Birthright: Lord of Arda (3 page)

Chapter V

Alexander

"And then she said, no you’re the loser because I shagged the stable master long before you bedded his wife! Ahh.."

Alex watched James fall from the bench he was standing on, the guard had been drinking excessively all night. It hadn't taken much for him and Braden to start getting interesting stories from the Roost and its inhabitants. The first one had been about how Lady Penn, Caldan's daughter, and Eldran's older sister, who was apparently romantically involved with the head of Caldan's guard and had aborted a child a few months previously. The second was how one of the other Lords, Alex couldn’t remember his name, had been spending a lot of time at the Roost recently and had stirred up all manner of suspicions to his nature. The final one had been the story he concluded by falling off of the bench. Alex hadn't caught the full story as by now James was slurring his words and  forgetting his place, all Alex knew is was that, it had ended in bloodshed and involved a number of people sleeping with each other behind their respective partners back. Alex looked over as two townsmen picked up James from the floor, his mug was completely empty its contents slowly soaking into the guards clothes.

James let out a laugh as he was put back down on the bench and another mug of ale, put down in front of him by the tavern owners wife. Alex was a little drunk himself, he could feel the heat in his cheeks however Braden was worse. His friend sat with his head in his hands across the table from him, he had stupidly challenged Ban the Tanner to a drinking contest, the man had a good twenty years on his friend and nearly a hundred pounds of flesh to help soak up the alcohol. Braden had been doing well keeping up with the older man, but when he hit the tenth mug his stomach decided to quit on him, forcing him to head to the door launching its contents out into the night. As the tavern owners wife walked past, Alexander reached out to stop her.

"Another Alex? I don’t think I want to give Braden any more, I'm not cleaning up after him again."

"No, I agree. What's the time?"

"A little past midnight I think, it’s cloudy tonight so I couldn’t say for sure."

"Thanks."

Alex stood up moving round to Braden side, he flicked his friend on the head which got the most gruesome of growls from him.

"Come on, let’s get you to bed. I don’t want to be responsible for you missing work or worse yet one of Bronn's sessions because you’re too stubborn to turn down a challenge."

Alex placed his hands under his friend’s armpits and hauled him to his feet, luckily Braden was sober enough to walk under his own power, he only needed to guide him to the exit. As they stepped out into the cold midnight air it seemed to cause some reaction from his friend as he began to walk under his own guidance.

"You need to stop accepting those stupid bets."

"Why do you class them as stupid?"

Braden was slurring his words a little but Alex could at least make out the whole sentence.

"Because you lost every time? How much coin have you lost to Ban now?"

"Not much, nothing I haven't earned back from the village market tourney."

"That’s because you bet on yourself, and everyone knows you’re the best sword in the village apart from Bronn and he refuses to compete."

"Yeah, he thinks it’s a waste of his time. I think it’s because he's worried I would win."

"You really have been drinking too much. I wouldn’t let him hear you say that. Now, come on you can stay at mine tonight."

"Such a good friend, can we stop by the temple I haven't had time to go today."

"Yea no problem."

Alex followed his friend across the open market square towards the single stone building in Farnshire, the temple was dedicated to Patella the goddess of Nature and Commerce. She was the town’s patron goddess.

Alex wasn’t a religious man, it didn’t really make sense to him how one man and his eight daughters could make the entire world and everything in it. But he couldn’t say how else it came to be. Braden on the other hand was deeply religious, his mother had brought him up to respect all of the gods. He had been reading the writings of the Grand Priests, since he was young and was made to be present at every religious day and festival of the year since he was a baby. Braden stood at the entrance of the stone temple, the door was closed and barred. Alex expected as much, the temple was full of important and expensive religious items and as it was Patella's temple she was never open at night. Braden kneeled, placing his forehead against the wooden door, raising his hands to his chest he began to whisper something to the gods. Alex couldn’t really hear what his friend was saying and didn’t want to pry, so he turned away and took a few steps towards his own place. His Dad had only finished building the house the year before, it was on the outer set of buildings in Farnshire but was well built and spacious inside. It had been a present for Alex's eighteenth birthday, his family wasn’t religious but they were set in their ways, when it came to how life should work out and by what time scales. They had given him the house on the promise of that, by the time he was twenty he would stop any childish activities and find himself a bride, to be married by twenty one and begin a family as soon after as he can. Both his parents had been young when they had him and they wanted the same from their son, something about holding their grandchildren as soon as they could. Braden stepped up next to him, his head seemed to clear, but he had blood shot eyes from when he was being sick.

"For a religious man you do love to sin a lot."

"I swear you say that to me every time I drink."

"Probably but its true, does your mum know how much you drink?"

"As much as your mum knows about your activities with most of the young women in the Shire!"

"Hey, I have a talent, it’s not my fault it’s my ability with the ladies."

