Chapter 1: Footsteps of Fate

We left almost immediately bound for the city of Bulgar, the commercial center of Sacae where we would buy supplies. We'd have to go far south near Bern mountains to get to the city.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" I complained as Lyn waltzed happily ahead of me. The long haired teen answered with a gasp and pointed towards the east where the tops of huts could be seen. She ran forward, her hair bobbing and her long legs causing her revealing robes to flutter around in the wind. With a sigh I ran after her.

The town was very nice, well, for a big city anyway. Thick stone walls wrapped around it and were joined by two high pillars. A gate was open and you could make out stone shops and houses. I walked through the guarding structures and looked around with mild interest. Roads wound through the various buildings and straight across the horizon was a large fountain issuing forth clear streams of water. The town was bustling with liveliness, merchants and travelers socializing, children playing with town dogs, soldiers walking through the streets importantly, it was truly a refreshing sight.

"Touya, over here!" I followed the voice, along with a few other men I noticed, and walked towards my new companion. She started to tell me about Bulgar and how it was the largest city in Sacae when a voice interrupted her,

"Oh, my heart! What a dazzling vision of loveliness!" Lyn and I looked towards the owner of the comment and found it to be a knight clad in rich-looking emerald armor outlined in stunning gold. His brown hair was fashionably messy and not very well contained in a black headband. Lyn looked slightly amused, but skeptical. I narrowed my eyes at him, what a sorry excuse for a pickup line...

"Hm?" Lyn cocked her head to the side.

"Wait, O beauteous one! Would you not favor me with your name? Or better yet, your company?" he gave her a cocky smile while issuing forth a hand.

She shook her head and looked at him confusedly, "Where are you from, sir knight, that you speak so freely to a stranger?"

"Ha! I though you'd never ask! I am from Lycia. I hail from the Caelin canton, home of men of passion and fire!" he smiled and made a show of bowing to Lyn. Why was he so far from Lycia, shouldn't their soldiers be in their lands and not in Sacae? What business does he have here? And if I'm not incorrect he shouldn't be alone, knights are usually in groups...

"Shouldn't that be 'home to callow oafs with loose tongues,'" Lyn angrily commented, her eyebrows raised. My mouth twitched in amusement, so she wasn't as ignorant as I thought she'd be.

"Oooooh..." His pout made me want to hurl. "You're even lovely when you're cruel." Was this idiot for real?

"Let's go, Touya. I've nothing more to say," Lyn frowned and stalked off, me following close behind.

"What a jerk, huh?" I smiled at her.

"Ohhh! I could've just slapped him!" Lyn laughed, "I mean what kind of girl would fall for something like that? Oh no, Touya."

"What is it Lyn?"

"We were supposed to go to the next town through there," she motioned behind her. She turned with a heavy sigh and walked to the cocky knight who was now accompanied with another one dressed in scarlet. This one had a scolding expression displayed on his young features and was looking at the other one through soft red hair that was short and neat. "Excuse me! You're blocking the road. If you would be so kind as to move your horses..."

The two knights turned towards two deep beige horses covered in leather straps that were indeed taking up most of the small length of the winding trail that led to the back exit of Bulgar. The other knight turned and smiled sympathetically, "Of course. My apologies.." He turned and jabbed the first knight in the soldier to do the same.

"Thank you. You, at least, seem honorable enough."

He turned then and narrowed his eyes, causing his thin brows to knit together, "Hm? Pardon me, but... I feel we've met before."

Lyn's face tightened and she ground her words out, "I beg your pardon."

"Hey! No fair, Kent! I saw her first!" the first knight whined and pouted again.

Lyn let out a warning noise, "It seems there are no decent men among Lycia's knights! Have you no respect? What are women to you anyway? Let's go, Touya! I've run out of patience!" She stormed forth, bumping the two men and causing the two horses to move back in alarm. I followed, yet again, and shook my head at the two Lycian knights.

Lyn was fuming and looked quite lethal in her current state so I thought it best to avoid speaking to her until she cooled down. We exited Bulgar and made our way onto the plains yet again.

"Wait..Touya, do you hear that?" Lyn looked behind us, "Run! We're being pursued!"

We both bolted forward, our bags or supplies hitting against our backs as we scaled down a hill, "Could it be those knights from town?" She looked closer at the figures behind us, " No...It's not them. These men are out for blood."

I gasped and looked in the direction Lyn's worried eyes were focused on, four or five burly men with huge axes were running maniacally towards us. "It's no use Lyn, we're completely outnumbered!" I yelled towards her as large fist came down upon the back of my head. I coughed out blood and quickly lifted my smaller frame and threw myself in front of Lyn, as a way of protection.

