Well, it's finally here. I know it's been a while- I though I'd have
it done at our homecoming pep rally last week, then I had time at work and
then there was this Fall Holiday, but no time- I had homework, this big
project for my school's new creative writing class. But I finally sat down
and forced myself to write and this is what I came up with, my longest
chapter yet- not that you guys really care about my personal life. So
please read, relax, and enjoy.
Oh, and dont' forget to tell me what you think of it
To find out who owns what see chapter one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coming of Age
Strider woke early the morning they were set to leave, He had many chores to do before they would begin the day's journey. He restarted the fire, letting the heat build up while he filled a pot with snow to make the men's breakfast. Emlyn had shown him yesterday the way to make their meals. Emlyn really wasn't that bad, Strider thought as he set the pot over the fire, he was just wary of strangers. When the water began to boil, he poured in the ground oats, stirring it gently. As the smell of breakfast filled the air, the men began to wake. Strider left the spoon in the steamng pot of porridge as he went to prepare the horses. After feeding them, he carefully loaded the men's packs onto the horses. Yestin told him last night that they needed to get an early start on their journey.
When he was done, he went back into the cave where the men had finished eating. He quickly poured himself a bowl of the still hot porridge and sat down to quiet his growling stomach. When he finished he cleaned his bowl, placing it back into the pack Yestin had given him. Yestin said that they didn't have much to spare, but it would be easier if he had a pack of his own, just in case something happened. Strider put out the fire, erasing any trace of it and finished up the odd chores he had been assigned.
When he was finished, he went to find Emlyn who he had been told would assign him new chores. While there were no new ones, Emlyn did want to check the camp himself, they could not risk leaving any trace of their encampment.
'Strider!' Emlyn called angrily. Strider did not like the sound of his voice, but he came anyway all the while wondering what he had done wrong, 'Does this look okay to you. Is this the way I showed you last night cover the tracks of a fire?' Emlyn pointed to the ground.
'Yes...s...sir. I...I did it exactly as you told me to.' Strider answered nervously.
'Don't talk back to me, boy.' Emlyn's voice grew as he emphasized boy. The men turned, stopping what they were doing. Yestin heard the angry remarks and came in to find the reason for the commotion. He saw the men intently watching the center of the cave as Emlyn berated the young boy.
'Quit gawking men, go back to your business.' Yestin commanded, approaching the now quieting argument the center of the cave. Emlyn had heard Yestin's voice, he knew their captain was not happy. 'What's the problem?' Yestin asked as he came upon the two men, looking at Emlyn.
'Sir,' Emlyn pointed to the ground, 'the fire, you can still see where it was. And he says that he did it like I told him. This isn't good,' he looked at Yestin, 'someone could find it, we could be tracked.'
Yestin thought as he looked as the ground, silently inspecting the contested area. 'Tracked?' he finally began. 'Who would want to track us and why? We don't leave any trace of who we are, there's no reason for someone who finds this cave to decide to track us.' Strider stood still watching as Emlyn was reprimanded.
'But the orcs!' Emlyn started.
'The orcs don't know we're here. We lost them, they've probably forgotten about us,' Yestin paused, thinking. He turned, 'Come, we've got to go now.'
'What about the fire,' Emlyn called to Yestin's uncaring back.
'Leave it, we need to go, we've lost enough time as it is.' Yestin spoke as he walked away. Emlyn glared at Strider, the boy looking cockily back. Hearing Yestin's call to make their final preparations, Emlyn turned to leave.
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The day's trek had been rather uneventfull. After Emlyn left, Strider had gathered his pack and left to find his place among the men. Shortly after, they set out, only stopping at mid-day to eat lunch from the stored food they had. Now, as daylight was fading Yestin found a suitable campsite and made the call to stop. Strider set down his pack and began to collect wood for the fire, setting off into the slightly forested surroundings while the men set up camp. When he returned, he piled up the firewood, just like Emlyn had shown him. While he finished with the fire, Yestin chose men for their hunt to tonight. Tonight they would not eat from their stores as they had done at lunch, instead they would take advantage of the large game population.
