Chp 31: Old Friends: Ackley (Patreon)

Riding through the woods I could hear the whisper of the spirits. They tried to turn me aside, but I was not swayed. I had long kept the habit of treating them well and they were reluctant to work against me. Even so, I would have become lost if not for my hound. Fleur kept her nose to the ground and kept us on course when eyes would have failed us both.

Even so, I could only sigh when she pointed, letting me know that our quarry was nearby. I’d wanted to get the matter over with and annihilate the camp, but our orders were clear despite being strange. The bandits were to be taken prisoner but gagged. It was why I was riding through the woods after a woman and child, like some common degenerate.

Stumbling behind me the Baronets hired mage Larch muttered a powerless curse. Rather than let the spirits have a few minutes of play he swatted at them. A move which only made his lot worse as the spirits grew irritated with his disrespect. Spirits and fey both had strange habits and fixations. 

It was why I kept my hair long and rode without a helmet when they were near. Denying them a chance to braid my hair was courting nothing but trouble. Appeasing them ment at worst that I'd need to spend a bit more time brushing my hair before bed.

“Pardon, but I’ve work to do,” I said softly before putting on my helmet.

“What?” Larch asked far too loud. I flinched, wondering if he’d cost us our chance at surprise.

“Stay behind me, the woman hunted a rabbit with a sling this morning,” I said, fighting down a sigh. I wouldn’t deny the woman was skilled but three stout men in armor would have been enough to subdue her, even armed. Instead, I’d been ordered to drag along a mage. A mage who was proving to be nothing more than an unneeded complication.

“I’m hardly so fragile as a rabbit Ackley,” Larch shot back, still too loud. I disagreed but the main point was that he was much larger and slower. I kept that thought to myself.

“You’ll have to sign for the extra time this is taking as well, Ackley,” He added, still emphasizing my name. Since we weren't close he should have called me Sir Camphor. My guess was that he wanted to pointedly not use my title, but I wasn’t sure. My name might well have been a swear in a magical language.

“Yes,” I replied. I didn’t mind a certain level of arrogance. It wasn’t possible to work with nobility otherwise. I extended that goodwill to mages as well. They worked hard and could accomplish astonishing feats in combat. The problem was that so far, all Larch had been good for was counting the hours he was due pay for.

We found ourselves near a spirit glade and I halted my horse and whistled for Fleur to heel. She was certain that the pair we were tracking was still ahead of us and I trusted her. That meant one of two things. They had either become entrapped by the spirits or sought shelter with them. Both options were a problem.

As if to confirm my suspicion the spirits' angry murmuring increased as Larch trudged past me. It would have served him right to suffer their ire for trespassing but I moved to block him. The Baronet would not be pleased if I let him die out of spite. Not understanding anything he tried to push past me.

“We need to make offerings-” What I was about to say was cut off as a sharp metallic clang filled the air. A stone had grazed my chest plate and struck a nearby tree hard enough to make a gouge in the bark. Grabbing Larch By the scruff I turned my horse and drug him a few yards back before letting him fall to the ground.

“Now wait!” I said harshly, making sure to get my horse and hound behind trees. Rose was a placid creature for a warhorse but not infallible and I hadn’t put on her full barding. She was getting on in years. I left the flank panels and heavy blanket off to spare her the weight unless I was expecting trouble.

I sighed as I gave her a carrot and then sighed again because of how often I was sighing. It was a bad habit I was developing since the appointment of the new Baronet. He’d insisted I ride out from his estate without any forewarning or preparation.

Thinking of those recent inconveniences I became distracted. I felt the ripple in the air of a spell being cast. Larch created a shield of wind and charged into the glade. 

“What in the name of the gods are you doing?” I demanded as I hurried to drag him back. Even if he was generally incompetent, he should have known better than to walk into an enemy’s line of fire. Mages were fearsome but delicate compared to other combatants. 

They required focus and mental clarity to work. A knight could fight with half their guts hanging out and a concussion. 

“Ha, as if you don’t know about the bonus,” he spat at me. I was stunned. Money was known to make people stupid, but there should have been a limit.

“I’ll bring him back the Silverleaf bitches head myself,” he continued. A stone was deflected by his shield with a soft thud. Reminded of his goal he pulled away from my strengthless grasp with ease. Silverleaf was not a name I’d heard in some time.

“Lady Jessica returned?” I asked and received a sneer in reply. It was enough to let me know I was right, and I considered the matter for a few moments. Larch was still walking into the glade like a fool while I moved back among the trees. Without Fleur, he wouldn’t be able to do more than walk in circles. 

