Owen winced as he walked up each stair, shifting most of his wait onto Kenrick.  Kenrick held him up, letting Owen keep a slow pace.  It took them nearly five minutes to reach the apartment door, which Kenrick opened and shifted his frame so that he could carry his friend inside.  As he set Owen down on the living room chesterfield, Jim came around the corner, smiling proudly with his arms folded across his chest, his chin held high, and a large kitchen knife in his right hand.  His jaw dropped as he saw Owen’s torn clothing and the bruises that were just starting to form.
     “Get me some ibuprophen, a glass of water, and a cold pack!”, Kenrick barked, and Jim ran off to fetch the items.  Kenrick let the sword fall to the floor, uncaring of where it landed.
     Kenrick tore off Owen’s shirt, and looked over his wounds.  He shook his head, and carefully let Owen settle into the soft cushions on the couch.  Jim returned with everything Kenrick had asked for, and Kenrick opened the bottle of ibuprophen and shook two pills into his hand.  He held them to Owen’s mouth, who opened it silently and took the medication and water without comment.  Kenrick placed the cold pack over the worst of Owen’s bruises, and directed Jim to hold it gently in place.  He picked up the discarded broadsword and slid it into the scabbard before turning to Owen.
     “You did well, considering it was your first real fight.  Nothing more than some bruises and scratches.”, Kenrick almost beamed, his scaled chest puffed out with pride, “With some training you’ll make a worthy student.”.
     Owen focused his eyes on Kenrick, the pain of his wounds starting to sink in, “Student?  You’re going to teach me how to use a sword?”.
     Kenrick smiled, his tongue moistening the corners of his mouth, “Of course, how do you expect to fight off the demon hordes without learning to use a weapon.”.
     Jim looked at him quizzically before asking, “Why not just get a shotgun, isn’t it more practical?”.
     “A sword,”, Kenrick stared at Jim as he spoke, “is a weapon of grace and civility.”.
     Through the open door behind them, Murray walked in, pistol in hand, which he aimed at Kenrick’s turned back.
     Kenrick continued without pause, “A gun is the weapon of a killer, not a gentleman.  It will gain you no respect from your foe.”.
     Without pausing as he spoke, Kenrick drew Owen’s sword, and in a fluid motion tapped Murray’s pistol to the left.  With a flick of his wrist, he circled the sword’s blade around Murray’s hand, bringing the false edge to rest at the joint of Murray’s hand and thumb.  Not a scratch could be seen on Murray, who stared at Kenrick with a mixture of hatred and awe.
     “A sword is a weapon of precision, and of honour.  Tend to your blade, and it will not fail you in battle, unlike a gun which will jam, or run short of ammunition..”.
     He slapped the pistol out of Murray’s hand suddenly, and sent it scuttering across the floor until it came to rest against a nearby wall.
     “Now, I’m offering training and information in exchange for sanctuary.”, his eyes bored into Murray, “Will you accept those terms?”.

     “My name is Kexrouth Pretzen, an expatriate of Belfar, a demon nation spanning five dimensions.”.
     Kenrick sat in Owen’s chair, across from Owen, who lay on the couch, and Jim and Murray, who sat in chairs they’d brought into the A/V room from the kitchen table.
     “I was trained as a member of the elite legions, as are all of my kind, to serve Belfarius, founder and lord of Belfar.  I am a soldier from birth, as was my father and mother, and their parents before for more than a thousand generations, trained in the sword, bow, and polearm.
     “The things you were fighting were nothing more than fodder, sent in as a first test of the enemy’s defences, and to keep them off their guard for the real assaults.  They are barely sentient, able to tell us nothing more than if the enemy is “few” or “many”, and “strong” or “weak”.”
     Kenrick paused for a second, and licked around his mouth.  “Jim, could you get me a glass of water please?”.
     “Sure.”, Jim stood up and ran into the kitchen.
     “So why…”, Murray started to ask, but Kenrick cut him off.
     “I’ll tell you everything I can, but be patient.  I need water.”.
     Jim returned with a large glass, filled nearly to the brim.  Kenrick took a mouthful, and swished it around his mouth before swallowing.
     “I entered active service in the Shadow Corps, what you would call a commando.  Only a handful of my kind are selected for this service, the most skilled and the most loyal.  We were sent in to weaken the defences of our opponents, and to kill or capture officers.  We were the heroes of Belfar, destroying the enemies of our great nation in glorious and honourable combat.  We would return home to a heroes welcome after each campaign, another nation in another dimension conquered, unable to threaten our peace and happiness.  We had respect of the nation, we only needed to ask and we would be given the finest goods and the most attractive mates with gratitude.  We never even cared to learn the names of the nations we invaded, we were to claim them in the name of Belfar.
     “After my third campaign, I was made an officer of the Shadow Corps, and given command of my own troops.  We were to join the first major invasion of a new dimension, a rare one united under a single government.  It was to be the most difficult conquest in the history of our nation.  We lost nearly a half of our military taking it, and it was myself and my troops that captured their sovereign.  I returned a hero of the nation, given numerous decorations, and I was made a member of Belfarius’s personal guard, the highest honour any soldier could aspire to.  I was there when the articles of surrender were signed, and I was part of the escort so that Belfarius could survey his new acquisition.  I saw the residents of the castle tremble in fear, but I didn’t care.  At the time I thought is was fear born of respect for their conquerors.”
