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A Long Hard Rain - The Story of Autumn of Fallon - Completed: 8/14
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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 2980340" data-attributes="member: 11"><p>The next day when Eric did not arrive, I limped my way into town and to Malsted's shop. I was still bleeding slightly and was very dizzy. I collapsed as I entered the shop. Malsted helped me into the back room and put a warm wet towel on my head and gave me rags with which to help hold back the bleeding.</p><p></p><p>"I have to go get help," he told me.</p><p></p><p>"Who will you get?" I groggily asked.</p><p></p><p>"We are lucky that there is a visitor in town that would normally not be around," and with that he left and returned soon after with a beautiful young woman dressed in white. She wore a red head band and a golden ankh in a red circle about her neck. She placed her hand upon my body and spoke soft soothing words and I felt a warmth come over me as divine energy filled me and I was healed. I could feel the blood stop its flow.</p><p></p><p>The woman's name was Kellina and she was a medicus of Fallon. I was unconscious for a time after she healed me, but when I awoke she was still beside me. I awoke with a start.</p><p></p><p>"Oh Gods! Eric must me back by now. He will be angry. He will trace me here. He could hurt Malsted," I cried.</p><p></p><p>Malsted entered my field of vision and Kellina took my hand.</p><p></p><p>"Eric is gone," he said. "The war has started. He will not be back for a time, if ever."</p><p>As much as I had hated the idea of a war I felt relieved and again I felt that some other power was taking action in my life. I looked up at the kind and gentle eyes of Kellina of Fallon and I knew who and what it had been.</p><p></p><p>"Thank Fallon," I sighed without knowing much of who I was speaking of.</p><p></p><p>"Thank Fallon, indeed," Kellina said and squeezed my hand.</p><p></p><p>I spent the next few days between my home and Malsted's shop. Kellina was just traveling through and knew several people in the area. I found myself telling her of Eric's abuse and of my parents and childhood. She explained to me of Fallon and Isis and Nephthys and the other goodly gods and I was happy to hear that such powers were watching out over my life, body and spirit. Kellina also explained to me of Set and how through deception he duped the people of the Black Islands into worshiping him and committing acts of evil. Things began to come together and I told Kellina about my suspicions about Sarah and how I felt secure of in my heart and what had happened to her. Kellina explained that that was Fallon guiding me to good; giving me the instinct to sense evil. She also explained how everything that had happened to me had happened to bring me closer to Fallon and that it had been no coincidence that she had been in the town of Lambert when I needed her help, because it was not really her help I was getting but Fallon's.</p><p></p><p>I learned a lot in those few days and Kellina inspired me to learn my letters and to continue in my pottery and to explore my desire to do sculpture. She explained that she was off to teach at the seminary a few days east of Geffanstagg and that I was welcome to visit her there at any time. Kellina instructed Malsted to help me with my letters and to help to teach me how to defend myself so that I might fight back and not allow myself to be victim of the tyranny of men and those that would do me harm. Before she left Kellina gave me a gift, a book. It was entitled, <em>The Ascendancy of Fallon</em>. (1) It was from this book that I would learn to read.</p><p></p><p>And so the years passed. I continued with pottery and began to make sculpture; mostly out of clay, but I also learned how to carve stone and wood. Most of my subjects were religious in nature and I also created woodcuts of scenes I had read about in <em>The Ascendancy of Fallon</em>. I picked up on reading very quickly and soon I was devouring any book I could get my hands on; not that there are a great number of books available to be read in the Black Islands, but I read what I could. I read the messages put on the post on the edge of town and the signs on shops and I got a copy of <em>The Will of Set</em> (2) which professed the twisted teachings of his church. Malsted began to teach me to fight. He did not teach me how to use a weapon, but mainly how to hold myself and a few throws that might get an attacker away from me. I grew to enjoy wrestling and once or twice I accidentally hurt Malsted as he was growing increasingly elderly, so my lessons stopped.