Making the Team
Part 1
The evening sun was still bright for the hour as the thatched roofs of Winnoa crept into Yavan’s line of sight, marking the end of his return journey. With a satisfied grunt, he dismounted from his horse and struck a quick pace. This was all quite timely, as his stomach had begun to rumble and his feet to ache. Not that he had particularly desired walking his horse into every village; he had chosen to forego comfort in an attempt to avoid making the Durish and Kennish folk feel lorded over as he attempted to inquire about the admittedly petty but no less troublesome marsh imp troubles. Such inconvenience, there and in Winnoa, was on account of how these small villages were skittish of uniformed men on horseback but he supposed there was little to be done about it. They had been restless enough as it was to deal with a Vigil, probably having been led to believe grandfolk stories about them.
As he stepped into the enclave formed by stocky wooden fortifications, he became aware of being followed by a pattering of small feet and the hushed sound of frantic whispers. With a slight smile, he turned to face three boys, two of which leapt to take cover behind a wall as the smallest was left standing there, wide-eyed and frozen. He stared for a moment and then chuckled.
“Well, come along then,” he beckoned to the petrified child. “I haven’t got all day.”
The boy jolted before clapping his mouth shut and running to catch up with the Vigil who had already turned around and begun walking again. They advanced silently for a spell until the knight looked down at the child who, as it turned out, had been staring intently at him.
“My, my. Out with it then, boy!” the man declared.
“Neelis’ mum says you’re a knight.”
“Does she now.” He frowned in mock seriousness.
“Yessir. An’ Rickey figures that means you’ve fought off dragons an’ stuff.”
“Dragons! Well. It quite sounds like I’ve done some important… Stuff. And what do you say?”
“Me? Oh. I think you’re ‘ere to save us, sir.”