Chapter 1: The field
Whoosh. The sudden noise startled Wesley. He stopped and looked around for the tell-tale fire arrow. There was no sign of it. He laughed at himself. The tension was getting to him.
He went back to walking through a massive rice field and picking some rice. When his basket was full, he stopped for a minute. Mason was walking to his left. They smiled at each other. ‘All good.’ Mason said as he stopped to have a seat.
‘Get up you lazy git,’ Smithy called to him. ‘There’s work to get done’.
Mason looked back at him with a grin. He knew that smithy liked to order others around. Even his equals, like Mason.
‘Just having a little rest,’ he replied with a smile.
Another whoosh. Wesley looked up again. ‘Did you hear that?’ He asked the others.
They suppressed a smile. ‘What?’ one asked.
Wesley looked around. He couldn’t see anything. He checked towards the lookouts for any sign of danger. Nothing.
Back to collecting, he sighed. He and his men spend many hours like this. Collecting food in fields like this one. The rice fields seemed to spring up overnight. Some fields were bigger than others. The kingdom of Roseneth had many such fields. Wesley and his men took advantage of such fields. It kept them fed well enough.
But - there were others who also wanted the food. Others who had large armies to feed. So, Wesley was tense.He worried about those who might come for the food.
Just then, a stone flew past his head. This time he saw what it was. ‘Oi, that nearly hit me!’ Wesley cried out. ‘Who was that?’
The others started to laugh. ‘Alright, alright. Have your fun, just keep your eyes open.’
No sooner had he said that then a deep rumbling sound started to rise up from the ground.
‘No need to keep our eyes open with that sound,’ said Mason.
‘There must be thousands of them,’ replied Chopper.
‘More like a horde’, added Joe Farmer.
A fire arrow shot through the bright sky. ‘I don’t think we needed that.’ Said another.
’Men, you know what we need to do. Let’s get our stuff together. Quicksmart.’
The men started to pack up their small belongings. ‘Where are we going?’ asked Mitch.
‘Why can’t you just do as your told?’ Mason asked him as he readied himself to march.
‘From where are they coming?’, Wesley shouted to Cathiss. It was she who fired the fire arrow. Her sharp cat eyes could see miles further than the men. She had placed a few men, with their small collection of bows and arrows on various rises around the field. But mostly she trusted herself to keep look-out.
‘From the West.’ She shouted in reply.
’We head to the forest in the south. Mr Farrier, can you get the horsemen and their horses together. Ride out a bit to the West and see what is coming’.
Sam Farrier mounted his horse. He rode off to round up the few horsemen that they had gathered to their small group. They started heading out.
‘Where are they going? To see what is coming? I don’t think it matters what is coming’ asked Smithy to the others. ‘All I need to know is an army making that much noise is something to be avoided.’
‘I agree with you there,’ replied Farmer.
‘Stop the horses,’ Cathiss called out.
‘What? Why?’ asked Wesley.
‘That noise. It isn’t the sound of men marching.’
‘It isn’t?’
‘No. That is the sound of horses. Heavy loaded horses.’
‘What horses?’
‘They have royal cavalry coming. They are riding quickly.’
‘Cavalry? Coming here?’
‘Yes. They will be here soon. We must hurry.’ Cathiss was part cat and part human. She ran off after Farrier to call him back. Their small horses were no match for the large war beasts coming their way.
‘You heard her. Let’s get going. We force march. Take what you can. It’s not far.’
The men knew the drill. They put what they could into their packs. The packs were slung on their backs. One by one, they started to join the line of men marching quickstep towards the forest to the South.
Meanwhile, Cathiss had run after Farrier. She ran as fast as a cheetah. It didn’t take long to catch up. ‘Stop.’ She cried out to him. ‘Look!’ She stopped and pointed to the South West. There was a cloud of dust, which seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.
‘Royal Cavalry!’ She shouted. Farrier and his men stopped. The fear was evident in their eyes.
‘What do we do?’ he asked.
‘Head South. To the forest.’ Farrier looked south.
‘OK’, he replied.
‘I’ll create a diversion,’ she called out as they parted.
With a shout to their horses, Farrier and his men turned south. They quickly overtook the men, pushing their horses as fast as they dare.
Cathiss went North. She wanted a northern distraction to make sure the Cavalry didn’t see their small group. They were no match for such a large army. She found a small rise, where her archers had been stationed on looked. They had left a pile of arrows and a couple of bows. She shot a fire arrow into the pile. Then another. It caused a small fire.
The smoke would be enough of a distraction for the charging war beasts. At least, one long enough for everyone to get away.
Cathiss then took over heading East. It would be a long way around for her to get to the forest. But everyone would make it safely. That is what mattered.
