Kipp

Part 2. Kipp

The ride had been long and tiring thus far, and the knight had observed the setting sun with a grim expression. "Men!" he called and brought his steed to a halt.

The other riders fell in line behind him. They looked around at one another before letting their gazes fall back onto the man who was seated upon a black Haflinger. It shifted its weight beneath the man who was holding his hand up, telling them to wait on him.

After another moment, Sir Vivian seemed satisfied with the response and swiftly dismounted. When he looked back at the sky, the sun was swiftly descending behind a wall of pinks and oranges that had begun to bleed into the blues and purples of the night. They had to make camp. Soon, the saddle bags were emptied, tents were pitched, and a camp had been established. Kipp was currently seated between his two personal guards, trying his best to converse with the others. He was still on alert from beforehand, yet there seemed to be no immediate danger. The road ahead and beneath them was rocky and unfamiliar to them all, a new map to track down onto parchment that would be shoved in the depths of the castle library until it was needed again. Many of those maps had only been used a handful of times, either brought out to display or for teaching the new arrivals the geography of the land. Rarely had they ever been used for battle. The firelight illuminated the men's faces harshly, etching cracks into battle-hardened scars. The wear and tear of war was already upon many of them. Sir Vivian thought he would run out of fingers before he even started to name the ones who were under 30 years of age.

Several of them were not even out of their early twenties, the eyes of fawns that leveled unsure looks at their mothers were much the same of the men that trusted Kipp with their lives and in turn he knew he could trust them. He was unsure himself, but he refused to show it to them. After all, he was supposed to be the leader. Someone to trust. Already, he knew that there would never be a time where things would return to normal. It was either now or never to complete the task ahead of them, and even if he was sure of himself now, he would never ever make them ride this road. If he wouldn't do it when he was positive about it, he had no idea why he was doing it now. The king had given him several opportunities to back out, and each time for some godforsaken reason, he had refused to step down. Kipp thought that if he could see his past self, he would strangle the man. The light grew weaker as the stars in the sky continued to appear and so the group decided the best thing to do was turn in until tomorrow, when they would somehow find the courage to keep going. To get up and reevaluate their choices and still go on. Inside Vivian's tent was the one place he held any solitude for himself. Any form of leadership he could discard like clothes here. He would never admit to wanting to just let go of it all but here he was, sat down on his mat with his head in his hands. He didn't have any motivation to get up tomorrow and it was the first night of many. Vivian groaned in pain when he layed down, not even the mat could disguise how horrible the journey could be, and the soreness tomorrow from the day's ride would only serve as a harsh reminder of what was to come. Kipp studied the dirt beneath his fingers as he traced shapes into the earth. How many more are going to die now?