In the afternoon of the next day, while it was still light, Raymond returned home. He lied to the knightly lord's steward, claiming his mother was critically ill, nearly at the point of needing last rites.
Reluctantly, the steward granted Raymond leave, as the law of Brittany detailed provisions for serf's leave due to illness, including sick leave.
The spirit of knighthood was still observed by the nobility... at least superficially, with laws in place and the nobles still harboring a fear of the Lady of the Lake.
Taking advantage of this, Raymond returned home early as planned to cook a meal with his mother. After eating, they would wait for the riot to start and then flee.
Upon opening his home's door, Raymond was greeted with a fragrant aroma, the result of his mother using their seed grain to make porridge.
Seed grain was a serf's lifeline. The scent brought not joy to Raymond but a heart-wrenching pain.
Without any other choice, who would willingly become a fugitive, leaving the land of their ancestors to embark on a dangerous and uncertain journey?
"Raymond, you're back? Eat quickly! I'll pack our things," his mother said, gathering their belongings, including numerous jars and old clothes, practically all they owned.
"Ah, mom, we're fleeing! These things are heavy and hard to carry. We won't get far with them!" Raymond, knowing they had been starving for months and a single meal wouldn't sustain them for long, decisively set aside these items and urged everyone to eat quickly.
Thomas, the younger son, couldn't care less, his gaunt face filled with longing as he greedily devoured the porridge and bread, even licking the bowl clean.
"Eat up, Alang and the others are causing trouble!" Raymond hurried his mother and brother, knowing the serfs planned to riot at the end of the workday. After a hearty meal, he packed the remaining bread into a sack for their journey and retrieved a few copper and a silver coin from a hidden compartment under their bed, their last savings.
The riot wasn't spontaneous but planned, to occur when the village's guards were most lax.
As dusk fell, rather than quiet, the village was filled with commotion, especially from the direction of the knightly lord's house.
"We farm, we starve! For whom do we toil?"
"I don't care! There's food here! We need food!"
"Vampires! Die!"
Amid arguments and brawls, smoke began to rise from the direction of the knightly lord's house, signaling the start of Raymond's awaited moment.
The village guards noticed the commotion at the lord's house and heard calls for help. After hesitating, they decided to go support the manor.
Now was their chance! Seeing the guards' departure, Raymond and his family stealthily left their home, as did their neighbor Lach with his family. Lach, a young man with two sisters, had lost his parents.
"Hey, Lach, are you ready?" Raymond whispered to his neighbor.
"Ready!" Lach, with his two sisters, also prepared to flee.
"Thomas..." Raymond looked back to find his brother behind him but his mother absent: "Where's mom?"
"I'm here!" The mother appeared, struggling with a basket full of jars, their previously discarded belongings, panting, "Which way do we go?"
"Ah! Mom, why did you bring those?" Raymond yelled, frustrated. He grabbed the basket from her back and smashed it on the ground, breaking everything inside.
"Oh! My God! Raymond, do you know what you've done? That was all we had!" The mother was incredulous at her son's actions, crying out: "Your father would've beaten you for wasting things like this!"
"If we don't discard these, we'll die on the run!" Raymond, teeth clenched, pulled his mother and brother, "Hurry! We'll be too late!"
Taking advantage of the guards leaving to suppress the riot, Raymond and his group fled in the opposite direction, sprinting south.
Avoiding major roads, they took back paths, witnessing horrifying sights along the way: serfs' bodies hanging everywhere, many executed.
Under the dim moonlight, Raymond noticed some were executed fugitives, others victims of the riot, and some starved to death.
Regardless, the end was the same: death.
Chaos reigned, with bandits and robbers weaving through the night. Raymond's group narrowly avoided two bands of robbers who attacked villages and killed the guards.
In the past, knights would rally troops to eliminate these threats, but the Knights' War five years ago left many areas defenseless, with knights only able to protect core areas and key roads. The outskirts and minor paths became a playground for bandits, robbers, and beastmen tribes, despite the knights' valiant efforts
against evil, their limited numbers unable to defend all territories.
