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The BloodVaine EpicChapter 49: Old Friends And Old Rivals
Radjar lead the way through the charred remains of the Forestmen Swamp, keeping his distance from Graygon. Rosa followed next, then the two Stormspear brothers. Sir Dractor brought up the rear. They were traveling along the Forestmen/Crusader border, and all of them were tense, uncomfortable with the lack of trees and protection. Ever Sir Dractor, who had traveled over many different types of terrain, felt uneasy in the exposed wasteland. All that remained were charred stumps and ash for miles, the many streams that had flowed before the fire were now smothered under countless inches of soot.
The lack of trees had one advantage however. They could not hide from anyone, and therefore no one could hide from them. They would be well warned if anyone or anything attempted to attack.
Graygon, with his sharp Wolfpack eyes, was the first to spot the group of Forestmen Rangers approaching from the west. The Elk emblem held high did not ease the group's worries, for all they knew the Black Falcons and the Dragon Masters could be hiding behind the Sign of the Elk.
The tension was broken when Radjar let forth a shout of joy, rushed forward, and embraced a figure who stood at the front.
“Fraun Jerlock, you megablok! Where have you been hiding since the Fell War?” asked the Dark Forest King.
Fraun grinned, and pounded Radjar on the back. “Here and there, Rad. It seems I’ve missed a lot!”
Radjar’s face went grim. “Alas, that is to true. Dametreos has never been in deeper tyco.”
For the next hour and a half, the reunited friends chatted. Some of the persons from Drullen Bell, especially Graygon and Rosa, were peeved at the delay, but neither wanted to make the reunion turn sour. At last the discussions were finished, and the parties separated. Voolmark, Dordrot and the Forestmen Rangers were given directions to Drullen Bell Keep, and Fraun continued on with Radjar, Rosa, Sir Dractor, the Stormspear twins and Graygon.
Radjar whistled and sang an angular rhythm as the group trudged through the ash.
“My home,” Fraun sighed, “Burnt to a crisp.”
“Don’t worry.” replied Keavur. “Once this is all taken care of, the Druids might be able to replant the place in a matter of days.”
Radjar continued to whistle, and began singing, in a loud, boisterous voice, heavy in a Crusader accent.
“O, I walked along the waist-high green, as war drums beating, swords-a-clashing, and Cavaliers got to their mounts, forged rapiers, slinging, slashing,”
Fraun walked closer to Radjar, singing himself.
“On that bloody field I did stand there, that bitter hill of Castermare!” they both crooned in unison, breaking into a symphony of laughter.
“Oh, old times, friend, old times.” Radjar exclaimed, trying to catch his breath.
“Reminds me of the time we headed into Royal Knight waters,” Fraun quipped, “And your father captured that galleon full of Black Knight wine…”
“And all the sailors got too drunk to walk!” Radjar chuckled.
“What I would give for a flask full of that rich garnet wine, Rad, I would!” Fraun sighed.
“So, you two Hemlin-may-goes know each other?” Rosa said, almost disgusted by the boyish antics of the two.
“Why, yes!” Radjar replied.
“This is the scoundrel that routed my rangers at Drunbrough Downs!” Fraun pointed at him.
“Aye, but we don't remember each other for those bloody times,” Radjar noted, “Fraun was trained in cartography by my old mentor, Geth! I spent a long year with Fraun Jerlock scouring the globe. What good times…”
Rosa rolled her eyes. Graygon just laughed obnoxiously.
They all continued on.
“We’ll make camp here.” shouted Radjar as they came upon a mound that had un-touched by the fire. “We’ll have to have a watch. Sir Dractor and Graygon will be the first watch, you two will be on the second.” He said pointing to the Stormspear twins. “And Fraun and I will be on the third and final watch.”
“Am I not good enough to be on a watch?” snarled Rosa.
“Well, I guess if you wanted to be on one you could be with Fraun and me. I just figured you would want to sleep the night through.”
“I will be on the watch.” said Rosa commandingly.
“Suite yourself.” said Radjar. “Well now that’s over what’s for supper?”
