Sir Tainly
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Prologue
As the rounds of applause for the latest story ended, a young, thin man dressed in full armor sat quietly in thought, making no movements aside from breathing. He wore simple silver armor that showed the tell-tale scratches of combat. His face was hidden from view by his armet, which was similar in style to a certain group of knights. His body was enshrouded by a simple, yet elegant, white cloak. A young woman nearby in the audience noticed his battle attire, and asked him if he would tell his tale next.
The young knight looked up and, though his face was hidden, was evidently surprised to be addressed. "Er, no thank you, ma'am; all my stories are dreadfully dull."
"Oh, but I insist," she insisted, "please, tell us your story!" By now, a majority of the crowd had been alerted to the conversation, and the presence of a knight. They, hyped up by the previous stories, begged him to tell them his story.
"B-but, I am not a bard! I cannot tell an entertaining story to save my life! Certainly, there is someone else who could tell their story..." But the crowd would have none of it. They pushed him onto the pedestal and sat, anxiously awaiting the story.
Resigned, the knight sighed, then began his tale, "Very well, I shall tell you of how I became known as...
Chapter 1
An ominous wind blew across the land, stretching from the small civilization in Oaklore, through the great city of Falconreach, and even to the far off city of Dragesvard. No town was spared of this wind, the foreshadowing of events to come. It blew early in the morning, sparing many from feeling it's cold premonition, but there was one who was very much awake at the wind's arrival, a young nobleman named Tainly.
Sitting by his fire in the woods of Oaklore, Tainly shivered, getting closer to the fire as the cold wind blew across his camp in the early dawn light. It was at that moment that the fire briefly changed to a searing white color before going out. Stunned Tainly yelled, jumping back from the fire, screaming incomprehensible nonsense about cursed woods, all the while grasping his amulet firmly in hand.
Eventually recovering from his shock, Tainly sat with a sigh; without a fire, he wouldn't be able to break his fast. Though food were where his thoughts were, he was purposefully trying to ignore the foul wind that had blown by; the unnatural cold was frightening, as it was the middle of spring. The last time unnatural winds had blown, they had been precursors to wars, such as the Fire War, or the Invasion of Frostscythe.
"Right, I suppose I can't mope around all day," Tainly said, he began packing up his nearby belongings, preparing to set out for the day's journey. While he was doing so, he recounted the exchange that had occurred a few days back between his father and himself:
"And what are you going to do, Tainly!?" the Lord Ragant, a huge bear of a man, shouted at his youngest son, "You're lack of motivation shames our family name!"
Tainly cowered before his fearsome father, though he stood a good head taller. Tainly was the son of a minor nobleman in Swordhaven. Though his lordship was small, Ragant had was extremely prideful, earning the moniker, 'Ragant the Arrogant.' All of which caused problems for Tainly.
Tainly, tall and thin like a reed, had always been an embarrassment to his father, or at least in comparison to his older brother. Tainly, the younger son of Ragant was not as skilled with a blade, nor as silver in tongue as his elder brother. Instead, Tainly's abilities lay in his quick wit, and, though he rarely showed it, his superb willpower. Indeed, if there was something Tainly set his mind to, he would certainly accomplish it.
"What am I going to do with you?" Ragant asked, sitting on his "throne."If only your were more like your brother, Face. You know, he was recently knighted?" Then, the lord's face lit up, "Yes, that might work for you! Your uncle, Sir Tax, works in Oaklore, a backwater place, but still a good starting place for you. I want you to join your uncle and serve under the Knights of the Pactogonal Table! There is nothing more honorable than serving under the good Captain Rolith.
And just like that, Tainly was forced to leave his home for Oaklore.
Chapter 2
Not long after setting out from his camp, Tainly arrived at the famed fortress of Oaklore. To his surprise, the fort was not made traditionally of just stone, but instead was built around a massive tree, with stone terraces protruding from the live tree. Awed by the sight, Tainly stood there stupidy, gawking at the massive structure. He was startled out of his awed state by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Embarrassed, Tainly, expecting a fellow traveler wishing to pass by on the path, stepped aside, and turned to apologize. What he saw instead was a helmet-less knight watching him. The man had bluish-black hair, a rather gaunt face, and a very prominent nose. "Greetings traveler," the man said with a smile, "Welcome to Oaklore Keep. Rest a bit, I'm sure your travels have tired you. I am Sir Ano, a new knight here."
