The Return pt.11
It was late in the morning as Lucien and Arcia continued on through the forest towards Salver. Lucien noticed that Arcia is frantically looking around and he stops, asking “What is it?”
Clicking her tongue Arcia voices her frustrations “Damn it all. There’s supposed to be a post somewhere around here.”
Silently he looks at her as she stomps across the road multiple times, looking in the tree line for a post of some sort. “What do you mean?”
Her answer was quick and venomous “A damn signpost that kept you from ending it all, you bastard.”
Realizing quickly that what she said in frustration was a mistake, Arcia pulls her hair out of her face and looks to Lucien “I’m sorry for what I said Lucien. The sign post was supposed to tell you where the current bridge is located since the river washes it away once a year.”
Lucien’s eyes go wide at this information, surprising Arcia.
“I know where we are then. We must be near the Liascon River.”
Arcia stares at Lucien in disbelief, blinking several times “What’s the Liascon River? We’re near the Karshen River.”
“Who the hells renamed it the Karshen River? It is the Liascon River, named after the Ancient Kigndom that ruled the river’s banks from the mountains in the north to those to the south.”
His disbelief was palpable and his words greatly confused Arcia. “It’s named after a legendary king that supposedly drowned in the river. What’s wrong with that when you’re claiming to be the tyrant from legend?”
Staring at her, Lucien’s voice changed in his disbelief “Because that bastard Karshen lived to be a hundred and twenty. I could tell you where I had his tomb built.”
His arm began pointing in the direction of the river as he continued “Karshen did not drown in the river. He surrendered to me on its banks. He willingly submitted himself to me instead of watching an entire generation of his people be slaughtered by my armies. Against the wishes of his men and generals I might add. They wanted to fight until complete annihilation.
“The battle had already started in all its grandeur when he could no longer stand it and came rushing through his armies towards my lines, begging and pleading with everyone to cease the slaughter. He personally stood between our two armies and cried for the slaughter of his people to stop. And when I approached through my lines, Karshen fell to his knees and personally pleaded with me, tears streaming down his face, asking for me to accept his surrender and to cease the war between our kingdoms.”
Now pacing the road, continuing his rant “I respected that display of his so much that I allowed him to keep his crown and continue to rule as king over his people with his kingdom becoming a protectorate of Arlorne. All he had to do was give my armies a single levy of five hundred men a year. After two years I allowed the oldest group of five hundred to individually return to their homes if they wished if they no longer wished to serve in my armies. No other did I give such leniency and benefit.”
His anger began to physically manifest and caused dirt to be kicked up from the road as his voice had grown loud in frustration at learning of this river’s name.
“I cannot believe you humans would change the name of such an important river over a false story about a righteous and honorable man.”
He then stands over Arcia and looks down at her as he completely breaks his usual candor saying through his teeth “He deserve better than to be remembered for a false story about drowning in a river. He was a great man, a strong man, and he deserves to be remembered for that. Not some false story that stains his legacy.”
All Arcia could do was look up at the angered Lucien and nod her head “Alright Lucien. How about you sit next to the road and calm down as I look for the signpost?”
Breathing heavily, Lucien does his best to calm down as he agrees to her suggestion and finds a fallen tree to sit on.
Sitting there on the fallen tree, Lucien could hear Arcia moving through the trees and bushes behind him. Arcia had cursed loudly when she found where the signpost broke off. Half of the post was still in the ground but the top half holding the sign was missing. And now she was searching through the forest for it.
As Arcia searched her mind was a jumbled mess of her own annoyance and thoughts about Lucien’s reaction to the name of the river. It was all so strange to her but she decided to try and change the air around them as she could not stand it.
“You know about my life, tell me about yours.”
Lucien’s dark eyes look at the ground in-between his armored boots “What do you want to know?”
“How about your early life?”
A sigh could be heard coming from Lucien before he asked “Where would you like me to start?”
Stopping her search Arcia thought for a moment before continuing with her efforts “Tell me about your family.” With this request Arcia wanted to understand more about Lucien and how he came to be this way. But she also wanted to know more about family life in the east.
