The Keep at Echo Valley
Phillip of the House Greeling twisted in his saddle to again glance back to the people following behind him. My people, he thought to himself. My subjects. There were mounted warriors, counselors, smithies, builders, teamsters, farmers, artisans, bakers, and more; in all, between those on horseback, in wagons and carts, or walking alongside or at the tail, more than 60 people -- men, women, and their children -- had followed Phillip on a ten day trek to Echo Valley. There were even a few whores hidden amongst the number, though not as hidden as the sole priest amongst the entourage would have preferred.
"Why do they call it Echo Valley?"
The mounted man beside Phillip, Terrano -- the Captain of Guard and one of Phillip's oldest and dearest friends -- had been eying the steep cliff falling away on his side of the mountain trail. One misstep by his horse and both he and the animal would be lost to gravity and, ultimately, to the river that could be heard but not seen at the bottom of the treacherous decline. Once registering his Lord's question, Terrano looked over his shoulder and whistled sharp and short to one of the mounted Guardsmen riding just behind him and the newly-knighted Noble. "Why do they call it Echo Valley?"
Without hesitation and all in one motion, the Guardsman ripped his sword out of its scabbard and swiped it to his right, coming solidly into contact with the shield of the unsuspecting Guardsman beside him. As the clash of metal on metal dispersed out through the valley, the shocked man exclaimed with a profanity and reached for his own weapon, unsure of what exactly was taking place. A moment later, the first of several echoes -- of the clash and of the foul response -- came back to the group and to the man whose question had initiated the mock attack.
The mayhem and the repeating sound of it continued for some time as the two Guardsmen playfully pounded at each other with sword and shield until finally Terrano reminded the two that they were one stupid move away from a very long drop. Laughter and giggling from the entourage gave way a moment later to a return of the singing that had on occasion kept Phillip from going mad over the seemingly endless trek.
It seemed a life time ago that they'd left the Capital, a life time more since he'd been given a Noble title -- with the rights and responsibilities that came with it -- and another life time more before that when the Greeling men -- Phillip, his father, and his two brothers, all now dead save for Phillip himself -- had been part of the now ended war. It was during that war, during the final battle, that the Greelings -- simple landed peasants, not knights or lords -- had rallied and led a mounted army of more than 500 men to crush the year old siege that had very nearly seen the end of the Royal House of Backkrum.
The slow trek continued for another three hours when finally the steep canyon walls began to widen and a green valley began to make itself known. Soon, the train came to a stop as the trail began its plummet, and Phillip was looking down upon his lands, a wide, heart shaped valley that flanked the merging of two rivers that became the one the people of House Greeling had been following for the past several days.
"This is all mine?" Phillip asked Terrano in a low whisper, not wanting the others to find him un-Noblelike in his disbelief that he could be Lord of such a land. When his Captain nodded to him, Phillip's lips smiled wide. He'd never in his life imagined that he would ever have more than a small portion of his father's 50 acre farm, and now he was Lord of an entire valley. He glanced back over his shoulder at the weary entourage, then back to Terrano. "We will do good things here, Captain."
"You will, m'lord," Terrano corrected, reminding Phillip that he was the one now in charge. Looking down the slope to a shaded portion of the valley, the Captain pointed and said, "You can start by rebuilding that."
Phillip rode forward a bit to get a better view around the cliff's edge. A small village sat surrounded by cultivated fields, which were surrounded in turn by open grasslands, recently harvested forestland, and finally the still standing forests that rose up the steepening valley walls. Phillip didn't immediately understand what Terrano had meant with You can start by rebuilding that until his gaze fell upon his future home, the Keep.
He grimaced, asking softly of Terrano, "What happened to it?"
Terrano answered with a solemn tone, "War happened, m'lord."
Phillip had been shown a painting of the Keep shortly after being named Master of it...
...but what he saw now was practically a ruin. The wooden roofs were singed black from fire or simply missing, having collapsed under the weight and momentum of trebuchet-thrown rocks and fire balls. Most of the stone work of the main tower seemed still intact but when they would inspect the far side of the Keep, they would find an upper portion of that wall also collapsed and in need of immediate attention.
Phillip could only barely identify what had once been a sturdy, secure pole palisade protecting the inner and outer wards. Some of the wall had been breached, repaired, and then breached again by the three separate assaults launched during the ten years of conflict. But warfare could not explain the near total absence of a palisade now. Phillip would learn later that much of the missing pole work had been removed after the fall of Echo Valley, used by the peasantry for other purposes around the village, from construction to fire heating.
"We will rebuild it," Phillip said with a confident tone. He again glanced back over the people behind him, then to Terrano. He repeated with a steadfast expression and tone, "We will rebuild it. I will not let this opportunity to do something important and meaningful with my life go unanswered."
"You already have, m'lord," the Captain responded without hesitation. Terrano looked behind them to the two banners held high by a pair of Guardsmen several yards behind them. "It's why we are here."
One was the banners featured the newly designed crest of the House of Greeling, Phillip's crest. It included a small red shield surrounded by a half dozen towering fir trees with a grain field at their base. The trees and field were meant to signify the bounty offered by Phillip's new lands, the Echo Valley.
The small red shield, however, could be more easily seen on the second banner, which offered a much larger and more intricate version of it, set in a field of dark blue. This was the crest of the Royal House of Backkrum, to which Phillip owed his allegiance and his blessing of the land below him.
"You saved the King's life," Terrano continued, urging Phillip to begin his horse down the trail before them. "You saved the King and the Crown. And did something important and meaningful. And now you will do the same for a second time … here."
1x Like
