"Oh!" A startled young man looked down at the Guardian. The shield-bearer had pulled away from the rest of the group to relieve himself, and his soft soled boots were nearly soundless on the soft ground.
He had found a worthy tree to shield himself, or so he thought, when he allowed the bodily function to take its natural course. Imagine his shock when the ground began to shift and even more so when a hooded hero popped from the ground like a daisy.
"Are you a groundhog?" the squire asked as he took a step away and fixed his tunic.
"Would you expect a groundhog to answer?" the Guardian pulled himself out of the soiled ground, trying to get as much of the liquid off of himself as he could. The strange shadow from the earth grew before the young man's eyes, suddenly towering over him.
"Uh no..." he answered, still stunned.
"There's some intelligence in you, then," Silver muttered. "Even if you have terrible aim."
"Are you a monster then?" he wondered, fear filling his voice.
"Closer..." Silver answered, reaching down into the hole.
"Who are you talking to?" Ethyn asked, as the Guardian helped to pull the knight's body through the small hole.
"A child," Silver answered. "One who believes in massively large groundhogs."
At last the young man's pride was pricked. "I am not a child. I'm a man!" he said petulantly. "I'm a squire to the bravest knight in Lakyle."
"I'm sure you are," Ethyn reached out and patted the boy's head. He remembered those days and the bragging all too well. "Where's your sword?"
The young man dropped his eyes to the ground. "Back at camp." Having only been a squire for a few weeks, he had not even earned his right to carry a sword with the rest.
"Keep working, my boy, and you will earn your place soon enough," Ethyn encouraged him. "I am sorry about this though."
"What?" the boy did not understand.
"I promise it will give you a better war story that you fought us off than if they found out you were caught watering the enemy. They might begin to respect you," The knight lifted his sword, aiming the pommel carefully.
"I—" the boy fell to the ground unconscious.
"I hope he will forgive me." Ethyn looked down sympathetically at the boy.
"I suppose you'll never know…" Silver shrugged.
"Give me a knife you don't care about," Ethyn held out his hand.
"I care about all my weapons!" The Guardian pulled out a simple blade he could never remember using. It was pristine, but not suited to his taste. "What are you going to do?"
Ethyn took the blade and pricked his finger. He winced as he allowed a small trickle of blood to tarnish the shiny blade. Then he pressed the knife into the boy's hand. "Now he can claim he stole a weapon and defended himself. It's very hard being the lowest man. He needs all the help he can get."
"You are a big softie," Silver scolded him, crossing his arms across his chest judgmentally.
"I learned from the best." The young knight winked.
Clearing his throat, the Guardian changed the subject. "We better be on our way. The rest of the company are not far away."
They did not immediately encounter any more trouble as they skulked through the trees. Their precise, measured movements seemed as effortless as the breeze moving through the trees. Over the years, Silver had helped Ethyn hone his skills so that both men were nearly invisible among the moving shadows.
The Guardian was glad that his young counterpart was not wearing his armor for this journey. The metal protection was good for battle, but terrible for ease of motion. Without the shiny glints of reflected light and the metallic clanging ringing through the air, the two stood a much better chance of reaching the horses.
Soon Ethyn spotted a thick copse of tree where he assumed their trusted steeds must be hiding. As they drew close, the young man began to make a break toward their goal. Silver grasped his shoulder and silently held up his fist.
Whistling twice, Silver called Daisy from her hiding spot. Courage fled from the small haven and trotted excitedly towards them. He appeared almost dog-like in his approach.
The knight greeted his horse with enthusiasm, rubbing the stallion's neck in welcome.
"Looks like my horse is better trained after all," the young man smirked. "Maybe your Daisy could take a lesson or two from—" It was then that he noticed how tense the Guardian had become. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"
The knight mentally hit his forehead. Of course Daisy not coming out was a signal. Feeling foolish, Ethyn clamped his mouth shut and drew his sword. He backed up against Silver's back, as he had so many times before, and dismissed Courage with a slap on the rear. "Get them."
Taking the cue, the stallion trotted off and nudged one of the hiding men from their place, knocking him to the ground. With a blur of motion, Silver was on the man and knocked him out cold before he could recover.
"That's a neat trick," Silver said, looking over his shoulder at the knight.
"I know, right?!" Ethyn puffed out his chest.
The Guardian stored the enemy soldier's weapon in his cloak to keep him from using it if he awakened. "Too bad he isn't the only one here."
"Can't have everything." Ethyn shrugged slightly. "Shall we fight you one at a time or all at once?" he called into the trees.
Their cover blown, three men in armor burst from the brush. One pulled out a horn to blow for help, but it's blast was cut short when Silver used a whip to knock it out of the soldier's hands. The cracking strike barely missed the trumpeter's pinky finger as the metal instrument was flung away.
"That's cheating," the Guardian taunted. "You already have the numerical advantage."
As Silver put away his whip and drew his sword, the three men surrounded them.
"In the name of the king, put down your swords and come back with us. Our superior would like to have a word with you." The stoutest man said as he brandished his blade menacingly.
"Which king? Either way, the answer is no. If you are looking for a tiny wisp of a man, he went that way," Silver pointed in a random direction. As the stout soldier turned his head, Silver punched him across the jaw. The battle was on.
"I claim the third one," Ethyn announced as his sword met the tallest soldier's blade. Although the knight had not liked the idea of a large scale war, this kind of skirmish was a regular occurrence among the apprentices and knights of the Birlian kingdom.
While the results of those contests there were not deadly, they were every bit as fierce. And before that there had been more than a few occasions of the two friends having to fight their way out of sticky situations.
The soldier was strong, and his strikes jarred Ethyn's arms as he blocked the powerful blows. The soldier stepped back for another strike, and the young man's training took over. He arced over, followed by a smooth uppercut motion and, when both of those were deflected, a seamless strike across the man's body.
The last of the motions was not anticipated, and it hit the strong soldier in his abdomen. Having lost his momentum, Ethyn lunged forward and swung his fist at the other man's face. It was the only exposed part of his body, and the confused soldier was too slow to stop him. With a painful crunch of his nose, he fell awkwardly to the ground, defeated.
Ethyn kicked away the man's sword and held the blade to his throat. When he turned, the knight's face turned grim.
Silver was attaching his special leather cuffs to the two other men before tucking away their swords into his cloak.
"I said I wanted the third one!" Ethyn muttered in despair.
"You took too long! Was I supposed to wait and be slaughtered because you 'claimed' him? No Thank you." Throwing a set of leather cuffs to Ethyn for his prisoner, the Guardian finished his work and repeated his double whistle. This time Daisy came to his side. "Good girl," he told her.
Ethyn's steed came running also and the two men prepared to head home. "Things went smoother than I expected," the young knight grabbed the reins eagerly and mounted his horse.
Silver nearly threw something at the other man's head. "Why did you have to say that?"
The younger man cocked his head to one side. "What do you--?"
"Please help! They've got me! Siiiilver!!!"