Chapter VI

Braden

The noise was deafening, Braden raised his hand to his head. It felt as if he had gone head to toe with a wall in a head butting contest. The noise was eating away at him, someone was screaming and it was cutting right through him, he pushed his feet out over the edge of the bed and placed his head in his arms. He prayed for the noise to stop. Looking up at the gap in the door he could see light coming through the cracks, it was morning already. He felt like he had only been asleep for a few minutes at best. Reaching behind him Braden picked up his straw filled pillow and flung it across at Alexander who was slumped on the floor.

It seemed as if the big oaf had offered his friend the bed and chosen the floor. Either that or he had just collapsed on the bed when he got in leaving Alex no choice but the floor, it all seemed such a blur. Alexander sat up from the floor rubbing his eyes and staring up at him with a look of disdain, Braden only pointed to the door.

“It’s morning, if you sleep in too late, you know your Dad will have you working the bellows all day. By the gods my head hurts.”

“I keep telling you to stop drinking.”

Braden only laughed at him, before standing up stretching his back and legs. Then another scream came again piercing his skull.

“What’s going on this morning?”

“Braden.”

Alexander had gotten to his feet and was standing near the door, the shock in his voice forced Braden to pay attention, the last of the haze disappearing from his vision. Alexander pushed the door open. It was still dark, from the look of the sky it was only a few hours after midnight, the black of the sky was lit up by the fires which were spreading across the town. The tavern was already ablaze and the surrounding buildings were one by one following suit, the thatch roofs and wooden beams were an easy target for the spreading embers. As Alex stepped out through the door Braden noticed a shadow move to his right, he immediately placed both hands on his friends back pushing him forward into the dirt as a blade came slicing down with enough force to have split Alexander’s skull. The weight of the blow dragged the attacker into the doorframe, Braden didn’t hesitate grabbing the handle of the chamber pot next to the door. He brought the wooden bucket up into the man’s chin knocking him to the floor and sending his sword flying. Jumping on top of the man as soon as he hit the floor he knocked the remaining wind from his lungs leaving the attacker gasping for breath. Braden slammed his left fist into the man’s nose, he broke it cleanly cascading blood down the man’s face. He followed up with another to the man’s temple stopping all movement. Standing back up he looked down at a scantily dressed man, his hair was long and matted and from the smell he hadn’t washed in weeks if not months. He noticed Alexander walk up beside him before kicking the unconscious man in the head, Braden placed his hand on his shoulder stopping him from kicking again.

“He tried to kill me.” Alex screamed.

“Yes I know, but you’ve killed him. Look, he won’t be the only one. We need to find our parents and Bronn. He never drinks he will be the only person able to hold them back. We also need to find James, he knows how to handle a sword.”

He kept his hand on Alex’s shoulder pushing him away from the dead man, he could see the fear and anger in his friends eyes.

“Come on.”

Braden picked up the dead man’s sword, it wasn’t of good quality he could tell that from the weight it was unbalanced. It was a hacking weapon a swing and hope blade, but it would have to do. The two moved along the edge of the village keeping in the shadows to avoid any more of the attackers, hearing a scream to their right Braden watched as a women burst out of her house followed by another of the scantily dressed men, he stepped forward raising his sword. Just before he moved out of the shadows he felt Alexander’s big hand pull him back, he resisted nearly braking his friends grasp before his friends arm wrapped around his chest. He snapped his head around, fury in his eyes Alexander didn’t say a thing, he pointed back to the side of the house, following his finger Braden spotted the glint of metal in darkness. He then watched as two villagers came to help the women to only be butchered by the three hidden attackers. Braden felt helpless, he could fight he had a sword in his hand he could make a difference, but in the dark against so many he was just useless, but maybe with Bronn and James they could help. He was forced to turn away from the horror show, his knuckles turned white as he clenched the hilt of the sword his only outlet for the moment. The house the two had crashed in the night before was only a few hundred yards from Uther’s forge and workshop, they walked briskly keeping their eyes peeled on every corner, ensuring they would not be taken by surprise. Braden was praying for one of the attackers to come round the corner so he could let loose his rage. They reached the open side of the forge and Alexander walked in first picking up a heavy hammer which hung on a hook next to his apron. Braden turned around to see if they were being followed before following him in. A small light from the forge itself lit only a portion of the workspace making the whole room take on a menacing look long shadows creeping up the walls. There was a quick movement to Braden’s right he swung the blade up stopping it moments before it slit the man’s throat.

“Uther?”

“Braden, Alex. Thank goodness you are alright.”

Braden watched as the giant of a man appeared completely from the shadows, Uther slapped a hand on his shoulder before turning to his son. Before he could get close enough to hug him, Alex’s mum bolted from the shadows grabbing hold of her son, he could hear her sobbing slightly into Alex’s chest and Braden turned away to keep watch whilst the family had a quiet word. Staring out into the darkness his eyes had become adjusted to the blaze off to one side, he watched again as the attackers used the same ploy drawing the men out with the screams of their women before butchering them without mercy. He heard Uther and Alex walk up behind him, he didn’t take his eyes off the village.

