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Marek

Rest...Must, rest...He had been running for so long. He was near collapse but could still hear the dogged pursuit, the goblins still on his trail. Suddenly there was a hail of arrows. He tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground. The arrows were coming from in front of him, they whished over him and hit the pursuing goblins.

Marek jerked up in bed and drew the knife that had been in the side of his bed. He only had time to see Tinuviel for a second before she fell off the bed were she had been standing on his legs to wake him up.

She rose laughing and said, “Arise, sir knight, and great the new day.”

“Do not call me sir knight, I’m not yet a knight.”

“Almost.”

“True, I'd forgotten.”

“You have not. You have been preparing all year.”

“All right Tinuviel, but you have no right to order me around. You’re not even twelve.”

“I have every right. I am a princess you know,” she said sticking her nose in the air.

“I know you are a princess, but you still can’t boss me around.”

“Fine, I’m leaving;” she stalked out trying, and failing, to look regal. Marek waited till she was out of sight, then burst into laughter.

“I heard that,” came echoing down the hall.

Marek lay back down, and his dream came flooding back to him. He thought of the rest of the story. There had been a raid on his village by the solders of Zephyr. All of the other people except his father were either dead or taken prisoner. The last Marek had seen was his sister being dragged away by soldiers and his mother lying in pool of blood. His father had been forced to drag him away to keep him from running out of the woods where they had been hiding and trying to attack the soldiers.

Marek and his father had tried to flee to a distant village with his father, when one night they had walked right into a goblin ambush. Arrows killed Marek’s father, but Marek had escaped by running away into dense under-growth he had run and run till he almost collapsed. Luckily, a party of elvish archers had been patrolling in the woods nearby and saved him . They brought him to only remaining elvish city, Vanima-Eska, where he was nursed back to health in the elvish palace by Elnareth the lord of Vanima-Eska and had been raised in the elfin ways ever sense.

Ever sense Elnareth's daughter Tinuviel had been able to walk she had nearly always been with him (invited or not). She was like a shadow. Now that she was older she was one of his best friends.

Marek was pulled out of his reverie by one of the stewards coming in.

“It is time for you to get ready.”

After the steward left, Marek rose and dressed. Over his clothes he put on a green surcoat with gold trim. He turned and threw open the shutters. Outside it was an idyllic day; made more beautiful by the gardens and the buildings with their graceful, tall fluted columns and carved beams. Marek turned pulling himself from the beautiful sight. After eating the breakfast the steward had left him, he went and walked in the woods until noon. Then he went to the Great Hall for his knighting ceremony.

He went into the Great Hall and the entirety of Vanima-esca was there sitting on dressed in there finest clothes long benches so that all were facing one end of the hall, there Elnareth stood waiting for him, Marek came and knelt down before him,

“Here do I swear fealty and service to the lord of Vanima-esca, to speak and to be silent, to do and to let be, to come and to go, in peace and in war, in living or in dying, from this day henceforth, until my lord release me, or death take me, or the world end, so swear I, Marek son of Marius.” Elnareth took a sword that was sitting on a pedestal behind him, he drew it from it's sheath, he tapped Marek lightly on both shoulders then, buckling the scabbard around Marek's waist he handed Marek the sword, “it's name is Valgurtha, it means power over death, bear it well.” After the ceremony, there was a great feast with singing and dancing (and many a poem.) After the singing was over Marek stood and went to his room thinking of things to come and what Elnareth had told him, at the thought he burned with rage.

Marek woke in the middle of the night to the sound of battle. He jumped out of bed and threw on his traveling cloths, a chain mail shirt, and a long green cloak. Belting on his dagger and the sword Valgurtha, he grabbed his bow. Running to the stables where horses were already being saddled. As Marek swung himself onto a horse the stable master said.

“Forty soldiers on horse back took Tinuviel captive and rode of to the north!

Marek charged out of the stables and after the men. Marek's thoughts whirled, Tinuviel taken captive. Who had it been? Why? Where was she being taken? He could see the trail well but if it rained to hard or they started to cover there tracks to well, what then?

It was a week later and Marek was sheltering under a pine tree in the pouring rain trying to protect a small fire on which he was cooking the last of the rabbit he had caught. He ate the meat. Then wrapped his cloak around him and went to sleep.

The morning after the heavy rain, Marek caught up with the soldiers. He broke into flat shrub land and saw them. At a touch, his horse broke into a run. As he rode, he strung his bow and nocked an arrow. Marek fired, and one of the horsemen fell. The rest wheeled their horses around and broke them into a run.

