A Tale of Blades & Blood-Chapter 19: A Humble Supper

[Loran's Point of View...]

I wonder how those northern folk hunt. Here in the south, we used daggers and swords, and seldom crossbows or even hunting bows. I hid nicely below the cover of a shrub as evening began to arrive. I had already caught five rabbits, one white, three of them, spotted with brown and gold dots, and other one black, which I kept alive.

Where's the stag when you need it? I thought to myself. We cannot survive the night with only four rabbits to eat. Soon enough, however, I hear a southern elk, wandering about. I raise my head up to peek.

There it was, eating dried, dead grass. This one's a runner, I realized. I crept up ever so slowly, my dagger on my right hand. With a quick flick of my hand, I release the dagger and let it fly. "Perfect." I whispered underneath my breath as the blade dug itself deeply into the elk's head.

It ran only a few steps until it fell down, succumbing to the short, piercing, and deadly blade inside his very skull. I took my dagger and cage it in its sheath. My hands, now free, wrap around the animal's neck, and I lift it up on my shoulders, struggling to find my footing as it weighed me down.

I took the four rabbits as I thought of a name for the new company. "I'll call you... Caeris." I remarked happily as I gave my hand, having it climb to my arm, then, to my shoulders as it cuddled its head against mine.

"Don't mind your dead friends, though..." I told him, "...they're food for us just as the grass is to you." I remarked, making my way out of the forest.

I wonder how they are doing? By the time I left, Lord Orevian was in tears, feeling guilt about his sister's death at the wedding. Perhaps it was not a great choice to leave them behind.

I soon come out of the woods; it was already evening, and they both had lit a fire. "My lord!" I called out, almost limping as the weight of the elk began to become heavy. "An elk and four rabbits!" I exclaimed aloud.

"You need help carrying?" he asked, making his way closer to me, leaving Lady Norien who had finally woken up, wearing a cloak. That cloak smells like horse shit, I thought, how are they this cold already?

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"No need, my lord..." I told him, "...I can carry them there if need be. Perhaps it is best to-"

"Non-sense." he remarked, embracing the neck of the elk with one hand and taking it off of me as he himself now bore the weight of the animal on his shoulders. "You go and ten to her knees." he ordered.

"Yes, my lord-"

"I told you to call me by name..." he told me, adjusting the deer on his shoulders, "...call me Orevian, but call her your lady. Do you hear?" he asked as he started making his way towards the encampment.

"Yes..." I hesitated; I was not used to these kinds of things, "...Orevian." I finished, taking steps to the fire as I carried the four rabbits with Caeris on my shoulder, nibbling at my ear.

The fire was not all that large- it was fairly small. It was safe by now to light a fire as we had gotten well away from the enemy tent city. Surely, they cannot see the smoke nor the flame from that far, I hoped. "My lady..." I called out, "...would it please you to have some rabbit for supper?" I asked with a light chuckle. Perhaps it might get her into a better mood, I hoped.

"Anything will suffice, Loran..." she remarked, "...may that be venison, mutton, beef, or even pork if must be." she finished, smiling at me, grateful for my efforts to hunt. She admired the rabbit on my shoulder. "Who do you have there?" she asked, standing up slowly.

"A pet, my lady..." I remarked, "...Caeris is his name." I explained, petting the little thing on the head.

"Would Caeris ought to eat his own brothers?" she asked, quite baffled at the thought. "That's cruel, even for the cruelest of lords." she remarked.

"The Mad King would say otherwise- that I know." I told her as I prepared a skewer to cook the rabbits. "I am quite fond of history, my lady..." I said as I pierced their legs, hanging them over the open fire surrounded by rocks, "...I know plenty about it all."

Lord Orevian approached slowly, moving towards the carriage to skin the thing. "Anyone have a knife?" he asked aloud.

I raised my dagger and moved towards the young prince- was he still a prince? I do not know. "Let me help you skin it." I offered, leaving Caeris behind to tend to the young lady.

The young lord simply nodded, and entered the carriage. These northern folk are different, I thought, he carried that elk as if it were nothing. I followed closely behind him, entering the carriage where the elk laid nicely on the wooden floor, barely fitting inside with its hooves sticking outside.

"You really think it wise to leave Lady Norien outside?" he asked me as he began to start the first incision.

I peeked outside, to see her playing with Caeris, as if she was teaching him tricks from carnivals. "Perhaps it isn't..." I told him, "...a rabbit cannot protect a lady." I jokingly remarked as I headed outside.

Caeris stood on his two hind legs, his paws raised into the air. "You taught him tricks?" I asked, kneeling down to see the black rabbit better. "Quite early to be learning tricks his age." I told her, lending my hand out to Caeris, calling him by gesture.

