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Description
“You dishonorable, filthy, piles of dragon dung! None of you deserve the title ‘Sir Knight’! I’ll speak to the Head Knight about this I will!” This stirred uproarious laughter in the knights standing in front of the barrier wall protecting the great palace.

      “It’s not the matter of the Head Knight, boy, it’s the matter of the King himself.” The captain replied, looking irritated with the young man. He got requests like this every day. Why couldn’t people understand that a squire was chosen not by him coming to the palace and requesting to become a squire, but by being found while the knights traveled the countryside? It had been different in the old days. Boys had been able to come to the palace and request to become squires. But they had to go through a series of tests to prove themselves brave. Those had been the Dragon-slaying days—and only the knights seemed to remember that there had ever been dragons roaming this world.

      Thousands of years ago, when dragons had flourished in this part of the world, the palace had accepted almost any young man who wanted to be a knight. This was because dragons had tried to be the sole ruling species of the world. But the knights then had proved to be brave enough to fight dragons and, finally, with the death of the great Silverclaw, the dragons had left to the other side of the world where, if they still survived, would be great in number.

      The captain sighed as the boy continued shouting at him and his men. “Boy, if you don’t get out of here right now, then I’ll turn you in to dragon’s meat! Now go! If we see that you fight well when we are on the road, then we might choose you.” The boy sulked and then walked away, kicking stones as he went along, hands in pockets and head hanging. The captain shook his head with another sigh.

      Standing out here in this heat all day long could be tiring, especially in the heavy metal armor with the mail below it and the cloth beneath that to keep the mail from chafing their skin. It was especially heavy and a knight had to be strong to wear it. With all the weapons attached and the horse riding and lance-carrying, it made for some disastrous results. If a knight fell from his horse in the middle of battle, there was no chance they could get up unless they took off their armor, which was also impossible without the help of a squire.

      The captain had just finished training his last squire, who had been knighted by the king and given several honorable metals. “Hand me my flask, would you, Lieutenant Conner?” It was so damned hot out today. The captain removed his helmet and drank the cool liquid inside his flask. It was a mixture of water and some other ingredient—he could never remember the name of it—that would keep a person from becoming dehydrated.

      On this day, however, the mixture didn’t even seem to help and he’d already sent several men back to the palace to get more for all of them. The captain blinked as sweat drops fell into his eyes from his forehead, stinging them and causing them to water. He took off the gauntlet and glove from his left hand and then wiped at his eyes with his bare hand. That didn’t help much since his hand was dripping with more sweat than his face.

      The sun glared down at the knights from a clear bright blue sky. They couldn’t wait until their shift was over and pitied the next group who had to come and stand out here in this heat. It was the captain’s own fault really. He had signed himself and his men up for the day. However, he hadn’t been expecting it to be this hot today.

      A sudden breeze picked up and the knights sighed. “Thank the gods.” The captain sighed in relief and poured a little water on his face.

      “Captain Deroga!” One of his men was waving wildly and pointing, nearly jumping up and down. “Look!” Captain Deroga squinted, wondering if his second lieutenant had finally lost his mind from all the heat but looked to where the man was pointing. Deroga dropped his flask, the water splashing out.

      “To arms! Lieutenant Conner, get to the palace and tell the king!” But then the shadow was gone before his lieutenant could take two steps towards the palace and the knights blinked, wondering if they had really seen what they had though they had seen. The other people didn’t seem to have noticed, they were all hanging their heads and slowly moving along in the heat. Some boys were playing, but they became exhausted quickly and would sit a while before playing again.

      “Captain…did we just see….”

      “I don’t know, lieutenant, I don’t know.”

      /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

      Adrian cinched up her belt, pulling it as tight against the dark green leather vest she wore as possible. How dare he! That wretched little boy. Ooh, if she had been there when he had taken her mother’s prized berry pie from that window she would have taught him a lesson or two! Why the gumption of that little whelp. She’d follow that miserable little boy’s tracks and then beat him up and if he had already eaten her mother’s pie, she’d wallop him a good one after the beating.

      Adrian looked around the hallway to make sure her mother wasn’t around then closed and locked her door. Looking around once more, just in case her mother might have decided to hide in her room to catch her, Adrian hurried over to the bed and lifted up the top. Her father had made it for her when she was younger so that she could stash weapons and other things inside. But she had had to promise to keep them hidden and the bed locked at all times so that her mother wouldn’t see. He had been amused by Adrian’s dreams of wanting to become a knight. He had also always wanted a son, but after Adrian was born, his wife had gotten so sick she wouldn’t be able to have anymore children.

