The Heartfelt Saga

by Dustin De Felice

  Chapter 3

  March 4th, 770; The Bastian Family Farm in the Farmer’s Region

  Talon crouched low and silently moved through the trees until he came to the edge of the woods. In the distance, he could hear yelling from the Guardsmen who were storming his father’s farm. Through the haze, he could see the burning barn with smoke billowing out the windows. Behind the barn, the fields were ablaze and, at the field’s edge behind the farmhouse, the woodpile was burning into the sky.

  Talon spied three Guardsmen walk towards the woodpile. These were the only three he could see. He briefly wondered if the rest moved on, causing damage to someone else’s property. Each of the Guardsmen grabbed a log and fashioned a torch. With fire in hand, they headed back towards the front of the house.

  One of the Guardsmen broke from the group and launched his torch onto the top of the house, causing the other two to yell at him. The larger Guardsmen smacked him in the back of the head and pointed to the woodpile. The dejected Guardsmen turned and walked back to the woodpile, while the other two Guardsmen continued yelling at him as they went towards the front of the house.

  Those two disappeared from Talon’s sight, but he didn’t give them a second thought because his attention went to the Guardsmen standing by the woodpile. He watched him take his time working on another torch and noticing how preoccupied he was, Talon decided to make him his first victim. Talon walked out of the woods and into the cover of the burning fields. He moved through the field unnoticed and, in moments, he was crouched right outside of the woodpile. The Guardsmen had his back to Talon and was mumbling to himself as he was finishing the torch.

  Talon shifted his position to unsheathe his sword and as he pulled the sword from the sheath, he brushed into a burning plant, which broke off and fell onto his neck and down his shirt. The plant started to burn his neck and, as he moved, more pieces fell into his shirt and ran down his back. Talon swore under his breath and tried to shake it off before it burned him anymore. The movement caught the Guardsmen’s attention.

  “Hey! Stay where you are.” The Guardsmen threw his torch to the ground and pulled out his sword. He started to walk around the woodpile in Talon’s direction. “Stand up. Now!”

  Talon, under his breath, cursed again. He balanced his sword behind his leg and stood up putting his hands out in front of him. He waited as some of the plant pieces continued to burn his back.

  “Good. Now very slowly walk over to me.” The Guardsmen stopped just outside of the field’s reaches, motioning with his arm to have Talon move forward.

  Talon took a few steps forward and felt the sword fall to the ground. “Dammit!” Talon muttered this a little louder than he wanted to.

  “What did you say?” The Guardsmen stopped motioning with his hand and took a two handed grip on his sword.

  Talon continued walking without answering the question.

  The Guardsmen repeated himself. “What did you just say?”

  Talon, knowing how hopeless things had become, started to laugh.

  This infuriated the Guardsmen, who yelled his command this time. “Walk. Let’s go see some of my friends. I am sure they will want to talk with you.”

  Talon continued laughing as he walked past the Guardsmen, until he felt the Guardsmen’s sword crack him behind the knees causing him to fall to the ground.

  “Get up!”

  Talon, still on his knees, was inches from the burning woodpile and felt his left side burning from the intense heat. He chose to ignore the Guardsmen.

  “I said get up!”

  Talon intentionally waited, testing the man. He was rewarded by a kick to his side. Talon let go of the breath he was holding and started to stand.

  “Listen to me next time and this won’t happen.” The Guardsmen spit on the ground in front of Talon and continued. “None of this would have happened if you weren’t a Redderin sympathizer.”

  Talon almost broke. He had spent the last two years of his life fighting side by side with the Heartfelt Guardsmen. Now, this man was accusing him of being a sympathizer. Talon quietly stood and resumed walking. The Guardsmen fell into place walking a few paces behind him.

  “Your kind disgust me!”

  Talon rolled his eyes. Obviously the Guardsmen wasn’t done talking and as they were walking along the side of the house he continued his tirade. In the middle of the tirade, Talon started to become irritated by the air. The smoke coming off the house was choking Talon, which made him cough to push the smell out of his head.

  “What? Did you say something?” The Guardsmen poked Talon in the back with his sword.

  Talon hadn’t said anything and didn’t bother to answer.

  “You will get what’s coming to you as soon as we finish off the other sympathizers inside this house. Three Redderin lovers, Prince Philip will be very pleased.”

  That was the last straw for Talon. He had watched them chase his only brother and their father into the farmhouse like they were animals and now this Guardsmen was predicting their death. Luckily, Talon’s father had been prepared. As soon as his father and brother were in the house Talon knew his father had barricaded the door. They were safe, for now.

  As they neared the front of the house, Talon could still hear the Guardsmen trying to break through the front door. Talon wasn’t about to go without a fight, so he slowed by half a step and felt the sword point in his back. Feeling it was there, Talon spun around the sword. Surprised by the motion, the Guardsmen jabbed forward, but Talon was quicker than the blade as it missed the side of his chest. While the Guardsmen was off balance from his thrust, Talon knocked the man’s forearm, causing the sword to slam into the side of the house. Talon pushed the advantage by slamming his other elbow into the side of the Guardsmen face. Talon heard bones crack as he connected with the Guardsmen’s jaw. Not satisfied, Talon drove his knee into the man’s stomach. The Guardsmen started falling backwards, but Talon wasn’t done. He brought his other hand into play and slammed his fist into the man’s nose. The Guardsmen’s nose exploded and Talon could feel the blood as it ran off his hand. The blow stunned the Guardsmen leaving him stumbling backwards until Talon grabbed him by his chest plate and pulled him close to his face.

  “Just remember, you made me do this!”

