The Horseman of Calamity

Chapter 2 - King's Country

Hung's eyes opened and his eyesight blurrily came back to him. Reaching for his glasses, he sat up and began packing his things. He still had some leftover coins so he figured he'd see if he could go get breakfast. Looking out his window, the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon. Back down in the main area of the inn, it was all but desolate being just Hung and the owner. After Hung got another small loaf of bread for breakfast, he left the inn and started heading to his rendezvous point. Outside of the inn, there was a lamp post that stood about 2.5 meters tall. On top of the post stood a bird that looked like a finch, it had gold and lime colorings across its feathers. It intently stared at him for a bit before flying away. When he reached his rendezvous point it was still very early in the morning, but the knight was already there.

"Good, we're to get going immediately, the royal court has been informed and is now expecting you."

There was a bulky horse whom the knight was leading, the knight hopped onto his horse, and Hung then hopped on behind him.

"You mentioned this is going to be a few days-long journey, do we have food," Hung asked.

"I've already rationed out everything, we are going to eat at the times I've appointed for each day." The knight gave a soft kick to the horse's ribs signaling it to move. As the horse began trotting on its way out of the town, Hung observed the life of the townsfolk. Kids ran around playing at the square, merchants and customers were haggling over prices, and workers carried various goods around. The community itself seemed very close-knit, with everyone seemingly knowing each other like family. It hadn't even been a full day spent in this new world and Hung was already homesick. He felt as if there was a black hole inside of him sucking away any joy.

Eventually, they had left the village completely and were now traveling on the dirt road. It seemed that they were heading in the direction of the mountains. Nothing remarkable happened during the trip to this great city, Hung noticed some peculiar-looking creatures along the way. He noticed several green small and stubby creatures hiding away in the logs or behind trees.

The rations that the knight had provided were to be eaten during the morning, midday, and finally evening. The food itself wasn't very filling or tasty which caused Hung to greatly miss his mother's cooking. At this point, Hung wanted to know the knight's name but was too afraid to ask, so he simply referred to him as "sir".

The journey didn't take too long, by the morning of the second day they had already reached a giant bridge spanning a river flowing out to the ocean. The river was flowing out of the side of the nearby mountain, the flow was enormous and the sound of the water crashing onto itself was ear-popping. it was truly a sight to behold. The bridge itself was also very grand, it seemed to be wide enough to easily fit two rows of tanks and looked strong enough to support such a weight. It looked to be made out of marble, or at least some kind of white stone. There were three guards posted on the side of the bridge we were coming from, all three lightly armored; wearing chainmail and leather. Additionally, there was a scout tower just to the side of the bridge. Two sat on either side of the bridge holding glaives and their officer was resting a mace on his shoulder, sitting on some kind of ram. Noticing the approach of Hung and the knight, they recognized said knight and made way for their passage.

"Why do they need guards posted on this side of the bridge?" Hung asked.

"To protect the city and traveling merchants from any bandits or orcs."

"Orcs? Are they big and green?"

"Yeah, and usually bloodthirsty."

"If these monsters are a problem then do you have mercenaries or adventurers to deal with them?" Hung titled his head slightly.