A few days later, I was feeling especially good and decided to do something I knew I was going to regret—at least, my body probably would. I approached Captain Draves as he was doing his morning drills with his men. Swallowing the nervousness that was in me like a child who knew the medicine he was about to take was bad, I said, “Captain, I need to be trained in combat.”

He nodded, “It would be wise. You have to be able to defend your land.”

“I know I am starting much later than most, so I will probably never be proficient, but I am afraid that at some point, I may have to use the skill.”

“Don’t cut yourself short, Lord Amos. I have watched you do your Tia Chi. You have good balance and coordination, which is a big part. You move smoothly from one stance to the other. It will be similar to that when you train with the sword. Your main issue is your weight and flexibility. That will improve. Already, you look much better than you did a month ago. I think we will be able to turn that fat into muscle very quickly. You can thank your late father for inheriting his build. Your brother was built more like his mother, so he had a harder time with the armor and wielding the sword for any length of time. If he had been given light armor and a spear, he could have made a devastating soldier. Within a year, I bet you will fit well into your father's armor. In a few years, you will be a worthy opponent for the common soldier, and who knows, if you show real talent, you might even be able to hold off a fellow knight.”

Before I started fantasizing about being a knight in shining armor, I changed the subject: “So I was thinking we could get a group together, and I could go visit the coast.”

“Do you think you are up to the trek through the swamp?” Captain Draves said.

“I can do it. The worst that could happen is that we have to turn back.” I said, starting to get excited.

“You have no steward or family. Who will be in charge while you are gone?”

“Oh, good point. Well, I guess I will bring Hyrum instead of you.”

“Me? My Lord, I am a soldier. I cannot run a barony.”

“Really, Draves? Has anything urgent happened the whole time I have been regent?” I said pointedly.

“No, My Lord, but what if it does happen?”

“What could possibly happen in a week that you cannot handle or put off until I get back?”

We spent the next half an hour going back and forth until I finally got my way. Then, we spent the rest of the day preparing for my departure. We gathered four guards and a hunter who had trekked his way to the coast a few times. I spent most of the day writing out a plan for Draves on how I wanted him to handle any situation. It wasn’t much. Then, I wrote a letter giving him the authority to handle things in my place until I returned. By the next morning, we were ready to go. I would have waited longer, but I wanted to see the coast before it started to get warm enough for the mosquitoes to start swarming and the snakes to come out of hibernation.

The first three miles into the marsh actually weren't bad. We brought two horses. One for me to ride and one for supplies. The hunter knew what he was doing. He was able to lead us around most of the deep bogs and also commented that we picked a good time to come. Much later, and the snows from the eastern mountains would start to melt and make some of the area we were traveling to become impassable. The weather was mild and a little chilly until mid-morning. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of trees to cause shade.

As the day wore on, we started having to avoid larger and larger bodies of semi-stagnate water. It really did remind me of a wetland preserve I had visited during my biology class in high school. Not much to look at and the visibility was good.

Hyrum tried to hide it, but I could tell he wasn’t particularly happy to be here. He just didn’t have the poker face that Draves was able to produce. I moved my horse up next to him and said, “Not a fan of the marshes, Hyrum.”

“No, they are fine, My Lord,” He said in a distracted tone. I thought he was still trying to figure out what to say to Carrie, but he proved me wrong as he continued.

“I apologized to Carrie last night.” He said.

I really shouldn’t try and insert myself into things if he didn’t want to talk about it, but when he didn’t continue I couldn’t help but dig. “And?”

“Well, she started to cry, and then after a while, I held her.”

“Ah, that makes sense. I just pulled you away from her for a week. Sorry about that.”

Hyrum shook his head. “I would have left on rotation this week anyway. The only reason I hadn’t left earlier was that Draves wanted to monitor me, I think.”

“Well, I will insist Draves keeps you out of the next rotation. That will give you some time to fix things and get things ready for the wedding.” I said cheerfully. I could tell this shocked him.

“I… Do you think she will say yes? I know that she cried and let me hold her, but maybe it was just that moment.”

