Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

34th trial of Ymiden, 716

The days had grown longer a few minutes at a time for many weeks and he knew well that his small chance to sell what little he had at the near by city of Viden had come. The few gold nells he had would be sufficient to purchase some much needed goods at the city and the few skins and fish he had in excess of what he needed to survive would gain him a little more for the rest of what he needed. The air inside his cave was cold and slightly damp but he knew that only meant the air outside would be even more so. His pet, if the husky could be called that, was already waiting at the small mouth of the cave when he woke. The animal knew as well as he did that they couldn't waste much time if they had a chance of being ready for the bitter cold of winter and the long nights it brought.

He stretched as stiff back and cracked his neck as he began gathering his belongings and getting ready for the trek to the city. The pull cart he had blocking the cave entrance would be a difficult item to draw through the snow but with a little luck and a great effort they would make the eastern garrison in a day and a half. He put his two knives in his belt and stuffed his gold pouch down his shirt beneath his furs and then began gathering the rest of his gear to load in the cart. Life was like this everyday, he did what was necessary to survive, although why he bothered with the effort was sometimes lost on him. The cart broke loose from the ice that had formed between it and the rock of the cave as he pushed from inside. The night had made the little melt of the previous day into a sheet of ice over everything and he knew that it would mean he would have to compete with the ice for every inch of his long walk.

"Come, dog." he said calmly as he began putting his bow and arrows on the cart.

The half full barrel of frozen fish he had managed to catch followed onto the cart and he worried that if he were to sweat too much on his journey he would be dead before he made it to the city. The furs he used as a bed went on the cart as well as the few skins from his last few dinners followed suit and in a short time he was ready to go. His wide brimmed hat was plopped in place on his head before he wrapped the handles of the cart with extra cloth and took up the weight in his heavy hands. He had barely gone two steps when he remembered his hammer and clamps. If he couldn't buy enough supplies he may have to work for some extra silver, if he didn't get enough supplies he'd be dead before winter was through, and though he had nothing really to live for the prospect of dying of starvation and exposure didn't set well with him. He took the handles of the cart again and began pulling the cart once again while Dog ran about carefree through the ice and powder. The tall conifer trees watched silently as he went along. The clear sky was a beautiful sight as he walked but clouds held in more heat from the ground and those clear skies promised that the night would be cold. He was tempted to give in once more and let the cold take his miserable life but that image of a frozen man he saw urged him to press on into the distance.

The going was as hard as he expected but he was still strong enough to keep a steady forward motion. His hands felt frozen around the handles of the cart as he made it from the wilds to what passed for a frozen rode to the city and was glad for the slightly harder packed snow and ice. The travelers that seemed to be constantly coming and going from the city were at least good for one thing. They kept the road in existence, after a fashion. His pace picked up slightly on the harder ground and he was glad for the extra time he would make up but those hands weren't as young as they had once been and he knew he'd need to rest them warm sooner rather than later. The dog seemed undaunted by the ever present cold of the frozen world in which they dwelled and Kalous couldn't help but envy the beast his thick coat of fur. The dog bounced along around the cart and on and of the road as he pleased. He was not trained and he wasn't owned as much as they shared their existence with one another. Kal had found the dog and gave him some food and the husky had stayed, that was it, no more no less.

The cart had gone from thudding through the ice and snow to now rattling steadily over the road and soon a wagon appeared in the distance on the side of a small bend where trees stood on the side of the narrow thoroughfare. He didn't have any desire to meet other travelers, he didn't have a desire to really meet anyone he didn't have to, if he was honest, and he was usually brutally so. The dog stopped his happy bounding as they drew closer and his hackles rose as he stood rigidly staring at the wagon. Kal knew that the dog never acted in such a way for mere strangers. In most cases the dog would lick and bask in the attention of anyone he could. It meant trouble and Kal was not really armed for trouble.

