Lightstar Family/Xarnelf/Roleplay 06
Village Trouble
Shortly after the incident outside the temple, Xarnelf had received the orders to march out with great anticipation. Finally, he would be able to test his newly acquired leadership skills in real-life combat, which he had learned after many hours of study at Idapur's academy. The Farsighters, once informed of the journey to the city of Remton, had eagerly and quickly gathered their equipment, wanting to prove their worth on the field to both their troop leader and their captain. They had started on the road to Nahad within an hour of obtaining the General's news.
Now, Xarnelf and his men were approaching the region of Larmebsi, having passed through most of Nahad the day before. So far, they had seen no signs of trouble, making good time on the road. The young knight led his troops, who were arrayed in four columns of eight, with his two sergeants at the flanks to maintain order throughout the lines. His friend and captain, Urjintah, marched silently at his right.
Xarnelf shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun and squinted again into the distance. "Jint, look over there to the northwest, close to the edge of the forest." He pointed with his other hand. "Do you see the faint pillars of smoke rising over those hillocks?"
Captain Feralgem gazed intently towards the indicated location. After a few moments, he nodded slowly. "I see it now, though I doubt that there is any trouble over there. It looks like the type of smoke that comes from chimneys. Perhaps there is a small village just past those hillocks. Would you like to check it out?"
Xarnelf thought this idea over in his head and then finally nodded. "Yes, my friend, I think the men could sure use a rest and maybe some drinks if there's a tavern over there; I know I could." He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, wincing slightly as his forearm passed over the still visible, but smaller, bump on his right temple, which still hurt from the unfortunate happenings almost a week ago. The days were sure starting to get hotter with the coming of summer, even with the occasional eastern breeze from the ocean.
"Father, father!" the young boy yelled, almost breathless, as he ran towards his father working in the fields. "Men are coming down the road from the city!"
The peasant halted the team of horses pulling the plow and regarded his youngest son. "Did you see how many, boy?"
"It was a fairly small group, lightly armored, maybe around twenty to thirty men. I saw a noble leading them too."
The man stroked his beard in thought for a few seconds then dropped his hand. "Gather the other men of the village, son. I think the angels have sent us a chance to regain what was wrongfully taken from us not two days ago. Quickly, my boy, run!"
As Xarnelf and Urjintah crested a hillock taller than most of the rest, the village came into sight. "Oh look, Jint, the villagers must have known we were coming this way. They've gathered a welcoming party. How nice of them. Let's not keep them waiting too long." The young knight turned around. "Soon all of you can take a short break and sate your thirsts! Let's move now, on the double! It's rude to keep people waiting."
When they got close enough to make out most of the villagers' faces, Urjintah held out his right hand to signal to the men to slow their pace. With his left hand, he grabbed Xarnelf's wrist and hissed a warning. "Xarne, I do not like the look of this...."
Xarnelf turned to his captain with a raised eyebrow. "Why, what's wrong?"
"Look closely. There is not a single woman among them. And notice their expressions. They do not seem very happy or relaxed. In fact, look at that bearded peasant in the center of the front row. His arms are taut with tension. I fear that we should have bypassed this village."
"Oh, you're just being paranoid, Jint. They're not intending to cause trouble. Probably, they just want to give us a good impression. And as for the women, they must be doing housework; you know, cooking and cleaning."
"We should turn around, Xarne. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Relax, man. These are just simple peasants. We have nothing to fear from them. Come on, let's go meet them and see if there isn't some ale to be had."
Xarnelf walked off toward the group of villagers. After a moment and a sigh, Urjintah followed, signaling back for the Farsighters to remain where they stood.
As he caught up to and came abreast of his friend, Xarnelf began, "Greetings, fair people of Nahad. My name is Xarnelf Lightstar, and I am a Knight of Idapur." He gestured to his companion. "This is my second, Captain Urjintah Feralgem of the Farsighters. We have come to your modest village in hopes of finding some ale to quench our thirsts. I will pay gold, of course. So, what do you say, fair people of Nahad?" Xarnelf smiled warmly.
The bearded man stepped forward from the assembled group of perhaps forty to fifty peasants. "Oh yes, Sir Xarnelf," he said with a barely concealed sneer, "you will definitely pay us gold. You, Sir, will give back to us all that your tax collectors took from us and more!" At this, a handful of the villagers grunted and nodded.
Xarnelf wrinkled his eyebrow in confusion. "Good man, what are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about, you greedy noble! We were forced to pay taxes to your filthy collectors twice in the last week! We all work our backs off every day to grow crops for you, and what do we get for all our troubles? NOTHING!" The bearded man reached into his shirt and pulled out a sun-parched book, which he proceeded to shake vigorously in Xarnelf's face.
