> ‘By the grace of Uher and the Allgods, follow me men of Midland!’
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>
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> A unnamed young squire ordering the mauled remnants of the Golden Spears and the injured Sir Thor Est Ravn’s heavy Issir cavalry to charge through the Khan’s stampeding war elephants at the waning stages of the ‘Battle at Crimson Forest’*.
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> *Khanate name ‘Havoc Unleashed’ or the ‘Mother of all thunders’.
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Sebastian
‘Seb Oats’
The Squire
Part I
-The mother of all thunders-
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image [https://i.postimg.cc/F9Vk9LZV/Issir-s-Eagle-Crimson-Forest.jpg]
No man’s land
(Name for the expansive, ever-changing disputed area between the Mid Bridge over Chinos River and the Red Bridge over Balworth River)
Spring of 194 NC
21st of Tertius, nighttime.
The main road hugging Crimson Forest leading from Issir’s Eagle to Quarterport. The latter the last Issir controlled port inside Reinut’s Gulf. Almost a kilometer from the banks of Chinos River.
That was the mother of all thunders.
It had disrupted the quietness, penetrated the woods and then stopped.
The sky above them remaining clear and peaceful with no sign of an imminent thunderstorm descending their war.
For a while nothing else happened.
Then the owl was heard again and Egbert turned to look his way nervously. Sebastian signed for him to keep quiet for a bit longer. His young friend ogled his eyes, face distorted in a comical grimace. It was too dark to make out the road hostel from their position. The wide cobblestone road eerie empty and gleaming in the strong moonlight. Oras Eye seemed huge on the night sky.
“Do you see anyone? Anything?” Sebastian queried in a whisper a minute later and Egbert shook his head negatively. That darn owl’s call coming right after again.
Hoo
Hoo
Sebastian got up from the cool ground and peeked behind the massive sycamore maple tree with the rich red leaves. He didn’t see anything on either side of the road. Nothing was coming from the south or the north behind them and so he decided to move towards the buildings of the hostel.
The hostel was empty.
Thrice raided already the previous months.
Still… one could always find something useful there, Sebastian thought and heard his stomach growl in protest as he hadn’t eaten in days now.
Three at least and it was bird eggs they had found inside the forest by accident.
Not very tasteful.
Thirty meters.
Just get there, the youth told himself.
Sebastian sprinted lightly on the hard surface, old-tattered shoes tapping on the cobblestone and the dark walls of the large hostel coming closer. Ten strides later he heard Egbert rushing after him. Another ten and he could see the crack where the perimeter wall had cracked leaving enough space for him to get inside the yard. The next moment, not a breath later, Sebastian saw through the opening a dark figure or perhaps two emerging from the abandoned building. He dived forward the last couple of meters to reach the side of the half-ruined wall and put his back on it breathing heavy.
Sebastian immediately gestured wildly for Egbert to get back to the trees and his friend froze instead in the middle on the road bathed in the moonlight. Footsteps were heard coming towards the opening and a figure appeared out of it a moment later. A sword sheath clanging on the stone wall.
“Come,” the man said roughly. “Kosters promised to be here.”
Sebastian waved an arm for Egbert to move out of the blasted main road, the man waiting with his back turned to the road two meters away but looking back inside the opening and while Sebastian was hidden in the thick shade of the wall, he could also be spotted as well at any moment.
“The bag is heavy,” someone complained stiffly and Sebastian heard horses approaching. The sound bouncing off of the outer wall of the hostel and its buildings, forced next towards the open area left west of the forest. Towards the coast.
“Stay there,” the first man ordered and turned around just as the first rider appeared. The newcomer screamed a warming in the rough tongue of the Steppe and his friends stopped as well on the other side of the walled yard. A sweaty Sebastian glanced at the shocked Egbert that was slowly retreating towards the trees, fully visible by the riders.
And everyone else.
“Uher’s mercy,” the man rustled spotting him and the Horselord scout let out a hair-raising ululating sound, much like that Owl would have done if it just had its innards skewered. It made both Sebastian’s arms start shaking violently bringing it all back. The scout raised his bow and loosed an arrow at Egbert missing him for a hair. His friend ducked spastically, which made the scout laugh aloud and then Egbert started sprinting towards the trees. The scout now making that otherworldly sound again with his mouth, kicked both legs to send his horse after him.
“God damnit,” the man cursed and the voice of the second man was heard, now also very close.
“Leave him.”
“Ah, he’s a kid Luikens,” came the first man’s reply and then unsheathed his sword.
“We’re doing god’s work here and you serve Uher, Sir Luppe.” Luikens reminded him. In the meantime the scout had reached Egbert and with a kick brought him down. The Horselord passed him by and then turned the animal around nimbly, clicking his tongue and letting out those short bursts of ululating calls.
