In nine days when the large baggage train had arrived from the south, the grand lord organized hunting for his noblemen and - having no other choice - invited sea brothers. Alphonse knew that his nobility and the clergymen were dissatisfied with the presence of sea brothers in their army, but it wasn't a wise idea to antagonize them. The grand lord hired two hundred warlocks. They all were experienced warriors in mail armor. He needed them on a battlefield against the conspirators.

Thus, this morning the easterners and warlocks had gathered on the field beside the camp. The hunters ate breakfast together, while the head forester examined poop of different animals. A large plate with excrement was brought to him by his underlings some time ago. The head forester was choosing preys for today's hunting. Later dogs would smell the chosen poop and bring hunters to the animals.

Soon the breakfast was eaten.

+++

Some time later

Barking dogs pursued animals in the forest. Numerous mounted hunters, divided into groups and holding javelins, followed them. Sometimes they whistled. Anno was among the hunters and did the same. Back on Earth Max didn't even think that hunting could be so exciting.

Warlocks were terrible riders, thus they ran somewhere behind. They were armed with bows and spears.

The heir of the Woodwall knew that many animals ran ahead – not only those on whom they hunted – because he could hear their scared cries.

In a while the group of the hunters (in which was Anno) had reached a family of wild boars that were surrounded by barking dogs. Two large animals guarded a litter of the piglets.

Anno could see that a few dogs were wounded (they limped and whined) and one lay on the ground (it looked dead). This is why the Brightbraves had chosen this animal as its family crest. A wild boar is dangerous.

The horsemen began to encircle the animals. Lord Elian, both knights and armed servants of his house were among them.

Anno's mount halted, smelling blood. It didn't want to come closer to the angry boars, though its excited rider tried to force the animal to do that. It would be easier for the heir to hit the target with a javelin.

One of the riders threw his projectile and missed. Seeing that, Anno stopped to force the animal to come closer to the boars. He also threw his javelin at one of the adult animals. The projectile reached its target. The boar cried aloud but did it not like a domesticated pig, the animal cried angrily. This cry could scare.

The heir grabbed another javelin from the wicker quiver that was attached to the saddle, while a few new projectiles were thrown at the boars by other riders. Only one stuck in the flesh of the adult animal. A new aloud and angry cry sounded in the forest.

All of a sudden one of the wild boars made a high-pitched, piercing cry. Next second the animal charged at the young man likely because he was the closest target. The heir of the Woodwall realized that an impact would be dangerous. The boar was really huge and weighed around three-four hundred kilos.

The human spurred his mount in panic. But the horse instead of running away, neighed and reared up.

“Anno!” Lord Elian screamed his son's name in fear.

In a second or two the boar rammed Anno's mount. The horse was knocked down but, fortunately, the young man had managed to release his foot from the stirrup and jumped off the animal – or else he would be pinned to the ground by its massive body.

Anno stood up almost instantly. He didn't have any weapons in his arms. The quiver with javelins was with the wounded horse while Hans carried his spear. Thus, the man pulled his dagger. Not an effective weapon against a wild boar but it was better than bare hands.

Anno's horse tried to stand up too, but couldn't do that, because it seems one of its back legs was broken. The animal neighed. Its voice was full of pain.

Meanwhile, the boar stopped and turned around. He looked at the horse and then at the human. Likely it was choosing whom it should attack.

At that moment a javelin - thrown by one of the riders - pierced the boar's skin. The animal cried angrily and decided to attack the human who didn't look harmed.

Terrified Anno watched as the beast was approaching him. Time slowed down for the human. He jumped aside and avoided the impact. If the bear could have managed to knock Anno down, the heir would be dead, because the heavy animal would begin stomping on the human.

Fortunately, this time the dogs helped the young nobleman. They attacked the boar, distracting the animal from Anno.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then the dismounted men ran up to them and attacked the wounded and tired boar with their spears.

In a while the fight was over. The dead animal dropped on the ground.

So far the second wild boar and the litter of the piglets had managed to run away.

Dismounted lord Elian approached Anno who sat on the rock and was being checked by Hans. Father held a bloodied spear in his arms.

“How is he?” He asked the servant.

“It seems nothing serious, my lord. All bones are intact.”

“Good.” Lord Elian said and then added. “Your horse is wounded, Anno. Relief the animal from pain.”

The heir nodded. Anno knew what he should do.

In a while a few servants, including Hans, were given a task to bring the carcasses of the killed boar and of the dead horse to the camp (plus, the corpse of the killed dog), while the noblemen continued hunting. They needed more prey, because hunting was also a competition between the groups of hunters.

Thus, Anno rode on the mount which belonged to Hans deeper in the forest with other noblemen.