'Strider,' Yestin called. Strider rose from the fire, facing the captain.
'Yes, sir,' he answered.
'Grab your bow and quiver, you're coming with us.'
Emlyn rose from his seat beside the fire, 'Captain, he has not been trained. He does not know how to hunt, yet. I do not think it is wise to take him out tonight.'
Yestin stood, his men watching in silence, as he decided how to deal with Emlyn's outburst. He was very bold to have spoken out, especially in front of the men. Yestin calmly walked over to where Emlyn stood, standing dominatingly in front of him.
'You seem to have forgotten your place, Emlyn,' Yestin quietly spoke, keeping his anger in check, 'As captain, it is my decision to take him out. You've been quite outspoken these past days, tonight you've overstepped your place. Do not let it happen again, I've grown tired of your insolence,' Yestin began to turn away. 'While we are gone, I expect you to watch the fire. Do not let it smoke too much. Pick up your gear, Strider. Let's get dinner.' Yestin walked past his men, picking up his bow and leading the men into the woods. Strider stood for a second before Yestin's words reached him. He slung the quiver over his head and picked up his bow running to catch up with the men.
Strider felt they walked for miles before finally stopping, one of the men had spotted a young stag. Quietly Yestin walked beside Strider.
'Stay beside me and don't make a noise.' Yestin whispered to Strider, 'Bari, move closer. You won't be able to get a good shot from here.' He whispered to the man on his right. The man moved closer, cautiously stepping over broken twigs and bushes. He stopped behind a bush, almost ten yards from the stag. Strider watched silently as Bari carefully pulled an arrow out of his quiver, slowly bringing it down to his bow. Strider's nose began to twitch as he saw Bari notch the arrow. He brought his hand up, holding his nose until the urge stopped. Relieved, he let his hand down as Bari raised his bow.
Slowly and carefully, so as not to make a noise, his hand pulled the string back, increasing the tension on the seemingly fragile strips of wood. A small creak escaped from the bow as it reached its breaking point. The stag moved slightly, looking cautiously in all directions. Bari stopped moving and the animal went back to drinking from the creek. He pulled back the string a little more, making some final adjustments in his aim.
He prepared to let go, when he heard a small sneeze from behind. He turned quickly, it was Strider. Turning back, he saw the rear of the stag as it swiftly leapt away. Angry he returned the unused arrow to his quiver and walked back.
'Alright, men let's go back,' Yestin called out, rising to his feet, 'We'll eat from our stores, the game's been scared away.' Yestin glanced at Strider. The boy hung his head low. He was ashamed of his mistake. He kept his eyes down as the men walked past, each looked at him, shaking their heads. Strider took his place at he end of the line. He knew the men were angry with him, but he didn't mean to sneeze. He knew about hunting, the seriousness of it and the importance of staying quiet, he knew.
At the head of the line, Yestin thought as he lead the way back to camp. He knew that it was a mistake, everyone made a noise once in a while. But it had cost them a lot. Their food would not last much longer, the game tonight would have helped to streach their food out. Maybe it wasn't a wise decision to bring him along on the hunt. Perhaps Emlyn was right after all. He should have left the boy back in the cave, to whatever nature had intended for him.
As they neared the end of the woods, a loud noise began to fill the air. Yestin put a hand in the air, silently stopping the men. He listened, trying to place the direction. Worry filled his mind as he realized that it was coming from the camp. He motion for his men to move out, silently warning them of the danger. Coming up on the outskirts of the camp, he once again motion for them to stop.
'Orcs,' Yestin spat. 'How's they find us?' Strider looked down again as he knelt behind a bush with the men, he knew how. Emlyn was right, 'All right men, let's spread out. Strider you stay here. This fight isn't for a kid.'
Strider raised his head, Yestin's words registering with him seconds later, a kid? Is that what Yestin thought he was. As the men moved out, Strider rose. Noise filling the air as he pulled out his sword, prepared to do battle with the orcs. Running on to the campsite beside Yestin, he raised his sword.
