Greggan

Greggan held his breathe at every crunch of the leaves or rustle of the branches above. His current hope lied within a small cavern inside the roots of a realm-wood willow. Often these trees were found growing along the savage lands, the edges of the La'Velle sometimes would have a few of their own in the wilderness separating them. Their roots were deep and spacious, large older trees were known to be able to house large families if they didn't sever the wrong root. Minutes passed by but they felt more like hours, he held his breath hearing the rustling of those running by followed by their screams. How long would he have to sit here before he was found or they went away. He began to cry softly, tears filled his deep blue eyes leaving lines of mud down his face as they cut through the grime that had rubbed onto him from his hiding space. More time passed and he hadn't heard the rustling of leaves or the sounds of movement above, the night had begun to turn to day as dawn began to creep above the horizon.

The arcane cloud had turned a pleasant shade of pink and shrunk considerably, there was no more lightning or grumbling as if its thirst for blood had finally been slate. It began to turn north.and begin to return the way it came, streaks of purple light would enter the cloud from all directions before assimilating and becoming the pleasant pink.

Greggan closed his eyes and remained deep in the roots of the willow tree cradled in a swatch of moss and vines where he fell asleep.

His head was filled with nightmares of mages wielding great spells slaughtering his many mothers of the brothel, his playmates screaming from the basement as they perished in purple flames and lightning bolts. His dreams echoed with screams and the sound of crackling lightning. He awoke in a sweat covered in tears, he quickly wiped his face with the inside of his shirt. He peeked through the roots to see the afternoon son shine above. He could hear the birds chirping and the bard owls playing their songs, the forest was teaming with life as if the destruction a few hours prior hadn't even happened.

He decided to crawl from his hiding spot the safety of the roots had started to lose its luster after many hours of having one of them lodged against his ass. He climbed down from the roots and onto the muddy forest floor, he noticed the road was up above the embankment and he decided to climb up the muddy hill. He stayed to the ground closely as he reached the top, mud caked his pants and shirt and skin as he climbed. He peeked slowly and saw a few bodies laying astrew scorched faces frozen in terror but nothing living. No stragglers or guards left over, the place was void of humanity just the birds and spider-squirrels rustling above and the badgers and ferrets scavenging in the leaves below.

Greggan walked the path back to the city, he didn't even realize he had gone so far down the path, it only seemed like he had ran for a short time but his adrenaline had been pumping and he had not even realized the tree he had taken refuge under was at the bottom of the incline of the road of to the left hand side. He walked as close as he could to the gates, he just wanted to see the rat den left standing and his family still there. He turned the corner and stopped, ahead was the gate and nothing else. The entire city was gone, no standing walls or pillars, just black ash and mud remained. A thick fog from the ocean had started creeping towards the city, blanketing the remains of what was the La'Velle in it. It gave Greggan a terrible feeling beyond the sadness he already felt, he wasn't feeling brave anymore he just wanted to run back down the path and run until he found a village. He had never left the rats den before, let alone the whole city, he had no money or food and no one to get it from either. He felt scared and helpless reminded he was just a kid way out of his depth. He turned around and decided to go back to his tree for the night, by the time he got back to it the sun would set again and he didn't know what to do but he knew doing it in the dark was a bad idea.

His stomach rumbled from lack of food and mouth felt dry and uncomfortable as he walked back down the road. He was filthy thirst and he hadn't eaten since yesterday's breakfast of eggs and toast.

The sound of hooves smacking the pathway further ahead crashed like lightning startling Greggan causing him to trip and skin his knees. His eyes glistened with tears but the sound had sent him panicking on all fours into the brush, the thorny prickers scratched his face and hands as he crawled into a deep thicket of briar bushes in an attempt to flee from the sounds of the horses heading his way. The sound grew closer and Greggan hugged the forest floor beneath him, careful not to make a sound in case he be heard by the riders. He didn't know if they were going to be dangerous, the kind of men who wished to harm little boys. Greggan had met many of these men during his life at the brothel, they would offer his mother many fine things for him but luckily for him she always refused and would talk them into spending coin on her bed instead.

He watched beneath the brush of the bushes as the hooves of large horses begin to speed passed, sparks from the horses shoes would spark as they rode. Greggan began to count the horses as they passed, he counted twenty large white steeds carrying twenty iron clad men holding banners with red eagles printed against a black flag. " those are soldiers from Aridtown!" He thought to himself, Aridtown was on the western coast of Thre'a, ran by the Holstin family, the cousin house to the house Arcana. The city must have sent riders to scout the area for survivors or just to confirm the great city was gone.