“I can cook one of Hodge’s suppers.” volunteered Fraun knowing that Radjar had enjoyed the breakfast Hodge had prepared for them at Hemlock.
“Oh yes. You know how to cook as good as Hodge.” said Radjar.
“Almost as good.” said Fraun, and he set to preparing the supper.
Sitting away from the chatting friends, Rosa and Graygon talked quietly.
“...we should keep walking, with no obstacles save ash and the moon to guide us, we could travel until we reached the edge of the burn…” Graygon was saying, annoyed.
“That’s not the only thing bothering you, is it Graygon?” asked Rosa.
Graygon looked at the former barmaid. They were basically strangers, but he detected a fiery spirit behind her plain face.
“No, that is not my only grievance.” he admitted.
“Radjar.” stated Rosa calmly. Graygon nodded.
“Not just Radjar, but the Kingdom he represents. The Wolfpack and Dark Forest clans have always been scrabbling at one another, but not enough to break into war. We are both allies of the Forestmen, and the Forestmen are always trying to find a peaceful solution to matters, while the Wolfpack were intent on poisoning Dark Forest wells and the Dark Forest were intent to obliterate the Wolfpack in outright attack. The Dark Foresters saw their chance when Lord Willem was draw away in the affairs of the Misfits and the tyco upstart Defoe made a power grab. The Wolfpack would have been able to get rid of Defoe easily enough if the Dark Foresters hadn’t used Defoe as an excuse for war. If the Dark Foresters hadn’t intruded the Wolfpack would have been prepared for BloodVaine.”
“And Valus Narus would still be alive, the Misfits might still be together, Bjarn wouldn’t have been the Elk Man and a million other things would have happened, but they did not. That was all in the past.” Rosa pointed out.
She found in very interesting that the two other accounts of the Fell War that had been told to her by Bjarn and Radjar were very different from one another and from Graygon’s.
“Willem seems to want to strive for peace between Dark Forest and Wolfpack.” Rosa pointed out.
Graygon shrugged. “That is true, and I respect his judgment, for he is my friend and my leader and a wise man. But I fear some wounds may never bee healed between these two factions, too much blood has been spilt on both sides.”
Rosa said quietly, “I think, ironically, the one man who is trying to destroy us will succeed in bringing the Wolfpack and Dark Forest together again.”
Graygon spat. “BloodVaine.”
While the others finished the meal Fraun had prepared, which turned out to be delicious for a meal on the road, Graygon left Rosa to join Sir Dractor. He said much what he had to Rosa, that they should continue traveling by night.
“I would agree in part,” said Sir Dractor. “We should make use of this rare opportunity to put more miles behind us. Although I do not counsel marching all night. We will need some rest.”
“Agreed,” nodded Graygon.
“Then why don’t you go suggest it to Radjar?” said Sir Dractor.
“Radjar isn’t...precisely...our leader,” said Graygon in a slightly pained voice.
“It’s his quest, and he volunteered to go first,” said Sir Dractor reasonably. “And he is the one king among us.”
All the same, it would be better if I wasn’t the one to suggest it to him,” said Graygon.
Sir Dractor inhaled heavily. The fires that scorched the Forestdweller kingdoms had barely finished smoldering, and already there was trouble between Wolfpack and Dark Forest. Sir Dractor didn't like it. Personally, he liked Graygon, and got along well with him, but at the same time he had no problems with the Dark Forest king, and no intentions of starting any.
“Very well…” he told Graygon, and got up.
But he didn’t go to Radjar. Instead, he went to Fraun. The Forestman was a very close friend of Radjar’s and the suggestion would probably be best coming from him, as opposed to Sir Dractor. Unlikely as it might be, Sir Dractor was probably Radjar’s chief rival for leadership of the company, and although Sir Dractor had no intention of usurping his leadership, it was best to let the idea come from someone other than himself. Fortunately, Fraun was amenable to the idea.
“I was almost thinking that myself,” he said. “Great minds must think alike. I’ll tell Rad.”
Satisfied that trouble had been averted, and that they would likely be moving on soon after, Sir Dractor went back to finish his supper.
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