Theus

Russel: “Aight boy, we be off then,” Rus said patting hay off his green coat. His greying hair also had hay stuck in various curls.

Theus: “Aigh, good luck Rus”. Theus sat up from his bed. He saw that most of their group had left for the morning. They had been going out to the fields to harvest the last of the crop for the winter. It wasn’t really a bed. Just a pile of hay and clothes.

They had been going now for a week. Theus stayed behind with a few others to watch their belongings. They had sold all their horses and half their sheep, giving them a decent hold of coin. Enough to purchase a plot of land in the fields with only a few more weeks of work.

Theus pulled himself up with a nearby rope he tied. He found a bucket of water propping open the stall door to his right. He drank and washed his hair. The frigid water riddled his skin with bumps. But it was a better feeling than the tangled grease trap before.

They were staying in a stable. The horses were gone already. But it still smelled of sweet hay and manure.

The sun had yet to rise. The stable was dark. Theus felt under the packed hay he rested by. He could feel the writhing tangle of bark. It was still there. He had nearly forgotten about the roots during the month of monotonous travel.

It pulsed and curled at his touch. He was so confused as to what its purpose was. As to why he gravitated toward it. He needed to find out what it was. He needed to find his parents. He needed to pee most importantly.

The sun began to rise. It shot light blue and yellow light across the horizon. Theus felt the sun on the skin of his face. The warmth was pleasing in the frigid morning air.

He hobbled along the dirt paths with his crutch. The annex they were staying in only had dirt. They were just outside the city proper where every road was made from stone.

The morning was lively. Children ran with sticks shouting and laughing. Roosters could be heard calling every minute from different edges of the settlement. It was jovial. Theus couldn’t help but smile.

He strutted for several minutes past the thatched huts and animal pens. He made it to West Street, the most traveled road in the city due to it being the only connection to the fields.

Large grain and food storehouses ran down each side of the street. Guards patrolled the streets here, unlike the annex which had no city protection.

Crowds were formed at certain granaries. “Autumns Children,” was whispered by the crowds’. All the folk of Havenrun talked about was Autumn. She seemed to be the patron god of Havenrun.

There was constant travel of horse and oxen-drawn wagons coming from both directions of the street. The season was coming to an end and the last of the fields were being harvested.

Stranger: “Get out the way cripple,” yelled a man leading his ox and wagon through the street.

Theus took to the side of the street immediately. He knew it was coming. It was the reason he found it hard to leave the horse stable where they slept. “Cripple”, “Beggar”, “Ingrate”, he had been called it all. There was no place he could stand, walk, or lean and not feel like he was in someone’s way.

Patting away dust from his tunic, he continued his march forward.

It took him an hour, of which his good foot ached and pleaded for him to stop and rest. But he made it to the gate. There she was.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The city was now only a glimpse in the distance. The city’s outermost wall stretched across the horizon. It was now in front of Theus’s view. The buildings became sparser as he got closer to the wall. It was nothing like the annex that’s buildings were cramped together.

After a week of walking to the gate every morning, she was finally here.

He had learned the second day that the knights rotated their position on duty. He waited an entire week to visit her. The other knights said her name was Lady Agnis.

He made it to the gate. Lady Agnis stood there in her regal armor. It glimmered with the climbing sun. By the time he got to the gate, the traffic had died down. At least one good thing came from his slow pace.

The gate was guarded by Agnis and three of her red-belted Squires. The three were boys no older than Theus. Their job there seemed to be to tend to her horse, which was currently grazing on the sparse patches of grass left behind the wall.

Theus: “My lady. Good morning to you,” he said with the best bow he could muster on a crutch.

Squire: “We ain’t got no charity. Piss off boy,” the young squire practically spat at him.

Lady Agnis pushed her squire aside and came to face Theus.

Knight Agnis: “I remember you boy. You’re from Willowood. You’ve been asking for me is it?” she said with an eyebrow arched.

Theus: “Yes Lady. I saw your sigil and wanted to ask you bout it”. He pointed to the cloth that hung on her belt. It had the crest of a bleeding moon.

Knight Agnis: “Yes boy, tis my house banner. My family is Blumont. All nobility wear their house sigil as a sign of pride”. She pulled her cloth to Theus to be viewed closer.

Theus: “Is your family Moonfolk then?” he said fingering the embroidered cloth.

She slapped his hand away from her. Her face was aghast in disgust.

Knight Agnis: “Damned boy, you come here to mock me!?” She smacked him upside his head. He staggered backward. “I could jail you for your heresy boy. You do not disrespect knights in our city!”. Her squires appeared almost instantly and held Theus by his arms. His crutch fell to the dirt.

Theus: “No please! I speak no ill on your name! Please! I didn’t know!”. He began whimpering. He was disgusted with himself, to be so weak and vulnerable to those he barely knew. To the public on the street.

Squire: “Quiet worm”. The squire pushed his weight onto Theus’s only knee and brought his face to the dirt.

Theus: “Please ! I didn’t know!”. His screams and sobs now attracted nearby onlookers.

Lady Agnis saw the attention being brought to her. That she would let a cripple grovel in the dirt before her. She would lose her honor.

Knight Agnis: “Stop! Let him up”. She moved in and grabbed his crutch.

The boy’s tears had glued dirt onto his face. He sniffled as she wiped his face with her handkerchief she pulled out of nowhere.

Knight Agnis: “Calm down boy. You should not speak of which you know nothing”. She caressed his hair. She could get carried away sometimes, exactly why she’d been exiled to do door duty. He didn’t deserve this. She couldn’t let out her anger on this cripple. He was just a boy.

Theus: “So my parents are bad people?” he said in a hushed tone.

Knight Agnis: “You don’t need to hush boy,” she said with a laugh. “Moonfolk are those who want the downfall of the Sun Empire”.

The two sat away from the west gate on a wooden bench. The squire boys had taken over door duty. The two’s backs were on the wall, Theus could see only fenced-in animals. The houses and buildings were too far in the distance to see properly.

They had been speaking for a while now. They shared hard bread and sharp cheese as they talked.

Theus: “That’s Sol right? The big city?” he said cutting a chunk of cheese with the knife he kept at his belt side.

Knight Agnis: “Yes boy, makes Havenrun look like only a small village. But Sol is the last city in the Sun Empire now. The “Moonfolk” has been taking over city by city. My family founded the temple to Lunria in Havenrun”.

Theus nodded along.

Theus: “So they could be here?”.

Knight Agnis: “Unlikely. The Folk are different from proper Lunria worshipers. We have an established temple and clergy in the city. So the Moonfolk have little reason to be here. Your parents are likely in Sol, waiting for an opportunity to take over”.

Theus continued to nod. Her knowledge of the world was amazing. His life had been so small until now. Seeing Havenrun was the biggest anyone dreamed of in Willowood.

Knight Agnis: “I feel for you boy. What’s been happening to your villages is sickening. But you can’t be blabbering away about what I told you. Or I would jail you for real”. She looked at him seriously. “Now run along boy, if you gather enough coin you can take a trade boat to Wholstand. More coin will bring you down the Braken River to Sol”. She patted his rear and shoed him away.

Theus hobbled off. She wasn’t such a bad lady after all. Her family seemed to have knowledge of a brewing conflict in Sol. Theus’s perspective on life had grown so much in the short week he’d been in Havenrun.

He smiled and walked back to the annex. His path was forming right in front of his eyes.