Taken aback, but not forgetting his manners as a nobleman, Tainly bowed and said with a stutter, "A-ah yes, g-greetings, Sir Knight, I am Tainly. I have come by my father's wishes to work under my uncle, Sir Tax."
"Ah, yes, Sir Tainly. It certainly worried us when you didn't arrive yesterday, as expected."
"Oh, I apologize for that; I just that it would be better to arrive in the morning rather than at the late hour I would have arrived, had I continued."
"Very well then," Sir Ano said, "Please enter the keep." As he said this, the massive oak doors opened, allowing Tainly access to the keep.
Inside the keep, Tainly noted the bustling activity of armored knights moving around. I suppose a fort would be busy, considering the past few months we had. Tainly thought, thinking back on the multitude of invasions in Falconreach, especially that of the Pyromancer, Xan.
"Hello there," a voice boomed out from the ruckus, "I see you have finally arrived safely, Lord Tainly." From the crowd stepped out another knight, but from the ornate armor with dragon wings on the shoulder, to the massive hammer he easily carried, to the stern look in his green eyes, it was obvious this one was a knight of rank. "I am Rolith, the captain of the Knights of the Pactogonal Table. It is a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand, and Tainly shook it.
"Ah yes, thank you for the warm reception, Sir Rolith. I hadn't expected to be greeted by the captain himself!"
Rolith grinned at that and said, "But of course, though we are constantly busy, I always remain in the grounds, making sure that everything runs smoothly. Come now, you must have had a rough journey to get here. Come to the mess hall with me, Sir Loin is a fantastic cook."
Tainly smiled and said, "Of course I could go for a meal. But the journey wasn't as difficult as my father had made out. Must be because of my walks in the woods back home, and," he said, patting the handle of the sword on his back, "this certainly helped against the wildlife."
Rolith looked genuinely impressed at that, "You say you managed to fend off the beasts? Not many are capable of such feats! Your father certainly underestimates you."
Tainly grimaced at that, but just as quickly lightened up again, "Yes, he does tend to underestimate me. I can't say I blame him really, my brother, Sir Face, tends to stand out more than I do."
Rolith looked over Tainly carefully, noting both the size of the sword, as well as the pack that Tainly held over his shoulder. Noticing his gaze on the pack, Tainly explained, "Oh, this? This is just the bag that I keep my armor in." With that, he put it onto the ground, and untied the cord holding it shut. Inside, there was the gleaming armor of a warrior. "You see, I always carry my items myself, to make myself stronger."
Rolith, again genuinely impressed said, "Impressive indeed! I may have to knight you at this rate!"
Tainly laughed at that, "Oh-ho, no sir, I am not knight material."
"Oh, I'd beg to differ. From what you said, you are both handy with a blade, and strong. You are also modest, and a skilled speaker. You may actually be able to become a sergeant here!"
"Sir, you do me too much honor, I-I just don't think that I'm worthy of such an honorable position."
"Nonsense, I'm sure you will be knighted within the month, you just need to prove yourself."
As he finished saying that, a man yelled from the outside, "Open the gate!" The gates were, of course, opened to allow passage to a battered knight who was panting heavily.
"Sir Vey, what are you doing here?"
Sir Vey, who's face was covered by an armlet, looked up and said in between heavy pants, "The-The undead...th-they are coming...Sep-Sepulchure, he's...he's coming!" Sepulchure, he who was once the King Alteon's greatest knight, but now the incarnation of evil. He himself was coming to attack.
The implications were nearly enough to drive Tainly to his knees; before, the attacks had always been done by minor evils, such as Xan, or Frostscythe, but this attack was being led by Sepulchure himself, the Doomknight. There was no conceivable way the knights in Oaklore, or the Guardians in Falconreach could survive!
As Tainly finished these thoughts, a multitude of horrid screeching came out of the forest. "What was that!?" Tainly practically screamed, so nervous was he.
"...Undead," Rolith said with conviction, eyes stone-cold, "Sir Vey, go see Sir Junn to tend your wounds." Then, Rolith called to a knight standing by one of the doors leading into the Keep, "Sir Valence, alert Sir Geant and the others, we're being attacked! Raise the Keep's alarm!" The knight saluted, and entered the Keep. Withing minutes, the entire fortress was abuzz with even more activity than before.
Rolith looked at Tainly with a firm gaze, "Well then, Tainly, it appears that your chance to prove yourself has come very soon. Put on your armor, and join the others in the Keep."
To be continued...
< Message edited by Sir Tainly -- 6/8/2011 16:17:42 >
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