“Braden we need to find your mother. Bronn is probably there, keeping her safe but we need to get out of here.”

“What, run? With the three of us, Bronn and James. We can take them on.”

Uther grabbed hold of him turning him around, he could see sorrow and fear in the man’s eyes. It was unnerving to see a man Braden had believed to be the strongest man in body and mind he had ever known seem defeated.

“We cannot take them on, there are too many. You know this, don’t be foolish and throw your life away.”

“What about their lives? We can help, we can’t stand by and watch them get slaughtered.”

Braden’s anger was burning brighter than ever, he couldn’t fathom what Uther was saying. How could he let these people die, but stand idly by. The room was quiet, only the crackling of the fires outside broke the silence. He looked Uther dead in the eyes, compelling him to let him help the people. Uther just shook his head before pointing back out the side door.

“You hear that? No more screaming, it’s done, they caught most of us asleep. The screaming was just a ploy to pull the last of us from our houses to be slaughtered.”

Braden let out a scream turning and kicking the anvil toppling it over, it made a dull thud as it hit the compacted mud. Stabbing his sword into the dirt he walked off into the back of the workshop, he couldn’t understand what was happening. Why were they being attacked? Why Farnshire? It had no real importance, Arda had been at peace with their neighbours for over a decade now why would they break the treaty? Then he remembered his mother, he turned pulling out the sword from the ground.

“I need to find my mother.”

“You’re not going alone.”

Alexander stepped up beside him, he had the heavy hammer in his belt and was carrying a larger one in his hand. The shaft was almost four feet long and over an inch thick leading up to a solid metal head the size of a man’s head. Braden smiled at his friend. He then felt a great weight fall onto his shoulders, turning his head he watched as Uther placed a hunk of metal over his head.

“Chainmail, it’s not a complete vest, but it’s better than nothing.”

Braden lent the sword against his leg before raising his arms slipping the chainmail vest over the upper half of his body. As Uther said, it wasn’t fully complete, it only reached a third of the way down his arm and to just above his stomach but it was better than a shirt and Braden was grateful.

“Ha, It fits quite well, near perfect if I don’t say so myself. Now go, we will make our way to Corshire. Its closer to the Hallfarm Fort so hopefully they won’t follow us out there. We will meet you there. Good luck Braden, Alex take care of him.”

Braden smiled at him, Alex’s mother gave them both a quick hug before they stepped out into the darkness. His mother’s house was on the south side of the village, Braden was hoping that the attackers had come up from Silver road so would have attacked the north side first.

The house was set back from the others, as there was no light on the porch, it was hard to find in the dark Braden had spent many nights asleep outside on the ground because he couldn’t find the house at night. They moved behind the houses keeping their village in front of them giving them the easy option to run out into the dark forest if they were spotted. It seemed Uther had been right, there were no more screams they could hear men running and the occasional door being broken in but nothing else. They moved quickly, Braden didn’t want to spend any more time in the village than they had to.

“Here.”

Braden whispered to his friend, as he pointed down to a small white rock unnaturally placed on top of three more before turning off into the darkness.

“I put them there so I could help find my way home at night.”

He picked up his pace, he knew if he kept on a straight line, he would hit a small fence which if he followed right he would find the house. The problem was keeping to that and heading in the pitch black with adrenaline pumping through your veins.

“Ow.”

Braden turned back towards his friend, he could just about make out his outline in the dark.

“What?”

“I ran into something.”

“A fence? Follow it right.”

Braden skirted past the obstacle and followed his friend as they jogged towards his house. He slowly began to make out the outline of the building. He scanned across the shadows he did not want to get caught in a trap of his own and he purposely slowed down slightly allowing the gap to widen between him and Alexander. He had no doubt he could close the gap and get to his friend before the attacker, but if their roles were reversed, Braden didn’t think his friend’s reactions were as quick. Alex slowed down as he reached the front of the building, Braden noticed that the door was still intact and from the looks of the building itself the attackers had completely missed it. Breathing a sigh of relief Braden stepped up to the front door, leaning his ear against it he couldn’t hear anything. Closing his eyes he prayed that his mum was safe.

“Mother?”

“Braden.”

Bronn was inside, Braden pushed the door open to see him sitting next to his mother’s bed. One look at her and his heart dropped. Her blankets were covered in blood. The look in Bronn’s eyes said everything he needed to know. His mother was dying. He walked slowly across the small house the sword limp in his hand dragging along the floor. As soon as it caught on an uneven floorboard it fell from his hand crashing down. Bronn stood up from his stool standing straight in front of him.

“She hasn’t got long left, but she has a lot to tell you. So just listen.”

He stepped past him, Braden’s heart lifted at the thought of her still alive. He dropped to his knees next to his mother as he heard Bronn shut the door behind him. Her voice was weak and full of sadness, but before she finally closed her eyes she smiled at him.