After another week, being recovered, Finley taught me to hunt, he was quite good with the bow, he taught me how to use it, but so far I could not hunt a rabbit, he also told me that hunting servants is forbidden, which is logical at this time the only one who was allowed to hunt was the king and his vassals, but it was ironic the first time we saw a servant Finley hunted him.
During this time I also took the opportunity to walk around the surroundings, I was half a day away from the castle of Leap, obviously I couldn't get too close because of the guards, but it was beautiful in all its splendour, it was a masterpiece of humanity and the magic hour tinged the castle with its orange and pink lights... I would have liked Hero to see it.
I also asked people if they had seen my sister, but apparently, she didn't travel through the fog like me.
I think it's for the best, at least then I can avoid that fate.
I started to find out about the fog, I explored the woods a bit, but nothing at all, no matter how hard I looked for a way back I couldn't even find a clue.
I also didn't find any information about the girl I met inside the fog, besides something strange was happening here, things are happening that shouldn't be happening, I think I should start by finding out who Lord Irish is, even if it's unlikely maybe he has some connection to how he got here.
The rest of the time I spent enjoying myself, it's not every day you travel back in time, I have found out a lot of customs that were thought to be lost, at least I can take something positive out of my situation.
One of the things I noticed about Mordagfell, the village where I'm staying is that some of them profess their religion to the Celtic gods, and a few to Christianity, to my surprise they manage to coexist very well, none of them try to change the way of living of the other, I thought that this was not possible in this time.
-Young Gran, why so thoughtful? he stops in the middle of the road.
-Oh Bers, if I was thinking about this Lord Irish, could you tell me what happened to Thomas FitzGerald?
Bers, who was missing an eye, grabbed me and said something in my ear.
-Big be careful, don't mention that name around the guards.
-Why, what's wrong with asking about him?
-No one knows what happened to Baron Thomas, he disappeared without a trace, and when the guards find out that people are finding out, they usually take you to Lord Irish, never to be seen again.
According to history the Governor in this year should be Baron Thomas, and if not him it would be John Wogan, and yet neither of them is in office, or is it that by merely travelling into the past he has already changed the course of events, or by having informed them of the lead poisoning of Fress's father, no, that last cannot be, he knew of Lord Irish's existence before he did the latter.
-Then I'll be very careful what I say, Bers.
-I'm glad you understand.
Bers seems a nice kindly old man, but, believe it or not two days ago when I went to milk a cow for milk, if Fress was kind enough to teach me how to tidy a cow, apparently I'm rather clumsy at housework at the moment.
Anyway, back to the point, when I was there in the stable, Finley and Bers were talking about a delicate subject, apparently Bers is a spy or informer of the rebellion against England, I didn't manage to hear everything, but if one thing is clear to me is that Finly with Bers will come into conflict with Baron Mons, a creepy man with a taste for underage girls according to history.
-Great I say goodbye here, I have to go and see Finley.
Have a nice day Bers, tell Finley to....
-Ya bloody bastards, we're here to collect taxes, and apparently you're behind with your payments.
A group of guards mounted on horses rode into town, one got off his mount, grabbed Miles a boy of about 12 years old, and struck him with the gauntlet of his armour, causing the boy to lose a couple of teeth.
-I said, "Get in a fucking line you soulless fucking beasts, if someone doesn't intend to pay, well I guess you know what's going to happen and you little brat stop squealing like a pig.
The haughty guard spat at the boy, then kicked him.
Most of the villagers ignored him without complaint, after all they were just people who work the land, not warriors like Finley, both Bers and I came to Miles' aid.
-My lord, excuse the boy, I'll take care of him, so he won't be a nuisance any longer.
Honestly they were not the words I expected to come out of Bers' mouth, I would have preferred to insult even his ancestors, but it would only make things worse, so I just preferred to keep quiet and let Bers take care of him while I attended to the boy.
What's your one-eyed name?
-I am Bers Woodfalen, my lord.
-Walles looks up his name on the list.
Miles needed help urgently, the blow he'd taken had not only broken a couple of his teeth, but his jaw, possibly even his nose.
-Mr. Bers Woodfalen is...
-Forgive me for interrupting you, it is your noble task. I spoke to him in old English.
-But the boy needs to be treated urgently, the blow you gave him left him badly injured.
-And who are you, clown, but what are those clothes, are you a new kind of prostitute?
I could hardly control my anger, I just wanted to hit him.
-I'm a stranger just passing through.
He approached me, unsheathing his sword, and then put it over his shoulder.
-Then, stranger, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and I remember asking you your name, which I have yet to hear.
