Mortance: A Miscarriage of Hope

Angus Ⅱ

Even through my cloak and furs, the cold winter air bit at my skin. At least it's not snowing, I reminded myself. The remnants of snow from a few nights ago still riddled the landscape, and treacherously invisible patches of ice on the road made travel that much more difficult. Two of my knights had lost their mounts already to the obstacles, and neither Ser Arthur nor Ser Roderick were happy with their new steeds.

Lammert was the last village we would have to pass through before Elsinct, and it shrank in hindsight. We were less than half a day from the border now, and I could feel my knights begin to grow nervous. This is the farthest most of us have been from home, I realized. There were mere hours left in the first stage of my journey now. Something... not fear... anticipation took hold of me. I was anxious as any man to cross the border, but a growl from my stomach reminded me that I should not go before our future allies hungry.

I slowed Victor and held a hand up to stop my men. "We must refresh ourselves now, while we can," I announced, turning to my men. "Best not to go before the elves with empty stomachs."

"A wise choice, your highness," Ser Arthur said obediently. He had proven himself incapable of disagreement with me as we had traveled. There isn't much need for such a man at the moment, I noted. Though he'll do well in a fight, if he is even half as good as he says.

"We shouldn't take long," Ser Aaron insisted. "If we don't reach Elsinct by sundown-"

"It's only midday," I interrupted, gesturing to the sun and the clouds that glided across it. "Elsinct is not so far away as it might seem. We'll be there when we said we would."

"We got wine from Lammert 'f anyone wants some," Ser Roderick changed the subject. "They gave us fruit too."

I took a few tangerines and my own water skin. The knights were passing around a flagon of wine, but I turned it away when it came to me. "I prefer to keep my senses about me," I told them.

"Suit yourself, your highness."

In truth, I was afraid of what the wine might do to me. I'd seen it make better men than I commit horrible acts. Surely I would be fine, but here was not the place to take such risks. Thankfully, I was not alone in my refusal of wine, as Ser Philip and Ser Adam said the Sacred One would disapprove, and Ser Fred claimed the drink would not serve him at the moment.

"This will be historic," I told my knights between slices of tangerine. "Sacreon and Elsinct have not been aligned since before they were nations."

"We're not allies yet," Ser Robert reminded me.

"We will be," I promised.

"Well even if we don't succeed-" Ser Adam began.

"We will," I insisted.

"But even if we don't, I believe the journey will still be worth it."

"We are righteous men, blessed in this journey by the Sacred One," Ser Philip agreed. "I see victory at the end of this path, though not without a price."

"Victory never comes without a price," Ser Robert said. He would know, I thought. Ser Robert had helped retake the Sacred Isle in his day.

"Costly victories, and friends where you would least expect them to be," Ser Philip continued. "That is what the Sacred One tells me."

"If the Sacred One knows what's to come, why doesn't he simply tell us?" Ser Aaron wondered aloud. "Why's he got to be all cryptic about it?"

"He can't simply tell us," Ser Adam explained. "We must learn for ourselves."