Death of a Knight

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Yeah, I know, lame title, but it was the best I got.
I also know that the first chapter is a bit slow, but please, give your opinion and please bump if no-one else have done it so I can update.

Chapter 1
Trouble at home.

The church’s bell rang nine times and the man suddenly woke up. He sat up in his bed and blinked a couple of times to see more clearly. Another morning of training, he thought. The man stood up from the bed and looked in the full-size mirror on the wall.
Ceron was not very large, only 5’8 foot, but pretty sturdy. Last time he weighted himself he weighted about one-hundred and eighty pounds, and none of it was dead weight. He had white, shoulder-length hair kept in a pony-tail. His green eyes looked pretty dizzy, but then, he awoke just seconds ago. A large number of scars covered his arms and torso but none seemed to ever be life-threatening. All and all, he looked like a normal human, with one exception. Two large bumps on his back. No-one but Ceron himself knew where they came from, not even his love, Rilanda, knew their origin.

He took on his brown, leather pants made out of bear skin. He had them crafted after he killed a bear when it attacked his bandit-hunting party. The party consisted of him, his mentor, the village’s knight, protector, and Baron, Duran, and two other men. One was the blacksmith’s son and the other was one of the local mercenaries hired for this cause. Two bandits, deserters from the local military in Rovus, the closest village, had attacked a mill and killed all inside but the youngest son who managed the hide in a closet. The group headed out, killed the two bandits without any losses but the blacksmith’s son, Jopen, had been shot with an arrow in his left leg and they had to carry him back. When they were but two-hundred feet away from the village a bear jumped out from the bushes, strangely enough since they hadn’t provoked it, and bit the mercenary in the throat. The mercenary died instantly and since Jopen wasn’t able to fight in his condition it was up to Duran and Ceron to take out the bear.

It sprang against Ceron with speed never seen by a bear before and tried to bite him in his side but Ceron’s chain-shirt protected him. While the bear was standing upon Ceron, preparing for the mortal blow, Duran took his greatsword and attacked. The bear almost managed to avoid the first blow but got hit in his left tusk and just when it was about to make a jump at Duran Ceron managed to draw his gladius and with a quick slash he chopped of the bear’s head and soon after a couple of soldiers from the village who had heard fighting and screams came. As thanks for his bravery in the fight, Baron Duran had the pants and a jacket crafted for Ceron and he now wears them whenever he can.

He wore on his white shirt and upon it, a green jacket which was made out of the bear as well. After this he equipped a pair of blue boots, a chain shirt which was made of masterwork iron and a helmet which covered his head and his neck and had a flip-down eye-and-nose protection as well. Afterwards he equipped a battlesheath with a gladius inside and at last he wore a pair of black gloves made out of skin from wolf that killed his mother but was killed by Ceron and afterwards Ceron was dubbed as a squire for Baron Duran and since his mother now was dead and his father, Gordon, was in prison for murder and assault, so Ceron moved in with Duran.

After he got dressed he hurried down the stairs to the lobby of the mansion he was living in as Duran’s squire. Down there Duran was waiting and looked quite grumpy from what it looked like.
“You are late again, Ceron. You were supposed to be down here at the bell’s ringing.”
Ceron took Duran’s shield and bowed.
“I am sorry, milord, but I forgot to have one of the servants to wake me up in time.”
Duran lighted up a bit.
“Actually, you did tell him, but as usual, he was hanging out with his friends down at the tavern again last night and is right now sleeping of the booze. If this happens once again, he will be thrown out on the street. Now, the visitors from Lorton are awaiting us in the temple and we really don’t have time to hold them up any longer.”
The two men walked out and headed to the temple of Zoboid, god of nature, travel, and love. Zoboid was a greater god who is the patron god of Dethstryke, the nation Ollisara is located in. The head of the local clergy, Norton the Holy, was one of the most powerful followers of Zoboid. Norton was also the one who had trained Rilanda since she was only 12 years old and he saw a lot of potential in her.

Ollisara was a nice little village. While it wasn’t big, only about 600 villagers, it was big enough for Ceron. He had been in the capital of Dethstryke, Lorton, four times since he began as a squire and didn’t like it one bit. It was too many thieves and scoundrels and too little wilderness for his taste. Also, Ollisara had the two things that Ceron needed. It had his girlfriend, Rilanda, and his best friend, Jopen.