He put the cart handles down on the ground as kept his eyes on the wagon ahead. Slowly he backed away and pulled his bow and quiver from the cart and nocked an arrow as he moved forward. He was a terrible shot, but whatever was ahead didn't need to know that. Slowly, he crept forward scanning the way ahead for movement and he realized quickly there was none. The back of the wagon was covered and as he got closer he saw bodies and blood on the bright white snow.

"Bandits." he whispered to himself as he motioned for the dog to wait behind him.

As he drew closer he could tell the bodies had been armed and likely hired as an escort for whoever owned the wagon. Kal didn't much care who they had been, he only really cared that whoever had done the killing was gone, so he could continue on his way.

The wagon sat motionless on the roadside as he drew closer. His storm cloud grey eyes searched from side to side as he looked for signs of ambush. If he were looking to rob and murder this spot and the attraction of a wagon would be an excellent trap. The horses were gone, he realized, and the guards had either given chase or they had been few from the start. He waited several minute before finally walking close to the first guard's body and bent down to check it. The body was still slightly warm, only minutes had passed since the body fell. He had just missed the action. The guard's wound was across his throat and from the angle it was from a taller person or possibly the guard was jumped from behind. The guard's steel longsword still sat in his closed fist and Kal wasted no time in breaking the fingers from the hilt and checking the balance of the weapon. It wasn't great but it wasn't terrible and he was a great deal better with a sword than he was with a bow.

"You won't need this now, friend." He said, as he sat the sword back down and began relieving the corpse of his belt and scabbard. There was no sense in letting it all go to waste. Winter was coming back and he needed whatever might help him survive one more season. He was still belting the scabbard on when a noise from the wagon snapped his head in its direction. The sword was quickly back in his heavy hands as he walked closer and began circling to the back of the wagon.

"Who's there?" he said in his coarse voice as he drew close.

No answer came as he drew near and lifted the skins and tarp on the back of the wagon with the sword tip and flung it aside as best he could. The tarp fell half on the ground and half on the side of the wagon as Kal stared at the last sight he had expected, bound people. He knew that most places had slaves and he cared little for their fates but in the moment he wasn't sure what he should do. They huddled in silence as they stared at him like a rabbit frozen with fear. Their eyes wide and hearts beating hard enough to see their pulses on their necks. Kal sheathed the sword and went back to checking the corpses for anything he could salvage. Light armor and a few gold pieces were all he found, all of which he put in his rucksacks and sat on the wagon. Chances were he would have to forfeit it all to the guards at the city as evidence but if he was careful he may get to keep a few things to sell for some potatoes and the like. The slaves, however, were a much bigger problem. He would gain nothing for freeing them, nothing from killing them, and nothing from letting them sit there and die from the cold. He was losing time.

He walked back to the wagon where they still cowered and he took a closer look at them. All human, a young boy and two young women, he couldn't help but think what Mara would have had him do. He reached for the oldest looking girl and cut her ropes with a knife before backing away and letting her situation set in.

"Viden is about a day that way." he said pointing east, "Next closest village is maybe three days that way."

The girl began untying the others as he spoke and began walking back to his cart.

"Can we come with you?" The girl said weakly as he grabbed the cart handles.

"That's not my problem." Kal said as he began pulling the cart up the road to continue on his way.

"But you freed us." the girl said, "You saved us from who knows what. Can't you help us to safety."

"I don't care." he said as he began walking passed, "You have feet, pick a way and walk."

"Why save us just to leave us to die." She said shocked by the rudeness of his tone.

"You're not bound," he said as they began walking behind him at a distance, "If you die it's your fault."

The girl gasped shocked at his coldness as they pulled their heavy furs around themselves and walked behind his cart. He resolved to ignore them while Dog had decided he had found new friends to play with.

