Mars was one of the twelve great Olympian kingdoms. It was a large kingdom which owed most of its size to war and conquest. In fact it was called the war capital of the world. It was ruled by the Olympian god Ares. Ares was called the god of war and with good reason. His strength and ferocity were legendary, and he found conquest and tributes to be the best form of income for his country. The name of Mars’s capital city was Thrace. In the centre of the city was Ares’s castle. A huge fort covered in red and iron. There were more guns and weapons protruding from it than most armies had in their arsenals. Surrounding the castle were the huge barracks and residential units of the higher officers. All these were quite grand as Lord Ares poured most of its funds into his army. The problem was that this left the rest of the country to rot. On the outskirts of the city were the slums, they were nothing more than unpaved roads with old and cramped buildings on either side. These buildings housed the poorer sections of the city, which largely consisted of soldiers who were no longer fit for wars. Along with the houses the slums also acted as one of the world’s biggest black markets. Anything could be bought here for the right price. The shops were littered with old weapons, defected magic gems and monster organs. Most of which could not be trusted. On the left end of the sellers’ street was an old abandoned-looking building. The building was three stories high and looked as if the next storm would take it down. On the top of the building in the attic there lived a boy named Maximus.
Maximus was seventeen years old. His friends called him Max. He didn’t have a last name because he was an orphan of war. He never knew his parents or even their names. He wasn’t sure if they were dead or alive. All he knew was from his farthest memories he was always an orphan. But this didn’t bother him too much. There were plenty of orphans in the slums. If both the parents died in the army, and there was no one left to take care of the child they would be send to an orphanage in the slums where they could only stay till the age of twelve. Following that, the army took them in and trained them as soldiers till the age of fourteen, after which they were thrown into war. Then it was three years of compulsory service after which they had a choice of staying in the army or leaving. Most would stay as being a soldier was the major occupation in Mars. Also, by then, following orders were all they understood. Well, that and killing. But Maximus had chosen to leave the army which meant that he was thrown into the slums with nothing but the clothes he wore. A decision he was regretting as he lay awake in the attic that day.
It had been seven months since Maximus had turned seventeen and left the army and entered the slums. And he had adapted quickly to the new surroundings, though it had been tough in the beginning. With no money and no one willing to hire him the only way to make a living was by getting something to trade. And that was how his life as a scavenger had started. Scavengers were what the people of Mars called those who went to the outskirts to hunt or gather things. They would bring back what they got and the shops would pay them depending on the loot. It meant that some days nothing useful would be found, but at least they could gather food for themselves. Maximus had gotten ready to leave for the outskirts but he knew it would be a waste. Some new monster had entered their hunting grounds which had scared off their usual hunt. Which meant that the only thing left for scavenging were some fruits and maybe some herbs. Either way Maximus knew he had to at least try or would have to starve tonight.
Maximus took a look at his condition. The building he was staying in was abandoned and the first two floors were infested with rats, spiders and pixies. In fact, the only part of the building that was not covered in dust and rubble was the attic. But the stairs that led to it were long gone, Maximus had to enter it via a rope which he had tied to a pillar inside, and this led to the ground through the back window. In the attic he didn’t have much. There was a bed on one side, of course bed here meant a bunch of torn blankets and old pillows he had sewn together the best he could. It wasn’t very comfortable but it beat sleeping on the ground. There was an old dresser in a corner which was in the attic when he first found it. He kept what little clothes he had in it. There were also a few utensils scattered around and some firewood in the corner. The building no longer had electricity but the pipes still worked and Maximus had managed to fix one up to the attic. Other than that the only things he owned were his scavenging equipment, a travel bag where he kept his loot, a small pouch with emergency herbs, combat boots, a pair of gloves and a leather armguard, which he had made himself from the hides of his kills. Other than that he had a sword; it was old and chipped in places, not really sharp either, but it was the only one he could afford. Maximus had specialized in close range sword and shield melee when he was in the army, but they didn’t let you keep any weapons once you left. The only thing you could keep was your dog-tag and a small seven inch knife. The knife had ‘III-75M’ inscribed on its handle. The III stood for the third battalion, 75 was his number within the battalion and ‘M’ stood for the melee unit. The knife would have fetched him a good price in the market but he liked holding on to it. This was everything he owned. He also had one other thing; something which he wasn’t sure was his. He kept it in the bottommost shelves in his dresser. What he had named as the cursed blade.