“That’s right. Somewhat peculiar hearing it from you,” the knight replied brusquely. Sebastian noticed he had priestly robes over his armour and then the man moved away from the opening towards the road.
“They haven’t spotted us!” Luikens let out a whispering hiss, sounding as nervous as Sebastian.
“The God has,” Sir Luppe replied in a solemn manner and Sebastian felt a sense of awe penetrating his soul. The knight got a small pendant out and brought it to his mouth. Then he walked out of the shades, longsword in his hand and walked briskly towards the mounted scout. The latter had run over a screaming for mercy Egbert in the meantime and was about to shut him up with a swing of a spiked steel mace.
“Gaze at the aberrant Heathen hanged from the butcher’s meak,” the knight chanted and the scout turned on the saddle alarmed. The horse rotating on its hooves alongside him. The Horselord let out a warning for his friends that had stopped on the other side of the hostel’s walled off yard and charged at the approaching Sir Luppe.
Sebastian gasped in shock and stepped away from the wall. The robed thin man spotting him out of the corner of his bespectacled eyes and recoiling. Beyond them on the dark street the scout angled away from the saddle as the horse charged to better swing his mace at the knight.
“Who are you?” A pale-faced Luikens asked clenching his mouth and Sir Luppe’s longsword shattered the Horselord’s clavicle bone, the blade thudding on his chest ten meters away. The mounted scout was hurled off of the saddle, went over the injured and crying Egbert and crashed on the cobblestone with the knight going after him.
“I’m Sebastian sir,” Sebastian blurted out barely keeping a hold of his faculties. In the background Sir Luppe finished off the psalm upon reaching the rolling about bleeding and half-broken scout.
“For their foulness, no witchery shall revive.” The knight hummed standing over his opponent and then the longsword came down again savagely, splitting the scout’s skull down the middle and spreading his brains on the cobblestone.
“You need to go help him,” Luikens said and stepped back to disappear inside the dark opening again.
With a nod Sebastian rushed towards the road where the knight had grabbed the groaning Egbert’s arm to hoist him upright.
“Help your friend to the trees,” Sir Luppe told him and flicked the blade to get some of the gore away. Sebastian put Egbert’s arm over his shoulders and dragged him towards the treeline. He heard the scouts’ cries as they rounded the outer wall of the hostel and turned his sweaty head around.
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“Sir Knight!” Sebastian gasped.
“Move yer feet boy!” Sir Luppe grunted and climbed on the dead scout’s horse. Two of the Horselords friends had spotted them and galloped their way with the others stopping at the entrance of the hostel to check inside.
Sebastian pushed and heaved Egbert with shaking legs to the first of the sycamore trees of the massive forest. They called it Crimson Forest for the large trees had leaves that were a dark red in the spring and turned a richer red in the summer. Behind him Sir Luppe crashed his horse on the first scout, punched him in the face snapping his head back and then used his boot to shove the smaller man off of the saddle.
“My ribs hurt Seb,” Egbert cried and Sebastian helped him stand next to a trunk before glancing back at the street. The second scout had fired an arrow at Sir Luppe but the knight charged ahead and hacked him across the face. The Horselord went down, parts of his bow clattering on the cobblestone and Sir Luppe turned the small horse around –for his frame- and trotted near the first scout that slowly stood up holding a shortsword.
Eh, Sebastian recoiled seeing an arm flying away and then the longsword came down again with a dull thud. The man’s scream ringing down the main road.
“Wait here,” Sebastian counseled Egbert, not that his friend seemed capable of moving anywhere by himself and then returned to the street. “The way is open,” he told the knight that had worked that arrow out of his armour with a scowl. “Towards the Red Bridge. You can make it with the horse.”
Sir Luppe looked at him perturbed for a moment and then shook his head. A prominent wide beard covering the lower part of his face.
“Where is he? The man with me?”
“Went back into the hostel,” Sebastian replied.
“Ah,” Sir Luppe grunted and turned the horse around.
“It’s dark, the building big. He’ll get away.” Sebastian reasoned.
“He must get away,” Sir Luppe snapped over his shoulder and headed for the entrance as well.
“Why?” Sebastian yelled on his back and looking about him found the slain scout’s shortsword. With a strained grimace he picked it up. There was a bit of gore on the handle and the solemn teenager swiftly wiped it on the side of his tattered pants.
Then he went after the knight.
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The main building stood dark and ominous beyond the yard. The shades chased away at its façade by the lit torches the scouts had brought. Two of the broken or open front widows glowing from the inside like a dragon’s eyes. Sir Luppe had climbed down from the horse, taking a hammer he’d found inside the saddlebags with him. Hearing Sebastian running inside the yard, he turned around and looked at the young teenager a little surprised.