As he charged towards them, Marek noted that one of the soldiers was missing and that Tinuviel was not there. Guessing that one had broke of from the main group he wheeled his horse and charge back into the woods. He soon lost the soldier; then walked his horse, looking for any signs of Tinuviel or the soldier.

He finally found the trail of the solder. It was hard to follow, and he was not sure he was even on the right path until he found a scrap of the cloth from Tinuviel's nightgown caught on a thorn bush. Heartened, he followed the trail. Two days after he had found the piece of cloth, the soldiers trail joined a large road, and the trail was lost completely. A short bit down the road there was a large inn. Hoping for information, he rode up to it. He went inside and found the bartender. He bought a drink and, throwing caution to the wind, he asked,

“Did a soldier with a young girl come through?”

“Might have. A lot of soldiers come through here,” said the bartender.

“Where do the soldiers come from?”

“The castle. It's a day's ride from here.”

“Thank you.”

Marek finished his drink and went out. He mounted his horse and rode toward the castle. Riding all night he reached it by dawn.

Marek rode out of the woods and gasped as he took in the size of the castle in the valley before him. It consisted of four consecutive rings of giant semicircle walls with all the straight sides one. The straight side overlooked a shear cliff down to a large salt-water bay fed by a huge river. On the curved part, the ground rose steadily putting the entire city on a gentle slant. The outer three walls were very far from each other and there was a large city contained by them. The outer most ring contained markets, small shops, inns and small houses. The second ring was mostly houses the of lords and rich merchants. There was also a huge garrison and prison. Behind the next two walls was the castle proper. Inside the outer wall of the castle proper, there was a smaller garrison, storerooms and living quarters for the servants. The inner most courtyard had only a well and a small stable but on the back wall of the castle there was a huge keep where the king, his family and chief officers and advisers lived and worked. It was also where the king held court.

Just looking the monstrosity sent a shiver down his spine. At first, he thought it would be impossible to get to through all the gates. But there was solid two-way traffic though the first two. Mark bought a cloak from a merchant outside the gate and, making sure it covered his sword and the bow strapped to his back, he rode through the gate. Riding up the main street and through the second gate was just as easy as the first. He came out into a huge market selling everything from spices to shoes. As he rode towards the castle proper, the crowd thinned out. He was now riding past expansive houses where the lords and rich merchants lived. Riding toward the first gate of the castle proper he saw that the guards were questioning everyone who went in. Riding up to the gate Marek said,

“I am a adviser from Darren. I have a message for the king.”

After noting that he had a sword and bow, the guards let him pass. He repeated the story at the next gate, and it got him through that one, too. He gave his horse to a stable boy and a guard escorted him into the Great Hall.

In the Great Hall, Marek bowed low, and then moved towards the king.

“My king, I am a messenger from Darren. The Lord of Darren begs you for troops. He has been besieged by the rogue Lord, Aaron,” said Marek.

“The Lord Aaron dares to attack Darrin! It is less than three days ride from here,” growled Zephyr, his voice rising. “Garner! take 500 horsemen and a thousand foot -soldiers to relieve the siege. Stay there to protect the castle. Soon I'll send more soldiers. Then we can attack the Lord Aaron's castle.”

“It will be done!” the commander said, bowing. He straightened, turned on his heel, and walked out.

“You must stay here until this siege is over,” said Zephyr turning to Marek. “One of my servants will escort you to your room.”

“Thank you, My Lord,” said Marek as he bowed low.

Zephyr motioned to one of the servants next to his throne; he detached himself from the group and motioned for Marek to follow him out of the hall and to his room.

As soon as the servant left, Marek snuck out of his room. While no one had told him to not leave, he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be out of his room. He snuck around until he found the dungeons and was surprised to find that there was no guard. Moving quickly from cell to cell, he was soon forced to admit that Tinuviel was not there. He left and arrived back to his room without incident.

Soon afterward, a steward came up and informed him that there was to be a feast that tonight. After the steward was gone, Marek prepared himself for the feast then sat down to think what to do next. The steward came again, and informed him it was time to come down.

As Marek entered the hall, he was hit with a wall of sound. The hall was only three-quarters full, but it was extremely noisy. It was a large hall, with tapestries hanging on the walls and a huge candle chandelier. There was a large pedestal between the high table and the rest of the hall with no apparent use. Marek took a seat near the pedestal and heard two other men arguing about its purpose, apparently no one knew what it was for. Just as Marek sat down, Zephyr stood up and said in a regal voice,

“Let the feast begin.”