It was a sword he had found when he was still in the army. It was long and seemed to be of great power and quality, but Maximus had never seen the blade yet. This was because the entire blade and its sheath were covered in thick white wraps seemed to be made out of parchment. At the point where the hilt started was a talisman with symbols he had never seen before. It didn’t take him long to figure out that the talisman held some powerful magic which prevented it from being opened. The wrap wouldn’t come off no matter how hard he pulled and it couldn’t even be cut by his soldier’s knife. He had taken it to a local shaman in hopes of removing the talisman, but he asked for an exuberant amount of money to do it, money which he did not have. The sword couldn’t even be sold to a seller because they couldn’t check if it was worth something. Of course, Maximus did not know any of this when he first found it in the ruins of a temple just three months before he left the army. He had found it in a secret basement under the ruins and knew that if he took it to his superiors he would never see it again. Instead, he left it there so that he could come and get it when he left the army. He was planning to sell it to get enough money to get started with his life. But his plan backfired when he realized he wouldn’t be able to sell it. So now he was just stuck with it sitting in the corner of his shelf, and since it had ruined all his plans he had begun to call it cursed.
Maximus checked if the blade was still there. Then he grabbed his equipment and went down the rope to reach the ground floor. He had to meet his scavenging partner by eight and it was already getting late. This was his usual routine; they always met at an old pub by the road called the ‘loose cannon’. It was quite a popular place among the scavengers, hunters and travellers among the trenches. The ‘trenches’ were what everyone called the slums. It didn’t have an original name as it wasn’t in the original plans of the city. It was built by the city outcasts, and somewhere along the way people started calling it the trenches and the name just stuck.
Maximus had just reached the entrance of the ‘loose cannon’ when he heard the familiar voice of his partner greet him “You’re late runt.” Maximus wasn’t actually a runt, quite the opposite. He was nearly six feet tall and pretty well built owing to his time in the army. He had dark black hair and matching black eyes. He kept his hair short, like most soldiers in the army. He no longer had to keep it that way but he was so used to having it short that he did not bother changing it. He couldn’t grow any sort of facial hair, though, which bothered him a little. He was a little to the lean side, which served him well as it made him more agile and flexible with the sword. But he was in no way a runt, but then again almost everyone seemed like a runt to his partner. For one thing, he was a Minotaur.
Minotaur’s were one of the many races that inhabited the earth, along with humans, centaurs, satyrs, nymphs and many others which made up the world community. Minotaurs were half bull, half human creatures who usually stood well over seven feet. They looked like bulls that had learned to walk on their hind legs. They were well known for their strength and horns. In fact, Minotaur horns were quite valuable but were illegal to sell. But a few still somehow found their way into the black market sometimes.
Maximus turned to his partner and said “What, you started missing me already?” with a grin. His name was Rex and like all Minotaurs that was it. All Minotaurs had very short names like Zod, Gib or Bob. Rex was well over seven feet tall and had dark brown skin and fur covering his body, but Minotaurs were like that – they weren’t big on combing or shaving. He wore a pair of yellow and green camouflage pant that matched his eye, which was also a dull yellow shade. He didn’t wear any shoes as his hooves were tougher than Max’s combat boots. He also didn’t wear any shirt. It wasn’t part of their culture or something. Unless it was armour or something defensive Minotaurs usually walked around bare-chested and Rex was no exception. Maximus never really understood any of this, but when Rex had explained he just nodded along. Rex was pretty menacing looking – or he would have been if there wasn’t just half of him there. You see, Rex had also been part of the army and unlike Maximus he had planned to stay till he died. But all that changed when he came back to the barracks one day seriously wounded and bleeding. He had survived, but not entirely. He lost his left arm, eye and horn that day. After that he was forced to leave the army. After all, half a soldier would only be a liability on the battlefield. Or at least that’s what the superiors thought. But Maximus had seen Rex fight while they were scavenging, and he was still scarier than most of the soldiers he had seen. But no matter how many times Maximus asked, he still never told him how he had gotten wounded so badly.
