Its been hours since they set off towards Visomar village, two men, ones name was Robert, older fellow in his fifties, quite tall for his age though he had a quite the belly, and a grumpy face of an old man that complains to much, but his blue eyes were full of determination.
Behind him followed him a man in his early twenties, whit brown hair, green eyes and a long beard, its been ages since he shaved. He was not that tall, but it can be seen that he had a strong and muscular body that of a young man.
But he didn't had a nice expression on his face, after all he was hungry and thirsty his mouth was dry, he couldn't take it anymore, he had to complain, "Hey, Robert, when are we going to arrive at Visomar?"
"Hmph!"
Robert was not in the mood, he heard it too many times during this past hour, "Hey don't you hear me old man!? Are you deaf, well it comes whit age..."
Leonard wanted to get his attention, but it didn't work, they been traveling for two years and before that Robert was his mentor at his fathers mansion, he knew Leonard well enough that he knew he shouldn't answer, it will lead just to more teasing and complaining.
"Hmph, fine if that is what you want."
After saying that Leonard became quiet.
"Yes, thank the Gods!!"
Robert was quite happy now.
Idiot, Leonard thought that, then shifted his gaze towards the main road they been following from the safety of the forest. Road was going through what was once surly fields of golden wheat, but now it was a wasteland, well war does that, he thought.
Visomar village was probably in worse shape.
Then he noticed a colon of armored men, they were armed whit pikes and swords, there were around fifty to sixty of them, marching from the direction of Visomar.
"Well it looks like u were right kid, it was a good choice to avoid the main road," They were eating and drinking while marching, sight of food made them both hungry. "Hungry aren't you, kid?"
"Hey i told you not to call me kid....but yes im hungry."
"Well u are not alone."
Don't worry kid i will feed you. Robert had strong resolve, he served and protected him for years, he will not let him starve. He swore to his father, his former master and lord, that he will protect him. "Hey those are men for hire, right?"
"Well i don't see them wearing Lions colorless, so yeah they are mercenaries."
"Why do you still call him Lion, he betrayed his brother and they even say that he killed his father to get the throne."
"Well yes, but that still doesn't change that he is a great warrior of Mercina kingdom. Prince Haftor the lion deserved the throne more then his brother, and when he was denied the throne by his father he took it by force."
Kingdom of Mercina was the strongest of the four central kingdoms, but under the rule of King Matey the Drunk, it slowly declined, Matey chose Herald over Haftor, because he knew that Herald is a loyal son and easier to manipulate from the shadows, prince Haftor knew this and when his father died in a hunting accident, he risen in revolt to take the throne.
"Hey look, Leonard, we reached Visomar."
"Yeah i see, it is smaller then i thought."
"Well let's go."
They left the cover of trees and crossed the field and entered the village, it was small village whit about a dozen run down huts whit run down people. Village seen better days for sure.
Robert approached an older women tending to hers flowers in the garden, he puts his hand on the fence and waves whit the other to get her attention. "Hey, woman, is there an inn somwhere were we could stay?"
"What say you?"
"I said is there an inn somewhere!!"
"Oh aye, there is right there"
Woman points at the biggest one of the huts at the center of the village.
"Thank you."
Robert turns around to see Leonard smiling.
"What?"
"You are going to be like that in few years old man, hehe."
"Ha!!!!!, I still have a long time before im like that, say that one more time im going to kick you!"
Robert said loudly, so loudly that he drew attention of few villagers to him.
"Hey, don't be so loud, we don't want attention."
"Yeah i know, sorry, let's go."
In small communities like these people are wary of strangers, especially at times of war, they couldn't defend them self´s against a large numbers of soldiers so they just let them do what they want, but they could easily kill two people if they wanted to.
Leonard knew that, both of them knew that, they need to be careful. They started walking towards the inn, but the Leonard realised something, they didn't have money, "Hey do you have any money?"
Robert stopped walking and made quite the desperate face, "No, i don't, remember our employers are dead." They were promised ten Elivat´s silver coins, after the battle. Elivat was a coastal kingdom and they had a strong trading navy, they had an alliance whit Imperium, that made them the richest out of four kingdoms.
Ten Elivat silver coins can be exchanged for up to 20 Mercina silver coins, a good deal.
"So what now?"
Leonard asked. Robert looked around, he saw an old man begging at the side of the road, the man was older then him, he wore a robe and a pair of old sandals that were falling apart, he had a nasty scar on his face, rendering him blind on his right eye, he collected a good sum of coins. Robert walked up to him, reaching out, the man thought that Robert is going to put few coins in his cup where he collected them, but instead Robert took it from him. " Sorry, but we need this."
Old man lunged at him trying to take back what was his, but he got punched in the face, blood started to pour out of his nose.
"Hey, don't even think about it, or you will lose your other eye." Robert said whit a strong voice.
"Why, why good sir?"
Old man asked whit tears in his eyes.
Robert ignored him and started making his way towards the inn, Leonard followed him.
"Was that really necessary, Robert, he needed that more then us, he looked like he could die any moment."
"And he will probably, after we took him his money he most likely will."
That made Leonard angry, he didn't want an innocent old man die because of him, killing in combat was different, he thought, u have no choice. "Why did you do it, couldn't we ask for food?"
"Ask for food, do you hear you self? Look at this village Leonard, look at those people, they can barely feed them self´s, i bet that most of them will bury their kids this winter."
"But, maybe we could...."
"No we couldn't, don't make me angry boy, my duty is to protect you, i swore to your father that I will protect you and im going to do it no matter how many innocent die in process. That is my fucking duty!!!!"
After saying all that he walked inside the inn, slamnig the doors behind him.
" Duty huh...."
He didn't like that word, it brought back bad memories, after all when he was presented whit his duty he failed, and then he ran away because he couldn't look his sister in the eyes anymore.
" Don't think about it."
He said, then took a deep breath and walked in the inn. In that inn he would meet a man who will change his life forever.