The Ruins of Crosskeys, Ralda
Alicja and Christain had been traveling for over a day. Their ‘escape’ from Fishgrove had been easier than they predicted. All the soldiers whom had remained were too busy scavenging through the rubble to pay them any attention. They hadn’t even set up any guards at the gateway allowing them both the pass through completely unnoticed. Alicja and Christain been careful to avoid the main road, even in their disguises they couldn’t risk being recognised by anyone, afterall Ralda was now enemy territory. They were currently heading to the village of Crosskeys; the village elder was a woman called Marisa Winter and she had been a close friend of her father. Though Alicja had only met her a few times her father had always spoken highly of her loyalty. She was sure that she would keep them safe, either way she didn’t have much choice, anyone else whom she had trusted was either dead or no longer in Ralda. Alicja and Christain had since removed the armour that they had been wearing; it was too heavy for them to travel cross country. Besides, Alicja's now burnt face made for a far better disguise than a suit of armour ever would. Alicja’s injuries had been worse than she originally thought. They had stopped at a river during their journey across Ralda’s countryside and Alicja had been able to see the full extent of her injuries: The left side of her face was scared and her hair and been singed. Though the scaring would fade in time she knew that the damage done was permanent.
“We’re almost there” Alicja said gleefully; they had been walking near nonstop over the past day and Alicja was exhausted. Though as they neared Crosskey’s her heart sank as the sight of smoke rising from the village became clear.
An aging knight was crossing this strech of land deeming it relatively safe as the war had already passed through. He slowly made his way along the road on horseback, as he hummed a [link=
youtube.com/watch?v=h6MXJJaec4I] song [/link] in his deep voice, thinking about this world wistfully.
The glory of war. Ah the bloody glory of war truely is something only someone who has never actually seen a war could have come up with. Sir Ramfrey was pretty certain of that. When it rolled around again this time, and a bigger one at that than he had seen so far, he already was fed up with it. He quickly saw his Page of a few seasons pack up and search out employment for one of the wargoing houses. He tried halfheartedly to stop the young man hungry for glory, but in the end let him go his way. There is no stopping the foolish from their folly, you just need to let them go. Ramfrey himself had kept his distance from the strongholds of nobles.
He had no thirst for blood and did not wish to be enlisted as some Lord's sworn sword, so he driftet the lands taking jobs from the smallfolk to guard them. Sometimes for nothing more than horsefeed, a place in a stable and some mead and food for himself. But there where worse ways to live through these times. Less honourable ways too. No one thought about the small folk much, and their lot was something he had no envy for. They where the true victims of their lords thirst for land and glory. Making a buck by helping and guarding them and from time to time giving a few looting solderies a thrashing was a not too bad way to pass the time. It was important to to get too troublesome for, or too close to the warhosts roaming the land of course, and best not to let too many people know ones identity, but there where other similar hedgeknights around.
He abandoned his thoughts as a pillar of smoke came into view behind a bend in the road. He stopped humming, sat up straighter and clicked his tongue. His Horse picked up a quicker gait and he quickly made his way to the next hilltop, unmounting there to scan the scene presenting itself before his eyes.
The village had been completely ransacked. Smoke rose from the cindering rubble of what used to be houses. Corpses littered the soot covered road and whomever had carried out the raid had already looted them. As Alicja and Christian neared the center of the village the worst atrocity came into sight. The body of Marisa Winter hung from the village tree, a dagger had been stabbed into her eye and a wooden board hung from around her neck. Across it read the words ‘traitor’. Alicja and Christain stood frozen on the spot, a clear look of horror on their faces.
"This is vile" Alicja spat. She wanted nothing more than to tear her eyes away from what stood before her, but as much as she wanted to, she just couldn't. How? how could her homeland fall into such a state? What did the people of Crosskeys ever do to earn such a terrible fate. She finally managed to turn away to face Christain, but before she could talk to him she was interrupted by the sound of thuggish voices coming towards them. The source of the voices soon came clear as five Anjervine soldiers came into view as they walked out from the only house that hadn't been destroyed. While all of them were only wearing leather Armour, they were still armed and clearly dangerous.
"...Then where else did you twats put it" Blurted out one of them; an extremely ugly man with a bald head. Judging from his demeanor and tone he was likely the one in charge "I gave you my dagger when I strung her up, so unless you managed to loose it when..." he stopped once he saw Alicja and Christain. Initially there was a look of shock on his face, but it soon twisted itself into to a disturbing smile.
"Looks like we still missed a few, I guess we should remedy that" He said with a cruel laugh as all five of them drew their weapons and charged towards Alicja and Christain. Though both Alicja and Christain still had their weapons this was not a fight they could win. It would take a miracle for hem to survive this.
