Ru'Di
First Chapter
Shortly before the sun touched the top of the trees, with a little less than two hours before the last of the daylight turned to deep dusk,,, the fires were lit. Steam had filled the air of this long day with what moisture that was in the plants, trees and puddles being baked out by the ceaseless sun.
Each fire was ringed by stones and each stone was of the same height and thickness with a tapering towards the top. Each fire was always a safe distance out in front of the tented but, close enough to be handy, warm and of light at night. In quieter times, one fire for cooking per tented would be the norm. Later in the year, when fending off the chill of autumn, two fires for each tented was the norm.
But when an enemy was near,,, three fires for each tented were lit in the art of confusion and hopes that the enemy would think more warriors were to be faced in the coming battle than actually existed.
Though it was the dog days of summer, this night would find five, six, seven and even eight fires lit for each tented as the enemy to be faced in the morning was massive and had clear advantage in numbers. With some degree of uncertainty beginning to swirl around the encampment, it was hoped that this would, at the very least, confuse, if not scare the enemy. It was hoped that smoky confusion would test the iron of tomorrow's enemy's will to fight.
The still, damp evening summer air held the smoke from the many fires to just above the treetops. Straight columns of smoke arose from each fire as if an arrow was shot straight up and was stopped by some invisible force or ceiling. The new smoke found little room to expand in the waning evening sky and a blanket of smoke settled over the treetops of the encampment as if a mother was covering an infant from the chill of the oncoming darkness.
The odor of dried peat moss for kindling, and the stench of tree moss that was hastily left on the green wood thrown into each fire, stank as if the smell some how wrestled itself from the smoke and took on a life of its own. Some talk began in the encampment that the immense amount of smoke above the tree tops from green wood and peat mixed with the humid, still evening air would serve a foreboding message to the enemy.
A knight's squire moved quickly and quietly from tented to tented passing the word that all fires were to be put out, first with some water to dampen but not completely extinguish the fire and then with any food grease they might have so that the enemy would think that the final meal was being prepared and that a night battle was being planned. This, the squire assured each group at each tented, would keep the enemy up all night and when at dawn they would attack, the enemy would be at disadvantage from lack of sleep.
The first pink hues and yellowish orange streaks of the morning's sunrise flickered through the branches of the trees as men and horses began the preparations for the battle to come this new day. The smoke from the previous night's fires mingled with the humid dew and streams of fog and the odd smell of peat moss, green tree and food grease from last night was barely noticed by men scurrying to prepare for battle.
Others, with more delicate noses, in the encampment just thought the air stunk.
As he suited up his tarnished and newly rusting armor, the gray-haired knight thought of days gone by. The old knight tugged at underdrawers that for too long had not been washed, as they had been in storage, and they were in dire need of mending as well as a good scrubbing. Such trivial matters would have to wait for the day's battle to be won before being tended to.
“The heat and the wetness of the air will weigh heavy on my men and some will fall from summer madness,” the gray haired knight thought to himself concerning all the steel armor each man was putting on this worrisome early morn.
“Freddy,,,” the old knight bellowed.
“Freddy is it? For all to hear? Just think, if I were to call aloud, “Artie, my man, could I have an uppence in my tuppance as my wife is in need of a new bolt cloth for a formal gathering we are planning to attend in the fall”. Freddy, indeed, my Lord.”
“Squire Fredrick, if you so insist, attend to my armor and make haste, lad. If you were the enemy you would not want to be left waiting all on the manner of a squire who mistakes friendship for some slight. Make haste old friend, for today,,, many brave men shall perish while you discuss your wife's new dress.”
“My lord, your forgiveness I seek,,, and your understanding that any wise man fears the wrath of a wife more so than that of his beloved King.”
The gray-haired knight, the King, easily allowed his old friend and only squire to start the lengthy process of strapping armor to an old, yet still more than fit for battle, knight and King's body.