“Nope, it will all work out. What do you think about her traveling with you during rotation after she is trained by Maggie? Then she could be there for those in the town and take care of all the soldiers.” That idea brightened his mood, and we continued in silence.

When we broke for a break and to let the horses rest, I got to know the other soldiers. Hector, Franklin, and William. They were nervous at first, but after seeing the causal manner in which I spoke with Hyrum, they loosened up. Remembering the warning from Draves, I still tried not to cross the line into being all buddy-buddy. I wasn’t cracking jokes or anything. I was just trying to be friendly. After an hour's break, we resumed our trek through the marsh. These guys were amazing. I wish I had their stamina. Every time I wanted to complain about my sore rump, I just looked at these guys navigating the marsh on foot. It made me want to offer to take turns on the horse. I knew that was inappropriate, but I still felt a little guilty.

After our next break, I decided to walk for a bit. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Unlike the smooth path down to the village, the ground here was uneven, and my feet sank into the soft ground. I would love to say I stuck it out and made it until the next break, but I only lasted about a bell’s worth of time. It also slowed us down a bit, so we reached our next resting point a little late. The small, dry island in the moist marsh was a welcome sight to me. We set up camp for the evening, and I collapsed on my sleeping mat right after eating a few slices of bread and some jerky that we had packed. We would run out of water by the time we got to the sea, but Dwaine, the hunter, said he knew of a slow-moving stream near the coast.

When I woke the next morning, I was stiff and groggy, but I did some stretches and my Tai Chi. None of the guards except Hyrum knew I did these exercises, and since we had developed a relationship over the last day, they started asking me questions. I explained how it helps with balance, flexibility, strength, and coordination without being too stressful on my body. It also helps to release stress and center myself. When I lose more weight, I will start doing more aggressive workouts, but for now, this will help my body start to recover from my excessive drinking and eating. This, along with the walking I do, helps me to lose weight without the risk of injury. I could see they weren’t convinced, but I coaxed Franklin into committing to try it the next morning.

Today was more of the same except towards the evening when we entered a more wooded area. There was more standing water here, so the going was even slower. Dwaine said this area was home to a lot of different snakes and small furry creatures. The bores that were more frequent in the marshes did not come into this area. After a long day of trudging through this area, we set camp on a dry patch of land.

By morning, however, it was no longer dry. A light rain had started that, by the time we broke camp, had become a downpour. Needless to say, I skipped my morning exercises so we could hurry on our way. We were all soaked by noon when the rains started to let up, but the sky remained overcast, keeping us chilly. An hour after that, the air started to become salty, and we knew we were close. As the afternoon dragged on, the scent became stronger, and as we crested a hill, I could finally see the ocean. I stared in amazement at something I had only ever seen in pictures and on TV. The overcast sky gave it a greyish hue. There wasn’t the strong sea breeze that I had always heard about, but it was amazing all the same.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

There was a sharp drop on the other side of the hill, about five to ten feet deep in some areas. The ground below was more pebbles and rocks than sand. The waves that lapped against the shore reminded me more of a lake than those I imagined rolling in off an ocean. No surfing for me here. As I looked around, I noticed another peculiarity. The ridged extended as far as I could see, curving as it went, making this a bowl-shaped with only a small portion of this area open to the ocean itself. My mind took in the picture as a whole, and I realized what I was looking at. This was one of two things, in my opinion. The sight of a large meteor strike hundreds of thousands of years ago or a volcano that collapsed after an eruption. It was two perfect of a bowl. It was so big. If I weren’t at a slightly higher elevation, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell. I suddenly had a thought. This may be the reason for the marsh. If, before the meteor struck, the water from the mountains flowed to the ocean and the meteor pushed the ridge higher up, it would mean it would block the water and make it flow to the west rather than north. If we broke through the rock and dug canals to the river, we could make this land arable.

“I think this is the site of a meteor strike,” I said excitedly.

“What is a meteor?” Hector said.

“A rock that falls from the sky.”