</p><p></p><p>It was also during this time that I began to visit <em>The Inland Sea</em> a tavern in town. I met many people there and as usual men never paid me much attention, but I did not care. I was still a married woman and had all intentions of behaving like one. Occasionally, a drunken man would become too forward and the bouncer Briff would show him the door and once I had to kick a man hard; Fallon forgive me, but it was never worse than that. The best part of being at the tavern was meeting local people who owned shops or were vendors in the market or were just passing through. I listened closely to the bards and often asked for stories about Fallon, but few bards in the area knew anything except a basic knowledge of her. I met kind people here and in time I became a staple at the place and I gave Morrin the owner a discount on two sculptures of ships I made. It is ironic that the years of the war were among my happiest. We would hear news of the battles and once I saw a contingent of Neergaard troops march past the town towards the north. There was a great fear that they would sack Lambert, but instead they took and held Geffanstag and left us alone. Only occasionally would Neergaardian soldiers come into town and the townsfolk always gave or sold them what they wanted to get rid of them.</p><p></p><p>In the last year of the war there was a huge battle near Baernhoft leading up to the the effort to retake Geffanstag. The battle itself took place several miles south of Lambert on the banks of the Millet Gabel river's northern fork. It would soon gain the name <em>River of Blood</em>,(3) for many soldiers and knights on both sides died and the water was bright red for months afterward from that point south. The Black Islands lost that battle and it was one of the things that began the Baron's attempt at reconciliation. </p><p></p><p>I saw the aftermath of that battle as I ran out with others to help the wounded and dying when the tide of the battle had left them behind. I had never seen so much blood and hacked off limbs and entrails twisted in piles like sausage on the ground. I did what I could and during that time learned something about first aid. Some of those that volunteered to go out to help would not treat the Neergaardian soldiers, but I helped anyone I came upon. There was a teenage boy, almost of enlistment age going around slitting the throats of the dying Neergaardian soldiers. Someone told me of this and I immediately began to search for him. An uncontrollable disgust and anger formed inside of me and I was determined to stop him. I thought about Eric and other women's husbands and brothers being in the foreign lands of Neergaard and thought that if they deserved fair treatment so did these invaders. </p><p></p><p>Since the fort that Eric had worked was now taken and nearby we had heard news that Eric's troop had taken the town of Narvedale in southern Neergaard, but battled everyday to keep it at a high cost of human life. I feared Eric was dead and part of me was relieved, and I was disgusted at myself for feeling that way. I was searching for this murdering boy as a way to redeem myself for those thoughts.</p><p></p><p>I found the young boy, blood staining his leather jerkin, standing with his short sword beside an armored knight who was lying on his stomach. I could see the movement of the soldier's breathing and could tell it was labored and would soon cease all together even if the boy did not plunge his sword in the man's side where his armor was already peeled back as if by some weapon designed to do such a thing. The boy was raising the blade when I called to him to stop.</p><p></p><p>"Huh?" he turned and looked at me and an evil grin came across his face. It was the face of a baby. If he had seen thirteen summers it was a lot, but already in his eyes was the gleam of a killer.</p><p></p><p>"Whaddya want'?" he lowered the sword momentarily.</p><p></p><p>"Leave that man alone. He needs medical aid," I told the boy and he began to laugh. "He is the bleeding enemy lady. He deserves to die," the boy said and began to raise the sword again. I stepped up to him and grabbed his arm.</p><p></p><p>"He has fought valiantly and lived. Everyone deserves a chance at life and to be treated with respect no matter who they are," I told the boy in a motherly tone. He pulled away from me and began to menace me with his sword.</p><p></p><p>"Stay away from me you bloody crazy lady," he said. "This here is the enemy and if you try to stop me from doing my duty as a servant of the baron you are the enemy too. "</p><p></p><p>"I am not your enemy. I am your friend. Now step aside, boy so that I might treat this man's wounds and try to save his life."</p><p></p><p>The boy stepped forward pointing the sword at me.