The Tale of a Mercenary

Chapter 5: The Outside World

Birds chirping as the sun rises on a new day. Nele gets up excitedly and quickly gets dressed. Looking over at the sword that lies on top his chest basking in the morning sunlight, a smile creeps onto his face. Today is the day he can finally become a mercenary. Quickly grabbing his sword and attaching it to his side, he steps into the next room, greeted by his mother and his final meal that he will eat here before setting off.

"I've made your favourite for today, considering that I may not see you for a long time." his mother starts, "One last thing, Nele. Promise me that you won't become one of those bad men. That you won't take advantage of the poor or the disabled, and you will do your best to help the people who deserve it. Do not forget that you can't trust everyone out there, always keep a eye out and stay safe. That's all I ask of you, my baby boy."

"I promise, mother. Don't worry, I will be careful. I'll have my friends with me." Nele smiles as his mother embraces him. The rest of their time spent together is in silence, and Nele finished off his porridage before giving her a hug one last time.

Exiting his home, he makes his way towards the village head's house. The early morning sunlight makes an impression on Nele, one that he'll surely remember on his travels. Just in front of the village head's house stands the six mercenaries, all ready on their horses. The village head is talking to Ren, whilst the others seem to be lazily hanging around. Ashley is already sat in her saddle as Nele comes up to her.

"Hey Ashley, how are you feeling after yesterday? And what about your dad, isn't he coming to see you off?"

"I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking, though I do feel slightly tired still. Also, you should know better than that about my dad, Nele, since we used to play all the time as kids together."

"You're right, sorry. I bet he won't even notice you're gone till the time we're back." Nele chuckles, but Ashley just sits there stone faced.

Karlin rides over to the two of them, with Adaldria seated behind him. He's holding the reigns of another horse in his left hand. The horse has a brown coat of hair, it's main a dark black.

"Your village has quite good horses, lucky for you two. We managed to buy them at quite a cheap price as well." Karlin says as Nele gets on top of his horse. "I assume you both know how to ride a horse?"

"The last time we rode any was a couple of years ago, but I think we should be more than capable if we keep a steady pace." Nele replies, gripping the reigns tightly.

Ren comes walking over from his talk with the village head.

"It seems like the third child won't be coming with us." he begins as he also gets up on his horse, "The old man won't budge about keeping her safe in this village. If only he knew that even here isn't safe for her."

"Hush now, Rem. You shouldn't say that so loudly." Karlin replies.

"You're right, my bad. Anyways, let's be off. We must first head to Forestsedge and then from there, we'll head back north towards Ravensbeak. Should take us at most a day, and we'll pass through quite a few villages on the way." Rem continues, looking towards Ashley and Nele.

Slowly but surely, they all ride out of the village at a steady pace, before setting into a trot. Nele's mother looks out of the window again to her departing son, remembering the exact same depature her husband did seventeen years ago. Not being able to hold her tears back, she starts weeping quietly to herself as she holds her necklace tightly.

"Please watch over him, Jacob. He needs you now more than ever."

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