Servants carrying platters came from a large door on one side. Course after course came out until finally the main course arrived. It was huge wild bore. Behind the servants came four guards carrying a large cage, and inside was Tinuviel! All thoughts of restraint and planning left Marek's mind, with a growl, he leaped at the cage. Drawing Valgurtha, he swung with all his strength and severed the heavy padlock. Tinuviel jumped from the cage as everyone shrank back from Marek who seemed to grow. His wrath was terrible. Grabbing Tinuviel’s arm he ran out the door without anyone even trying to stop him. Marek grabbed his bow from where he had hid it on entering, and they took off running, charging down one corridor and another, sometimes back tracking when they hit dead ends. Marek heard alarm bells ringing, and suddenly soldiers were running and yelling. Charging down another corridor Marek saw a small door, shod in iron. Grabbing Tinuviel Marek charged towards the posturn gate using his boot to shove the drawbar away, they dropped the two feet to the ground, and they started running towards the gate.

A cart was just about to go out through the gate; Marek ran up and threw Tinuviel into the cart. He jumped into the driver’s seat, and knocking out the driver, whipped the horses into motion and out through the gate. Just as the tail end of the cart rocketed through, the man manning the portcullis slammed it down trying to stop them. It smashed off the back of the cart but it also locked the soldiers in until they could lift the portcullis.

As the cart barreled towards the next gate, arrows came hissing down from both walls. One nicked the near horse's flank. The horses charged out of control, swerving toward a ramp for bringing catapults up onto the parapet. With no way to stop the horses, they hurtled up the ramp the horses managed to bolt along the wall-top, the cart was not so lucky; it skidded out as it tried to make the sharp corner, with a tremendous crash hit the parapet. Marek and Tinuviel were thrown out and over the cliff side of the wall. Tinuviel screamed as she fell but Marek was strangely calm. Marek even so, Marek let out a yell as giant talons sank into his cloak pulling him up sharply and jerking the breath out of him, he heard Tinuviel scream stop short as one of the enormous eagles brought up her fall sharply. Marek looked down and saw by the way she hung that she must have passed out. The eagles flew toward a small boat. As they swooped in, Marek saw that it was empty. The eagles set them down lightly on the deck, Marek landed on his feet, but Tinuviel crumpled to the deck. The eagle that had been carrying Marek hovered, his great wings making the air thrum, Marek saw that it was the Wind Lord, chief of the Great Eagles. He spoke in a voice like the howling wind, “The Lord Elnareth sent me in search of you. Elvish patrols are everywhere. Once you reach shore make for Vanima-Eska, I'm sure you will meet a patrol. I will go and tell the Lord Elnareth that I have found you.” With that he flew into the evening sky.

Knowing that he had to sail the ship on his own, Marek lashed the tiller straight. Then he ran forward and pulled up the anchor. Running back, he hauled up the triangular main sail and threw over the tiller. As they moved off, picking up speed, Marek looked to the pursuit and saw that hundreds of ships full of soldiers had been launched from the harbor and were much closer than he expected. They had been slowly closing in and were now almost in range with their ballistas. He could see men on deck loading these giant crossbows with spears, wrapped in oiled cloth, ready to be lit on fire. He turned to Tinuviel and picked her up and put her in the small cabin where she would be a little bit safer.

As his ship started to pick up speed, his smaller boat with its triangular sail pulled away from the larger square-sailed ships. He glanced up and saw the eagles, now just specks, winging towards Vanima-Eska. They sailed on continuing to pull away from the pursuing ships. Tinuviel woke up just as night was falling. After Marek reassured her that all was fine and told her what had happened, he told her to go down and see if there was any food on board. Once it was fully dark, he turned the ship to shore hoping to reach it without notice. He turned into a small harbor that he'd noticed earlier. Beaching the boat in the bay, they climbed over the side and moved into the woods.

They walked quickly through the woods trying to stay silent as Marek covered their trail behind them. Soon they heard hoof-beats in the distance. They quickly climbed a tall tree as high as they could and hoped that they had covered their tracks well enough that the soldiers would just ride underneath. As the soldiers broke through the trees, Marek strung his bow and nocked an arrow but the soldiers charged right under the tree in which they were hiding but didn't notice them.

Once the hoof-beats had faded they climbed down from the tree and continued on following the soldiers trail. As they walked, Marek outlined his plan to Tinuviel.