Ramfrey had left his trusty steed before reaching the crest and in a careful ducked way crept upward to inspect where the smoke was coming from. Lying on his belly he scanned the village, or what was left of it. The Town square could still be made out, but only because it was less covered by rubble and ash. Around it the blackened posts of burned down buildings blackly stuck out of piles of debris. He sighed in a fatigued way, as in his mind Sir Berdigs kindly voice told him; ‘Another village burned to the ground, do you remember boy?’ He looked sideways into the blue face of his dead Master. “You are not here.” He said in a hoarse voice as he made out the sad tree with a dead person nailed to it. ‘I am not, you buried me.’ The spectre admitted. “So stop talking to me, I am trying to do something here.” ‘Look that one building is still standing. Did you see the horses behind it, boy?’ He nodded. “You only know this because I do.”
At that moment the movement of something at the periphery of his vision dispelled the haunting vision of his dead Sire. Two wayfarers where nearing the village, despite the distance it was clear that they where rather young. He looked back towards the lone surviving house to see movement behind the windows. The horses seemed unsettled and one of them whinnied loudly. There was definitely a small looting party there, likely the rearguard to the raid that had done this. He touched his swords handle. “My Lady, seems like we will need to defend some wayward wanderers.”
As the Soldiers raised their short swords and closed in on Alicja and Christain, Ramfrey galloped down the mountain, for now unseen. Christain had deflected a first blow from the bald leader as Ramfrey was upon them. In full gallop he burst into the armed group, striking down one of them and trampling another. He fell from his mount, falling onto one of the soldiers. A shrill yelp at the pain of being rammed, disclosed that this soldier was female.
Ramfrey grunted as he fought her for a moment, he could not bring his sword to bear this close, so he made quick work of the woman by plunging the dagger from the small of his back into her side. She ceased fighting as he scrambled to his feet, Sword still in one hand, dagger in the other. In two strides he held the tip of his sword at the bald mans throat, who had managed to back Christain and Alicja to the tree.
“Yield.” He demanded in a deep rumble. Keeping the fifth and so far unhurt soldier at bay by throwing him short glances and slightly raising his dagger. “You saw what I did to your other henchmen, yield.” The effect was rather enhanced by the wailing of the female soldier, and the fact that the one he had struck in the back was crawling away with great urgency, from his trampled comrade's dead body. “Are you hurt?” He said, in a slightly softer rumble to Christain and Alicja.
Alicja had watched the ordeal unfold in surprise. This stranger had appeared from no where and in a matter of seconds had seemingly defeated all five of the raiders in a matter of seconds. The skill at which this man wielded his blade reminded her of Godwyn. Alicja opened her mouth to respond, however she stopped as she noticed the bald man drawing a short sword form behind his back; clearly trying to stab the stranger while he was distracted by his comrade.
"LOOK OUT" she cried desperately trying to warn him in time
Ramfrey had not really expected any of them to actually make a move. It was reckless towards the life of the other to do so, thus he was caught by surprise. He managed to deflect the blow with the dagger in his offhand, as he let himself fall backward. The blades very tip grazed his eyebrow on the down swing and came dangerously close to his eye. The accumulated adrenaline made the scene unfold curiously slow for Ramfrey. He lost grip of his own sword in the quick movement. The bald man's sword buried itself in the ground and the man nearly fell, surprised not to have hit the knight properly, he grunted loudly.
The other soldier took the moment to attack too, as Ramfrey landed on his bottom beside him.
A lot happend quickly but after an instant the struggle was at a standstill again.
The knight had stopped the man's attack by quickly unbalancing him with a kick and deflecting his blow with his dagger. What the assailant had not expected was that Ramfrey had, after letting go of his sword, been able to produce his second dagger that was now buried in the man's belly.
As he freed himself from the soldier the bald man was upon him again. Crossing both daggers in front of himself he was able to catch the blade. He again kicked upon his foe, with both feet this time and by rolling sideways and using this leverage he freed the sword from the man. Sword and both daggers flew away from both of them, lying on the ground now.
"I said yield! Damn you!" he bellowed at the other.
Their eyes met, ramfreys one eye occluded by his brows strong bleeding running down his face. Both tried to crawl for the blades in the same moment, but collided and soon they where rolling on the ground trading savage blows. As he fell, or when the other soldier had tried to kill him Ramfrey must have taken a heavy blow to his lower back, it hurt quite a bit, and thus he was at a disadvantage and soon the bald man was on top. He was now choking ramfrey, Who was pinned below. Trying to loosen the bald man's iron like grip was futile or so it seemed.
Christain wasted no time as he watched the bald man choke their rescuer. He had saved their lives and he could at the very least return the favor. Christain charged towards them with his sword drawn. The bald man was too focused on the knight to even Acknowledge Christain. Christain stabbed his sword into the bald mans back causing him to spit up blood. The bald man's grip loosened around the knights neck as he tumbled over sidewards. Christain stood over the man, as he raised his sword above his head the bald man shrieked out
"WAIT" he cried as Christain brought his sword into the man's skull. Alicja had quickly rushed over the the Knights side and she gentle helped him to sit up
"Are you alright sir"?
Ramfrey coughed, still greedily catching his breath. He nodded, wiping away the blood from his brow. It was not as bad as he had feared at first, but this side of his face was still quite slick with it. He grunted a bit as he patted his torse, a stabbing pain coming from there, probably an effusion from falling. "I've been worse, me lady. I assure you about that."
As hard as he tried to hide it Alicja could tell that the man was in pain.
"Please good sir let me look at your wounds it's the least I can do for saving our lives" She said as she reached into her leather pouch; during her journey across Ralda she had collected various herbs and ingredients. "May I ask for your name sir, judging from your skills with a sword I imagine you are more than a common sell sword. My name is Alicja" As she said this Christain threw her a sudden glace. Alicja quickly grew silent as she realized what she had done; Christain had been constantly telling her to be careful with whom she gave her name to, as anyone could be a enemy and yet here she was revealing it to a complete stranger.
Ramfrey chuckled at that, maybe with a tad of bitterness. "Ah you are observant, me lady, but not yet wise. This is neither the time..." he stood up, sighing and grunting. "...nor the place to clean wounds or communicate details like our names" He collected his weapons and sheathed them, then by calling actually made his horse come back to him "If you do not possess an own mount you can both ride with me, at least until we are at a save distance." He sighed again and added in a lower voice."If these here were mere ruffians we could take one of the horses as I have decimated their number." he grunted heavily as he mounted up "But I am sure they are part of a warhost, and it would not be wise nor honourable to steal from their lords." He looked over at those still breathing soldiers. "As much as pillaging like this in itself is neither."
"Will your horse be able to carry both of us sir?" Alicja said as she put her various herbs back into her pouch. The surviving Anjervine soldiers had started to limp away while Christain glared at them venomously. Alicja had only just realized that their presence here made no sense. House Greensworth had taken control of Ralda, so why were Anjervine soldiers raiding through the countryside? A question she would have to ponder over later. For now the knight was right; they couldn't stay here.
"Very well, we will follow you" She said confidently "lead on"
***
They had made a hurried, but not hasty escape from the ruined village. First all three on Ramfrey's horse to get away before reinforcements to the soldiers would come searching for them. After about an hour or two they instead took turns on the mount, not to wear it down too much.
As evening came they had set up a small camp in a hollow between trees, a bit away from the road. Ramfrey had insisted upon keeping the fire small, not to get any unwanted attention, he was now sitting bare chested as Alicja patched him up. He was really very trained and if it wasn't for this his slightly deformed chest would have been painfully apparent. The cut on his brow had scabbed up nicely, and aparently needed no aditional attention. Until then they had not talked much.
"So a highborn lady, roaming the land, having to be saved by an old hedgeknight." he chuckled, amusement glinting in his eye. "By the name of Alicja, no less." He mustered Christain for a time, his smile fading from his lips but still lingering in his gaze "You are not Ian though..."
"My name is Christain. You need not concern yourself with me, I am just a servant" Christain's expresion remained expressionless as he replied. There was a brief silence before Alicja decided to break it
"You seem to know my family quite well Sir Ramfrey, despite not orginating from Ralda"
"I used to know your father, he was quite the swordsman back in the day." He sighed. "Well I was quite renowned myself, but that might have been because of this here dwarfen steel sword falling into my hands at an early age." He looked back at Christain "No one is just a servant young Christain, every nobleman who wishes to be knighted, and I assure you most do, has to serve as a page and squire. Every Lord serves his King and his smallfolk just as much as they serve him in a way. We all serve, for better or worse, each at his station in life."
"Unfortunately I don't think many other knights share your view. Most nobles only look to serve themselves. Especially our new king, how anyone could support that snake is beyond me" Christain mumbled, like the Mazeltof's he too expressed a particular dislike for the De Reimer family. Alicja had finished patching up Ramfrey. She had done quite a good job of it despite having to make do with the few materials she had on hand.
"What brought you to Ralda, Ramfrey"? She said as tried to quickly change the subject "did you perhaps come to swear fealty to my father? If so I fear you are too late. Fishgrove has been burnt to the ground, I am unsure if father even lives" She said sadly. It tortured Alicja that she did not know what had happened to her family or if any of them were alive.
