A Song of the Rising Sun
Chapter 1: Sunset
299A.C.
The Disputed Lands
The Young Man
The Sun set over a blood-red sky on the Disputed Lands today. The wind blew gently to the west, carrying with it a lightly sweet scent of grass and flowers almost in jest to the people on the plains. Tonight, the plains would run red with blood, as they have for longer than anyone can remember. People often think of the Doom as the Doom of just Valyria, but really it was all of Western Essos that was doomed that day. The Valyrians deserved what they got. They butchered half the continent afterall and hypocritically continued the barbaric slave trade they fought against in the Ghiscari Wars, but their children, now called the Free Cities, were safe and in-line. Now, the Free Cities just fight and betray each other to fight more. It's a load of nonsense and they should reorganize into kingdoms with boundaries that they respect, at least this is what the young man thought as he helped his friend don his armor today.
"Hey man, chill-out, we'll be fine!"
"Abe, you need ALL of your armor on before you should even begin talking like that."
"Well, I know, but you've never failed me. If you had, you'd probably be dead by now…"
The Younger Knight
Abe always thought highly of the young man. Despite what the other members of the company say, he always stuck by him for some reason. He saw him as having some sort of potential even though most of their other brothers in the company disagreed. Most called the young man fat and arrogant actually, just judging him on appearances and what they knew about his background. At times, the young man believed it. Abe thought differently.
One of the other leaders in their company, Rae, a lean young woman, more than lethal with a spear, with a past that haunts her as well, also saw this potential and encouraged Abe to look-out for the young man. So, after seeing the young man continue to do his work around the camp despite taking repeated insult and abuse from their brothers – and most of their few sisters – in the company, Abe took the young man under his wing and made sure to train him properly.
"Just think about all we've worked on together. Think about all the training we've done together over these past months. You've survived thus far even though most of our brothers doubted you would. You've even been improving, dramatically in fact."
"Abe, I know, and I can't thank you enough for it. I don't know why you've invested so much time in me, especially since I'm older than you. It's not usually the proper way to do this sort of stuff, training in arms and what have you."
"Fuck tradition! You're older than me, but I'm a better fighter than you, no offense."
"None taken."
"I WANT you to learn from me. You've already made so much progress! It's not that you're bad, it's just that you weren't learning the style you needed. You're not tall enough to really wield a halberd effectively like those fuckers you grew-up a prisoner of were trying to get you to do. You're not thin, nimble, and quick enough to dance with spears soaking in the blood of your enemies like Rae, or for that matter, some of your blood – Don't look at me like that! They might be shits, most of them at least, but at least you've met your family!"
Abe paused for a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts as the Sun continued to set. The young man had a rather complicated family history, one littered with violence and betrayal. Abe knew this from all the young man told him as they grew closer while they trained. The young man should have grown-up with a childhood better than most dream of. Instead, his father made a miscalculation by essentially trading him to be a hostage. Rather than bring his family closer together, this backfired and splintered his family like rays of sunlight being reflected through a glass prism.
Abe continued, "I knew you needed to learn how to fight like a traditional Westerosi knight, the way I fight. Your body is perfect for it though! Once we hardened it a bit to get some more muscle on you, your size wound-up being a great advantage for you! We still have a lot of work to do before you'll be good with a lance, you got to get over your nerves on the horses man, but you've made incredible progress with a longsword on the ground and with hand-to-hand combat! I've gotten out of your head those stupid thoughts of chivalry on the battlefield - because it's all bullshit when you're trying to just kill everything around you so you can live - and gotten you to fight creatively, to not be afraid of getting dirty and bloody in order to live though the fight."
The Young Man
Once again, the young man found himself at a loss for words. Here, in this ragtag military encampment on the other side of the world from where he was used to being, he was getting praise from an anointed knight about his fighting ability. If only they could see him now, his gaolers. Yes, technically speaking he was fostered by them, but when you're just put-down, treated as second-class, like you'd done some sort of unspeakable wrong that couldn't be forgiven, that's not fostering. Rather, that's gaoling. Fortunately, some members of that twisted family were actually quite nice to him. Some of the younger generation, the cousins not in line to inherit the lordship, were wicked nice to him actually. Whether they pitied him, saw potential in him, or both, they were kind to him throughout his captivity/fostering. They always had quiet words of comfort when the lord of the castle, one of his immediate family members, or one of the high ranking members of the household insulted or hit him. They were the ones that actually eventually helped him escape and get out here after his father publically named his younger brother as heir. They knew he couldn't stay anymore since the lord would probably treat him even worse, maybe even kill him.
For all the insults he'd endured while here in Essos with the company, he'd already been through worse. Besides, Abe had his back and he was getting better at fighting. Their daily drills were less exhausting by the day and he'd even managed to knock over Abe the other day during training! For that briefest of moments, he was proud of himself. Then, of course, Abe promptly snapped back to his feet quick as a whip and disarmed him in about half a second. For the rest of his days though, he could claim that, for just a moment, he had bested an anointed knight in a sparring session. That didn't matter though if they didn't make it out of this battle.
"Abe, I can never thank you enough for everything you've done for me, I really can't. You're my best friend. There! All set! You've got your armor, I've got mine. Maybe we'll be OK."
"No, we won't be OK, we'll win! We have to win after all. You've got your mom and sister to get to. I've got my own reasons to keep living, to keep fighting."
The young man always wondered what his young knight friend's reasons to keep fighting were. He had no family, at least he didn't think he did. He didn't have any home that depended on him to fight, and he wasn't fighting to one day rule anywhere. Whenever he asked, his friend always just said that his reasons were his own and that sharing them with him would put him in more danger than he could possibly imagine.
While in his own thoughts, trying desperately not to piss himself inside his armor like he sometimes did before battles, he heard the blasts of his company's horns calling everyone into battle. He had a feeling from the blood red sky as the Sun set that this was going to be different. He had this creeping thought that he would die today, but somehow he was OK with this. He knew that one way or another, everything would be OK, even with his death bizarrely enough. He didn't want his death, he'd been fretting about it just minutes ago with his friend Abe Dracarys, but he was unusually calm now that this battle was about to begin.
"Alright, time to saddle-up, my squire. We've got work to do."
"Yes, ser. The horses are ready, have been since last night."
"And THIS is why you're the most reliable squire in the Golden Company."