Just Keep Moving
Author: Seiyji
Authors Notes: This story is purely fiction and is based on the world of Valdemar. I did this for Fun, so if you have a problem with it then don't read it.
Rating M: For strong language, Sexual Themes, Violence, Ect.
Summary: When life is hard and sometimes all you can do is keep moving forward. Even if you know what lies ahead of you might not be something you wish to deal with.
Chapter 1
Dreams were really all that Calvan had to look forward to. His dreams were not always pretty, and sometimes were rather horrifying, but they were still his. Whenever he was able to dream he was able to escape reality, which was something he thanked the heavens for. His life was not as bad as some, at least he had a roof over his head, but some days he wished he could just escape. Those dreams offered him that, even if it was only for a few candle marks, at least he had those few to help keep him sane, Or as sane as a prostitute could be.
It wasn't his choice of a profession. He was forced to work at the brothel when he was young. First it had just been working as a serving boy in the tavern. It hadn't been that hard of work, just serving food and drinks to those that gave him penny bits. After a few problems with drunkards pulling him into their laps, all but having their way with him in the middle of the room, the tavern master got the idea to make money off of the boy. He gave him a room, but he knew that it wasn't to keep him safe. This room was for business. He was going to be used for the pleasure of who ever paid the right fee to the tavern master. He knew about the girls that had rooms, they were more pampered then some of the other workers, but by night they had to entertain many men in their rooms, and sometimes the men were not very gentle with them. Some of them wound up pregnant, and their children would be raised to work at the tavern. The girls would be trained for the brothel and boys to work the tavern.
The first time he had been with anyone in this room had been horrifying. The man had to hold him down on the bed because he wouldn't stop trying to escape. Even though he cried for help, no one had come to save him. No one had tried to do anything to help him at all, even though he heard people outside of the room. They just walked right by the door, as if he wasn't crying at all.
After his first night he had gotten as used to being man handled as one so young could be. He was only ten when his virginity was striped from him by force. It took him a while to get used to what it was they wanted out of him, with some help from a few of the girls at the brothel he was able to learn how to please a man. It made him want to be sick, but if they were pleased then he wouldn't be beaten or hurt. The girls did pity him and tried to take the brunt of the load off of him, but he still got his fair share of those that did not want a woman to please them.
On average he saw at least two to three men per night, none of them were ever gentle with him, and after a while he got used to the pain. He felt dirty, his body would react to them, even if he didn't want to. That seemed to please the men in a way that he did not understand. Luckily none of them ever stayed long after they used him. Most of them cleaned themselves up and walked out rather satisfied. Calvan usually just drug himself out of bed and cleaned himself up. When he knew he had no one else to entertain he went to sleep and escaped to those dreams.
The sky was black as black and heavy rain was pouring down on the ground. Calvan stood shivering in the middle of the darkness. There was nothing around him except the darkness. He could see his breath rising from his lips. It was so cold in this dark place. It was emotionless and sad. He felt like the darkness was closing in on him and he had to get away from it. He reached out for something, but he did not know what. He almost hoped to grab onto someone to help him out of the darkness.
"Hello?" His timid voice called out, hoping that someone would come to save him from the darkness. As he took a step he fell through the floor. A gasp left his voice as he fell into water. As he surfaced he noticed that he was no longer in the darkness. He was helped to the shore by some unseen force. The place that he had now been taken to was bright and full of life. Birds flew above his head and the sounds of bugs filled the air. A smile broke to the young boys face. It was such a beautiful place, and far less scary then the darkness had been. A horse stood before him. The horse was beautiful. It was tall and slender. Its legs and body looked of that of a runner, but had elegance to them. The horse held its head high, it's long curly, silvery-white mane and tail moved with it as it moved.
The pure white horse trotted up to him and nuzzled against him. He hugged the head close to him. It was as if the creature knew him and was here to greet him. As it trotted across the ground the sounds of bells filled the air. It was such a wonderful sound to hear, and was neither to loud or to high pitched. It was a sound that he could get used to hearing.
The horse snorted and pulled back and looked at him. He looked up at pure blue eyes. They did not look like the eyes of a horse. They looked almost human in some ways. He wondered what that meant. Then without a warning the horse reared up, knocking Calvan down. An arrow embedded into the side of the horse, who screamed in pain. Calvan opened his mouth to scream, but then a pain in his own side caused everything to go black.
Calvan sat up quickly, gasping. He looked around and recognized his room. He sighed and laid back in bed and curled up into a ball. It had been a dream. He wondered what it had meant. He had never dreamed of that horse before. It had almost felt like a long lost friend that he didn't know he was missing. He wondered if he had ever met the horse before. The horse seemed to have some intelligence that he could just not understand. Maybe it was just a warning of something, some hidden danger. He wasn't too good at reading his dreams, but he knew that some of them were almost like warnings. Sometimes his dreams had actually come true, like the time when the cook fell to sleep while baking bread and had almost burnt down the tavern.
