We left before the sun was even a thought in the horizons mind. Until the sun rose though, we would have to take it easy on the horses. It made no sense to put them at risk of harm by running them through the darkness, so we rode at a slow pace until the early light of dawn cracked the veil of night. Once the sun was up though, we could ride the horses hard. We wouldn't be able to do that all day though. There was a small lake about halfway to the kingdom that we would stop and rest the horses. They could graze and water themselves while we got out of the saddle. I had already decided that I would practice the entire time we were there.
With about a mile to go to the lake, we ran into a lone traveler. He didn't seem like trouble to me, but my father told me to keep a sharp eye on him as we rode up. We reigned in the horses and trotted up beside him. He was a large man wearing threadbare rags. A rusty sword dangled by his side and a bow and quiver of arrows was strapped to his saddle pack. His face was rough and covered with patches of hair. It looked as if he attempted to shave, but hadn't quite hit the mark.
"Greetings to ya. Are you on yer way to the Kings celebration?" He barked out in a voice that sounded of gravel and dust.
"That we are. What parts of the Realm are ya from?" My father asked, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
"I'm from the southlands just beyond the mountain ranges."
"The southlands ya say. I haven't seen anyone from those parts in years. How fares the territory?"
I had never heard of the southlands before. As far as I knew, we were the furthest part of the realm to the south. We were at the base of the mountain range he spoke of.
"It's a hard life, but we manage."
"How do ya avoid the Raiders? I heard they had control of the southlands since the Blind War."
"They control most of it, but we have a nice little niche carved out for ourselves. It ain't pretty but we call it home. You mind if I travel with you folk. I've been riding for two days now with nary a soul to talk to."
"Yer horse like it has quite the lather going. We are stopping just up the road a bit to rest and water our horses, you are welcome to join us."
"I believe I will. I'm Randor by the way."
"I'm Falren and this is my son Pitre. We live at the base of the mountains. It's not an easy life either, but we don't have to content with Raiders there."
"I can tell you, your living the good life then. We avoid them best we can, but they stumble in to our little hidden glade every once in a while. When they do, it's bedlam I tell you."
"I can surely imagine. Did fight in the Blind War?"
"Aye, that I did. Not sure how I survived them to be honest with ya, but I'm still here to spin a tale or two. What about yerself, you look like a man that has seen some fighting. I know that look ya got in yer eye."
"You have a good eye then. I fought in the wars. I only survived because of the friends and brothers around me. We made it through by watching each other's backs."
"You were part of a legion then weren't ya?"
"That I was." My father made a motion with his hand for me to slow down. I didn't know why he wanted me to fall back, but I did as he wanted.
"You must've been cavalry with the way you handle that horse there."
"No, not at all. I was an infantry man through and through. We ran in after the cavalry was through the lines.
I saw it a split second after my father did. With incredible speed, Randor unsheathed his sword and was swinging at my father. This was why my father wanted me to fall back. My father in one motion, laid back on his horse as the sword passed over him, then rose back up, pulling his knife from his belt, and flung it at Random. The knife found it's home in the side of the large man's neck. He fell from his mount and hit the ground with a sickening thud. I saw him try to lift himself, but he quickly went down again. My father quickly spun his horse around and dismounted in the blink of an eye. He was on top of the man the very next second, pulling the knife from his neck and placing the point next to his eye.
"What are you doing in the Targan Realm? The treaty doesn't allow for you to be here." The man just gurgled a response as blood spit from his mouth. It seemed the knife truly found home in the soft tissue of the man's throat.
I began to ride up, and my father waved me to stay. "Keep an eye out boy, there might be more of them lurking around?" There was a disdain in my father's voice that I had never heard before. The look in his eyes as he said it was full of venom. I began looking around in a panic, trying to see any movement that didn't belong, but I didn't see any. As m eyes found there way back to my father and Randor on the ground, I watched as my father plunge the knife under his ribs. All movement ceased from the man and the gurgling quieted down. After the last rasping sound was spurted out of the man, my father waved me to come over.
"Why did he attack you papa?"