      So he had given Adrian weapons of all sorts. The only thing he didn’t know about was her training with the storyteller’s sons in secret. They were the only ones who seemed to actually respect her like she should be respected. They didn’t think she was silly or playing games that she would grow out of. If her mother had ever found out, she probably would have gotten the storyteller and his family banished from ever returning to the village.

      She was sure her mother and father wouldn’t find out now either because she would be back within a few days. She strapped her sword to her side and then hid the knives in various concealed parts of her clothing and boots. Then she took out her prized long bow and the quiver inside. It was full of real arrows.

      Adrian took one last look behind her at the closed door then climbed out the window and hurried down the streets, heading in the direction the boy had last been seen going.

      Once she was out of the village where no one would be able to see her, Adrian felt safer. The boy hadn’t bothered to hide his tracks and she easily followed them. A few minutes later, though, Adrian could see why the boy hadn’t bothered to hide his tracks. He had taken a krail to wherever it was he was going. There was no faster land animal than the krail, at least, not ones that could be trained and ridden.

      Wondering if the pie was really worth traveling that far out of the city, Adrian stayed where she was for several minutes. She finally realized that if she actually wanted to get the pie back (as well as the old pan that had been a family heirloom for hundreds of years), she would have to leave immediately and travel as fast as she could. It was then that she also realized she hadn’t packed any food or water and that the direction she was now chasing the boy in was headed straight for the desert.

      Sighing, Adrian decided to follow the boy up until she got to the desert’s edge. Meanwhile, she could get food and water from the forest. After less than an hour of journeying, Adrian began to regret ever leaving the house. The day was exceedingly hot—more so than any other day this year, or the last, had been—and she was sweating heavily. She felt remorse now for the leather and all of her weapons. She brushed her long dark brown hair away from her sticky face and wished she’d brought something to tie it back.

      Stumbling through the forest as the heat made her drowsy, Adrian began to hate her height. It seemed that, no matter how far she bent over, she still wound up smacking her head against a low branch. As she got farther into the forest, the more dense the forest became until she began to wonder how the krail and its rider had gotten through here when she realized she had lost the trail.

      Cursing, Adrian turned around and backtracked until she found the trail again and began to hesitantly follow it. Maybe she should just turn around. No, she shook her head. Not after all this. Her clothes were now drenched in sweat as she trudged forward, her legs and arms feeling heavy and her eyes tried to shut. She gasped in air and wiped her face to no avail.

      Finally, she stumbled across a small stream and let herself fall in to it. The water was fairly warm too, but at least it was cooler than her body for now. She drank some of the water and soaked in it for a while before finally getting out and continuing on. Feeling a little refreshed, but hungry, Adrian was forced to find some food. The pie would have been nice, but it would be ruined in this heat and the boy had probably let his sweat get all over it if he hadn’t eaten it already.

      The trail turned north and Adrian followed it. After what seemed to her to be hours, she finally found trees with oranges and bushes with various berries. Falling to her knees, Adrian decided to eat berries first and started shoving them into her mouth. She noticed that the bushes had been eaten from before she had arrived. She figured the boy had stopped here too, since the berries that were missing were too high on the bush for any forest-dwelling animal, besides birds, to reach.

      She grabbed some oranges and quickly tore at their outer skins to eat the soft fruit beneath. Sighing, faced stained with fruit and berry juices, Adrian continued on, carrying a couple extra oranges with her in her hands. But after a while they began to feel heavy so she reluctantly let them go.

      The trail Adrian was following began to rise. She didn’t notice at first until her legs began to burn from the exercise. The hill continued to rise and Adrian wondered just how far she had traveled from the village. She rubbed her eyes and when she pulled her hands away, she realized she was at the top of the hill. She stopped walking and the moment she did, she submitted to the weakness in her legs, collapsing to the ground. She let herself lay on the ground, refusing to get up until she felt a little rested.

      Unfortunately, this resulted in her falling asleep.

      Adrian woke an hour later when she felt a cool breeze pass over her, chilling the sweat to her body. She shuddered and looked around, wondering where the breeze had come from. She noticed that none of the trees were moving. Strange, she thought as the heat returned far more powerful than she remembered it being before she had fallen asleep. Upset with herself for falling asleep, she stood up and grimaced when she felt the pain from her long journey in her leg muscles.

      Her clothes were still damp from her sweat and having taken that dip in the stream. Deciding to break from the trail and head straight for the desert instead of the winding way it went so she could dry her clothes out, Adrian headed west.

Description
“You dishonorable, filthy, piles of dragon dung! None of you deserve the title ‘Sir Knight’! I’ll speak to the Head Knight about this I will!” This stirred uproarious laughter in the knights standing in front of the barrier wall protecting the great palace.

      “It’s not the matter of the Head Knight, boy, it’s the matter of the King himself.” The captain replied, looking irritated with the young man. He got requests like this every day. Why couldn’t people understand that a squire was chosen not by him coming to the palace and requesting to become a squire, but by being found while the knights traveled the countryside? It had been different in the old days. Boys had been able to come to the palace and request to become squires. But they had to go through a series of tests to prove themselves brave. Those had been the Dragon-slaying days—and only the knights seemed to remember that there had ever been dragons roaming this world.

      Thousands of years ago, when dragons had flourished in this part of the world, the palace had accepted almost any young man who wanted to be a knight. This was because dragons had tried to be the sole ruling species of the world. But the knights then had proved to be brave enough to fight dragons and, finally, with the death of the great Silverclaw, the dragons had left to the other side of the world where, if they still survived, would be great in number.

      The captain sighed as the boy continued shouting at him and his men. “Boy, if you don’t get out of here right now, then I’ll turn you in to dragon’s meat! Now go! If we see that you fight well when we are on the road, then we might choose you.” The boy sulked and then walked away, kicking stones as he went along, hands in pockets and head hanging. The captain shook his head with another sigh.

      Standing out here in this heat all day long could be tiring, especially in the heavy metal armor with the mail below it and the cloth beneath that to keep the mail from chafing their skin. It was especially heavy and a knight had to be strong to wear it. With all the weapons attached and the horse riding and lance-carrying, it made for some disastrous results. If a knight fell from his horse in the middle of battle, there was no chance they could get up unless they took off their armor, which was also impossible without the help of a squire.

      The captain had just finished training his last squire, who had been knighted by the king and given several honorable metals. “Hand me my flask, would you, Lieutenant Conner?” It was so damned hot out today. The captain removed his helmet and drank the cool liquid inside his flask. It was a mixture of water and some other ingredient—he could never remember the name of it—that would keep a person from becoming dehydrated.

      On this day, however, the mixture didn’t even seem to help and he’d already sent several men back to the palace to get more for all of them. The captain blinked as sweat drops fell into his eyes from his forehead, stinging them and causing them to water. He took off the gauntlet and glove from his left hand and then wiped at his eyes with his bare hand. That didn’t help much since his hand was dripping with more sweat than his face.

      The sun glared down at the knights from a clear bright blue sky. They couldn’t wait until their shift was over and pitied the next group who had to come and stand out here in this heat. It was the captain’s own fault really. He had signed himself and his men up for the day. However, he hadn’t been expecting it to be this hot today.

      A sudden breeze picked up and the knights sighed. “Thank the gods.” The captain sighed in relief and poured a little water on his face.

      “Captain Deroga!” One of his men was waving wildly and pointing, nearly jumping up and down. “Look!” Captain Deroga squinted, wondering if his second lieutenant had finally lost his mind from all the heat but looked to where the man was pointing. Deroga dropped his flask, the water splashing out.

      “To arms! Lieutenant Conner, get to the palace and tell the king!” But then the shadow was gone before his lieutenant could take two steps towards the palace and the knights blinked, wondering if they had really seen what they had though they had seen. The other people didn’t seem to have noticed, they were all hanging their heads and slowly moving along in the heat. Some boys were playing, but they became exhausted quickly and would sit a while before playing again.

      “Captain…did we just see….”

      “I don’t know, lieutenant, I don’t know.”

      /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

      Adrian cinched up her belt, pulling it as tight against the dark green leather vest she wore as possible. How dare he! That wretched little boy. Ooh, if she had been there when he had taken her mother’s prized berry pie from that window she would have taught him a lesson or two! Why the gumption of that little whelp. She’d follow that miserable little boy’s tracks and then beat him up and if he had already eaten her mother’s pie, she’d wallop him a good one after the beating.

      Adrian looked around the hallway to make sure her mother wasn’t around then closed and locked her door. Looking around once more, just in case her mother might have decided to hide in her room to catch her, Adrian hurried over to the bed and lifted up the top. Her father had made it for her when she was younger so that she could stash weapons and other things inside. But she had had to promise to keep them hidden and the bed locked at all times so that her mother wouldn’t see. He had been amused by Adrian’s dreams of wanting to become a knight. He had also always wanted a son, but after Adrian was born, his wife had gotten so sick she wouldn’t be able to have anymore children.

      So he had given Adrian weapons of all sorts. The only thing he didn’t know about was her training with the storyteller’s sons in secret. They were the only ones who seemed to actually respect her like she should be respected. They didn’t think she was silly or playing games that she would grow out of. If her mother had ever found out, she probably would have gotten the storyteller and his family banished from ever returning to the village.

      She was sure her mother and father wouldn’t find out now either because she would be back within a few days. She strapped her sword to her side and then hid the knives in various concealed parts of her clothing and boots. Then she took out her prized long bow and the quiver inside. It was full of real arrows.

      Adrian took one last look behind her at the closed door then climbed out the window and hurried down the streets, heading in the direction the boy had last been seen going.

      Once she was out of the village where no one would be able to see her, Adrian felt safer. The boy hadn’t bothered to hide his tracks and she easily followed them. A few minutes later, though, Adrian could see why the boy hadn’t bothered to hide his tracks. He had taken a krail to wherever it was he was going. There was no faster land animal than the krail, at least, not ones that could be trained and ridden.

      Wondering if the pie was really worth traveling that far out of the city, Adrian stayed where she was for several minutes. She finally realized that if she actually wanted to get the pie back (as well as the old pan that had been a family heirloom for hundreds of years), she would have to leave immediately and travel as fast as she could. It was then that she also realized she hadn’t packed any food or water and that the direction she was now chasing the boy in was headed straight for the desert.

      Sighing, Adrian decided to follow the boy up until she got to the desert’s edge. Meanwhile, she could get food and water from the forest. After less than an hour of journeying, Adrian began to regret ever leaving the house. The day was exceedingly hot—more so than any other day this year, or the last, had been—and she was sweating heavily. She felt remorse now for the leather and all of her weapons. She brushed her long dark brown hair away from her sticky face and wished she’d brought something to tie it back.

      Stumbling through the forest as the heat made her drowsy, Adrian began to hate her height. It seemed that, no matter how far she bent over, she still wound up smacking her head against a low branch. As she got farther into the forest, the more dense the forest became until she began to wonder how the krail and its rider had gotten through here when she realized she had lost the trail.

      Cursing, Adrian turned around and backtracked until she found the trail again and began to hesitantly follow it. Maybe she should just turn around. No, she shook her head. Not after all this. Her clothes were now drenched in sweat as she trudged forward, her legs and arms feeling heavy and her eyes tried to shut. She gasped in air and wiped her face to no avail.

      Finally, she stumbled across a small stream and let herself fall in to it. The water was fairly warm too, but at least it was cooler than her body for now. She drank some of the water and soaked in it for a while before finally getting out and continuing on. Feeling a little refreshed, but hungry, Adrian was forced to find some food. The pie would have been nice, but it would be ruined in this heat and the boy had probably let his sweat get all over it if he hadn’t eaten it already.

      The trail turned north and Adrian followed it. After what seemed to her to be hours, she finally found trees with oranges and bushes with various berries. Falling to her knees, Adrian decided to eat berries first and started shoving them into her mouth. She noticed that the bushes had been eaten from before she had arrived. She figured the boy had stopped here too, since the berries that were missing were too high on the bush for any forest-dwelling animal, besides birds, to reach.

      She grabbed some oranges and quickly tore at their outer skins to eat the soft fruit beneath. Sighing, faced stained with fruit and berry juices, Adrian continued on, carrying a couple extra oranges with her in her hands. But after a while they began to feel heavy so she reluctantly let them go.

      The trail Adrian was following began to rise. She didn’t notice at first until her legs began to burn from the exercise. The hill continued to rise and Adrian wondered just how far she had traveled from the village. She rubbed her eyes and when she pulled her hands away, she realized she was at the top of the hill. She stopped walking and the moment she did, she submitted to the weakness in her legs, collapsing to the ground. She let herself lay on the ground, refusing to get up until she felt a little rested.

      Unfortunately, this resulted in her falling asleep.

      Adrian woke an hour later when she felt a cool breeze pass over her, chilling the sweat to her body. She shuddered and looked around, wondering where the breeze had come from. She noticed that none of the trees were moving. Strange, she thought as the heat returned far more powerful than she remembered it being before she had fallen asleep. Upset with herself for falling asleep, she stood up and grimaced when she felt the pain from her long journey in her leg muscles.

      Her clothes were still damp from her sweat and having taken that dip in the stream. Deciding to break from the trail and head straight for the desert instead of the winding way it went so she could dry her clothes out, Adrian headed west.