The Heartfelt Saga

by Dustin De Felice

  Chapter 18

  May 3rd, 770; The Next Attack

  Caswel stood at the southern corner of Markham surveying the remains of the guard tower. He could see the civilians huddled behind the first warehouse and briefly entertained the thought of joining them.

  Caswel started to pace back and forth, ignoring the fallen bodies of some of his own horsemen and archers. Mentally, he blocked out the deaths his team had suffered. Try as he might, he could still see each attack that led to the death of one his Guardsmen. He inwardly cursed at the lack of foresight shown by Blackheart. No one wanted this towne; the real goal lay at Elizabeth towne. This battle was a waste and each death put him one step further from taking back Elizabeth towne. Ultimately, he wanted to restore the towne to the crown, but lately he was wondering about switching to the currently winning side. He didn't think he really had enough courage to do something like that, but it made him feel better just having those thoughts. In the end, it left him with options. Options, he thought to himself, are what he needed for now.

  Caswel turned and started pacing in longer strides. In the distance and through the gloom, Caswel watched a horsemen gallop his way. Fear stuck him until he realized the rider was from Heartfelt.

  "Sire."

  Caswel waited until the man was closer before dignifying him with a response.

  "Sire, I have a message for you."

  Caswel paused in his pacing and was surprised he didn't recognize the man. "I am listening."

  "The units are assembling outside the third warehouse. Sir Talon Bastian and Royal Guardsmen Ron Champagne request your presence for the meeting."

  Caswel was impressed by the Guardsmen's protocol and was surprised to see the man lower his head in respect. Caswel held his answer, allowing his authority to seem more daunting. Another of Caswel’s tricks at being authoritative was to keep his answers short. "I understand."

  The messenger looked up expectantly and realizing that the simple message was also a dismissal, he turned and headed back to the third warehouse. As he galloped away, he muttered to himself. "What a pompous, egotistical, no load carrying, donkey's ass."

  Caswel smiled to himself as he watched the messenger leaving. He felt he had impressed the young soldier and was happy with the feeling of respect that was left to him.

  Without wasting anytime, he immediately headed back up the path towards the fork. There was no way he was following the Guardsmen through the battle scene, instead he choose to take the long, but safe route. As he trotted up the path, one of the civilians spoke up.

  "Sire. Has there been word?"

  Caswel looked down on the man with contempt and scorn. Once again, Caswel exercised his authority by pausing before his answer. "I have no information for you." Caswel dismissed the man with a look and headed back down the path.

  The civilian, normally a genial soul, cursed out loud, "Conceited, swell headed, pretentious, donkey's ass!"

  Caswel, feeling superior once again, thought he heard the civilian call him a donkey's ass. Caswel immediately dismissed the idea, knowing the lower class respected him and his position. Caswel continued his march in ignorance.

  Trall’s Command

  Trall watched Talon head back into the battle. He turned and spoke to Guardsmen Paul Unique. "It looks you are in charge of the archers?"

  "Yes, though I could have waited for the opportunity."

  Trall frowned at the comment. He was surprised to see the footmen pull down Royal Guardsmen Di Bona. Trall barely knew him, but he knew he must have been excited to assume that role at such a young age. Trall assumed Paul overheard his conversation with Talon, but double-checked. "Did you hear, Talon?"

  "Yes, sir. I will bring my rangers."

  Trall nodded his head. "Okay. I will see you at the meeting." Instead of heading to the warehouse, Trall jogged back to where the battle began. He had something to take care of before he attended to the meeting. Trall picked up the pace hoping he wasn't too late. As he came up to the spot where the battle started, he searched the ground looking for her body. He could barely see, being this close to the tower. Even the moon wasn't able to penetrate the gloom coming off the smoldering guard tower.

  Trall started to panic, knowing she needed help. He frantically searched the ground in front of him. He walked over the dead bodies of the footmen and paused over the Guardsmen, making sure they were beyond help. As he moved closer to the river, he could hear a faint moaning. Trall ran towards the sound. Next to the body of a footmen lay the body of Jackie Kirby. She was curled up in a fetal position and Trall silently prayed it was her moaning, not the footmen. Trall fell to his knees and quickly felt her forehead. Her forehead was burning and his hand came away full of sweat.

  "Jackie." Trall tried again, this time in a whisper, fearing the worst. "Jackie." Trall bent his head down and choked back tears.

