The Horseman of Calamity

Chapter 3 - Deception

The next morning, he awoke lying in one of the castle's guest bedrooms. His weary eyes blinked open, pulled out of slumber by the soft blue rays creeping through the windows. The room was built with smooth stones and golden-colored wood pillars and, lying against the bed stand to his left, was his katana. He laid in bed for a while, the heaviness of the covers engulfed his heavy body. It was just short of 8:00 a.m. when a soft knock on the door & one of the worker maids came into his room, pulling in a cart with his breakfast on it. It was the Marcia girl, she was missing her insistent smile from last night.

"Good morning, sir. This is your breakfast, some soup, and water to get your day started. The king and queen wish to meet with you as soon as you are up and ready."

Her speech was quiet and somber.

"Oh hey it's you, how are you and Orlund holding up?"

With that question though, she sat his tray of food down and left the room. This put immediate fear into Hung—judging from her body language and the fact that she left immediately—did that mean Orlund was killed in the chaos last night? Hung clasped his hands to his face & took several deep breaths. Ever since he had been teleported, nothing good had happened, people had only gotten hurt, and for what? A brat with some "special" sword that he couldn't even wield properly? He closed his eyes in a tight grimace and forced the intrusive thoughts out. Keep moving, he remembered. I need to get home, no matter how long it might take. He decided he had to get stronger so that no one else could get hurt because of his mere existence and so that he could find a way home.

He pushed his thoughts out and grabbed his food, and ravenously ate his soup and hopped out of bed, picking up his sword. Walking through the door he saw Till waiting on the side of it.

"What are you doing outside my room?"

Till grunted and said, "I had to keep guard over you after that fiasco last night, brat. Let's get going, we need to move fast."

They made their way back to the royal courtroom, it was only the king, queen, and their ambassador now.

The king disappointingly shook his head, "It appears that I don't have much time given that I don't even know who I can trust within my own castle right now. Hung, you are going to go into hiding in the nearby Slable mountains. I will decide when it is safe for you to come out once I get this disaster resolved. In the meantime, I will send Till and his squad up there with you so you can train in the meantime."

"I'm just curious, your majesty, but how will you be safe with one of your strongest men gone?" Hung asked.

"You need'nt worry about me, I very much have adequate protection, I have other men like Till who would be able to catch an arrow from an assassin much before it could reach me." King Alza smugly responded.

With that, Till took Hung back to retrieve his belongings, and just like that, they were off again. The prospect of being trained to fight by an elite knight excited Hung, though he hoped he'd only have to fight non-human monsters or the most despicable humans. The constant traveling that Hung was having to endure gave him a slight headache, but it was better than getting kidnapped again. They left the city as discreetly as they could, there was one lead squad to clear the path, the middle squad with Till and Hung trailing behind, and the final squad trailing behind them even further. In total, it was a group of 10 men and women. After they had left the city's walls, they then got on their mounts. Most of them were horses, but some rode rams too. The journey to reach a good secluded spot in the mountains would take about two days.

Reaching the foothills, they made their way up, there wasn't much vegetation, it was mainly just shrubs and grass. The mountains weren't too steep and had a gradual slope, making travel easier for everyone. On the evening of the second day, they had reached a sufficient spot and began setting up their camps. It would be mostly tents and a giant fire pit. Food was brought but it was only meant to be eaten for the first few days, they'd have to forage for food. There was a nearby pond that sat next to the camp, they could bathe in it to clean themselves. The ground in this area was thankfully grassy too. Finally, the best part of the camp was the view. About a hundred meters away from where all the tents were positioned there was a cliff that let one view the entire horizon. The view of the royal capital of Razem was spectacular but it was mostly plains and forests. The entire squad sat and watched the sunset after the camp was all done and set.