Preparing For Battle

Preparing For Battle

 

The room was a little cold.

“What on earth are you doing here old man?” I asked, still amazed by Rowan’s sudden appearance.

The Duke had given us his observatory to talk in after I had requested some privacy for me to be able to talk to the farmer. He had been happy enough to oblige me, although he had urged us to be hasty if possible, as Symonds army would soon be upon the city.

Rowan sat at the table quietly and examined the many drawings and writings that lay strewn across the place. To anyone else it would have seemed that he was rudely ignoring my question, but after knowing the man for many years I knew he was just taking his time to answer.

‘Unless a matter is truly urgent than why rush your answer to it?’ he had once said to me. ‘It is far better to be perceived as rude by taking your time to answer than to rush yourself’

Eventually Rowan put down a piece of paper he had been examining and looked up at me. A heavy smile was set across his face and his green eyes twinkled slightly.

“News that a man named Danariel le Pelletier has revealed himself in Hollowdell as the Guardian’s son spreads pretty fast among us common folk” Rowan explained, the twinkle still in his sea green eyes. “So naturally I placed Peter in charge of the farm and rushed off to come and find you, and here you are”

“And here I am” I repeated, spreading my arms wide open. “How are Peter and the rest of the lads doing anyway?”

Rowan laughed and I shot him a quizzical look, as if to ask what he was laughing about.

“Well Lettuce has this thing you see” Rowan said, trying to explain with hand motions that pointed to his crotch.

“What kind of thing?” I enquired tentatively, still unsure of exactly what he meant.

“A kind of rash I suppose...” he said slowly, still pointing to his crotch. “Although a little more colourful than one would expect it to be”

“Oh I do see” I said. “Too many ‘wonderful women’ I expect?”

We both laughed for a while after that, and not the kind of fake laugh I usually mustered up when talking to people I didn’t like. The kind of laugh that only two people who really know each other can have together.

“He believes it is a sign that he should settle down” Rowan added after wiping the first few tears of laughter from his eyes. “You know, find a nice girl to marry and have a family with, all that kind of stuff”

“I remember a man who would only leave the whorehouses if his c**k was about to fall off, are we still talking about the same Lettuce old man?” I asked shortly.

“Well everyone has to settle down eventually, Danny” he replied. The twinkle from his eyes was gone.

The old farmer’s appearance had shielded me for the rain up until now, but it was starting to rain again.

“A shame that settling down can never work out for everyone” I replied quietly.

Rowan opened his mouth to say something but I rose to my feet and turned away from the farmer. Outside I could see the sun shining onto the balcony but I most definitely couldn’t feel the sunlight as I stepped out.

Ominous black clouds sat on the eastern sky and were slowly moving towards us, and towards the sun. The Duke had been wrong though, for these clouds were not going to burst, they were going to rain down and blot out the sun.

“From the look of those clouds I would guess that we will be fighting in the rain” Rowan said from just behind me. “Than again you always fight in the rain, don’t you now, Danny”

Smoke still arose from the burnt out farmlands, but apart from that there was a far darker smog beginning to cover the lands.

“What do you mean by we, old man?” I demanded. “The battlefield is no place for civilians such as yourself”

“Do you forget who taught you how to fight in the first place” Rowan exclaimed, placing an arm over my shoulder as the Duke had done. I welcomed this arm.

“You do this of your own choice though” I replied. “That you stayed safe down below with the women and children, as demeaning as it may seem, I would far rather than you risking your life to help me out”

“It’s what family is for though lad” Rowan smiled, the twinkle returning to his emerald eyes. “Risking our lives for each other and all that, and after all you’ve been through I think it is time that I truly helped you”

In spite of the storm clouds which were hurtling in and the dark smog that had begun to cover the land, the sun was still there. Whether it was raining or not the sun would still be there, or at least Rowan would.

“Thankyou, Rowan” I whispered, patting him on the back.

“It’s about time I… we went and prepared for this battle isn’t it old man?” I added after a moment.

Taking my arm back from the farmer I began to move towards the door, however I could still feel his eyes upon me. His eyes were staring into me as I turned around.

“Danny, about the Manhunter you brought here with you”

I wiped a bead of sweat away from my forehead.

“What about Martyn?”

“He explained everything about how you two met to me” Rowan explained in a hushed tone. “He will find out one way or another Danny, and someday soon I suspect”

“So long as it is not today than I have no quarrel with facing up to my crimes. But today there is another murderer who I must bring to justice old man, and I’m tired of waiting for him”

 

 

Martyn was waiting for me in the barracks’ armoury. Instead of his usual outfit he wore armour forged of many sturdy rings, chainmail. In my time as a smith I had never quite mastered chainmail.

“You and that Rowan fellow sure did take your time” he mumbled.

I ignored him and moved towards the last set of chainmail remaining in the room. Martyn’s hand barred my way.

“Not for you. The Duke himself delivered your armour”

He pointed away from the chainmail and further down the armoury. Sitting upon a rack was a far darker armour than the chainmail I had been about to don, its designed matched that of the castle’s demonic towers.

Although the armour appeared to be in far better condition than Martyn’s chainmail I had no doubt that it had seen as many, if not more battles. There was an undercoat of chainmail which was topped by pieces of plate armour.

Gauntlets and shoulder plates which spiked out and into the air. A single chest piece centred over where the wearer’s heart would sit. Greaves and boots that looked like demonic legs and feet. All pieces were darker than the night save for their streaks of crimson red which seemed to be pulsing.

A helmet sat next to the armour. It too was black, red and horned like the rest of my armour. A note sat next to helmet and its white shone brightly next to the black armour.

