This is a short story I have started writing based on some aspects of the Mage Knight universe. I will add and post more of the story as I write and edit.

Please let me know what you think; comments are always welcome.

"My breath is minty fresh."

Blades.

Swords. Daggers. Shivs. Razor-sharp instruments for maiming and self-preservation. Kiriya knew them well.

For the greater portion of her nineteen years of life, she learned and mastered the bladed arts from her amazon sisters. It is important to an amazon blademistress to not only wield a blade, but to master it. An amazon with no weapon skill is a desert without sand; it defines who they are.

With guidance from her amazon sisters, Kiriya was studious and learned quickly. Her skill gained the respect of the tribe and thier leader, the amazon queen.

Although acknowledged by most, she has been considered by some of the tribe as an outcast for reasons she did not know. The elder amazons shunned her and avoided her at all costs. Others treaded lightly around her, as if afraid to wake a sleeping monster. Kiriya went so far as to ask the queen for answers and guidance to the issue. The queen’s response was some sage advice or denial that such a problem existed. These responses, however, only pacified Kiriya temporarily. She wants answers and resolution that have thus far eluded her.

She knows she will have the answers.

Not even those associated with the answers, however, could foresee how it would all unfold…

Scouting out a less traveled area of the Great Forest for food, a quarter day journey from her tribe, Kiriya stumbles upon a creature hacking a path through the thick brush. She sees this harsh creature sniffing and snorting, sensing something within close proximity.

The creature and Kiriya make eye contact.

Orc. A pillager and a natural enemy of the amazons. Equipped with tattered leather armor, a backpack and a short sword. These orcs are commonly referred to as a slasher.

Very curious, Kiriya thought. This was a beast normally found in great numbers.

She slides a dagger from a sheath on her side.

With a loud snort, the orc draws its short sword and charges.

The slasher thrusts its sword towards her abdomen. She sidesteps the thrust, spins down the blade, with full arm extension plunges the dagger into the side of its skull.

The orc shudders, stumbles, and then collapses onto the forest floor.

Kiriya extracts the dagger from the corpse, wiping the blood on the orc’s leather protection.

An orc’s intellect is usually compared to the resident stone, but Kiriya knows orcs do not wander aimlessly or get lost. Orcs, especially slashers, travel in numbers. This is an unusual occurrence.

Something is amiss.

Midday in the Great Forest. Many of the amazons have rejoined the tribe after a difficult day of collecting food. This amazon outpost is a small clearing deep in the heart of the Great Forest. The tribe has erected many small, sturdy huts used for rest, storage and sometimes protection from the harsh rains. Fires burn perpetually near the center of camp for warmth, cooking and forging weapons of steel.

This day of hunting and gathering, like many before it, is not a good one. The neighboring forest did not offer a sufficient quantity of food. Plant stems barren of berries and nuts, soil deprived of the nutrients to sustain vegetation of any kind. Recent infiltration of orc raiders has all but eliminated any viable animal meal.

Whatever the amazons did find is handed to the tribe’s leech medics, specialists in natures medicine. Amazons in their own right, they prepare and serve the meals when not tending to the sick and wounded. The medics work dawn to dusk to ensure good health for the tribe.

The dwindling food supply, however, make the leech medics’ job more daunting.

Kiriya emerges from the woods and enters camp frantically searching for the queen or another tribal leader—someone must be informed about the encounter! She spots a gathering of sisters that included Jidyha, an amazon blademistress, a tribal leader, and close childhood friend. Jidyha accompanies Ceeba, a young but accomplished leech medic, and Zera, a younger, less experienced blademistress who has little tolerance of Kiriya.

Putting Zera’s dislike of her aside, Kiriya joins the circle and quickly describes her skirmish with the orc.

The group becomes uneasy from her tale.

“A solitary orc?” Jidyha asks.

Kiriya nods.

Jidyha worry shifts to urgency. “The solitary orc you encountered is likely a scout. Orcs raiders do not scout unless they are planning to attack.” She meets the gaze of each Amazon in the group. Looks of concern chills Zera’s and Ceeba’s faces like a cold wind.

“Someone must inform the Queen.”

Zera steps forward. “I will inform her, sis--”

Unable to complete her thought, Zera’s body jolts with an abrupt intake of air. Her eyes wide open with immense fear and pain, as if staring death straight in the face.

“ZERA!” Ceeba screams.

Zera limp body leans and falls toward the earth. Ceeba's quick hands catches her before she hits the dirt. Zera coughs a steady stream of blood with what little life force is left. Kiriya and Jidyha catch sight of a throwing blade impaled in her back.

They look in the direction from where the blade came.

A wall of orcs unveils itself from the edge of the clearing.

Slashers. Crushers. Throngs of beasts marching shoulder to shoulder into camp, gripping swords, axes, morning stars, and various other utensils of pillaging.

Jidyha releases a battle cry that echoes deep into the Great Forest. Hearing the call to arms, the tribe grabs whatever weapons are attainable to fight off the army. Kiriya and Jidyha draw their swords and rush the orcs. Ceeba drags Zera's cold meat to the center of camp.

