Posted in Posted by Adam Brewer

Jacob sat in the dirt making circles in it. He was about seven, and he was blond haired. His friend James sitting next to him was a year older, and had much darker hair. They were waiting for dinner, and Jacob’s mom had cast them both out of the small hut so she could work.

“Want to go see farmer Ben’s new chickens?” James asked.

“Nope.” Jacob replied.

“I heard that he got white chickens.” James said.

“That is nonsense; all chickens are brown.” Jacob replied.

James started picking up small rocks out of the ground, and threw them out at the other huts across the pathway. Another boy ran by their house, and stepped in Jacobs circles. Jacob who was furious went back to work making them again, but James got up.

“I am going to go see farmer Ben’s chickens.” He said.

“Okay.” Jacob said brushing some dirt off of his clothes.

They both got up and started running down the old dirt road. They were towards the middle of town, so it was going to take them a few minutes to get to farmer Ben’s field.

They came up to a bend that lead them through the town market. James took the lead and started running down towards the market.

The market was different from the rest of the town. When you arrived at the market you would see that there were bricks instead of dirt to walk on, and everything and everyone got louder. People having conversations would be walking from stand to stand, mothers would be carrying sacks of vegetables while dragging their screaming kids, but nothing was as loud as the stall-keepers.

Stall-keepers often were yelling as loud as they could to get potential customers. Every stand was competing against another, and every stand had the loudest person yelling for them. They kept displays up all the time, and were always sweeping the space around their stalls, so they had clean and tidy spaces, but the middle of the walkway was covered in patches and blotches of dirt and mud.

James ran slightly ahead of Jacob. They ran by people wheeling carts full of vegetables, and furs. James jumped and hopped on crates as they tore through the market. They turned down a street to avoid the main street hustle. Jacob then took the lead and ran between houses with clothes hanging between them, and down toward the brook.

The brook had long been said to be the deepest in the land. Some had drowned because they thought that just because it was narrow that it was shallow. James and Jacob walked around to the bridge, and crossed there. The roads lead them all the way to the farm of farmer Ben.

“I do not see any chickens.” Jacob said disappointedly.

“Dennis said they were here.” Said James.

“I do not see them though.” Said Jacob.

Jacob ran toward the other edge of the farm, but before the he reached the edge he heard the city’s horn.

__.....__

Felicia walked down to the market to buy some potatoes. She was almost relived when she saw the two boys had run off. Jacob was always trying to help, but he had a tendency to get in her way. She usually sent him out while she was prepping a meal.

She was preparing a potato soup, but she had run out of potatoes, so she had to go get some. She loved going down to the market, and was usually glad to have an excuse to go down there. Many women had never paid much attention to her because she was an outsider. She and Jacob had moved to this small village only two years before, but she and Jacob had become friends with their next door neighbors, so in some way it had somehow balanced.

Their neighbors had been kind to them from the beginning. They had been the ones to help them get the house they had needed. Felicia was poor, and most of the rental homes had been taken, so her only choice was to buy one outright. She had only half the money needed, so in exchange for some labor help their neighbors agreed to help the buy the next door home.

As it turned out the whole line of work had turned out to be something that she knew about, carpentry. Her father had been a carpenter, and before she had married she used to watch him during any free time she got. Her father had even shown her a couple of time how to saw wood, and to use a sanded paper to scrape the splinters free. They helped her through all of this, and while others were cold to her, she knew she could depend on them.

She had finally reached the market. When she had moved here she was still recovering from the loss of her husband William. William had gone off into the war against Sulfire, but it was not two months after he’d left her that they brought back his sword saying he’d been kill in a hail of boulders.

“Hello, my young lady!” She heard a man call to her. He was trying to sell furs. She sometimes liked looking at such things, but she needed to go get potatoes not furs. She headed down to a vegetable stand and started looking at the potatoes. The stall-keeper was talking to everyone but her. She ignored his rudeness and grabbed ten large potatoes. Suddenly he did notice her.

“Hello, how may I help you, my lady?” He said.                                                  

“I would like to buy these potatoes.” She said.

“Just a second here and we’ll see.” He replied.

He grabbed the sack of potatoes from her hand and set them on a scale. He brought them back.

“Ten gold coins.” The man said, and she paid him. She took the potatoes and started heading back to her house.

She got near her house and saw that her neighbors had left. She set the potatoes on the counter and grabbed a large iron pot out of the corner. She grabbed a rod and used it to put the pot on a hook above the fire. She had added the water and seasonings earlier, so the pot was almost too heavy. She tossed three potatoes in the pot to boil. He job was almost done; she still had to clean up after the mess she had made earlier.

That was when she heard the city’s horn blast.

__.....__

Jacob was running through the panicked streets. He was separated from James, and was trying to find him. He was lost in the market, and was nearly run over by Stall-keepers who had packed up and were trying to get out. There were spooked horses and other large beasts running through the streets unguarded.

Suddenly soldiers with their swords drawn were running through the streets. They were in leather armor with metal plating, and each carrying a metal shield with the eight point star of Melendy.

The soldiers were running towards something, but Jacob was just trying not to get trampled. He ran down another street only to see the cavalry heading his way, so ducked back out. He was trying to get home, and still looking for James. He was scared, but he kept trying anyway.

Finally he spotted James, but they were on opposite side of the street. James spotted him through the madness as well.

They both couldn’t get to each other.

__.....__

Felicia spotted her son trying to get to the other side of the street. She ran through the crazed crowd trying to get to their individual homes. She pushed through stands that had been abandoned in an attempt to escape. Her son spotted her, and ran toward her. Just before they reached each other a policeman riding on a horse rode between them, but after that they embraced each other.

