The Reformation Wars: The Unmarked Swordsman

Chapter 3

The sun peeked over Alconte's Golden Hills the next morning as the pasture outside Alice Delquez's mansion bustled with activity. Servants twirled around one another, loading saddlebags, feeding horses, and harnessing a pair of the equestrians to a bronze-plated carriage. Guistan Protenez supervised with crossed arms, accompanied by a pair of similarly-armored guards. However, their armor contrasted his black in gleaming silver hues. 

Tom watched the hubbub from where he stood a ways off, stroking Exuberance's snout while the horse nuzzled him. He glanced at the stately portico, where Alice stood. She wore a dress similar to yesterday's, but this time, it was red she wore underneath the violet coat. A golden necklace hung from her neck, with a squarish pendant engraved with a seal the young knight hadn't drawn close enough yet to identify. 

Alden trotted closer, stroking Headstrong's mane as he did so. When the mare stopped, he dismounted and laid a hand on Tom's shoulder. 

"Four days' travel, and we shall find ourselves just over the border into Mintfeld. One more day, and we should arrive in their capitol." Alden said, his tone recitative, "Or at least, so Guistan tells me." 

"Are the roads dangerous?" Tom asked. 

"Unfortunately for you, no." 

Tom frowned. "What do you mean, 'unfortunately for me'? I have no desire for bandits to alight upon us, or armed men to ambush us. Why would you think that?" 

"You strike me as one who would seek cause to unsheathe the sword." 

"Well, you are a wise man in many things, Grandfather, but here, you are wrong. I'm not like my father." 

Alden's good eye closed tightly for a moment. "Oh, I pray that be true." 

"Now, what're your thoughts on this Guistan fellow? He strikes me as rather odd." 

The old man's wrinkled brow shriveled up even more. "What about him?" 

"I can't quite put my finger on it. He's just...standoffish, and rather cold." 

"I think he is only efficient at his job, and you have proceeded to receive it wrongly. A social guard is hardly a watchful one, Thomas." 

Tom snatched himself out of staring at Alice in the distance. "I suppose you're right. Perhaps I could believe in his humanity a little more if I could but see a face." 

"Thomas is your name, and a doubter you are indeed." 

The two men shared a bout of laughter at the old man's remark before falling silent and watching the proceedings before them. After a dozen minutes more of the scampering activity, Guistan beckoned Alice over. Holding the carriage door open for her, he watched her enter the cabin, closely followed by a snowy-haired maidservant. The black-clad head of security headed to the driver's bench at the front of the carriage, while his silver-plated comrades climbed ladders to the top, where they strapped their legs to a quartet of wooden poles protruding from the top of the cabin. 

A pair of draft horses heeded Guistan's command to move, and without hesitation, they began pulling the carriage along, headed to the dirt road skirting the edge of the pasture. Tom and Alden clambered onto their mounts, and then the younger knight rode Exuberance around the wheeled box to trot along its left side. Peering through the pane of glass, he could view Alice easily, drawing a smile to his face. Looking away to avoid detection, the grin remained, as the image of the senator's lovely face burned itself into his memory. 

**** 

That evening, a large fire crackled in the middle of their camp. A relatively uneventful day of riding through the Alcontean Republic's lush countryside had come and gone, and now Guistan had declared it fitting for man and beast alike to rest.