A New Day

"Who here knows what happened to the noble Rit Von Darrion?" questioned the captain of the soldiers who freed us. I raised my hand with a heavy heart. "I am his son. My father and Sam are both dead. They were executed and burned in the main square." I answered.

"Do you have any proof that you are his son?"

"Yes sir. I have our family ring" showing the captain the ring Rit had given me.

"I am sorry for your lost Ser Darrion. We have received your fathers letter and will be taking you under our care."

"What about the other children?" I questioned.

"They will also be under our care Ser if you request it. Otherwise we will have to leave them here as they are not our main priority."

As per my request me and the rest of the children were taken under the care of the castle soldiers. There was a thousand men under the brigade that came to Arid and they were tasked with protecting the eastern coast from raiders. Unfortunately, they were caught unaware by a day from the raid that occurred at our town. The castle and its soldiers were supposed to be under control of Rit and the Darrion family. But since he didn't want the responsibility he gave the command to his lieutenant.

Moving forward when we arrived at the castle we noticed how heavily defended the castle was with ballistas on the towers and hundreds of soldiers guarding the walls. The children were given food and blankets while I was sent to the lieutenant and current commander of the castle.

I was guided by the captain to large room with a desk at the center. There was a well kept man in armor going through some documents. When he noticed me enter the room he stood up and kneeled in front of me.

"My lord I am glad that you are safe. I had received the letter from your late father and I apologize for not having the reinforcements there in time. As a vassal to the late lord, I announce my loyalty to you Ser Don and the Darrion family. I Faris shall protect and honor you and the Darrion family till my dying breath."

Shocked the sudden movement of Faris and his oath to me. I told him to stand. He then notified me how he was a vassal of my father and the Darrion family. He complained how he had been advising my father to have more soldiers posted in the town of Arid for my fathers safety and the towns protection but it was all ignored. He then notified me how several smaller towns across the coast were attacked as well and my future responsibilities as lord of the land. He also told me about how he hadn't heard anything from the capital for several days. The last information he garnered were a mass of soldiers from Radia somehow gathering in the only access between the mountains.

After getting all the reports from Faris, he gave me command of the castle along with soldiers. I told him I needed to rest after everything that had happened.

The next day I assumed the role of my responsibility. I am currently 15 years old. It is a new day and I will use everything in my power to avenge Rit and Sam. But first things first I had to organize my mind and the resources I have on hand. I had asked Faris how much soldiers there was in this castle and he reported there were 20 thousand soldiers in total. 10 thousand infantry, 5 thousand bowmen and 5 thousand cavalry. I was overwhelmed by this information because from what I knew the whole kingdom of Sardinia was small and only had 40 thousand standing troops and yet half of them were here in the eastern castle. I have had my doubts but then Faris confirmed it by letting me know that the Darrion family were the only Duke family in the whole of Sardinia. Second in power to the royalty of Sardinia. The only reason why the East was part of Sardinia was due to the marriage between Rit's only aunt and the current king of Sardinia.

After taking in all this information. He also told me how the east had 10 towns and only this eastern castle which stood between the east and the rest of the kingdom blocking the passage and access from the mountains. Currently Arid was taken out of the map because the enemy had razed it to the ground. The other 9 cities were also attacked simultaneously but were easily defended.

The scouts had been able to find out the strength of the attackers to be around 5 thousand men who looked to be planning another attack with their whole force to raze another town called Selm.

I quickly had Faris assemble half the troops to reinforce Selm and destroy the enemy attacking. So that I can avenge Rit and Sam. After assembling the troops we headed straight to defend Selm. We had together 5 thousand infantry, 2500 archers, and 2500 cavalry. It was time for revenge.