The shadows of the oak trees cast a sombre mood over Leon as he gazed with wet eyes towards the raging fire just three hundred metres in the distance. He saw the devastation that his village was subject to due to the vile Northerners, as they sacked, raped and razed his hometown into a collection of ash, held together by the cries of the miserable before they too were swept away by the movements of the invaders.
He was one of the lucky few, off helping himself to the King's game when it all began.
They landed in droves, leaping from their ships with savage abandon, cutting through the defenceless serfs of Thride. The impromptu defence of the local knight's garrison fell to the far larger mass of enemies who whilst only armoured in stiff leather overran the half dozen chain mail-clad crossbowman.
The Northerner's quickly helped themselves to the items of the fallen, rifling through the bodies for whatever luxuries the desperate living within Thride had managed to keep away from the eyes of the local authority, Sir Ludwork. Upon realising how few objects of splendour the holding had to its name, much to the outrage of the invaders, the leader of the raiding party quickly ordered for his men to seize as many assets as they could, be it grain, wives or animals.
As Leon watched these acts of violence towards the few tens of people, he had known all his life, he felt anger gnawing his insides as well as an ever-developing hatred towards not just the Northerners but rather to all foreigners. As tears streamed down his face in long rivers of anguish his attention was drawn to the sound of panting coming from his left. This sound, coupled with his already volatile emotions sent waves through his being, lighting a spark of resolve within him. With his hand firmly clenched around the shaft of one of the small arrows, he carried on his person he crept towards the location of the exertion, peering through the rough undergrowth at the perpetrator of the sound.
What appeared before his eyes was a monster.
The creature was the devil incarnate to Leon, its stubbly beard left untended along with its long, blonde hair. Two strikingly blue eyes gazed at its current task. A loud groan escaped the demon, "Oh that feels good" as it began to finish its objective, relieving itself. The monster, a Northern youth of just over seventeen, similar to Leon himself, had his attention focused on retying his waist rope when he felt a sharp sting in the neck, swiftly reacting the youth flailed wildly to drive back his attacker, to no avail.
Leon maintained his intensity, repeatedly plunging the barb through his foe's neck until the carotid artery was sliced, whilst enduring the aggressive blows to the chest from his target's elbows. With a loud blood-filled cough from Leon and a large spurt of blood from the Northerner's neck, the Northerner crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
Leon gaze at the man who he had felled with trembling hands, watching as the blood dripped from his clothes and the body, pooling beneath them both. With a startled gleam, he smiled and with a soft exclamation of pleasure he looked at his new prey. He saw the hardened leather, the short knives, a small distance away and the small pig worn around the corpse's neck, likely of religious significance. Picking up the knives, he noticed the sharpened iron making up the edge and tip, alongside a durable bronze shaft providing structural integrity for the blade.
He quickly stripped the fallen invader, adorning himself in the tough armour and scabbards as well as his hunting satchel before glancing at the necklace symbolising the invader's faith. With a moment of hesitation, he decided to leave the corpse with his right to the afterlife. With a soft groan from his chest and a scan towards the ashy expanse that was his home, he swiftly departed into the shrubbery carefully avoiding the lookouts placed by the invaders using trails only a native and poacher like him knew about.
Suddenly, not even two minutes after he departed the body, he heard the loud, grief-stricken shout of an invader echoing through the forest. "My son! Someone killed my son!"
Upon hearing the hatred within his tone Leon bolted as fast as he could possibly go with his sinewy, malnourished body. Standing at 5 ft 5 inches Leon was slightly shorter then average for his age however this wasn't without benefits as it enabled him to creep through the knee height undergrowth easier during his hunts. Leon, spurred on by the threat of possible retribution ignored the throbbing pain from his bruised ribs that flared at every step as he angled towards the interior of his home country Graecis, away from the coast.
After a few hours of movement and him now well within the lush, virgin forests of northern Graecis he settled down within a tiny clearing he discovered near a small, but fast flowing creek. Leon had but half an hour of daylight left before dusk would set in, enough time to find firewood that wasn't to damp in the misty glade and butcher and roast the hare he caught before the incursion began.
Leon moved between shrubs, desperate to find some dry tinder and kindling, trying to use the work to forget about the calamity he viewed just a quarter of a day prior. With a stiff movement and a purple side he hobbled around beneath all the trees, picking out short, dry sticks which he could use to kindle the fire and some large fallen branches to maintain the fire throughout the night. He was lucky it was late summer or else without any bedding and just a fire he'd freeze in the often-snowy expanse.
Raids from the Northerners typically intensified around late summer to early autumn as they began a frenzied attempt to find enough grain to last a winter, something which their desolate mountains couldn't yield. However, Northerners had a much more meat intensive diet, with most Graecians only eating meat once or twice a season, unless you were a poacher like Leon that is.
With a soft lamentation over the souls of his fellow villagers Leon gazed into the swaying flames of his small fire, watching as the hare slowly moved from an animal into a n meal, before quickly devouring the gamey, tender flesh.
With the night drawing in Leon grabbed a dagger and lay down against a fallen log, before slowly nodding off into troubled recollections of the face of the man he slew.