Chapter 1
Dawn of the Festival
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"No matter what path you walk in life, it's better to walk it with a friend. Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
- Peres Telle, Scholar of the Hamilsley House
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A chilling breeze flew past Troley as he inhaled for breath, filling his lungs to the brim with ice. The cold burned. Every step he took one could hear the crunching of frozen blades of grass crackling beneath him. The rough winter storm had passed through the night, leaving a comfortable blanket of white over the countryside. It engulfed everything within sight as it overtook the fields, transforming the plains into a gentle wonderland.
The morning dew permeated the air as it lightly fell from the trees, dripping off the crisp leaves. The sound of neighing horses and grinding axes could be heard from all around him. Everyone within the small, quaint little village of Almerry was awake and active. Troley looked out over the plains from his vantage point to see how everyone went about their duties, from the men who carved firewood and managed the farms to the women who plucked wild snowberries and knitted together new comforts to protect the villagers from the harsh winter nights.
The young boy was quite accustomed to this way of life, as it was the only one he had known. As he departed his vantage point, entering further into the village, he’d find several people call out to him as he walked, some with morning greetings while others with seemingly more snappy tones, as they were more interested in putting him back to work. These people all shared a love for their home Almerry, in their own special way.
Listening to some of the villagers call out to him, all he could do was let out a laugh. “Some people just aren’t morning risers, are they? Ah, they mean well.”
Troley always tried to hold his head up high and look to the brighter side of things. Sometimes you had to just to get by, especially since he wasn’t the biggest or tallest out of his group of boys. There were many other boys going through growth spurts who had already surpassed his size in only a few months, but he couldn’t be too disheartened, as they were mostly abnormalities.
In truth, he quite liked how he looked.
Not only did he care dearly for his comfortable garments, which included a dusty brown tunic along with a thin-stranded belt of knick-knacks that he collected dangling off of it. His leggings shared the same brown coloring of his top as they bagged down his thin figure. What he liked most about himself, however, was his attractive yet slightly effeminate face, with smooth pale skin and neatly trimmed ginger hair adding to his already bountiful looks.
Actually, there were many in the village who swooned over him, only they were mostly all middle-aged women who found him, as they would say, adorable.
He continued through the village, walking past several small farmed fields as he went. He was still only within the outskirts of the village, where most of the villagers resided while working the numerous farms and countless crops and animals.
Stopping in front of one residential house, in particular - Troley called out into the air with a confident gusto, “Giles! Come on out already, we need to hurry to the festival!”
Several minutes passed by as he impatiently waited in front of the house, only being alleviated from his boredom for a moment by a passerby, an older woman carrying a finely weaved basket filled almost to the brim with rags and clothing. She spoke out toward Troley with a smile on her face and a light chuckle as she held a bounce in her step, “Don’t go getting into trouble Troley, I know what sort of influence you can be on poor Giles.”
Troley shared a smile as he nodded and replied back, “Of course Miss Barnard, I’ll be good, I’m always good.”
Her smile grew even larger as she went on her way, laughing all the while. Troley was quite a little amusement to the common folk, at least.
As she escaped Troley’s view, the front door to the house finally stretched open, and a similarly young boy stepped out. He shouted out, “I’m coming, I’m coming! Don’t get too impatient waiting for me, Troley.”
“Well hurry up then,” Troley laughed as he spoke, “Why am I always the one to get you, and not the other way around?”
Giles arrived in front of Troley as he replied, “Oh, that’s on you, man. You’re the freak who likes to wake up in the earliest parts of the morning.”
The two boys looked each other up and down as they prepared themselves for the coming festival. Giles was similarly built to Troley, only he stood a good three inches taller. Not only that, but he also fashioned a thick head of perfectly groomed blonde hair that awkwardly hung over his long, cheerful face. His cobalt eyes had a smart gleam as they affectionately watched Troley shuffle around him.
Troley gave a comfortable nod as he questioned aloud, “Hold up, is that yet another new scarf I see? Well knitted, too.”
“Eh, you noticed? You’ve got some sort of freaky eye for that sort of thing… don’t you?”
Troley nodded as he held his fist to his chest, as if saluting the air, “We’re a team, aren’t we? All teams need to be able to function as one unit, and so we’d need to know the working conditions and gear of everyone. I’m practicing, it’s practice.”
Giles could only shake his head as he brushed his hand through the air a few times as if trying to exaggerate a sigh.
“You laugh now, but you won’t be laughing when my know-how saves your life.”
“My life?” Giles repeated in doubt, “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself, mighty warrior?”
“Alright, fine.” Troley waved his hand toward Giles, seemingly trying to move onto a new subject. “So, what’s up with the scarf? Your old one rip or something?”