Chapter 2
Dire News

When Duran and Ceron entered the temple the people inside bowed at Duran, all but the four men in the middle of the temple.
Rilanda ran to Duran and took his cape.
“Good day, milord.”
Duran was a sturdy man, well over 6 and a half foot. He wore platemail and a helmet, both painted in deep black color. On his back a greatsword hung and his shield with his family emblem, a black lizard with drops of viper dripping from its fangs, was carried by Ceron. Whenever he was out, patrolling the streets he had vowed to protect, he wore a white cape with the same emblem on it as the shield wore.
The two men, or rather, the man and the boy, walked in to the four men in the centre of the temple.

One of these men was Norton the Holy, and he never bow for Duran as the religious laws of Zoboid is above Ollisara’s regular laws, this Norton and the first Baron of Ollisara, Rudolph, decided on 250 years ago. The three other men was two armored knights who Ceron recognized as Grugash, Wild Elves from the northern forests known for their fighting with two weapons, but the man in the middle was a known man, a Shapeshifter named Loki. He was known in most parts of the world as a ferocious warrior and to be able to speak with animals. Most people didn’t trust him as rumors of his way to the position as the commander of the Dethstryke army is not too pleasant with murders and treason.
“We meet again, Duran.”
Duran looked offended and straightened his back.
“I don’t care if we meet a thousand times, Sir Loki, but you shall always call me milord, Baron or Baron Casviper. We are not friends and will never be, and only my friends are allowed to call me by my first name, so you WILL call me by the proper customs!”
Ceron grinned. He knew that Duran actually didn’t care about the laws and customs and most people in the village called him for his first name only, but this was different. While Duran was a kind man, a just knight for the crown, but he hated Loki with so much hate that Fovea, goddess of hate and murder, would look away in fear. They was companions in a mercenary company and when they had worked for the king for about fifteen years Loki managed to make Duran look bad with lies when one of the two was about to be promoted to the nation’s military commander and since then, the two of them have been enemies to the death.
“Okay, Baron Casviper, let’s talk. I am here in the name of the crown and I have come to say that we need all your full-time soldiers in Lorton by the end of the week. This is the orders of the king, and you shall follow his orders.”
“But, sir, we need all troops we can spare. Just this month a farm was burned to the ground by a group of Hobgoblins that we hunted down but we saw traces of even more Hobgoblins around. There’s no way I can take them out without too many losses without my best troops.”
“Baron Casviper, you should know better than that. I thought you knew that the crown’s interest goes before the local noble’s interests at all times, so you shall just quiet down and prepare for their immediate departure.”
“But, you said that I got until the end of the week before they have to leave and since it’s only Tuesday today and it only takes two days while walking to reach the capital, so I should be able to keep them until Friday, maybe even Thursday.”
“Well, since I know that you will take your men and search for the Hobgoblin camp before they can leave and possibly have some of them injured or even killed, I will have to leave today.”
Norton entered the debate with a quick prayer and then started.
“How about the soldier’s families, sir? Or how about the friends and family of the farm’s owners?”
Loki now seemed pretty angry and snared.
“I don’t care how they feel or how you handle the problem. I don’t care about anything of this little crappy village. All I care about is five soldiers that I am taking with me back to Lorton and then you can all live your little lives here in Ollisara.”
After an hour of discussions and curses that could almost be heard from the edge of the town Duran stormed out and Ceron tried to follow him even though his legs were shorter and he had to carry a large shield. He did not understand why he had to carry the shield. He wore a spear himself and Duran always used his greatsword with so much skill that there was no need for a shield, but only Duran was strong enough to use them both at the same time. Duran suddenly tore the shield out of Ceron’s hands and said.
“Okay, Ceron, you are free for the rest of the day. If anybody asks, I am in my office, preparing the soldiers for the trip. I am sorry for my behavior before, but as you know, Loki is the first one to die when I get the chance.”