</p><p></p><p>"He's mine. And so is anything of value I find on him. Spoils of war!" the boy said and shoved me hard. I was unprepared for the assault and tripped over a corpse. The boy laughed loudly and prepared to kill the fallen knight who was now trying to drag himself away. The boy placed one foot on the man's back and pinned him down and raised the sword again. I watched in horror and I felt my hand encircle something. I looked and there was the mace of the corpse I had tripped over. Without thinking I charged up and at the boy with a violent scream. For a second the evil young boy appeared to me to be Eric, keeping me from doing what I wanted, what I loved, what I believed in and I swung the mace heavily at his head. The boy turned with a shocked look in his eyes and brought the point of his sword between us. I felt the sharp heat of metal piercing my flesh and the warm spray of blood up and down my body. I felt the hard crunch of the mace against the side of the boy's head and heard the audible pop of his eyeball coming free from his skull. The boy collapsed in a hump on the ground and I felt a weakness fill my legs as I looked down at his lifeless corpse. The mace fell from my hand and two seconds, two hours or two days later I felt myself follow it to the ground in a faint. Everything turned black and lights swirled around my head.</p><p></p><p>I opened my eyes to see that I was lying next to the knight that the boy had been trying to slay. He was still on his stomach. I sat up and turned him around with a heave. He was wearing full platemail armor which made it difficult. He was still alive, but barely; his eyes were turned back in his head and it appeared that the face plate of his helm had been ripped off by the same weapon that had punched a hole in his armor. He had a thick mustache of a style that the men of the Black Islands seldom wore; his skin was pale. I noticed that his hands were fumbling at his belt and I moved to see what he was trying to get at even in his semi-conscious state. I saw the fresh blood on my hands and realized it was my own as I felt a spasm of pain from my wound. Of all the times Eric had hit me and all the pain I had felt it was nothing like what I was feeling now. Even when I had lost the baby the pain had not been like this. I knew that the wound was deep and that I might soon die.</p><p></p><p>The knight was fumbling with a belt pouch which I took from his belt and opened. Inside was a glass vial that held some yellowish thick liquid. I held it up to the fading sun and I saw the warrior's eyes open and widen. He tried to reach up for the vial but his arms fell back down devoid of strength. He opened his mouth to speak, blood and bile were the only words that came dribbling from his lips, but I knew what he wanted. I uncorked the vial and began to pour the liquid into his mouth. Even before I had poured a full two-thirds of it he had the strength to grab my hands and stop me from using it all. I was startled and jumped back a little in the sitting position I was in. I allowed the vial to remain in his hands. He slowly sat up.</p><p></p><p>"Thank you dear lady for your aid," he coughed. "I was in sore need of it." I was astounded at his amazingly quick recovery.</p><p></p><p>"Do not be frightened," the man said to me. "It was but a magical elixir prepared for us by the priests of Ra in our country. But why am I still talking You are wounded as well. Drink what remains."</p><p></p><p>I was still silent and then a jet of pain went through me.</p><p></p><p>"Fair lady, do not be stubborn. Drink this," he told me, offering the vial.</p><p></p><p>"I am not fair." Now is was my turn to cough and I could taste blood in the back of my</p><p>throat and nose.</p><p></p><p>Now it was his turn to be astounded. "Drink it," he almost commanded and I took it and sipped down the bitter drink. I could feel the warm healing power in my body similar to that which I had felt in the arms of Kellina and the wound was already closing and then in a surprising reversal of roles the knight was standing and helping me to my feet. We both teetered there for a few minutes as we were both gravely wounded, but it was now clear that we would live.</p><p></p><p>The knight looked down at the young boy's corpse and I shuddered and felt tears well up inside me.</p><p></p><p>"For a time there I thought that you and he were locked in battle over my immortal soul," the knight said, pointing to the boy.</p><p></p><p>"Huh?" I was confused.</p><p></p><p>The man looked at me. Despite the dirt, grit and blood on his face I could see he was handsome.</p><p>"I thought he was some imp sent to bring me to serve Set in hell and that you were an angel sent by Ra to defeat him," the knight said. "In a way I guess you were."</p><p></p><p>I thought of his estimation of the strange battle with a thirteen-year old boy and wondered. I could not stop but feel that no matter the outcome that I had done some foul evil and had cut short a life that might have still done good to save a life longer-lived that had dedicated his way to war.</p><p></p><p>"I am being rude," the soldier suddenly said. I looked up.