Ironclad: Book 2

Was I going to die alone?

Chaos was the primary driver of my life. Something always had to shift or break.

I spent several years in war as the primary driving force of the war, the very thing that drove it forward. Perhaps it was my way of feeling in control. If I could not control the events in my life. I would sow the chaos, then I would know its fruits, but for the first time in many years, I felt a semblance of peace.

A sad, empty peace.

I had little time left. My wounds were catching up to me. The Lady of the Night had prevented hindering my skills and prowess in battle, but as soon as she left me. I could feel the weight of them bear down on my body. It would not have been fatal, was it not for Valda wounding me even further.

I had fared little better than the horse I stole. Just out of view, it lied dead. I had taken it as I fled Macorekin. Unfortunately, the soldiers must have mistaken me for a barbarian and pelted my immediate area with arrows. They miraculously managed to miss me, but a few did hit the horse.

The heavy snow, blood loss and the intense speed I made it run at was too much for it to bear and it collapsed right under me. Breathing a few more shallow breaths before it died.

I had made it to the snow and cold valley bordering Abakiom. Not as if it was easy to reach them from here. A steep mountainside which would be nearly impossible to traverse was the only way up from here to reach them.

I would not be reaching them.

I trudged through the dense, knee-deep snow. Crunching and panting as I pushed through the snow. Small specks of snow gentle drifted down. The wind softly blew in through my helmet and rustling the distant trees.

It was quite peaceful. Perhaps even beautiful.

I glanced behind me for a moment. No one was there. Just the blood-stained snow I had left behind.

I was sweating and shivering all at the same time. My body could not decide if it was hot or cold. I guess this was a glimpse of what death was. Not hot, not cold. Just nothing. When I was younger, I had not thought I would die like this. Alone.

My mind was running faster and faster. It was the only thing that seemed to be still fully functional.

Then I came to the realization. I truly would die here. I my vision was becoming spotty, and I felt as if I could tumble over at any second.

I stopped walking. Took a deep breath, fell onto my knees and stared at the snowflake’s drift. An uncountable amount of them. I don’t think I had ever seen snow. Never would I have thought it so... mesmerizing.

“What was the point of it all?” I thought to myself as I collapsed. The snow gladly accepting me. As I slowly sank into it. The smaller snowflakes were still in mid-flight. Covered my back as I drifted off into one final slumber. In a cold, forgotten and forsaken place.

Was it cruel and unusual for my final thoughts to be of the fire that had consumed my family. Not the thoughts of their deaths, but that fire seemed… warm and life-giving in this final moment.

My senses slowly returned to me. I felt a comforting warmth wrapped around me. The gentle crackling of a fire and water boiling. Suddenly, I shot upright from where I lay.

Desperately trying to make sense of what was around me. My eyes saw objects and a person, but my mind did not seem able to make sense of it. For a few moments, I looked around myself. My head quickly flicking from left to right.

“Be at ease, my friend. You are in no danger here.” A man said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“A servant and friend. Please be at ease. No trouble shall befall you here.”

His words somehow felt comforting. It had been a while since I heard someone say something like that to me.

I was in a small room of a wooden building. A hearth in the centre of the room was boiling a pot of something. The man sat on the opposite side of the room, stirring the pot.

I was wrapped under layers of animal furs. They were terribly soft. It was easy to see how some animals could hibernate in them.

The man had a light brown skin tone. With equally brown eyes and hair. Kind and gentle eyes. He could be no more than 15 years older than I was.

“What happened? I thought I died.”

“Hm, you almost did. Thankfully, I was nearby and found you.”

“You just happened to be taking a walk in a blizzard. Many hours walk away from the nearest village?”

“The air is quite refreshing when it is so cold, don’t you think?”

I scoffed. “You sure have a sense of humour. Tell me, how did you do it?”

“The key is not to stand still for too long, otherwise you might freeze up.”

“No, not that. How did you treat my wounds? Any healer in the entire kingdom would have said I was a lost cause.”

“I have some special herbs, maybe a tonic or two. Unfortunately, I could not heal your scars. They seem to have been sustained long ago, however.”

“Yes, they were…” I said. “I am sorry if I seemed overly curious. A lot has happened recently. I hope you didn’t find my behaviour rude.”

