The Knight and the Peasant [FIRST DRAFT]

Chapter 36

The ships landed on the white sand beaches of the quiet Sersalvonian village. It was dawn, and so the people of the village were just waking up and rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

The ships were unboarded, and rows of men-at-arms clad in chainmail and brigandine armor with kettle hats and armed with spears, polearms, and short swords at their sides.

The sound of the peaceful morning was split by screams.

The men-at-arms cut down anyone in sight, spears jabbing, polearms falling, and swords swinging. Mothers grabbed their children and tried to run away, but were pierced with crossbow bolts. Some fathers grabbed spears, pitchforks, cleavers, hammers and tried to defend their wives and children, but they were cut down all the same. Those white sand beaches soon were stained with blood.

The small dock filled with fishing boats were soon all ablaze. Barbarudi warships equipped with ballistae and catapults were firing their blazing loads onto the unsuspecting boats. The sigil of Barbaruda and Réaltimar flew high and proud in the sky, safe from the bloodshed below.

Elias himself landed on the crimson-stained beaches. He was with High Guard, protecting King Peter as he strolled through the carnage. The young king was smiling as he surveyed the destruction, clad in his Faesteel armor, enameled green and gold-bearing the peryton of Réaltimar. Elias had the urge to shake his head in disgust, for the peryton was not so wanton with fire. But he was a soldier, and he resisted.

He also had half a mind to run out to the village and to stop the slaughter. He had served many campaigns with Peter's father, the late King of Réaltimar. Lyeona had been a bloody twelve years. Many times he had led raids against villages and towns, ordered to draw out the lords who reigned over them into open battle. But even those had never seen such slaughter. It had never been a needless slaughter. But this... this was the work of a child who had been denied what he had wanted.

There was no order. Only chaos. And Peter reveled in it. The smile never left his face as he saw the village burn. There were a dozen other attacks like this one happening all over the Duchy of Rivièrra. Where the blood of peasants ran in rivers and fire blossomed.

In the end, about thirteen peasants had been taken prisoner, ranging from men, boys, women, and children. "Put them on the star," Peter ordered. And the men obeyed. Thirteen stars were raised up in a circle around the village, the sign of the Faith of Réaltimar. The Gods of the Star. The thirteen peasants were nailed to each star, left out to slowly die from the elements. As they died, the priests of the Star began a prayer. And the men of Réaltimar prayed beside the screams of the dying peasants of Rivièrra. When they left in their ships, the fires of the village had stopped, leaving only the black and gray ash in its wake.

It all happened so fast, and yet every second felt as if it were an hour while he was there. Drowning himself in disgust. Perhaps he should've done something... he was the Lord High Steward after all. The second most powerful man in the kingdom. He could've stopped the slaughter. Brought order to the chaos.

But it would've been at the cost of defying Peter. The son of his best friend. He still remembered King Karl Altendorf of Réaltimar. A man who incorporated Élira into the kingdom and subjugated Lyeona, the greatest rival to Réaltimar. His sudden death left his budding son the crushing weight of an empire that had only lasted for little less than a decade. One that was still frayed at the seams and needed to be repaired and tightened.

So far, Peter had failed.

The new King of Réaltimar had managed to get them stuck in a war on foreign soil and seas over a thousand leagues from home. The end of this war was nowhere near in sight despite what they said. There were thousands of islands in the Caraíbes Isles. Each with its own lord or lady. Each that they would have to invade. And even now, there was a sickness spreading amongst the men. Hopefully, it was nothing too large, but Elias had his doubts. They were in a new land with a multitude of illnesses they had never seen.