"It's a lady rabbit..." she corrected, a smile on her face, much happier than when she thought of Caeris a boy, "...I checked and saw... do you think you should give her a new name?" Lady Norien asked.

"Caeris is well enough for a boy or a girl..." I remarked, "...it does not matter much." I replied. What matters is getting you both out of The South Cradle, I thought to myself, and to lead you west to The Rocklands.

"Where do you take us?" Norien asked, resting her leg atop her other knee as she rested her elbow there. "Surely, you don't plan to just live as fugitives, do you?"

I paused a moment, then opened my mouth to speak. "It is good to go west to The Rocklands, my lady..." I told her, "...perhaps Lord Orevian could find support there and lead the charge against the rebellion before it turns strong-"

"The Rocklands?" she asked to clarify. "Lord Orevian is seventeen..." she began, "...how will anyone listen to what he has to say?" she asked, her brows knit and her expression confused.

"He is heir to the throne..." I told her, "...and the support of the mighty north still rests on Ballister hands. If the south is not to fall, a strike on the east will be a sure victory." I reassured her, taking Caeris up on my shoulders.

She paused to think. "So, we head to Westhold?" she asked, drawing a heavy breath.

"Westhold is where we should go if we ought to gather support from House Gryphith. Perhaps, we could muster their banners- twenty-five thousand men." I explained, taking a seat on the grass as Caeris wandered around me.

"Does he know how to lead in battle?" she asked. "Does she even know how to swing a sword-"

"I can swing a sword just as any man can!" Lord Orevian exclaimed jokingly from the inside. The carriage moved an inch forward, and out the back came the prince's head, poking out. "You think of me as if I'm not a lord... nor a man." he jokingly remarked.

"Do you really think you can gather forces from the west and take on the entire Strix mercenary army?" she asked, turning towards the prince. "I saw those men and horses..." she began, "...they are from the free cities of Cain, Abelos, Tudora, and Melinia. They are not regular men-"

"And the northern men are not like southern folk." Orevian remarked, pointing and waving the bloody dagger at us. "You underestimate the north more than you should, my lady." he finished as he went back inside the carriage to return to skinning the elk.

She gave a heavy sigh. "We ride to gather men?" she asked me. "We arrive there... when?"

"We should arrive there after two nights if the road is clear of bandits and such..." I told her, "...but it is seldom so." I remarked. "Give or take three days and we should be at the gates of Westhold city by then." I explained confidently.

"We can't thank you enough." she told me. "You saved our very lives back home..." she stopped for a moment, her eyes admiring the fire. "Home..." she echoed.

I stood up, and went to take the rabbits off of the fire. "Does it please you if you eat, my lady?" I asked, taking one rabbit off the top of the flame, still pierced by the skewer. "Perhaps you should eat... it is close to midnight and we should leave." I explained.

She simply nodded, and took the cooked rabbit off of my hands. "I will never forget it, Loran..." she told me, "...the cloaked men and everything." she said with no tears but rage, slowly boiling within her veins.

"They're cunts, my lady..." I told her, "...they feel no guilt nor sympathy. They deserve whatever is coming to them." I reassured her.

"And what comes after those men who murdered my father, my mother, my brother, and the sister that I could have had?" she asked aloud.

The air was silent, and even the sounds of the elk's flesh stopped. Lord Orevian even fell silent, perhaps he was still, waiting for my answer. Only the sounds of crickets remained.

"The wrath of the rightful prince, Lord Orevian Ballister." I told her with pride. "When we gain the axe men and the long bows of the west, we will crush those forces..." I began, "...we will take those lives that destroyed the likes of others." I exclaimed aloud.

Once more, the prince peeked out from behind the carriage, only this time, with a clean dagger. "You can bet on it!" he exclaimed. "I, too, have people to avenge..." he explained, walking closer to the fire, "...and perhaps it's time for the rightful king to take his throne." he stated with confidence.

Lady Norien turned, and faced him with tears, a soft smile on her face. "You and what army will take your throne back?" Lady Norien asked.

"The army of those that support me..." he explained, "...many houses in the west are loyal to the name that bears the mountain goat..." he said, giving a moment of pause, looking around as if thinking, then, turning his gaze to the young, beautiful lady. "Do I have your support, my lady?" he asked, a smile on his face, his tone having a joking mood.

"The South stands with King Orevian..." she began, standing up, wiping her tears from her smooth cheeks and looking at the prince with a smile of hope. She began stating titles, "...first of his name, king of the north, south, west, and east, and the protector of the four regions!" she exclaimed as if she joked, but the truth is... it was as if the young lord had already been coronated.