  Jackie slowly opened her eyes and was happy to see Trall kneeling by her side. She reached up and touched the side of his face with the back of her hand. Trall reached up and held her hand to the side of his face.

  Trall smiled deeply into her face. "I, uh, thought you didn't make it!"

  Jackie smiled back and weakly replied. "I didn't know you cared, kind sir."

  Trall let out the breath he had been holding since he saw her. "I, I'm sorry I had to leave you."

  Jackie brought his hand to her lips and gently kissed it. "I understand."

  Trall was relieved. "Can you move?"

  "I don't think so."

  "Can you handle me carrying you?"

  "I...I just don't know. I'm worried about reopening the wound."

  Trall nodded. He hadn't thought ahead. There wasn't anyone close and he just couldn't bring himself to leave her again. Almost defeated, he watched a women come out of the gloom.

  "Sir, I..oh, is that you Trall?"

  Trall was surprised to see Kathy Wolf walking over to him. "Kathy! What are you doing here?"

  "I have been waiting with the rest of the civilians behind a warehouse. The group of us thought the rest of you had forgotten about us."

  Trall squeezed Jackie's hand and then stood up. Kathy was a civilian from unit one. She was a cook's assistant and Trall now had the help he needed. "Listen, who else is with you?"

  "Well, the rest of the civilians. Why?"

  Trall smiled at his luck. "Bring everybody here. We have to move Jackie. The units are meeting at the end of the docks. Okay?"

  Kathy looked down at the ground and for the first time noticed Jackie's body. "Um, yes. I will be right back." Kathy took off into the gloom. Trall let go of his second breath since he found Jackie. "You're going to be fine Jackie, just fine."

  Jackie didn't answer; she just closed her eyes.

  Trall wasn't waiting long when he heard the group of civilians calling his name.

  "Over here." As soon as Trall said that, he realized how useless the comment was. Trall could barely see in front of him. Moments later Kathy came out of the fog with two others.

  Trall briefly filled in the details of how the battle went and then asked for assistance carrying Jackie. After Trall and two of the civilians carefully lifted Jackie, Kathy led the men through the battlefield. They walked as close to the warehouses as was possible and found the air clearing the further they were away from the tower. Trall decided it was too risky to head in front of the last warehouse, so they went down the side of it. Trall was thankful this alleyway wasn't as littered as the one where he and the swordsmen had hidden in earlier in the evening. The group walked onto the middle path and started to turn towards the forest when Trall heard one of the civilians muttering, "Pig headed, [mumbled], donkey's ass."

  "Excuse me, what did you say?" Trall looked over at the civilian and saw Royal Man Caswel Holloway trotting in the distance behind him. His blood immediately started to boil. Jackie must have noticed because she grabbed his forearm a
nd squeezed gently.

  "Trall!" She didn't say another word, though the look she gave Trall added dimensions to his name. Trall held his composure and kept the group moving. He silently hoped Caswel didn't say anything. Even with the quick glance he took, he could tell Caswel had sat the battle out. His blood continued to boil.

  "Trall." Caswel headed over in the group’s direction. "Trall."

  If he hadn’t felt Jackie's touch on his arm, he would have exploded at Caswel. Instead, in a monotone voice and without making eye contact he said, "You are wanted at the meeting. We will see you there."

  Caswel slowed down to a trot and briefly considered flattening Trall's disrespectful tone, but something in Trall's manner told him otherwise. Caswel nodded his head and trotted off to the meeting without another word.

  Trall was more than happy to watch him go. He returned his concentration to someone who needed it, Jackie. The group continued walking to the meeting sight.

  Talon’s Opportunity

  Talon kneeled down by the side of the warehouse. He had already gathered and spoke with the majority of both units and the Royal Guardsmen. He sent a small mixture of archers, rangers, and swordsmen to stand watch over the bridge. Peter reminded him of what they left behind at the other warehouse, so he sent a couple of footmen with Peter Gredit to retrieve the horses.

  "Peter, make sure you grab the donkey. He's carrying our food. I can imagine you are as hungry as I am."

  "You got it, Talon." Peter ran off to join the Guardsmen.

  Talon turned to the remaining Guardsmen.

  "I need some volunteers." A number of volunteers stepped forward. "Thank you." Talon gave them their assignment. "I need about four of you to start patrolling the waterfront." Talon gave them an overview of what he wanted to accomplish on this patrol. Royal Guardsmen Bolton Legates decided to lead them. Talon gave them one last order: be creative.

