Chapter 3

Jacob stood upon the main deck of the small ship as it cut through the water, its sails filled with a strong northeastern wind. His father had garnered passage upon the ship before his accident as it was passing through Penrith Harbor. The captain had promised to have the ship back in the harbor in exactly thirty days and, sure enough, The Sparrow sailed into port as the sun rose on the thirtieth day.

The captain was obviously accustomed to being cheated out of money. Though Jacob explained to the man that he was Adam Gerhard’s son and he was taking his place upon the ship, he had been weary. It had taken about an hour just to convince him that he was actually Jacob and the breakthrough had come when he had showed the good captain the coins he had with which to pay. The man had become quite cordial after that.

Jacob wasn’t traveling alone to Haden Hill and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. One of the men that were coming along was a man by the name of Gregory Hollowhead. Jacob had been sure he was joking when he gave his surname, but Gregory had said it with quite the straight face. The man claimed to have family in Haden Hill and he wished to go visit for the winter. There wasn’t often a ship running all the way from Penrith Harbor up the coast to the mouth of the Watchguard River so he had wished to take advantage of it.

He had been rather surprised when Noreen had told him that she would be coming along, as well. Apparently she didn’t think that he was capable of dressing himself for such regal gatherings and had insisted on coming along. Jacob had protested at first. She was the head of servants at the manor, how could she just up and leave like that? Besides, she was thirty plus years of age, she didn’t need to be riding across the countryside. Both of these issues, of course, only upset her and sent her into a fit. He had eventually shrugged and accepted it.

Finally, his father had arranged for Aidan Weaver to accompany Jacob, as well. He was perhaps forty years of age and was one of the few people in Penrith Harbor who had actually fought in battle. Supposedly he had been somewhat talented in it and Jacob’s father had placed him in command of the local garrison, if it was worthy of such a title. He was a stocky man with a stern face. He was surprisingly soft-spoken and, Jacob had learned, actually good company. He had a few stories to tell; though they were nothing like the ones he used to hear from Matan. He decided this was probably because Aidan’s were actually true.

At first he had also protested Aidan’s accompaniment, as well. It didn’t take long, however, to convince Jacob that he would be a welcome companion. While most of the fighting between the eastern and western lords was taking place north of the Fork, it was possible for a smaller force to cross the Watchguard and come upon Jacob, and Adam didn’t want his son walking across the plains with a servant, unprotected. Jacob considered using these theoretical attacks as another reason for why he shouldn’t have to depart, but he decided not to press his luck.

“Where do you think we are?” Jacob turned his head and looked at Aidan, who stood beside him.

“I saw the village of Sadnya a bit ago. That would put us at about a week’s ride from home. We’ll probably be at Watchguard around noon.”

“The sooner, the better. This crew,” Jacob said, looking around at the men moving about upon the deck,” they’re not like the men who sail the fishing boats back home. They seem…”

“Rough. These are merchant sailors. Where our little boats usually stick to shallow waters, these trade galleons put out into the blue. When usually we clear storms, these men go straight through them. It isn’t pleasant, but they can make good coin.”

The ship crested a large wave and crashed down from it, sending a thin sheet of water shooting up to the deck. While Aidan had the foresight to step back, Jacob did not. The water splashed all over him, soaking his boots, pants and shirt. With a curse, he started trying to shake the water off as a few of the crew started laughing.

“I’m going to go see to Lady Noreen. She’s not as seasick today, it would seem.”

With a strange grace, the man bowed, walked across the deck and disappeared below.

Resigned to the fact that he was going to be wet for the next few hours, he made his way up to the bow of the ship for a better view. As he looked down and watched the water part or looked over and saw nothing but water to his right, he found himself thinking about Reyna.

She had been on his mind a lot recently because he realized that this was the first time that they would be spending a significant amount of time apart for years. A week before his father’s accident, she had departed with her father to Constagra. Now, it would seem, they would be spending another few weeks apart. Reyna had always loved company, had always loved doing things. He hoped that she found something to occupy her time.