“Come on Max, I told you to get here a bit early, you know the pickings are scarce right now,” Rex said.
“I know,” Max replied, “but I really don’t think those five minutes are gonna make a difference.”
“Shows what you know, ya runt,” Rex said, “but at least you bought all your stuff right?” Max nodded and checked to see if Rex had bought all his weapons as well. When he was in the army, his weapon of choice was a huge battle hammer that literally shook the earth with each strike. But ever since he lost his arm he had to shift to a smaller one-handed sledgehammer. The hammer in question was still bigger than a bowling ball. Other than that he had a pistol and his army knife fastened to his belt. The knife had ‘VII-52H’ inscribed on it where ‘H’ stood for the heavy weapons division. He still wore his army dog-tag around his neck.
They started walking towards the entrance to their hunting grounds. But when they reached the stone gates which separated the trenches from the outskirts they saw a huge crowd gathered there. Rex moved forward and asked a fellow scavenger what was going on. “The soldiers ain’t letting no one to the grounds,” the man said, “say it’s off limits for now.”
“They figured out what the new monster is,” another one chipped in, “it’s a bloody Manticore.” Now this was really surprising news. Manticores were really ferocious beasts, very hard to track and even harder to kill. A manticore was a monster with the head of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, six legs and the size of an elephant. Maximus had never seen one himself but had heard about them from other soldiers. There were three types: the ground manticores, winged manticores and the emperor manticores. Maximus asked around what type it was. “It’s a ground manticore, a pretty big one too. It attacked four hunters yesterday. Only one person survived and he’s in really bad shape,” a centaur hunter told him.
Centaurs were another very common race in the kingdom of Mars. They were creatures who had the top half of a human and the bottom half of a horse. This meant that there were four legs instead of just two. This made them really fast runners. They were also excellent marksmen with all sorts of long range weapons such as crossbows and guns. In fact, a large part of the army’s ‘long range division’ consisted of centaurs due to their outstanding aim. Maximus headed back to Rex to see their next move. “So what do we do now?” he asked.
“Not much we can do is there?” Rex answered. “Since the army’s barricaded the main entrance we’ll have to slip out some other way. But I think that we should maybe head back to the ‘cannon’ for now and see what the others are up to”. Maximus nodded in agreement. If you ever needed information about anything happening in the trenches the ‘loose cannon’ was the place to go. It was by far the most famous pub here in the trenches and was always crawling with travellers and hunters, which meant that a lot of information got passed around here. Also it was a great place to pick up work. The ‘loose cannon’ had a huge bulletin board on one of its walls. People would put up requests on these walls and offer rewards to those who completed them. As they reached the entrance of the cannon they noticed it was crowded as usual. Like most buildings in the trenches the loose cannon was also a run-down old place. The paint was faded and the wooden doors seemed like a good kick would break them. The windows were already broken from the countless number of bar fights that happened there. It also had an iconic century old cannon placed outside near the entrance. The cannon hadn’t been fired for years. In fact one of its wheels was broken, and there was a cat sleeping in its barrel right now.
