Dragonsbane

Evil Bird Attack

Chapter 1

A Bird Comes For a Visit

            The entourage came to a halt. The forest they were passing through on the way to Baroke was rumored to be a nest of robbers. For the wary soldiers it seemed that an unfriendly face peeked out from behind every massive tree which heavily populated the area like wooden guardians. To make matters worse, a heavy fog settled into the region due to the early spring rains. It spread like a blanket and was almost opaque. The soldiers could not even see their own muck-covered boots as they trudged along. Many stumbled over the large roots and found themselves face-first in a muddy puddle.

It had been a week and they were exhausted, very dirty, and wetter than drowned rats. This had been the third time they had stopped in an hour and the ambassador they were guarding was getting restless. The men envied  him, for while they were out slogging along in their heavy mail and getting soaked to the bone the ambassador was relaxing inside a padded carriage (which was admittedly rather bouncy due to all the ruts in the road) nice and clean.

Two beautiful white Palfreys were pulling it. They were from the finest breeders in the country, but they weren’t made for this kind of work. The ambassador had foolishly thought that this journey would take a couple days, if that. Now the gorgeous creatures were exhausted, their shockingly white glossy coats now brown and caked over with grime. They stumbled occasionally with exhaustion. The soldiers agreed that they were wasted. The ambassador’s pride had cost many days on this trip, for a sturdier war horse such as a destrier would have fared much better.

          When they stopped this time though, the ambassador thrust open the door of the carriage so loudly the horses jumped to the side, making the carriage jolt and the plump ambassador fly out very ungracefully and hit a rather large puddle with a wet SLARP. He rapidly recovered, stumbled to his feet, and turned to his guardians. One of them snickered.

          “SILENCE!” the red-faced ambassador spat, trying to get the mud off his face and failing, “Why in the name of Pete are you stopping again!? I’m sick of this!” So are we thought the soldiers but they didn’t dare say it out loud.

          The chief guard, a robust man named Ralem stepped forward “Sir, we believe there may be something in the area. It’s just a security check, sir. And if you would just get back in the carriage…”

          “NO!” yelled the ambassador, mad as a wet cat, “I WILL NOT go in! This has gone far enough! I was supposed to be at Baroke four days ago!

          “Sir,” Ralem said hastily.

          “Don’t sir me!” Ambassador Kelly yelled, then eyed the soldiers suspiciously, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were leading me to the enemy all this time. Just wait until the Queen hears about this!” Then Kelly’s face fell as he thought about the possibility of telling the Queen about it while he was way out in the wilderness.

          “Sir,” Ralem said gently” I have sworn my life and my sword to the Queen, as we all have. In doing so, we have sworn fealty to you. We have been held back by the frequent storms, the ruts, and the treacherous forest. Don’t worry; we should be there by tomorrow afternoon. Our tracker, Quimby, has noted that the rock over there is by our destination” he said, pointing to a huge rock in the distance that was half shrouded by fog. “Now would you please step back into the carriage?”

          The ambassador huffed and tromped back to the ornate steps. He lifted his now-muddy expensive shoes to climb up the steps, but the fancy shoes found no purchase on the slippery steps. With a holler he fell forward and hit his head against the rails.