Technically speaking, they had met the day Reyna was born. Their mothers and fathers had been close to one another for many years. Jacob, who had been born a year earlier, had been present with his mother and father as Reyna was brought into the world. They had spent time with one another over the years and played with one another for hours on end. For as long as Jacob could remember, she had been a constant figure in his life. He soon found himself desiring and even requiring time to spend with her. This sense of dependency only grew stronger as the years went by and Jacob began learning the ins and outs of running a town. He would often rant long into the night as she sat there with a smile and encouraging words.

Unlike the large cities, there wasn’t much of a sense of urgency in finding a spouse in the smaller towns, such as Penrith Harbor, and so the idea of courting and marrying someone never really entered into Jacob’s mind. It wasn’t until he was seventeen that he recognized his feelings for what they were. He had vowed never to forget that night.

It had been the evening of that year’s Founding Day and Jacob and Reyna had spend most of the day together, dancing and singing and truly enjoying themselves. As the sun had fallen, Jacob had pulled Reyna away from the noise and bustle of the celebration and led her down to the harbor. There they walked out to the end of one of the piers and sat down, dangling their legs over the edge. They had sat, shoulder to shoulder, looking out across the dark ocean.

The sky had been clear and the ocean calm, so it seemed that the stars shined both in the heavens and in the ocean together. It had been a wondrous sight and he recalled Reyna saying as much. Perhaps it was the sound of the crashing waves or the beauty of the scene before them that stirred his spirit, but he suddenly turned and embraced her, her arms reacting and embracing him in return. He had kissed her, then, and the night seemed to last forever and come to an end within an instant. They had never made any declarations to anyone or even to each other, but all knew that they were in love. Two years later, Jacob had finally built up the nerve to ask her to marry him. He remembered the joy he had felt when she had said yes.

He took a deep breath and craned his head back, closing his eyes. He couldn’t quite explain what it felt like to be in love, but he knew that he had never felt anything like it before. With a sigh, however, he realized that such thoughts would only make the trip seem even longer.

They reached their destination a little before noon, just like Aidan had said they would. It had only taken three days with a strong wind and for that he was grateful. They were let off in the southern ruins of the Crystal Havens. Just as Penrith Harbor had controlled the coastal trade coming from Constagra, so too did Crystal Havens control the coastal trade coming from Eton, capital of the Old Empire. It had been a larger city, approximately equivalent in size to Haden Hill but where Penrith Harbor had survived the Wars of the Dragons, Crystal Havens had been completely destroyed by them. Nowadays it was nothing more than an outpost where ships could put in and refill their supplies. It was a permanent home to perhaps no more than one hundred people, yet there were usually at least five hundred there at any given time.

Most of the city had been either destroyed or torn down, but here and there the land surrounding the wide river mouth was marred by a large pile of white stone, a broken pillar or a toppled statue. Jacob was taken by the area and the history it represented, but Noreen quickly brought him back to reality.

“Pay the man so we can get moving, alright? We don’t have all day.”

Rolling his eyes, Jacob had quickly found the captain and paid their fare. The group then departed from the ship and made its way into the outpost. There was a rather large inn consisting of two wooden longhouses beside one another, apparently for housing multiple ships’ crews within. There was a market warehouse of sorts, though they catered to ships and not individuals. Lastly, there was a small stable which sold, purchased or held horses for those traveling inland from the sea or to the sea from inland. Jacob dreaded the price of the horses, as he expected they would be rather large. Surprisingly, Aidan spoke up and said he would handle the horse-bartering. Jacob handed him the money sack and within a half-hour, the man returned with six horses, which he claimed had been purchased for quite the reasonable price.

“What did you get six for? There are only four of us, remember? Who’s riding the other two?”

“The other two will be pack horses. They’ll carry our things while we ride the others. We’ll also rotate them while riding to keep all the horses somewhat fresh. You don’t want to lose a horse and be forced to walk.”

Jacob felt rather foolish after the explanation, but Aidan’s manner of calm explanation eased it a little. Gregory, however, had other things to say.

