf knocked them both out cold. As the others took aim, the Werewolf had already reached us in one jump. Cyril, hidden behind his shield, blocked a blow that would kill people of much higher levels. Fortunately, he only lost half his health, which Lena immediately restored.

The best reward was the look on the faces of the Darks, who kept turning their heads from their dead friends to us. Yeah, this the power of "the weak Light." Now you'll have something to think about.

"Sacred fire!" The Werewolf jumped at Cyril again, and I burned it the moment its hind legs touched the ground. All I had to do was paralyze it for a few seconds, and Flame Flow would finish what it had started. Enemies of that level without magical defense didn't pose any special threat for me. The same couldn't be said about those who were able to advance their development. For example, Baldy with his dark cloak that was so similar to the Reaper's, Fox and her tentacle-whips, and the old man who took two guys from our squad to be his Zombies. Yes, one couldn't rest on one's laurels; you had to constantly move on.

"Pick up their ammunition; they will catch up with us. They know the way," Dasha pretended that nothing strange had happened.

"What was that?" Olga didn't even try to hide her emotions.

"Purifying fire. It can only be used on those who have no Light or those who have too much Darkness. You wanna check yourself? Let's see if there's anything human left in you." I couldn't resist playing around a bit. If she agrees, I'd use Arkobaleno, if she refuses, this little lie could always be used in the future.

"You may be strong, but your students aren't. We'll see who will win in this tournament." Seeing the condition of her followers, Dasha gave in to her feelings. "Darkness has enough to reward its supporters."

Looking at them leave, I couldn't help but smile. Now all my future opponents, both from Chaos and Darkness, knew about the flame and healing. Having in mind that Dasha had lost to almost everyone, and that the abilities that Innokenty had shown during the battle in the Forbidden City were nothing to write home about, it was safe to assume that their followers would stand no chance against us. They knew that my followers couldn't do everything I could, but what they could do would be definitely more than enough. My future rivals would either hurry, make mistakes and reveal things they had planned to keep secret, or would try to make a deal with me. I'd end up either learning something new, or acquiring potential allies; it was a win-win for me. Given the balance of power in the Council, I didn't need losers and disgruntled Chaosites and Darks. No, I wanted them feeling grateful for being allowed to save face. Just winning wasn't enough for me. I had to stay at least a couple of steps in front of everyone.

And then we were alone again. I praised my paladins for their quick and correct actions during the fight and we continued on. I hoped that there wouldn't be any more such encounters along the way.

Why are those two so silent? Turning quickly, I saw Cyril abruptly hide his hand behind his back, and Lena blushing. Did he decide to tell her how he woke me up in this morning? Perhaps putting him in his place would be the right to do. But I had to make it epic, and I knew just what to do.

I began looking around carefully and found what I was looking for very quickly. A level 10 Fox was quickly immobilized, caught and healed under the surprised gazes of my wards.

"What do you need it for?" Cyril asked suspiciously. Atta boy, you have a nose for trouble. If you're lucky, it'll save your ass.

"I wanted to tell you a story." I didn't answer his question, but the look on my face made it clear that very soon everything would be clear. "You know, in ancient times there was a city-state called Sparta. It was considered the country of true warriors."

Why are they looking at me so attentively? Do they really consider my words a part of the dogma of Light? Well, in theory, the followers of this element should care about each other. I felt a little uncomfortable of what I wanted to do. However, this would teach them a lesson.

"So, in Sparta," I continued, "even little boys had to match the glory of their country and regularly received tasks from their teachers. Fighting, killing, even stealing — these were all things they faced every day. Once, one of the young Spartans was given a simple task: to steal a fox. Doesn't sound complicated, right? But at the last moment the owner noticed that the animal was missing, and our young warrior and a couple of bystanders were detained by the guards until the culprit was found."

I paused for a moment to catch my breath. I had never spoken for so long in this world. Usually, even when I was holding a speech, it was very short. Maybe my vocal cords were beginning to rust.

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"Well, the guards walked in, asked questions, and the young Spartan hid the fox under his tunic in the meantime and pretended that he was just a passerby. Because, as you know, failing a task was shameful," I looked at Lena first, and then at Cyril. "But the fox was very hungry. Feeling warm flesh next to itself, it began to claw the boy's stomach with its paws. The young Spartan had to endure so that the guards wouldn't notice anything strange. The fox felt no resistance at all, so it stuck its face into the wound it had made and began to eat the boy's liver."

"How did it end?" I couldn't tell for sure what kind of emotion flashed on Lena's face. It was either pity or anticipation.

"In death, of course," I said. "One couldn't survive without a piece of liver back then. But the point is that the guards never noticed. The boy even managed to return to his master, and died there. He fulfilled his task and saved his honor. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

I threw the fox to Cyril, who instinctively caught it and then turned pale, realizing what was about to happen.

The rest of the walk was a little different. I was smiling contentedly, and Cyril was holding the fox under his shirt, wincing painfully and groaning occasionally. Pale, Lena trotted after us, carrying Cyril's armor, and restoring his constantly dropping health. The animal was purring loudly, either enjoying the flesh it was eating, or suffering in the confined space it was at. Whatever the case was, Cyril was, to put it mildly, struggling. Judging by his expression, the fox was being rather restless.

Suddenly, before the very cave, Cyril froze and stopped. I looked at his stomach and saw there was no beast under his shirt...

"Did you suffocate it or something?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"No." Was that delight in his voice? "It just disappeared. And I received a message that I have a totem beast now."

"The Fox became your totem beast?" asked Lena.

"Yeah," Cyril smiled and immediately turned to me, his head bowed.

"Thank you, teacher. I remember you telling us yesterday that pain can make us stronger. Now I really understand what it's like." Not only did he start to talk to me with more respect, but he was also looking at me with sincere delight in his eyes. At this point, all I could say were two words.

Holy shit!