Author's note: I am brand new to this so please don't be too harsh in your reviews. This story has been playing through my mind for so long. I think it'll end up being several chapters long. The second chapter is close to completion. I hope to upload it sometime tomorrow. Hope you enjoy!
"Oh no!" Gunther hurriedly threw on his boots and saddled his horse. His thoughts raced back to the last time he was late. Father had been so angry he had almost slapped Gunther right there on the harbor in front of all the seamen. In his rush to town the young knight in training did not see the old man until it was too late.
"Look out you fool!" he yelled, but the peasant was too slow and was knocked into a mud puddle just off the side of the road.
Smithy had been fortunate enough to hear Gunther's yell and the pounding hooves in time to get his wheelbarrow full of scrap metal out of the road before Gunther turned the bend.
"You better hurry. I just passed your father on his way to the dock." He called after the retreating figure. As Smithy continued around the bend he caught sight of the peasant in the mud puddle. When will Gunther learn to watch where he is going? He thought to himself.
"Are you alright? Here, let me help you up." However, as he reached out his hand he was surprised to be looking not into the face of an elderly peasant man, but a young woman with deep blue eyes who was trying desperately to keep her face hidden by the folds of her hood. He was taken back and for a moment could do nothing but stare. She seemed so frightened. Trying to comfort her, he flashed his best smile.
"Well, this is a surprise. Who might you be and why are you dressed in this old, baggy, tattered robe?"
"I…I am merely a poor farm girl from out beyond the causeway…. I bear a message for K..k…King Caradoc," she replied quietly, fear radiating out her eyes. His eyes grew wide in shock.
"The causeway! Why that is nearly a week's journey from here and the journey is pretty dangerous too. How ever did you make it this far alone?" His genuine concern put her more at ease and together they walked back to where he had left the wheelbarrow.
"I know it was not safe, but it was the only way. My family could never have afforded an escort. So my father gave me this cloak and instructed me to stay off the well traveled roads and to sleep out in the woods in a well secluded area. Tell me; how far am I from Kippernia Castle?"
"It is just up the road a little ways. I am the blacksmith there. Would you allow me to accompany you the rest of the way? You could clean off the mud at my workshop before meeting with the king." At his kind offer, she simply smiled and nodded and the blacksmith felt his heart skip a beat.