“Heh. You haven’t been on long ventures much, have you boy? I hope you don’t think we can just jump on these beasts and ride at full gallop all the way to Haden Hill. Horseflesh isn’t quite as magical as they make it sound in the stories. And ridin’ ‘em ain’t as fun as they make it sound, either. You’ll see what I mean.”

Noreen busied herself in the inn purchasing the various, more mundane things they were going to need, such as provisions. When she returned, and they busied themselves with readying their mounts, he was surprised by how much stuff traveling required. Unfortunately, he had sort of hoped that they would make quick time to Haden Hill and been done with it all. He hadn’t expected they’d need all of the various items they had brought or purchased.

Without fanfare or announcement, the small party started out of the Crystal Havens outpost north along the High Lord’s Road. This was not Jacob’s first time on a horse by any means, but it was definitely his longest consecutive time spent upon a horse. As the son of a lord, no matter how minor, it was only appropriate that he had learned to ride. He and Reyna had ridden with one another through the outlying fields of their home or with their parents as the traveled to nearby estates for visits. However, those were always leisurely trips where the purpose was to enjoy yourself as much as it was to actually get somewhere.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case now. Aidan, who had unofficially taken leadership of their little party, set a demanding, though not terribly difficult, pace. Jacob had wanted to stay at the outpost for the night, but they had set out instead. Aidan said that they needed to be at Highwood by the afternoon of the second day in order to make it for the wedding in time. Jacob considered telling Aidan that it wasn’t extremely important that he actually got there at all, but he decided that it wouldn’t go well with Noreen. By the evening of the first day, however, Jacob simply wanted to know if Aidan knew this wasn’t a military march. When he asked him, the man laughed.

“There’s nothing wrong with trying to be on time, my lord. Besides, I don’t like being in this open country. It just doesn’t feel safe.” Jacob had to agree.

The spent the remainder of the day in relative silence, though Noreen or Gregory occasionally spoke to point out various birds, animals or plants they had never seen before. Jacob found surprising how often they were surprised; after all, they weren’t that far from home. He had to admit, however, that the general area was more heavily wooded than home. At some points along the trip, the trees grew right up to the road, which made him feel rather uncomfortable. He was used to the rolling plains of the southlands and found himself missing them.

Aidan was rather quiet during the entire trip. For a time, Jacob didn’t really notice, but eventually he asked the man about it.

“I’ve fought in these woods. It was during the winter of Lord Alderson’s Madness, I’m sure you’ve learned of it.”

Of course Jacob had heard and learned of Lord Alderson’s Madness. Around the time of his birth, an upstart lord east of the Watchguard had decided that he was the descendant of the old Dragon Lords – a position commonly referred to as a dragon descendant – and that it was his destiny to reunite the world into a new empire. His actual lineage was questionable at best, but few willingly admitted to being related to the Dragon Lords so most took it to be the truth. Alderson had marshaled his forces, which had grown surprisingly large in number, and marched across the river into the Kyrithian territory.

The fighting had raged for an entire year, for almost all of the other lords had been caught completely unprepared. About a moth before the end of the conflict, Alderson had launched a suicidal charge down the coast which had come within a few miles of Penrith Harbor before it could be stopped. Following The Madness, a loose confederation of lords had been established to help prevent that sort of thing from happening again. So in truth, Alderson’s bid for consolidation had actually resulted in some, though not quite in the way he had anticipated.

“What was the combat like? It sounds so…exciting and noble.” Jacob had wanted to say “fun” but knew that he shouldn’t. He had read enough history to know that wasn’t the case.

“Matan’s been filling your head with his stories, I see. There’s nothing exciting in taking a man’s life. There’s nothing noble about being cover in dirt and blood. You see a lot of courage, but also a lot of foolishness. What’s combat like? During the Madness I spent a lot of time walking through mud and snow from one town to the next. That’s what most of the soldiers during a war do the most. Actual combat it terrifying. It’s fast, it’s loud and it’s hot, no matter what time of year it is. Though men can bring about great things, always remember that men are also the ones who bring about war.” He grew silent, then, as they continued forward.

