Kingdom of Raine (Chapter Two)

Chapter 2

They crept like spiders through the moonlit night. A group of five rebels, determined to free Clef, approached the outpost from behind. Erwin peered out from behind a tree. His eyes were dark brown, and his hair, a sandy blonde. He wore a white scarf with black embroidery around his neck. The four other men stood around him, waiting for a signal. He raised his arm and motioned for them to follow him.
Erwin darted from tree to tree, making sure that no one would be able to see him in the shadows of the forest. His heart skipped a beat when he heard a crack of a twig behind him. He spun his head around and glared at the man responsible. The remains of a rotting branch lay under his feet. Erwin turned his head to check if anyone from the outpost had heard the noise. He could see no one. The three other men kept approaching. Stop, he thought. Erwin waved his arms at them. I’ll go, he said through the motions of his hands. Alone, he turned and paced toward the tent. Twenty feet separated him from his childhood friend.
He carefully made his way to the outpost without making a sound. He saw the soldier’s horses tied to several trees. They watched him as their wild eyes flickered with the reflection of the torch next to them. Erwin sneaked to the underside of the outpost. A ladder extended to the platform above. Someone was up there. He could see a padded leg hanging down. The man was obviously distracted or asleep. Erwin took his chances and climbed the ladder.
When he reached the top, he saw three men, whiskey in hand, in a deep sleep. Erwin silently sighed in relief. He climbed back down and crept to the tent closest to the outpost. Its cloths rippled in the wind.
To him, the tent was gigantic. It was twice as tall as he was. He knew the men in the tent were no pushovers. I should have called for the retreat sooner, he thought to himself, recalling the horror he felt as his friends faced the invaders. He had been charged with coordinating the attack. It was his chance to prove his worthiness. As he pushed through the entrance of the tent, a terrible thought washed over him: I could die here. Hesitating for only a second, he pushed the cloth aside. He saw Clef lying on his side, bound by knotted ropes. Seven soldiers lay all around him, all asleep. Erwin’s ears twitched as he heard their heavy breathing. They were like monsters in the dark. Their chests heaved up and down reminding Erwin of a vicious dog about to snap. This is too dangerous, he whimpered. With one last glance, he stepped backwards out of the tent.
A bottle shattered at the base of the outpost. The sound rang through Erwin like a cold blade. He was doomed! Without his consent, his legs sprinted into the woods towards his own men. He jumped and dodged through the bushes and trees. The moon shone through the trees, illuminating him. He ran until he could run no more. Erwin’s face turned red as he collapsed his body against a tree trunk. Muscles throughout his body burned like fire. He turned around to look for the men he had brought with him. Some light penetrated the canopy here and there, but he could see no sign of them. Grimacing in the terrible fate that awaited his friend, Erwin decided to wait for the sun to rise before he could go anywhere near the outpost.
Viesen roused to the crack of glass. His eyes opened slowly then stared up at the tent above him. In his dream, a giant frightening beast chased him into a corner with no way out. Am I doomed? Am I trapped? He was so tired that his mind didn’t focus on the sound for several seconds. When he finally realized it was the sound of glass breaking, he widened his eyes and rushed out of the tent, sword in hand. A broken bottle of whiskey lay at the base of the outpost. The sound had not awoken anyone else. He saw the guards up on the platform, passed out from too much liquor. Viesen’s head boiled. Those insolent pigs, he thought. They disgrace our entire race! It was believed that their race would always be regal and kingly. In his mind, these actions were perversions against the king. He stopped, thinking he heard something for a moment, then dismissed it as the wind. Upon reentering the tent, he could see that his men were truly tired. They were in a deep sleep, and he knew that almost nothing could wake them before they had completely recovered their strength.
Clef felt his hands prickling, as if something were cutting off the circulation. Ropes bound them together. Then the pain in his head registered. His skull seemed to want to explode. During the agony, he let a pitiful moan escape from his mouth, then immediately regretted that decision.
“You’re awake,” a voice said from behind.
Clef recognized the voice from them battle: the giant of a man, the captain.
“My name is Viesen.” Clef remained silent, eyes shut, trying to comprehend how he came to be in this situation. “What’s your name?” Another moment passed. “Clef.” Something called out to him. Maybe it was the way Viesen said it, maybe it reminded him of a memory long ago; Clef sat up slowly and looked into his captor’s eyes. After a hard ten seconds, Viesen broke under the stare, looking to the opening of the tent. His six men could be heard feasting on the last of their rations. Another few moments passed, and Clef finally spoke.
“You’re an invader,” he said, with a smooth masculine voice. Viesen looked back at Clef with a surprised look on his face.
“You’re a rebel,” said the captain. “And the next time you attack me or my men, I shall grind your bones with my bare hands.” The threat was placed to show that he was not so bounded by morals as to fear the death of innocence. He could not afford insubordination. Clef simply stared at the captain. “I need you to tell me about your rebels. Why do you attack us so blindly?”
Clef waited for a moment, then replied: “I won’t answer your questions,”
Viesen’s thoughts shifted to how he would extract the information he needed. With a sigh, he began again. “I don’t mean to ask where your rebel friends are hiding, and I don’t want to know anything personal about them so that I may hunt them down.”
