Storms & Sacrifice (Steel & Thunder #2)

Chapter 1

“You look good.”

“You look better.”

“...Sorry.” Adam’s words make me grimace. Knew I shoulda dressed down more for this.

“Come on. You know I didn’t mean it like that,” he huffs from his spot across the table and smiles. “I’m glad you’re doing good. We’ve heard some rumors, and I’ve been worried.”

“Yeah. Like is it true that after you lost the fight to that big guy he fu—oww!” Nate rubs his side where Adam’s elbow hit him.

Adam glares at the mage to his right before turning back to me. “Seriously though, David. Is he hurting you?”

“No, really. I’m fine. Better than fine, all things considered.” I smile back, trying to hide any discomfort over the topic. I can only imagine what they’ve heard—and how much of it is true. “I’m more worried about you guys in here.”

It’s Astraday, which is visiting day at the Yash’ak Cr’hol Labor Camp.

I’ve been worried about my friends and where they’ve been held since we were first arrested, and this place was no different.

Even though Khazak assured me that everything would be fine, that this place was better than an actual prison, I still needed to see it for myself.

So, before my first visit, he arranged for a brief “tour” of the camp for me.

It’s actually…pretty nice. I mean it’s still a jail, but it’s also basically just a bunch of boring buildings behind a big fence.

It almost reminds me of the knight academy; everyone’s wearing a uniform, the prisoner’s rooms look more like dorms than cells, and half of them leave during the day to work—where they earn actual money.

From what I saw (and smelled), the food doesn’t even seem half bad.

Khazak told me the place is named after one of the city’s first rangers, and that the term “labor camp” is a holdover from when this place was an actual camp, when most of the city was still made up of tents.

All the more reason I think they need to change it; labor camps are something very different where I come from.

This is my second time here, my first being last weekend when I saw Liss and Corrine.

Thanks to Khazak pulling some strings, I’m able to sit with two of my friends at a time.

After I get patted down by one of the guards, they bring me to a large room filled with tables where they’re already seated.

They’ve got the prisoners split by gender, and since Adam insisted the girls go first—which is a very Adam thing to do—this week I get to see him and Nate.

“We’re alright. It’s not as rough in here as you’d think.

” Adam gives me a small smile. “The food’s not that bad, and the beds still beat sleeping on the ground outside.

They say we’re earning some money while we’re in here, too.

They’ve got me and Liss working construction, so far just helping to build homes in the poorer parts of the city.

It’s mostly moving materials around and holding them in place while the mages do their thing. ”

“What about you?” I ask Nate, more out of politeness than actual interest. When I was here last week no one had been assigned a “job” yet.

“Corrine and I have been hard at work transcribing books.” He flexes his hand like it hurts.

“If they’d just let me use my magic, I could have the whole thing done in a few hours but nooooo.

..” On both of his wrists are small metal bracelets, the same as I saw on Corrine last week.

They’re long-term versions of the city’s anti-magic bracers, lighter and unconnected to make it easier to move around and work while still cutting off the wearer from their magical abilities.

“What about you?” Adam ignores Nate’s whining. “What does... Ironstorm, is that his name?” Yep. I nod. “What does he have you doing?”

“Actually, I’m kinda...working with him and the people who arrested us.” I scratch my head, feeling embarrassed that I’m basically working with the enemy. “It’s not all that different from what we did back at the academy.”

It’s been about two weeks since I started my “job” with the V’rok’sh Tah’lj rangers as Captain Khazak Ironstorm’s assistant.

I wish I could say it’s been an interesting two weeks, but sadly after the investigation we had my first two days, it has been incredibly boring.

Khazak—or Sir, as I sometimes know him—wasn’t kidding when he said a big part of his job was filling out paperwork; he spends most of his time in his office doing that.

“Isn’t that kind of weird?” Adam sounds surprised.

Understandable, given one of the main reasons we left home was the work we were doing as part of the Northlake Academy of Knighthood—you know, real honorable knight things, like arresting protestors or protecting rich people’s property.

“It’s a lot more boring than it sounds. The most exciting thing that happened last week was helping an old lady find her dog.

” She was thankful, at least. “Check it out though.” I bring up one of my arms and flex. “They’ve got a gym.”