</p><p></p><p>"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Belegard Thomsine of Gildenstone, Knight of the Order of Storm." (4)</p><p></p><p>I was silent.</p><p></p><p>"I will need to find my way back to my men and to Geffanstagg. Do you think you could help me?" Sir Belegard said.</p><p></p><p>"You are the enemy," I murmured.</p><p></p><p>"What was that'?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"I am Autumn Sto- Rain," I said.</p><p></p><p>"A pleasure to meet you Lady Autumn," and he tried to bow forward and I was forced to keep him from falling. "My wound disallows me the usual knightly courtesy. I am sorry. "</p><p></p><p>"That does not matter," I said. "I will help you get to Geffanstag."</p><p></p><p>"And so it seems that I am doubly indebted to you," Sir Belegard said. </p><p></p><p>"Huh?" Again, I was confused.</p><p></p><p>"You saved my life and now you will guide me to my men. I am forever indebted to your mercy and kindness."</p><p></p><p>"You owe me nothing. It is my duty. It is our duty to help each other in any way possible."</p><p></p><p>"You sound like a noble woman, but I will repay you."</p><p></p><p>Leaning on each other I led him up the road towards my house. It was getting dark now and so I did not worry that anyone would see us. The next day I used some of my saving to buy a nag in town. Horses were rare as many were being used in the war effort, but I was able to find a broken-down horse that would soon have found its way into the meat-grinder. I gave the horse to Sir Belegrad and told him the way to Geffanstag. As I handed him the reins of the horse I was afraid that he would say he was now triply indebted to me (or even quadruply, for I had fed him the best I could the night before and that morning), but he said only a word of thanks. As he mounted the horse he turned to bid me farewell and I spoke.</p><p></p><p>"If you really want to repay me then make me a promise," I said to him.</p><p></p><p>"Anything," he said flatly.</p><p></p><p>"You will use whatever influence; whatever favors or promises or power to bring a quick end to this war. I want the killing to stop. A situation that forces me to kill a young boy in the name of good is evil at its heart. There is no honor in it, not even for knights such as yourself. "</p><p></p><p>Sir Belegrad sighed and nodded.</p><p></p><p>"I promise," he said. "And if you are ever in the Province of Seareach in the Kingdom of Neergaard seek out Gildenstone. You would be my honored guest for as long as you wish and would have want for nothing." And with that he rode away.</p><p></p><p>The war ended three months later, but I was not naive enough by then to think that the promise I extracted from Belegrad had anything to do with it. I spent those three months in quiet contemplation. I thought a lot about the boy I had been forced to slay and offered my prayers and confessions to Fallon nightly and begged that she forgive me, but I could not find forgiveness in my prayers. I stopped going to The Inland Sea and even stopped my sculpture. I visited Malsted only occasionally. The war had been over two months and still Eric was not back. I thought he was probably dead. On my final visit to Malsted I explained that I was leaving Lambert and going to the seminary outside of Geffanstagg to study and volunteer. I explained to him how I felt the gods had been guiding me in my life since birth and that the misery I felt was due to the fact that I had not followed that path that was so clearly before me. Malsted hugged me close and gave me his blessing and made me promise that I would return to visit and to not give up my sculpture. I left with him, as a gift, my sculpture entitled, "<em>Captain Yeardley Scott Discovers the Black Islands</em>" (5) went home to pack a few things (including my sculpting tools) took my savings and hired a wagon to the large town of Geffanstagg. I left a letter for Eric on the kitchen table unsure if he would ever get it or if his rough reading skills would allow him to decipher it, but it was all I could hope.</p><p></p><p></p><p>-------------------------------</p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>(1) <em>The Ascendancy of Fallon</em> tells of Fallon’s mortal life, her trials, suffering and triumph, and to some degree tells the tales of the emergence of the modern churches of the gods of Ra’s Pantheon in Aquerra.</p><p></p><p>(2) <em>The Will of Set</em> is the Setite holy book, which uses obfuscating theological language to justify the premise that might makes right.</p><p></p><p>(3) <em>The Battle at the River of Blood</em> is one of the most infamous in modern Aquerra, where thousands died in five days of fighting. Among the dead were the older brothers of Dresden the Black, who were hedge knights serving Neergaard. (Dresden was a PC in an old Aquerra campaign, and made up the battle for his background. I later used it in mine. I love using stuff other people make up for their characters and building on it to develop the setting).