Dog jumped and yipped along side the three slaves while Kal pulled his cart along the road to Viden. It was still a long way to the eastern garrison and then another day to the city itself. The young boy giggled at Dog as he hopped about and the girls whispered between themselves. Kal tried hard not to drop the cart and tell them to follow some other traveler but he knew they would be dead before morning. Despite the warmth of their clothes they were young and didn't appear to be north born or even close. They had the look of being used to sandals and soft soil. He had seen southerners before and they screamed it, what they were doing being sold so far north was anyone's guess. In fact, there were many things about the whole situation that didn't quiet make sense to him. Why would bandits leave three slaves and the steel from the guards weapons to be found by someone else? Where was the wagon driver? What could have been so valuable that it had been they thieves sole target while everything else had been ignored? Even the tarp covering the slaves had been unmoved. Something wasn't right, and it was likely none of his damn business.

He nearly tripped over his own feet as the cart suddenly heavier. Dog had jumped in and was pulling at a sack that contained dried fish and berries before lifting the whole thing and jumping back off the cart.

"The hell you doing Dog?" Kal yelled as the dog gave the bag to the slaves. His bushy tail wagging with glee as the slaves opened it and began eating.

"Hey!" Kal yelled again as he dropped the cart with a loud thud and turned to face them. The girls had stopped in surprise while the boy slowly swallowed what had already made it into his mouth. "You think you can follow me and just take my food as if you have any rights to it? Who do you think you are!?"

"We were just hungry, and..." The girl began as she held the bag frozen by his outburst.

"I don't give a damn if your hungry!" Kalous shouted, cutting off her meek reply. "I cut you loose so you could get out of that damn wagon. It wasn't an invitation to do as you damn please with my things.

The girl stared for a moment before a fire whelled up behind her eyes and she threw the bag at the broad shouldered nomad.

"Fine you greedy bastard!" She yelled back. "Take the stupid fish! I hope you choke on it!"

The girl stormed passed and up the road while the other two trailed close behind. The bag had struck Kalous' chest and he picked it up and began packing it away while Dog sat staring at him with a look bordering on disappointment in his eyes.

"What?!" Kal said as he looked at the husky with a touch of guilt clawing at his mind. "Don't look at me like that you know we don't have much."

Dog just barked and began walking passed after the three young slaves. Kalous with a heavy sharp sigh picked up his cart handles and began trudging once more. His mumbled and cursed himself as he walked. He tried to convince himself he was right but again and again he thought of his sweet Mara and what she would have done. The slaves were property, and he technically had no right to abuse it. It was entirely possible he could find their owner in the city and return them for a reward perhaps but either way, they were living things barely above children, it wasn't right to let children starve. Hours passed as he walked and as he expected he soon found them sitting on a rock resting with Dog sitting watch by their sides. He didn't like them, they were making him feel things he'd rather not, but he tossed the bag at them with one hand before beginning to walk again.

"Keep up or we won't make shelter before nightfall." He said trying to keep as much ice in his tone as he could. There was no need for them to die, but there was no need for them to get comfortable either.

The trek was slow going though not as slow as he had feared. The young slaves talked quietly between mouths full of dried rabbit while Dog kept them company. Kalous could feel the temperature slowly decline as his fur wrapped boots crunched on the hard packed road. The sky was a mix of bright whites and shades of gray as if a giant comforter lay across the sky with shadows between the mounds of fluffed fabric. They were oddly beautiful. When he had begun the day was clear but those clouds rolled in and he knew now the night would not be as cold as he had believed.

He cast a look over his broad shoulder and saw the little group huddled together whispering and wondered how long he would need to make a shelter suitable to hold them all. When it was just himself and dog he knew it would be minutes, an hour if he was picky, but the five of them together? That would be an hour or two. He checked the angle of the sun as best he could through the clouds and decided it was best to make a camp before he found out the hard way how long he would need. He hoped that they would be safe when they reached the city but it wouldn't matter if they all froze together in the night.

Slowly he pulled the cart of the side of the road and began gathering branches for the camp. He needed to clear a spot for a fire and make sure they had enough water for them all. One by one he stacked branches together and laced the fresh evergreen boughs through the thicker branches. The thick branches for support and the small boughs to help keep the wind and weather out. The young slaves watched and gathered more wood and branches for a fire with out being told. Kalous was glad for their initiative but he said nothing of it, if they wanted to survive life in the northlands. they had better get used to doing what ever they must.