In the distance the sound of thunder came again, more riders were coming and by the way these riders were acting these riders were not apart of this scout team.

Greggan could hear the sounds of swords being released from their sheaths and knocking of arrows into bows. The new riders were not Holstin men but men from Aerios the eastern coastal city governed by the house Magus, the silver kraken against a bright blue flag flew behind these riders. They came with more men, Greggan couldn't count the horses this time, there were almost twice as many as there of the Aridtown riders. It was silent between the two group of men neither side were expecting the other to have shown up. Two large men in armor carrying large swords walked in between the two groups, helmets on and their visors up they extended their hands for a hand shake. The tension that pressed on the men slowly lifted and more of the men on both sides dismounted their horses. " captain Waters of the aridtown rangers, scouting the dead city for survivors, our main mission is to locate the King or any of his kin who may have survived and take them to Aridtown to be protected by the Lords army there." The captain was wearing red armor with silver inlays, the crest of the blood eagle laid on his chest piece outlined in gold. His sword layed in its scabbard its eagle head pumice forged in gold and silver caught the eye of many a knight, it was a very famous sword even Greggan recognized it, Valors-Talon the sword that put the house Arcana in power, gifted to the house of Holstin for their loyalty during the war of would-be kings. Aerios and Holstin were houses pledged to the royal house and by right allies. The two men discusses the particulars of their missions and decided to cooperate together for an easier time searching the remains of the city.

The two men went back to their men then formed a line made of the two groups essentially merging and single file they rode up the road to the destroyed city. The men seemed to not have any malicious intent so Greggan decided to follow the men, sticking to the thicket and far behind. He followed them up the path, staying back and trying to be as quiet as he could.

"Sir" on of the soldiers leaned over to his captain, " i believe we are being followed" the captain smiled " yes i know, he's been following us since we met with the arid-men at the bottom of the path" the captain had no plans to harm the little stalker, on the contrary he planned to bring him back to Aerios but didn't want to frighten the boy, he may have information about what happened and at the very least he could save this child if no one else. " we will let him be until i tell you to acknowledge him, understood?"

"Yes my Lord." The iron clad knight responded, " shall i spread the word among the men?" The captain nodded and went back to riding forward pretending the child wasn't following them. Pretending not to hear the leaves crunch or sticks crack.

The group and their tag along reached the gate that used to lead to the rats den, again Greggan peered into the black smoldering remains of his home, tears welled as he thought about his mother and other children and women he lived with all gone.

" ok little fella, come with me" Greggan jumped, standing behind him was a Aerios Bannerman, he tried to flee but was quickly scooped up by the soldier and thrown over his shoulder. He pounded his fists and kicked his feet in a last attempt to get away but he was no match for this full grown soldier, " lad if i have to pick you up off the ground because you made me drop you ill flog you with the closest hickory until your legs are striped like a tiger boar." Greggan was a brave boy, or at least he was always the leader in all the games him and the other children played and those games would often involve him and his playmate battling orcs or black pheonixes. This was no longer a game, these soldiers could slit his throat and toss the body off the cliffs of La'velle into the ocean below. "

"Good lad, settle down now. What's your name?" The soldier was a hulking man with large forearms, his hair was shaggy and ill kept and a thick beard he kept short. He was missing a couple teeth but it looked like they were knocked out in a tavern brawl or battle.

"Greggan." He didn't want them to know he was a bastard, most bastards are treated worse than the slaves across the great isles of the Broken seas. " Greggan i'm Devros, are you from this city?"

"Yes i was. I mean i don't think there's anywhere left for me to go to there. " Devros sped up his pace and headed directly for the captains horse which was lazily strolling along the path next to the other from Aridtown. They were discussing the rumors they had heard about attack, the surrounding villages reported the events to the closest out post and eventually word came the other cities of Thre'a.

" My Lord, it appears our tag along is from here and survived the events." Decros said as he came upon the two men on horseback. Sweat was begun to soak his face, carrying the extra weight of the boy on top of the heat of the day and all that damn armor has begun to make Devros feel like a roasted pig. " listen lad, if i put you down don't try to run, the captain is good with a bow and can lay a shaft in between the eyes of a jackalope at 100 yards. Don't try to run away or be trouble and you'll get escorted to whichever city you want and you can go to the home there."