“I didn’t find a longsword,” Sebastian explained.
“This is an arming sword,” Sir Luppe explained in a rasping voice showing Sebastian his sharpened blade. “A bit shorter. What you hold there now, well it dictates you should attack from the sides.”
“Attack from the sides,” Sebastian repeated the vague instructions and he’d have liked a bit more directions offered but the knight was already moving towards the building.
He followed after him clenching his jaw determined. Not three strides later a Horselord came out of the gapping open entrance holding a saber and Sebastian yelped in panic. The Khanate’s warrior cursed, Sebastian noticed he was wearing a different outfit than the scouts earlier and immediately attacked the advancing knight. Sir Luppe parried the blade aside and swung with the long-shafted hammer with his left. The claw lodged in his opponent’s face snapping his head sideways and the knight yanked it out in an explosion of gore tearing the lower part of the man’s jaw out.
Sebastian felt his stomach turn and he stumbled forward on weakened knees but two more Horselords appeared at the door forcing him to steel himself. A third one materializing in one of the open windows and a torch he held in his hand cast strange shadows on that exotic face.
“Get the archer!” Sir Luppe bellowed hoarsely and Sebastian staggered on his feet like a drunkard, vomit in his throat, towards the man at the window. The latter had already put a boot on the protruding stool at the base to jump out. Seeing Sebastian moving against him, the archer hurled the torch he had in his left arm at the Issir teenager, then wedged the elbow of his right arm that was holding a bow on the side to find purchase and jumped fully out.
Sebastian ducked under the plummeting torch, sparks exploding behind him when it hit the ground and set the grass on fire. The archer let out a snarling gasp, lips splitting when his mouth opened wide to show the white of his teeth. Sebastian attacked him with the shortsword, a clumsy forward slash the archer met by swinging his bow. The top limb of the bow caught Sebastian at the forearm and snapped his arm back almost breaking the bone.
He cried out in pain, twirling on his feet from the momentum and the archer swung with the bow again almost ripping his right ear out when it connected with the side of his face. Sebastian stumbled on his feet dazed and bleeding down the side of his neck, banged on the wall of the hostel next to the window and almost went down. His knees had given up for the most part that is but he heard the archer coming at him, the man’s boots hitting the ground and the sound along a dose of adrenalin snapped the teenager out of it.
Thud-thud-thud.
“Eargh!” Sebastian cried out and slashed with the shortsword twisting his torso around towards the sound. The archer appeared in his field of view, not a very tall man but dressed as he was in leather armour under those loose robes, he appeared to be twice the size of the dazed teenager. The foreign warrior also had a long saber in his hand as he’d discarded the bow in the meantime. Sebastian’s shortsword caught the Horselord on the left side of his chest and bit at the leather. His opponent gasped and slashed upwards to take the blade out of Sebastian’s hand. The blades clanged, sparks erupting like a flock of scared fireflies and Sebastian pulled his shortsword away rattled.
Then the archer’s blade came down and opened his arm from shoulder to elbow, cutting through the sleeve easily and the point hitting the bone. Sebastian’s left arm immediately went numb and hanged down loose, blood erupting and splattering him in the eyes. The overwhelmed teenager cried out desperately and went to clasp at the wound with his weapon-wielding hand but saw the archer’s big saber making half-a-circle over his turbaned head, the curved blade whooshing and in his despair hurled the shortsword instead with a snap of his arm.
He was too close to miss the man’s chest but even so in his panic Sebastian had send the shortsword flying too high.
“Guh…” the archer huffed in shock and stopped his attack abruptly. He then reached with his shaking left hand and grabbed the handle of the shortsword that had plunged into his eye to pull it out. He managed it, watery fluids and blood pouring out of the wound along a smashed eyeball. The badly maimed archer opened his mouth again to release an infuriated roar but Sir Luppe’s lanky sober figure appeared behind him covered in gore and then the ‘arming sword’ slashed savagely stopping him.
The archer’s severed head hit the wall of the hostel with a dull thud and then tumbled down back towards them. Sebastian groaned a moment later, bleeding badly down his useless left arm and went down to his knees, an aloof Luikens’ bespectacled head rising up slowly behind the other window and peeking outside at the corpses laden yard. A portion of the grass lit on fire.
“Hmm.” The weird little man droned at the gruesome sight.
“Let me see the arm,” Sir Luppe grunted and came to kneel next to the heavy breathing and moaning Sebastian. The knight tore the bloody sleeve away working fast, using a thumb to wipe away some of the gore that had painted his white beard red. “Tore the muscle. I’ll stitch it back. It might work.”