-My name is Great Venture, I ask you to please let me take the boy.
-I don't think I'm going to want to, I'm getting used to his yelling after all, besides a simple punch isn't going to kill him, it'll make him become more of a man.
I started to bring my hand to my back under my coat where my knife was hidden, it's not something I would do, but I was getting carried away with anger.
-John, as you asked Bers Woodfallen, is three months behind on his tax payments.
The man who spoke to John looked me in the face and nodded his head no. I took a deep breath and gave up.
I took a deep breath and gave up what I was going to do.
-There's a Grand Venture on the list.
-No, no one by that name.
John ran his hand through his hair to lift it, gave us a grotesque look and began to speak in a mocking tone.
-Right, let's get on with it then, I propose this gentlemen so that you don't think I'm a vile ruthless bastard, that Bers Woodfallen pays his debt and I'll let you take the brat away so Mummy can wipe his arse.
Bers was nervous, I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't have the money to pay, plus Miles was still screaming in pain.
-Excuse me, but the crops have been slow, but I have a month's tax to pay, just give me a little time and I'll pay you the rest, but let the boy go.
John sheathed his sword, fixed his hair again, gave a long sigh and received the small sack of coins, which he tossed to one of his companions, then put his hands on his waist.
-He then put his hands on his waist. "Stranger, get the "girl" out of here, she's ruining the atmosphere, see that I can be reasonable.
Eating my pride, I decided to thank him, picked up Miles, put his arm around my shoulders, and prepared to take him to be attended to.
-About the remaining payment Bers?
Before I got out of there, John with a dagger slit Bers' throat open. The clean cut he gave him made the blood splatter on my face.
But what happened, Bers, whose blood is this, why is it hard to breathe, why is my body shaking, someone please explain to me what is happening, why is my voice not coming out of my mouth, my head hurts, why are people screaming, Bers why are you on the ground, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why...?
I fell into a demoralised screaming out of control in my head, when the hurricane of thoughts stopped between anger and fear, just then I had noticed that I lunged at John wielding my knife, with a deft movement that my body had done more than a thousand times in the training my father had made us take.
The guard tried to dodge, but I still managed to slash him across the cheek, John touched his wound.
-You fucking brat, you dare attack me.
He quickly unsheathed his sword, he attacked me like an uncontrolled dog, but I managed to stop his attacks without technique, I was motivated by hatred, I kept going, I managed to give him another wound now in the arm, much deeper than the previous one, in one of his desperate attempts he managed to hit me in the shoulder with the flat of the sword, that blow caused that I could not continue to occupy my right arm.
-You think that by two lucky blows you will be able to fight me, damned trash.
His blade came straight to my neck, he threw my blade towards my other hand, after all I am ambidextrous, I was taught to use the knife with both hands, before he ended up decapitating me I stabbed the arm with which he was attacking me, the tip of the blade came out on the other side of my arm, I twisted the knife inside him and withdrew it, when I did it I noticed very late how with his other arm he wielded his dagger that was going straight to my chest.
Despite the pain that John must be feeling, he smiled at me like a lunatic, when I thought it was the end of me, an axe that was thrown from behind my back was embedded in the middle of his face, putting an end to John's life.
I kept attacking the air, as if I was still fighting, I heard a muffled voice that spoke to me, but I didn't understand it, I felt someone grab my shoulder, without thinking I attacked him, but he quickly stopped my arm with his hand.
-Big wake up, it's me.
I came back to my now fear-ridden self, to see Finley's friendly face.
I couldn't hold it in any longer the vomit shot out of my mouth without warning.
-You did well my friend, but I'll take it from here.
-Bers, he's... dead.
I started crying uncontrollably, my spirit was certainly broken.
-I know, I know, at least now he is with his family in Morrigu's arms.
I listened as the other guards drew their swords, Finley approached Jonh's corpse to retrieve one of his axes.
-You did not deserve the pleasure of dying for my axe, so rejoice in the hell of your god.
Quickly the other guards beamed at Finley.
-Only 5 Englishmen, it's unfair... for my axes, with only 5 they won't get enough food they deserve.
The 5 attacked him at the same time, expecting to see my friend die now, but he dodged them as if it were a dance, with ease he moved to the back of one, and with a single blow he sliced his leg, when he was about to receive a cut in his rib with his bare hand he grabbed the wrist of his attacker and broke it making the bone go through the skin dropping the sword.
Finley applying the full swing of his hips brought his axe to Walles' neck, but just before doing so, a voice stopped him, a few more inches and he would have been decapitated.
-Stop. Poisoned
Before I knew it a squad of 12 men in armour appeared.
