Shadow and images flash in his mind, unrelenting battles coming back over and over. waking up with a nudge and sunlight licking his window and resting on his face. It was morning, Morning here on this farm where no battles were ever fought for him to keep this land. No, this land was his by right of finding it and remain uninhabited. He slowly stands up out of bed, rubbing his shoulder muscles and feeling the old scars. More flashes of blood, blood , must kill, hold that line!... images filled with pain. A sweet voice dulls the images and the pain. Like honey covering a half eaten piece of bread. "Are you okay love?" the voice comes from a partially covered red head. She slightly rotates in bed and yawns.

"I'm fine wife, thank you." He said as if the pain was all but gone from him. Turning fully to her and now smiling he leans over the bed and kisses her lips. "The gods are in a good mood today, its a glorious morning outside."

"Ahhh but husband, tis this morn would be grand if it's thou would keep thy body warm here a while longer." She winked at him and drew back her red hair over her shoulders.

"We are not in the Aquillas wife, no need for that high talk around here." He kissed her hard again, then pulled away to put on pants and tied the string around his waist. "Care to join me for a bathe in the lake?" he winked at her as he motioned to the door.

She put on a quick gown and walked down with her husband holding his hand down the stairs in into the main floor of this cabin, then past the main entrance, and into the bright orange morning sun. it was still cool out. and much of the morning dew was still out. the warmth of the sun could be felt as they came out and headed down wooden planks going to the lake. They tread carefully as the wood planks were slippery this morning. He took the first jump in, came back up to the surface shaking his short dark brown hair, gasping.

"Sheeva has blessed this lake with cooling waters this morning." he said while raising one hand to let her know to come in.

"Oh husband, you will be the death of me and yer fooling around like that" she said while smiling at him, she took off her gown and slowly lowered her fairly white leg into the waters. she shuttered but then jumped in. She came up screaming how cold the water was.

He asked his wife to grab him the bar of soap they kept hanging on the dock post. Soon as she grabbed it and turned around he had her cornered between him and the docks. He made a remark about how he did not need a bed to keep her warm this morning, then began kissing her and pressing her back against the docks. She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him fully.

*25 minutes later*

They both emerged from the waters and he let her put on her gown. Now his mind was on food and the farm itself. "Going to have to get food for this blessed work day today. I think Ill scare up some quick game for dinner later tonight." He said then looked over and noticed his wife was quiet and smiling. To him he was thinking she was going to play a surprise on him or a joke of some sorts. "Something on yer mind?" he questioned her.

"Oh nothing but im kind of nervous to say..." She wanted to say more but stopped as she was listening in the distance.

He heard it too. sounded like 5 horses in the distance and coming his way. they both walked over to the cabins front door and waited, The wife stood by two weapons by the door incase they were needed a sheathed longsword and a long bow with a quiver of arrows. the sounds became louder but it was not 5 horses. it was 4 horses and a Strider bird, a blue one at that. those were usually held for people of higher standings, faster than horses but not good for hauling goods. 4 of the men were in sequence leather armor he noticed, they had to be guards for the other man. He had a feathered hat on, barely see his blonde hair. he had a clean moustache. he came in with a fake smile but had like most of those higher classes do a have an ignorant stand to anyone who was not them.

"Hail sir." he waited for the husband to respond.

The husband just raised his hand but did not say a word.

"Quite a nice...farm.. i think.. Ive never seen you here before." he stated.

"Thats cause the Aquian Empire has no claim this deep into the interior."

"Im.." the blonde man was interrupted by the husband.

"I know who you are sir. You are Morgan Laturne, CURRENT Thane of Nodwickstead." The husband said.

"Well you seem in tuned to the politics of the area. Though I didst not get thy name sir." Thane Morgan.

"Answers such as that are privy to friends, and loved ones and enemies. You are neither." He said calmly.

The thane did not like having the conversation evaded. He drew breathe to regain composure and came up with an idea based on his status among the elite. reaching into a side satchel of the blue strider bird. Out he pulled a parchment, with one hand he tossed it on the ground. "Well I see pleseantries aside our law of the land says thy land shall be taxed and such of which back taxes will be taken until..." he was then cut off.

"Not paying."

"I beg pardon sir." he was in shock that anyone would talk to him like that.

"The empire has no claim to this land, The empire does not expand inwards as most of its security military is out on boats. the only way that would work is unless there was a river connecting the town to the ocean. I dealt with your predecessor previously bringing the same forked tongue talk as you did and he failed. And you a young thane who has only probably seen 19 or 20 winters honestly thinks you can turn dung to gold. Then I wait with baited breath." The husband said standing with his arm extended and pointing at the young thane.

"...I...wha...Guards!" He stepped back on his strider to let them move up and get off their horses.

"Arrest this man for threatening a member of the court." Saying while sneering at the husband.

"Dear, ma sword please." The husband called to his wife, she quickly grabbed the sword by the sheath and tossed it out the door on the ground. "Please dear, don't kill them and be mindful of the tomato plants were still days away from sprouting." she exclaimed calmly but with a hint of concern more for the health of the guards and the tomatoes. He nodded back at her while walking over to his sword.

The guards drew their weapons, two great axes and a longsword and a long spear. They stood waiting for him to attack, the spear man sitting at the front with the axemen in behind and the swordsman in the rear. The husband slowly moved forward then kicked mud in the spear mans face and kicked the spear to his left, the axe guard on the left moved forward at that second but as he put his foot down on the second stride his right leg got impaled by the spear, he screamed and fell to the ground.

The swords man came up behind the next axe guard on the right side of the husband. He was a slightly bigger one, the axe man came across with his axe attacking the middle and slashing across. the husband ducked and noticed the swordsman coming up behind him. He tried to stab but the husband parried the near fatal blow into the mud. the axeman raised the axe and brought it down to chop his head. The husband rolled out of the way then kicked the axemans knee cap to the side which only stunned him for a moment. He used that time to get up before the swordsman came at him.

With exchanged of parries and thrusts, the guard was doing well at blocking but was very little on the offensive side. "Doing well on yer guard, you should see me about more offensive training." The husband said with affirming smile, the guard tried to smile at the compliment and then his guard was broken in that second and took a right cross fist to the face knocking him to the ground. The spear man cleared the mud from his eyes pulled out the spear, he then helped the stunned axe guard still standing to follow him.

They both charged with the spear man leading and the axeman guard just behind him slightly limping from a sore knee cap. Just as his spear was a foot away from the husband, he parried the spear to his left and dropped the sword and wrapped his left arm around the spear mans neck. He turned the spear man around with left arm still around his neck and gaining control of the spear pointed at the stopped axe guard. "Yer friend is hurt go tend to his spear wound. Now or unless you want a matching set." The husband waited.

The axe guard left to help his friend by dressing his spear wound that was bleeding out. The husband then pulled the spear away and release the spear man guard out of his holding allowing him to get air and pushed him away. "Now fer you, go put yer unconscious friend on his horse." The spear man nodded and cautiously walked over to the knocked out swordsman and picked him up slinging him on his shoulders.

"I will not tolerate this foolery you are making of this court and our laws. You will make a personal enemy of me today because of this. And I will take your land peasant!" Thane Morgan shrilled in the sound of utter humiliation from his personal guards loss. His words become quiet when the spear landed in front of his Blue strider bird.

"You listen to me now. I served my purpose for the empire, and we sacrificed SO MUCH in that war to take back your precious Imperial city." His words were heated and were fueled by a hidden rage.

"We sacrificed hundreds of innocents in the name of yer previous emperor. Blood, and in the end all I wanted to was place far away OUTSIDE of imperial territory to live in peace." Anger grew in the husbands eyes as his words held haunting truth behind them.

"If you want this land you will fight me for it, for I will settle this now and not waste the lives of these men for yer pointless pursuit of pride and self preservation. SO FIGHT ME! COME ON! FIGHT YOU COWARD!" His face was red in fury. his eyes too started to show signs of redness with a glint of a tear in his right eye.

His wife came running down. "no, please calm down my love. do not lose yerself. You are not like that anymore..." he rubbed his back and whispered more words which became inaudible to anyone else around. it worked as he began to calm down.

The thane tried to pull his face away from sheer fear from what he had witnessed just then, as if he saw an animal like rage that of a Furlong or Orc blood rage. The couple started to head back to the cabin, with the wife putting him inside and closing the door. She walked back to the thane. "You take yer men and leave now. I suggest you heed this advice young thane."

The thane was now calm, but agreed to the idea of leaving for fear of his life. "But who is he and what happened that made him hate the empire so?" questioning while waiting for his men to be mounted up. he turned his strider to the side but allowed time for the wife to talk.

"His name is Trodorne Pinewood, Ex-commander of the forces during the Black Hand War, after getting help from the Tyrian Empire he came back to Aquillas help the forces and previous emperor take back the city. As you know the Magi of the black hand used mind control collars on all their slaves who lived in the city, and while on a supposed crucial mission to secure the crown and imperial palace as a new base of operations against the better wishes of his generals." She sighed at that part, and almost broke into a tear.

"Trodorne went with the emperor, but ran into a large group of mind controlled women and many youth sent by the black hand to slow them down till their main magi strike teams came..."

She hesitated and choked on her words a little as she continued on. "The emperor told his men to kill them and that the sacrifice would be worth a great win in the long run to take back the city. 179 innocents died in that attack..."

Deep sadness welled up in her, the words began to come out angry. "All because some damned old fool wanted his crown and throne back. that plan back fired as you know and he died, thus he was replaced by Charback The Wise the current emperor. Though my husband and Charback became friends, he has not been the same since the end of that mission."

"The end of that war did not come soon enough. He ended that war when he defeated their leader of the black hand with all the hate and malice that ive ever seen a man hold in. It scared me on that day. He is still haunted by it." She quickly wiped away the tears.

"Im a healer by nature, but some wounds go to deep. So you..." She pointed at the thane. but the thane put down her finger and nodded.

he marched off, his pride took a back seat as he and his men slowly left. He could not help but think of the wrong he was doing by forcing the husbands hand.

The wife, watched as they left. She quickly went back into the cabin, and watched as her husband was over by the fireplace. tears were in his eyes. She came over to embrace him. "I saw his face on him Amellia, He looked just like that rat bastard..." anger quickly grew on his face. she shushed him. She held him tight as she could feel his heart slow down a bit. The day waned on but silence now filled the cabin.

The End