Tint (prologue)

Tint

Prologue

Tint lay on his bed, wondering what he could do. He had no job, no home and no family. The bed he lay on belonged to a room in an inn. The night before he had been so tired that he had simply paid for his room and gone to bed. He hadn't even eaten the evening meal that was included in the price. It was his stomach that had awakened him. Before opening his eyes he had thought that he was still at home, in his bed, and that his mother was making breakfast. Tint had wondered if it was some-thing nice today, maybe fresh bread and butter, but he didn't smell baking. "It's probably oatmeal", he'd thought.
And then he opened his eyes. The unfamiliar ceiling above him had brought the memories crashing back. The two days that had been banished from his mind by sleep. This time though he didn't weep. He had, the day before, when he had felt the loss of his loved ones. He had wept for the whole day. But that was over, he had wept out the grief, now there was only the empty feeling left. He had felt the grief but the events had not fully registered in his mind yet. The memories came back. He tried not to think about it, but the mind has a mind of it's own and he was forced to relive it...

Tint had been sent to the village of Glendale with a message, from Master Buk(the Headman of his village) to Master Greil(the head man of Glendale) to say that smuggler tracks had been discovered. It was customary to send a runner to the neighbouring villages if they found evidence of smugglers, mercenaries, predators and other dangers. It meant that they would be more vigilant and, of course, that they would send a runner if they found any signs.
Tint's journey had been uneventful and he delivered his message without anything going wrong. He hadn't even lost his way in the forest.
His return trip, however, was a different matter entirely.

He had left the village of Glendale as soon as he had delivered his message, he hadn't even stopped for a word with of the village girls, some of whom were quite pretty, as it was getting dark. The forest was, for the most part, safe during the day, but night was a different story. Halfway back, just as the sun was setting, He noticed an orange glow ahead.
"Hello, some-ones house must've caught fire.", He thought to himself and hurried his pace. As he neared the village he wondered what had caused the fire. Maybe a spark had caught on the thatch roof. Or some-ones brandy had been spilled on a cook fire, it wouldn't be the first time.
But as he neared the village the size of the fire told him that is was not just one house that was on fire. It was the whole village! Tint ran.
As he reached the to of the small hill just outside his village he saw the fire, and stopped.
Every house was burning and the people were not trying to put them out. They were fighting with the strangers on horseback that filled the village. Now Tint noticed the sounds he had heard for a few moments before. The sounds of steel on steel, screams, shouts and the neighs of horses. The people trying to defend their lives were no match for the armed horsemen. The last villager was struck down as he watched. Now there were only the cries of the bandits and their horses.

Tint stood watching, stunned by the unreal scene that lay before him. He could only watch as the marauders gathered as much loot as they could, not much as the village was not a rich place, and started out, straight toward Tint!
He recovered his wits just in time and dove for the relative safety of the nearest shadow. His shadow was cast by the fire and the bandits did not notice him in the dark.

"Where are we going, Tarmuk?", asked one of them as they passed Tint's hiding place.
"We're going to meet with Argas, Buron. He Should have finished with that village, whats it called...Riverdale?...Riverglen?..Ah yes Glendale..." The bandits rode out of earshot.

...Tint managed to force the rest of the memories from his mind and sat up. He climbed out of bed and went over to the table. Good, his clothing and money were still there. Seeing the leather purse made the memories of searching the two villages try to replay themselves, but he kept firm control of himself. He washed in the cold water in the jug that stood in the earthenware basin, put on his clothes and went to the common room to look for some food.

"Tint (ch 1)"