Just because Khazak has to do a lot of paperwork doesn’t mean I do, unless you count the whole “trying to learn a new language” thing.

When he’s not making me work through my Learning Atasi book (which is going.

..alright), we manage to break up the boring downtime with some fun activities.

Not like that (Well, except this one time we were stuck there kinda late.

..). I just mean there’s been plenty to keep me busy.

Not only do I have a gym to workout in now, but a few days after I started, they tore down the old cells in the yard and converted the space into an outdoor training area.

When I can convince Khazak or one of the other rangers to join me, we’ll spar back there.

It’s mostly hand-to-hand stuff, which isn’t really my forte against a bunch of muscled-up orcs, but there’s been a few times where I’ve gotten to wield a sword again.

I even got my own work-issued shortsword!

I know it’s only been two weeks, but it already feels like I’m starting to bulk back up.

“You’ll be back to your old self in no time.” Adam grins.

“Working out won’t make you taller, David,” Nate snarks.

“So anyways,” I push past him, “if you see the girls, can you let them know I won’t be able to make visiting day next weekend?”

“Why? Everything alright?” Adam tilts his head.

“Yeah, just gonna be spending the week in the woods.” That’s what Khazak told me a few days ago.

“You’re just...going camping?” Nate squints his eyes.

“No, it’s this ranger thing. Every week a different group goes out and patrols.” It was one of those patrols that caught and arrested us. “At the end of the week, a new group comes in and takes the old one’s place. They rotate every four weeks or so, and we leave tomorrow for our turn.”

“Huh. Yeah, I’ll let ‘em know. Have fun.” I cringe inwardly at Adam’s use of the word “fun,” realizing that I basically just bragged about going on a camping trip for a week while they sit in jail. “If there’s one thing we actually got good at in the last couple of months, it’s sleeping outside.”

“Did you have a nice visit?” Khazak asks when I return from the visitation room now that the hour is over. He’s been kind enough to give me privacy when I meet with my friends.

“Yeah, it was good to see Adam.” It has sucked to not have my best friend around to talk to about...any of the stuff that’s been going on. “He’s in good spirits, but he’s always been pretty good at hiding when he’s unhappy about something.”

“What about your other friend?” He’s still learning their names.

“Nate? He’s fine. And I told you, he’s not my friend.” I refuse to acknowledge that dick as anything more than an acquaintance. “Thank you for bringing me.”

“Of course.” He reaches over and squeezes my shoulder gently as we walk.

Unlike work, things between Khazak and me have been anything but boring.

Not that the excitement has reached anywhere near the levels of crazy drama that first week held.

Would you believe I only managed to get spanked once last week?

It was my own fault. I let Ragnar, Khazak’s half-orc, half-elf best friend, talk me into pranking Khazak by swapping his regular ink for some that turns invisible fifteen minutes after being put on paper.

He didn’t notice until he was writing a particularly long report and the top started to vanish before he had reached the bottom.

He said he spanked me once for each field he had to re-fill out on each form.

I didn’t keep count, but it felt like it.

Outside of that, things have been great.

You’d think after almost three weeks of waking up next to and spending the entire day with someone, I’d be sick of him, but we’ve been getting along swimmingly.

Even when we do start to grate on each other, I’ll just go for a run around the city or hit the gym at the station for some “me” time.

There’s not a whole lot to do around here aside from eating, reading, and exercising, but he always manages to find something to keep us occupied.

Which is sometimes me. Safe to say I think I’m getting kind of good at that kind of stuff.

“Ready to pack for tomorrow?” Khazak asks when we arrive back at the house.

“Yep. Do you have a bag I can use?” I’m gonna need a lot of clothes for a whole week. “And do you have an extra bedroll?”

“Mine should be big enough for the both of us.” Khazak walks down the hall, turning into the spare room with me following.

“Your bag or your bedroll?” One of those makes more sense than the other.

“Both.” He opens the closet and pulls out a large bedroll attached to a sturdy looking leather backpack.

“My clothes are gonna fit in there?” It’s sizable but so is he—as are his clothes.

“No, this is filled with tools and supplies.” He slings it over one shoulder. “I meant my other bag.”