THE GOLDEN HILT 14 | THE ORPHANS | PART 1 | MEDIEVAL SERIES

ADVENTUROUS MEDIEVAL SHORT STORY SERIES

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THE GOLDEN HILT

Lakmeer looked at the house, it was a two story house that most cities had. But this was a very old one, made of clay. It was much older than the houses surrounding it. Lakmeer slowly went to the window, suddenly there came a head out of the window, it was the boy. The boy smiled at Lakmeer and said,” hurry up, or they will find you.” Lakmeer moved the cloth and went in the room through the window. When he entered the room, the heat of the fire burning in the middle of the room washed through his body and on his face. He looked around the room and saw children who were his age and younger. There was no adult in the room only children.

One of them, a boy who looked of his age, but much skinnier than him, stood up and came to Ares, he asked Ares, not very kindly,” why did you bring him here?” Ares’ smile went away and he said,” he was alone, so I thought Odin might be able to help him.” The boy still glared at Ares and said,” And did you by any chance ask Odin if you could bring others here?” Ares looked at his feet ashamed and said,” If I had done that it would have been too late, either the guards would have found and put him in the dungeons where he would have been starved to death or he would have left the city where he would have died of the cold.” This explanation of Ares’ didn’t seem to be enough for the boy and he said,” At least that wouldn’t put all of us in danger, and you say the guards are looking for him that makes it even worse. In no time the guards will be here for him.” Ares kept staring at his feet, ashamed.

 “The guards are looking for who?” For a second Lakmeer thought he heard his father’s voice, the same kindness was in this voice but Lakmeer knew it wasn’t him, this voice belonged to a man much younger than his father. It came from down the stairs, Lakmeer could hear someone walking up the stairs, slowly. Everyone looked towards the stairs, the man who must be Odin, walked in the room and looked at Lakmeer and said,” And who are you, young knight.” The man was tall and was wearing an old leather jerkin, it was old but clean. He had a sword and a dagger at his hip. He had the looks of a fighter, he wasn’t older than Lykos but he was way older than Lakmeer and anyone in the room.

The boy, who had been shaming Ares a while ago, talked to him respectably and said,” He is a friend of Ares’. The guards are looking for him, so Ares thought to bring him here to put us all in danger.” The man smiled and said,” You do realize Loki that the guards have been looking for me for years and all that time I have been here. I don’t think him being here would be such a big problem.” At this Ares smiled and the boy called Loki stared at Lakmeer.” But still I would like to know who you are.” Lakmeer looked at him respectfully and said,” I am Lakmeer of the desert, I was heading for Gordor with a friend, and we thought to stay here for the night due to the cold, but the guards took him, and they are going to behead him.” The man began to think and said,” why would they behead him, they do take people sometimes without any reason, but they do not behead for nothing.” Loki gave a wicked smile and said,” He must be a killer or rapist…” Lakmeer’s anger flared at this and he didn’t let Loki finish and said,” He is no rapist!”

Odin looked at Loki and said angrily,” Loki, behave yourself, you have no right judging anyone.” Then he looked at Lakmeer and said,” why are they going to behead him?” Lakmeer didn’t know if he should be telling him, but if he needed his help he had to so he said,” He killed some bad people.” Odin thought at this and said,” who were those bad people?” Lakmeer didn’t want to tell him everything, what if he was an enemy of Lykos and decided to kill Lakmeer. But Lakmeer saw no other way, I am a good swordsman, I could take him, Lakmeer thought. He said,” He didn’t kill any innocents, he killed bandits who robbed people and who killed his family.” A different expression came on his face, Lakmeer didn’t know if it was happiness or malice, he said,” don’t tell me he is “the bandit’s bane”.” By his sentence Lakmeer could tell that it wasn’t malice but happiness, but for what. Odin looked at Lakmeer for answers like he had found a lost person.