Maximus and Rex entered, and the place was crowded and noisy as usual. There was some old violin music being played from an old jukebox in the corner but it was barely audible over the shouting, singing and drunk laughing of its customers. There was a group of really loud and drunk satyrs (half man half goat) in one corner. Two humans, a Minotaur and a dwarf were playing poker in another. A fully cloaked man with a hood covering his face sat at the bar table. There were some soldiers on another table, but they didn’t care about the mess around them. A centaur was even hustling some travellers at darts. Over at the table pouring drinks to his customers was Roderick. Roderick Evans was the owner and bartender of the loose cannon. He was a retired soldier from the army who had been in many wars and had the battle scars to prove it. He had left the army after the death of his wife who had also served in his division. Now he had a quieter life in the trenches and he was pretty well respected around here; taking the drinks that he poured to the customers was his daughter Kayla. Kayla Evans was another reason Maximus loved coming to this pub, even though he didn’t even drink. He had a huge crush on her from the first time they met. She was a brunette with her hair at just enough length for a ponytail, which she usually kept in a knot while she worked. Her skin was a bit tanned and her eyes were hazel coloured. To Maximus, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen – even more beautiful than Empress Aphrodite, an Olympian goddess who ruled the kingdom of Venus. She was considered the prettiest woman in the world, and had even won the Miss World contest every time she participated, which was eight times. Of course, Maximus never told Kayla any of this. For one thing they were friends, and he was worried that if he said anything he would lose that. For another her father Roderick scared the crap out of him. Maximus watched as she moved from table to table. He was just thinking if this was what angels looked like when a sudden thump on the back of his head brought him back to reality. This was Rex of course, and he said, “Ya can keep staring at her after we get to our seats,” with a wide grin on his scarred face. Maximus scowled and followed him to the bar stool where Roderick was serving drinks.
Rex sat down at the bar table and Maximus sat beside him. The only other person there at the table was a cloaked man who sat silently sipping his drink. This didn’t bother them as strange travellers were a common sight in the pub. “What will it be boys?” Roderick asked.
“Ox toxin for me, Roderick,” Rex answered, “and I guess the runt will have baby milk or something.”
Maximus gave Rex a punch on his shoulder for this remark, which just made Rex grin more. See, Maximus didn’t drink alcohol, he had tried it a few times but he didn’t quite enjoy it. In fact he didn’t even get a buzz. So he stuck to regular drinks, but it gave Rex an excuse to laugh at him. “Root beer is fine for me thanks,” he told Roderick.
“A fine choice Max, I think I’ll have the same,” said a familiar voice from behind. Maximus knew the voice well as it belonged to a friend of his, Hedger. Hedger glided in and sat in the seat next to Maximus. And Hedger literally did glide in on his wings as he was a sprite.
Sprites were another race of creatures that existed in the world though not that common in Mars. They were small and usually just three to four feet tall. They also had a long tail which sort of acted as an extra hand. Their heads were shaped like dogs complete with pointy ears and a snout. But what made sprites really special were their wings. Sprites had long and colourful wings, which allowed them to fly but not as good as birds or any such thing. The colour of the wings tended to define a sprite and their surnames were based on it. Since Hedger’s wings were green his name was Hedger Greenwing. The feathers were commonly used in magic and different colours had different properties.
Hedger was a salesman, well kind of. What he usually did was buy useless stuff for a cheap rate and sell it to unwitting travellers, saying it was something useful. His most famous one being convincing a group of Orcs that a common blue bird’s egg was that of a phoenix. So in short he was a conman. But despite all this he was a really good friend of Maximus and sort of a friend of Rex. Rex always complained that he talked too much. But Maximus knew that Hedger’s heart was in the right place and he was sure even Rex would agree.
“Hey Max, you know what would go great with a root beer?” Hedger said. Maximus knew that this was his usual start to a sales pitch so he answered “Whatever piece of garbage you’re selling today.”
“That’s exactly right,” Hedger said with a grin, “that is if you consider minced chimera meat as garbage.”
Rex snorted loudly and asked, “So you just happened to walk past a dead chimera did you – or maybe you killed it yourself.”