"Heh heh hehh...Aren't you the pretty one!" A large muscled man roamed his eyes up and down the young girl's figure. "Your name is Lyndis, is it not?" He taunted as we both gasped.

"What did you call me? ...Who are you?" Lyn screamed and tried to push past my back.

"Such a waste. An absolute waste. The things I'll do for gold.. Ah, well," he shrugged in mock sympathy. "Time to die, darlin,'" he yelled. He raised his hands and Lyn whimpered behind me, "C'mon out boys."

At the thug's yell his men appeared at various locations around us. Lyn gripped at my shoulders, "Oh, no! There are more than I can handle... But I'll not give up!" I could hear the swish of her sword as she drew it.

"Hey! There she is!" a male voice said from the distance.

"What?" she turned only to see the two knights from earlier.

"Whew... Finally caught up.. Hold! You there! What is your business? Such numbers against a girl? Cowards, every one of you!" the cocky knight yelled at a nearby thug who looked like no one could possibly shame him.

Lyn's voice caught in her throat, "You! Your from--" I put a hand on her shoulder and the red-haired knight, Kent, spoke forth, "We can discuss that later. It appears these ruffians mean to do you harm. If it's a fight they want let them look to me!"

The first knight stood in front of his companion, "Stand back! I'll take ca--"

"Yeah, yeah. We can also discuss heroics later too," I interrupted but Lyn pushed me back, "No! This is my fight! Stay out of my way!"

"Well, I can't just stand here and do nothing..." the first knight pouted.

"I have a solution. You there, command us," Kent demanded.

"Oh sure, sir knight, since you've been so kind..." I sarcastically commented.

Kent went on like he didn't hear me, "I am Kent, a knight of Lycia. My companion is Sain. We will follow your orders in this battle. Is this acceptable, milady?"

She turned to me and responded at my nod, "Yes, it is. Touya and I will lead! Let's go!"

The knights stood back as Lyn trudged in front and hid behind some trees. I looked out over our playing field. The gates of Bulgar were still slightly visible, we'd need to stay away from them so that the thugs won't near the townsfolk. A river was visible to the east and the thugs' boss was across over it. Five targets. One was close to Lyn, so he would be the first to go. Sain, the cocky knight from before smiled in my direction, "I want to impress my beauteous one! Let me attack first!"

"Move forward and attack the first one from behind," I directed. On horseback, he approached the man and pulled the reins to stop and came down hard with--an iron lance. The bandit easily dodged the obvious attack and aimed for the knight with his axe. "Whoa, I missed," Sain stated in surprise.

"Sain, you fool, attack with your sword!"

"Heh, too bad I don't have one..." the air headed knight sheepishly admitted.

"Your almost not worth the trouble Sain, almost," Kent yelled and forced an iron sword into my hands. I gave it to Sain but not before directing Kent to strike down the bandit with a sword. His attack was good and all that was needed was the final blow. "Lyn, go forth!" I commanded as Lyn ran full speed and swiped her sword at his middle.

At this time another enemy neared and I sent Sain and Kent forth to strike him down. I instructed Lyn to move north and closer to the river by using the various trees located on our side of the river to our advantage. The next two enemies were easily defeated.

Sain was the first to cross the river and strike at the main boss, "Accursed knights, always tampering in others' affairs." Sain got in two powerful strikes and took one to the gut.

"Shit," Sain was definitely not one to stay optimistic when coughing blood, "Kent you have to finish him."

Kent charged forth. His hands gripped the handle of his sword, sweat poured from his red locks, a look of complete determination showed on his young face, and with a yell that could only be described as a battle cry he came down hard on the lead bandit. His sword whipped through the air as he pulled it from the bloody mess, "Blast.. There was only....supposed to be a lone...girl..." with his last breath the boss, Zugu, fell over into the sand.

A heavy sigh escaped Kent's mouth as he smiled at the running figure of Lyn, "That's the last of them!" She ran over to me and fitted her arms tightly around my neck, almost knocking me over, "Fantastic work, Touya!"

"Oof. Miss Lyn you really need to stop doing this," I laughed as she pulled from the embrace. Her tone changed dramatically as the sounds of hoofs neared, "And now for these knights of Lycia." She turned to the two men and raised her eyebrows questionably, "You were going to share your story with me?"

