by Lee LaCroix
As he fell forward, the impaled leader weighed Garreth down and would not relinquish the hunter’s blade as it remained inside of him. As the hunter struggled to lift the weighty bear of a man off him, the third woodsman chuckled as he shuffled over, raising his axe over the hunter’s head and planning to land the final blow. Meeting eye to eye, the worker formed an angry snarl and moved to bring the axe down. Beads of sweat emerged on Garreth’s brow as he toiled to escape from the body who had pinned him down, and his desperate eyes met the bloodshot glare of the furious axeman. Garreth could feel the hot splash of his blood pour out his arm, and his eyes darted around in a panic as he failed to summon the strength to unbind himself. Garreth fixated on the axe as it fell towards him, but he did not notice the woodsman dropping alongside it. The executioner fell under the weight of his axe. An arrow had pierced his back and protruded through the left of his chest. The final woodsman growled as he fell and then was silent and still.
Garreth wheezed a sigh of relief. Novas rushed over beside his father, and together they lifted the corpse off of him. The boy beheld the man he had slain and was made uneasy; something did not feel right about such bloodshed. As Novas helped his father to his feet, they shared a piercing glance with each other but refused to speak until much later.
Chapter Three
Tiny strips of star shine cut through the forest veil and landed upon the roof of the cabin. A fire crackled in the stone hearth inside. The orange rays of light pushed out the dark of night and cast the skeletal shadows of a nearby table and chair against the walls and the shining coats of pelt. Garreth sat cross-legged on a large bear skin, a prize from an expedition north of the kingdom, and prepared a group of salves and bandages near the fire’s edge. He selected herbs from his stock, ground them in the mortar with his wooden pestle, and placed them to boil with water in an overhanging pan. From a second bowl, he applied grinded herbal remedy to the cuts and gashes that he had suffered during the battle. Like a watchful owl of the forest’s night, Novas looked over his father’s preparations from his bed. Garreth wrapped the linen bandages around his forearms and tightened their ends to a snug knot. Since their return from the woods, they had ceased to speak; the boy’s astonishment being one reason and the father’s reluctance the other.
“Why did we have to kill those men? We do not eat them like the other animals, they do not belong to the forest. Did they die for our survival?” Novas asked, breaking the tense silence.
For some long moments, Garreth continued to prepare his tea and inspect his bandaging.
“It is my duty,” Garreth replied while he prepared his drink, wincing as he strained his wounded arm.
“Duty? What is duty?” Novas asked.
Garreth turned away from fire and rested his back against a chair near the hearth’s border.
“When I was a young man, not much older than you, I left the farm of my parents. I was starved for a livelier atmosphere than the tranquil farmland of my youth. Not that I disliked those early days, but my parents seemed to do the same thing, season after season, year after year, and my increasingly restless self eventually could not stand it any longer. I travelled for a time, consumed with exploring the vastness of our land, finding a day’s work here and there. One day, I found my way to Amatharsus, a place always spoken of in reverence and wonder. To quench my thirst for adventure there, I found myself in enlisting in the Crown Aegis. Even though under the King’s rule, our land has been kept peaceful, the recruitment officer said with a frown that the kingdom could never have enough guards to make every corner of our land safe.
“You see, Novas, the Crown Aegis is a group of martial personnel who maintain the law and peace within the city of Amatharsus and the rest of the Malquia. In those days when I first arrived in Amatharsus, I was strong and lean, experienced in the work of the thresher and the axe. All and all, I was just trading tools. Instead of farm equipment, I had a sword and shield. It appeared to be simple and agreeable profession in such a secure city… I kept the peace, ensured the laws were upheld, stood watchful for royal processions, and routed illegal activities throughout. I had not been part of the Crown Aegis long before the inauguration came about.
“There was a parade that went through the street at the King’s inauguration, and it was followed by the King-in-waiting, the future Queen, and some dignitaries. The street sides were thick with citizens and loyal supporters, waving their hands and banners in the air, tossing confetti and the petals of flowers. The city was abuzz with business and banter as the kingdom looked to crown a new king from a line of well-respected and beloved monarchs. The celebrated were a symbol of all the progress that had been made since the founding of Amatharsus and the unification of Malquia. Without their guidance, their subjects would not have come together in such prosperity that enabled such celebration. I was at my post on a street corner when I saw the King’s escort coming up the road. The height of the sleigh put the celebrated on a pedestal for all to see but made it impossible to protect them from a ranged attack. When the Queen’s brother, Lord Vyse, was struck with an arrow, the entire crowd flew into a panic.