A knock came to his door. "Wake up!" The tavern master did not sound happy at all. He never was happy, and if you slept too late he was not going to go easy on you. He had all of the girls go to market together and get supplies. Since Calvan was the only boy he went with the girls to 'protect' them. Although he didn't see what a thirteen year old could do to protect them, but the tavern master seemed to think that he deterred some men from coming to try and take one of the girls away.
Slowly Calvan got out of bed, stretching sore and tight muscles as he prepared for the day. Each room had its own wash station, but you had to heat up your own water if you wanted to get a hot wash. Calvan knew that the master was not happy and he just needed to wash quickly and get down stairs. He poured the cold water from the pitcher into the basin. He didn't take that much time. He did not have to undress, since he had forgotten to put on his sleep clothes before he had fallen to sleep. He washed himself as quickly as he dared to. The cold water sending shivers through his body. His arms and legs had cold bumps on them by the time he was done. Once he was finish washing he through the water out the window, making sure there was no one on the path below.
Calvan walked over to his chest that contained what few pairs of clothes he owned. He had two pairs for when he was supposed to entertain guests, the rest of them were barely more than rags. They were patched so many times that the original garment was lost under all of them. He got changed into a shirt and a pair of long pants. He put on his hand me down boots that the master had given to him after he had gotten a new pair for himself. The boots did not fit him at all. He had to shove several pairs of socks in them in order for them to fit loosely. He tied them up as tight as he could and tossed on a thin jacket that was another hand me down from the master.
The master was waiting down in the kitchen, where all of the Servers and girls met to eat a quick breakfast of leftovers from the night before, and then were given their tasks for the day. "There is a white rider in town today. You are all to keep away from this stranger. He is snooping around at several taverns." The master said as they ate, not wanting to take time since the food would be taken away from them if they were not eating. Calvan was no fool and ate his food just as fast as the others. They had two meals a day. The second one was before the tavern opened for the night, so he made sure to eat all he was given, He even licked the bowl clean. He did not want to leave even a drop behind.
"If the white rider starts to talk to you, get away from him as quickly as you can. I don't care how rude you are to him; just keep out of his way." The master looked at all of the girls, as if thinking they would beg the white rider to save them. Of course a white rider was actually a Herald, but the master dared not call them by that name. After all if he did it might bring down the kingdom on him. Or that was what he feared. Calvan thought it was rather silly. Why would someone want to fear a Herald? Heralds were supposed to be good, and they didn't often come all the way out here. Calvan felt his hopes rise as he wondered if he would be able to see the Herald. He smiled into his bowl.
When they had all finished eating they were shooed off to do their usual chores. The girls, and Calvan, headed out to the market to pick up cheap meat and vegetables that were left over from the days before. The master always got half rotted food. It was cheaper, and as long as it was all cooked together in a thick stew no one would notice. Everything tended to take on the same color when it was put together.
The market place was full of all sorts of people. Calvan was in the back of the pack of girls as they made their way to the places they were supposed to go. They got their usual food stuffs before taking time to wander around the market. They were women after all, and they did like to shop. Sometimes men would give them a few penny bits, which they knew to spend as quickly as possible so the master wouldn't take it away from them. The girls always bought something more to eat, because if they bought anything that they had to sneak back in the house the master would notice. That was the last thing that they wanted. If the master noticed then they would all get into trouble, and if that happened then none of them would be allowed to go to market again.
With little warning the girls started to chatter excitedly. Calvan, who hadn't been paying attention, almost walked into one of them when they stopped in place. Calvan blinked and looked around. He pushed his way through the girls and stopped when he noticed why the girls had stopped walking. He could not stop himself from staring, and then turning pale.
In front of them stood the white rider. He wore all white, sitting on a horse of pure white. The white horse had very blue eyes, and looked like the one he had seen in his dreams, but he looked different. He was a little more bulky then the one he had seen in his dreams, and less silver looking. The horse looked over at him and snorted. It was a much deeper noise then his dream horses.
The Herald looked at the group of girls and smiled. His long black hair was tied back with a black tie. He was the kind of man you would call handsome, or that was what Calvan thought. His dark eyes and hair went well with his tanned skin, and he looked like someone who just came out of a fairy tale.
Calvan felt his heart thump in his chest and remembered they were supposed to stay away from them. Calvan turned tail and ran before he could really think that that would be a bad idea. The girls just stood there and stared at the man. Calvan needed to find a place to go to get away from horse and its rider, or else his master would be angry.
Foot notes: That is it for Chapter One. Who is the Herald? Why is he in the Village? Will Calvan's Master get angry with him?