“I’m sorry I don’t recall asking Mr. Half-a-cow for his words of wisdom,” Hedger replied with his tongue out.
“Knock it off Hedger,” Maximus said. “Come on what is it really?”
“Some sort of rodent I think, but it’s edible. I got it off a couple of dwarfs who were barbecuing it,”Hedger said, “but no one’s buying.” Hedger took a sip of root beer and continued, “Tell you what, I’ll give you half if you cook it for me.”
But before Maximus could reply or Rex could make a snide remark a voice interrupted from behind saying “Are you trying to tell me you just hauled some dead rat into my restaurant?” It was Kayla, she had returned to the table after delivering her orders. She was wearing a tattered T-shirt and jeans which would have suited a boy more, and an apron she wore at work. The apron’s original white colour could barely be seen because it was covered in so many stains. She also had a sharp and annoyed look in her eyes directed at Hedger– and Maximus still thought she looked beautiful.
“Apologies my lady,” Hedger said with a slight grin and a bow.
“Yeah well just don’t take it out in my restaurant,” Kayla replied. Kayla was the only one who called the place a restaurant. It was what her father had originally planned. But the trenches were a place more suited for a pub than a fancy restaurant. Kayla poured another glass of ‘ox toxin’ for Rex and continued, “Honestly Dad, why do we still serve these idiots.”
“Because idiots are our best customers,” Roderick replied with a slight smile. “Anyway, since the three musketeers are here I think I’ll take my break.” She pulled up a chair and sat beside them. This was all part of a regular day, only this was usually after Maximus and Rex had returned from scavenging.
“So no one’s going to the outskirts huh?”Kayla asked resting her head on her hands. Rex nodded in agreement “Not until the manticore is taken care of.” “So I heard,” Roderick added, “is the army going to do something about that?” “Yeah right,” Maximus said, “unless it attacks the city or something the army’s not gonna lift a finger, we are on our own.” The livelihood of the trenches was not exactly top priority in the kingdom. Maximus knew that the only way the army would get involved was if a reward was issued. Roderick said what he was thinking, “Guess we’ll have to put up a reward.” By ‘we’ Roderick meant the sellers’ council, it was something like the unofficial government of the trenches. It consisted of almost all the shop owners in the trenches including Roderick. “The rewards have got to be high if they want people to risk fighting a manticore,” Rex said. Roderick nodded in agreement but before he could reply a voice said, “Another round please.”
The cloaked man sitting beside them had just finished his drink. Roderick said “You drank enough to drown a Cyclopes, you sure you want another?” The cloaked man just nodded. After he took his drink he asked “So is there no way to get past the barricades?” Maximus realized that he must have overheard them talking but he still didn’t understand why he was so interested. “Not until the manticore is dealt with; there will probably be a reward on its head by tomorrow, but since the army blocked off the entrance only soldiers will be allowed to pass to the outskirts.”
“Unless someone just happens to know a hidden shortcut,” Rex said with a grin and a wink with his one good eye.
“Anyway, if you’re searching for work try the jobs bulletin board,” Roderick continued, “all the details will be there.” The cloaked man just finished his drink and thanked him. Then he got up and left.
“Well what’s our plan?” Maximus asked, “Do we take a path to the outskirts?” Rex scratched his chin, this was his thinking pose. After a while he said “Not today, the soldiers will be on high alert due to the attacks. We’ll sneak outside tomorrow. Besides, I still got some food left from the last hunt and you got Hedger’s rat to fill our bellies for today,” then he finished off his drink, picked up his bag and hammer, and left.
“Guess it’s just you and me buddy,” Hedger said, and they were just about to leave when Kayla called them and handed Maximus a small basket of potatoes and olives. “Here,” she said “they are a bit old but they haven’t gone rotten yet, it should add some flavour to whatever’s in Hedger’s bag.” She gave one last smile and went to the kitchen. Maximus just stood there watching her go. She was so kind he thought to himself, and hardworking not to mention beautiful. But his daydreams were cut short when Hedger cleared his throat loudly and said “Come along Maxy, you got that I’m a lovesick kitten look on your face again.” Maximus scowled at him and then they headed back to his place.