Giles exhaled slowly as he shook his head, “It’s my mother, she keeps making me these things for every occasion. It seems almost every chance she gets, pretty much. Truth be told It’s quite maddening at times, but you know how she gets. Well, at least they are useful during these cold snows.”
As he listened, all Troley could do was give a slight nod and agree. “Your mother seems to have good intentions, but if she continuously makes new ones, how are you supposed to appreciate the old ones? Ah, well, it’s not like I don’t see where she’s coming from.”
they both understood her desire to provide for her son, so they couldn’t fault her too much.
“I suppose, but it is exhausting watching her knitting almost all hours of the day.”
Troley nodded.
“Say, I hate to change the subject, but it’s been driving me crazy all week. Tell me, who do you think will receive the Baron’s honor this year? My guess would probably go to Obadiah, ooh, or maybe it’ll be Linus.”
Giles shook his head, “No way it’s going to be Linus, he’s too weak to be picked. Hm, Obadiah isn’t a horrible choice, though. Actually, the Baron’s honor is just some dumb old tradition that we as a village never outgrew…”
“Old tradition or not, I still like it. To receive gifts from the Baron as a reward for your service to the village, it sounds quite rewarding for us common folk. Things like specially crafted armor, a new, freshly shined sword handcrafted to your liking by the Baron’s blacksmith… those sort of things. How can you not appreciate that tradition?”
“It just seems self-congratulating, to me. I don’t know, it’s probably because I’ve never been that invested in the holiday so it just seems to sneak up on me,” Giles explained with a light shrug.
“That’s why you have to pay more attention to things, like me. Always be on the lookout for adventure,” Troley smiled as he spoke, “If you don’t pay attention adventure may end up sneaking up on you and biting you in the-”
The sound of ringing bells interrupted him as it cut through the entire village, causing both boys to look toward the source of the noise.
“Ah, the Baron must have arrived! Come on, if we hurry we might be able to watch as the knights ride in.” Troley eagerly led the way through the outskirts of the village, their destination being the heart of town.
[https://i.imgur.com/Fva94kD.png]
It didn’t take the two boys long to arrive amongst the gathering crowd within the village square. The towns-guard had been put to work separating the gathered villagers and moving them aside so that the newly arriving knights could gallop in on horseback without trampling anyone.
Troley and Giles had been pushed to one particular side as they watched, wide-eyed and excited. It wasn’t every day these common folk had the opportunity to see real knights in action, moving with a fierce certainty and expectation. Their horses were all well groomed and fed, the beasts seemed more observant of the crowd than the knights.
An older man, dressed in a fine linen cloak and fur shoulder pads, stepped forward to greet the decorated knights. “Welcome to our humble village, Lord Wyn.” The speaker lowered himself before a single man.
“Hmph,” The man, Baron Wyn, coughed in response. “I’ve traveled a great distance with very little rest, I’m of the mind to rest before we begin any of the festivities.”
The man lifted his head up as he stared the Baron down, examining his appearance. Wyn was a bulky man, with long arms and muscular features. Not only that, but he possessed an expansive beard that covered everything from his chin down to his chest, only stopping once it hit the middle. The linen draped man responded with a delighted smile, “Yes, of course. Shall I escort you to our finest inn, Lord Wyn?”
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Wyn looked over the man opposite him as he thought for a moment, only speaking up after a few seconds. “You are sir Elbert Mantle, yes? The man whom I’ve written to prior to this?”
“Indeed I am, sir. After my father passed eight months ago, I was assigned in his stead to oversee this village and it’s occurrences.” Elbert Mantle once more gave a firm bow as he spoke, “I do hope my actions will not displease you, or my father.”
The Baron nodded understandingly, “Very well. If you could, I’d like to rest and clean myself up before our meeting. Please, show me to my residents.”
Elbert turned to his side as he waved for someone to his side to approach, “Of course Lord Wyn, I shall guide you as my companion here will show your knights to the stables so that they may dismount. I’m sure everyone would very much appreciate a bit of a break from riding.”
A few knights who were situated closeby to the Baron nodded, showing appreciation for being considered.
The two boys stood there as they watched, they were merely another pair of faces within the crowd. Troley’s face showed an awed expression as he paid close attention to the formalities of the Baron’s speech, while also keeping his eyes glued onto the knights as he saw them scan through the village square.
“Amazing…” He chortled out, appearing almost pious as he watched, taking in everything from the sounds to the sights. He didn’t want to forget this event, to be able to see true noble knights right in front of his eyes. He admired those warriors a great deal.
“Troley, come with me, the crowd is splitting again,” Giles called out as he grabbed onto Troley’s arm, pulling him to one side.
All Troley could do was let out a brief sigh as he nodded along with Giles’ logic. “I suppose you’re right… maybe I’ll even get to see two knights duel.”
As Giles guided Troley away from the splitting crowd, Elbert led the tired and sleep-deprived Baron Wyn toward the village inn. It was a quaint little cottage with only two floors, but it was more than enough to house the slightly less than a dozen knights and the Baron whom they served and protected.
“Mister Elbert, was it? I’m always shocked and surprised whenever I come to this village… such a crowd. If I didn’t know any better, we may have to start calling Almerry a town soon.”
“It’s not that big,” Elbert chuckled as he replied, We've had good harvests and soft storms, so our crops continued pouring in, which in turn meant more villagers were living happy lives and would decide to make a larger family for themselves. That, of course, meant more future workers are being born, which cycles into what we have now.”
“Very true,” Wyn agreed, “When you have constant good harvests and very few storms you end up with an abundance of happy people, which in turn creates even more work for your village as more mouths mean more food. I will say this, among the many villages within my province... Almerry has been one of the most successful in terms of yield."
The two discussed as they walked. Two of Wyn’s knights accompanied behind him as two village guards towed behind Elbert, respectively.
“Here we are, the Frozen Rabbit, or so the villagers have gone to calling it.”
Wyn chortled as he nodded his head, “Right, I remember from my visit last year. You were practically still but a boy from what I can remember… my, how you’ve grown so quickly. This tavern shall serve me and my men well for the night. We will rest for a few hours, so if you could provide us with warm meals, we’d be much obliged.”
Elbert lowered his head as he spoke, “Of course, Baron Wyn. We of Almerry live within your hold, and survive due to your protection… if we couldn’t bring you a warm meal at the minimum… I’d be a failure in my father’s eyes.”
Wyn entered through the front door as his two knights followed closely behind him. They were prepared for anything, but they weren’t particularly on edge.
Each of the knights had been given their own room to stay in during the festival, and in exchange, they volunteered to oversee some of the villagers' training sessions and provide them with suggestions on how to improve. This, however, was only applicable to the adults who served as village-guards.
Several hours quickly passed as the village began preparing for the festival. The men constructed the tents and eating arrangements, while the women went around preparing the meals themselves.
Troley was bored as he and Giles could only wander around the village with nothing of significance to do.
They could, of course, volunteer to help with basic preparations and cleaning, but such work was considered menial and required little to no effort. It wasn’t that they held themselves above the work itself, it was more they didn’t have the patience to accomplish it. So instead, the two of them decided they’d much rather goof around instead.
“You promised me knight’s dueling, Giles… I don’t see any duels.” Troley pouted out of sheer boredom. “When is the festival going to start, anyway?”
Giles shrugged his shoulders together as he murmured out a faint grunt. “You do realize I’m in the same boat as you, right? I don’t know anything that you don’t…”
“Yeah, yeah… I know,” Troley said, “There’s nothing we can do, is there? We’ve got to wait for nightfall most likely.”
As if fate had decided to mock him, he was once more interrupted by the sound of ringing bells, only this time Troley and Giles glanced at each other in confusion. The bell rang to signal the arrival of visitors, especially an entourage of them. For the bell to ring a second time in a single day was almost unheard of, especially since the Baron wasn’t expecting anyone else.
“Hm… let's go check out what’s going on.” Troley spoke, leading the two of them back toward the village square where the entire village had gathered only a few hours before.
The two boys weren’t the only ones curious, as dozens of the other villagers had dropped their work to go investigate the commotion. The more people who went, the more commotion was caused, which created a cycle of interest.
Within the Frozen Rabbit, Baron Wyn was sat within a dining hall along with half a dozen of his knights. They were devouring down a freshly stewed meal, quite happily too.
The door to the tavern flew open as the village representative and leader Elbert entered, accompanied by the man from before who had guided the Knights to the horse stable.
“Lord Wyn, please do forgive my interruption…but there seems to be a situation that must be handled quickly. You wouldn’t happen to be expecting visitors, would you?”
Wyn looked up in confusion, “Excuse me? I’m not sure I understand the question…”
“Ah, well yes… it seems our watchers have spotted a band of knights carrying your banner… they seem to be approaching the village on horseback. They aren’t signaling to us or sending a messenger ahead, so I wasn’t sure how to handle this.”
“Nonsense,” Baron Wyn simply waved his hand in the air as if to excuse the odd circumstance. “Are you sure your watchers saw everything correctly? I had ordered the rest of my men to remain behind within the fort… for them to come all the way here only a few hours after my own arrival… nonsense.”