They could only flee, southward.
Legend had it that the south, unlike the north, was governed by the Grail Knights, whose virtue was trusted by the serfs. Indeed, when a Grail Knight passed by, the lords would restrain themselves, not daring to overstep.
Perhaps these Grail Knight lords would welcome these miserable souls?
...
Thus, they rested by day and traveled by night, heading south along the edge of the Ardennes Forest. After two days and nights of escape, using their last savings, they smuggled themselves across a large river.
Hours later, they entered a dense forest.
"Raymond~ I can't go on," the mother gasped, leaning against a large tree, "Let's rest, just for a bit?"
"Damn, where are we?" Raymond stopped for a rest.
After two days and nights of frantic escape, they lost track of their location. They had escaped from the Duchy of Lyonnesse into another duchy, but none knew where they were.
In Brittany, most serfs never left their villages except for rare occasions authorized by their lords. Once outside their ancestral villages, the world was chaos and unknown to the serfs.
To avoid bandits, robbers, and noble patrols, they dared not use main roads; to avoid beastmen, they dared not venture deep into the forest.
"Ouch~ Ouch~" The mother couldn't walk further, her feet swollen severely from the unprecedented journey: "Raymond, my son, how long must we flee?"
"Mom, don't worry, here, have some food." Raymond and his neighbor Lach prepared some food, starting a fire to cook.
Escaping had ironically improved their diet somewhat. Despite it being late winter, the forest still offered food like fish in ponds and birds and rabbits. They found a large tree to sit under, their thin clothes barely protecting them from the cold as they huddled and ate.
"Brother, I'm cold," Thomas curled up, miserably saying.
"Be strong, Thomas," Raymond handed him some bread, whispering, "Be strong, everyone's cold. We'll get out of this forest in a few days, it won't be like this then."
After a simple meal and boiling some water, they prepared to continue their journey.
The dark forest was always frightening, and in their difficult progress, they barely knew the time.
"What time is it now?" Raymond licked his lips, his nose red from the cold, his serf's thin clothes and straw-padded cloak barely sufficient, "Feels... three hours? Four hours?" another serf, Lach, speculated.
In the forest, without clear sunlight, directions were obscured.
After walking a bit further, they sensed something amiss.
The air carried a stench of blood, and from deep within the forest, a low growl echoed.
Beastmen!
"Mom! Thomas! Beastmen! Quick, get up, we need to flee!" Raymond and Lach exchanged a glance, their faces pale. How could they fight against powerful beastmen with just sticks and bread knives?
The beastmen, realizing humans were nearby, roared pitifully and charged. These were common horned beasts, seemingly injured but still a match for the fleeing serfs.
After walking for two days and nights, the group was exhausted, especially Lach's sisters and Raymond's mother. After just a few steps, the mother cried out and fell, reaching her limit.
"Mom!" Raymond saw his mother fall and instinctively turned back, "Mom, hurry! Or we'll all die!"
"No, I can't go on. Take your brother and flee!" the mother shook her head, her aged face streaked with tears, "Raymond, take Thomas, go. The beastmen, seeing food, won't hurry after you."
"Mom!" Raymond lifted his mother, tears in his eyes, shaking his head, "No, we finally escaped, we finally made it this far, I won't leave you."
The beastmen's roars grew closer, their cries eerily clear in the dim forest.
Raymond, carrying his mother and pulling his brother, ran as Lach and his sisters also fled.
The beastmen caught up, and humans, except in rare cases, couldn't outrun these terrifying creatures.
"Ah!" Lach was the first to be caught. The poor serf was overtaken by the horned beasts, he bravely pushed his sisters away and turned to face the beastmen: "Run!"
A serf was no match for a horned beast. In just moments, Lach screamed as his left arm was severed, and the beastmen tore his body in two, spilling his innards and blood across the ground.
"Run, Raymond!" the mother cried upon seeing this, "Forget about me, I've lived over forty years, that's enough."
"Mom! Mom!" Thomas also cried
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT