The Western Chronicle

Prologue

In the crisp breeze of the morning in a sleepy village, there was nerry a person that was working or moving about. However in lowly one hut there is a fire still going, a couple is quietly arguing inside. "Desmond, you can't do this. There's too many people for you to distract them, long enough for us to get away." stated Anna. "Honey they're here for me; if they get me then they will leave you alone. We can't allow Baleor to grow up without parents, go to Arbuerus, and ask for Dameon he will help you when I am gone." Desmond said, as he escorted Anna to the back door.
"But that's-" A loud neigh could be heard at the tree line of the clearing. Desmond commands, "Go, the knights are almost here if they see or hear you leaving then they will stop you." Anna mounts the horse and looks at her husband worry lines marking her tan skin. "I love you," she says. "I know" Desmond replies as he hands their child to her. "Now go," he yells before heading back inside.
Shortly after a group of knights ride up to the house. "Desmond come out and face your death with some honor you traitor. Even you are not that cowardly." Desmond walks out and greets the knights, "Rismer it's good to see you. How is the king doing? Is the campaign against the East going alright?" Rismer dismounted from his horse and walks up to Desmond. "The king is dead because of you. You traitor." Rismer yelled as he struck Desmond to his knees. "As for the campaign, it has been set back years because of the ambush, annihilating our forces." He turns back to the knights escorting him. "Bring him to his feet, let's show him the fate of traitors and rebels." The knights nod and drag him up to where the horses are. As they tie him up, Rismer ride up to him and ask, "Where is that barbarian and mutt you call a son? Did they abandon you after the disgrace of today." Desmond looks up and says "You won't find them, they aren't here anymore. My son will complete my work after I die."
Rismer chicles, "Like it means anything we will find eventually. Come on boys we are close to the locations of his punishment." Desmond looks up as they come upon a clearing. In the clearing was a stone chair that had a circle of wizened men in long green robes. The knights dragged Desmond to the chair and force him to sit in the chair as they cuff his hands to it. Rismer stands over him and says, "We are going to curse you to sit here and watch as we hunt down your family and people while you are imprisoned here."
Desmond blinks owlishy and says, "There is no Druidic power that will grant you such a power. It would kill anyone who tries such a spell." Rismer smiles menacingly and says, "Did you think that the Darkness servants left the world after the First War. Did you think that we will not remember what to him. Desmond eyes grow in fear as a flash of light blinds him as the spell finishes.
On the outskirts of the delapidated village, Anna heard the lone tortured scream of man who lost everything. She mournfully turned her head to where she last saw her love, just as a pillar of deathly black light shoot up. As tears streamed down her face, shouts rang out as riders of white sprang out of the woods, "There she is, get her for helping the damn traitor."
Anna rode hard and fast to her uncle as the white riders were nipping at her heels. As she continued to elude their capture they began to shoot arrows and bolts at her horse missing by inches. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the forest broke as she ran onto a river ford that ebbed. She stopped at one side of the ford as the riders in white stopped on the opposite menacingly. The lead rider eyes widen as he finally noticed the infant in her her arms.
"Give up there is no hope for your escape. Give yourself up and we will spare the child. You have my word that no harm shall come to your child." He stated confidently. As Anna was thinking about the offer, memories came flooding back of magic she learned from the Aos Sí. "Come and take your prize as a man, if Rismer saw you like this. He would be embarrassed for you." She mockingly shouted to the leader putting on a haughty look to drive her point further. The rider bristled and said, "Fine, we'll do it your way. Come on men let's deal with the witch."
As they move across the ford, Anna started to cast the incantation for the spell, causing the ford to begin to swell with water. The horses noticed this and begun to neigh and brey wildly causing the riders become distracted. Then the river begin to come rushing down the slope as horses galloping through a meadow. It hit the riders with all the force of a avalanche sweeping then down the river. Anna slowly ended her incantation so as to not experience a major magical backlash before leaving entirely and heading to her uncle and ultimate destination. Rismer is down stream trying to cut off Anna before she could escape. As he is cutting through the river he notices that there are white robes floating down stream. Taking a closer look shows that they were the men he had sent ahead to cut off the woman's advance.
After a few days of hard riding, Anna finally made it to Antioch, a singer boom town that is situated on two trade routes. As she's is riding through the gates she notices that the walls looked as though they have been torn apart by something big. The walls are covered in huge claw marks and blood as though whatever was attacking them had been badly wounded. There were guards milling around mindlessly and tiredly. They seem to be exhausted from all the chaos from the recent events of the past few days.