Jacob realized he had never heard Aidan say that much in one sitting. He looked to the others to see their responses. Noreen looked like she was going to cry, which confused him. Gregory, however, raised his eyebrows and mouthed, “Whoa.” Jacob got the impression that there was more to Aidan’s story than he had ever heard, but he didn’t want to upset Aidan further. They continued to ride on in silence.

As they came around a bend in the road, they saw in the distance a building standing a ways in the trees and Noreen expressed hopes that they would be able to stop and rest for the night. As they neared the structure, however, they realized that the building hadn’t been used in many years. The few windows to be seen were missing their frames and the roof was completely gone. The stone walls still remained, however; a skeleton of what had once been there.

“The High Lord’s Road used to have these way-houses every ten miles or so during the Old Empire,” Aidan said. “Most were made from wood, though. We must be coming up to an old crossroads of some kind.”

When Jacob expressed his confusion, Gregory responded. “The Dragon Lords had these things built along their roads for travelers to rest in. They weren't run by anyone and were free to use. There was a small group of folk that traveled the roads constantly maintaining the houses. At each crossroads a larger way-house was built from stone to hold more folk.”

Noreen decided to chime in. “Yeah and they were safe from brigands, too, because of the Dragon Lords’ Protection. You could come and go as you pleased. The roads were more populated back then, after all.”

Jacob listened to each and his face grew red as he realized he was the only person who didn’t know about the way-houses. It wasn’t his fault the history books didn’t mention it all that much. Besides, he understood why Aidan and Gregory would know about them for they had traveled about on these roads before. Why Noreen knew was a mystery, however, and that bothered him.

Upon inspection, the roadhouse was actually in pretty good order considering the two hundred odd years it had sat there. It was obvious that someone had recently tried to fix the place us, as must of the grown within had been cleared away and a hole in the northern wall had been repaired. It was two stories tall and it was found that the first floor was almost completely protected from rain by the second floor. They decided that it would make as good a spot to rest for the night as any, so they brought their horses inside and set up their little camp.

Noreen insisted in setting the fire in the fireplace, regardless of the fact that the stack had toppled away years ago. They ate a modest meal of beef stew and hard bread and washed it down with water and wine. After the meal, Gregory erected a quick tying post for the horses and fed and brushed them while Noreen took her time cleaning up. Why she made such a fit about cleaning Jacob didn’t understand, considering the place was abandoned anyway but he didn’t say anything. He looked around for Aidan, who had been looking over their supplies, and didn’t see him. He heard movement, above, however, and started up the stone stairs to the second floor.

It was like a different world, compared to the floor below. Where most of the weeds and bushes had been cleared below, the top floor had obviously been neglected. Thick, woody vines grew over the stone yellow flowers poked out from cracks in the walls. The northern wall and the roof were missing, but the other three walls stood in their entirety, creating an interesting feeling of freedom and confinement at the same time. Jacob spotted Aidan standing near the fallen wall and walked over to him. He realized that he was growing rather fond of the man.

“So, how long do you think this will take?”

“Noble wedding celebrations can last a while. It’ll be a few weeks before we find ourselves in Crystal Havens again.”

The man seemed distracted, staring off over the trees. Jacob followed his line of sight. At first he didn’t see anything. Finally he noticed it, however. A faint trail of black smoke rose in the distance up into the sky where the wind pushed it away.

“What is that? Something burning?” Jacob felt foolish after asking the question; obviously something was burning.

“I’m not sure. It’s obviously far away, though. Probably nothing to worry about.” Despite his words, Aidan continued to look off in the same direction.