</p><p></p><p>(4) The Order of Storm is the official knightly order of the Province of Seareach in the Kingdom of Neergaard.</p><p></p><p>(5) The Black Islands were discovered by Captain Yeardley Scott in 131 H.E. He was soon after awarded the title of baron and given control of the islands by King Herman V.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 2980340, member: 11"] The next day when Eric did not arrive, I limped my way into town and to Malsted's shop. I was still bleeding slightly and was very dizzy. I collapsed as I entered the shop. Malsted helped me into the back room and put a warm wet towel on my head and gave me rags with which to help hold back the bleeding. "I have to go get help," he told me. "Who will you get?" I groggily asked. "We are lucky that there is a visitor in town that would normally not be around," and with that he left and returned soon after with a beautiful young woman dressed in white. She wore a red head band and a golden ankh in a red circle about her neck. She placed her hand upon my body and spoke soft soothing words and I felt a warmth come over me as divine energy filled me and I was healed. I could feel the blood stop its flow. The woman's name was Kellina and she was a medicus of Fallon. I was unconscious for a time after she healed me, but when I awoke she was still beside me. I awoke with a start. "Oh Gods! Eric must me back by now. He will be angry. He will trace me here. He could hurt Malsted," I cried. Malsted entered my field of vision and Kellina took my hand. "Eric is gone," he said. "The war has started. He will not be back for a time, if ever." As much as I had hated the idea of a war I felt relieved and again I felt that some other power was taking action in my life. I looked up at the kind and gentle eyes of Kellina of Fallon and I knew who and what it had been. "Thank Fallon," I sighed without knowing much of who I was speaking of. "Thank Fallon, indeed," Kellina said and squeezed my hand. I spent the next few days between my home and Malsted's shop. Kellina was just traveling through and knew several people in the area. I found myself telling her of Eric's abuse and of my parents and childhood. She explained to me of Fallon and Isis and Nephthys and the other goodly gods and I was happy to hear that such powers were watching out over my life, body and spirit. Kellina also explained to me of Set and how through deception he duped the people of the Black Islands into worshiping him and committing acts of evil. Things began to come together and I told Kellina about my suspicions about Sarah and how I felt secure of in my heart and what had happened to her. Kellina explained that that was Fallon guiding me to good; giving me the instinct to sense evil. She also explained how everything that had happened to me had happened to bring me closer to Fallon and that it had been no coincidence that she had been in the town of Lambert when I needed her help, because it was not really her help I was getting but Fallon's. I learned a lot in those few days and Kellina inspired me to learn my letters and to continue in my pottery and to explore my desire to do sculpture. She explained that she was off to teach at the seminary a few days east of Geffanstagg and that I was welcome to visit her there at any time. Kellina instructed Malsted to help me with my letters and to help to teach me how to defend myself so that I might fight back and not allow myself to be victim of the tyranny of men and those that would do me harm. Before she left Kellina gave me a gift, a book. It was entitled, [I]The Ascendancy of Fallon[/I]. (1) It was from this book that I would learn to read. And so the years passed. I continued with pottery and began to make sculpture; mostly out of clay, but I also learned how to carve stone and wood. Most of my subjects were religious in nature and I also created woodcuts of scenes I had read about in [I]The Ascendancy of Fallon[/I]. I picked up on reading very quickly and soon I was devouring any book I could get my hands on; not that there are a great number of books available to be read in the Black Islands, but I read what I could. I read the messages put on the post on the edge of town and the signs on shops and I got a copy of [I]The Will of Set[/I] (2) which professed the twisted teachings of his church. Malsted began to teach me to fight. He did not teach me how to use a weapon, but mainly how to hold myself and a few throws that might get an attacker away from me. I grew to enjoy wrestling and once or twice I accidentally hurt Malsted as he was growing increasingly elderly, so my lessons stopped. It was also during this time that I began to visit [I]The Inland