Lucien, not caring to discern her motives, raises his gaze up to the blue sky above and stares up at it “Almost all dead. My father and my older brother were killed within weeks of each other when I was fifteen. My father on the battlefield and my brother by assassins who felt he wasn’t fit to be king. My mother, she died while I was still very small. Then my daughter…Well, my daughter I have not seen in centuries.”
“Oh…..I’m sorry to hear that.” Arcia could not think of anything else to say in this moment. It appeared to her that Lucien was a far more complicated man than she originally thought.
“It all happened ages ago.”
His attempt to assuage Arcia’s concern was appreciated but “Still,” was all she could manage in response as her thoughts were racing in her mind. Not knowing how to continue the conversation and still not sure if Lucien was truly a king as he claimed, Arcia found her mind gripped by curiosity and it gnawing at her. “How did your mother die?”
Arcia did not need to see Lucien to know he had leaned onto his armored legs and lowered his gaze towards the ground. “I killed her.”
Shock and surprise took her as Arcia stopped what she was doing and looked through the forest to Lucien’s back. This was certainly shocking to hear but contradicted what he had said moments ago. “How? You said she died when you were still small”
With his head hung low Lucien answered “You’ve heard of what happens to women when they give birth to someone gifted with great magic?”
“Gods, Lucien. I’m so sorry.” Arcia’s eyes were wide in surprise. It was quite common knowledge that mothers who gave birth to those possessing excessively powerful magic were killed by the birth. There was seemingly no way to avoid it and it was often a disturbing scene as the human body was not meant to give birth to such power.
“Don’t be. She was strong enough herself that she lived for two more years after giving birth to me in the fields north of our home. I was told that despite being bedridden, she held me close at all times and was found dead with me held tightly in her arms the day after my second birthday.” His voice was simultaneously full of sorrow, yet love and happiness. Apparently despite not really knowing her, Lucien very much loved his mother.
Arcia now felt like she was falling down a bottomless well and her stomach tightened up. She had thought her life was hard in the orphanage and then the penal village but Lucien’s life seemed more complicated than many of the stories of old nobles and legendary heroes she had read. Arcia did not even realize she had ceased her search for the signpost as she stared at her feet, lost in thought.
“Did you find the post?”
The genuine question from Lucien startled her and caused Arcia to resume her search. “No….Sorry Lucien your story had me lost in thought.”
In that moment Arcia could have sworn she heard Lucien offer a brief chuckle at her admission. As she resumed searching for the signpost she heard him ask “Would you like to hear more about my family? My father saw to it that I was highly educated in my family’s history and it was something I continued to study though out my life.”
Her answer came while pushing though a thorn bush “I’d rather here more about your mother. I don’t understand why she was in a field when she gave birth to you.”
“She was tending to my family’s herd of horses. My mother’s parents were dead, my brother was being seen to by a tutor and my grandmother and my father and grandfather were handling border issues. So it fell to my mother to tend to them and she often did so alone. They said she had a special connection with the horses.”
Lucien continued without being prompted as his voice filled with joy and something almost unexpected, love “The Witch of the Plains. That was what my mother was known as during her short life. She possessed a talent for magic unseen before or since, allowing her to master all known magics and a beauty unlike any other living on Vyrna. The only ones to compare in either would be the gods themselves.
“Hells the day of my parents’ wedding, two enemy kingdoms to the east used the large celebration as a distraction to invade our lands. My mother was so enraged by this she left right in the middle of the ceremony and rode out to meet them. By the time my father and the army caught up to her, she had already singlehandedly destroyed one army and was preparing to ride towards the second one further south. While she was moving towards the second army, a third army came from the west hoping our armies were held in the east.
“By the time the wedding resumed, nearly a month had passed and my mother had destroyed three armies numbering some fifty thousand killed. All on her own.”
As he was speaking about his mother, Arcia swore she saw Lucien smiling through the long dark hair covering his back. But then his tone shifted and became dour once more “That strength is the reason she was able to live for so long after my birth. I may not possess her talent and skill in magic but I brought far more power and adaptability than any had known.”
Despite the mood shifting once again Arcia was now curious about what was said at the end “Are there any you would consider your equal?”
Without hesitation Lucien answered “Only two. One rules The Great Forest of Tolemburg, and the other is the chief ruler of the east.”
“Have you ever fought one of them?”
The question was not surprising to Lucien and he did not mind answering as he nodded his head “Yes the King of Tolemburg. The fight lasted over three days and only ended because of outside events.”
Arcia could not discern if Lucien was telling the truth or lying to her. Such power seemed so farfetched to her but she had seen some small glimpses of Lucien’s so far. “What would happen if you fought one of them today?”
Lucien turned his head and looked over his shoulder and into the forest at her “It would destroy nations. Potentially the entire valley with no victor.”
The tone of his voice held no hints of fiction and that scared Arcia. Just what was real and what was part of what she thought was Lucien’s lie. But before anything more could be said Lucien warned her “Horses are coming this way. Stay hidden for now.”
Quickly she cursed “Those damn knights,” as she moved deeper into the forest to hopefully remain unseen. Otherwise they would try to kill her on the spot.
Lucien knew from his conversation with Cyra that these so-called knights were more legitimized bandits and brutes rather than a proper knightly order. Their sole job out here was to prevent those banished to the penal villages from returning to human civilization in the west. And that disgusted Lucien to his core.
Listening to the sounds of horses moving closer and closer Lucien undid the belt holding his sheath to him. With the sword still in the sheath, he slowly wrapped the belt over, under and around the crossguard and the sheath, securing the sword in place so it would not slip from the sheath. A blunt weapon was of more valuable to Lucien here than the blade he was so skilled in.
With his weapon ready for use, Lucien held it by the sheath in his right hand and continued to sit on the fallen tree for he had knights to judge.
The sounds of Arcia moving in the forest died down as the mounted knights rode up on Lucien. Each one of them was heavily armored in shining, well-polished, maintained and unblemished armor, obvious that not once had their armor seen battle against real foes. Their weapon tips high above their heads shined in the sunlight coming through the tree tops. In Lucien’s eyes these men were not warriors and all his suspicions about them were confirmed by laying eyes on them.
“You left quite the scene back there friend. May I ask just what they did to you?”
The lead knight had taken off his helm before asking Lucien that question. His voice was haughty but friendly. The smile on his face was polite but full of confidence in the face of Lucien and it was quite clear that this well-groomed blonde man was a noble.
“They tried to prevent me from continuing on to Salver.”
Lucien made sure his voice was calm and steady in the face of these knights but he did not hide the implicit threat present in his words either. The lead knight turns his head to his fellows gauging their reaction before turning back to the sitting creature “Come we’ll show you the way to the bridge.”
Politely accepting their offer Lucien stood from the tree surprising all of the knights with his incredible height. Looking straight ahead Lucien looked at the lead knight’s chest despite him being on horseback. Turning and walking down the road Lucien had to stop and look back at the knights “Are we traveling together or not?”
Disturbed from their surprise, the knights spurred their horses forward with the lead knight riding at Lucien’s side. Unknown to the knights was Arcia following closely from deep in the forest. She was taking great care to not be heard or seen, surprising Lucien once more by how he could no longer sense her presence despite knowing she was there.
The beginning of this journey together was quiet at first as both parties looked for reasons to draw weapons on the other. This calm was certainly one before a storm and both parties could sense it.
But as this tension continued the lead knight would breathe the silence and begin testing Lucien openly “What business does a man from the east like you have in Salver?”
Maintaining his forward gaze Lucien calmly answers truthfully but keeps a little to himself “I need to meet with a noble there. He took something that means much to me and I wish to have it returned.”
Hearing this the lead knight forcefully returns his polite smile to his face before asking “Might I ask what noble you wish to meet? I may be able to make introductions.”
Cutting his eyes to the knight, Lucien answers “I believe his name is Duke Castellen, if Count Draeken is to be believed.”
Quickly the lead knight motioned with his off hand in a manner that would be hidden from Lucien causing the knights behind them to adjust their positioning with their horses to better assault Lucien when the time came. While Lucien may not have seen the gesture, he certainly noticed the movements behind him. He would have truly fallen far if he had not.
It was in these moments that Lucien began speaking in his old Dharan tongue. He did not care if he was heard and spoke loudly with pride and authority as he knew his words would only be understood by one party present.
Now restless the lead knight asks “What did you just say?”
Lucien joyfully smiled up at the knight after a brief chuckle and answered “Forgive me sir knight, I was speaking to your horses. They are quite magnificent creatures.”
From behind Lucien heard a click of the tongue followed by “Damn Dharan bastard.” This intrigued Lucien greatly and caused him to ask “You have encountered my people before?”
Before that knight could answer the lead knight spoke up properly “Yes. Your people are occasionally seen in Salver for trading purposes, so we have encountered them. Quite a…unique people you are.”
This caused Lucien to chuckle. Even after all these years his people still left an impression on those they encountered and he held no doubt that these knights had tried to bring some harm to his people on to be easily turned away. The Dharans were after all a race of skilled warriors and hunters that were not to be trifled with and took no harm from others.
“May I ask what this thing the good Duke Castellen took from you is? I am sure he would be willing to return it to the rightful owner but he is quite the busy man. Especially at the moment with all his celebrations he has been hosting recently, so you may be stuck in Salver for some time.”
Lucien’s breathing slows as he lowers his head slightly, preparing to make the first move. Calmness had settled over him as he steeled himself before asking with genuine curiosity “What does a man like him have to celebrate?”
The contempt Lucien felt for the human noble was obvious in his voice and the knights were not fools as they heard it clearly, understanding just why he asked. But the lead knight answered with confidence “He recently acquired a new toy that he is trying to break. The celebrating is in recognition of her acquirement and trying to show her just how great of a man he is for rescuing her from her life of poverty and suffering.” The lead knight then added with a hint of sadistic glee in his voice “And it serves as an introduction to those important to the kingdom like he is, so she is more comfortable serving their…needs in the future.”
With his anger rising Lucien’s grip tighten on his sword as he stood straight, keeping his breathing calm. Arcia from the forest could sense the rising anger from Lucien and moved further into the forest out of instinct. The horses beneath the knights began stamping their hooves as they sensed it as well but Lucien calmed them with his words despite the knights failing to do so with their reins.
“Is this woman rather tall compared to others?”
The lead knight picking up on Lucien’s tone rest his hand against his weapon before speaking “Yes.”
“Brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and possessing a sharp tongue?”
From behind him Lucien could hear weapons being drawn slowly with the knights hoping to avoid making noise as their lead answers with a contemptuous pride “Yes and quite beautiful. It is such a shame that she has to be starved and beaten but she just will not behave and listen to her rightful master Duke Castellen. She just keeps going on and on about some king she serves angering the good duke, who has been nothing but patient with her. She is going to cause a small purge of the nobility if she keeps going as several nobles have taken to privately referring to the duke using her insults, thinking we would not learn of it.”
In this moment a corrupt smile comes over the lead knight’s face as he decides to push Lucien “I would have very much liked to taste her but alas the great Duke Castellen is not allowing anyone to taste her until she breaks and begs for him. Why, do you know her?”
Allowing his gaze to drift upwards towards the sky, Lucien answers with a calm fury “Her name is Morrigan Ziudra. She and her family have served me and mine for centuries.” Lucien then clenches his teeth as he finishes “And she is MINE!”
Before anyone can react, Lucien had grabbed his sheathed sword with his left hand and swing it out towards the lead knight. A sickening cracking sound is head as the crossguard connects with the man’s skull caving it in. Then with little effort Lucien pulls the dead man from atop his horse and steps aside as it crashes to the ground. With practiced ease Lucien steps on the corpse’s head and removes his sword from it before hopping onto the horse’s back and standing atop it.
With Lucien looking down on the knights, fear begins to take them as they ready their weapons. One shouts at Lucien “You barbarians from the east should be dealt with. You don’t know to respect your betters and it’s time we true humans dealt with you.”
Lucien scoffs at this before saying back “You humans do not understand a thing. You and your fellow knights have nothing to worry about. You are already dead.”
The same knight then shouts back with fury “Damn you, you foul creature. Once Duke Castellen is ruling Reval we will conquer the east and destroy not only your home but all of your kind and the Dharan people.”
Without saying a word Lucien responded by going on the attack, with aid from the knights’ own horses. Within moments every knight but one had been brutally slain with massive blunt force to their helms. The horses aided Lucien by attempting to throw their riders, being successful with only three of them. One of these knights was the one who Lucien had not killed, as he had been thrown from his horse, landing on his head and snapping his neck.
Once the killing had been ended Lucien removed the helms from each of the sixteen knights and feasted for the first time in centuries as the horses stood by watching.
Arcia comes stumbling out of the forest, hammer in hand, only to be frozen in shock at the sight of Lucien feasting from one of the knights. When Lucien finishes with the corpse, he releases it and Arcia watches as the armored knight crumples to the ground. Lucien then turns to face her with the blood soaking his mouth and chin running down through his scraggly beard to his neck as he breathes deeply. “Pick a horse for yourself.” Quietly Arcia nodded her head as she put away her hammer and went to looking at the horses. Lucien’s mouth had still been filled with blood when he spoke allowing more to pour down his chin and neck as his blood covered teeth seemed to shine like rubies in the light.
As she inspected the horses Arcia felt her instincts calling to her and so she looked down at the dead knights. With a sigh and roll of her eyes Arcia knelt down and began searching each of the dead knights for valuables she could take. And when Lucien walked up to the corpse she was searching Arcia sheepishly smiled up at him thinking of an excuse only for him to tell her “To the victor go the spoils.” Breathing in relief she quickly finished searching the knight for valuables she could keep or sell later and moved on allowing Lucien to feed from the corpse.
From corpse to corpse the two of them move, one looting and the other feeding. Soon each corpse is left with only their weapons and armor, drained of all the blood in their bodies.
Now finished looting all the valuables she could find from the corpses, Arcia moves from horse to horse looting from the saddlebags much the same as she looks for a horse to ride. Noticing this Lucien drops the corpse he just finished feasting from “Any of them will do fine. They are all quite well-mannered and will listen to you.” Arcia looks back over her shoulder at Lucien to find him nodding his head in confirmation causing an aggravated sigh to escape from her.
With this newfound reluctant acceptance Arcia moves towards the horse that she feels is calling to her. It has a beautiful red brindle coat with a bald face. It is slighter in build compared to the others but just as tall.
The horse shakes its head and blows at her as she approaches. When she reaches towards the reigns, the horse rears up at her causing Arcia to cower away. Lucien quickly corrects her “Do not shy away from him. He is testing you. Show him your courage and will.” Arcia looks back at Lucien in concern only to find him nodding his head at her confirming what he said.
Taking a few deep breaths Arcia gathers herself and approaches the horse once more. And once more the horse rears up at her, threatening her with its front hooves. But this time Arcia does not back down. Instead she reaches up to the reigns and with the lightest force pulls on them, settling the horse down.
As the horse now stands there allowing Arcia to do as she pleases, surprise fills her. Rubbing the neck of the now behaving horse, Arcia turns her head towards Lucien and slowly asks “What in the hells was that Lucien?”
A smile comes over Lucien’s blood soaked face as he picks up the last corpse and begins to explain “It is because of me. My presence here reassures them that they are free to do as they wish without worry of being severely punished.”
Lucien then pauses his explanation to feast from the final corpse as Arcia continues to rub the horse’s neck “That doesn’t explain much. What do you mean when you said he was testing me? Why did the horse act that way? Why is he so calm now?”