Witnessing the amazons unite, the orcs bark out a cry of their own and charge the female warriors.

It is too late to inform the queen.

The invasion is on.

The Orc Raiders are a faction in constant search for new places to spread their poisonous seed. Their search for new territory leads them to this amazon outpost.

Kiriya, Jidyha and their amazon sisters vow to keep it…with their very lives.

Lines upon lines of orcs rush the female warriors. Kiriya charges the closest orcish line. The first invader in line leaps and wildly swings its serrated sword. She ducks and spins under the swing with little effort, passing by the attacker, lashing out her sword across the next orc’s abdomen. The gaping wound exposes the stomach, spilling entrails to the dirt. The first orc now behind her, she grabs and throws a dagger with her unattended hand. The projectile strikes it in the head sending it falling back.

Kiriya turns her attention back to the surge of orcs continuing to emerge from the forest.

She knows she and the sisterhood can handle many, many orcs, but no amount of skill can handle these numbers.

Screams of her wounded and fallen sisters permeate throughout the battlefield. Kiriya continues on, however, slicing and plunging her blade at each orc within reach, blocking out the sounds of pain and defeat by sending orc after orc to their gory demise.

“KIRIYA! GET BEHIND ME!” A voice from close proximity cries. It was clearly Jidyha, who herself was fighting off a mass of orcs only a few steps away.

Kiriya retreats to Jidyha’s position.

“Keep our backs against each other. We might live longer this way.”

Kiriya takes Jidyha’s advice. Both women fend off a circle of orcs desperately trying to slay them.

Deflecting oncoming stabs and strikes with her blade, Kiriya murmurs a prayer for Ceeba, who tended to Zera instead of drawing a weapon. She includes a prayer for the amazon queen, hoping against hope she was away from camp when the invasion started.

An abrupt, ear-piercing shriek erupts behind her. Kiriya turn her head.

Absolute horror. An orcish blade penetrates through Jidyha’s side.

“NO!” Kiriya comes around to Jidyha’s front. The orc withdraws its sword from Jidyha for another strike. Kiriya swings her sword upward though the orc’s wrist, loops the blade around and slashes the orc again across the eyes.

Out of nowhere, steel strikes Kiriya’s shoulder like a deep, cold bite. The blow drops her over the now slumped Jidyha.

Kiriya, however, feels no pain.

Only the semi-cool blade that rests in her shoulder.

Only anger.

Animosity over what the enemy has done to her. What they have done to her friends. Her allies.

Immense, blinding rage.

Her eyes water from an overwhelming sense of emotion and power never before felt, blood boiling from a fire no human could possibly withstand, nose bleeding from the pressure mounting within her body. She inhales a deep, strong breath.

After a breath pause, Kiriya exhales and screams.

A wave of searing heat erupts and rushes outward from her body. The vaporous wall slams the orcs, the impact exploding flesh from their skeletal frames. Bone and tissue debris litter the wake. The wave continues outward, destroying everything unfortunate to be in its path.

Orcs, amazons, shelters-- nothing is spared from this hellfire.

Kiriya’s body cools down to a more human level, the pressure in her body subsiding. Her eyes return to their natural green color.

Then, as suddenly as the wave began, it stops.

The numbness of her shoulder wound ends.

Physically spent and in immense pain, Kiriya’s fatigue begins to get the best of her.

The sound of dying amazons replaces the squealing of orcs making a hasty retreat. The mild fragrance of the forest succumbs to the stench of charred death.

What and how did she do what she did, she thought. What ungodly thing did she do?

Before she could begin to grasp and reflect on the unknown power she exuded, Kiriya feels something kicking about her feet.

Jidyha. Her body convulses. Blood continues to spill from her side.

Kiriya desperately wants to assist her friend but she lacks the energy to take care of herself.

The screams of the fallen, the smell of death and the vision of Jidyha dying are the last things Kiriya will take in. She has one last fleeting though before slipping into unconsciousness.

“I feel…human…again.”

Consciousness.

Kiriya revives achy and bleary-eyed in a hut. She feels the warmth of a small flame in the center. Her first vision is the leather gear and weapons that rest beside where she lay.

Also beside her was a sight she thought she’d never see again.

“How are you feeling?” a familiar voice asks. “How is your shoulder?”

Kiriya releases a weak sigh. “Jidyha.”

Beside her sits her friend Jidyha, her side heavily bandaged and bloodied but in otherwise good shape.

“Ceeba…?” Kiriya weakly asks.

Jidyha could not look Kiriya in the eyes. All Jidyha could do was shake her head.

“What about...the queen…the tribe…”

“The queen wasn’t here when the orcs came. No one knows where she is. The tribe is rebuilding. Half of the sisters aren’t with us anymore.”

Kiriya covers her eyes in sadness, although she could not cry.

Jidyha embraces Kiriya's hand to console her. Kiriya has little time to take in the losses when the inevitable question came from Jidyha’s lips.

“What…was THAT…out there?”

“You all will know the answers,” a deep, masculine voice says, “in due time.”

Through the hut entrance comes a tall, broad older man, wearing a scaly black war carapace. His hair short and gray, face chiseled and hardened from experience. On his shoulder plate is the inscription of his faction, the crescent moon beside a smaller, black circle.