Sea[/I] a tavern in town. I met many people there and as usual men never paid me much attention, but I did not care. I was still a married woman and had all intentions of behaving like one. Occasionally, a drunken man would become too forward and the bouncer Briff would show him the door and once I had to kick a man hard; Fallon forgive me, but it was never worse than that. The best part of being at the tavern was meeting local people who owned shops or were vendors in the market or were just passing through. I listened closely to the bards and often asked for stories about Fallon, but few bards in the area knew anything except a basic knowledge of her. I met kind people here and in time I became a staple at the place and I gave Morrin the owner a discount on two sculptures of ships I made. It is ironic that the years of the war were among my happiest. We would hear news of the battles and once I saw a contingent of Neergaard troops march past the town towards the north. There was a great fear that they would sack Lambert, but instead they took and held Geffanstag and left us alone. Only occasionally would Neergaardian soldiers come into town and the townsfolk always gave or sold them what they wanted to get rid of them. In the last year of the war there was a huge battle near Baernhoft leading up to the the effort to retake Geffanstag. The battle itself took place several miles south of Lambert on the banks of the Millet Gabel river's northern fork. It would soon gain the name [I]River of Blood[/I],(3) for many soldiers and knights on both sides died and the water was bright red for months afterward from that point south. The Black Islands lost that battle and it was one of the things that began the Baron's attempt at reconciliation. I saw the aftermath of that battle as I ran out with others to help the wounded and dying when the tide of the battle had left them behind. I had never seen so much blood and hacked off limbs and entrails twisted in piles like sausage on the ground. I did what I could and during that time learned something about first aid. Some of those that volunteered to go out to help would not treat the Neergaardian soldiers, but I helped anyone I came upon. There was a teenage boy, almost of enlistment age going around slitting the throats of the dying Neergaardian soldiers. Someone told me of this and I immediately began to search for him. An uncontrollable disgust and anger formed inside of me and I was determined to stop him. I thought about Eric and other women's husbands and brothers being in the foreign lands of Neergaard and thought that if they deserved fair treatment so did these invaders. Since the fort that Eric had worked was now taken and nearby we had heard news that Eric's troop had taken the town of Narvedale in southern Neergaard, but battled everyday to keep it at a high cost of human life. I feared Eric was dead and part of me was relieved, and I was disgusted at myself for feeling that way. I was searching for this murdering boy as a way to redeem myself for those thoughts. I found the young boy, blood staining his leather jerkin, standing with his short sword beside an armored knight who was lying on his stomach. I could see the movement of the soldier's breathing and could tell it was labored and would soon cease all together even if the boy did not plunge his sword in the man's side where his armor was already peeled back as if by some weapon designed to do such a thing. The boy was raising the blade when I called to him to stop. "Huh?" he turned and looked at me and an evil grin came across his face. It was the face of a baby. If he had seen thirteen summers it was a lot, but already in his eyes was the gleam of a killer. "Whaddya want'?" he lowered the sword momentarily. "Leave that man alone. He needs medical aid," I told the boy and he began to laugh. "He is the bleeding enemy lady. He deserves to die," the boy said and began to raise the sword again. I stepped up to him and grabbed his arm. "He has fought valiantly and lived. Everyone deserves a chance at life and to be treated with respect no matter who they are," I told the boy in a motherly tone. He pulled away from me and began to menace me with his sword. "Stay away from me you bloody crazy lady," he said. "This here is the enemy and if you try to stop me from doing my duty as a servant of the baron you are the enemy too. " "I am not your enemy. I am your friend. Now step aside, boy so that I might treat this man's wounds and try to save his life." The boy stepped forward pointing the sword at me. "He's mine. And so is anything of value I find on him. Spoils of war!" the boy said and shoved me hard. I was unprepared for the assault and tripped over a corpse. The boy laughed loudly and prepared to kill the fallen knight who was now trying to drag himself away. The boy placed one foot on the man's back and