The shelter took only and hour to build and the fire pit only took another twenty minutes. Kalous was unable to hide his satisfaction and sighed with a job well done. He still had more light left than he had expected and decided to melt some snow for water over the fire and eat his rations for the day before sleeping early. Dog would have the watch first and wake him for his he was sure. The young slaves didn't need a watch. He didn't trust them that much. With the next day already in mind he began starting the fire and found some sticks to hold the small pot before he began melting the snow.

He sat in silence. Wind danced along the snow clad road like a young child, rushing and twirling without care or consequences. The sun light slowly waned on toward evening as the fire blazed casting it's orange glow on the five still cold faces as they chewed mouths full of rabbit and boiled potatoes. Kal said nothing. It had been a year now since he had spent time with other humans and Dog was not much for conversation, though he tries.

The food was bland but it took the edge off of the hunger that seemed a constant nagging acquaintance, and that was enough. His rations had been quartered by the young slaves, and though they were not his problem Dog and his own conscience couldn't let the young people die. They made an effort as they ate to avoid looking at him and he knew they thought him coarse at best. It was better that way. The young always grew attached too quickly and he didn't need their approval.

Dog crept closer to the elder girl, likely barely 17, and flopped his head across her lap and closed his eyes as she ran her thin fingers through his thick fur. She began to hum softly as she smoothed the black coat on the Husky's back which seemed to signak the other two slaves to draw closer. Kal chewed a little louder, the ice that had formed on his beard leaving wet streaks as they melted away. The girl took no notice as she began to sing softly to the dog and other young ones.

Kal listened closely but didn't know the song and couldn't make out the words. The girl had a pleasing voice and he couldn't help but be reminded of Mira. Emotions surged from somewhere deep inside him and he rubbed his eyes before turning abruptly away. The song stopped and they drew their heads up in fear, uncertain of what was happening. He ignored them and began digging out a hole under the shelter while he fought the emotions down. He cleared his throat and sniffed as he worked.

"If you're out in the cold, dig a hole where you mean to sleep and put in coals from the fire. Too deep and you'll freeze not deep enough and you'll burn." He said as he began putting coals in the hole before covering them with the dirt he had displaced.

The slaves nodded as he covered the coals and laid out a bear skin before laying himself on top of it. The dog stood and pulled the girls cloak toward the shelter and waited as they all crawled in.

"Thank you, ser." The young boy said.

"Shut up and sleep. Long day tomorrow." He replied.

The girl smiled and they all snugged close to the brute for warmth.

They woke with the first rays of the much needed sun. Icicles hung above them from their frozen breath freezing in the night. The few birds that dared dwell in this frozen world sang their triumph of surviving to see another morning as the man known as Kalous stirred. His storm cloud gray eyes cracked and he found himself surrounded by the three slaves he'd freed from the wagon the day before. The cold air already began to nip at his face as he looked at the unspoiled young people that clung to him like children to a stuffed animal.

"Hey," he said calmly, the ice in his voice melted slightly by the realization they were in store for long hard lives, "Wake up. We need to move and do it soon."

The young people slowly stirred as the eldest girl, whose name he'd still not bothered to ask rubbed her face against his shoulder and made him pull away involuntarily. Her eyes sprung open startled and she sat up and began to stretch before the cold air reminded her that being warm was more than just recommended but a matter of life and death.

"What's wrong?" She asked confused from sleep.

"We need to move." Kal replied as he crawled out of the little shelter and began loading the cart.

"Okay, ser." She replied as she began waking the others and getting them going.

"Don't call me, Ser." Kal snapped before going back to packing the gear.

"I'm Sorry but I don't know your name." She replied unmoved by his curt response.

"Kalous." He said not bothering to stop his work for a conversation.

"I'm Zamara," She said moving closer, "This is my Sister, Cora and my brother Toby."