The men looked doubtful but didn’t say anything out of politeness, I imagine. “Out here in the back woods, you may not have heard of such things, but scholars have been documenting them for a long time. Most are small and cause little damage. This one was massive, and the impact pushed up the ground. It must change the flow of the water. Dwaine, are there any places where water flows to the ocean around this ridge?”

“A few streams of water have made it through cracks,” Dwaine said.

“Excellent, let's head east towards the mountains. There must be decent ones there.”

Dwaine expression suddenly changed to one of apprehension. “Actually, there are some better spots. I was thinking of going to the west.” With that, he turned and started leading the party in that direction. I hesitated for a moment before deciding that if he was the guide, then he knew best. We came upon our first crack an hour later. The drop to the rocks below was only about four feet, so I dismounted, and Dwaine, Hyrum, and I hopped down onto the pebble beach. The water was not clean after seeping out of the marsh, but the detritus was being pushed into the sea by the ever-flowing stream. The rock was very solid when I tried to scratch it with my knife. It would be tough to break through. I shook my head.

“Not a very good spot to start digging through, I think.”

“Do not worry, My Lord. The spot where I was going to take you to fill our water is further down.”

“Hmm, well, we would still need to probably start more towards the east. It wouldn’t make sense to spend so much energy redirecting the river this far west.”

Dwaine was just about to respond when something whizzed overhead. “Ambush!” William shouted.

I stuck my head up over the ridge line and saw what looked like twenty men flooding out of the woods. Before I could do anything else, Hyrum lunged at me and tackled me to the pebble stone beach. Had Dwaine led us into an ambush? I should have realized something was up when he insisted we head west. I was going to die here. I was an idiot. I just had to come to see the ocean, didn’t I? Now, all these men were going to die because of me. Suddenly, I realized Hyrum was shaking me.

“Are you listening to me, My Lord?” Hyrum was shouting.

“I’m sorry, Hyrum. I’ve gotten us all killed. This is all my fault.”

“You need to snap out of it, My Lord.” He shouted at me. Then, softer, he said, “You are not responsible for other men’s actions. We will hold them off. You need to get out of here.”

“But I…”

“He is right, My Lord. We cannot protect you and fight them all off.” Dwaine said as he stood up and sent an arrow flying towards the oncoming men. How did he get that thing strung so fast? “He ducked to grab another arrow and said. “Stay low along the ridge for a quarter mile, and by that time, the ridge will be high enough for you not to be seen while standing. Run east, and we will catch up with you once these brigands are dealt with.”

Just then, my brother's horse and Blaze bolted east along the cliff. Hyrum unbuckled his shield and threw it and his spear up to the ridge. As he climbed up to join the other soldiers, he shouted for me to go.

“Follow the coast, My Lord. To the east, there is a trail that leads to Melnon. You will know it when you see it. The horses will most likely stay near the cliff,” Dwaine said confidently.

I crouched low and started to hurry as I made my way along the beach. I could hear the bandits' shouts as they started to engage my men. Hyrum was calling out orders to the others. I wanted to turn back and see what was happening, but the rational part of my brain kept me moving forward. They were right. I was a liability.

A quarter mile further down, The ridge had risen to about seven feet, and I couldn’t have climbed out if I wanted to. Dwaine’s recommendation that I run was laughable. I was already struggling. Fear pushed me forward, however, and I managed to pick up my pace. After no more than a mile, I had to slow back down to a walk. I wanted to collapse, but I kept pushing forward. As the afternoon wore on, I realized that my men must have died. If they had conquered the enemy, then they would have already caught up with me.

As I stumbled along, my thoughts began to meander. If they had known I was there, then I would have been chased down after they had finished my men. That means that they weren’t specifically after me. What were bandits doing this far north? There was nothing out here. How were we so unlucky? My thoughts turned to what Dwaine had said. I needed to find a place I could climb up and look for the path that was supposedly obvious. If it was a good path, why hadn’t we used it originally? Melnon was only two hours east of Bicman. If it was a better path, wouldn’t it have shaved off more time? My exhaustion wouldn’t let me hang on to that thought for long. I had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