'Go back into the forest, boy.' Yestin called seeing the boy enter into battle with an orc twice his size.
'I'm not a boy,' Strider yelled, shoving his sword into the orc, 'I'm twenty!' He pulled his sword out of the newly slayed orc, moving on to the next. The battle did not last long after Yestin returned with the rest of the men. The orcs saw their advantage over the men dwindling and began to disperse. The men followed them until they were gone. As the men came back, they began to tend to the wounded and pick up the area.
Yestin searched for Strider. He was curious how the boy was doing. He saw him kneeling beside a man. Coming up cautiously on him, he saw that Strider was safe and for the most part unharmed. He stopped before he came within eyesight of the man's face. He curiously watched Strider's ministrations. The boy's hands moved quickly, trying to relieve the man's pain. Yestin became alarmed as the man began to struggle and frighten when his breaths became quick and short. Strider quickly moved to help the man breath, trying whatever he could to ease his struggle. Yestin moved forward quickly, unwilling to lose any man. He stopped as he recognized the wounded man. Strider felt the movement behind him.
'Please help me, sir. I don't know what else to do.' Strider begged his captain. He was afraid, he had never been so helpless. Yestin knelt beside Emlyn, looking at his panicked eyes dart from side to side as he silently pleaded for help. A dagger had been plunged into his throat, blood now pouring from the open wound. There was too much of it to stop the flow, Strider had already tried, the bloodied rags that littering the ground as proof. Yestin removed Strider's hands from Emlyn's weak body, grabbing the slick hands tighter as the boy tried to pull away. Blood squirted onto Yestin clothing as Emlyn tried to take a deep breath, his body shook.
Yestin looked into Emlyn's eyes, he was fading, the pain slowly fleeing from his body. He looked solemnly at his old friend their eyes met, Yestin looked away, grown as he was the loss of Emlyn was too much to bear. When he regained his composure he looked back as blank eyes stared back. Yestin let go of Strider's hands allowing them to fall on Emlyn's torn clothing. He quietly closed Emlyn's eyes. There was silence between the two as Strider kept his head down.
'I never saw a man die,' Strider finally confessed, looking at Yestin's face as tears began to stream down his face.
Oh, and dont' forget to tell me what you think of it
To find out who owns what see chapter one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coming of Age
Strider woke early the morning they were set to leave, He had many chores to do before they would begin the day's journey. He restarted the fire, letting the heat build up while he filled a pot with snow to make the men's breakfast. Emlyn had shown him yesterday the way to make their meals. Emlyn really wasn't that bad, Strider thought as he set the pot over the fire, he was just wary of strangers. When the water began to boil, he poured in the ground oats, stirring it gently. As the smell of breakfast filled the air, the men began to wake. Strider left the spoon in the steamng pot of porridge as he went to prepare the horses. After feeding them, he carefully loaded the men's packs onto the horses. Yestin told him last night that they needed to get an early start on their journey.
When he was done, he went back into the cave where the men had finished eating. He quickly poured himself a bowl of the still hot porridge and sat down to quiet his growling stomach. When he finished he cleaned his bowl, placing it back into the pack Yestin had given him. Yestin said that they didn't have much to spare, but it would be easier if he had a pack of his own, just in case something happened. Strider put out the fire, erasing any trace of it and finished up the odd chores he had been assigned.
When he was finished, he went to find Emlyn who he had been told would assign him new chores. While there were no new ones, Emlyn did want to check the camp himself, they could not risk leaving any trace of their encampment.
'Strider!' Emlyn called angrily. Strider did not like the sound of his voice, but he came anyway all the while wondering what he had done wrong, 'Does this look okay to you. Is this the way I showed you last night cover the tracks of a fire?' Emlyn pointed to the ground.
'Yes...s...sir. I...I did it exactly as you told me to.' Strider answered nervously.
'Don't talk back to me, boy.' Emlyn's voice grew as he emphasized boy. The men turned, stopping what they were doing. Yestin heard the angry remarks and came in to find the reason for the commotion. He saw the men intently watching the center of the cave as Emlyn berated the young boy.