He only grunted as he began putting the skins back on the cart and knocking down the shelter he had made the night before. His brow furrowed and he looked around for Dog but didn't see him. The wooden grasp of the cart were icy and the axles of the cart were stiff from the frozen air but with another great effort he broke the cart free and began to walk toward the road. The three slaves took up spots on either side of him as they walked as fast as he could pull.

"What about your dog?" Toby asked as he looked about for the animal.

"He's not mine." Kalous replied calmly, "He comes and goes as he pleases."

"Does he leave often?" The younger girl, Cora asked.

"Sometimes." Kal said simply.

They returned to walking in silence for many hours before the eastern garrison came into view. They were nearly to their destination. Rest, hot food and the promise of a cot were a great encouragement to double his efforts. He nearly smiled as the Dog began barking and running toward them from the left, but that emotion quickly died as another sound erupted from the left. The grumbling roar of a huge white bear ripped through the air and made fear explode into the small troup. The bear barreled at them like a charging bull as they became frozen by their fear. Kalous couldn't think. There was no time. He dropped the cart and pushed the boy away in almost one motion as the bear attacked. The huge animal's paw swept through where the boy had been and struck Kal as his sword was being drawn. The man was heavy, but even so he was tossed through the air to land face down on the hard packed snow. He could barely move an inch before the bear was upon him. It's long teeth bared and sunk into his thick fur clothes as it sought to kill the man thing. The young ones quickly hid behind the cart as the dog leapt onto the bear's back and bit viciously at it's humped shoulders. The bear dropped Kalous as the Dog sank it's teeth in. Claws raked across Kal's back as it spun to try and rid itself of the Dog. The dog was tossed free by the bear and was quickly back on his feet before the bear turned back to the man clearly intent on killing the larger meal first. It's maw opened wide as Kal started to roll over. The teeth clamped on his left shoulder tearing meat and clothes with startling ease. Kal roared in pain and fear as the bear bit deep. The dog was his only hope as it lunged at the bear once more. The bear roared and spun letting Kal go momentarily but not at the dog. An arrow had pierced his back and it rounded to search for the source of it's new pain. The oldest girl Zamara ducked back behind the cart to nock another arrow as the bear rose onto it's hind legs. Kal took the chance and pulled his sword free from its sheath but the bear knew the sound well and dropped back toward the man.

The sword shot up toward the bear as Kal made his last ditch effort to save himself. The sword never made its mark as the bear swatted the sword aside and sent it to land tip down into the snow. The girl continued to fire her arrows at the bear as it stepped on Kal and bent its head to tear at his chest and shoulder again. Arrows sped passed the animal while the dog bit at the bear but it refused to quit its attack on the human. Its otherworldly hate was now all consuming. An arrow struck home and bit bone on the bear as Kal fought and gouged at the bears face. The arrow gave the bear pause and Kal whipped a knife from his belt. The bear was already back to pulling his clothes off his body as the knife stabbed into its neck. Kal stabbed and stabbed as he screamed into the bear's face. The bear shook its head as dark blood poured onto Kal and who was bleeding more became debatable. In mere seconds the bear simply slumped onto the man and forced the air from his lungs.

Kalous' vision blurred and darkness crept in as he lay gasping in the snow before he passed out completely and knew death had come to finally claim him.
Kal woke slowly in a warm bed and found himself wrapped with bandages. A thick blanket lay over him as he began to look around the room as best he could. The girl, Zamara, was the only face he saw as he tried to turn his groggy head. He tried to move and was quickly pressed to the bed by two sets of hands. Zamara and a medical assistant made him still and he soon found he had no strength to resist them. Pain shot though him in relentless waves that made his head swim.

"Lay still." Zamara said soothingly as she sat back down by his bed. "You still need rest."

"Where are we?" He croaked as he let his head sink into the pillow.

"Viden." She replied, "Guards came after you passed out and helped us carry you to the garrison and then the city. We told them you had saved us on the road and they let us stay with you here."

"Miss," The medical assistant said softly, "You're uncle needs his rest."

"Unc..." He began to object as Zamara laid a finger over his mouth.

"Just rest. We'll talk about the rest later."