The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 26)
It had been several weeks since the patrol of scouts came to the village. I spent that time preparing to leave my cave for the first time in years, other than to go into the forest for trees and to train. I put together some armor from what was in the hidden room. I kept the chain mail shirt, I used my leather gauntlets, I had to add longer twine to keep them on my arms. The armored boots fit well, finally. I found an old pair of leather trousers from my father in a chest. I found an old pair of riding gloves in one of the burnt cabins, that somehow managed to survive the fires. I put my metal gauntlet and glove that Galdren had made me all those years ago, in a bag that I carried on me. I was close to fitting it, but no there yet. If I tried to fight in it, I would probably lose my sword, but I would wear it one day.
That bag held the gauntlet, and what little food I had dried for an extended journey. It was all dried vegetables and a few berries. All the horses that were left behind by the scouts that I had killed had sword sheaths on the saddles. I carried my sword on my back, and put my father’s in the sheath. I had been practicing using both of them, and came to find, that when I wielded both of them, I preferred using my father’s in my right hand, but when I fought single bladed, I preferred my own sword. I strapped my ax to the back of the horse’s saddle.
I rode off with two horses, so that I wouldn’t tax them from riding all day. I didn’t know how far I would have to ride to find any village with survivors. I left the goats and the other horses on the mountain, they had plenty of grass to graze, and there was a small trickle stream that ran down the mountain for them to have water. I wasn’t leaving for good.
I stayed on the trail that I thought would lead me to the Kingdom for three days. I was going at a slow pace, but even at that slow of a pace, I should have made the Kindgom by now.I would stop to rest the horses and forage for fresh vegetables and berries. I would also take that time to climb trees and see if I could see any villages in the distance, but none were to be found. It was on that third day that I finally came across another living soul.
I was perched in a tall tree looking all around, when I saw a cloud of dust rising from the trail ahead of me. It was quite a ways in the distance, but at the speed it was moving, whoever it was, would be upon me in an hour. I took the horses further into the forest on the side of the trail, I ate some of my dried berries and readied myself for what was to come.
I sat leaning against a tree on the side of the trail. I could see the dust cloud from the ground now and it was getting bigger and closer with each passing moment. When I could hear the thunder of hoof prints, I rose from my quaint little spot under the tree, and walked to the middle of the trail with both swords in hand. My sword pointed toward the ground in my left hand, while I propped my fathers sword on my right shoulder.
Faint figures began forming in the dust cloud. First it was a large blob of darkness, then it began to divide, into three smaller figures. As they came closer, I entered the Swordsman’s Euphoria. I reached out and touched the stone to gather the aether. My sight became more focused and I could see that the three riders were Raiders, their muddy brown garb standing out against the pale tan of the dust being kicked up by their horses. When the riders took notice of me, they began to reign their horses in and slow. They stopped a few dozen yards from where I stood. They shifted in their saddles and looked at one another, if they spoke it wasn’t loud enough for me to hear at this distance. One finally spoke up, it was the lead rider.
“What do we have hear boys? A young lad with mighty sword is thwarting our progress back to our legion. What will we ever do?”
“You could always ride around me.”
The riders began nudging their horses forward at a slow walk.
“Oh, we could do that, but what is the fun in that? We can’t just leave you here alone on this desolate trail. We must take you someplace safe.”
“Oh, I have a suggestion. I say we take him to meet his maker.”
“That is a very good suggestion. Since you have put that suggestion forth, I will allow you to take care of this matter.”
The rider on the left of the lead rider spurred his horse into a gallop. He bore down on me with all the speed that the horse could muster, but I stood my ground. I stood until the very last second. I slid to the right and then leapt in the air back towards the horse. I sprang high enough to avoid the horses head, and took my father’s blade and planted it in the center of the rider’s chest. The blow took him from his mount. As we flew through the air together, I could see the terror in his eyes, as he knew he would be dead before he hit the ground. Before we struck the ground I withdraw the sword and balled into a roll, landing again on my feet to face the remaining two riders.
“It appears that your fellow Raider has failed in his task. I’m still all alone on this trail, in need of a savior to take me to meet my maker. Will no one help me?”
The other two riders looked at one another and spurred their horses into full on charges at me. They ran side by side, with no space between. I would only be able to get to one of them at a time, but that didn’t matter. One at a time or all at once, they would die either way. I ran to meet them in hopes that it would separate the horses, but they had control of their mounts. I dove and rolled to the side. I could feel the flank of one of the horses as it brushed my foot. I cut it a little too close. I sprung to my feet and ran after them. I knew they would have to turn at some point, and they wouldn’t be able to do that side by side. I tugged at the aether a little more, and my speed increased. I gained ground on them as they separated to turn. I followed the lead rider, as he slowed to turn his mount, I leapt into the air and took him from the saddle. We both landed on the grass earth below. I heard a loud “Hrrumph” as the air left his body. When I grabbed him from the horse, I had my blades behind his back, but at the last second, I was able to pull my left hand out. My right was pinned underneath his body. I rolled to my right dragging my own blade across his throat. His hands immediately went to his throat to try and keep his blood from spilling all over the ground, it was no use. He sat up, in one final attempt to live, but that freed my other sword hand, and I simply drove that sword into his back.. He fell over on his side in a pool of his own blood.
I retrieved my father’s sword, and quickly looked around for the final rider. He was stopped twenty yards from where I was. He was starring in astonishment at what had just happened. When He saw me rise, he took off down the trail in the direction he was originally headed. I could have chased him down, but a voice spoke in my head, and said that there would be other days.
I gathered the horses from the riders, and took them to where I had left my horses. I took the bodies of the Raiders and carried them off the trail and into the forest, and left them for a carrion beast to have a meal. I took anything from them that could be of use. I found a filled waterskin and an old dagger on one of them. The other had a few scraps of dried meat, and a hatchet. I walked the horses back to the trail and before leaving the area, I brushed sand and leaves over the blood on the ground. There was still a few hours of daylight left, and I was hoping to get to whatever village they were coming from. I was hoping to find some survivors, or maybe a full village, since there was only three men, they could have been an advanced scouting party. I now had a train of horses following me, so travel was slow. I found the husk of a village just before the sun fell to the ground. It appeared to have been burned weeks, maybe months ago.
I tied the horses on the outer edge of the village, and stayed for the night. Tomorrow would come and I would find someone from the Realm eventually.
For Chapter 27 follow link below.