Ceron nodded and looked while Duran stomped away. In a way he felt with both him and the other five soldiers. He knew every one of them as he had trained with them several times, and he knew that they would miss their families, a lot, while they were stationed in Lorton. But whatever he though of last it was all erased when Rilanda left the temple and showed up in front of him.
Her dark blonde, curly hair ended right after her shoulders and her grey, big eyes looked like they had never had seen a bad thing in their entire life. She wore the standard clothes for the Zoboid clergy, a green, short robe which reached to her knees and over that she wore a leather armor colored blue. On her back she wore a crossbow with double strings which allowed her to fire it twice before needing to reload it and she wore a dagger on each of her ankles that she only used in extreme circumstances as she was no warrior.
“How are you doing? You were awfully quiet in there.”
Ceron smirked.
“Well, it was not like you talked too much either.
“You know politics isn’t my thing.”
“Yeah. By the way, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a couple of days now, and Jopen said you weren’t too happy at me.”
He looked down and replied.
“Well, there is something I am not too happy about. We have been together for two years now and both of us got a stable income, and I think there is time for us to finally, well, get wed.”
Suddenly it seemed like the world froze for him. He was only 19 years old, but since most guys in Ollisara got married at the age of 16 or 17, he was pretty old to be unmarried, but he still felt insecure. He knew she was right, and since he loved her with his full devotion, he agreed with her decision.
“I agree. We have waited long enough, there is time for work and there is time for love, and the time for love has come. The spring festival is next week; shall we have the marriage then?
She smiled for a few seconds and then suddenly jumped into his arms and kissed him several times.
“It’s like you read my mind.”
She took his hand and led him back to the temple to tell the good news to Norton the Holy.

[ October 24, 2004, 03:48: Message edited by: Caleb* ]

 

Quite good. Though I fin some of the dialogues modernish, that's probably just me. A good read though.

 

Well, whenever I try to sound "oldish" it just sounds dumb so I keep it with the current language.

Chapter 3
Spring Festival

He was nervous, very nervous. He was standing in the temple, right at the altar, in his best clothes, a uniform from the Lortonian army, and was waiting for his beloved to arrive. On his one side was Jopen, his best friend and best man, and on the other side was Norton the Holy who was about to take care of the ceremony. Suddenly, everyone stood up and music began. With a thousand thoughts coming at once, he saw Rilanda walking to him in a white, beautiful, dress.
That was all he remembered from last day when he woke up in his room with Rilanda at his side. She was still asleep so he gave her a kiss on her chin and took on his regular clothes. Just as he was about to leave for the latrinehole she took his arm and dragged him back to the bed.

As Ceron and Rilanda walked through the stands in the centre of the village, doing some needed shopping to have Rilanda fit in his room in the mansion. They had decided to take Ceron’s home as their home as Rilanda only lived in a small chamber in the back of the temple where barely she herself managed to live. At they came to a stand with sweets a small kid came running to them. Ceron recognized him as one of the servants of the castle, the one who forgot to wake him up last morning, Zatser.
“Ceron, Ceron. Baron Casviper wants you and Rilanda at his office in ten minutes.”
Ceron sighed. The village was in a great form. People were laughing and dancing, the tavern patron was as drunk as always, even the village idiot was treated with respect, and he still have to work today, the day after his wedding. Well, Rilanda was ordered to come as well so maybe there is some good news.
“Are you ready to go?”
Rilanda looked a bit sad.
“Yes. The Baron can be quite the slaver when he wants to, right?”
Ceron smiled and kissed her on her mouth.
“Yeah, but you better not say it to him personally. Not even Norton will be able to protect you from his wrath then.”

“Good that the two of you have come. Please, sit down.”
As they both nervously sat down one of the servants had retrieved a couple of glass and a bottle.
“Please, have some wine. The two of you deserve it.”
Ceron filled all three of the cups and sat down again.
“Now, first of all, let me congratulate you. I’m happy to see that you have found a wife, Ceron, and a lady as fine as this is hard to find.”
Rilanda blushed and Duran continued.
“Now, while I am happy to see you both married, you still have to remember. Each of your causes comes before the marriage. I hope you will not drop even the smallest bit of concentration while still working for me, Ceron, or you will be our new stableboy.”
“I won’t fail you, milord, this I promise and have swore to prevent.”
“Good, then I can get on with some news. There are both good and bad news today, and I will take the good news first.”

