"How long have you been doing this?"
"Ahh Sir Darius, how are you doing?"
"I'm well Pitre."
"My father taught me when I was 9. I only learned how to make horseshoes though, so I'm not really sure how well this marker will look."
"I haven't seen many things that you can't do Pitre, so I do believe that this will be done perfectly."
"I hope so."
I began pounding away at the metal I had melted down from the black ax blade. It wasn't like the old iron I would make horseshoes form. It was much harder and resisted the hammer. My father mentioned that some metals have a higher temperature that they need to be molded at. The hared the metal the higher the temperature. I stoked the first to bring a high blaze to them. I stuck the ingot back in the fire until it was glowing white. I pulled it from the forge and placed in on the anvil and began pounding away again. The metal began to move. I flattened it out to form a disk, then I shaped a curve to it so that it would fit snug to any tree. I stuck it back in the fire again. I needed something that would represent Wallace and his men, and I couldn't think of anything better than a lion with his mouth open in a roar. My father taught me how to scribe letters and numbers into the metal, but nothing like this. It would take some time to get it right.
It took most of the night to finish the marker. I would heat and scribe, heat and scribe. I was finally happy with what I had created and quenched the hot metal in a barrel of oil to harden it. After that, it was off to the sand stone to polish it. The sand stone didn't work though, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to shine, it still had that dull look that absorbed light. The finish was smooth as glass, but flat and absent of any life to it. Maybe that was more proper than something shiny and sparkly. It was the final resting place of a troop of warriors.
"Pitre, that is remarkable, I told you that it would be done perfectly."
"Darius, I hope I didn't keep you all awake through the night."
"No worries of that Pitre. the rhythmical hammering actually put all the men to sleep. A few of us took shifts to keep watch over the horses, other than that, every man got a full nights rest. A few of them are still sleeping now. You should go and join them while you can."
"I will, but first thing once everyone is up and ready, we are going back to the site and placing this marker. I made a few very strong nails so that we can place it on a tree that overlooks the mounds."
"I will tell everyone as the wake, to be ready as soon as you are. Those men will never be forgotten now because of what you are doing. Thank you Pitre."
"There is no need to thank me, I'm only doing what should be done. Sir Salvor is the one that needs to be thanked. He fought alongside of them, and then was left for dead. With all of his remains strength he buried each of those men so that they would have a proper rest. I only made a small marker to remember them."
"That is why we all love you Pitre. That humility that you have. You truly don't realize who and what you are to us do you?"
"What are you talking about Darius?"
"There it is again. Pitre, someday you will figure it out. I'm sure of that. This is the only thing I think I have seen you fail at, and that is actually a good thing."
Darius turned and walked away laughing slightly as he left. I wrapped the marker in a cloth with the nails and stuffed it in an old bag that was lying under the table in the forge, then walked to the old cave in the back to rest my head.
***
We rode back to the site and skinned the bark form the largest tree that overlooked the burial mounds. I nailed the marker there It fit tightly to the tree, so that no one would be able to pry it from it's perch. We all stood in silence around Sir Wallace's mound to pay our final respects before leaving to find any villagers that needed escort to the Crystal Palace.
***
We found the first villages hiding along the trail. They were all dirty and some had bloody clothes from wounds that had already healed from when they were forced form their villages. The cried at the sight of the Knights and praised them for being their saviors.
"You aren't out of the forest yet, we still need to get you to the Palace. That is where you will truly be safe, but for now, you are in the best hands that the Realm has. This man beside me is the Patchwork Knight, and there isn't a man alive that can best him with a sword. Along with him, we will get you to the Palace where you can be fed, cleaned and live in peace like you once did."
"Thank you Sir Knight. We have heard tales of The Patchwork Knight. To actually see him, is truly a blessing for us. If you have any spare swords, or weapons, we will gladly fight beside him to get the worst of us to the Palace and it's safety. There is are bandits along this trail that have kept us from going any farther., but now that you are here, we know that they stand no chance against us."
"Those bandits have already been taken care of."
"They have? We were told that it was the band of Black Blade himself."
"It was, and you will see what is left of his blade when you pass the resting place of some of our fallen Knights, who battled Raiders near here. The Patchwork Knight saw to it himself to make a marker from the blade that has killed so many in the Realm."
"Ahhh, the bard of the land Sir Constance is spreading the tales of Sir Patchwork Knight far and wide."
"Somebody has to do it."
"Sir Constance, no one needs to know about me or what we do. We do it to protect the Realm and help those who are in need."
"See fine people of the Realm, The Patchwork Knight is here to protect you from all that will dare to cause you harm."
"That's enough Sir Constance, let's get these people in carts and wagons and get them back to the Palace. We will send a scout ahead of us to make sure the trail is clear. Thank you for volunteering Sir Constance. Your witty banter will be missed, but you effort will be invaluable to our effort."
"I guess I walked into that one didn't I."
"Yes you did. I will need one other volunteer to go with him. Sir Constance of course will need someone to talk to along the way."
A groan came from all the men, but finally one did step forward, and the two went off along the trail back to the Palace.
"Are you truly the Patchwork Knight?"
"I am. How have you heard about me?"
"Knights have been through before, they were only in pairs so they couldn't safely watch over a small caravan of people. They told us to stay hidden and that a new Knight was protector of the Realm. A Patchwork Knight. They said he could battle a whole army without being scratched by their blades. He had the power to bring men back to life. Is this all true?"
"Those are tales. I am only a Knight in the King's service. I will promise to keep you as safe as I can on the way to the Palace, and that is all I can promise."
"That is good enough. We will fight along side you as we said. If you have any extra weapons we will swing them in your service."
"We have a few, most of them are old weapons we picked up from the bandits. Please, swing them in your own service. You owe me nothing."
"You may not have done anything physically for us yet, but I do suspect you will, but you have given us hope, and that is something that we had lost when we were forced from our village. We honor the King, but even he was forced from his home. We are grateful that he has allowed us a place in his Palace, but it is you who will get us there. We may think we owe you nothing, but I can say, that we owe you everything."
"I can't accept what doesn't belong to me. I am only an extension of the King himself. He is doing this for you."
"That may be, but you are the one standing in from of me now. I will thank the King if I ever get to see him, but until then, I am in your service, tell me what you need of us, and we will do it."
"Just keep yourself safe and as far from any action that we may encounter. That is all you need to do for me. It is my job and the job of these Knights to get you safely to the Palace, and we take that job very seriously. You will see the King and you will get to thank him yourself, I will personally see to that. What is you name good sir?"
"My name is Vincent, Sir Patchwork Knight."
"Well Vincent, I am Pitre. there is no need for calling me Sir Patchwork Knight. It's too long and it's only a nickname that these men standing around you have given me."
"I'd say that it fits you well. Even your armor is a patchwork. I like the name Pitre, but I like Sir Patchwork Knight even more."
"So be it, gather the me you think can best handle a weapon, and bring them back to me, I will take you to what weapons we have to offer you."
A few minutes later, Vincent came back with 5 hearty looking men and I handed out the few extra weapons that we had. I showed them how best to handle them and they took to it well. With in a few minutes they looked like a somewhat trained strike troop ready for action. Action that I hoped they wouldn't see. They all thanked me and walked back to the small gathering of villagers to show off what they had learned. I watched with a smile on my face. Seeing the villagers happy and safe lifted me. I would see them standing in the soft light of the Crystal Palace.
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