What happened here no one should have attacked Antioch, we would have never been able to take the city or to hold it." She was brought out of her musing by a guard, "Ma'am, are you okay fo you need to see the Apothecary?" His face shone with concern as he spoke. His hand was holding onto the reigns. "No I'm fine," She replied shaking her head no, "it's just my family we're attack by a raiding party during the confusion. In all of the panic I was separated from my husband. Tell me did anyone from the Joansaburg come here recently?" The guard solemnly replied that no one from there had been here recently. "Thank you for your help. I'm sorry for being such a burden but do you know where John is. He is my brother and he wrote to me that he had just moved down here." The guard looked thoughtfully for few minutes before his eyes lit up, "Ah you mean the new towns justicar, he lives in the Sky hold near the castle. I wouldn't talk about the raid on Johnasburg because everyone is still of edge after the Tradgedy of Telamon. There have been many instances of mob justice against new arrivals.We also need you to leave your horse hear, so we can keep the streets clean of animal waste. Thank you."
She dismounts from her horse, taking her meager belongings off of her horse and begins to head towards where the guard told her brother lived. Justicars are officers who are sent by the Kingdom of Two Crowns to maintain their laws and to ensure that provinces sent their taxes to them. The only qualification that matters to the crown is that the office goes to the highest bidder who can get the job done.
As she made her way through the town, Anna noticed that the town looked like it had seen better days and that it had not been always so grimy. The wooden houses looked like they were run down and about to collapse onto their inhabitants. The denizens weren't better off looking like they were dead on their feet. As Anna passed them the citizens would stare at her with a distrusting look and whisper saying, "Another one, where are the kings men to deal with the roving marauders. The town doesn't need any more refugees we can't feed them , when we can barely feed ourselves." Anna barely made it through the entrance of the market place before thaw noticed that there was barely anything to sell. She took a quick glance at the food stalls and saw that almost all of them had shuttered their doors due to lack of inventory. On the other side of the barren square there appeared to be a building that seemed to be out of place due to how extravagant it looked. The building was built in a imposing stone manner with gargoyles on the roof of the house, statues of knights leading armies, surrounded by stained glass windows depicting battle scenes. "Brother never change."Anna muttered to herself in relief. Her brother John was always a flashy man who loved floating his accomplishments, wealth, or both. She studied the market to make sure that she could approach the abode without being spotted. All she
Anna quietly made her way to the door and quietly knocked on the door. "One minute, I'll be there soon," came a voice from inside. After a few seconds, Anna heard the sound of a lock as some one could be heard fiddling with the lock. After a few minutes the door finally opened to a large man with a messy mob of brown hair and a pepper beard. "Brother, it is so good seeing after so long. It's been what two or three years since we last met at Outpost Fortune. How is Melissa and the kids?" Anna asked inquisitively. John gave a blank stare before forcefully slamming the door in her face. "Aw, come on brother this is ruthless even for someone like you. How could you be so cold blooded as to leave a single mother and her child shivering on the cold streets like that. Especially with everything going on in the past few weeks." John gave a muffled sigh before he opened the door. "You can stay for few days but no longer than that." He said in a matter of fact tone. Anna quickly rushed into the room as the door swung close. The room had fireplace surrounded with all of the furnishings of a dining room. It gave off a homey vibe despite all of the fancy dining utensils that were on the table. "They'll come for my family when they learn that I housed you. Desmond really stirred the hornets nest with that stunt leading to the death of the king." John stated. "What the king is dead, how is it possible? The ambush was supposed to only cripple the legions not to kill them." Anna said in a state of shock. "Nobody knows how, all anyone agrees on is that the king is dead. Now what is it that you want. You have never come to me to only talk about the past." He responded. Anna was never one to dwell on the past, she was always on the move to the next big thing, that is how she met Desmond in the first place. However she was never selfish always helping everyone in need, it is just that she is easily bored and needing something entertaining to do. "I need your help in getting a job in the capital. It is the best place for someone like me to hide. After you help you will never have to help me again. You will never see me again." Anna replied with confidence. John shakes his head in exasperation knowing that once his sister got an idea in her head that there is nothing he can do anything to change her mind. It's what drove their parents up the wall when they couldn't change her mind, it is like talking to a wall. "I may have a lead for your lead but you may not like it. The job is for someone to be a live in maid. You see the last one quit under mysterious circumstances due to poor health. But everyone close to the maid is saying that the place the family lives in is haunted by ghost and unimaginable beast. They say that no one is brave enough to stay in the house." John says smugly knowing that Anna would find it impossible to show her bravery in such a way. One could see the conflict on her face as the cool beauty of her face contorts in confusion and determination. After a few long minutes, Anna finally gives her response, "I will take the job, can you send a letter telling them that you found someone who will take the job.0 John nodded and says that he will. Anna stays in the outpost for a month so that they could get a response from the potential employer and what she will need for the job.