pinned him down and raised the sword again. I watched in horror and I felt my hand encircle something. I looked and there was the mace of the corpse I had tripped over. Without thinking I charged up and at the boy with a violent scream. For a second the evil young boy appeared to me to be Eric, keeping me from doing what I wanted, what I loved, what I believed in and I swung the mace heavily at his head. The boy turned with a shocked look in his eyes and brought the point of his sword between us. I felt the sharp heat of metal piercing my flesh and the warm spray of blood up and down my body. I felt the hard crunch of the mace against the side of the boy's head and heard the audible pop of his eyeball coming free from his skull. The boy collapsed in a hump on the ground and I felt a weakness fill my legs as I looked down at his lifeless corpse. The mace fell from my hand and two seconds, two hours or two days later I felt myself follow it to the ground in a faint. Everything turned black and lights swirled around my head. I opened my eyes to see that I was lying next to the knight that the boy had been trying to slay. He was still on his stomach. I sat up and turned him around with a heave. He was wearing full platemail armor which made it difficult. He was still alive, but barely; his eyes were turned back in his head and it appeared that the face plate of his helm had been ripped off by the same weapon that had punched a hole in his armor. He had a thick mustache of a style that the men of the Black Islands seldom wore; his skin was pale. I noticed that his hands were fumbling at his belt and I moved to see what he was trying to get at even in his semi-conscious state. I saw the fresh blood on my hands and realized it was my own as I felt a spasm of pain from my wound. Of all the times Eric had hit me and all the pain I had felt it was nothing like what I was feeling now. Even when I had lost the baby the pain had not been like this. I knew that the wound was deep and that I might soon die. The knight was fumbling with a belt pouch which I took from his belt and opened. Inside was a glass vial that held some yellowish thick liquid. I held it up to the fading sun and I saw the warrior's eyes open and widen. He tried to reach up for the vial but his arms fell back down devoid of strength. He opened his mouth to speak, blood and bile were the only words that came dribbling from his lips, but I knew what he wanted. I uncorked the vial and began to pour the liquid into his mouth. Even before I had poured a full two-thirds of it he had the strength to grab my hands and stop me from using it all. I was startled and jumped back a little in the sitting position I was in. I allowed the vial to remain in his hands. He slowly sat up. "Thank you dear lady for your aid," he coughed. "I was in sore need of it." I was astounded at his amazingly quick recovery. "Do not be frightened," the man said to me. "It was but a magical elixir prepared for us by the priests of Ra in our country. But why am I still talking You are wounded as well. Drink what remains." I was still silent and then a jet of pain went through me. "Fair lady, do not be stubborn. Drink this," he told me, offering the vial. "I am not fair." Now is was my turn to cough and I could taste blood in the back of my throat and nose. Now it was his turn to be astounded. "Drink it," he almost commanded and I took it and sipped down the bitter drink. I could feel the warm healing power in my body similar to that which I had felt in the arms of Kellina and the wound was already closing and then in a surprising reversal of roles the knight was standing and helping me to my feet. We both teetered there for a few minutes as we were both gravely wounded, but it was now clear that we would live. The knight looked down at the young boy's corpse and I shuddered and felt tears well up inside me. "For a time there I thought that you and he were locked in battle over my immortal soul," the knight said, pointing to the boy. "Huh?" I was confused. The man looked at me. Despite the dirt, grit and blood on his face I could see he was handsome. "I thought he was some imp sent to bring me to serve Set in hell and that you were an angel sent by Ra to defeat him," the knight said. "In a way I guess you were." I thought of his estimation of the strange battle with a thirteen-year old boy and wondered. I could not stop but feel that no matter the outcome that I had done some foul evil and had cut short a life that might have still done good to save a life longer-lived that had dedicated his way to war. "I am being rude," the soldier suddenly said. I looked up. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Belegard Thomsine of Gildenstone, Knight of the Order of Storm." (4) I was silent. "I will need to find my way back to my men and to Geffanstagg. Do you think you could help me?" Sir Belegard said. "You are the enemy," I murmured. "What was that'?" he asked. "I am Autumn Sto- Rain," I said. "A pleasure to meet you Lady Autumn," and he tried to bow forward and I was forced to keep him from falling. "My wound disallows me the usual knightly courtesy. I am sorry. " "That does not matter," I said. "I will help you get to Geffanstag." "And so it seems that I am doubly indebted to you," Sir Belegard said. "Huh?" Again, I was confused. "You saved my life and now you will guide me to my men. I am forever indebted to your mercy and kindness." "You owe me nothing. It is my duty. It is our duty to help each other in any way possible." "You sound like a noble woman, but I will repay you." Leaning on each other I led him up the road towards my house. It was getting dark now and so I did not worry that anyone would see us. The next day I used some of my saving to buy a nag in town. Horses were rare as many were being used in the war effort, but I was able to find a broken-down horse that would soon have found its way into the meat-grinder. I gave the horse to Sir Belegrad and told him the way to Geffanstag. As I handed him the reins of the horse I was afraid that he would say he was now triply indebted to me (or even quadruply, for I had fed him the best I could the night before and that morning), but he said only a word of thanks. As he mounted the horse he turned to bid me farewell and I spoke. "If you really want to repay me then make me a promise," I said to him. "Anything," he said flatly. "You will use whatever influence; whatever favors or promises or power to bring a quick end to this war. I want the killing to stop. A situation that forces me to kill a young boy in the name of good is evil at its heart. There is no honor in it, not even for knights such as yourself. " Sir Belegrad sighed and nodded. "I promise," he said. "And if you are ever in the Province of Seareach in the Kingdom of Neergaard seek out Gildenstone. You would be my honored guest for as long as you wish and would have want for nothing." And with that he rode away. The war ended three months later, but I was not naive enough by then to think that the promise I extracted from Belegrad had anything to do with it. I spent those three months in quiet contemplation. I thought a lot about the boy I had been forced to slay and offered my prayers and confessions to Fallon nightly and begged that she forgive me, but I could not find forgiveness in my prayers. I stopped going to The Inland Sea and even stopped my sculpture. I visited Malsted only occasionally. The war had been over two months and still Eric was not back. I thought he was probably dead. On my final visit to Malsted I explained that I was leaving Lambert and going to the seminary outside of Geffanstagg to study and volunteer. I explained to him how I felt the gods had been guiding me in my life since birth and that the misery I felt was due to the fact that I had not followed that path that was so clearly before me. Malsted hugged me close and gave me his blessing and made me promise that I would return to visit and to not give up my sculpture. I left with him, as a gift, my sculpture entitled, "[I]Captain Yeardley Scott Discovers the Black Islands[/i]" (5) went home to pack a few things (including my sculpting tools) took my savings and hired a wagon to the large town of Geffanstagg. I left a letter for Eric on the kitchen table unsure if he would ever get it or if his rough reading skills would allow him to decipher it, but it was all I could hope. ------------------------------- [b]Notes[/b] (1) [I]The Ascendancy of Fallon[/I] tells of Fallon’s mortal life, her trials, suffering and triumph, and to some degree tells the tales of the emergence of the modern churches of the gods of Ra’s Pantheon in Aquerra. (2) [I]The Will of Set[/I] is the Setite holy book, which uses obfuscating theological language to justify the premise that might makes right. (3) [I]The Battle at the River of Blood[/I] is one of the most infamous in modern Aquerra, where thousands died in five days of fighting. Among the dead were the older brothers of Dresden the Black, who were hedge knights serving Neergaard. (Dresden was a PC in an old Aquerra campaign, and made up the battle for his background. I later used it in mine. I love using stuff other people make up for their characters and building on it to develop the setting). (4) The Order of Storm is the official knightly order of the Province of Seareach in the Kingdom of Neergaard. (5) The Black Islands were discovered by Captain Yeardley Scott in 131 H.E. He was soon after awarded the title of baron and given control of the islands by King Herman V. [/QUOTE]
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A Long Hard Rain - The Story of Autumn of Fallon - Completed: 8/14
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