+++

The military camp of the southerners. Evening

Anno left the tent and halted to spit on the ground bloodied saliva. Just now father had finished explaining to him that foolish behavior could drive him to an early grave.

Hans who waited for him outside turned his head aside. The servant pretended that he didn't see that.

Anno knew that father was right. He got too excited when he hunted. The heir had approached the wild boars too close. He could die. It was indeed foolish behavior.

The heir spat bloodied saliva on the ground once more.

In a while lord Elian left the tent. The servants brought horses to the noblemen. They mounted the animals and headed to the feast, accompanied by the foot servants and foot men-at-arms. The feast was organized on the field beside the camp.

+++

Many lords and knights sat at the long tables that were arranged in the form of a U-shape with a stage in the center. The most powerful and influential noblemen sat closer to the head table which was occupied by the grand lord, his heir, archpriest Paul, several of the most powerful southern lords and a small group of leaders of sea brothers. The head table stood separately and on a wooden platform.

It was convenient for the grand lord and his guests to watch an entertaining show in the center and observe all the people on the feast.

At the moment both members of the house Brightbraves watched as a group of jugglers walked on their hands, cartwheeled, tumbled, farted and belched, but the star of their performance was a man who was very likely mentally ill. He walked around the stage and pulled funny faces to the noblemen. They laughed and threw bones, fruits and vegetables at him occasionally. Soon the jugglers ended their performance and left.

The noblemen resumed talking about the hunting. Many bragged.

All southerners wore jackets that were made of expensive fabric and were decorated with fancy embroidery. These jackets were thick and actually could be used as real padded armor.

In a while a bard approached the center of the stage and stopped in the center. Many noblemen stopped talking and focused their attention on the man. He was alone but held a lute. The bard began to tell the story, pulling a single string from time to time.

"King Jerome got bored. He ordered his men to bring a unicorn. Everyone knew that only a virgin could catch this beast. Three hunters, oh, brave hunters went to the village to find such a girl. The villagers said that only Annika was a shy, good and virgin girl! They came to her and said, "Annika, help us to catch a unicorn!". She said, "Okay!". They went to the forest and when night fell, Annika made happy all three men! That's how the hunters learned that Annika wasn't a shy, good and virgin girl!"

The audience burst into laughter. Anno did the same. It was funny.

Then the bard sang the changed version of the relatively famous song "Nothing can stop a brave man like me". The original song was about the rowaner lord who bravely did heroic deeds and boasted how women loved him. In the changed version the lord was a fool whose “heroic deeds” were meaningless and when women saw his little friend (that was as large as the smallest pea), they laughed at him.

The audience liked this song as well. They applauded and then demanded more. Thus, the bard continued to entertain the noblemen with his songs, stories and jokes for some time.

Next entertainers were a pair of wrestlers. Both men grabbed each other and began to grapple in a clinch. Each man tried to bring the opponent to the ground. In the clinch they punched, headbutted, elbowed and tried to choke each other. It continued around several minutes when all of a sudden one wrestler managed to throw his opponent to the ground.

For some time both men continued to struggle in a ground fighting until one of them surrendered.

The audience applauded the wrestlers. They left the stage.

The feast continued. The men continued to eat, speak and drink alcohol.

+++

Reinhold the Stubborn, the lord of the Gullcliff, sat and sipped wine. He didn't watch the entertaining show. The man could only look at the warlocks whom he hated to the bone.

A year ago a small group of these bastards ambushed his family when they traveled with a small entourage to the wedding of their liege. Reinhold wasn't there. The lord stayed home because he was seriously sick. Frankly, the man thought that he would die – so dangerous his disease was.

Reinhold closed his eyes. He remembered that moment when the men of his house had brought the bodies of his children to him. The lord ordered them to unwrap the white fabric...

His son - his precious boy – didn't have a tongue and eyes, while the daughters... Reinhold realized that the warlocks raped them multiple time before killing his both girls.

The lord continued to live because he was strong. His wife wasn't. In a few months she died - as a priest said - due to the grief.

Frankly, Reinhold had never loved her. Bettina's role was to produce children for his house. So he took the news about her death calmly.

Reinhold looked at the laughing warlocks. They ate and drank at the moment while his precious children lay in the cold graves.

Those who did that can be among them. He thought.

The lord sipped some wine. He didn't feel drunk. Hate burned all alcohol in his blood.

In a minute Reinhold stood up and headed towards those tables which were occupied by the warlocks. He made a decision.

Come what may.

The lord stopped behind the sitting warlock who spoke passionately with his neighbor. The nobleman didn't understand them, though he didn't need to.

Reinhold drew his sword. Both warlocks heard the sound and turned their heads to the southerner. The next moment the lord beheaded one warlock and in a second another one. He raised his sword again. There were many sitting sea brothers along the table.