With a sigh, Jacob turned and went back downstairs. He thought about Aidan and decided that he was obviously uncomfortable here. He had fought battles here, after all. His distant attitude surely had something to do with that. With nothing else to engage his time in, Jacob soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

The next day the group got a late start. First off, Jacob had proved difficult to wake. When he had finally left his bed roll, he found his legs and back quite stiff and painful. As he took a few steps forward, he noticed that Noreen was obviously feeling the same. He shook his head and glanced at the horses. They made things easier, but you definitely paid for it. He also learned that one of the horses had decided to leave during the night, as it hadn’t been properly tied down. Gregory returned with it, saying he had found it at a nearby stream, but it had taken him almost an hour.

By the time they finally got underway, the sun way almost half way toward noon. Noreen was silent for the most part, stoically dealing with her aches. Jacob moaned and complained for a while until he realized that neither Aidan nor Gregory was complaining in the least. He didn’t want to sound like a child and embarrass himself in front of the men so he took the lead from Noreen and bit his lip and dealt with it.

It was a few hours until nightfall before the small party came over a small hill and got their first glimpse of the village of Highwood. It filled Jacob with terror.

The town had quite obviously been picturesque once. There was a granite pool that stood in the middle of town and the roads were paved with similar stone. Most of the houses appeared to be made of wood and brick with slate roofs. The High Lord’s Road ran through the city and torches ran out from the city along the road to guide the way in the night. It seemed to have been a prosperous, if small, community; until someone had put it to the torch.

Almost every building seemed to have been either partially or totally burned to the ground, with burned timbers and shattered shingles littering the streets. The air seemed thick with ash and it began to settle upon the heads and shoulders of the party as they came closer. It appeared as though some terrible accident had fallen upon the city. It was only as they entered the city that they began to truly understand what had happened.

“‘Mighty Father, Gentle Mother, be with us I pray…’” Noreen was standing by her horse, now, not trusting herself to stay mounted but instead using it for support. He stood perfectly still, her eyes fixed on the sky.

“This is…surprising. I didn’t think the war was down here yet,” Gregory said. He bent over and picked up a club banned in copper. It had been slightly scarred by fire but was otherwise unharmed. “It doesn’t look like they put up much of a fight.”

“No it doesn’t. And these are sword wounds for the most part. This was a professional group.” Aidan was also walking through the streets, occasionally bending over a body to survey the damage. He stopped at a crossroads and looked down each. The fires had mostly burnt themselves out, through a few buildings to the west were still smoldering. “This is the definitely where the smoke I saw was coming from.”

Jacob stood back near Noreen, holding the reigns to the other three horses. His mind was completely blank as his eyes moved over the town. He had never seen so much death and destruction in one place before. Naturally, he had seen a few of the dead in his past, attending their funerals as they were given to the sea. He had never, however, seen a murdered body lying face down in the middle of the road beside a torched and collapsed home. It was too much for his mind to take in.

Suddenly Jacob heard a horse whinny somewhere close behind him and he whirled around, his heart racing. What he saw surprised him. There were perhaps fifty people, men, women and children, most on foot, standing upon the road a ways back. They looked exhausted; their clothes were torn and burnt. He quickly turned around and called for Aidan.

It turned out that they were the survivors of the attack, having run when the battle began. Some looked ashamed, but most looked shocked. Men in armor, they said, had suddenly poured out of the woods with torches and swords gleaming. They had swept through the town killing indiscriminately. None had offered any explanation and none wished to stop and talk; they simply killed. It took a few moments before a general panic swept through the village and people began to run. The few mounted troops rode down a few, but they seemed bored with the idea of chasing peasants through the woods. Those who had fled had somehow managed to gather themselves, waited a day and then decided to return.

The party spent an extra day in Highwood with Aidan, Gregory and Jacob helping to bury the dead and clear the roads. Though the townsfolk had told them they could go on their way, the party had felt obligated to stay and lend some aid. Noreen aided the women and children by going through the burnt houses to find anything salvageable. It was late into the afternoon before the party left Highwood. Though they were asked to stay, Jacob didn’t want to be in the village any longer than he had to be. The people gave their thanks and pleaded for them to tell the lords of Haden Hill about their home.

With somber spirits, Jacob and the others continued north.