Story work in progress

"Our men are tired Sir Gildas. We have been searching for two, almost three days and haven't seen any trace of them." William said as he caught up to his leader. Gildas ignored him and continued walking. Seeing that Gildas wasn't interested in what he had to say, the young man decided to cut him off, forcing him to stop so that he would have to listen. "Let us assume that they were killed and head back to tell the queen." Gildas was silent as he looked at the young man. William glanced over Sir Gildas's shoulder to make sure no one was listening. He then lowered his voice. "Sir, none of the man have eaten or rested in days. We need to sleep so that we have strength when daylight comes." Sir Gildas could see that the boy was concerned. He turned away and gazed at his small group of men. He saw that some of the men stood with their fingers in there armpits while others breathed on them and rubbed them together to warm them from the frosty air. One of his men found a large bolder to sit on so that he could rub his sore ankle. "Hey!" Sir Gildas shouted to the man sitting. "No resting on my watch." The man stood up quickly. Gildas walked over to his men. "We did not stop to take a break. Your companion, Mr. William here thought it right to stop your commanding officer, while we are on a task requested by the queen herself, and ask for us all to stop and have a little tea party." Some of the men in the group laughed. "Maybe we should eat some cake while we are at it." Gildas turned to face William again. William looked at the other men with disappointment. "Boy, you will do as I tell you." Gildas said to him. "I believe it is I who makes the orders here." William looked down with humiliation. "Do you think you can tell me what to do boy?" He was silent. Sir Gildas marched up to the young man and grabbed the front of his leather breastplate. "Answer me boy!" He shouted. William looked him dead in the eye and replied. "No Sir." His teeth were clutched tightly together as he spoke. Gildas let go and turned to face the other men and spoke. "We are looking for a runaway. I don't want to hear any more complaints from any of you about being tired or cold or even hungry." The men shuffled around a bit. Gildas noticed one of his men sitting under a tree a little ways away from the group. Outraged that one of his men was doing exactly what he had told the others not to do, he barked at the man. "What did I say about resting?!" The man didn't reply. He just sat there under the base of a large oak tree. Gildas shoved one of his men out of the way and marched over to the solder. As he approached him, the man seemed to be sleeping. "Get up you lazy shit!" He shouted as he kicked the man in the leg. The man slowly fell over onto the frosty grass. The night had made it hard to see, but Gildas noticed a thin pole, smaller than his pinkie finger with feathers sticking out of the man's chest. He then realized that it was an arrow. In a panic, Gildas turned and yelled to his men. "Men were being fallowed!" As he drew his sword, an arrow whizzed past one of the men and hit another in the throat. The man fell to his knees grabbing at his neck as he choked on his own blood. He coughed trying to get air as blood seeped out of his gaping mouth onto the dirt path. "No!" One of Gildas's men shouted as he ran over to his dyeing friend. Everyone drew their swards and peered into the darkness to see where the arrow had come from. Tears rolled down the man's face as he tried to tell his friend that everything would be alright. The dying man grabbed his friend's shirt tightly into his fist while opening and closing his mouth as if he were trying to say something, but only gargles and blood came out. His movements began to slow and his gaze shifted from his friends face up into the night sky. The man knew that there wasn't anything he could do to save him. The solder's body gradually went limp in the man's arms. His crying grew louder as he laid his dead friend down onto the frigid soil. The other soldiers stood still trying to listen carefully while scanned through the frosted oak trees that surrounded them as they looked for movement. The only sounds that the men could hear were from the man who was now kneeling over his dead friend's body. "Someone shut him up or we will all die!" Gildas shouted at his men. William went over to the man and tried to comfort him. The soldier bit onto the sleeve of his shirt to muffle his cries. William helped the man up, walked him over to a bolder and sat him down. No one moved. It felt like minutes had gone by. Not a sound was herd from within the forest trees. It was eerily silent. Gildas relaxed a bit. The men saw him relax, so they lowered there weapons. He began to make his way over towards the others when suddenly soft thuds were heard fallowed by three men falling silently to the ground. A wave of arrows began to fly all around the soldiers. "Get down!" Gildas shouted as he ran up to William and shoved himself and the boy behind a large rock. The two of them could hear Gildas's men scream in pain as arrows pierced their bodies. The forest was so dark that William couldn't see where the arrows were coming from. Sir Gildas grabbed the neck of William's chest plate and pulled him forwards as he stood up. "Run boy!" The two of them left the rock and started weaving through the forest trees. William looked over his shoulder to see what was going on behind him. There were men dyeing and dead sprawled all over the path along with other men running to get away from the direction the arrows had been flying from. He noticed that two of Gildas's men were running in the same direction that he was headed. As they ran, William and the others could hear their men calling out for help and others screaming in pain from being shot. William stopped running. He couldn't leave those men out there to die. William was about to head back when Gildas noticed and ran back to him. He grabbed the boys shoulder. "You will die boy." Gildas said to him as he pulled him back into the direction they were headed. As they ran, they came up to a short drop next to a rocky stream that had some overhanging dirt and grass. It looked like the only safe place at the moment and all four men needed to catch their breath. Each of them jumped down and pressed their bodies as far back against the dirt wall as they could to keep from being seen. Their breath hung in the frozen air as they all breathed heavily trying hard to catch their breath. William could feel his heart pounding heard in his chest. His ears were ringing from his bodies adrenalin rush as he looked over to Gildas. Gildas looked over at William. He didn't say anything, just looked at him. William could see concern and sorrow in the man's eyes. Gildas had always been a strong man. You could never guess how he was feeling, but tonight was different. Tonight he had lost his men. In Orlaith you could ask anyone what makes Gildas happy and they would tell you that he took great pride in his men. His men meant everything to him and now most of them were lying dead or bleeding to death somewhere in the forests of the North Passage. Gildas turned away from William and looked out into the darkness.
