Chapter 1
“Are we nearly there yet Sir Rodrick?” Young Ben Ironoak called, or more liked whined from behind Sir Rodrick on his noble Stallion. Sir Rodrick, in his old and worn traveling cloak that covered his equally worn armor riding his trusted war horse, lead the column of horses, guards, and his little lord’s small army of wagons filled with things that his mother felt her son needed while he was away from her becoming a noble knight of the empire.
“It isn’t nearly midday yet, my lord.” Sir Rodrick calmly called back to his newest squire. “Do you know how many knights I’ve trained in all my years?” he asked out of curiosity mostly.
Ben hesitated then said, “I don’t know, 5?”
“24,” Rodrick said proudly. “You know how many have personally protected the emperor at any point in time?” Ben just held his tongue. He started to fidget with his ornate brooch that was pinned to his ‘modest clothing.’ These same ‘modest clothing’ would be some royals important clothing but Ben’s had less animal fur robes. “All of them.” The young lord fidgeted more with his piece of jewelry. “Do you know how many have whined as much as you after a half a day’s ride?” Rodrick could feel the all encompassing embarrassment radiating from his squire. “Almost half of them complain, my lord.” That was a lie but it was a needed lie. To become a knight of the empire, especially from the Broken Lands, you had to have confidence. They also needed to know that to travel anywhere meant sitting in a saddle for longer than half a day.
“Is it really a three day ride to your keep Sir Rodrick?” Ben asked childishly.
“Yes, your grace.”
“Three, full, days?”
Rodrick couldn’t help but smile at the question. “Yes. Three full days and two full nights until we reach the Deep Green.” Rodrick loved to squire young lordlings. He loved to break them and mold them into men of valor and honor. He was not lying when he said that all the knights he trained went on to protect the Emperor many leagues away. The Broken Lands were where the bravest of knights and the greatest of fighters came and he personally helped to shape many of them. Some say that to be a knight in the Broken Lands, would be knights must travel around the Ring at least once. A trip around it meant danger and possibly death but once around you became a brave knight. Rodrick thought the notion of that was ridiculous. If anything the Ring made travel far too long to get anywhere, but he wasn’t going to risk going anywhere near that stone to prove his point either. Besides, this was only a short trip to his Keep from Ironoak lands.
The Ring wasn’t actually a ring either, but more of a circle that a drunken cartographer drew one night and no one bothered to fix the mess. The road move inward towards the center of the circle and away based on the merchant kings that ruled the lands. All of these merchant kings liked to boast about their distance to the road. The closer you were meant the more important your goods were while others said that the reason they weren’t that close to is mean they didn’t need to be; money wasn’t a concern to them. Either way, the road was the only way to get from one side of Broken Lands to the other, except through the center.
No one went through the center unless they wanted to be cursed for the rest of their natural life. The center meant the Stone, the Witch’s Stone. An evil looking, monolithic crystal that rose from the ground and into the sky taller than some of the mountains in the far east. While the Broken Lands themselves were nothing but a vast, dense, full of life forest, there is a smaller disk around the Stone that nothing lives within the two leagues of ground and rock that surround it. The only other structure near the Stone is the equally evil looking Castle of the Dead which has always been known for never being inhabited by anyone or anything. It sits exactly on the northern part of the cursed circle cradling both the cursed part and the trees that are brave enough to live near such an evil place. Most of the trees are, were, or about to die just by being so close to the castle. Curses are far scarier than any ounce of curiosity. The column was many leagues away from the curses and the Stone and even father from the Castle of the Dead but sometimes from the right vantage point, you could see the top of the stone.
By night fall the not so discreet column made camp where the Ironoak road met the Ring. Rodrick knew they had made great timing even with all the unnecessary extras. Sir Rodrick knew that this boy was loved not only by his mother and father but by those you his family ruled over. This was certainly not the first boy he squired that wasn’t unloved by many but plenty of them could have used some more, that much was for certain.
The Ironoaks ruled the only part of the Broken Lands that met any sort of hospitable coast line. The land’s coast was mostly jagged, windy, or untamable. They were the only place where anything could be shipped by boat in and out of this part of the world so the old Ironoaks took advantage. The first Ironoaks were this first and longest lasting of the merchant kings of the Broken Lands. They were also the most faithful to whichever emperor was ruling and especially enjoyed them when they looked the other way at raising there taxes. Sadly for Ben, he is the second youngest in the family and third in line for the family seat. Unlike his younger sister Trinity, he had a choice of either becoming a knight or marrying some lesser merchant’s daughter; he took the route most young boys of thirteen would have chosen.
The column had everything from a small platoon of guards to stable boys to tend to the horses to the young lord’s favorite cook. Sir Rodrick never ate so well on the road than that night. The boy, however, was barely touching his food as they enjoyed the cook’s fine meal of wild game hens with potatoes, carrots, leeks and mushrooms in a stew. Sitting across from the fire from Rodrick, Ben just poked and prodded his bowl of food. “Not hungry are we?” Sir Rodrick said playfully to his new squire.
“Not all that much, no” Ben was clearly upset about something.
“Could I get you anything?” asked Rodrick
“No…”
The was an uncomfortable pause between the two of them until Rodrick asked, “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?” rebutted Ben as though there clearly wasn’t anything wrong.
“I’ve seen that look before far too often, you are upset about something. So let’s have out then. What’s wrong?”
Ben sat there almost unwilling to talk but then it finally came out. “Do you think I’m good enough?” he said while looking down at his mostly cold food.
“For what?” Rodrick asked.
“To be a knight. Am I good enough to be a knight and defend the empire and protect the Emperor? Am I brave enough to be in the stories? Can I really be strong enough to fight Orric hordes or slay strange monsters when the time comes?”
“We wouldn’t be out here camping next to a road, sitting by a fire after a full days ride if I thought your weren’t.”
Ben went quiet again and then retorted, “I don’t feel like I am.”
“Well, have you ever been a knight before?” Ben looked at his man-in-arms like his had three heads and just then realized it. “Well? Have you?”
“No…”
“Then you have no idea what it really feels like to be one now don’t you? I think that once we start training, you will come to realize that this feeling that you feel doesn’t go away at all, but it is what makes you a true knight. You will learn to use it went the time comes.” Ben puzzled the old man’s words all the way until he fell soundly asleep.
Rodrick stay awake for a while longer. He was planning his training regiment for the boy while also thinking of all the other boys he trained at that age and how they all felt that same feeling at one point or another. Most of them still feel it even now but they have him to thank for using it in the right way.
Someone tapped Rodrick on his shoulder causing him to pop out of his thinking. It was one of the boy’s guards. The guard did not say anything but even in his grey, beaten armor, that guard’s face was white and was obviously terrified about something. Before Rodrick even had the chance to ask what the matter was the guard pointed to the top of the tree line in the direction the Stone. The sun had set a while ago but right where the guard was pointing was a vague glow. A greenish glow. An evil glow. A light that was not the sun nor the moon was shining brightly enough that they could see it from the Ring. Something in the middle of the forest was shining for the first time in a very long time and Sir Rodrick even questioned his bravery at that moment.