“From my post, I glimpsed as the dark-clad assailants pushed through the frightened mob towards the royal envoy. As arrows continued to slay the King’s defenders in their deadly trickle from nearby roofs and windows, a fiery bomb was lit in front of the procession, which spooked and stalled the horses. I stood awestruck at the events unfolding before me. However, in a moment of blazing clarity, I realized this was why I had left my old life behind. I sprang off the corner, unsheathing my blade, and charged into the whirlwind of shining silver and shadowy black, fighting to keep the assassins off the vulnerable sleigh. As the future King and Queen kneeled under unreliable cover, the rising smoke had fortunately given them a protective shroud from the bowmen at range. Many of my fellow guardsmen fell around me, but I continued to fight, swinging my blade at the embodiments of darkness and trying to preserve my balance in the mad melee of bodies.
“As the smoke began to gather, I saw that more bodies were found on the road than standing, so I grabbed the reins of the frightened horses and began to pull in the direction of the palace as to get them moving to safety again. I ran alongside the horses, guiding their cargo out of harm’s way, from the Lower Quarter, through the Trade District, into the Upper Quarter, and to the courtyard of the Royal Palace. With all the people in the streets, the courtyard was deserted after the attacks, and I leaned and breathed hard from the struggle. When I composed myself, I turned to see the King standing before me. It was the first time we had met, and the opulence of his garment made him appear to be more a star than a man. However, his smile and his thanks were sincere and familiar and made him appear much more human. He chuckled when I told him it was my duty to protect him. When his advisors arrived from the castle, he declared before us that I was to be one of his personal defenders.
“The events of that day began my direct employment by the King. If I was not in the throne room as the King listened to the petitions of his people, I was with him on his excursions to provincial towns and settlements on acts of goodwill and diplomacy. He was celebrated where he went… through every town and village. I stood with a watchful eye as he inspired hope, generosity, and loyalty in his subjects like I did that fateful day in Amatharsus. Not all was peaceful, though.
“Over my employment, many people tried to kill the King, and it was my duty to stand in between them. Instead, I put them to death. It was as I was trained, as I was told, and as I was compelled to do. No harm was ever visited to the King on my watch, and all dissenters fell before him. Some of the guards were more hesitant. Some guards came and went. Some were dismissed and some died. Through my loyalty, dedication, and service to him, the King chose me for a special responsibility of some importance. That he would need people outside Amatharsus he could trust, he said. He needed people who would act when the time was right. Years later when you were born, the King relieved me from my position and made me
steward these woods, only under the condition that I protect them with my life. He told me that something of great value lays within these woods, and I would have to protect it,” Garreth recollected for Novas.
As silence settled into the room, Garreth peered into the light of the fire, and Novas let that unravelled history soak into his mind.
“So, that’s why those men had to die? For duty? For the King?” Novas concluded.
“At his Majesty’s command, this whole forest is my ward. I will see no harm to come to it,” Garreth stated and turned back to the fire, ending the conversation.
The King is dead. The King is dead. Since the showdown in the shady forest, the woodsman’s shocking statement echoed in Garreth’s mind often.
“The King is dead?” the hunter whispered to himself in disbelief.
Novas was fast asleep on the bed while his father remained stretched out on the pelt, glaring back into the fire. To Garreth, it had felt like the cataclysm of an age, like the falling of great towers, or like the burning of a woodland. He could only guess to the state of the kingdom now, how long the King had been dead, or who his successors would be. Garreth tried to remember the last places he had travelled to recently, attempting to recall any news about the King’s ailments or condition. As a ranger, Garreth scouted to the farthest and most isolated points of Malquia to receive news about the conditions of borders, coasts, outlying towns, and the world beyond their land. These places, however, did not seem to provide him with answers when he searched his memory.
The leader of the brigands had said that the Queen had commanded the harvesting of this woodland, and Garreth could only assume that her Majesty had not been obedient or privy to all of the King’s final wishes. For all of his questions, he could not find answers from the past that he knew. He needed to find answers to resolve the troubling implications and the problematic futures he foresaw.
Garreth rose from the pelt, grabbed his pack for travelling, and placed it on the table with its multiple mouths open. He began gathering some supplies for another expedition. Garreth packed two canteens of water, some flint, an assortment of dried and salted meats, herbs, spices, his tan tabard of the Crown Aegis, and his traveller’s map amongst other items. When his packing was finished, he stepped outside to collect some dense wood and brought a bundle back inside to begin constructing some arrows for his nearly-empty quiver. He laboured on a sizable collection until later that night and looked upon his gear for travel with a sigh.
Unease began to build in his mind as Garreth wondered if he would be plunged into harrowing combat like he had been that day. If Novas were not there to intervene, surely he would have met his doom. Even with his years of martial experience and service to the King, he had grown soft and worse for wear in his solitude, and this troubled him to his core. If those men were under the employment of the Queen, Garreth feared an entire populace rising against him in his journey for resolution and answers. While he tried to convince himself with encouragement, he became weary and fell asleep with an absence of pain but not worry.
Garreth rose with the sun when the light of the new day pierced through the window and onto his face. He leaned out of bed, rose, and stretched a stiff idleness from his limbs before equipping his clothes and hunting leathers. He pulled his hooded cloak off a peg on the wall and secured it to himself. Hearing the rustle of movement around him, Novas awoke and rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.