  Talon watched as the Guardsmen headed off to the waterfront. Another group of Guardsmen were setting up a makeshift camp just inside the forest. Talon was glad they realized the harsh reality. They weren't going anywhere for awhile.

  “Talon.”

  Talon raised his head upon hearing his voice being called.

  "Talon."

  Talon looked up and was surprised to see Caswel trotting his way. "Nice to see you, Caswel." Talon tried his best to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. It didn't work.

  "Yes. Has the meeting started?"

  Talon rolled his eyes and wondered how Caswel carried that much arrogance with him. "Yes. And as a matter of fact it is almost over. Why?"

  "Why?” Caswel’s voice raised a level. Don't you think I have some say in what is happening with my unit? I will have you know I was given control by the King himself and furthermore..."

  Talon cut him off. "Enough. I will address your concerns in a moment." Talon stood up and turned towards the last group of men with him. "I need some more volunteers." Knowing they would all step forward, he raised his hand to stop them. "Hold it.Let me finish. You are going to want to hear me out first." Talon took a breath and then continued, "I hate to ask this, but it needs to be done. I need a number of you, say three or four, to search for survivors, well, Heartfelt survivors along the waterfront."

  Guardsmen Lennon spoke. "What about the dead?"

  "Leave them." Talon paused. "For now, anyway."

  The Guardsmen nodded and led his group off to the waterfront. Talon breathed deeply, he wasn't looking forward to dealing with Caswel.

  "Now, Caswel. Where were we?"

  "I do not like to be interrupted. Now that I have your attention..."

  Talon let his eyes wander as Caswel started his tirade. Caswel had barely finished his second sentence when Talon saw Trall and the group of civilians walking towards them.

  "Trall!" Talon took off towards Trall, not even noticing the look on Caswel's face. "Trall." As he got closer he saw them carrying a body. "Oh, boy." He ran even harder. "What happened? Who is it? Oh, Jackie. Is she okay?"

  Trall smiled. "Whoa. Slow down, Talon. Could you give us a hand?"

  "What, sure." Talon fell in place behind Trall. He looked down and was relieved to see Jackie staring at him. "How are you?"

  Jackie grinned. "Feels like my first date with Trall."

  Talon burst into a fit of laughter. "I didn't know you two were an item. Your first date was that bad, Trall?" Talon couldn't see Trall's face, but he knew he was bright red.

  "We need to get her to a healer. She is obviously losing her mind." Trall shot a glance back at the two of them and gave Jackie a quick wink. "Seriously though, she was stabbed in her side. I don't think it was too deep, but it was enough."

  Talon mulled that over. "Okay. Some of the Guardsmen have been making a camp inside the forest. Let's bring her in there, and then I can fill you in on what's been going on."

  "Okay. I see you have already spoken to Caswel"

  Talon laughed. "Not really. And I don't intend on saying much more to him. He has proven his worth on this trip."

  They set off into the woods to find a spot to set Jackie in. The Guardsmen had worked fast, creating a large flat area that provided plenty of coverage and it couldn't be seen from the path. Upon seeing Jackie, the Guardsmen ran over to offer assistance. It wasn't long before Jackie was comfortably lying in a secluded corner. Talon troubled the nearest Guardsmen to find Healer Rivers. Talon hadn't seen the man in quite awhile and for the first time he wondered if the Healer made it through the melee.

  Talon gave Trall a recap of all that had gone on while Trall attended to Jackie. Trall filled Talon in on what he saw at the battlefield. Talon knew they would have to take care of the dead bodies soon, very soon. Trall agreed, but knew they just couldn't spare anyone else. While they were talking, Healer Rivers came into the forest camp.

  "Nick, it's good to see you are still among the living."

  "Thanks, Talon. What's the problem?"

  "I think Trall can answer you better."

  Healer Rivers nodded and headed over to Trall.

  Talon left the men to take care of Jackie. He walked back out of the forest and found Caswel waiting for him. Seeing him standing there with that smug look on his face brought out the anger in him. In that instant, Talon thought back to everything he had to put up since first hearing Caswel's name. He stepped onto the path and watched Caswel start to open his mouth.