After a few breaks and an hour and a half later, the ridge became low enough for me to climb up. It was easier than walking on the pebble beach. I continued to stubble along the ridge. I wasn’t worried that I might have passed the trail Dwaine told me about. I hadn’t even passed where we first exited. I thought about trying to find my way back from there, but I knew I would become hopelessly lost. I would die without a horse and a source of water. Speaking of horses, I found my brother's horse half an hour later. Unfortunately, it was lying on the beach dead. If I had to guess, it must have stumbled off and broken its neck. Blaze was nowhere to be seen. Finding my brother's horse was a blessing all the same. I found a relatively easy place to climb down to check the supplies. I grabbed the water skin and began to drink heavily. After drinking my fill, I began to eat some bread. I was so exhausted by this point that I grabbed a sleeping mat, a blanket, and a tent and just threw them up the cliff face. I climbed back up, and rather than setting up the tent in the dark, I just wrapped up in the blanket and lay the tent over me. After that, I promptly fell asleep.

I awoke stiff and sore. A rock in my back had most likely created a bruise. The chill night air had seeped through the blanket and tent. I pulled the tent off my head to look up. The grey light of dawn was making the trees visible, and the clouds had moved on, making a clear sky. I stood up and stretched my stiff muscles. My stress returned tenfold as I remembered the events of yesterday. All my soldiers were dead, and I was lost in the marshes. All I had was Dwaine's promise that there was a way back to Melnon if I headed east. I wanted to settle my nerves by doing my tai chi, but I needed to move as fast as I could. I had no idea if those bandits would be looking for more people. I tried to pack the tent back up but gave up after a bit. The journey back would take me at least three days, and I needed to focus on those things that would help me make it there alive.

Namely water and food. When I looked down from the cliff, I noticed the tide must have come in during the night. Everything was soaked. Nevertheless, I persevered. There was a pack on the dead horse that I could sling over my shoulder, and I put three skins of water in it, as well as the foodstuff that hadn’t been destroyed. I also kept the blanket. It wouldn’t do me any good to get hypothermia. The tinderbox and starter were also shoved in. There were a few extra spears among the supplies, so I took one of them as well. It could double as a walking stick.

After a big breakfast of now soggy cheese and dried meat that tasted like salt water, I continued along the coast. I vomited up most of the food about fifteen minutes later. Apparently, I have a delicate stomach when it comes to saltwater saturated food. My body was also in protest due to the excessive walking yesterday. I ignored them both and carried on. I needed to get back to the barony and warn the others. I needed to make sure Aaron was safe. As the sun rose over the mountains to the east, light hit the water, turning it into a brilliant blue-green color. I stood there and stared out at the water. If I had paints and a canvas, I would have stopped right there and painted this scene, even though bandits were possibly chasing me. Fortunately, for my safety’s sake, I had no paint.

I found where we had entered a short while later. I looked into the swampy mess and shook my head. If Dwaine were lying about another trail, then I would be dead. The day wore on, and by noon, I was completely spent, even with the frequent breaks. I just sat down on a rock and looked out at the picturesque scene in front of me. I took some deep breaths of the salty sea air and began to meditate. My frazzled nerves soon began to calm, and I felt the peace returning to me. I knew it wouldn’t last. There were too many raw emotions to deal with, but for now, I lost myself in the sound of the gentle lapping waves as they worked tirelessly to smooth out the stones below. There were some areas where the erosion must have more recently broken the cliff face because there were piles of large, jagged rocks that had yet to be smoothed out. I wonder how long it would take for those to become smooth. This bay or whatever you call these places would be awesome if we imported some white sand. I will have to put that on my to-do list. After a couple of hours of rest, my body was ready to start moving again.

And so the pattern continued until almost sunset. Then I saw it. A well-trodden path that was right next to a small stream that had squeezed itself between the rocks. Hallelujah! I was so excited and curious that I didn’t even stop to rest. I just turned onto the path while ignoring the obvious questions I should have been asking. One of those questions came to me as a twig snapped behind me. ‘Who uses this path?’ My question was answered as I twisted myself around sharply. As a spear was thrust towards my chest, I stumbled back and fell on my butt as two boys not more than my age looked down at me with malice in their eyes.