Between a rocky hill and a forest, lay a road going from the town of Arden all the way to Doren, capitol of the kingdom. That road was named after the king Derik Elcekster, the man who ordered it´s construction. Some five hours ago an army of Crown Prince Harold Elcekster marched on this road to put down the rebellion of his older brother Haftor Elcekster.
Five hours later and that road was covered by bodies of fallen soldiers. Most of them wearing Prince Harold´s colors. His army was ambushed by his brother and he was killed, this marked the end of his short rule. Amongst that field of corpses lay Leonard once a son of a powerful noble who served as right hand man to the previous King Matej of Mercina, was now nothing but a pitiful mercenary.
He lost his family name, and his lands to a foolish mistake he made. Which was trusting his best friend. He lay there amongst the dead looking at the sky and thinking about the past life he once had, and the foolish mistakes he made. After some time he noticed that a few rain drops started to fall. He decided to look for some shelter before the heavy rain starts to fall. So he slowly got up and started to move toward the trees of the nearby forest.
As he got up he notices that he was hit on the head. So that´s how I got knocked out. He thought. Oh well I should be thank full that happened. Stench of rotting corpses and the sweet smell of blood field his lungs as he walked through the battlefield. Carefully watching his step so that he doesn´t trip over a dead body.
Then he noticed a familiar face amongst the dead. A guy from the nearby village called Visomar, they played dice together just yesterday, now he lay dead his stomach ripped vide open, crows feeding on his guts. He thought for a second to scare them off by throwing something at them, but they would come back so there is no point. Distracted by that sight he tripped over a dead body and fell in a hole few meters deep. He landed right on a burnt body of a man.
"Argh! Fuck!" His chainmail shirt now dirtied by blood and small pieces of burnt flesh. "God damn it!" He get´s back on his feet slowly. Then he remembered, fighting whit a man trying to choke him out on the ground, then an explosion that tossed him few feet in the air.
"Oh, so a fire ball spell landed a few meters away from me. No wonder i got knocked out."
The hole was a few meters deep and about five meters wide, the ground was still warm and smelled of burnet flesh. He climbed out of the hole and continued walking. After reaching the tree line he sat down, leaning on a nearby tree over looking the battlefield. Now he could see clearly how bad it was.
"It truly was a slaughter." He said quietly. Siting there for some time waiting for a friend. He believed that his friend was still alive although the chances were low. Well he was his mentor as well. A man who teached him everything he knew about fighting. The way of the sword, bow and many other things. How to ride a horse as well. All things his father should have teach him. Or so he thought.
But still he didn´t blame his father, he was busy whit governing the kingdom. Since King Matej was a ruler who didn´t care about his kingdom in his later years. Soon the heavy rain started to fall and whit it, fog started to descend on the battlefield. After some time, he became worried. He held his mentor in high regard, but he was just a man of flesh and blood.
But then he noticed a silhouette of a man approaching him. Not knowing if it was an enemy or a friend he grabbed a sword of an nearby dead man. But soon his worries disappeared, it was a familiar face of an old grumpy man, his mentor. He stumbled his way through the dead, and sat next to Leonard.
"Hey kid, you look like shit." He said as he sat down.
"Could say the same to you Robert."
"Yeah. Im glad you are alive Leonard."
"Me too Robert, me too."
Two of them got separated during the chaos. Leonard tried to find him, calling out to him but to no success. Seeing that he situation was getting worse he focused on his own survival.
"Hey are you okay?" Leonard noticed that Robert was wounded. He had a cut on a left side of his torso.
"Oh this? It´s nothing, just a scratch." It wasn´t. Leonard knew he was trying to not make him worry.
"It doesn´t look like a scratch."
"But it isn´t deep either."
"But...."
"Leave it!" Robert cuts him off. "We should focus on getting to a village or a town." Leonard sighes. He knows that it would turn in an argument if they continued.
"Visomar is not that far away from here. Half a day on foot at most."
"Well it´s our only option, when we get there we will decide what comes next." Then Robert get´s on his feet. "In which direction is Visomar?"
"You forgot? That´s old man´s memory." He says whit a chuckle.
"Shut up and tell me."
"Ok, no need to raise your voice. We can go through this forest, rather then back tracking. We will reach a road on the other side of the forest that leads to Visomar." Robert nodes and starts walking.
"Come on let´s go. We don´t want to be in the middle of the forest when night falls."
"Yeah, coming."
Two men lucky to be alive, whit no plans for the future start making their way towards Visomar village not knowing the adventures that await them.