  "Stop. Don't say another thing, Caswel. I am going to say this to you one time. Your unit has been assigned to me. You stood there next to me, you listened to the same order from Prince Christopher, the same order came from Royal Man Blackheart, and last time I checked, they both outrank you. Now, I don't want to hear another thing from you until I give the order to release unit one from its duties to Markham. Until then, keep your goddamm mouth shut unless you plan on becoming part of the unit. Dismissed."

  For a moment, Talon thought Caswel was going to say something. Talon stood his ground until Caswel quietly turned and walked away. Talon wasn't happy about what happened, but he was hoping his point came across loud and clear. Thankfully, only a few of the Guardsmen witnessed the spectacle and they politely acted like it never happened. Talon turned and headed back into the woods. He moved over to where Trall was watching over Jackie.

  "A little trouble with the fearless Royal Man?"

  "Was I that loud?"

  "Loud enough. Do you think it did the trick?"

  "I don't think it mattered, except I don't expect him bothering me anymore."

  "Good. At least something good will come out of it." Trall patted the ground next to him.

  Talon took the offer and sat down next to Trall. Trall hadn't moved from his spot since Healer Rivers had begun his work on Jackie. From what Talon gathered from the bits of conversation he overheard, she was going to be on better ground in a few days and, if nothing else happened to aggravate i
t, she would make a full recovery.

  Sitting quietly allowed Talon the time to think, but he was a little curious about Jackie's comment.

  "Trall, mind if I ask you a personal question?"

  Trall looked over with a quizzical stare. "Sure."

  "How long have you been seeing Jackie?"

  It took a moment, but Trall answered him. "A few months. I'm sorry we didn't say anything. At first, we just kept it quiet. I mean I wasn't sure how people would take it, me being a former Guardsmen and all. Then we didn't want our relationship to influence my job with you or her being assigned to Unit one. Sorry."

  Talon surprised Trall by laughing. "I've been wondering what you always did around the castle. It seemed like every time I stopped by your room you were gone." Talon chuckled to himself. "Well, that clears up one mystery."

  "You know, we almost got caught that night you went into towne with the Prince and Blackheart. I was in her room when she was recalled. When the Guardsmen came to get her to be part of the escort, I hid under the bed. Of course, at the time, I didn't know what was going on, so after she left I went to find you, but you were already heading into towne with the Prince. Jackie filled in the details later."

  Talon laughed. "And all this time I thought you were working!" Talon turned serious for a moment. "She is going to have to stay with us you know?"

  "Yeah, I know. There is no way she can travel."

  "It doesn't look like we are going anywhere for awhile anyway. I think our next step is to block that bridge."

  Trall nodded his head in agreement. "Don't suppose we have time to eat first."

  Talon laughed. "I don't see why not. Let me go and see if Peter's back with the supplies. I will make sure unit one's civilians are starting dinner for their unit." Talon stood up. "I will bring you both back something."

  Trall nodded and then went back to his vigil.

  Talon made his way back to the path and discovered Peter and the Guardsmen moving down the path. Talon called together some other Guardsmen and made a hole in the warehouse side. After Peter looked it over, they started to move the horses in. It was still early in the night, but Talon didn't see an end to the activities for quite awhile. After talking to the civilians he got the meal going. In the meantime, he grabbed a number of Guardsmen and started working on his plans for the bridge. He set up a larger group of archers to keep a watch and then started to dig. Two others jumped in place with him, while the others ran to gather items to block the bridge

  Having accomplished a majority of the chores and, even stopping for something to eat, Talon found a quiet spot and settled in against a tree. It was getting very late in the evening and no one had time to get some sleep. Talon wasn't sure how much longer they could keep up the same pace. Everyone had been going since early this morning. Talon leaned his head against the tree and looked up into the sky. The sky was clear and full of stars. Talon wasn't able to enjoy it very long because he drifted off.

  "They're attacking. Everybody up." Guardsmen Unique ran into the forest compound screaming of the attack.

  Talon jumped up and smacked his head on a low hanging branch.

  "Dammit."

  Talon didn't waste any more time as he grabbed his sword and headed towards the forest. He cursed himself for falling asleep and wondered how long he had been under. He looked around and found there was no way to tell. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Trall hastily give Jackie a kiss on her forehead and then head off in the same direction.

  "Ready for some excitement, Talon?"

  "Not this kind, no. How's she doing?"

  Trall briefly looked back. "I think she's going to make it. Nick is keeping a close eye on her."

  "Well, why don't we head out there and dish out some pay backs?"

