Free Sentinels: Forsaken Knight by B.H. Savage Page B

face tightened up, making her look dangerously serious, even if she was a beautiful woman. “I’ve cut down every enemy who stood before me, no matter how powerful or confident they were, except for one.”
    Byron looked at her surprisingly. While Anye never made her past known she had also never been as serious looking as that and the statement visibly shocked the old man. Anye hoped her display of skill in the fights to come would prove what she had been saying.
    Their moment was interrupted when the echoes of heavy footfalls barreled in to the prep room. The other fighters had arrived to get ready for their turn in the brackets. Anye and Byron both looked at them as they entered. As suspected, nearly every one of them was a mountain of muscle or extremely toned man that had either a claymore, axe of some kind, or swords like Anye with them. Only one person who entered with the group stuck out from the rest.
    The individual caught Anye’s attention. He was young, possibly no older than fifteen, dressed in simple robes carrying an exceptionally crafted ornamented blue staff with some sort of pristine clear jewel floating at the top. His skin was brown, like the hair of her horse, and he had little to no hair on his head. She had never seen someone like him in person, but rather illustrations in history books back in Delrich. He was a member of the tribes that inhabited the Frontier, people who were extremely attuned with magic but were very rarely seen outside of their homeland.
    The weapon he carried was unlike any staff Anye had seen before. The top of the weapon, where the magically charged stone floated, was made up of three golden rings. The outer ring of which was stationary while the other two within orbited around the stone. The base where the stationary ring was attached was crafted out of the finest looking gold. Two majestic looking wings were attached to each side of the base. The rest of the staff, the main body and bottom ornamentation, looked to have been made out of some sort of blue metal or wood that looked amazing and shimmered in the light.
    Anye suspected he felt her presence when he entered the room. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her, just as she stared at him. He didn’t show any kind of emotion, he simply watched her for a moment before continuing on to a bench where he sat and waited quietly. He didn’t speak a word to anyone, and everyone left him alone in return.
    “Amy?” Byron asked. “Amy, who is that boy? Do you know him?”
    “No,” she replied, but keeping her gaze on him. “He’s a frontier tribesman, though. I didn’t expect this.”
    “Expect what?” he said. “The boy is barely armed, and has no armor.”
    Anye shifted her gaze from the strange foreigner to her old companion. “You’ve never read about the people of the frontier? In all of your youthful years as an adventurer you never once thought it would be wise to do some research on a potential adversary?”
    Byron closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? I was stupid when I was young. I didn’t understand the concept of ‘know thy enemy’ until I neared my retirement years. That and I never took a job that went beyond the Devil’s Spine.”
    “I see,” Anye said. She looked back at the boy who now seemed to be performing some form of meditation. “The people of the frontier don’t commonly use armor and weapons like we do. They’re said to be extremely well adept at the arcane arts, both light and dark. I wouldn’t know personally as I’ve only been beyond the Devil’s Spine once, and it wasn’t to venture into the frontier.”
    “Oh?” Byron replied with interest. “Do tell?”
    Anye’s face tightened as she remembered the events of Amador’s betrayal in Mitus. “Not right now, Byron. One of these days I might.”
    The old man grunted. “Well, don’t wait too long, Amy. I don’t exactly have all the time in the world.”
    “Contestants, if I may have your