Part 1 Chapter 1

 

 

PART I

 

“CHANGE”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1 

 

 

T

he bright yellow sun makes its slow journey upward, signalling all that a new morning has come in the year 1349. Everywhere colours become brighter and clearer, the sky goes from black to purple all the way to bright blue. The birds make their morning calls reluctantly waking all that could hear. As the sky lightened the way forward becomes clear for a large wooden boat; it isn’t far from land now.

  The gentle waves of the ocean create a slow rocking back and forth, back and forth, for the large boat. For some the rocking is almost too much to take and makes them feel the desire to vomit increase to breaking point, but for others with the sea legs, like Olraym Kvathrock, it is peaceful. Just the slow back and forth like a baby in its cradle.

  The boat " named the Sea’s Servant, slows its’ progress, coming closer to Waylorne Port. This is the boat’s third trip along the Glory Sea to Waylorne Port in as many weeks. Even at a distance the flat lands make it easy to see the small village of Waylorne; there isn’t much to it, just a small set of stone and wood houses all cramped together, each with a small garden to bestow the belief there is more distance between them. The herded animals just left of the village all seem to be as clean as can be and well fed, which, to Olraym, seems to be more than can be said about the villagers themselves who all appear to be more on the skinny side. But none of them appear to be sad about that fact, almost oblivious to it. As the sip gets closer Olraym can see the villagers more clearly and slowly began to hear faint sounds from them; laughter from children playing, cheers and jeers from farmers working the crops.

  The ship’s crew shuffle about; shouting orders at each other, loosening the sails and getting ready to drop anchor, none paying any attention to Olraym as he stands tall at the ship’s bow, or to any other passengers that climb up from the hull. The captain, a man going by the name Boah, walks the length of the ship with a toothy smile and an air of confidence and authority. As he passes Olraym that all changes to become curious, suspicious and just a little bit afraid (though he would never tell anyone). He doesn’t know who Olraym is, no one on the ship does, which is the way Olraym likes it.

  As the Sea’s Servant comes to a stop Olraym can see a small group of people standing in wait at the port in two groups; one waiting for those on the boat, the other wait to become the ship’s new passengers. Olraym recognises none of them but his fellow passengers brighten up at the sight of them. There are cheers from both passengers and crew as the boat comes to a complete stop.

  The passengers disembark from the ship with Olraym getting off last, as soon as they are off the other passengers rush to those waiting for them ending in hugs and kisses and arms sweeping them off their feet, but Olraym walks passed them, someone else waits for him elsewhere. The occasional villager glances at him as he passes but most ignore him, they didn’t know him either. On the outskirts of the village Olraym can see a man striding a Friesian horse; he is wearing the armour of the king’s guard; dark black armour with a golden trim, the helmet curves over the wearer’s head until it stops at a sharp point at the back, the two half-circle eye holes curve downward giving it an angry expression.

  The man on the horse lifts his face-plate; he has a thick black beard and piercing blue eyes, although he isn’t scarred it is obvious he has seen many battles. He nods to Olraym who nods back, then waits patiently as Olraym climbs onto the horse behind him, rapping his arms around the knight’s waist, then turns the horse around and slowly travels toward the royal city Tov’ra; home to the king and Queen of The Highlands, home to their son Thorne, their daughter Sertia and their youngest child Olraym. 

 

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The journey on horseback is slow and steady; going along the dirt path through wooded areas and empty plains, slowing at rocky slopes and heavy rivers. Olraym stares in awe at their magnificent surroundings; the endless empty hills bordered by a vastly growing number of trees, the Eyeless Mountains " named for the increasingly popular belief that if one stands at a particular position they can see faces with empty eye sockets carved on the rocks " so far to their east it looks to Olraym to be impossible to reach. Debates over the mountains have gone on for many years, debates on how many faces can be seen, if they look like a particular person or just general faces and, most important to some, if some of the faces are that of women as well as men. This particular part of the debate has caused rifts between those that were considered inseparable friends before that have never been repaired so whenever possible few talk about it.