Putting Fleur back on the scent I skirted the edge of the glade, letting Larch keep Lady Jessica and her sling busy. I kept my helmet on anyway. The trees were too thick to make it easy, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get lucky if I gave her the chance. The spirits around the glade hummed like hornets in their agitation.

They weren’t strong enough to overcome Larch immediately. That didn’t stop them from putting snares and pits in his way. He fought back like an angry bull. Snapping at every little thing that happened, wasting his magic.

When Fleur pointed I stopped and hid, searching with my eyes and ears for a sign of the Lady. She was quite but the soft whir of the sling before she released it gave her away. Standing in the shadows of the tall trees was a familiar face, though no longer the one I remembered. 

Jessica Silverleaf had been kind and quiet. A young lady who liked to be left to her interests rather than bother with her father’s social climbing. Books, embroidery, and management of her father’s household had filled her days.

The woman I was looking at moved with confidence that would have been foreign to that girl. She let loose the sling and the shot drew a shower of curses from Larch as he tried in vain to reach her. She glanced at the woods around her before moving back behind cover to pick up new stones. I moved deeper into cover myself, not wishing to find myself or Fleur taking direct fire.

“Lady Erica Silverleaf?” I called out softly. She stiffened for a moment in shock but was grabbing her spear and whirling around in the next. She maneuvering to put the tree between her and the sound before scanning the area.

“I’m Ackley Camphor, I was a squire when you left the estate,” I continued. She wouldn’t remember me, but my family had served hers for generations. A fact most wouldn’t have known since we’d only gained a knighthood when I was a boy. 

Peasant families weren’t considered valuable supporters. The length of our service and sincerity a meaningless variable in the eyes of nobles. Even so, it was that loyalty that had propelled us up and resulted in my father being awarded a knighthood. The very one that had been passed to me due to him being unable to accept it thanks to the injury he'd suffered winning it.

In the eyes of people like the new Baronet and Larch, I was a history less upstart. I shouldn't have any meaningful ties to anyone except whoever I swore my vow to. A lucky prejudice in this case.

“What was your hounds' name? And what was its crime?” Jessica called back to my surprise. It seemed that I had left an impression on her, though not a desirable one given the test she presented me.

“I had a wolf I was trying to domesticate…that ate your cat. His name was Willow,” I admitted. The story went that dogs as they were now descended from wolves. I wasn’t happy with the mastiffs we’d been given to use on patrols at the time. They had a tendency toward sickliness, so I’d thought to breed a bit of the wolf's robustness back into them. The experiment had less than ideal results even before the cat was slain.

“At least your man enough to admit that now,” called back and I thought I heard a chuckle. I'd gone to some trouble to replace the dead cat with a matching new one. My intent had been to keep her from feeling sad rather than escape my crime of negligence. Even so, she'd seen through it somehow. I'd been too stubborn to admit it then.

“I confessed to the captain when it happened and got a strapping for it. I don't know how you figured it out...” I said, still confused on that point. I’d gone out of my way and even enlisted the help of her ladies maid. She'd played along and had no motive to have tattled on me. 

“Let’s save the reminiscing for later. Why are you here, Sir Camphor?” She asked.

“I wanted to confirm your identity myself,” I said and felt a little better. Thinking about the past made me feel like I was still that same clumsy squire.

“The Baronet claimed your group was a band of bandits. It wasn't until a few minutes ago that the mage let it slip who you were,” I explained. I'd never have let Larch have his way even if she had turned out to be a stranger. That wasn't the point though and Jessica had no way of confirming my motives. It was best I explain things up front and then proved myself with action.

“And now that you have?” She asked, still cautious.

“I’m going to kill that mage then go back and alert those who might still be loyal that you need help. Expecting you to trust me isn’t reasonable so I won’t ask to be allowed to approach,” I said, glad she was alive. As a sworn knight my duty was usually seen as being to my liege before all else. I’d always held with the older tradition of it being to my chivalric oath, the king, then my liege.

Since the Baronet was doing things that were clearly both illegal and wrong, I wasn’t obliged to serve him. That his trespass was against the family mine had served faithfully before him was just fuel on the pyre.

“Very well. Best get to it then,” Lady Jessica replied with obvious suspicion. I laughed, knowing it was warranted. Even so, I turned my eyes to the glade, curious why Larch had fallen silent. I didn’t see him and squinted. Fleur let out a warning howl as my eyes adjusted and started to track something moving fast. In the next instant a dark, heavy, and snarling thing connected with my chest plate.