“The soldiers will have to make camp soon or risk missing us in the dark. Once they are asleep we will try to steal a horses, you must stay close behind me. If it comes to a battle, try to run away, Make north-west for Vanima-Eska, I will delay them.

That night they stole silently up on the camp. He snuck up behind the dozing guard and slit his throat with his dagger. Silently untying one of the horses, he spoke to them to keep them from making noise. Then he silently led one of the horse out of the camp. Just as they were nearing the edge of the camp, Marek heard Tinuviel yell out, he whipped around and saw that one of the soldiers must have woken up as they walked. He had grabbed Tinuviel’s leg, and she had yelled. Thinking quickly he threw his knife, killing the soldier. He swung Tinuviel up onto the horse, as the camp came to life he jumped up behind her, spoke to the horse, and it broke into a run. All to soon the soldiers were closing in, their horses only had one rider, but Marek's horse was burdened with two. When the horses were fifty feet away Marek jumped to the ground than turned and spoke to the horse, it took of faster than the west wind and was soon lost to sight. Marek turned and drew his sword he threw his cloak to the ground he stood his ground as the horsemen closed in. The first two horse men rode down on him Marek jumped to one side, barely dodging the horses flying hooves, he swung his sword in the same movement and slashed open the horses side, he was quickly drenched in horse-blood, Now the rest were upon him. Marek's sword was a liquid blur slashing to both sides Marek fended them of for nearly ten minutes, but from the beginning he was out numbered twenty to one. With a thrust to the side he dispatched one, but he was unable to block one of the blades and it sank into his left shoulder, the wound was shallow but Marek was now losing blood, sapping what was left of his strength, another blade crashed into his side embedding the chain-mail in his side, Marek fell to the ground, and on of the soldiers that had been unhorsed by Marek lifted his sword to deliver the killing blow, and fell transfixed by an arrow.

After Marek had jumped from the horse Tinuviel charged into the woods riding as fast as she could, not long after she had run into a patrol of Elvis, she quickly explained what had happened and all but one had rode towards where Marek was, the last one was to go back with Tinuviel and bring help, at first Tinuviel did not want to go but once she realized that it would help Marek she took of so fast that he had trouble keeping up.

The other Elvis had charged towards were Marek was as they burst from the trees they started firing arrows at the soldiers closing in on the still form of Marek. The soldiers turned to the Elvis they clashed with the Elvis and were quickly over come, the remaining soldiers fled into the woods the elves dropped to the ground and ran to Marek, they field-dressed his wounds as best as they could and than made a stretcher for him with two spears and some of there jerkins, then, two at a time, they ran with the stretcher while the rest kept pace with them on horseback they switched every fifteen minutes in this way they made for Vanima-esca at a fast run.

About halfway to Vanima-esca more Elvis broke into view they had a liter that was carried between two horses as soon as Marek was in it the entire party charged of towards Vanima-esca. Inside the liter there was the best elvish healer in Vanima-esca she quickly re-bandaged the wounds and gave him herbs to help him replace lost blood. Marek had passed out after the second blow and she gave him herbs to keep him that way.

Once at Vanima-esca, Marek was two months recovering, then another two recovering his lost strength, finally the day came when Marek was deemed all the way recovered. The next day there was a ceremony to officially thank Marek, the day after that he was gone without a trace.

End Of Book One

The Siege

Marek trotted along a dusty road it was noon and Marek was sweltering in the unshaded sky. Soon he was passing huge farm fields swarming with peasants getting in the summer hay. In the distance he saw the castle of lord Aaron, commonly called “The Rock”. first I must convince Aaron that he will probably be attacked by Zephyr, then convince him that he should join me in a war with Zephyr, not a easy task. he was nearing the castle but just as he rode into the town he was surrounded by twelve armed men wearing the colors of.

“who are you, and why do you come so armed to the kingdom of Aaron” barked the lead one.

“Marek of the elvish lands, I have an urgent message for the lord Aaron.” he said, as he did he seemed to grow in majesty and the soldiers shrank back till one said in a much more courteous voice “I will escort you to him immediately.”

“Thank you.”

soon Marek was in the blessed relief of the entrance tunnel then out again into the baking sun. one of the soldiers took his horse. The rest escorted him to the great hall were Aaron was holding court. Aaron glanced up confused when he heard them come in, alerted by the clink of scabbards, and Marek's steal bottomed boots. “Who's this that comes into my hall, unannounced and armed.” The question was directed at the guards but Marek answered “Marek of the elvish lands, I have an urgent message for you.”

“Carry on”