“Of course not.” The man said, handing me a bowl. “Here, I prepared some meat soup for you while you were asleep.”

“I… uh. Well, thank you.”

“Judging by the wounds you had sustained, you had been in quite the battle. You weren’t some noble knights trying to defend a princess’s honour?”

“Ha. No, nothing so noble or selfless. More in line with a quest for revenge and answers. The former I had not gotten and the latter. Well, I had only gotten some answers I needed. In fact, I had taken the princess hostage to reach the king.”

The man thought for a few moments before answering me.

“You spoke of answers. Sometimes questions are much like a seed you plant, and the answer is the fruit, but to get a plant which bares fruit. You must wait for it to grow.”

“Perhaps that is true.” I said. For now, I could not bring myself to care, not find the energy to worry about the thousands of questions in my mind. I took a sip of the bowl of stew the man had offered me.

“Thank you. The stew… its good.”

“Tell me sir what, have you any heading that you shall lay in for your life?” The man asked.

“Well, not anything I can think of.” I said.

“Ah, but there is something. I can hear it in your voice and your eyes looked far beyond. Perhaps you were thinking of some place far away you wish to return to?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Very well. You have found me out. I have one goal I wish to accomplish. I have had my mind set on it for the last several years, but some obstacles prevented me from pursuing it.”

I became quiet for a few moments as I stared into the gentle hearth’s fire.

“Theres a woman. Not in the way you might think. She saved my life many years ago, in a manner of speaking. I wish to return that debt to her. With all the time that has passed, I fear it may be too late, or that she has somehow grown to hate me.”

The man reached for my empty bowl. I handed it to him as he smiled. He had a kind face.

“An honourable motive. I assure you she is indeed still among the living. I have it on good authority.”

“Is that so? I suppose I should believe you then… it would not be the strangest thing to happen today. Right then, if you would excuse me, I should go find said woman.” I said standing up.

It was true he really healed all my injuries. I felt no pain when I got up. Nor any of my old lingering wounds.

“If you want to find the nearest town. Just follow the road, but mark well, do not deviate to the right or to the left of the road. No matter what.”

What a strange thing to say.

“Very well, if you insist.”

I opened the door of the door as it slowly creaked open. Squinting my eyes, trying to make out my surroundings. It was still night. When I had left Macorekin, it was far into nighttime and yet it was still night. Even this man could not have healed me in such a short time.

Speaking of, I should thank him. It had been an eternity since someone looked out for me.

I looked around and he seemed to have vanished. I slowly went inside the hut. Checking the corner and then the other corner. Nothing, only the fading fire.

I went outside again, quickly going down the few stairs of the stilted hut.

What had happened? Where had this man gone?

“Fear not, my friend. I have not left you.” He said, his voice coming from behind me.

I quickly swung around. “You scared me. I thought you a ghost for a moment.”

That’s when I noticed he was leading a horse. Which in of itself was not strange. What was strange was that it looked exactly like the one I had ridden out of Macorekin.

“What… what are you?” I asked. My voice grew slightly deeper as I tensed up. “A creature? Something yet unknown? I know that is the horse I rode before I collapsed, and it was good and dead when I last saw it.”

“As you can see, it now stands before you.”

“Yes so, I can see and yet that is the problem. It stands. It should be dead and frozen. So ill ask one more time. What are you?”

“A friend, I assure you. Here.” He said, giving me a cloth of some sort. “Take it and open it.”

Slowly, I took the cloth and opened it. Inside was my knife and the hilt of my old sword.

“Why would you give me this?”

“The knife to protect yourself, the hilt seemed important to you and the horse for the journey ahead. You required a horse and here it is. Do you need any more explanation than that?”

“In this moment, no. not concerning the horse at least. I want to know, however, how long I was asleep for. It seems to be the same time as when I collapsed and even by your mysterious and peculiar way of doing things. I cannot see you healing me that fast.”

“You lay there almost three days. Now take the horse and go. I must take my leave now.” He said as he returned to his hut.

“Wait i-“ I said as I ran after him, but when I opened the door, he was gone. The hearth had disappeared and so had every other bit and bob inside the hut.

All I could do now was follow the road as he instructed. With a horse that should be dead. Well, technically, I should be dead. This was certainly a unique day.