“Put your hunting greens on,” his father turned to him and said.
Soon, Novas was dressed, and Garreth continued preparations for journey. Garreth was keeping a sharp eye on the sun’s ascent through the open door and was careful and conscious of their time of departure that day.
“Make sure you grab your bow and knives as well,” Garreth continued, and the boy to collected these things in turn.
The man opened up a chest near the end of the beds and pulled out a leather package.
“I have made enough arrows to last us many days,” Garreth offered as he handed over a large quiver of arrows.
“Many days? Where are we going?” questioned the boy.
Novas stared up at his father with squinty eyes, then around at the cabin, and then all the travelling equipment. Garreth finished the final preparations on his pack and swung it over his shoulder. The light shone through the door and turned the man’s frame into a silhouette.
“We are going to the city,” Garreth said as he turned out the door into the sunlight.
Novas scrambled to put his arrows in his quiver and his daggers in their sheaths. He helped his father slide a log wall into place over the cabin door and window as soon as the boy had left the house, securing their one safe place while they were absent to protect it.
Chapter Four
Like his father years before, the excitement for adventure propelled Novas away from his home, and they left the clearing around their house at a brisk pace. As they walked away, the boy looked back on the cabin with fondness and longing. It had always seemed a stream of light poured onto its frame regardless of the consistency of the forest ceiling. Its image in his mind was brighter than truth, complete with rays of shimmering gold. As he ventured on, Novas wondered when he would return to that place of bright and shadow.
They came upon the logger’s valley, and Novas noted the forest tangles as they seemed to grow upon the fallen corpses. So soon, nature was returning their bodies to the earth in which they were borne upon. The logging wagons had been long since abandoned by the horses who had managed to break away from their labours. Garreth examined the outsides of the carts and came across a burnt-in symbol with bold lettering, which depicted an axe, sword, and hammer hanging over a tree on a hill. At the hill’s base, the words Blackwoods Company were emblazoned.
“Hmm… the Blackwoods Company? The Queen’s company, I’d gather. I will have to consult with Berault when we arrive in the city,” Garreth pondered to himself.
“Let’s continue,” the man beckoned as he moved north towards the forest edge.
Without hesitation, Novas followed his father away from the expanse of violent conflict.
To Novas, the sun always seemed much more intense on the openness of the plains. As they emerged out of the forest, the pair noted the plains’ brightness. The wide expanse north of the forest was like a desert of dirt and stone, and there was little luck of an oasis to be found. It was covered in light brown rubble peppered with bright grasses and shiny plants and featured rolling hills which rose and descended into the distance. In comparison to the shady forest, the plains were a place of exhaustion and desolation. As the two walked onto the expanse, the boy could see an animal skeleton beside a small pit of dried mud and cracked dirt.
“This summer has been long and seems to be drawing on. Outside of the shade and coolness of the forest, there have been farms suffering from draughts and towns with barren wells,” Garreth explained as he kicked at the dry dirt patch.
He stared into the morning sky and traced the shadows around him.
“We are heading northeast to the highway now. The Great South Road is our path. It runs through Malquia from the capital to the south coast,” Garreth informed.
As their trek ventured into new territory, their speed did not seem slow or tasking to the boy. Novas tried to memorize some waypoints along the way, and he had taken the beast’s skull from the dried watering hole and mounted it to a tree closest to their path. He crossed an arch of fallen trees and a set of boulders next to a struggling pond. They had walked until the sun was high in the noon-day sky and the shadows became a dark aura around the surrounding brush.
“The highway should be just beyond this slope,” Garreth declared as he climbed a hill of shifting stones with a swift and even stride.
When the two reached the peak of the slope, they looked down upon a dusty road paved with an assortment of stones and boulders levelled into the ground. Regardless of its quality, the road remained fairly flat and even as it extended north and south until
the horizon turned into water and sunlight.
Not far from the road, there stood a small, single-level house partially hidden by shrubbery and a bunch of trees. The house was built with wood that was grayed by time, and the patchy nature of its shingles told of a comparable exposure. The two trekked towards the building, and Garreth noticed a difference in this place since the last time he had been by. Several pots on the back porch were cracked and pushed over, the lumber pile was disturbed and disorderly, and the railings near the back entrance had been smashed and splintered. As they continued to the front of the house, they noted a window had been broken in, and a fire that consumed most of the side facing the road. Inside, a table was broken at the legs, and its surface was split into two jagged pieces.
“This house is not as it was the last time I had passed through here. What forces reduced this place to such ruin, I can only wonder,” Garreth pondered aloud as he peered through the openings of the ruined dwelling.
At seeing the condition of this home and its absence of occupants, Novas felt anxious in leaving his home unwatched and hoped that it would not meet a similar fate. Was this the danger that his father had warned him about, Novas thought, that had invaded the land of his home and now had scorched the domicile they viewed? With these ponderings, the two men took to the highway and continued their journey towards the capital.