  "Sounds like a plan! After you." Trall stepped back and bowed slightly.

  Talon bowed his head and ran out onto the path. Guardsmen were running towards the bridge to stop the rush of Northerns.

  "Archers, Rangers to the trees!" Talon broke into a sprint with Trall right behind him. Talon heard more Guardsmen break out of the woods and briefly looked for his unit. He knew the rangers were already en route to the trees next to the bridge. Talon and his five rangers had single handedly stopped the flow by staking out that position and he hoped they could repeat their actions. Talon watched as Elizabeth Sanders disappeared into the forest.

  Talon surveyed the situation. The bridge was full of Northern footmen and Northern horsemen and he could just make out the slower Northern archers forming up on the other side of the bridge. Talon drew his sword and ran up to a position behind the Guardsmen making a wall. Trall followed behind him with sword in hand. The Guardsmen waited for what seemed like an eternity, but the Northerns just stood on the bridge. Talon leaded over to Guardsmen Taylor.

  "How long have they been up there?"

  "It started with just one Northern standing right in the center. We sounded the alarm as soon as we saw the rest appearing from across the river. Strange."

  “Very strange, indeed." Talon paused and looked behind him. Most of the Guardsmen were assembled with the exception of the patrol and the men selected to find the survivors. Talon wasn't happy with the amount of men and women he had left. He watched Guardsmen Paul Unique bring his archers into the trees. Talon was glad to have them back there. He knew the archers and rangers were going to make or break this battle. With his five rangers and Unique's eight archers they had a good chance of walking away unscathed. Talon watched the bridge for a sign of movement. Neither side made any motions. Talon wondered how long the standoff would last.

  A yell cut through the silence.

  "Over there, by the docks. It's the Northerns."

  Talon looked in the docks' direction. Coming across the river were two rafts full of Northerns. Talon wasn't given much time to ponder the move, because moments later the Northerns yelled a battle cry from the bridge and raced towards the Guardsmen.

  Talon yelled to Unique. "Give me five of your archers. Stop those rafts."

  Without reply Unique sent five men to the docks. Talon sent four Guardsmen in the same direction.

  "Rangers, archers. Fire at will."

  A volley of archers was the reply. The arrows rained down onto the approaching Northerns. Talon cringed as he watched footmen tumbled to the ground, only to be trampled by the oncoming horsemen. As the first set of footmen came down off the bridge, they tried to jump the ditch built hours before. Right outside the ditch lay heaps of junk they had dragged from between the warehouses.

  Two of the footmen made the jump, only to smash into the junk. They lost their footing and tumbled backwards falling into the ditch. The Northern horsemen, watching the problems the footmen were having, slowed down their descent. Talon smiled as he watched the entire forward momentum of the bridge assault come to a halt. The rangers/archers unit rained volley after volley into the group.

  Talon risked a look at the docks and saw the first raft making its way to the pier with less numbers than it started with. Unfortunately, the second raft was right behind it and it was still full. Talon wondered how long their advantage would hold. In answer to his thought, the last row of the bridge assault turned out to be archers. They stood in the middle of the bridge and sent a volley of arrows into the line of Guardsmen.

  Talon yelled before the majority of the arrows rained down. "Heads up, everyone." Talon dove forward and heard the sound of the rest of the Guardsmen doing the same.

  Their luck ran out at the volley from the bridge. The second raft landed, spilling more footmen onto the pier than the Guardsmen could handle. The group retreated under the cover of the five archers. Talon watched as they fell into place with the other Guardsmen. Talon yelled to the archers as soon as they were clear.

  "The bridge. Fire at those archers on the bridge." For emphasis Talon pointed to the center of the brid
ge.

  The archers took cover beside the warehouse and fired a volley. Talon looked forward and saw another volley coming out of the trees. The Northerns were taking heavy losses, but it wasn't over yet. The first group of footmen came running from the pier. Talon jumped to his feet and ran with a group of Guardsmen to stop their assault. A few of the footmen fell to the ground with arrows sticking out of their chests. Talon and his group met the rest of the footmen head on. Swords clashed and two more footmen fell to the ground. Talon watched a Guardsmen get shot in the throat and fall violently to the ground.