Lakmeer didn’t know why, but he was really happy to hear of this, so Lakmeer had to tell,” Yes, he is called “the bandit’s bane”.” Odin smiled and said,” so finally Lykos decides to show up in the city, but it was foolish of him, knowing that the guards were looking for him.” Lakmeer didn’t tell him Lykos’ name, how does he know Lykos. Odin, seeing the puzzled look on Lakmeer’s face, said,” Don’t worry, I have met Lykos, he is a… friend.” He smiled again and said,” I will help you get Lykos out of the dungeons.” He asked Lykos to sit by the fire and put a pot on the fire and sat by the fire silently. The children went to sleep one by one and Ares was the last, all that time he stood vigilant like a guard staring at Lakmeer like he envied him, but Lakmeer knew how bad it was to envy him. After some time, he also went to sleep and it was only Odin and Lakmeer. Odin poured some tea in a cup and gave it to Lakmeer.

Lakmeer sat by the fire drinking tea that was made by Odin, the cold air outside blew like a whistle and Lakmeer listened to it as it blew. The tea was the best tea he had had for a while; he couldn’t remember the last good tea he had. He felt much better after drinking the tea, while Odin sat by him drinking wine and looking in the fire. He looked at Lakmeer and said,” Lykos didn’t tell you how dangerous it was for him to come to this city, did he?” Lakmeer shook his head while drinking tea. Odin nodded and said,” He had come here years ago when he had just lost his family, he stayed here for a night after he killed the commander of the city whom he had seen beating an old man. He left in the morning, nobody remembered his face but one person knew him as bandits’ bane. Since then he became both famous and wanted in this city. But I think it was very important for him to stay, that he decided to enter or he was foolish enough to think that people had forgotten him.”” The guards didn’t recognize him; it was some other commoner who recognized him.”

Odin smiled and said,” It is most of the time the commoners who get people caught, they will do anything for a reward and Lykos has made himself the most expensive fugitive there is. There is a reward of more than thirty thousand gold coins.” Lakmeer had never heard of a criminal who had a prize that big for his head. Lakmeer then asked,” Who are you and these children?” Odin looked at the sleeping children and said,” Many years ago when I was a young man, a plague broke out in the city, many people died. Children and adults died alike. For many days the dead bodies laid on the streets. Many people died and among those many people were the parents of these children and their sibling and my whole family. I then brought some children here. They were alone, cold and hungry laying in the streets, I looked after them with my brother who was killed by the guards.” Lakmeer felt sorry for them, he looked around at them. He knew how it felt to lose a loved one.

Odin again looked at the fire and took a deep breath and said,” First the plague and now this war, we are never going to be in peace. The guards were always looking for me but now due to the war they might as well find our hideout.” Lakmeer was puzzled why the guards would arrest Odin and the children, they were just living their lives and doing nothing wrong. Odin looked at Lakmeer and seeing the puzzled look on his face he smiled and said,” I know it is confusing. The guards always hated me, they were always looking for me around the city, luckily they never got me. The reason for this was that I could not take care of the children alone so I took some help from the rich people of the city (he winked and smiled), soon they knew my identity but not where I lived and this is a big city so it was hard to go home to home. They just wait for the next time I show up, but by the time they come I reach home safe and sound. Though the wars have made them more careful so I don’t go out too often.”

Lakmeer sat silently as the cold wind blew outside, even the sound of the wind sent chills in his body; he did not want to know how the wind itself felt. He looked at the warm fire and took a sip from the tea and enjoyed the warmth going through his chest. He hugged himself with the blanket and looked at the fire like Odin. He didn’t know what Odin saw but what he saw was destruction, but he did not like the destruction yet the heat that came from it felt good on his face. Odin stood up and said,” You have had a long day, son. Go to sleep tonight, we can help Lykos tomorrow, when the sun sets. I know Lykos can wait for one more day and they will not be killing him any time soon.” Odin went to a corner and lay in a blanket and Lakmeer slept there by the warmth of the fire.

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