There comes a time in every man’s life when he must put aside childish dreams to do his duty, and this was one of those times.
Spring’s morning sunshine warmed Seth Faren’s face as he walked down the compact dirt road towards the center of Crey Village. Today was his birthday, and everything was perfect. He smiled at Sally, his adoptive mother. “Are we almost there yet? What are you getting me?” His blue eyes twinkled and his light-brown hair rustled in the breeze.
Her blond hair was tied up in a bun. “I promised you something suitable for your thirteenth birthday.”
The aroma of baking bread, cookies, and cake invaded his nostrils. The small shops in the center of town huddled around the docks. His eyes diverted to a small fishing vessel just coming into town with a full load. Seth smiled. Someday he would be a fisherman and—
“Hey, Seth,” a young girl’s voice said.
Seth turned around to see a young girl with long blond hair waving at him. “Jena!”
Holding Jena’s hand was a 28-year-old woman with shoulder-length blond hair and brown eyes. “Sally, sorry we’re late,” Keya said.
“It’s okay.” Sally led the group past the fishmonger.
“What do you want for your birthday?” Jena asked.
What did he want? He’d given his adoptive parents ideas every day for months, but which one did he want? “I—a new fishing pole,” Seth blurted out.
Jena rolled her eyes. “Really?” She pointed over at the fishing boats. “If you do that, you’ll stink, and I won’t have anything to do with you.”
Seth frowned.
She couldn’t hold back her smile.
He hated being teased. Who didn’t? Jena was different. She—
“Make way!” a man yelled in the crowded square.
“What are they doing here?” Sally asked as she turned around.
Seth looked up. Sally’s faced had turned white. He grabbed her clammy hand. “Who are they?”
“They’re—they’re dragging someone,” Sally said.
Six knights in dark armor pulled a man by his collar towards the lone tree next to the docks. There was a symbol on their shields and their right shoulders. It was a tan circle with a sword in the middle above an olive branch, surrounded by a red crescent moon and a yellow lightning bolt. “Who are they, Mother?”
“Dark—Darkstriders,” Sally said. “How—why are they here?”
The largest of the six stepped in front of the crowd. “People of Crey Village, it has come to the attention of King Kade Ravenward that there are traitors in this village!” He pointed at the pummeled man. “This traitor once served the House of Ravenward, before King Galin died. Now, he betrayed the royal family and you.” He nodded at the other knights.
“What are they going to do?” Seth asked.
Sally and Keya just stared at each other.
“Mother?” Jena asked.
Seth stretched his neck to see over the heads of the ever-increasing crowd. The knights tied a noose around the man’s neck. They tossed the rope over a branch, and hoisted the man up. Seth turned his head, but his ears caught every gasp for air.
“We’ve got to go, now,” Keya said. She grabbed Jena’s hand.
Sally pushed her way through the crowd. “We’ve got to tell Brock.” After they had passed the ring of people, she put Seth down and moved out. With each step, their pace picked up.
With the crowd to his back, Seth tried to keep up. Home, they were heading home. He glanced up at Sally. Why was she so afraid? Sure, those knights hung the traitor, but isn’t that what you do with traitors? Two more turns then they’d be close to home. “Mom, can we slow down?”
Sally’s eyes were big. “No. Keep up.” She turned right, just past the magic component shop.
Seth was nearly at a run. One more turn, then they were home free. Another thirty feet. Come on, legs, keep up.
Two dark-clad knights with the Darkstrider symbol on their shoulders jumped out. “Where are you going?”
They skidded to a halt.
“Nowhere,” Sally said as she took a step back.
Seth stepped in front of Sally. “Keep away from my mother.”
They drew their swords. “A hero? Erik, what shall we do?” the smaller man said.
Erik’s long, brown hair was up in a braid. He stepped forward and grabbed Sally’s hair. He put it up to his nose and smelled it. “Our orders are to make an example for the locals. Why not start with these?”
“Go about your business and leave them alone.” A fit woman wearing leather armor carrying two short swords moved in front of Seth. Her blond hair was bundled into a ponytail.
The men blinked. “What are you—?”
She leaped forward, knocking Erik to the ground, and slit the smaller man’s throat. After the smaller man had fallen to the ground, she mounted Erik. Holding her crossed swords above his throat, she grinned.
His face went white. “But—”
Then it was over. She got off the dying man and turned towards Sally. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, thank you,” Sally said.
“I’m Alya,” the woman said. “We need to get off the street.”
Seth couldn’t take his eyes off the pool of blood forming around Erik’s body. Breakfast began to make its way up his throat. He covered his mouth.
Alya stared right into Seth’s eyes. “It’s all right.”
“Let’s go, Seth,” Sally said. “We’ve got to get home.”
Jena’s eyes seemed to fog over.
“Would you like to come with us? We can at least offer you lunch for what you did,” Sally said.
Alya grinned at Seth. “I’d love to.”
Twenty minutes later, Seth followed Sally and the others inside the humble home. The living room was in the center of the house, with a fireplace big enough that a man could stand straight up inside it. Across the dirt floor was a wobbly wooden table surrounded by mismatched chairs.
“Seth, please start a fire,” Sally said.
“Sure, Mother,” Seth said.
Jena smiled at him. “I’ll help you.”
“Okay.” Seth and Jena started placing logs into the fireplace.