'Quit gawking men, go back to your business.' Yestin commanded, approaching the now quieting argument the center of the cave. Emlyn had heard Yestin's voice, he knew their captain was not happy. 'What's the problem?' Yestin asked as he came upon the two men, looking at Emlyn.
'Sir,' Emlyn pointed to the ground, 'the fire, you can still see where it was. And he says that he did it like I told him. This isn't good,' he looked at Yestin, 'someone could find it, we could be tracked.'
Yestin thought as he looked as the ground, silently inspecting the contested area. 'Tracked?' he finally began. 'Who would want to track us and why? We don't leave any trace of who we are, there's no reason for someone who finds this cave to decide to track us.' Strider stood still watching as Emlyn was reprimanded.
'But the orcs!' Emlyn started.
'The orcs don't know we're here. We lost them, they've probably forgotten about us,' Yestin paused, thinking. He turned, 'Come, we've got to go now.'
'What about the fire,' Emlyn called to Yestin's uncaring back.
'Leave it, we need to go, we've lost enough time as it is.' Yestin spoke as he walked away. Emlyn glared at Strider, the boy looking cockily back. Hearing Yestin's call to make their final preparations, Emlyn turned to leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day's trek had been rather uneventfull. After Emlyn left, Strider had gathered his pack and left to find his place among the men. Shortly after, they set out, only stopping at mid-day to eat lunch from the stored food they had. Now, as daylight was fading Yestin found a suitable campsite and made the call to stop. Strider set down his pack and began to collect wood for the fire, setting off into the slightly forested surroundings while the men set up camp. When he returned, he piled up the firewood, just like Emlyn had shown him. While he finished with the fire, Yestin chose men for their hunt to tonight. Tonight they would not eat from their stores as they had done at lunch, instead they would take advantage of the large game population.
'Strider,' Yestin called. Strider rose from the fire, facing the captain.
'Yes, sir,' he answered.
'Grab your bow and quiver, you're coming with us.'
Emlyn rose from his seat beside the fire, 'Captain, he has not been trained. He does not know how to hunt, yet. I do not think it is wise to take him out tonight.'
Yestin stood, his men watching in silence, as he decided how to deal with Emlyn's outburst. He was very bold to have spoken out, especially in front of the men. Yestin calmly walked over to where Emlyn stood, standing dominatingly in front of him.
'You seem to have forgotten your place, Emlyn,' Yestin quietly spoke, keeping his anger in check, 'As captain, it is my decision to take him out. You've been quite outspoken these past days, tonight you've overstepped your place. Do not let it happen again, I've grown tired of your insolence,' Yestin began to turn away. 'While we are gone, I expect you to watch the fire. Do not let it smoke too much. Pick up your gear, Strider. Let's get dinner.' Yestin walked past his men, picking up his bow and leading the men into the woods. Strider stood for a second before Yestin's words reached him. He slung the quiver over his head and picked up his bow running to catch up with the men.
Strider felt they walked for miles before finally stopping, one of the men had spotted a young stag. Quietly Yestin walked beside Strider.
'Stay beside me and don't make a noise.' Yestin whispered to Strider, 'Bari, move closer. You won't be able to get a good shot from here.' He whispered to the man on his right. The man moved closer, cautiously stepping over broken twigs and bushes. He stopped behind a bush, almost ten yards from the stag. Strider watched silently as Bari carefully pulled an arrow out of his quiver, slowly bringing it down to his bow. Strider's nose began to twitch as he saw Bari notch the arrow. He brought his hand up, holding his nose until the urge stopped. Relieved, he let his hand down as Bari raised his bow.
Slowly and carefully, so as not to make a noise, his hand pulled the string back, increasing the tension on the seemingly fragile strips of wood. A small creak escaped from the bow as it reached its breaking point. The stag moved slightly, looking cautiously in all directions. Bari stopped moving and the animal went back to drinking from the creek. He pulled back the string a little more, making some final adjustments in his aim.