“Then what are you asking?” Clef asked without tone.
“I’m asking your reasoning for attacking an armed squad of professional soldiers. I’m asking what could you have to gain from achieving victory.”
“We didn’t know you had steel weapons. If you hadn’t we would have only taken what we need: the food and the horses.”
Viesen sensed a bit of treachery. “We are soldiers. We kill for a living. Do you expect me to believe that you were not able to deduce-“
“We didn’t know!” yelled Clef. “The only reason we did it is because we have starving families at home! The statesmen, in the village, took everything we had.”
Viesen was stuck by the sudden outburst. Now he could believe that it was nothing more than a mere robbery attempt. However, he was troubled by the word “invaders”. Was he referring to the statesmen that came from Raine? They had been charged to oversee the reconstruction of the Old Nation. That was a more than a decade ago. Surly by now all the disagreements had been settled.
“Do you-“ Viesen began.
“No.”
After a silent minute, it was clear that he could not extract any more information from Clef; He was too stubborn. The confidence of youth, he thought. …Is such an inconvenience.
Viesen got to his feet and walked out of the tent leaving the boy alone. Clef could hear him talking in a low voice to another soldier. Incoherent noises began; he heard the horses whining and the shuffling of feet. Xander walked into the tent and, without warning or provocation, grabbed Clef’s neck from behind. There was no pain, but he understood that there could be. Xander sliced through Clef’s bindings. “On your feet. Let’s go.” The commands were obeyed without question. Xander and Clef walked out of the tent. Six men were all saddled and ready to depart. Xander walked to his horse dropped Clef into the saddle. Taking a seat behind him, he grabbed the reins. Surprisingly, Clef found that there was enough room for both of them to sit comfortably, though he was far from grateful. Already, his mind sped with tricks and diversions he could use to escape.
Viesen turned his horse down the road. His horse reared up on its two hind legs. From his majestic position, he sneered at the guards. They put on quizzical faces and glanced at each other in dismay. “Hya!” he screamed as he heeled his steed. The horses struck the ground with their hooves, galloping down the road. Hope faded quickly from Clef’s mind. He could find no way to jump from Xander’s horse.
Then, their eyes met for a split second. In the trees he saw the deep brown gaze of his friend, Erwin. Just as quickly, they disappeared in a blur of trees. “They’re coming to find me,” he reassured himself in a low whisper. His hands held firmly against the horse’s mane. Finally, something to look forward to.
Erwin dropped from a high branch onto the forest floor. His hands caught the ground as he landed with a thump. It would be easy to follow the riders now. He knew which direction they were heading. Experience taught him that soldiers seldom traveled off the roads when in a foreign land. He would use it to his advantage. Erwin made his way to the cobblestone road. The trees impeded his view of almost everything, but he could hear many things in the silent dawn. The occasional bird called though the air. Trampling still audible from the horses as they sped down the road. He was confident that nobody else was on the road for several miles.
The sun beat down onto his face for the first time in weeks. Winter is finally gone. Sunlight makes things seem so much better than they really are. Erwin started walking in the direction he saw the soldiers ride. He slowly built up into a light jog, conserving energy while maintaining a reasonable speed.
It was almost four years ago. Summer days of another age when he had first met Clef. Clef’s family, including himself, his father and mother, had journeyed to his village from a far better place. They had such expensive clothes. That’s why, Erwin deduced, he didn’t have many friends. He never talked to anybody, an outsider…just like me, Erwin thought. I lost my mother that year. It wasn’t all so bad. After Clef and I began to talk, everything became easier. A friend, that’s all I needed. His mind wandered further through his memories; he was afraid that they were all that was left of his friend. Erwin could feel his feet growing heavy from the jogging. He remembered a time when Clef helped him. Everyone was after me then. It wasn’t my fault that I was a joker. I was just trying to have some fun. My father was so angry that I was afraid to go home. It made him feel unpleasant; his stomach pitted. Then Clef found me hiding in a tree. He convinced me to have the courage to apologize to everyone and make up for what I had done. He smiled. It was the right thing to do. Erwin’s mood brightened even more when he saw that the trees ended up ahead. The road extended beyond his vision. He would be able to see where the soldiers from there.
Upon reaching the end of the forest, he saw a grassy knoll extending for miles on either side. The field itself was a giant bowl-like hole of grass in the forest. The road dropped down a hill and snaked its way to a village in the center of the knoll then snaked up into the forest on the opposite side. There was no sign of snow. Bundles of dandelions grew on the outskirts of the village. The yellow and green of the field contrasted deeply with the blue sky above. Monolithic clouds slowly drifted above him. Spring had come.
Erwin’s dark eyes shifted to the village itself. It was called Roen. He had been there before, several months ago. Elegant houses crowded the center of the village. The aristocrats controlled the city with an iron fist of taxation and debt. They were the invaders, blue-eyed demons draining the vitality from their very lives. On the outskirts were the poor folk, rickety houses, cheap inns, and small bars. These were usually very crowded and easy to hide in. Erwin finally found what he was looking for. He could see seven horses tied next to a bar. One soldier stood beside them as a guard. Clef is here. Erwin took a breath and made his way down the road at a comfortable pace.