It was 500 years after the Reign of Chaos, the humans had long defeated the demons and had an iron grip on the world. They had found new lands and had opened portals to other worlds. A child named Darious was born in the small town of Goldstone, which was several miles away from the land of Azeroth. His father had been a proud Knight in the Azeronian armies. His mother was well known among the nobles as being smart, beautiful, and reasonable. Darious attended Azeroth's finest military academy when he was 17 years of age. After he became a master of combat, Darious graduated from the academy several years later. He then went on to study the arcane arts at the Northshire Abbey. However, despite his enthusiasm to learn the art of magic, he was blinded, as his father put it, by lust. Darious left the Northsire Abbey to marry when he was 22 years old.
Chapter 1
"Darious!" Belle called.
Darious woke slowly. He moved to get out of his bed but cried out quickly when his arms and sides flared up with pain. He cursed loudly before settling back into bed.
Belle came into the room, her silk dress fluttering as she walked. She was smiling gently, ever patient with his slight temper.
"Is something wrong Darious?" she asked him.
Darious looked at his wife and smiled.
"No nothing really," he said, and struggled to get out of his bed, "I'm a bit sore from moving all of those rocks from the path yesterday. My men and I are still trying to find out who put them there. Probably some young men with no sense."
"Perhaps," Belle said," here, let me help you out of bed."
Darious waved his hand, signaling her to keep away.
"I'm quite fine. I'm sure I can handle this minor task."
He grunted and finally managed to pull himself out of bed. Darious stretched his taut muscles and then embraced his wife.
"So, how is my ever-beautiful wife this morning?" he said.
"I'm quite fine of course. But something troubles me." Belle said.
Darious looked thoughtful for a moment. He wasn't worried, whatever it was, he was sure that he could handle. It had to be a problem with the house. Maybe it was that squeaky door upstairs...
"Darious," she said," I saw over a dozen men on horses come down the path this morning. They were wearing armor, and unless we are going to war, I can't imagine what they were doing."
He stood there for a few moments, his arms still around his wife.
"Belle, were they wearing a lion head on their armor?"
"Why, yes they were," she said," why are you asking?"
This was serious. Those were elite warriors of the king. And the elite warriors never left New Stormwind, unless they were going to war. And he wouldn't be sitting home if they were going to war.
"Belle, which way were they going? Were they heading away from New Grand Hamlet, or were they heading to it?"
Belle looked confused for a moment. "I'm fairly sure they were going to New Grand Hamlet. Why are you so curious about where they were going?"
"I'm just curious. I think this is serious. Belle, I'm not suppose to speak to you about this, but those men were elite warriors of the king. They are not supposed to leave the castle unless we go to war. I have not received any kind of notice for war, so I suspect the worst. They might be going to New Grand Hamlet to..."
He paused. He didn't want to scare her.
"To destroy it?" Belle finished. "Why would they do that? Darious, I'm worried about you now. How could you jump to a conclusion like that?"
Darious looked out the window for a moment. Out there, over thousands of acres of forest, and then Grand Hamlet. If he could somehow see out to the town and found out what was going on there...
He decided on what he was going to do. "I'm sorry Belle, but I have to leave for New Grand Hamlet...now. Stay safe until I return."
With that, Darious kissed his wife, and left for the stables. He needn't worry about his weapons for armor. Despite his fears, he was almost sure that the warriors were just on a patrol to check up on things.
***
Darious looked down as his horse galloped along the path. There were hoof-prints of other horses on the path. And they were leading to New Grand Hamlet. It looked like they had been moving rather quickly. Usually patrols took their time. The world, for the most part, was at peace, and no extremely dangerous animals lurked the forests in Azeroth. All of the stray ogre clans had been slain, no dragons flew in the skies over Azeroth, the Orcs were long gone...so unless they were going to attack the town, they had no real reason to move quickly. Darious suddenly wished that he had brought a weapon, incase the warriors mistook him for a commoner and not a knight of the king. Not that it would have mattered much, he would barely be able to scratch one of the warriors, let alone kill them.
Putting such thoughts out of his head for the time being, Darious rode along the path for several hours. Finally he came along the first signs of the warriors intentions. A few bodies laid along the path. Darious slowed his horse to a stop, and dismounted.
The bodies were of commoners, they would not be missed much in the kingdom, but their families would think otherwise. The first body was that of a young man, he had a knife in one hand, and a sack in the other. Darious took the sack and opened it up. Food. Had this young man stolen it? It seemed to Darious that it was a small crime to steal food. Azeroth had courts to deal with such small things as stealing food. He searched along the other bodies. They had simple working tools. A little bit of food was with them as well. They couldn't have been killed for being thieves. None of them looked physically fit enough to be a thief either. Most of them had the build of peasant who drank too much at taverns.
"Simple people...killed by the king's warriors..." Darious said aloud. Then he laughed. The sheer idiocy of it. The king's warriors would never do that. They were just and kind men!
Darious mounted his horse again and continued his journey. Perhaps on the way back he would bury the peasants.
Finally the trees became farther and farther apart. Forest giveaway to farmland. However, farmland gateway to a burning town. Darious halted his horse quickly. Slain bodies of peasants littered the road. Carts were tipped over, their contents spilt along the ground. Houses were blazing with fire. It was an inferno.
Darious spotted a few of the warriors standing in the center of the town. He rode up to them quickly, his face red with anger.
"Excuse me!" Darious called.
The men who were talking amongst themselves turned quickly, drawing their weapons. Their armor reflected the dancing flames from the buildings and the lion on their armor looked calmly back at Darious. These warriors looked invincible.
"Who are you?" one of them said.
"I'm Darious, a knight of the king. I saw you ride past my house this morning and I decided to find out what you were doing."
"What business is it of yours 'O' Knight of the King'?" the warrior said laughing. The other warriors laughed along with him.
"We don't have to tell you," the warrior continued," so begone!"
"Why did you kill these people? Surely the whole town didn't deserve to be destroyed!" Darious said, and dismounted from his horse.
"These people committed crimes that endangered the good of the people." he said.
"And what crimes would those be?" Darious dared to ask.
"They left rocks in the middle of the road. They say they were moving stones from the quarry to build a new town hall and some of the rocks fell onto the path. Well they forgot to put them back, and the tax collector tripped on one of the stones and rolled down a hill. He almost died. And not to mention, they've ran the very same tax collector out of town twice before. They said they already payed their taxes."
"Those crimes can't justify killing those people!" Darious said, his voice rising. He was ready to fight the warriors.
"Who are you to say that?" the warrior replied with a sneer. "You are merely a knight and have no say in the matter. If you don't like the idea of the king's justice. Go to him and complain. I'm sure he'll listen. Until then, go ride your pony back to your little home in the woods."
The rest of the warriors laughed at this. Darious could barely contain his anger. He turned quickly, mounted his horse, and rode up to the warriors.
"I will see the king about this," Darious said," and I assure you, this twisted idea of justice will not go unavenged."
The warriors laughed and told him to leave.
Darious spit at their feet and rode away. This was only the beginning for him.