“As you both know, Ceron got quite the small room, while Zatser got one that was actually built for a wedded couple. So, with your approval, I am moving the both of you to his room so that you don’t have to trip on each other all the time while working or so. The room even got a small shrine for Zoboid in one of the back rooms which I hope that both of you will have good use for in the future.”
Rilanda screamed in happiness and gave the Baron a big hug,
“Now now, let’s not get too excited. I have some bad news as well.”

“One of my informants from the castle in Lorton has some interesting news for me. I am about too met him in one of the back trails in the forest to get this information, and its hurry. The reason I need your help with this is because this is one of my less reliable informants and I would like some protection now that my knights are gone. I have talked with Norton, and you two are about to follow me to this man and see to it that I do not get into harm’s way.”
Ceron stood up and saluted.
“I promise to do as you say; milord, but I don’t understand why Rilanda have to come as well.”
“I need the both of you for two reasons. You because you are my squire and the best blade, me excluded, in the village now that my knights are gone, and Rilanda because if there are too many of them and one of us sustains heavy injuries she will have to take care of our wounds. The reason I don’t take Norton with me is because he is well over 500 years old and shouldn’t put himself in danger needlessly. Also, with all respect to Norton, but Rilanda is a better fighter than he is and can aid us pretty well if things go too bad.”
The door opened and Jopen came in, outfitted with a scalemail and his hammer he always used in combat and when working in the smith.
“Excuse me, milord. I am ready to go now; the horses are prepared as well.”
Duran stood up and handed the crossbow and Rilanda’s quiver to the quite shocked lady.
“Oh, I forgot to mention that Jopen will come with us as well? Oh well. As you already have your daggers and your armor this was the only thing I could retrieve for you, Rilanda. Ceron, get up to your old room and get your equipment. Don’t forget my shield in my bedroom”
As Rilanda took and wore her quiver and readied her crossbow Ceron ran down and prepared himself for the trip.

When he returned Duran was equipped in his full armor and wore his sword on his back.
“Ahh, nothing like removing some traitors from the crown.”


Chapter 4
Demise

It was now half past noon and the party stopped for a bit of food but Duran didn’t step down from his horse.
“I don’t know, there is something that seems suspicious with this scenario. I hope everything is ready?”
Jopen nodded and grinned evilly.
“Yeah, it sure is, milord. I have prepared my own crossbow with those explosive armors that Ralf-Alf the Gnome made for me. I only have two, but that is enough to take out two and stun even more enemies, he took a fortune for them though.”
Duran stepped down from his horse and replied.
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit. I will repay your losses when we return so that your wife doesn’t throw you out for spending the week’s pay on weapons.”
The group laughed a bit but suddenly stopped when they heard a group of men come down the trail. The group threw themselves at their weapons and Duran took his shield from Ceron.
“Okay, prepare to throw an entangle if there are too many of them, Rilanda.”
A group of Grugash equipped with clubs and swords came down the trail. While the group looked mostly surprised when they saw who was leading the patrol, Duran only looked mad.
“Loki?! You?!”
“Yes, me, and I am going to put you out of your misery once and for all. You have disturbed me one time too many now, and when I am finished with you, it will have looked like the local Hobgoblins have attacked yet another traveling party. ATTACK!!”
The group of ten Grugash, Wild Elves, lifted their weapons and ran against the party. Jopen and Rilanda both shot one bolt each from their crossbows and while the first Grugash died and the other just ran over him, the second Grugash received his bolt in the chest and the following explosion threw him at a Grugash who was just behind him. The second Grugash managed to stay up but the blinding explosion and the hole in his friend’s chest made him unprepared for a moment and he received the second explosive bolt, right in his left leg which was removed almost instantly from the knee and below.
At the same time, Duran had killed two other Grugash with his sword but he had to drop his shield as it wasn’t as effective against a large group of enemies and this was his downfall. As he killed his third attacker two arrows in his chest marked the end for a successful era for Ollisara and he managed to get his hand crossbow up and shoot one of his assassins before he fell to the ground with a sad look on his eyes.
Ceron had at the same time killed one enemy and was about to get his head crushed by a club when a bolt in the face threw the Grugash back three foot. It seems Rilanda had saved one of her bolts but this left the archer in the woods uncontested. The Grugash without a leg came against him, jumping on one leg, but a quick throw with his spear and one more had met his end.
Jopen had after killing yet another Grugash started to run for Duran’s assassin in the woods and received an arrow in his shoulder which made him drop his shield he was holding but he didn’t stop running. The Grugash tried to draw his dagger but Jopen with his strong arm and heavy hammer crushed the Grugash’s head between the oak he was standing next to and the hammer. After this strength-absorbing feat he fell down with his face up to the sky.
There was now two Grugash left and Loki was none to be seen after Duran had died. One Grugash was charging against Ceron and the other was running against Rilanda. She had drawn her daggers but since both of the Grugash left wore two-bladed swords both she and Ceron had a hard time dodging the blows. Ceron managed to trick his opponent and tripped him with a kick at his kneecap and pierced his foe’s chest with his gladius before he had the chance to defend himself. When he turned around to see how Rilanda was doing he panicked. She was lying on the ground and while the Grugash was disarmed, he was bending over to pick his sword up. Ceron couldn’t control himself now and showed what his bumps on his back were for. Two large, bat-like wings suddenly expanded and he lifted of the ground and as he flied over to Rilanda and the Grugash, he prepared his gladius for the mortal blow.
Suddenly, when Rilanda was lying on the ground with the Elf above her something huge flew over her and had pierced the Elf on its sword. When she came to her senses she realized that it was Ceron who had killed her opponent and when he landed he dropped the Elf on the ground.