Black Powder Rebels. Allies of the Amazon Nation.

Jidyha introduces herself. “I am --“

“Who you are is of no matter,” interrupts the stranger. “Leave us.”

Jidyha stands in front of the veteran soldier, refusing to back down. “She is a fellow soldier and a friend-“

“I am the commander of the Black Powder armies which includes all tribes in this region.” The man begins to lose patience. “You have one last chance to leave on your own freewill.”

Kiriya could not intake the steady flow of information and events. She can only stare blankly at her friend, unable to verbally defend her.

Much to her dismay, Jidyha exits the hut with parting words for the commander. “Nothing better happen to her.”

The man closes the hut to ensure privacy. He leans in close to Kiriya. “I know what you are.”

She is very unsure of what to make of this older man. “Who are you?” she asks.

“I am Commander Kreel. I command a portion of the steam-powered army.”

She knew of what he meant. Steam golems, mechanical monstrosities of nature. Even the mighty draconum dare not quarrel with such an army.

“Your queen knows of who you are and of your abilities, but the invasion has prevented her from joining us. Because of what happened here, I…will show you the truth.” He slides out a medium curved blade.

"You will not--"

Kreel whisks the blade across her arm before she can react. She bolts up towards the commander only to feel his strong, scarred hands force her down.

“I just need you to bleed.”

Thoughts of racking her sword across the commander’s skull would be fitting retribution. She resists the urge to retaliate against her better judgment. Despite his unorthodox approach the commander has come here with purpose and the promise to give her the answers that no one else knows or is willing to tell.

Her blood runs from the gash. He puts her arm over a cauldron for the blood to collect.

Kreel sets the cauldron over the flame to heat. She watches Kreel sternly, skeptical of him and his current practice as blood drawer.

“Why don’t you just tell me?” she covers the cut with a sash from her gear.

Kreel leans in close again and speaks with a cold whisper. “I have to be sure.”

Kreel kneels down close to the fire, staring into the cauldron. “Human blood boils. This fire is warm enough to boil human blood.” He meets her hardened gaze.

“But not yours. Your blood won’t heat to this small of fire.”

Kreel rolls his finger around the inside of the cauldron and brings his crimson covered digit to his eye level.

“…dragon blood.”

Kiriya snaps up in disbelief. “…DRAGON…?”

Kreel wipes his finger clean. “Partly. You are still quite human. But you’ve demonstrated some of XieQuan’s better characteristics.”

XieQuan? She knows of XieQuan through schooling and tales. If Kreel was truthful…

The blood of a great fire dragon? Within Kiriya?

“You have a powerful, dangerous gift.”

The revelation stuns Kiriya. “How…can this be?”

“XieQuan granted your mother the gift of conceiving a child with the blood that brings power.”

The notion of XieQuan…as her father? She could not fathom such a thought. And her mother! Never in her time has she heard a conversation about her mother.

“You know...my mother?”

“No.” Kreel answers flatly. “I am telling you what your queen shared with me.”

How do I react, she wonders. After all, she somehow destroyed a large portion of the outpost, including orcs and her sisters...an act she somehow tapped and could not control. The source of that destruction came from the dragon blood that coarses through her body, a product of a notorious dragon and a mother that was to this point mythical and imaginary. She has been longing for the day when all the answers would be clear.

The commander may not know of her complete lineage, but she now knows someone—rather, “something”—that does. Something that may give her some solace.

Kiriya hastily grabs her leather attire and weapons. “I must seek XieQuan.”

Kreel remains void of expression. “Do as you must, young Kiriya.”

Kiriya quickly grabs her leather attire and weapons and exits the hut. The smoldering carnage that now litters camp is the example of the power she exuded a few hours. She spots some of her sisters aiding the wounded or sifting through debris to salvage what they can.

Many of these sisters were the ones that shunned her. The same amazons that denied her the truth. Many sisters, however, perished because of this secret, this power. Her blood. She did not want to see the despair she brought onto her own people. Their pain, anger and sorrow prod at her soul. She could only look away and escape the scene she helped save and destroy.

Jidyha notices Kiriya making her way out of the outpost. She stops aiding those around her to call to her friend. Just before she does a cold, firm hand rests on her shoulder.

“Let her go,” the commander instructs. “Let her face her demons alone.”

She turns to face Kreel with a look of disbelief. “…demons?”

Kreel looks toward the path Kiriya took to leave the camp. He takes his hand off her shoulder and walks away.

Jidyha looks back in Kiriya’s direction, but she has already disappeared into the Great Forest. She did not know what took place between her and the commander. Unlike some of the tribal leaders, she has no knowledge of her friend’s origin.

Jidyha knows there are many pieces to be picked up, figuratively and literally. The tribe was savagely attacked and left in gory ruin. The queen has still not arrived. Her friend chooses to exile herself from the surrounding misery.

And the mysterious man. Commander Kreel. The messenger. His insignia, Black Powder; his motivation, still unrealized.

Too much at one time, she thought.

And it was.

By design.

To be continued.

Part five will be posted in the near future. Let me know what you think of the story so far.