  The sights around them, as amazing as they are, became intensified with the smells swimming on the air surrounding them, the smell of the grass and flowers, the smell of wild animals as the pass by, the smells only open fields can make.

  For Olraym these sights and smells while intoxicating were also troubling; he doesn’t want to go back, he isn’t ready yet. But he must. He is needed. And so he uses the silence of the ride for inner thought, to ask himself questions. ‘What do I do when I get there’, he silently asks himself, ‘what do I say’? But he couldn’t answer, there wasn’t any.

  The knight looks ahead, his eyes dart to other directions occasionally before returning ahead, he is tense while trying to be relaxed. Olraym knows why; he is searching for wayward thugs or thieves while trying to let Olraym believe they are safe.

  “If you wish to be tense Sir Relon Fry, be tense don’t hide it on my account” says Olraym, making Relon, the knight, laugh deep from his belly.

  “I’m not tense my lord. I’m waiting” replies Relon, relaxing slightly, although not altogether. “Remember what I taught you.” Olraym remembers, he remembers all the time. Relon’s teachings had helped Olraym many times in his past, it’s the reason he is alive today. Relon taught him weapons training and survival tactics, which at the time Olraym in his younger days found it enjoyable but didn’t understand why he was being taught. Now he knew why and finds it useful all the time.

  “I doubt anyone knows we are here and if they do I doubt they would dare assault us” says Olraym with clear doubt and sarcasm in his tone. But Relon’s words are already having an effect on him, he tenses up and listens more carefully and he darts his eyes as Relon had done before. This makes Relon laugh a second time.

  They become silent again for several minutes; no noise made by man permeated their ears. They soon come to a fork in the dirt road; it splits into a crossroads going three different directions as well as the one they have just come from. One goes east towards the Eyeless Mountains, another goes north towards Tov’ra, the third goes north-west going towards Divinwood and the city Burden. There is no sign of any kind that tells travellers which direction goes where, but it is general knowledge.    Olraym has never been to either Divinwood or Burden, with good reason, Divinwood is widely believed by those in royalty and high standing as well as those in the lesser standing in life to be haunted by foul creatures. No one has said what creatures exactly and those who dared enter the wood have given a vague description of floating lights and hush voices. None who entered were ever physically hurt but their fear was great and soon infectious. The city Burden is a different kind of menace; it is known to house some of the worst criminals in the land; murderers and thieves, kidnappers and rapists, all held inside the city walls. All attempts to capture or kill them by city guards have failed miserably and strangely most of Burden’s citizens seem to care.

  Relon directs the horse to go north. The horse obeys.

  The rest of their journey is uneventful, Olraym and Relon talk occasionally about past events; their many months of training together, celebrations held within the city, battles Relon took part in that Olraym always likes hearing about. Then the conversations moved to more recent events; what has happened since Olraym has been away? What of his brother and sister? The answers he got seem to satisfy him. Then he moved to a question he has thought about for some time.

  “How bad is my father?” Relon has been waiting for this, his shoulders slump a little and he gives an audible sigh.

  “He is not at all well; they say he will not last the week.”

  This is not the answer Olraym wants, he stares ahead grimly at nothing while Relon does the same. ‘Won’t last the week?’ Olraym thinks, then the real question came to him, ‘who will be king after he is gone?’

  He thought long and hard about it until they enter a downhill slope on a heavily wooded path, in the distance at the bottom of the slope there is what appears to be a tall rocky mountain, but it isn’t, it is a small fraction of the city Tov’ra. Even with this small fraction the city, with its pointed tops and its extravagant structures, its beige coloured walls, the sheer size of it, and the glint it gets from a high sun. It never fails to amaze Olraym.

  They reach the main gate where two guards; they seem to be conversing and giving chuckles, but as Relon and Olraym get closer they stand in attention. The one on the left shouts an order to open the gates, which is obeys by those inside almost immediately. The gates close soon after they entered the city.

  For the first time in many years, Olraym is now home.