“What’s going on?” He yelled in her ear. Despite being loud she could barely tell what he’d said.

“We will be safe.” She assured him, but wasn’t so sure herself.

The policemen were out directing people to their homes. Felicia was trying to find her way. normally she could figure out how to get somewhere, but with everything in shambles she was a bit turned around.

“Hello!” she yelled at an officer. He stopped and turned to her.

“ I need to find the stable; can you help me?” She yelled.

“Ma’am please we advise you to head home.” He replied

“I have a horse, a fast horse, please point me to the stable.” She pleaded.

He started to argue, but then he pointed of toward the chaos. “Better hurry that side of town is pretty much destroyed Ma’am. She barely caught that last part as she was tearing through the streets with her son. He was weaving better than she was so the only held hands.

They were running down a street when the started hearing rumbles. At first she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but then a giant fireball flew overhead and landed off to her left somewhere rumbling as it hit the ground. The city was being bombarded, and she was still with Jacob trying to get to the stables.

They got to a clearing, and what they saw wasn’t pretty. It appeared that they were attacking the city plaza. Jacob pointed, and she almost cried in relief, the stables were still standing. She however noted that the gate keeper was no longer there. She and Jacob ran to the gate, with a little caution she lifted and dropped Jacob over the tall gate, and he promptly opened it for her. She ran in and saw all the horses bucking and kicking, but she was looking for her horse.

She found her horse which was strangely calm compared to the others, but she still seemed anxious. The horse was a perfect white, and was a small horse. Her name was Swift. Her husband had bought the horse long ago, but it had taken a long time to tame her. She was a wild horse of the north, and as such she had roamed the plains. Northern horses were highly sought after.

She entered, and Swift nearly raised onto her hind legs before Felicia calmed her.

After reassuring her everything was fine she put the blanket on and then the saddle. After fastening the saddle she proceeded to put on the bridle.

She put Jacob up first, and then rose upon the horse herself. After unfastening the horse she made a noise in her ear and they rode the horse out. The city was still being bombarded, but now there was little left, rocky mud homes had been demolished by the flaming boulders, and the hay roofs had been burned down.

In one direction she saw the Melendian army fighting the soldiers in black in red. She gasped at how few there were left. The black and red army she knew very well. It was the Sulfirians, and they were already riding the red banner in. She quickly tuned the horse around, and took off in the other direction. There was little left anywhere; only a house or two stood standing. The site horrified her, and yet didn’t surprise her either. The Sulfirian’s king, Lord Devioun the Dragon, was known to kill his own for sport, and had burned down cities before, so there was little to be surprised about.

She rode down from the village hill to a little bridge, and quickly crossed it. She saw that the fields ahead were not clear, but filled with siege weapons and cavalry of Sulfire. She knew there was little she could do, but either wait them out, or charge them and hope she made it through alive.

She charged at them.

Her horse ran over the rolling field, but for her speed Felicia wondered how she was going to slip out of the wall of horses ahead. The catapults still launching their flaming boulders above her head; she rode down at the wall, and that was when the charged at her. She turned her horse to the right, and some of the men jumped out of line; exactly what she wanted. She turned around and some of the men went around her, and turned around in pursuit.  She took a sharp right again and found herself out of the ring of soldiers. She charged her horse toward the war machines.

She thought she was in the home stretch until she saw a man standing in front of her. He was not any man though; he was Lord Devioun. She stopped her horse, but the other men were not pursuing anymore. She was in a trap.

“Enough men! She’s mine!” He yelled. She was close enough to see his young face. He looked no older than 18, but anyone who knew anything about him knew he was very much older. His long fine blond hair was lashing around in the wind, and he had terribly dark eyes. His armor was a simple and rounded in shape, but not many gaps in it, and it was painted in black with red design much like the rest of his army.

“Do you surrender?” He yelled.

“Never!” She roared back, but she did not waist time she charged her forward, and tried to go way around. He then pulled out a sword; A red glowing sword. He held it high above his head, and then he stuck the ground beneath him.

At first nothing happened, but then she realized the earth beneath her was rumbling. She urged her now extremely frightened horse, but her horse reared and tried to buck her off. Devioun drew his sword out, and from the hole left the earth started cracking everywhere. The terrible rumbling would stop as she saw the land quaking and shaking beneath them. She urged her horse once more, and this time the horse bolted forward so quickly that she nearly fell off. She felt Jacob cling to her back tighter than ever. She reached her arm around to hold Jacob, and pulled him in front of her. The rumbling was quieting, but she now heard arrows whizzing by her head as she now was headed for the forest, but worse she turned to see Devioun’s War dogs perusing them. They were small grey and white beasts, but they were fast and ferocious.

She was nearing the forest, but the dogs were gaining on them. She looked for anything on her saddle that she could hit them with, but could not find anything. Finally she reached the forest edge, but the dogs did not break pursuit. What did happen though was she realized they were going to get out of there. She knew these lands, and so she carefully guided the horse down to lower ground. The dogs were still pursuing, but they had lost ground. She headed lower still down near the river.

As she neared the waters edge she looked for the perfect place to cross. Suddenly the dogs popped out of the trees very close, so she just pulled her horse out into the water. The horse resisted for a second, but then charged into the water and made her way for the other side. It was not a difficult task for them, but the water was rushing fast enough that the dogs were being carried away. She got out on the other side her ankles damp, but she saw the dogs break pursuit and run back to their master. Jacob was still safely in front. She turned the Horse, and headed south.