  The Guardsmen rebuttal was lost in his blood-filled mouth, but Talon wasn’t in the mood to care anyway. He pivoted on his right leg and threw the Guardsmen into the side of the house. After the Guardsmen slammed face first into the wall he collapsed in an awkward position on the ground.

  Some of his revenge satisfied, Talon walked over and retrieved the man’s sword. Not losing his sense of humor, Talon shot the Guardsmen one last remark. “Don’t imagine you’re going to have much use for this.”

  Remembering there were still more to deal with, Talon moved slowly down the side of the house. He could hear the other two Guardsmen still attempting to break into the house. Talon stopped at the corner of the house and hid himself. The smoke was still billowing off the house and it was finding its way into Talon’s lungs. He stifled a cough and brushed away the tears in his eyes. As far as he could tell there were only the two Guardsmen at work. He listened intently to the activity in front of him.

  Breathing heavily, one Guardsmen stopped and said, “Wonder what happened to Jeffrey?”

  The other stopped to answer. “I don’t know. Besides, you’re the one that smacked him.”

  “I know; don’t remind me.”

  Both men were silent for a moment.

  “Okay, I’ll go check on him.” The Guardsmen started walking towards the back.

  Talon tensed knowing the man would walk right past him. He could hear the Guardsmen mumbling to himself as he approached. “Middle of a war and he is going to be sensitive. Should have left him behind…”

  As the Guardsmen turned the corner he noticed Jeffery lying on his side next to the house. Without saying anything, th
e Guardsmen ran past Talon who stepped out from the smoke veil that hid him and struck the man right in the back of the head with his sword. Talon was glad he could barely see out of his teary eyes because he knew it was messy. Talon didn’t waste any more time as he ran out in front of his father’s house. The last Guardsmen had his back to Talon and didn’t turn around at the sound of footsteps.

  “Back already? Everything all better!” The Guardsmen sarcastically said without turning around.

  Talon almost laughed at how stupid this Guardsmen was. He sprinted towards the man with a lowered shoulder and slammed into the man’s back. The Guardsmen flew forward and landed face first onto the ground. Talon used his momentum and followed him to the ground. He slammed his body into the Guardsmen who hit the ground again knocking the Guardsmen’s sword out of his hand. Talon cracked the man over the skull with the butt of his sword and felt the Guardsmen fall unconscious.

  Talon sat up tasting victory, but it was short lived as he remembered his father and brother were still in the burning farmhouse. He ran up to the front door yelling their names. “Father! Barlow! Open the door; it’s me, Talon!”

  Talon repeated himself as he slammed his fists against the door. He continued to pound without hearing an answer. By this time, the flames had grown and were engulfing the wall and the door. Talon pushed as hard as he could and felt the door give in under his weight as he lost his balance and fell in with it. He landed on the ground surrounded by flames.

  The entire house was engulfed in smoke. Talon crouched low and started moving through the flaming debris. He called out to his father, though for some reason he didn’t expect an answer.

  As he moved from the hallway into the living room, he heard a crash mixed with a muffled yell from somewhere in the house. Talon, forgetting the fire, stood up and ran headlong towards the back of the house. He turned the corner and was greeted by the sight of his brother and father fighting off a horde of Guardsmen pouring through a large hole in the kitchen wall. Talon crashed through the debris and realized he was too late. He watched his brother and father fall victim to multiple Guardsmen swords.

  Talon screamed out, which did nothing for him, but draw him some unwanted attention. Talon stopped his forward momentum and readied himself to meet the Guardsmen. In that moment, he realized he had dropped his sword somewhere in the house during his mad rush towards the kitchen. A strange calmness came over his body as he waited for the attacking Guardsmen and the impending doom.

  Talon said a brief prayer out loud. “Father, Barlow, I will see you both soon.” Talon closed his eyes and waited. As soon as he felt a sword hitting his body he screamed out.

  His own scream woke him up. Still living the dream, he reached around for something to use against his attackers. He jumped to his feet and started to move, but only succeeded in twisting his feet up in his blanket. The blanket twisted between his feet and tightened, causing him to lose his balance and fall from the bed. He fell backwards and landed on top of his night table instantly crushing it and sending the contents throughout the room. The crash knocked the wind out of him.

  As Talon lay on the floor, he tried to regain his breath and he noticed he didn’t smell any smoke or feel the burning sensation of the fire. He felt his body for sword wounds and finding none, he opened his eyes. The first thing Talon noticed was the sunlight coming from outside his window.

  “It was only a dream.” He said it to himself one more time trying to shake off its affects. He knew the loss of his father and brother encountered in his dream would linger for awhile.

  After a moment he felt better and sat up. Seeing the sunlight, he briefly wondered how long he had overslept.

  He threw the blanket onto the bed and glanced at the night table. It was spread throughout his room in various sized pieces. He picked up a few of the pieces, only to discover the table wasn’t even close to fixable.

  Talon laughed quietly to himself. He really thought he was done having those bad dreams. The last time they were reoccurring was during his first few months on the farm just after the war.

  Talon walked over to his wash basin and splashed some water on his face. The water woke him up and he found himself thinking about the castle again.

  The rumors had been spreading for months now. Just last week, he heard more rumors concerning the Northerns. On a certain level, he knew that exaggeration played a big part in the gossip around the Farmer’s Region, but in every rumor there was a kernel of truth. The most recent story he had overheard was that the Northerns had appointed their own King, but this was from a trader at the center who had the tendency to take some liberties with his stories. Talon knew the only way to get an answer was to pay the castle a visit. He briefly entertained the idea, but knew he had far too much work to accomplish. Talon went to work without giving Heartfelt another thought.