Sally motioned Alya over to the table. “Please, come and sit down.”
“Thank you.” Alya leaned her sword up against the wall as she took a seat.
Keya looked over at Jena and Seth. “You could have saved them today. If you didn’t come along—I—I could have—”
Alya shook her head. “I’m no hero. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
Sally frowned. “None of that here. You’re our hero. Those two knights could have killed us, or worse.” She shivered. “The world is no longer safe for the children.”
“Do you have any ale?” Alya asked.
Seth looked up. Ale? His adoptive father drank a lot, but never before dinner.
Sally swallowed. “Sure. One moment.”
“Are you married?” Alya asked Keya.
“I was before—but—he was—he died a long time ago.” She looked over at Jena. “She’s all I have left. If I lose her, what’s the point of living?”
Alya frowned. “You humans always—”
“What?”
“I mean, humans always talk like that, but—” Alya’s face fell as tears escaped from behind Keya’s eyes. “I’m sorry.” She looked away. “Sometimes, I forget that I’m not the only one who lost—family.”
Sally handed Keya a handkerchief.
“It’s okay,” Keya said. She took the hanky and wiped her eyes.
Sally handed Alya a mug of ale. “Haven’t seen you around here before. Traveling through?”
Alya took a swig. “I guess you could say that. I’m—well, I shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t what?”
Sweat glistened on Alya’s face. “I guess you’re not one of them. I have been fighting the Darkstriders whenever I can.” She looked away. “It’s what my father would have wanted. He used to be a knight at Staerdale Castle.”
Sally leaned closer. “Who?”
Alya blinked. “Paul the Bold. Why?”
“Before the world went insane, I worked at the castle. As the—in the kitchen,” Sally said.
“Were you there when the castle fell? When Kade killed Galin the IV?”
Sally shook her head. “No, I was visiting my mother in Shapus. They have a beautiful little place on the River of Souls.”
Alya nodded. “I see.” She took another swig. “After they murdered my father and my brother, I swore to avenge them. So, I’ve been killing Darkstriders ever since.”
Sally frowned. “The humans are not Darkstriders. They may have sided with them, but they’re not one of them.”
“How do you know that?”
Seth stood up and walked behind Alya.
“Brock was a blacksmith and friends with Thea the Loyal,” Sally said. As soon as those words escaped her mouth, her face went white.
Alya’s eyes focused on Sally. “I see.”
“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” Seth asked.
“My father, of course. Isn’t your father teaching you?” Alya asked.
Seth grimaced. “He is, but I don’t want to be a knight or hurt anyone. I just want to be a fisherman and live in peace.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “Seth, everyone needs to learn to defend themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that. Those two men today, what would have happened if my father didn’t teach me?”
Seth lowered his eyes. Maybe, Father was right? Maybe? “We’d probably be dead.”
“Seth, come back and play jacks with me,” Jena said.
Sally laughed. “Go and play with her already.”
“Come on!” Jena said.
“Okay,” Seth said as he plopped down next to Jena.
“You said something about lunch?” Alya asked.
Sally jumped up. “Sorry, you’re right.” She rushed over to the counter and pulled out a loaf of boule bread.
“Are you in town long?” Keya asked.
“Hopefully not too long. If I’m in a spot for too long, things get tricky,” Alya said. She looked down at the two children playing jacks. “It’ll all be worth it if our kids can live in freedom.”
Sally handed Alya a chunk of bread. “I’m sorry, but it’s all we have.”
Alya smiled. “It’s wonderful.” She tore a piece off and tossed it in her mouth.
Keya put a chunk of bread in her mouth too. “I am so happy…”
Seth rolled his eyes. How is it that their parents are happy to talk about nothing?
“Are you going to toss them?” Jena asked. Her eyes grew as she looked at him.
“Yeah,” he said as he tossed the jacks from the small leather pouch.
Jena frowned. “You lucky—”
“Come and say good-bye to Ms. Alya, kids,” Sally said as she stood up.
Seth jumped up. Alya’s blue eyes and long blond hair was what all the women he dreamed about had in common. “Good-bye.”
Jena shook Alya’s hand. “Will we see you again?”
Alya looked right at Seth. “I think so.” She grabbed her sword as she headed towards the door. “May I call on you again if I’m still in town?”
Sally nodded. “Sure.”
“Until next time then.” Alya closed the door behind her as she left the house.
Seth went up to Sally. “Mom, why did you lie to her?”
“What?”
“Why’d you lie? You never worked in the kitchen. You and father—”
Sally clamped her hand over his mouth. “Never say that in front of strangers or anyone your father hasn’t cleared.”
His heart skipped a beat as the fear poured out of her eyes. “But—”
“Never, understand?”
Keya pulled Sally back. “Easy, he didn’t mean anything by it.”
Her stern face collapsed as she looked at him. “I’m sorry.” Tears broke through the dam behind her eyes. “I’m so sorry.” She grabbed him and held on tight.
Barely able to breathe, Seth said, “It’s okay, Mom. I love you.”
She looked right into his eyes. “Your father and I will do anything to protect you. I promise.”
Seth blinked. “Protect me from what?”
Sally just stared at him with an ashen face. “Just, go to your room.”
“But—”
“Now.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Seth lumbered past the couch and through the small door. Why won’t they tell me?