He prepared to let go, when he heard a small sneeze from behind. He turned quickly, it was Strider. Turning back, he saw the rear of the stag as it swiftly leapt away. Angry he returned the unused arrow to his quiver and walked back.
'Alright, men let's go back,' Yestin called out, rising to his feet, 'We'll eat from our stores, the game's been scared away.' Yestin glanced at Strider. The boy hung his head low. He was ashamed of his mistake. He kept his eyes down as the men walked past, each looked at him, shaking their heads. Strider took his place at he end of the line. He knew the men were angry with him, but he didn't mean to sneeze. He knew about hunting, the seriousness of it and the importance of staying quiet, he knew.
At the head of the line, Yestin thought as he lead the way back to camp. He knew that it was a mistake, everyone made a noise once in a while. But it had cost them a lot. Their food would not last much longer, the game tonight would have helped to streach their food out. Maybe it wasn't a wise decision to bring him along on the hunt. Perhaps Emlyn was right after all. He should have left the boy back in the cave, to whatever nature had intended for him.
As they neared the end of the woods, a loud noise began to fill the air. Yestin put a hand in the air, silently stopping the men. He listened, trying to place the direction. Worry filled his mind as he realized that it was coming from the camp. He motion for his men to move out, silently warning them of the danger. Coming up on the outskirts of the camp, he once again motion for them to stop.
'Orcs,' Yestin spat. 'How's they find us?' Strider looked down again as he knelt behind a bush with the men, he knew how. Emlyn was right, 'All right men, let's spread out. Strider you stay here. This fight isn't for a kid.'
Strider raised his head, Yestin's words registering with him seconds later, a kid? Is that what Yestin thought he was. As the men moved out, Strider rose. Noise filling the air as he pulled out his sword, prepared to do battle with the orcs. Running on to the campsite beside Yestin, he raised his sword.
'Go back into the forest, boy.' Yestin called seeing the boy enter into battle with an orc twice his size.
'I'm not a boy,' Strider yelled, shoving his sword into the orc, 'I'm twenty!' He pulled his sword out of the newly slayed orc, moving on to the next. The battle did not last long after Yestin returned with the rest of the men. The orcs saw their advantage over the men dwindling and began to disperse. The men followed them until they were gone. As the men came back, they began to tend to the wounded and pick up the area.
Yestin searched for Strider. He was curious how the boy was doing. He saw him kneeling beside a man. Coming up cautiously on him, he saw that Strider was safe and for the most part unharmed. He stopped before he came within eyesight of the man's face. He curiously watched Strider's ministrations. The boy's hands moved quickly, trying to relieve the man's pain. Yestin became alarmed as the man began to struggle and frighten when his breaths became quick and short. Strider quickly moved to help the man breath, trying whatever he could to ease his struggle. Yestin moved forward quickly, unwilling to lose any man. He stopped as he recognized the wounded man. Strider felt the movement behind him.
'Please help me, sir. I don't know what else to do.' Strider begged his captain. He was afraid, he had never been so helpless. Yestin knelt beside Emlyn, looking at his panicked eyes dart from side to side as he silently pleaded for help. A dagger had been plunged into his throat, blood now pouring from the open wound. There was too much of it to stop the flow, Strider had already tried, the bloodied rags that littering the ground as proof. Yestin removed Strider's hands from Emlyn's weak body, grabbing the slick hands tighter as the boy tried to pull away. Blood squirted onto Yestin clothing as Emlyn tried to take a deep breath, his body shook.
Yestin looked into Emlyn's eyes, he was fading, the pain slowly fleeing from his body. He looked solemnly at his old friend their eyes met, Yestin looked away, grown as he was the loss of Emlyn was too much to bear. When he regained his composure he looked back as blank eyes stared back. Yestin let go of Strider's hands allowing them to fall on Emlyn's torn clothing. He quietly closed Emlyn's eyes. There was silence between the two as Strider kept his head down.
'I never saw a man die,' Strider finally confessed, looking at Yestin's face as tears began to stream down his face.