         
         Queen Rozenwyn was well known for her beauty. It wasn't just her external beauty, but her internal beauty as well. Her radiant golden-honey hair and her beautiful deep sea eyes were traits she was well known for along with her soft pail skin and big heart. Men would say that she was as beautiful as the goddess Catriona. Kings from the green fields of Bristol and the dry sands of Laybain would ask for her hand. Her father thought it best to set up an arranged marriage with the high King of Orlaith. He was a handsome King, well known for his strong opinions and hard rule. King Valdemar was his name. He wasn't just known for being a harsh ruler, but Valdemar also was known for his handsome face and deep oak colored hair. The two were united and ruled the Kingdome of Orlaith together up until twenty years ago. Stories were told around the kingdom that King Valdemar went to Laybain to talk with the high ruler there and was assassinated along with his men. Others say that he was seduced by an evil dark sorcerous from Laybain. No one really knew what had happened to him, but he left behind four children and his beautiful wife.
Queen Rozenwyn was taking a walk down one of her castles grate outdoor halls. The early morning spring air was warm upon her skin as she slowly made her way towards the large marble pillars. Rozenwyn had always liked beautiful things, so five years ago, she had an exotic flower garden put where an old oak tree used to sit. She was looking out through the open pullers to the garden below when Lady Andraste approached her. "I'm sorry your highness, but King Scanlan Isidore of Breslin is here and wishes to speak with you." Rozenwyn stopped and smiled at Lady Andraste. "Thank you. Tell him that I will be down in just a moment." Lady Anraste nodded and quickly walked away as Queen Rozenwyn slowly headed in the same direction.
King Scanlan was a handsome man. He and Rozenwyn had known each other from when they were children. Rozenwyn and Scanlan's parents had always been close friends and good allies. The two use to ride horses and swordfight out in Rozenwyn's father's wheat fields while the kings discussed goods and soldiers.
The King saw Queen Rozenwyn make her way down the stairs and into the throne room. "It is nice to see you again Queen Rozenwyn." She slowly made her way to the throne and sat down gracefully. "Your dress looks stunning your highness." He smiled at her. She quickly realized that she was wearing the dress he had sent her as a gift three months ago. "I would like to thank you for it King Scanlan. I like that it flows like the ocean waves when I walk." She smiled back at him. Rosenwyn rubbed the fabric between two of her fingers. "Blue satin is hard to come by these days." He nodded. The queen realized that she was blushing and straightened up in her chair. She cleared her throat. "King Scanlan, I was told that you wanted to speak with me?" He looked at her with his bright hazel eyes. "Yes your highness. I came here to let you know that I was able to get your shipment from Keane." Queen Rozenwyn stood up and walked down to Scanlan. "May we take a look at what you have brought me?" The queen asked politely. King Scanlan nodded and gestured with his right hand for her to walk ahead of him. Queen Rozenwyn walked passed him as Lady Anraste waited for her at the door. They all walked out to the entrance of the castle where Scanlan's men stood with large wooden crates. Princess Nora was standing over by one of the large crates trying to guess what was inside of it. She was fifteen. Just like her mother, Nora had been blessed with her mother's golden hair. She liked to spend a good portion of her time outside in the sun, so her skin was a lot darker than her mothers. She had on a beautiful flowing sea blue dress and some golden jewelry on her rests, ankles, hair, and around her neck. Nora heard her mother's voice grow louder as she approached her. "Mother, what are these for?" She said walking over to her mother's side. Queen Rozenwyn stopped in front of a large crate. It was large and stood twice as large as any man. King Scanlan walked up to one of his servants. "I would like you to open it for the queen to see." The man nodded and said something to the other five men. Each of the servants used thin steel pipes to pry one of the sides off of the large box and slowly lower it to the ground. As the wall came down, the queen smiled and turned towards King Scanlan. "Thank you King Scanlan. This means a lot for our kingdom." Nora was surprised to see a large, black stone sculptor of a dragon. She quickly turned towards Scanlan and said with surprise in her voice. "You were able to find the stone?" He smiled down at her. "Yes princess. I had some men travel to the north where we were able to find obsidian for the sculpture."