"This is a Raider boy. Take a good long look at him, most of them look the same. It looks like he tried to shave, but as you can see, he failed miserably. This isn't good lad. According to the treaty, they aren't supposed to step foot in the Realm. If they are coming in now, it means that they are up to their old ways. There is a part of me that wants to go back to the village and warn everyone, but it's more important that we get this news to the kingdom."
"How did you know he was a Raider?"
"The old rags were a tell, but it was the question he was asking more than that. Most travelers don't talk about the Blind War. People will never forget that war, but they don't want to remember it."
"Is that why you don't talk about it?" I had only head him speak at any length about the Blind War when were in the Kingdom and he spoke with Galdren."
"Yes, lad. The death and carnage that we all saw in that war isn't worth remembering, but it became a part of our souls and we can't get rid of it."
"What made him attack when he did? Wouldn't he have been more likely to kill us if he waited until we were resting along side of our horses?"
"He probably would have, but I knew it was coming when he asked me if I was cavalry. As soon as I said no, he thought he had the upper hand."
"How so papa?"
"Infantry aren't trained to fight on horseback like cavalry are."
"Then how did you know what to do. That move you made was was."
"Our infantry unit was a little different. Do you remember me telling you that I fought alongside the Targan Knights?"
"Yes." I could never forget that news, it was the highlight of a highlight of the day I decided to become a knight.
"Well, because we fought alongside the Targan Knights, we needed to learn how to fight on horseback incase we had to take over a mount. That was our duty. When the Targan Knights would ram their way through a line, it was our job to get in there as fast as we could and protect them from the line falling around them. If it did, we would lose our most experienced fighting force. Every member of my infantry had to learn how to take control of an out of control mount and get that knight to safety, fighting our way out if we had to. I'm proud to say, that we never lost a knight."
I watched a very somber look cross my father's face after the shine of the pride faded.
"What's wrong papa?"
"I'm proud that we never lost a knight, but my heart breaks for all of my brothers that fell to allow me to have that pride. I was one of the lucky ones. Half of my unit was lost to the war." That was when I saw the one thing I had only seen once. My father had a tear roll down his face. The only other time I had seen that, was when we buried my mother. I was too young to understand how significant that moment was at the time, but I understood this one.
"Did you see anything as you looked around?"
"No, papa, I think he was alone."
"That isn't normal for the way they fought in the Blind War. I hate that you have to get your hands bloody, but I need your help to move his body off the road. We need to get him in the thick of the woods, so we don't scare off any other travelers to the Kingdom."
I dismounted my horse and rushed over to help my father carry Randor. He was the size of a horse and he smelled like one too. We struggle the entire way into the woods. My father cut some leafy limbs down and covered the body as best he could.
"This will be good for now. I need to mark a tree to locate the body later. When we get to the kingdom I will let the soldiers at the gate know what happened and tell them were they can find the body. I'm sure that the King will want to see this for himself."
"Are we going to talk to the King?" A rush of panicked excitement came over me.
"No, we are only going to tell the gate soldiers what happened, and they will run it up through the ranks to the King. He will send a retrieval party out for the body and bring it to the Kingdom. This is a breach of the treaty and he will want to see it for himself that a Raider is in the realm."
We slowly made our way to the lake to rest the horses and clean ourselves up. the blood was thick and sticky, and didn't wash off easily. My father decided that as soon as the horses were rested, we were going to ride as hard as we could to the Kingdom, and we did. We arrived just before sundown and the horses were on their last leg. My father spoke with the soldiers at the gate house and gave them Randor's sword. My father had shown me a small mark on the hilt that looked like a swamp tree. He said that was the mark of the Mudwood.
It was as my father said. The soldiers sent word to their direct superior and handed the sword and information to him, He ran off in a streak to the next in the chain of rank. He took a brief moment to thank my father and I for our "service to the realm", and sent us on our way.
I began to worry. Not about an invading army or a lone villain on a roadway, but about the tournament. In all the excitement of the day, I hadn't practiced. My father calmed me down, and assured me that Galdren would have a place for me to practice. He even said that if luck would shine it's fortune on me, maybe Galdren himself would show me something. The tournament was two days away, and I was more prepared to be a knight than ever before. I would get my practice in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment