I woke up, the sun was bemiring through the window, I tried to cover my face from the light. I didn't want to get up yet I wanted to lay here longer, I didn't want to leave this beauty of a village. As more sun came through the window I tried covering my face with the blanket then the pillow. Nothing worked, more and more light reached my eyes, I reached my limit. So I lifted my head from the bed, moving my legs out from the blanket and getting up. Touching the cold wooden floor beneath me, standing up I felt my weight shift from one side to the other.
I looked over towards my desk and there still sat the letter of my reassignment, or what some would say a promotion. You could say I was a bright knight in the waiting, until I kept getting reassignments to the point I ended up in this village. This village though, I hold dear to my heart, it's the place I love protecting, a place I do not wish to leave. Looking back towards my bed, the blanket was almost falling off, I moved it to cover the bed neatly. After all I do not know who would be taking my place after I leave. Fixing it to perfection, then looking at my desk again, walking over, picking the letter up to read again.
'Dear Sam the knight, you have been reassigned towards the eastern border. Where you will be taking over, filling a place in as a Gate Guard. Ride along the Fen Guard knight order who are passing through.'
It was a short letter but, I could not refuse it, refusing it would be like treason against the kingdom. I crumbled the letter, throwing it back onto the desk. I moved away from the desk looking around the place I have been staying at this entire time. It's become home to me, I walked through the bathroom, kitchen then back towards where my bed sat. Then I looked over towards the front door, many of the things I needed were there. I packed everything needed last night. Walking over to the front door, I picked up one bag, then another, hoisting my sword to my side. Pulling the sword out of it's scabbard looking at the clean blade beneath. Putting it back in and walking out the front door, into the bright day ahead.
I walked through the village making my way over to where a knight order was. You could find them easily with the ruckus they were making, everyone knew. Before I went though I made sure to say good bye to everyone, grandma Daisy, a sweat old lady who bought me a pie last night. The children, the baker, the smith, I said goodbye to every single person I could find. After saying good bye I finally took my first step to where the knight order sat. Walking closer and closer, I seen a man I once knew back in the knight academy. I say knew but in reality he graduated the same year I did, we were both fresh out of the academy but he was already making his way to being captain. It seems he reached his goal in the end, that's good.
I walked over towards him, he noticed me right when I got closer to him, he looked at me with eyes that were watching a criminal at first. Then it went away with him speaking up,
"Are you Sam?"
I stopped walking once I got close enough and open my mouth,
"Yes I'll be riding alongside your knight order to the border Captain."
He looked me up and down then he faced away, over to a young knight and a horse.
"You see the boy over there, your horse is just right there.'
I nodded and went over to my horse, the young boy looked to be grooming his horse quite intently, so I thought it would be best not to bother him. I patted the horse I would be riding, time went by, then the captain called out to everyone.
"Ready your horse men we will be moving soon!"
I looked over towards the captain who was helping other knights ready their horses. It really is time to leave, this place, I looked out towards the village that I will never be able to see in a long while. I was lost in thought for awhile until I heard a horse pelting its feet to the ground just behind me. I looked back to find the young knight from before, on his horse.
"Hey you, the person joining us, what's your name?"
I wasn't expecting him to make conversation so I wrack my brain back in forth until something came out my mouth.
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking?"
That came out way too rude, before I could say sorry though the young boy spoke.
"The names...Phalton, yea that's right..."
He sounded lost, like he didn't even know his own name, I felt a little worried for him. I felt to awkward to speak further but I pushed words out my mouth.
"...Well you can just call me Sam, I guess we will be riding together..."
I gave him a small smile, hopefully the boy is all right, he could have an injury on his head and not know it. Maybe I should ask around and ask if anyone has seen him hit his head recently. Other than that I gave him a simple smile and looked back at my horse, he seems like a nice and weird kid. I patted the horse for a while longer, until the captain once again called out to everyone.
"Ready up everyone were moving now!"
I grabbed the reigns of my horse and mounted, making my way into the pack of knights. Riding alongside, I tried to keep my distance from everyone just in case I slipped off the horse. It's been awhile since the last time I rode a horse, not since the last time I was reassigned. I breathed in the fresh air that whipped across my face, enjoying the ride. That is until that young kid tried speaking to me again. He rode up along side of me.
"Hey Sam once we get there want to help me set up everything?"
Honestly it worries me how hes not focusing on the riding, I can just tell his hips are going to hurt later. So I thought of what to say and shot it out my mouth.
"Shouldn't you focus on riding instead? but... Sure I don't mind."
I was a little worried that it came out too harsh because the kid looked like he was whacking his brains out. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if my face showed how worried I was for the kid. It was going to be either one of us that tried talking again. At this point it was a race on time of who would get their sentence out. Right when I opened my mouth the kid spoke.
"So what was it like where you used to-"
Before he could even finish speaking one of the knights slammed their horse into his. I immediately grabbed his reigns just in case he fell, I was going to call the other knight on it but unfortunately I was beaten again in who would be able to talk first game.
"Oh my little princess your not feeling sick are you?"
I had to take a second to ingest what he just said, he just called the young knight next to me a princess? I burst out in laughter, if the horses weren't pelting there feet to the ground right now I believe that Phalton would have noticed. Good thing though the young kid didn't outburst on me but the person who ran into their horse.
"Call me that one more time! and I'll throw you to the ground later!"
The other knight then said in a disbelieving tone.
"Ohhh is that so?"
I wanted to laugh even more, but I knew sooner or later he would be looking back towards me and I was right. So I immediately got my act up together, but right as he looked at me the word princess was written on his face in my vision. So I simply let out a laughter, the poor boy then yelled at me to.
"Oh come on not you to!"
I really felt sorry but watching a knight be called princess is not something you see everyday.
"I-I'm sorry it was to funny not to laugh at, princess.."
He looked away from me, not even paying attention to me anymore, if I was in his position there's no doubt I wouldn't want to look at me either. I looked around towards the other knights, everyone seemed to be calling him a princess now. Even some where already on there way to making a play called 'The Princess Phalton Who Can Barely Ride A Horse.' I couldn't help but laugh at ever comment everyone was making. It seemed Phalton started playing along with it after a while of everyone begging him to. It was quite an experience I have to say, I laugh and giggled with everyone else. Time went by more quicker than before, the sun was close to setting. Then from further up the line of knights giggling about princess Phalton the Captain called out to everyone.
"We'll be stopping ahead to camp!"
I was quite happy with that, not riding a horse for awhile then riding again, has done it's job on my hips. Our horses slowed and I followed Phalton, getting off and tying the horse onto the tree where he did. Once I was done I looked over to the young kid, and he was being handed over a tent. So I walked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder opening my mouth to speak.
"So should we start putting it up now?"
He gave me a widely grin with him saying.
"Sure if we don't we wouldn't have a tent to sleep in later."
I wasn't expecting him to be into jokes, but I simply nodded in response, I grabbed the tent from his hand and laid it out. Putting every thing in place, but before I could even get to work. He was already almost done with putting it up, I have to give a hand to him. He knows what he's doing, he must have slept outside a lot, to be this good at it. After doing so I saw he was lost in thought, so I looked around for something I could do. Then the horses caught my eye, so I walked over towards them, picking up my bag and bringing it over. Taking out a knife and apple, cutting them down into small pieces for the horse to eat. I looked over again at Phalton, he was still lost in thought rubbing the middle of his head. So I called out to him, in hopes I could pull him out of his little trance.
"Don't forget to feed your horse brother."
I grabbed a apple from my bag and threw it at him, for once second I didn't think we would catch it. In the end though he came back and grabbed it before it hit the ground and walked over to me. Not sure if I should call that good reflexes or not, handing over a knife to him. He looked at me with a confused face, so I started cutting my apple down even more and feeding it to the horse.
"Compassionate are we?"
It caught me off guard, shouldn't you help those who helped you? Words quickly flooded my mind of what to say, words connected then finally out my mouth.
"Well they helped us get this far and we still have far to go, shouldn't we show compassion towards those who helped us?"
Phalton looked at me then back towards the apple and knife in his hands.
"True."
He started cutting the apple down, I watched then I went back to mine. Feeding it a slice, then looking back over, I seen the young kid knife slip and cut straight into his finger. So I yelled out to him.
"Phalton! Careful my pri- brother!"
I almost called him princess good thing I caught myself before doing so. With that I quickly grabbed the knife from his hands, if I could see my own face I bet it was filled with worry. The young kid took a second to speak but he did in the end.
"Sorry Sam got lost in thought without thinking, and it just cut right through."
He didn't even seem bothered by the cut, it made me sick to my stomach. So I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him over to the recovery tent or you could call it the medical tent, to get him bandage up. Opening the tent up the medic was sitting in a chair, or who I believed was the medic, so I said.
"Excuse me, my friend here accidentally cut his finger."
The medic looked over towards us, taking a look at his wound. Then moving away pulling many things from his bag, a swab, some cream, with some bandages. Then he moved back towards us, over to Phalton, swabbing his finger, throwing the cream on. Bandaging it better than I have ever seen, he was even better then mister Golf at the knight academy. Right after finishing the medic said to the young knight.
"Come back tomorrow morning."
After that we left the tent after getting a nasty look from the medic, I know medical people love putting herbs first before everyone. Or well that's usually how it goes for most medics, they enter the academy in search of some cure for a disease but end up in a knight order treating the knights. Right when we got out of the medic tent we were near by the cooking area. I could just smell the good food, so I nudged the young knight making him look over towards the food. We both ended up grabbing the bowls right when the bell for supper rang, getting first in line. I let Phalton go before me, the cook who was filling the bowls started talking to the young knight.
"Look who it is, it's the princess Phalton! I'll add extra for a poor little princess!"
He said it so loudly that I'm pretty sure that all the other knights that where rushing over heard it, because I could hear the laughter in the distance. I looked in front and he really did add extra, the bowl was practically over filling, he looked like he was struggling to hold the bowl up with how much was in it. The kid moved out to the side of the line that was forming, and I moved forward to get my food, they poured a lot smaller amount in mine. Then I moved out from the line, to see the kid waiting for me. So I followed him over to a bonfire, it was quite warm and nice compared to the cold that we experienced to walking over to it. The young knight immediately started shoving his face full of food right when we sat down, I thought he would choke on it for a second.
I looked back towards my own bowl and took a bite, it wasn't that bad at all, for a knight order you wouldn't expect it to be this good. They chose the right people for the job here. After finishing up my bowl I looked towards where Phalton once sat and he was already pestering for more. He really has a big appetite, then a knight came in front of me, it was the knight who slammed there horse into the kids horse from earlier.
"Hey help me drag Phalton away before he eats everything."
I looked back towards where the kid was, and I couldn't agree more, he looked like he was about to eat every piece of food here. So I sat the bowl down and spoon and got up walking over to him and pulling him away with the other knight. They dragged him even further than I thought, all the way to a tent where they opened it to show many people making bets. They shoved us in making us sit behind them, with them saying to the kid.
"Keep it down Phalton, before the captain catches us. Have a little fun."
The knight betted away all there money, at one point I thought they'll win but in the bitter end they lost everything. They looked towards the kid putting there hands out, I have a feeling we've turn into money bags now. Phalton shook his head, then the knight turned towards me, so I gave him some money not thinking to much of it. I didn't want to get looked at in bad grace for not giving a poor man some money. I thought he wouldn't go betting it all again but he did, there goes me losing money quickly. He didn't lose this time though, after betting it all, he looked back with a proud looking face and gave back my money. What a funny kid, I started chuckling a little, watching them all bet money until Phalton grabbed my wrist and pulled me out. I was a little confused as we walked away, looking back I seen why, the captain walked over and opened the tent.
I looked away and in the distance I could here the screams from the knights in that tent, didn't bother the kid though. We got backed to our tent fast, we picked up our speed, after I nudged him a little. I didn't want to get caught by the fiery captain tonight. Phalton opened the tent and went in heading for his bag right away, so did I, grabbing the blankets out from my bag and putting it down. Flattening it then laying down covering myself with another blanket, letting my eyes drift away to closing. I slept well until I heard the bitter screams of someone in the middle of the night. I got up taking the blanket off grabbing my sword and looking over to see Phalton gone. My heart skipped a beat, what if that was him, screaming out in pain? So I opened the tent to see the kid slicing down someone, I was glad it wasn't the kid. Right before I could exit the tent though I seen the captain walk over to Phalton. He yelled out towards the kid.
"What the hell happened!?"
The clatter of people drowned out the rest of what they where saying but the kid walked back over to our tent with saying to me.
"Leave it to everyone else Sam, I'm pretty sure it'll be handled by the morning."
The kid looked tired, out of it a little, even though he said that to calm my nerves, I don't believe I will be getting anymore sleep tonight so I said to the kid.
"I'll stay up, you can rest though."
He went and laid down, falling fast to sleep, I made my way out of the tent over towards the captain. He was looking over the bodies, he didn't speak for a while until he yelled out.
"Where are our night watch!?"
Everyone looked around, no one seen where they were until someone came around the corner. Landing on there knees near us, many more followed after that, once they we're all here they all spoke at once.
"We're sorry captain we all fell asleep before shift change!"
He looked at them with rage for a few seconds and sighed,
"Your little mistake from all of you could have costed people there lives. Go back to your tent."
I wanted to help him some how, so I grabbed his shoulder, opening my mouth to speak.
"Your a good captain, you know you've truly grown since the academy. Also I don't mind taking a night shift."
He looked at me with weary eyes then he chuckled.
"I'll help then also didn't you graduate with me?"
I looked at him with a grin crossing my face.
"That I did Rugur."
His eyes lit up like a the capital plaza at night, we both talked as we walked around the camp surroundings. Some of the other knights watched us just in case we forgot our surroundings. Time passed in a flash talking to the captain, once the sun started to bleach us with it's shine the captain called everyone over, to talk about last night. I stood there watching a back and forth until Phalton finally got up, walking over towards us. One of the knights that were with us yelled out to him before I could.
"Phalton! Come over here will ya?"
It took only a short moment for him to walk over to us, then again that same knight spoke up again.
"Man we're lucky you where up, or who knows what could have happen."
After the man spoke everyone was silent after all, if no one awoken a bloodshed of dead men would be everywhere. Who knows how many lost or if anyone would have awoken up today. Then finally someone spoke up and it was Rugur the captain.
"What really happen last night."
I looked over towards Phalton he looked still out of it, he wasn't trembling in fear like new knights do after taking a life. So it defiantly wasn't his first time, the kid finally got his wits together and spoke though.
"I couldn't sleep last night so I stayed up, then I heard people and looked outside my tent and saw them. After that I waited until a perfect moment to attack. So where were the people on watch last night?"
The kid waited for a answer but I'm pretty sure no one wanted to speak up to why, the knight who first called him over spoke.
"Turns out all of them fell on asleep before all of them could switch out."
Once he said it, I believe it finally hit everyone at face value, everyone got to speaking about what could have happen, and what measures to take. So this never happens again, the captain even spoke of a good few way's. Time passed and everyone went on to do there own thing, I felt someone pat my shoulder right when I was going to follow Phalton over to the tent to pack up. The captain looked at me then spoke.
"Let us speak about old times in the academy if you have the time."
He looked like he wanted to speak to calm his nerves about what happened last night so I agreed, he took me over to a table that was sitting just outside his tent. Before the captain sat down, he went to make some tea, I waited for a short while. Until he finally came back with a tray with two cups of tea and a tea pot, setting it down on the table, he picked a cup up and handed it over to me. With him sitting down he spoke out to me.
"So where did you go after the academy?"
Taking a sip of the tea, quite refreshing.
"Well I went to work in the capital first, but soon after that I was reassigned. After working there for a month I got reassigned again."
He gave me a look over before sipping his tea.
"Sounds rough."
Thinking about it now I guess it would be pretty rough, I worked in the number one place every knight wish to work then I kept getting reassignments to further away places. You could say it was a demotion after demotion. I set down the tea, and open my mouth to speak.
"Well I got to do the one thing I wanted to do when I was younger travel."
We both chuckled over the tea, time passed as be spoke about how time went by, and what we did during those times. He made captain in just 4 months after getting out of the academy, officially, he was a temporary one at first then he solidified it not to long after protecting. Many nobles from a disaster at a ball, he's made his way up higher and higher when you compare it to me, I've done the opposite. I wanted to continue talking more with him but after thinking about it like that it kind of hurt. He gave me one of those looks of pity, I gave him a chuckle, and we sat there for awhile until I finally opened my mouth.
"Well it's all in the pass, and there's only the future ahead, where we can aim higher."
With that the mood improved and we spoke to each other of our goal in the future. It felt wonderful to talk to him like old friends, even though we never talked in the academy. I guess when you grow you learn, I feel old now... We continued to talk and we lost time until Phalton, came over saying.
"Sam I bought along your horse and everything you packed."
I turned to him and nodded, we looked at each other and the poor kid was giving me a face, I was going to say something to the captain about the time. He spoke before I could tell him we should be leaving.
"So how did you live in the village?"
I looked around many knights where giving us a look, I opened my mouth to speak then the knight who dragged us into the tent came over.
"Captain we've got to get going or we'll never make it to the border.."
The captain sighed and nodded, getting up from his chair he said.
"I'll go put away the tea set then I hope we can speak again."
I got up from my chair and nodded to him, pushing the chair back in I went back towards my horse that Phalton brought over who was waiting for me. I really wanted to say sorry to everyone for making them all wait as we chatted away over tea and that, but nothing exited my mouth. After the captain was done packing, everyone who hasn't mounted there horse mounted, then we started making our way to our last stop. The border, our destination, many trees passed by, no one was talking or playing, we just rode in silence with nothing happening at all. We made it to the border with easy parking our horse along each other, and tying it to a wood post. I looked around for the kid but I couldn't find him at all, so I walked over towards the gate. A few of the people from the knight order where talking, then I seen someone walk over towards me.
"Are you Sam by chance?"
It was a man with some white hairs sprouting out, I have him a smile and nodded.
"Indeed I am, so where will I be stationed?"
He took me into the wall, showing me the layout and everything, all the way to the changing room. Giving me the armor I would be wearing, I gripped the clothing looking at them. My grin grew thinking of the work ahead, I changed clothing holding my anticipation in, looking myself over. I'll protect out kingdom from here, I might not be on the frontline but I'll do my best to protect our capital and kingdom.