“I’m afraid it’s true,” Elbert reasoned, “If it were only one report, I’d ignore it… but I’ve been informed on three different occasions over the last hour alone that a group of men carrying your banner has crossed into our territory.”
Baron Wyn finally took the situation seriously as his face became more rigid. He turned to face one of the knights who had served at his side since their arrival, “Go check everything out, report back to me once you’ve made your assessment. I’ll prepare my equipment here. Inform me of anything changing, also, make sure you have spare birds ready to send out a message.”
The knight nodded as he clambered onto his feet, the heavy metal of his armor once more weighing down on him.
“As you command, my Lord.”
The knight exited the tavern with a firm glare in his eyes as if overwhelmed with a sense of urgency and duty.
“I’ll remain within this tavern until I hear more about the situation from him. Unless you had anything else for me, I’ll finish my meal and prepare to receive these travelers.”
All Elbert could do was lower himself as he said, “Very well, my Lord. You shall be the first informed when they arrive.”
Another couple of hours flew by as the village continued to prepare for the festival. The fires within the stoves were lit, and the vegetables were carved. Things were moving forward quickly, as planned. Tonight was a rare occurrence, after all.
The dusk of moonlight had begun to overtake the fields as night approached. Several villagers had halted what they were doing to watch as what appeared to be a band of knights marched towards their home. Elbert stood atop one of the watchtowers that had been constructed on the edge of the village as he awaited their arrival.
It had been several hours since he’d found out about them, but only now did they arrive within view. It was a good thing that the village had constructed an efficient network of scouts, who used lightweight birds to deliver their messages throughout the region.
Baron Wyn clambered up the rough-looking staircase to the watchtower. He soon arrived next to Elbert as the two of them waited.
“Hm, that is definitely my banner…” Wyn claimed as he held a handmade telescope up. “That man… I recognize him. He was one of our runners within my fort. Why are my own men here, of all places?”
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Elbert replied. “Judging by their pace, they’ll arrive within the hour. Hm, right when we’re supposed to kickstart the festival.”
Baron Wyn gave a firm nod as he spoke, “I’m afraid the festival may have to be delayed, at least until I know what is happening. You see, for them to come in person so quickly must mean something has happened… otherwise, they could’ve simply have sent a pigeon."
“Very true,” Elbert agreed, “I’m afraid to say, but this isn’t a good sign. Perhaps our long enjoyed peace is about to shatter…”
“Don’t think like that,” Baron Wyn tried to reassure Elbert, “Peace cannot be broken so easily… this is most likely something more personal.”
They continued chatting for a few more minutes. All they could do was wait and guess what had happened, but in truth, they knew they’d only know the truth once those knights arrived. They were counting down the seconds.
The village was finally ready for the festival to proceed, which truly emphasized the disappointment as the people received word that the party had been delayed. Nothing else could be done but wait, unfortunately.
This did, however, create an almost unhealthy interest in why the festival had been delayed, and so many villagers had set it upon themselves to investigate, Troley and Giles included.
“I still can’t believe after all this time they decided to just delay things even further… what are the leaders thinking…” Troley complained as he and Giles walked down the moonlit side-street together.
“I’m going to get to the bottom of this, mark my word!”
Giles spoke up in retaliation, “Please for the love of all that is holy, don’t cause any trouble for the Baron or any of those Knights…”
“Trouble? There will be no trouble, I can’t believe you’d even suggest that.” Troley looked at Giles with a sad look in his eyes, as if to say how he felt betrayed by his friend for assuming he’d cause trouble.
“Just… don’t do anything you know I wouldn’t.” Giles begged, knowing he most likely couldn’t stop Troley even if he wanted to. Troley was a determined person, after all. If he wanted to pry into someone else’s business, he would. The main thing that kept him under control was that nothing had grabbed his attention before, not like this.
“I can promise you that… probably.” Troley chortled out with an ornery expression. “Don’t you worry one lick about me, I’ll be just fine. I have a duty to this village to protect it, so I’m duty-bound to investigate this.”
Giles shook his head as his palm rubbed against his forehead, “You’re not duty-bound to anything…”
Troley wasn’t having any of it, however, as he quickly rushed off from Giles’ side. “Ah, don’t cause any trouble… don’t cause any trouble.”
A sense of determination burned within Troley’s gaze as he journeyed through the village, his destination being wherever his investigation would lead him.
“The bells rang… so that must mean someone is approaching the village, which would mean everyone is most likely gathered near the entrance.”
His reasoning was surprisingly on the mark as he wandered his way over toward the village entrance where the Baron had previously arrived from.
He intended to be there to witness firsthand what was causing the delay, whatever it may have been.