-In the name of King Edward, tell me what in the name of King Edward is going on here? ...Finley...
-Sir Willfest, the king's dog.
Willfest with two guards plus a man and a woman got off their horses, Willfest's grumpiness was palpable.
-What the fuck do you think you're doing, Willfest?
-Protecting my people from your bloody English, Sir.
-You leave me no choice, Roy, Fay stop him, we'll take him to Lord Irish for his sentence.
The two approached Finley, but no sooner had they done so than he went on the defensive, raising his axe, both brothers drew their swords in defence.
-Now you send your sons to do your work, but how low have you sunk, old friend.
If I didn't do something they were going to finish Finley off, but words were barely coming out of my mouth, my mind was heavy.
-Sir... Will... act...
Despite my effort to speak, finally the words didn't come out of my mouth.
That boy is soaked in blood, he's also half gone.
-Finley, what the hell happened to the clown?
-I think he saw someone die for the first time Willfest, so he must be in shock, I'd rather you leave him alone.
-Father, take a good look at him, despite the blood his clothes are well cared for, despite the strangeness of his garments they appear to be fine.
The guard approached me, he grabbed my jaw without me being able to do much.
-He has all his teeth and they are white, he is a bit overweight now that I look at him, he could be a noble of some lesser house.
Everything around me had disappeared, I heard nothing, everything was dark, I felt my mind fall into madness, I could almost hear it cracking, but at the last moment I felt I would be lost forever, a flame appeared in front of me illuminating everything around me.
Cold, deep eyes were looking at me, as if they were judging me, the woman was in front of me, she put a hand on my shoulder.
-Calm down, it's all over now.
It wasn't really her attractive face, nor her words that calmed me down, but they reminded me of the cold look of a girl who changed my life, Hero.
-Gra...cias.
She nodded to me without another word.
-Sir Willlfest... my name is Gran, one of your guards attacked without any provocation the child you see lying there on the floor...shit my mind is still a wreck...excuse me I still find it hard to speak...
-He continues.
-I also kill Bert simply for not being able to pay the tax, motivated by anger I confronted John, Finley simply saved my life.
-I understand.
Willfest watched me for a long time, it was as if he was investigating me.
-Is it true what Roy says, are you a minor noble?
This was a good opportunity to start finding out what's going on, I can either get close to Lord Irish or get myself killed.... calm down don't keep replaying Bert's death in your head... I can't go on like this any more....
I lifted my hair to reveal the scar on my forehead.
-I had an accident before arriving to Mordagfell, I hit my head and there are many things I don't remember, but I can tell you that I come from a foreign land, and I was coming to give a message to Thomas FitzGerald.
Willfest had the reaction I expected, I could see a little fear in his face.
-Walles, is it true what Gran says?
Yes, my captain, John had been doing this for some time in several villages.
-Why the fuck didn't any of you stop him?
They all stood there looking ashamed.
-From now on I want you to report all your assignments, I want every guard under Lord Irish's control to be informed, from now on none of you will do anything without my knowledge, you'll even have to ask permission to wipe your asses, got it?
Yes my captain, they all answered in unison.
-Captain, can I add anything else?
-Walles spoke.
-I would like to add that as much as Gran as he claims to be attacked John first, he did it without realising it, even when John was dead he was still attacking the air, it seemed as if he was possessed, he was in a trance, mentally he was broken.
I looked at Walles in surprise, I didn't understand why he was intervening on my behalf, he even tried to stop me when I was planning to attack John first of all.
-Well, you mock idiots, collect the taxes as it should be, and for everything you did in Mordagfell, or better said for what you didn't do, the remaining fee will come out of your fucking salary, and I don't want to hear a fucking complaint, or I assure you, I swear to God who is in his holy kingdom that I'll send you to accompany John to hell, do you understand rats?
Willfest showed authority not by his threats, how to say it, it was as if it was emanating from every pore of his skin.
-Yes, Captain.
-First of all, take that poor boy to have his wounds attended to, now by the power given to me, Finley you will be detained until I understand what to do with this incident, so don't make any more trouble, at least until I give you a sentence, can you handle that?
-Just for now, old captain.
It was obvious that Finley and Willfest had their history, Willfest treated Finley with respect, but Finley looked as if he wanted to attack him.
-Great, you are under arrest, you will accompany me to Dublin where Lord Irish will give you your sentence.
-Willfest, if you think I'm going to let you....
-Finley, all right, I won't put up any resistance, but at least let me say goodbye to Finley's family.
I got what I wanted after all.
-Roy, son, see the boy out of the blood, let him say goodbye, then tie his hands, and take that knife away from him.