He was quiet for a moment, did she actually not know? That might well be the case of course, but still. He started by explaing how he came to be around. "I am not the youngest man, It has been...decades since I have been knighted. I know from experience that war is by its very nature a despicable, not an honourable business. And do not delude yourself it is a business, to the lords, to the knights, to the mercenaries. They all hope to get something out of it. Glory, land, prestige, money, renown, revenge."
He sighed shifting a bit. "Between wars and if there is no feud, lords tend to let go quite a few of their sworn swords. Still in peace you can make a living as a hedgeknight by attending tourneys, if you are good at this that is. Or if you have enough to live from you can roam the land quite freely, see the world, get to know people, maybe take on a squire or two." He chuckled bitterly. "Excuse my rambling me Lady." He stared into the fire for a bit.
"No need to apologise sir" Alicja said with a smile. Christain though listening had a look of general dis-interest on his face.
"This time around, when war came, I was not sworn to anyone, and believe me my taste for honour and renown is quite sated. I let my squire join an army because he still had the hunger for this, but me." he shook his head, maybe defeatedly. "I was in no obligation to do so right away and thus kept to traveling the land, keeping close to the war hosts, helping smallfolk protect their livelihood, guarding travelers and similar things. Soldiers, once out of their commanders view are often times criminals, taking from those weaker then them, and outside their own dominion, lords tend to even encourage pillage and plunder." He shrugged. "I could delude myself and say that I am doing good, but most likely I am not. There are worse ways to weather a war, really and at times people pay in coin, sometimes with horsefeed and food, or a warm spot to sleep. "
He shot her a short glance ."Do not think me craven or disloyal please. I have been knighted way back in the civil war, after the battle between house Willow and Neptunia. I must say, it is not nice seeing a noble house fall, and even less so if it is the one you are fighting for.." he was quiet for a moment. "None the less I have been in service to quite a few minor houses loyal to both your house and the Manshrew's over the years, and have a high opinion of both. If I had been near Ralda at the beginning of the war, I would have sworn to your house at that very moment." He looked her in the eyes, intensely, the fire's smoke making his eyes red. He took some time to find his voice, and when he did it was rumbly and hoarse. "It pains me that I have to tell you this, but word on the streets is that the Mazeltof army has been defeated entirely by a Concord war host."
He held his breath as he was waiting for a reaction, his forehead deeply furrowed in sympathy.
The smile on Alicja's face disappeared. This news had even caught Christain's attention who was now on his feet.
"That...that can't be" Alicja said tearfully as she slumped onto her knees "The entire Mazeltof force? Surely some must of escaped via our fleet. What of my family, please tell me if you know. What of Pearl, Godwyn, Dilys?" Alicja stammered.
He nodded still looking at her sympethetically. He continued in a softer voice "There are contradicting rumors about what became of your family. I rather not speculate about this. A safe bet is that any remainder of your fathers army will seek out protection by the Manshrews. Family members of your's might be among these people." he added after a pause. "I am truely sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. I had only realised you did not know when you asked me...."
Alicja was silent for a while. Up to this point she had been holding onto hope that her family had escaped safely, now she knew it was unlikely that all of them had survived, if any. The silence continued as Alicja stared into the fire for over a minute. It still didn't feel real, everything that had happened; Fishgrove, Crosskeys, her family.
"You said that if any of my family survived they will be with house Manshrew"? She said finally "If that is the case then I must head their and see if any of them still live. I can go to Nyhem and get a boat to Coruneon from there".
He nodded. "This is the most likely save haven for them, at least when they manage to cross the sea." He stared at the fire again for some time.
"If you really wish to get to Nyhem, it would be wise to let no one know who you really are. So I need to ask you, have you been at court since you where a child? Is there a chance someone might recognize you, me Lady?"
"Not with this they won't" Alicja said as she pointed to the burnt scaring on her face. "Besides my enemies probably think I am dead by now, what with me being trapped in a burning church, as such no one will be looking for me"
Ramfrey nodded at that, looking at her again. A bit of his tension dissipated. Then he said, again quite softly. "Would you mind pretending to be a bastard daughter of mine? I have rarely been at court, but am recognizable enough, and I think it is an open secret that I did father children with a few of,....my conquests. It is a convenient lie." He looked at the young man then. "You could play the part of my squire, young Christain. What do you two say?"
Alicja glaced over at Christain who after a brief second, nodded in agreement.
"Very well sir Ramfrey" said Alicja
"It is settled then, on the morrow we travel for Nyhem. It would be best for the both of you to get some sleep."