Moments later Lucien finishes his feast and drops the corpse before walking up to the horse. He strokes the horse’s face as he excitedly loses himself “Horses are not as docile as most seem to understand. They are quite bold on their own and vary in personality much like humans do. Each one has a personality all their own. Their own wants and desires. Their own…”
“Lucien to the point please.”
Looking over the horse at Arcia, Lucien continues with disappointment now filling his voice “Fine Arcia. This horse was tired of being told who gets to ride him. He wished to choose his rider for once and he wanted someone bold unlike his previous rider. The knight was apparently cowardly in the horse’s eyes and quite abusive towards him. That is why he reared up at you. He wanted to see if you were bold enough to claim him as your mount. The knight would have cowered away before proceeding to beat him but you stepped up and grabbed his reigns. He respects that.”
Slowly nodding her head, Arcia accepts the explanation but she is not sure she believes it as her mind begins to contemplate everything said. Even the knights seemed to believe Lucien and his people had some connection to horses causing her even more confusion.
While Arcia is lost in her confusion, Lucien walks up to one of the other horses and begins removing the saddle from it while speaking in his Dharan tongue. Questioning this Arcia asks “What are you doing?”
“Freeing them and telling them where they can find my people in the east.”
As he continued removing the saddle a click could be heard coming from his tongue as he looks at the damage the knights’ sharp spurs have done to the horse’s hide. “Damn barbarians.”
Looking over to him as she begins loading her loot onto her horse, Arcia asks “What was that?”
Angered by what he has found Lucien loudly airs his grievances “Damn barbarians. You do not need sharp spurs to ride a horse. You make for a very poor rider if you hurt your horse with them.”
Understanding what he’s saying, Arcia inspects her horse and finds the telltale markings of rough and heavy use of very sharp spurs, including some fresh ones that had dried blood trailing down from them. Petting the horse Arcia speaks softly to it “It’s alright boy. I don’t ride with spurs so you’ll be fine." The horse seemingly understanding this shakes his head a little, surprising Arcia and causing Lucien to chuckle a little at her before he began using his healing magic on the horse next to him.
Without another word between Lucien and Arcia, Lucien continues speaking to the horses, removing the riding equipment from them and healing their injuries though the old scars would remain, all while Arcia finishes loading her loot onto her horse. As Lucien walks to the lead horse to remove everything from it, Arcia climbs into her saddle asking “That the horse you’re going to ride?”
Lucien looks at her from over the horse “You of all people should understand how heavy I am in this armor. It is far too much for a normal horse to carry.”
Arcia stares at him for a moment, watching as he begins to undo the saddle before saying with some attitude “Ask then, since you can talk to them.”
With a sigh Lucien looks at the red roan horse in front of him and asks in Dharan “Are you comfortable holding my weight?” And after several minutes Lucien sighs once more, wraps his sword belt around his waist and climbs into the saddle. The sound of leather stretching under his weight could be heard and the horse seemed to grunt and groan as Lucien climbed onto him. But in the end Lucien was in the saddle.
“This good enough for you?”
Arcia smiles at Lucien in response to his annoyed question and turns her horse around with him to face the other fourteen horses. While adjusting the stirrup leather to accommodate his long legs, Lucien speaks to the other horses. In his old Dharan tongue he tells them to stick together until they reach his people, whether they go to one of the border villages he had told them about or they cross the wasteland to his capital city. Either way they would be free from their cruel masters and treated with much respect before likely being sent further east into the Immortal Kingdoms.
Understanding they would find people like Lucien, all fourteen horses seemed to nod their heads before turning to head east together.
Lucien and Arcia watched for a time before turning their horses and continuing along the road west. At first they rode slowly but once all were comfortable with each other Lucien simply spoke to the horses in Dharan and they rushed off leaving death behind them.
With Arcia having never found the signpost they would just have to ride up and down the river to find the bridge but after such carnage they both understood without a word that the rest of the knights would be hunting them.