Kent jumped down from his horse and glanced over at Sain who was by now healed, "Yes. We have ventured from Caelin, in Lycia, in search of someone." So now their reasons were clear. "This person must be very important for you to come all the way to Bulgar," I stated and turned to Lyn who was looking beyond Sain's right shoulder.

"Lycia... That's the country beyond the mountains in the southwest, isn't it?" Lyn asked as she tabbed her index finger across her lips. The plains of Sacae are significantly separated from the county of Lycia. A complex and challenging trip awaits one who wishes to travel over the mountains, for Lycia is located southwest of Sacae and west of Bern. Bern lies just south of Sacae.

"Correct," Kent nodded and continued explaining, "We've come as messengers to the lady Madelyn, who eloped with a nomad some 19 years ago."

"Madelyn?" Lyn asked again.

Kent elaborated, "Our lord the marquess of Caelin's only daughter. He was heartbroken his own daughter would abandon him so. Eventually, the marquess simply declared that he had no daughter."

"And then this year, we received a letter from Lady Madelyn. It said that she, her husband, and their daughter were living happily in the Sacae plains. The marquess was ecstatic to learn he had a granddaughter of 18 years," Sain explained. Lyn's mouth was open and I hadn't seen her blink for some time. "I remember the smile on his face when he announced that he'd suddenly become a grandfather. The granddaughter's name is Lyndis. This was the name of the marquess's wife, who passed away at an early age."

"Lyndis," Lyn barely whispered.

Sain's eyes reflected happy remembrance and his genuine smile was truly out of character, "That she should bear the name thawed the marquess's heart. Now, his only wish is to meet his daughter's family at least once. This is why we're here. We didn't know that Lady Madelyn had died a few days after sending her letter..."

Kent kept looking at Lyn like he saw something in her that no one else did. Lyn just stared forward, eyes glassy and unfocused. Sain's expression changed to businesslike, "We only learned this shortly after we arrived here in Bulgar."

"But we also learned all was not lost," Kent spoke and looked into Lyn's eyes. "Her daughter yet lives. We heard that she was living alone on the plains... I...I knew it immediately." He grasped her shoulders, "You are Lady Lyndis."

She looked lost and turned her face downwards, "Why would you think that..." Kent's eyes softened, "Your resemblance to your departed mother is remarkable."

"What? Did you know my mother?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry to say I never met her directly, but I saw her portraits in Castle Caelin," Kent seemed to be sorry more to himself than to Lyn.

"To the rest of my tribe, I was always Lyn. But when I was with my parents... When it was just the three of us, I was Lyndis," her eyes closed and she took a deep breathe as if trying to digest the situation in tiny bits. "It's all so strange. I was alone in the world, and now I have a grandfather. Lyndis... I never thought I would hear that name again."

Not one of us could speak as we watched the young girl cope with the shock. Then, as if she had been hit with a stone mallet, her eyes flew open, "Wait! That bandit! He called me Lyndis, too!"

Kent seemed extremely worried at this, "What? How could that be--"

Sain turned quickly to his companion, "...He wasn't a henchman of Lord Lundgren, was he?"

"Lundgren? Who's that?" Lyn demanded.

"He's the marquess's younger brother. Everyone assumed that lady Madelyn was gone forever. This made Lord Lundgren heir to the marquess's title," Kent told Lyn.

Sain frowned disapprovingly, "To be blunt, milady, your existence is an obstacle to your granduncle's ambitions."

"That's--but I have no interest in inheriting any title!" Lyn argued.

"Unfortunately, you granduncle is not the sort of man to believe that. I believe the attempts on your life will persist."

"So Lyn will be constantly targeted by thugs?" I yelled.

"What..What should I do?' she softly asked, eyes questioning the knights.

The more responsible knight sighed, "Accompany us to Caelin. Continuing on this way is dangerous."

"I feel I have little choice. I will go with you," Lyn agreed.

The two knights were talking quietly amongst themselves as Lyn politely asked them for privacy. They looked over at me and nodded then walked behind their horses and began preparing them with Lyn's newly bought supplies. "Touya... I'm sorry. This changes everything. What will you do, Touya?"

Lyn's eyes were impossibly irresistible, I found myself drowning in them as I answered, "Whatever you want, Lady Lyndis."

"Oh, Touya," she blushed at the formality. "Well, of course, your companionship would do much to ease my journey, but... It's going to be so dangerous."

"Would I let you down?" I smiled and she returned it, her eyes lighting up with a powerful and determined light. "You'll come? And your sure?" With one last nod she jumped into the air, "Thank you! Thank you! Let me ask you once again for your friendship and your aid."