Exile Musings

Written by Talmid, posted on 25-05-2016 [incomplete]

In the weeks after Perpetual Doom...

Chapter 1

Part 1

Defeat, loss, and sorrow.  Sir Talmid felt all of these.  His friends and allies, he did not know what became of them.  They could be lost, escaped hopefully, or smashed pray not!  Or held captive like him.  In the three weeks since his capture, after the failed battle at the Skyfalls, Sir Talmid had been moved from jailhouse to jailhouse, as the Rogue army was spread thin.  Judging by the sun, the shadows, and the sounds of the wildlife, Sir Talmid figured they were slowly but surely moving him north.  To the castle, where the usurper thedude sat on King Mathias's throne.

At one point Elepharian guards were part of the contingent, but they were soon sent off to where, Sir Talmid did not know.  Eventually it was a force so small, just three Rogues guiding him to his chariot - he got a chariot, woohoo!  Such luxury, NOT, there were no benches, the windows were tiny, and the walls were moldy.

Sir Talmid could see nothing of the outside world from the inside of the chariot, except for a beam of sunlight through the small door window, whichever one faced the sun at the time - so he tried to listen as he had before.  He heard the Rogues' chatter.

"Hey, Joe!" one Rogue said, "Joe, my man!  I haven't seen you since we stormed the castle!"

"Oh, hey Jay." another Rogue said.  "Yeah... I got sent to Elepharia.  For thedude's surprise.  You hear the news?"

"No, what?"

"The Knights of the Old Speech got defeated - at Elepharia.  I probably shouldn't be saying this, but that's what thedude's surprise was.  We got the Elephanters to join us, and we defeated the Knights at the Skyfalls.  It was crazy.  That gravity..."

"What gravity, bro?"

"Exactly.  It's like the gravity just turned off, and we were flying!"

"Bro, man, whoa hey, bro!  That's impossi-"

"Shut up!" the third Rogue finally said.

Part 2

Now that they were silent, Sir Talmid heard more birds, more buzzing creatures now than before, and they had distinct calls he recognized.  He was in Morcia now.  Their destination was close.

Suddenly, shouts and clanging was heard.  Sir Talmid sat bolt upright, a mistake, as the carriage shook and he fell down to his side again on the floor.  He heard the spin of a wormholer preparing to fire, and it did fire, but it was cut off in an instant.  Then keys jingled as they were jammed into the lock, and the door swung open.  Sir Talmid shielded his eyes from the intense burst of light.  He saw two thin silhouettes.

"He doesn't look like a rich man!" a tinny girl's voice squeaked.

"No, he -ack- doesn't!" a high-pitched boy replied in between cracks.  "Nor does he -ack- travel in a rich carriage!  Nothing to plunder!"

Who were these people? Sir Talmid wondered.  He began to climb out, but then the girl aimed a stubby sword at his chest.  "Don't move!" she said.

Sir Talmid held his hands up and open.  "Apologies, good lad, and lass... I wish only to get some air.  And then run away."

"To tell your superiors that we -ack- slaughtered your soldiers?!" the boy shouted.  "No!  You can't find us!"  He too held a small sword, a shortsword, and it too was aimed at Sir Talmid.

Sir Talmid began.  "I intent to do no such thing.  I'm not with thedude."

"Who?"

"I'm with King Mathias!" Sir Talmid clarified.

The girl pushed her sword closer to him.  "See, he is with the authority!  We should smash him!"

"Haven't thou been in touch with any current events?" Sir Talmid asked, flabbergasted.  "Mathias is dethroned, thedude is taking over, and the longer thou detain me, the closer he is to destroying the world!"

The boy demanded, "Who is this thedude?"

"He is an outlaw, and he is trying to rule Morcia."

"Like us!" the boy said.  The girl elbowed him sharply and he dropped his sword.  Sir Talmid noticed, but the girl's sword was still on him.

Part 3

"Don't worry, it is obvious by your demeanor," Sir Talmid said, but the boy was no longer listening to him.

"This is great," he said excitedly, "if the authority is gone, no one can stop us from raiding the city!"

"Quiet!" the girl hissed.  "Sshh!"

"And then we can rescue-"

"BRENDAN!" she shouted.  "Shush!"