  In the same instant, Talon felt a prick in his thigh. He swung and pushed the footmen he was fighting to the water's edge. He took a moment while the footmen was off balance and peeked at his leg. An arrow was sticking into his chain mail. He didn't feel any pain and wondered if it hadn't penetrated his mail. He looked up and watched the footmen lose his balance and tumble into the river. Talon turned and was met by another footmen. He blocked the footmen's attack and swung to the footmen's side. The footmen blocked and went to swing again. He missed Talon and slid on the wet grass next to the Teal. The footmen's leg flew into the air and his body followed behind him. Talon started to circle around the man to get a clear shot, when an arrow struck the man in the throat. Talon turned to see the Northern archers across the riverbank firing into the battle. From their vantage point, they were able to fire unmolested.

  Talon issued a quick order. "Move back. All Guardsmen move back."

  Talon, being free of any charges, took off towards the bridge. He knew the rest of the footmen would follow. Talon could see Trall direct the swordsmen to the few footmen who were making it over the barrier. Talon yelled to the archers in position by the warehouse.

  "Get those footmen by the docks."

  Talon watched them take aim and fire into the oncoming footmen, who were trying to match the Guardsmen retreat. More of the footmen fell to the archers, but a number broke through the remaining Guardsmen. Two more of the Heartfelt soldiers fell to the ground with arrows sticking out of their armor. Talon started moving everyone back. The Northern archers were rapidly taking down more and more Guardsmen. Talon hoped to put some distance between them.

  The strategic retreat was gaining them some ground. As Talon approached the warehouse, he directed the archers to return to the forest. At this distance, they were removed from the flight of the Northern's arrows. The Guardsmen took a moment to form a solid defensive position. The remaining footmen from the raft were the first to attack, followed with a few of the successful footmen from the bridge. Talon watched as the Northern horsemen turned and trotted off the bridge. Apparently they had become tired of being target practice for the rangers. The bridge was clearing and he hesitated, wondering if the Northern archers would dare take positions on the bridge.

  "To Heartfelt!" Talon screamed as loud as he could and started the forward attack. He quickly counted around thirty footmen. He was amazed to see they now had almost equal odds. He wanted to remember that for later. He was hoping to ask Trall if they had ever had even odds.

  Talon pushed away the thoughts and concentrated on the job at hand. He attacked the first footmen with an overhand blow. The footmen countered and Talon found he was fighting a seasoned fighter. It was almost a welcome relief considering how inexperienced the rest of the footmen appeared to be. Talon wasn't sure how long they had been fighting, but his arms were sore and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Just when he thought his body was going to drop from sheer exhaustion, Talon found himself running after the Northerns. The remaining footmen were retreating back to the bridge. They were encountering extreme difficulty maneuvering around the junk while constantly looking overhead to avoid the arrows. Talon collapsed to one knee as he watched the Northern backsides running across the bridge.

  "Caught yourself a winner?"

  Talon grinned at Trall, "First time I have been in a fair fight since this day started."

  Trall put his hand out and helped Talon to his feet. "What do you say we try and grab some sleep?"

  "Sleep! Who needs sleep?" Talon cringed as he stood back on two feet. "Thanks, Trall." Talon wasn't sure he would have stood up again without Trall's help.

  "Don't mention it. Let's hurry though, I want to see Jackie before it gets any later!"

  Talon chuckled. "Okay. Let's call it a night."

  The group of Guardsmen headed back to the forest compound leaving a new set of bodies for the bridge watch. Very few Guardsmen bodies were left behind, but Talon added them to his list of things to do in the morning. He wondered how many more bodies were going to wind up on the waterfront.

  The majority of the Guardsmen disappeared into the forest compound. Talon left Trall to have some time with Jackie and found the same tree as before. He started to close his eyes, but stopped, hearing footsteps.

  "Excuse me, sir."

  Talon adjusted his eyes to the darker light and recognized Royal Guardsmen Bolton Legates. Talon started to rise, but Legates motioned him back down. "No need to get up. The first patrol is back. Nothing to report."

  "You missed all the excitement."

  "So I've heard. The next team is already forming up. They know where to go. If there is nothing else, I will retire."

  "No, let's hope there's nothing else. Have good night Bolton."

  Bolton nodded and disappeared into the forest. Talon put his head against the tree and tried to sleep. He inwardly cursed and stood up. Of course, now he couldn't sleep. Talon made sure he had his sword and headed out to find the patrol getting ready to go. He knew he would be tired by the time he returned from a patrol. He grabbed a quick peek at Trall and then disappeared out of the forest.