Knighthood

The glow of the summer sun shines through the waving leaves of the trees as it is blown by a gentle breeze. The Silent Woods that rests at the navel of the Great Ananseana Peninsula is known for its thick forest where danger is believed to be lurking within. Goat headed giants, Monsterous wild boars, ghosts, witches - these are just a few of what many believe resides within this mysterious part of this world.

‘Come on Luthan, we’ve been waiting for ages!’ says Geralk. The tallest among the three ten year olds playing at the edge of the woods. All three boys wore old dirty clothes that are patched and ripped in places.

‘Cant waste this piece of old man Kurt’s fresh white loaf! Now that we’ve run away from the orphanage, Lord Dain knows when we’ll be eating something as good as this!’ cries Luthan, stuffing his mouth with a big piece of his bread. Pieces of crumbs fall down to his plump stomach as he eats. His cheek bounces as he chews.

‘I thought anything tastes good to you! We’re the ones who should be worried!’ chuckled Edan looking at Geralk. Edan’s untidy brown long hair gets in his eye and he always have to move it to the side.

‘Are we gonna play “cow-overhead” or not?’ Says Geralk frustrated, rolling up his very worn and dirty greenish-gray trousers up to his knees. His short golden hair is more tidy than Edan’s.

‘Did you hear that?’ Asks Edan looking at the darkness of the woods behind him.

‘What is it Edan?’ Asks Geralk.

‘I’m sure I heard someone call for help from in there!’

‘You hear all sorts of things from in there! That’s how the woods lure you in so it can swallow you!’ cries Luthan, wiping the crumbs off of his mouth, starting to look worried.

‘There it is again!’ Says Edan.

‘Yeah, I heard that actually!’ Says Geralk.

‘We’re gonna go in there aren’t we? Luthan’s knees starts to tremble.

The three boys went in the forest following a small path. Geralk leads the way walking in the front holding a long stick as if it was a sword. Edan follows him with Luthan hiding behind Edan, holding on to his shoulder.

‘I thought the noise was coming from here!’ Says Geralk.

‘Maybe it’s just the wind?’ Says Edan.

‘Okay then, if it’s just the wind, then let’s get the blazes out of here!’ shivers Luthan.

A bush rustles and almost instantly a creature jumps out of it! The three boys fell down on the ground in surprise.

‘Help!!’ Cries an old man trying his best to hold on to a giant boar that’s rampaging and dragging him around! The boar is six feet high and on its mouth is an old rucksack. It’s strap is wrapped around the old man’s arm and he is stuck as the wild boar jumps around crazily. It shrieked madly kicking as it jumps.

‘We must do something to stop it from running around!’ Says Geralk.

‘Luthan!’ shouts Edan.

‘What? No!! No way! It’s my last piece!’ cries Luthan.

Edan runs over to him and reaches on his pocket. Luthan tries to push Edan away protecting whatever it is Edan is trying to take.

‘Got it!’ says Edan, holding on to the last piece of Luthan’s bread.

‘No!!’ cries Luthan.

Edan chucks the piece of bread in front of the boar as it jumps around. It smells the bread on the floor and stops moving trying to sniff where the smell is coming from. The old man quickly untangles himself out of his rucksack strap as soon as he got his footing back on the ground. The four slowly walked backwards away from the giant beast.

The boar devoured the piece of bread in seconds and sniffs crazily for more. The four stopped moving when they saw the boar coming close to them. It started sniffing them one by one looking for more food. When it got to Luthan,it sniffs him very well, going to his pocket. Luthan and the others could only stop and watch as it tries to find any more piece of the bread it just ate. Luthan watches as the huge head of the boar moves around in front of him. When it got tired of sniffing, it looks at Luthan and suddenly, it lets out a sneeze, covering Luthan with boar snot.

The boar ran off back into the darkness of the forest.

‘Yeah, you better run, you giant disgusting...urgh!’ shouts Luthan who quickly picked up a very small stone. He throws it weakly on the direction where the boar ran off.

‘Disgusting piece of bacon!’ Luthan cries as he tries to wipe off the snot that covered him.

‘Are you okay there mister?’ asks Edan.

‘Aw, you three saved my life. I was trying to get that boar for dinner but it’s tougher than I thought!’ Says the old man holding his bruised arm.

‘You need to go to a healer in the city!’ Says Edan.

‘Nah, don’t worry! I’ll be fine! I used to be a warrior along these parts! Guess my age has caught up to me now. I’m not as agile as I used to be!’

‘Well we hope you can carry on with your journey safely! We’ll be going now!’ Says Geralk.

‘My bread!’ whispers Luthan looking at the smallest crumbs left on the ground. His stomach lets out a very loud growl.

‘Wait, you three!’ says the old man.

‘I must repay you for saving my life!’

‘That’s ok mister, we…’

‘Wait Edan’ says Geralk.

‘From how you three look, you are orphans aren’t you?’

‘What if we are?’ Asks Geralk.

‘It’s not safe for three young boys like you to be wandering these woods on your own. As I said earlier, I used to be a warrior. I can teach you a few tricks to help you three defend yourselves! It’s the only thing I can offer I’m afraid but I think you’ll find it useful in the future. What do you say?’

The three boys looked at each other. Geralk and Edan smiled and did a small nod at each other.

As the night falls, the lights of the city of Ashendale lit the roads and houses. The majestic blue palace at the top of the hill in the center of the city rose above any other. In front of it is the towering statue of the first Dain, King Artorias Dain. His statue is made of white marble, his arm extended holding a rotating golden flame which emits light from a torch within.

The horse’s hooves echoed along the massive walls of the castle as it trots fast with urgency. The knight riding it got off the horse quickly and ran up the long stairs to the upper levels.

He opened the huge wooden double doors and inside was a man with an expensive maroon dressing gown on.

He is on his bed with two beautiful women one each side of him carressing him softly.

‘This better be important!’ He says, not paying attention to the sweaty knight gasping for air in front of him.

He finally turns his head in frustration. ‘What is it? What do you want?’

‘It’s your brother sire, he has disappeared!’

The man’s eye widened in astonishment. As if a blur had curtained around him and the next thing he knew, a great crown embedded with different coloured gems are being placed on his head and everyone who lives in the city was cheering for him.

‘Long live, King Renwald!’ Says the bishop next to him.

‘Long live King Renwald!!’ Shouts the crowd. The sound of trumpets blowing drowns the noise of the cheering crowd. Renwald tries his best to hold the golden staff steady on his right hand as he begins to tremble. He closes his eyes and breaths deeply.