He stopped, then shrugged at the girl.  "Why, this guy is -ack- not going to be alive to tell on us!"

"Soldiers." she said.

They both darted into the woods and out of sight, leaving Sir Talmid in the carriage.  He got out of the vehicle and listened.  Footsteps were echoing up the path.  A patrol?  Sir Talmid noted the Rogue soldier closest to him, knocked out and on the ground.  Thinking quickly, Sir Talmid picked up his Wormholer and inspected the weapon.  It was live and did not need a reload, so he could fire it as soon as he needed to.

A platoon was headed up the path, and as soon as they rounded the bend, they saw the stopped carriage and ran over to investigate.  They did not see Sir Talmid hiding in the treeline.  He watched carefully, aiming the wormholer from soldier to soldier, unsure of which to target.  He mentally rehearsed his moves, and then he jumped out, squeezing the trigger and letting loose a hail of energy blasts.

The weapon thudded in his arms and the recoil made it hard to aim - but he had the element of surprise and in a second half of the platoon was smashed!

He darted for cover behind the carriage and reloaded, then rounded the corner to blast the next Rogue.  He heard rustling and a Rogue jumped out behind him, only to be knocked out by a swing from the Wormholer's heavy bow.

Sir Talmid checked the remaining ammunition.  There was plenty, in the weapon and waiting to be picked up.  He collected provisions from the various felled or unconscious troopers, then noticed the boy and girl watching him.

"Wow." the boy said.  "You can really use that thing."

"I have knowledge of Nexus Force technology." Sir Talmid affirmed.

Part 4

The boy and the girl exchanged glances, some silent agreement, and then the girl stepped forward and said, "I'm Blair, this is Brendan.  There's a penitentiary in a town not far from here.  We're trying to rescue some people inside, and we were wondering, could you help us?"

Sir Talmid contemplated the predicament.  "I am a Knight," he said, "it is my duty to help people.  Where is this jail?"

"Evereed.  It's not far."

"Good." Sir Talmid said.  "I have business there.  And whoever it is you're, you say, 'rescuing,' does it involve more ambushing carriages?"

"With you with us, no!" Brendan said.

"We were trying to get stuff to trade for better weapons, and healing potions, and things." Blaire explained.  "But if you can use that magic thing, and you'll help us..."

Sir Talmid shrugged and joined them.  Whatever they were doing, he figured he could bail as soon as he wanted to, or regrouped with other knights.  He was free and on the move now, so nothing could go wrong, right?

[This is where the writing stops]

[This is where the writing resumes]

Chapter 2

Penitentiary was an old fashioned word related to penitence, meaning repenting, referring to a jail. Evereed's jail was a stout building built of copper tone bricks, Sir Talmid knew, and it was only two streets inside Evereed's wall. As Sir Talmid and his two little companions approached Evereed through lesser known forest paths, the sprawling stone border wall appeared.

Any man, woman, or child in Evereed would gladly relate the story Evereed's wall to anyone who didn't know. Having been a tourist in Evereed before, Sir Talmid knew the story. He doubted his two little companions knew its heritage.

"Stupid wall!" Brendan squeaked. "You said you'd get us past it!"

"What year is it?" Sir Talmid asked, crouching down near a particular stone and feeling its surface.

"Tree-thousand twin-tee-even years after Figoranos." Blaire enunciated.

"Thank thee. Now, about a thousand and two-hundred years ago," Sir Talmid relayed, "there was a great war fought between the Great Kingdoms and the Morgai. The Morgai practiced dark magic and used it to destroy Evereed two times in the war. After the war ended and Evereed was rebuilt, the locals also built this wall and they hired good sorcerers to enchant it with all sorts of 'good' spells.  According to the historical accounts, flowers bloomed on the entire span of this wall for the entire year, even in winter.”

Brendan scrunched his nose at the wall's plain grayness. "All I see is a wall."

"Of course, spells fade over time," Sir Talmid said, "but these stones were enchanted once, so I believe they are still enchantable." He set the Wormholer down and looked into his pack, retrieved from the Rogue's prison carriage. He still had some Nexus Force gear, tech, and currency in there. He found what he was looking for, his Nexus Force Thinking Cap and a general-purpose White Imaginite crystal to power it. Through the cap's goggles his entire vision was augmented, and as he suspected the stones showed as modifiable. He attached a basic move behavior to a particular large stone, then stepped back and watched as that stone moved outwards by itself, creating a hole in the wall large enough for them to climb through.

The Knight smiled at his handiwork and went through, then looked back and gestured for Brendan and Blaire to follow him, since they remained on the other side gaping at him.

"He really can do magic." Brendan whispered to no discretion.

"It's not magic, now come along." Sir Talmid urged. "Thou said we art to break someone out of the jail. I can't just go in there without knowing who ye want liberated."

"Right." Blaire said seriously, and pushed Brendan through the wall. She looked back, shortsword still gripped in her little hands, before climbing through too. The stone then slid back in place.

They were now inside Evereed and the jail would not be far. Sir Talmid had picked a close by, but discrete location to enter the woodland town, behind some wooden shacks in its busy marketplace. The noises of that locale concealed the sounds of their entry.

Sir Talmid stowed the wormholer, then with Brendan and Blaire in tow, they headed for the road that would take them to the jail.

Chapter 3 - Jailbirds

===
Part 1 ===

  Sir Talmid proceeded down a path close to Evereed’s wall.  The gravel road was close enough to the wall that the branches of the giant fir and great oak trees in Morcia’s forest lands cast their shade over the path.  The gravel stopped when it entered a cobblestone path, Evereed’s main road, and across from that was the jail.

  With Brendan and Blair in tow the knight looked both ways, so they would not be run over by carriages, before crossing the street to go around the side of the jail’s brick facade.  There, Sir Talmid crouched and inspected the ground.  As he expected, there was an old wooden pallet covering an obvious hole in the ground, but it had been filled with sand.

  “What’s this for?” Blaire asked.

  “Escaping,” Sir Talmid answered, rising to his feet.  “But not this time.”  Then his keen senses alerted him to danger and he pulled the children under the shadows of an overhang, behind an alcove created by the jail’s front facade being wider than the actual width of the building.

  Sir Talmid peeked out and saw Shadow Knights entering the city through the gate.  This made things more difficult.

  “I’ll go in the back door.” he decided.  “And the two of ye should stay out here.”

  Sir Talmid did not think dungeons were a nice place.

….

  Evereed’s jail, a typical medieval prison on the inside.  Sir Talmid practiced silent walking as he made his way down a round stone stairway.  Honestly, he had no clue who Blair and Brendan wanted him to break out, which meant he would have to ask around.

  Soon he faced rows of torch lit cells carved into the natural subterranean rock and barred with metal.  Occupying each was a typical depraved ruffian he would expect in a prison, until Sir Talmid came upon a cell that was blocked up with a steel door and had only a small window.  Curious, Sir Talmid put his face to the bars and stared in.  Inside was a man lying on a stone bed, dressed in Nexus Force Summoner clothes.

  The prisoner must have heard Sir Talmid approach, since he began saying, “Great, the sooner we leave the better.  The porridge here is atrocious and unfit for human consumption!”

  “Hello, Legoboy!” Sir Talmid said into the cell, and the Summoner sat up immediately.

  “Talmid?” Legoboy said, getting to his feet and dusting off his robes.  “Not you too.  I thought the Rogues had come to move me again.”  Despite the dirt and grease in his cell, Legoboy’s clothes were pristine and white, as if he was using Imagination to keep his clothes clean.  “Evereed is not far from Orlan.”

  “Two children freed me from the prison carriage.  In return, I’m busting everyone out for them.” Talmid explained, while he stepped back and inspected the steel door’s array of locks, padlocks and deadbolts.  “How do I open this thing?”

  “You need the keys.” Legoboy said.  “The warden has them upstairs.  But wait-!”

  Sir Talmid, who had turned to the other steps to the first floor, turned back.  “What?”

  Legoboy beckoned Talmid closer.  “I already told Sharpie to get the keys.” he said quietly.

  “Sharpie is here too?” Talmid asked, although it was a fact.  “Interesting.”

  “That was yesterday.  That’s why I said, ‘Not you too.’  I fear he’s been captured too, or he is still hiding, so we need to find him after we escape.” Legoboy urged.  “Now get me out of here.”

  Sir Talmid nodded and went back up the stairs.

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