The Thief

10

"Today, we ride with the wind," the kings voice boomed in the knight hall. Most knights were called in, but I didn't no why. The king doesn't discuss these things with me, until the official knights meeting, even if I was like a son to him and stood by his side. "We have a new threat to our kingdom. If we don't attack now, all we've ever known may be gone. All of you standing here before me will either join me in battle or stay behind and lose your title! Do I make myself clear?" Everyone cheered for battle as I smiled. Caerleon raised his hand to silence everyone. He looked at me and smiled knowing this was my first battle. "We ride tonight!" He sat in his throne and smirked at the crowd. I searched the crowd to see who would be joining us. I saw men of many different color and sizes. In the back, older men with white hairs sticking out and I wondered if they should be fighting or not. As the rows came down, the knights got younger. In the first row stood children my age and younger. Some of the new recruits stood without smiles. They looked afraid and I began to wonder why. Shouldn't they be glad to be serving the king in battle? They should have seen this as the best thing in the world, but instead they looked terrified. Sure, they haven't really had a lot of training yet, but this battle could help them out more. Right?

After the meeting, I ran to find Philip. He was talking with Aetheria in the castle corridors. I smiled at them as I approached. When Aetheria saw me, she ran up to me and hugged me.

"I just heard from mother! I'm so proud of you, Myrddin!" She pulled away just as Philip walked up.

"Congratulations, Myrddin. At least one of us gets to go into battle." He gave his famous dimpled smile at me.

"You'll get your chance some day, my friend." I nodded to him.

"So, have you seen some of the knights that will be going?" Philip asked.

"No one that I know, but some of the new recruits and some of the older knights. Maybe two hundred men by the looks of it. Maybe two fifty." I stated.

"Wow, so, not that many are going?" Aetheria asked. I shook my head. "Last time there was two thousand. Father must think this will be a quick battle. At least this is your first ever battle and I can't wait to ask you how it went when you come home."

"I think I should go get ready." I smiled at them as I began walking the opposite direction we were walking.

"Good luck, mate!" Philip yelled. I turned and smiled.

"Don't need it." I ran down to the stables. We held many horses in these stables. My favorite one was Crystal, my black stallion. Caerleon showed me the stables one day and I grew attached to Crystal right away. It was like love at first sight minus all the weird stuff. He whinnied when he saw me.

"Hi, boy. Miss me?" I pat his mane. I pulled out a red apple I had in my armor and fed it to him. I'm always sneaking apples for him whenever I could. He loves me for it. The only thing that annoys me about these stables are the fact that no one feeds the horses a decent meal. Besides the kings horse, all the other horses get only half a bucket for two days. It's not nearly enough. I walked over to the saddles and took Crystals. Caerleon taught me how to saddle a horse two months after I came to the castle and I'm thankful for it. I saddled Crystal and led him outside into the evening. I saw some of the other knights walking towards the stables to grab their horses. I waited outside with Crystal until Caerleon came walking up with the younger knights at his side. He nodded at me as his led the newbies into the stable. I nodded back to him out of respect. Within a few minutes, we were on our way.

I had no idea where we were going, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that I was going to fight in battle along side my king, my mentor. Barely anyone said a word. I rode on Crystal next to Caerleon. I heard someone tell a story. When I turned my head, I saw that it was Thomas, a boy that was only two years older than me. He told me how when he started training two years ago that he was nervous too and he taught me how to take that feeling into battle. It sounded strange at first, but when I took his advice, it really help ease the nerves. He curly brown hair was like a poof on his head. His dark brown skin made it hard to see him in the dark, but when he smiled, you could tell it was him from a mile away.