 

 

The armour of my forefathers
may it serve you as well as it

has served me young Danariel.

For I believe that you will suit

it far better than I ever have.

- Rolland

 

 

I scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it away. “Thankyou”

“Sorry, what was that Danny?” Martyn asked. He must have thought I was talking to him.

I looked at the Manhunter and smiled, I really had hoped he would never find out. “No, I didn’t say anything Manhunter. Would you be able to give me a hand putting this on though?”

“For sure”

After Martyn had helped me to put on the armour I gazed into a large shiny metal plate that stood against the wall. A soldier’s version of a mirror.

I now looked as horrible and as evil as I usually felt. The black and red armour was like a physical manifestation of how I had always felt inside. I was gruesome, and terrifying.

Martyn tapped his armoured hand on my spiked shoulder. “I for one would not wish to cross swords with you”

I looked at him once more and smiled, although due to the helmet I wore any expression of mine would nonetheless have been horrifying. “Thankyou, Martyn”

“What for?” he asked, looking surprised.

“You never acted differently around me after finding out my identity. I am truly grateful for that Manhunter.” I had never really thought about it properly before then, but after doing so I realised that thanks were in order.

He smiled back at me before turning away and drawing his swords. Practicing a few swings to warm his arm up. “Honestly I just never saw the difference. Men are men, whether you be a king or a farmer it’s all down to how you act in the present that defines you rather than how you used to act or who you used to be.”

“In my line of work it pays to think like that” he added after a moment, tapping on the side of his head. “As I’m sure you have come to realise Danny, a murderer is a murderer, regardless if who they might be.”

I took off my helmet as Martyn turned to face me so that he could see and feel my smile. “Have you ever hunted down anyone who was more than just a mere man?”

“If by more than a mere man you mean a god, than sadly the answer to your question is no.” he replied humorously. “I have in my time however been sent out to hunt down a few men of lesser noble blood, it was my speciality actually. That was, until one of my jobs went sour, after that I was forced to deal with petty jobs such as our smugglers”

The Manhunter took sheathed his weapon and took a seat. He was shaking his head an awful lot.

 “What went so wrong Martyn?”

“The man I was supposed to be bringing in was a young nobleman, not so different from yourself actually. When I finally caught up to him he attacked me, I was only going to knock the poor sod out but during our duel he threw some sand at me and it got into my eyes. Not being able to see I started swinging my sword to try and keep him away, not realising that with my first swing I had sliced his throat.”

My mouth was extremely dry and upon trying to gulp down what little saliva there was in my mouth I almost choked. “What did you do after that?”

“It wasn’t that far back to the courts, so I did the only respectable thing I could. I carried the kid’s body back in and gave it to them.”

I stayed quiet. I had no idea what to say. You would have thought with everything that had happened in my own life that I would know exactly what to say to comfort people. But the truth was that I could not comfort anyone, because no one had comforted me.

“All that is in the past though, Danny” he said after I moment more of shaking his head. “In the present we have a city to protect my friend”

I nodded my head and offered me hand to the Manhunter. He took it gratefully and together we pulled him up and onto his feet. Symonds was coming.

 

 

As Martyn had been waiting for me inside the barracks, so were Eugene and Damon waiting for us outside. Together the four of us set off in the direction of the walls. The two soldiers said they had already seen Rowan head off with Lucius.

“So you came here and joined this war just in the hopes of killing the Duke’s son than, Danny?” asked Eugene.

Damon laughed and punched his friend in the shoulder. “Well not only that, but he came up with that whole plan that lead to this battle”

“Well yes but I’m still puzzled as to why he’s gone to all this effort to kill just one man, Damon” said Eugene.

Damon looked over at me. “Well what is the reason for all of this, Danny?” He swung his arms out in an attempt to encompass the entire city. “I mean, why do you want Symonds dead so badly?”

Symonds had murdered Katherine. One of the few people who had made the rain go away, and the one and only person who had made it stop completely for a time. He was a murderer and a monster the likes of which made my father seem insignificant. The man was the embodiment of everything I hated in both this world and probably the next. But I couldn’t say that.

I let out a long and exasperated sighed. “He murdered someone very dear to me once. Someone who at times my life can seem unbearable without.”

“Would that someone happen to be a girl?” Eugene asked at length.

I nodded. “Aye, she was a woman.”

“Understandable.” Damon snorted.

Eugene mimed something to me and shook his head as I opened my mouth to ask Damon what he had meant. It looked like: ‘don’t ask.’

The wall surrounding the city itself although not as imposing as the demonic towers of the Duke’s citadel was still equally as massive. We climbed the stone staircases quickly before reaching the top of the wall and meeting with Lucius and Rowan.

“Nice armour lad” Rowan said, looking me up and down.

If he said anything else after that though, I had no idea. I was too busy looking out into the distance, scanning the area for signs of Symonds and his army. They were nowhere to be seen.

“Be patient Danariel, he’ll show himself soon enough” a voice said beside me. It was Lucius and he too was scanning the background for signs of Symonds. “The enemy will arrive soon enough, and your enemy will show himself soon enough. Just remember that you need to stay alive for long enough to find him”

 “Thanks for the advice” I murmured. “I’ll try not to die”

After making it through the outer wall of Hollowdell’s city Symonds would then have to take the city’s streets. They were the labyrinths of nightmares, even the simplest of men could murder a warrior in them.

After the streets would be the walls of the Duke’s castle itself. Then after that he would need to storm and seize control of the keep, however I doubted he would make it that far. I doubted that he would even make it past the streets.

But like I have already said, even after everything I wasn’t ready yet, and it was time for war.