Hmmm, this story has a lot of memories involved. And there's going to be more. At least one more. This is from Josef's point of view. Designed to be sufficiently confusing. All will be explained in later chapters.
Josef was on his training circuit, ten years ago, with Senior Herald Reyor. A few days ago, they had entered the forest that surrounded the northern Fort-Hold Sancta. Rumors claimed that the Forest was haunted. There was little proof of that, but after a few days, Reyor devoutly believed—his people had a tradition of superstition—and Josef himself was not so sure that the rumors were false, himself. But that day they were to reach the Hold—Reyor predicted that the Heralds would see Fort walls at about dusk.
The day, thus far, had been relatively uneventful. Josef had fallen into a sleepy stupor as he rode, and his Companion Lika offered no conversation. He rode in front of Reyor, the noon sun comfortably warm for a midautumn day.
His doze was interrupted by a sudden snarl ahead of Lika. Josef immediately jerked awake, and Lika's ears snapped up as she halted. Reyor, behind them, became alert quickly.
:A wolf, perhaps,: Lika mused, unafraid.
:If it is a wolf, it will likely not attack,: Josef guessed hopefully.
Wild dog, maybe,: Lika continued.
At that exact moment, a small but furious creature leapt from the undergrowth, aiming for Josef's chest. It was indeed a wild dog, slightly smaller than a wolf, cloud-gray, and it clawed and bit Josef enragedly. The Herald yelled and threw the dog off. Lika took off, Reyor close behind.
Josef was unnerved, to say the least. He didn't notice, however, the slashes and spreading blood on his Whites until Reyor pointed them out. The cuts weren't deep, though they bled profusely, but there wasn't much he could do about them yet, so he ignored them. He could deal with it later when they were settled down at the Hold.
Dusk was falling a few hours later, and Josef was sure they would reach Sancta soon. Both he and Reyor sat alert in their saddles, watching for anything of interest. They had already passed a few guard towers, and been acknowledged with a friendly shout.
Lika was stepping carefully through the thick undergrowth that spread unchecked across the forest floor and unkept road, just as Josef heard a rustle of leaves to his left. He ignored it at first, assuming it was a squirrel or some such. But Lika paused as the rustle repeated, though they could see nothing through the undergrowth and heavy bush, and Josef thought he heard a low moan. He peered curiously into the vegetation.
"Move on, move on," Reyor said impatiently as he and his Companion halted behind them. "There's nothing there, and we're almost to Sancta."
Josef wasn't so sure. He kept watching where he guessed the source of the noise had been, and Lika looked as well. But he saw nothing. After a minute, Lika turned away and walked on.
At the same time, Josef suddenly felt an onslaught of negative emotions, the cause of which he couldn't begin to guess at: fear, despair, anguish, guilt, fury. He could see that the others were experiencing it, too.
"Let's get out of here," Reyor barked nervously. The Companions agreed, and they didn't slow their pace until Fort walls were in sight, and the emotions had faded.
They were quickly met, upon their entrance, by a messenger sent to greet. He told them where their rooms would be, where the stalls for the Companions were, explained a few of the customs particular to Sancta, and told them that Lord Courem would be expecting to see them that night.
Reyor and Josef quickly stabled the Companions and gave them a decent rubdown, but before they had time to retire to their own beds, they were approached by another messenger. There had been a change of plans: Lord Courem wanted to see them immediately.
The two Heralds hurried up the many spiral staircases to where they had been told Courem was, panting heavily by the end. A door guard alerted Courem to their presence as the entered. Josef stepped inside just as the man standing next to Courem said, "—Except the Heralds."
It took Josef very little time to glance around the room. Lord Courem, normally light-skinned anyways, was very pale indeed, especially against his cropped black hair and dark eyes. Next to him was the man who had spoken, a breathless guard by all appearances; and in Courem's arms he could see Lady Cayri's figure and tumbling auburn curls.
Courem said nothing for a long, tense moment, only looked from the Heralds to the guard and back again. Then his gaze fell and stayed on Josef. The Herald opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted. Courem took two strides toward the Heralds, leaving Cayri with the guard, his face suddenly enraged and disgusted.
"Get out of my Hold!" Courem shouted. Josef was so surprised by this, he turned to make sure that the furious order had in fact been directed at him. It was.
"What—" Reyor began, baffled, but he was cut off by Courem's unheeding, and seemingly uncalled-for, rage.
"Get out of my Hold!" Sancta's Lord yelled again. "You filthy bastards! You sick perverts! Get out of my Hold!"
Reyor was angry now as well, not to mention utterly bewildered. "What have we done against Sancta?" he demanded hotly.
"Guards!" Courem roared. Immediately several burly men appeared fro the sides of the room to escort the Heralds from Sancta's premises. Josef and Reyor hurried out by themselves.