Maximus climbed the rope back up to his place while Hedger just flew in the window. It was already evening and the day had been really unproductive. Maximus thought it would be impossible to escape this hellhole if things didn’t get better. He wanted to get out of here, and not just the trenches but the entire country of Mars. He had heard there were other countries where the lifestyle was more peaceful or where technology had gotten so advanced people didn’t even have to work anymore. And other places that were so magical that it was like being on another planet.
Maximus started cooking while Hedger flew around picking firewood from the nearby trees. Maximus liked cooking and he was pretty good at it. But this wasn’t something he shared with everyone. A guy could get mocked to death for saying he liked cooking in the army. The trenches weren’t any better. But he felt calm when he cooked. And when he was done Hedger remarked that it smelled great. “So what do you call it?” he asked.
“I guess we could call it skewed rat with potatoes,” Maximus replied. Hedger scowled and said, “You know I said rodent, didn’t I? Not rat but rodent, there is a difference.”
“Fine skewed rodent with potatoes,” Maximus said,“that any better?” Hedger took a bite off his plate and said, “Not really, but it tastes great, now if we call it chicken then I say we got something to sell.”
Maximus also took a bite and he was pretty pleased with his work. “I don’t see why you can’t just go and cook at the cannon. They could use you,” Hedger said. Maximus had had this conversation with him before, but even though he liked cooking he still felt he was a warrior at heart and spending all day in a kitchen just wasn’t for him. “You know why so stop asking,” Maximus said.
But Hedger didn’t drop it, he said “Oh come on, it’s perfect, we would never have to eat rats again, plus you could spend all day with Kayla,” and then he made a few kissing sounds. Maximus chucked a rat bone at him which he flicked off with his tail. “I’m a good scavenger and I’ll stay at that and I really wish you and Rex would stop mocking me with Kayla – the last thing I need is for her to hear that and ban me from the cannon.” Hedger glided around and put the dirty plates into the sink. He said “You’re right, better guys than you have tried and failed with her.”
This was a fact Maximus knew too well. Till now Kayla had turned down every guy who had ever asked her out. And most of these guys were older and usually better looking than him. Once, even a dashing young captain from the army had asked her out and she still said no. Needless to say Max’s chances with her were slim to none. “Although” Hedger started saying “she might start seeing you in a different light if you did something ridiculously heroic.” Maximus narrowed his eyes and looked at his friend. He knew Hedger was up to something so he asked “And what heroic deed do you have in mind exactly?”
“Nothing too fancy, just maybe you know slay a manticore,” Hedger said. Maximus let out a small laugh, they had talked about doing things like this before. Fighting monsters and saving cities, but they were just stories not something he had any real intention of doing. Going up against a fully grown ground manticore would be suicide.
“Sounds like fun,” Maximus said, “but I think my rusty old blade would break before I even made a dent on its armour.”
“But you do have another blade don’t you?” Hedger said. Maximus knew he was talking about the cursed blade. Hedger was convinced that the blade was a very powerful weapon. He said it was a sprite’s intuition. Sprites were more in tune with magic than humans, but Maximus still didn’t know how a blade he couldn’t even unsheathe would be useful in battle.
“Tell you what,” Hedger continued, “why don’t you take the blade with you tomorrow and maybe it might work against the manticore.”
“I think the idea is to avoid the manticore Hedger,” Maximus said, “now stop daydreaming and get some sleep, you can spend the night here.” Hedger finally dropped it and decided sleep wasn’t such a bad idea. He flew in circles for a while and finally hung his tail on a metal beam and went to sleep. This was how sprites slept, upside down, hanging on their tails like bats. Maximus also turned in for the night, but somehow what Hedger said just didn’t leave his mind.