The young knight could not help but flinch and take a step backwards in open shock and disbelief.
"Do you now what this is?! This is a copy of the Book of Promises, and it says," he opened the book to a marked page, and all the gathered peasants lowered their heads solemnly.
'And upon the children of clay, you shall exact fair treatment in every aspect of their lives so that they will not hate nor steal nor rape nor murder nor pillage nor defile any thing that is Holy in His Name.' -Promises VII:III
Xarnelf blinked, still stunned at what was transpiring, and looked around at all the villagers, who now raised their heads and returned his gaze with seething stares of their own.
"We demand the return of our hard-earned gold which you so-called nobles have stolen from us! Now!" The peasant's last word was echoed by the entire crowd.
Through all of this, Urjintah had kept a stern and stoic countenance. When the villagers started chanting 'Now! Now! Now!' he bristled and grabbed at Xarnelf's wrist again. The young knight still stood dazed, only part of him aware of the angry cries from ahead and the worried whispers from his men behind him.
"Xarne, we must leave this place before they take up arms and use force against us. We would not want to hurt them for fear of angering them even more. Quickly, sir!"
Xarnelf finally snapped out of his trance-like immobility and turned, running towards his men. "Farsighters!" he yelled, "about-face and retreat to the cover of the trees, on the double!" He signaled to his sergeants. "Once the first two ranks reach the tree line, I want some covering fire if these crazed villagers have decided to chase after us. Tell the men to aim short; I just want them to delay, not kill, the peasants. Unders--"
One of the sergeants interrupted him with a pointing finger, "Ah, sir, they're coming at us now with pitchforks and hoes...."
"What?" Xarnelf turned around. "Well, don't just stand there then, get to it!" The two men nodded and ran off to catch up with the rest of the unit. The young knight turned to his captain. "You were right, my friend, as almost always. I should have list--"
"No time, Xarne, they're coming fast. Run for it!" With that, Urjintah sprinted off toward the trees, leaving a befuddled young noble in his wake.
Xarnelf stood there musing, "Oh, if I had a copper for every time I've been interuppt--"
"GIVE US YOUR GOLD!"
The approaching sound of many heavy footsteps could be heard even over the loud screaming and yelling of the mad villagers behind him, closing really fast.
"Oh for crying out--"
"NOWWWWWWW!"
Xarnelf did not waste another breath and took off as fast as his feet could carry him, racing for the safety of the forest. The voices sounded very close behind him as he ran for his life. After what seemed like many rapid heartbeats, he heard the telltale TWANG! of a group of bowstrings and then looked up at the now descending eight shafts. Looking back down, he hoped all the training had paid off and prayed that he would not be skewered in the matter of a few seconds.
Then, he heard the almost gentle thuds of the arrows striking the ground right behind him, followed by the villagers' curses and shouts of, "LOOK TO THE SKY!" and "'WARE ARCHERS!" Xarnelf breathed a sigh of relief and panted as he saw that the line of trees was not but about a hundred yards away.
Urjintah had reached the edge of the forest by now and turned around, yelling words of encouragement. "Hurry, Xarne! You can make it! They seem to have slowed down with the men's warning shots! Come on!"
Xarnelf nodded breathlessly as he closed in. A few yards shy of the tree line, he did not watch his step carefully and proceeded to step onto a loose rock, which caused him to stumble, soaring forwards and then down towards the, unfortunately, rock-and-pebble-filled ground. Time seemed to slow down as he flew in mid-air; he saw his captains mouth open slowly into a shout, "N-n-n-o-o-o-o-o-o-o ! ! !
Xarnelf sighed as the rock grew larger and larger in front of him, thinking to himself, "Why the Aenil does this always seem to happen to--" THUDCRACK! "YEOOWWWW!!" He rolled over onto his back, rubbing his once again swelling right temple.
Urjintah's face came into sight, blocking out the sun with a worried look. "Xarne, are you alright?" He helped him up to feet and supported him as they walked into the forest. "It appears that they have ceased to chase us. We will be safe in the cover of the trees."
Xarnelf nodded half-heartedly, starting to feel weak from the vertigo-inspiring pain in his head. "Will we make it to Larmebsi by nightfall as we had originally planned?"
Captain Feralgem replied, "I am afraid not. Detouring north by northwest through this forest instead of following the road to the northeast will delay our arrival by at least two hours, if not more. We will need to set up camp out in the open if we leave the forest, so I suggest that we spend the night here. Compared to camping out there, we are relatively safer with the trees aro..u...n...d.....u...s...."
Xarnelf nodded again, almost lazily this time with his eyes closed, and welcomed the embrace of oblivion once more as he slumped in Urjintah's grasp....