“It… might… work,” a shocked Sebastian repeated his teeth rattling.
“Bite on that,” Sir Luppe rustled and slotted a piece of wood in his mouth. “Use the teeth.” He counseled and then turned his head around to bark at the frail Luikens that had come out of the hostel and now examined the slain Horselords with interest. “I need light Luikens.”
“Just leave the kid. We need to move before more of them arrive. We have horses now,” the approaching Luikens griped. He carried a large leather haversack on his back and he set it down quickly to get a square metal cube out. It had sheer glass sizes and a solid bronze bottom. Luikens twisted a button at the top of the strange artifact, a click and then a metallic clacking sound was heard before a light appeared in the middle of that strange construct, much stronger than that of the torches. The smell coming of it putrid.
“You can’t by yourself,” Sir Luppe reminded him and he’d a large stitching needle in his mouth now. “It’s gonna hurt kid. Ye feel the urge to pass out go right ahead, don’t hold out.” He told the blinking Sebastian. “Bring that light closer Assayer.”
“What is… this thing?” Sebastian croaked weakly.
“A thermolampe,” Luikens explained stooping closer. “You need to locate that torn muscle brother Mart.”
“Did you… built it?” The teenager asked and the thin man’s lips split in an unpleasant forced smile.
“It’s just a lamp son and no, it’s much older than all of us really.”
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“Hey lad. What’s your name?” The knight asked some time later.
An hour. Maybe two. Perhaps it was much less than that.
“Seb…” Sebastian croaked through his teeth. He’d passed out and then woke back up again a couple of times while the knight and Luikens worked on his hand. They had used the sleeve and parts of his shirt to bandage it but the pain was excruciating and the bleeding hadn’t stopped.
“You need to drive the horse,” Sir Luppe explained. “Sit in front of brother Luikens. He’s helpless on a saddle. Can you do that?”
Sebastian had never ridden a horse in his life.
“Sure…” he managed to say.
“You’re very brave. A poor liar.” The knight decided. “You can improve the latter but the former not many have in them. You’ll ride the horse and follow after mine. Right?”
“Aye sir,” Sebastian agreed hoarsely.
“Three hours for the sun to appear. Inquisitor Vellers is late,” Luikens commented and the knight nodded.
“It’s a back and forth,” he said and gave the faltering Sebastian the reins of a Cofol horse. “Kosters might have gotten them distracted. The army makes forays as well.”
“It’s vital—”
“I’ll get you back brother,” Sir Luppe cut him off midsentence. “Uher shall provide.”
“Not everyone is such a firm believer,” Luikens griped while Sebastian stared at the horse unsure on where to start.
“Everyone but you is in the Order,” Sir Luppe rustled guiding Sebastian’s foot on the stirrup. “Don’t get scared. You’ll spook it lad. Got a surname?”
“Oats,” Sebastian croaked feeling the earth moving under the horse’s hooves until he realized it was the animal moving about.
“What manner of name is that?”
“A… moniker?”
“Why did you get it?”
“I was… pilfering the market before the Khan came sir,” Sebastian blurted out and Sir Luppe nodded soberly, using an arm to stop his horse from twirling about.
“At least yer honest about it.” He decided and signed for Luikens to climb up behind him. “I find myself in need of a squire Seb Oats. You did good back there. Reckon yer sins are forgiven. Uher says I should take you in.”
“Reject the offer,” a sober Luikens advised him. “The previous guy is all over the place beyond Mid Bridge.”
“Do I get to join the Order?” Sebastian didn’t know which order that was but he could guess. “What about Egbert?”
“We’ll leave him a horse,” Sir Luppe replied brusquely. “As for the other part, are you an Uher believer?”
Sebastian gulped down feeling his throat paved with gravel.
He wasn’t really.
“Here take this,” the knight said seeing the teenager hesitating and gave him a heavy silver pendant that depicted a sun with two tiny golden spears crossed in front of it. “Can you feel the god talking to you?”
Sebastian couldn’t feel a thing other than the pain in his ringing bleeding ear and at his mangled also bleeding arm. In a sense he could feel too much.
“I think? Maybe…?” He mumbled unsure and the Knight nodded pleased. Luikens making a groaning sound on his back.
“You’ll know.” Sir Luppe assured him.
“I’ll take… that squire’s position sir,” Sebastian replied with difficulty and Luikens let out a nervous chuckle.
“Luikens hold on tight,” Sir Luppe said without a second thought. “We come upon anyone else don’t stall. You keep on riding for the Red Bridge lad.”
The Red Bridge was a day’s ride away and Sebastian didn’t think he would make it.
But Seb Oats did.