“What kind of monster are you? What is this I have married for my eternal love?”
Ceron’s wings folded and suddenly he looked just as he used to for all the time she had knew him.
“I am sorry I haven’t told you before, Rilanda, but I just didn’t think that you would understand.”
“Understand what? That you are not the man you have taught me that you were?”
“In a way, yes. I am still the same man that you married to, with one exception. My great-grand father was a Demon. He was the one who tried to destroy Lorton but was killed by the current king’s ancestor. Before he was killed, he seduced a woman when he was in his Human form and made her pregnant.”
She calmed down and sheathed her blades and picked up her crossbow and started to reload it.
“I see. Well, I don’t care how much I love you, if you don’t control yourself with those wings when I am around, you WILL have two bolts which will bring you down. And why haven’t you told me before? Don’t you trust me?”
He sheathed his sword and started to walk to his wife.
“Of course I do, it’s just that, well, I was afraid. I was afraid that you wouldn’t love me when you saw the true me. I also was afraid that you would hate me since my heritage is unnatural and evil while you are a priestess of Zoboid.”
She lowered her crossbow and attached it to her back as usual. Ceron hugged her and whispered.
“I just couldn’t watch while my wife was being killed by a Grugash, a Grugash of the crown as well. I try to keep my wings hidden but in such dire moments as this, I just can’t prevent it.”
He kissed her on her forehead and finished,
“Well, Jopen is about to die if we don’t help him. Let’s go!”

As nightfall was about and Jopen had woken up from his coma, Ceron had prepared a fire and had buried two graves. One for the Grugashs and one for his former master.
Jopen coughed and began.
“Okay, this is the situation. Twelve Grugash of the crown and a Baron are dead and the only survivors are a priestess, a smith’s son, and the Baron’s squire. I don’t know about you two, but I say that we are in quite the mess. How do we explain the deaths of Casviper? Shall we say that twelve people of the crown came with the military commander of the crown and killed the Baron and left his traveling aides alone and then just suddenly disappeared?”
Rilanda looked into the dancing fire and replied.
“He is right. If we stay here, we are to be killed for sure. Especially since Ceron’s father is a known criminal. I say we gather our things and move for Rovus to sign up with one of the mercenary companies to leave the country for a while until things calm down.”
The men agreed and the next day the three of them had left the territory for an unknown future.

 

Quite enjoyable, but one comment: use more commas, it makes for an easier read

 

MORE commas? Commas is this ',' right? I thought I overused them.