     Kenrick sat back in the chair, and let out a sigh.  His audience sat patiently waiting for him to continue as he took another sip of water, which he followed with a deep breath.
     “My duties in the guard were mostly ceremonial.  During the frequent wars, I was still commanding our soldiers, although I was given command of soldiers fighting on the front line so I could be more easily called to attend other duties.  I fought through four more campaigns, though none was as difficult as the third.  We moved as a massive force through opposing nations, sweeping away the armies of our enemies with ease.
     “After I returned from my seventh campaign, I was given a house in the capital as a reward for my loyal service.  I retired from active duty at the age of thirty.  I still had a long life ahead of me, I had fame, power, and respect.  I took some of my savings to find servants for my new home, and went to the slave pits in the market.  At the time I thought nothing of such things.  The slaves were nothing more than a caste, much like the demons we used for fodder in our wars.
     “I made my way to the front of the crowd at the auction, waiting and watching for slaves befitting of a citizen of my status.  After a few minutes, they brought out the next lot, and among them was a face I barely remembered, but could not take my eyes away from.  In my third campaign, we had taken the royal family prisoner, but Belfarius had promised to free them to live in one of their isolated estates as a gesture of good will.  Here before me, heavily scarred but still recognisable to his one time captor was the youngest prince of that dimension.
     “I shouted a high bid, gaining the attention of the crowd.  When they saw who I was, there were no counter bids, and I was given possession of the entire lot.  I took them to my new home, where I loosed their bonds and let them loose in my larder.  While they were filling their empty bellies, I spoke to the prince, a child when I last saw him, now a grown man.  All of the slaves were from the same nation, it made it easier if they all spoke a single language, and least for the buyers.  After the surrender was formalised, his family taken to the estate in a public display, but were all kidnapped a few months later.  The sovereign was executed, and his children scarred and sold as slaves in different dimensions of Belfar.
     “Those of my caste are taught from birth to uphold the virtues of loyalty and honour.  I had never had to question anything before, but now Belfarius had broken his word to a conquered people.  Such things were commonplace, and out of loyalty we had never questioned his actions.  Now, I had to ask myself which I valued more, my loyalty or my honour.
     “Later that month I asked for a few weeks leave, which I was granted without question.  I took my slaves as an entourage, and we travelled to their homeland.  There, I was able to find out from the occupational force where the last pockets of resistance were.  I avoided the main roads, taking the slaves into the nearest of those regions.  We were attacked within the day, and I surrendered without defending myself.  I introduced the prince, and freed my slaves, giving them what money I had brought with me.  I fled to the nearest trade route, where I travelled to the capitol and reported that I had been attacked and robbed, a few days travel away from where I had freed the prince.  I returned home, and resumed my duties in Belfarius’s guard, waiting for a chance to escape.
     “Four months later, the weak barrier between Belfar and your dimension was discovered.  I fled there the next day, travelling as fast as I could so that I would not be found after it was known I had abandoned my post.  I found the weak point using a stolen map, and forced my way through into the closet down the hall.  I had been trained as a scout as a child, and I knew that in this place I couldn’t travel far from the weak point.  Each dimension has its own sort of magical energies…”
     “Magic?”, Murray interrupted with a laugh, “You want me to believe in magic?”.
     Kenrick smiled at him, “Said the man talking to the giant lizard.  May I continue?”.
     Murray fell silent, and Kenrick resumed his tale.
     “Each dimension has its own sort of magical energies, which are often similar, but can be vastly different, too.  It’s like comparing a forest to a swamp, they are different, but we can live in both, albeit with different challenges.  But comparing the land to the ocean, things are different.  The energies do seep in through the weak point, and that’s why I can survive here, but I can’t travel far from them.  I made a home in a pocket dimension I made using techniques I learned during my officer’s training.  I’m not a full magician, but I can do a few useful tricks.  After I had spent a few days there, I introduced myself to Phil, who promised not to betray my presence if I would do a favour for him.  I agreed, expecting it to be some small thing, in proportion to what he was giving me.  I should have known better.  I became little more than one of the slaves I had freed, save I was conquered by trusting a stranger rather than an army.
     “When Phil left, I waited until a new owner came, knowing that anything, even servitude, was better than the traitors death I would suffer if I returned to Belfar.  As my good fortune would have it, instead of fate giving me a new master, I was instead given a friend.”
     Kenrick sat back in his chair, and folded his arms across his chest.
     “So, I’m going to reiterate my offer.  I will train you, and fight with you against Belfarius.  I ask nothing more than to be given sanctuary.  Will you agree to these terms?”.
     Murray stood up, and walked over to Kenrick.  He held out his hand and said, “Kexrouth Pretzen, welcome to the ranks of the Hillview Defenders.”.

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