When he was suited in armor and properly protected from harm's way, the gray-haired knight turned to his long time friend and trusted squire. “Remember, if you will, when we fought no one except the oncoming night time because we wanted to play forever as all children do?”
“Yes, Artie,,, beg pardon,,, Sire,,, my King.” Freddy always spoke to his best friend with a smile as to lessen his worry prior to battle. “I do indeed, Sire. ÔTwas a time a heart could sing and a maiden could dance with ease and peace in itself. A time, Sire, when your armor grew heavy, like us, with no use. Yes, Sire, I remember peace and strangely enough,,, I remember the Majdelene, especially Kemo and Song.” With those words the squire grew quiet, yet happy and with a broad smile upon his weathered face that stirred memories of so many beautiful,,, and, peaceful days gone by.
“I, too, remember the Majdelene,” the gray-haired King said as he stretched the kinks out of his tired body and rusted armor alike. "Seems love still fills your heart, old friend, as well as your memories.” The gray-haired King, with new found vigor, moved effortlessly to the doorway of his dressing tent and looked out past the forest to where he knew history would be forever imprinted in all of mankind by the sacrifices and deaths of many brave, God fearing men who would be fighting evil for what all hoped would be the last time.
“My lord, if I may be so bold,,, am I the last to see the fantasy of what we are about to set forth on today? In what shall be hell on earth and carnage amongst all our feet, there is,,, at the center of each of us,,, hope? What is this feeling that grips my chest and why is it that I feel as if tomorrow will bring what all of us wish we had awakened with, today?"
The gray-haired King turned one last time before leaving the doorway of his dressing tent to head for battle and said in a peaceful tone, “I see the need for one of us to find the Majdelene for I feel in my heart, and know in my mind, that your answer lays with them.”
That day,,, and long into the night, the battle thundered on.
Hills and ground shook so much from the incredible dark weight of ironclad men, bent with none but the destruction of the other, that leaves fell from trees like rain, flowers wilted in fear and all of God's forest creatures ran in panic.
Sweat poured from horses and men alike as the silted and moist air mixed with dust, death, and the heat of the sun. So intense was the fighting, and so deep the hatred between foes that many men died with no blessing from priest and horses clad in their heavy armor died as quickly and loudly in their pain. With no clear victory this brutal day, both sides, the Good and the Evil, knew that tomorrow would bring the answer deciding once and for all why man would prove the reason behind the calling this time in history,,, the “Dark Ages”.
Moments before the moon was due to reach its zenith on that bloody war torn day and night, the battle broke off in stalemate and both sides retreated to their encampments. Wounded were tended to, men and horses alike were fed for the first time that horrific day and the silence of a battle left to be fought another day preceded the gray haired King and his men.
The old knight, the King, was matched stride for stride by his long time friend, whom everyone did indeed call Freddy, though it did irk him so.
“My Lord, we gave them a good thrashing today, if I dare say so.” Always the positive one, Freddy had little time to think twice of his words before the King spoke.
“Thrashing? I think not old friend. What makes you think a victory was won when surely half my men are perished or lay wounded? Such folly from someone who lay neither a sword, a lance, or an arrow into the black hearts of our enemy.”
“My Lord, forgive me, please,,, it is just that I believe our army fought so bravely and those black hearted villians gained no ground upon us. Surely you must feel some pride in our noble quest?”
“ÔTis true, squire, that the enemy gained no ground and every one of our men fought bravely to stop those evil men's advance. Make sure the men stay in armor tonight and see to it that each receives two tankards of grog to ward off the night's chill,,, and their pain.
“The enemy knows our strength, except our small reserves, so let there be only one or two fires at each tented, a good meal and all the merriment they wish, at least until I call for all to gather,” the King said to his friend as they came out of the forest and into the encampment.
As the King and his army broke ranks no one noticed the beautiful maiden standing to one side with no smile upon her lips until she saw he, who lightened her heart, riding just behind the King.
Then it began,,, a real frog choker of a rain.