Aldburg Chronicles: Knighthood In Another World

"I hope you're ready, welp, the journey to Frannberg will take an entire week of travel!" The knight barked.

Eric said nothing, instead he opted to stare at the floor in silence. The bench was just a bit too small to be comfortable for him. He knew this would be a long ride.

"Not much to say, eh? Can't say I expect much else from a miserable criminal like you, worm." The knight remarked, "I don't know why you're still alive boy, if it were up to me you'd be dead for what you did!" 

"Does he ever shut up?" Eric wondered in his head.

"Ohhhh he still has nothing to say, don't you worry boy, I'll have you broken in no time!" The knight screamed in his face.

"I'm sure you will." Eric said, stone-faced.

The knights face twisted in anger before he slapped Eric on the side of the head.

"You seem to have forgotten, maggot! This is your punishment! You're not a recruit, you're property, fodder, chaff! You'll be dead the week after training ends and then you'll be out of our hair forever!" He screamed.

Eric looked up to his shaved head and smirked. The knight, a man who was trying his hardest to intimidate Eric, had his lips quiver as he held back a grin at his own comment. 

"Ah, forget it. You'll learn plenty of respect in training!" He said, flustered.

The first day of travel was entirely uneventful, out the back of the cart Eric saw they were passing farms and homesteads but couldn't make out much in terms of detail. He had, however, heard concerned whispers about an increased monster presence on the road leaving Veldia and that they were worried the nearby village of Juniper would be at risk. 

The first night, the knight had told him he had to sleep outside of the cart with the rest of the men.

"Not enough room my ass." Eric thought.

This news was discouraging to Eric, the rest of the armored men hadn't so much as said a word to him their entire journey, instead they shot him looks of sheer distain and aggression. Perhaps it was because he was allowed to ride in the cart, perhaps it was because he was a criminal. Regardless, from all available evidence, they hated him.

He sat resting against a tree, isolated from the main camp of men. He was unable to sleep, tossing and turning when, suddenly, he heard a noise from the dense woodland behind him. He whipped around and in his paranoia, picked up a small branch and raised it by his head.

"What the hell is this for, man?" Eric chastised himself.

He squinted and looked into the distance, he swore he could hear a faint song from the distance, accompanied by a dim blue glow. His better judgement told him that no good could come from investigating this, yet he found himself walking towards the source. As he walked closer the song grew louder. 

The memory of the dagger wound to the shoulder and arrow to the leg flashed in his mind and froze him dead in his tracks. He scanned around him, looking for any lurking goblin and began to sweat. The woodland was dark, the type of dark a modern man isn't used to. Fireflies were his only source of light and with them he could see flowers and bark patterns that would have been quite impossible home on Earth, even the grass seemed alien to him then.

"Are you really ready to do this?" Eric's saner mind prevailed and he turned to walk away.

"Hey! You! Yeah don't run now we see you." A woman's voice called out from the distance, "Come on, come here. Join us, we're having a little dance."

A chill ran up Eric's spine and his jaw tightened, he was about to sprint back to camp when a second voice came from the darkness, this time to his right and much closer.

"Besides, I bet I'm way faster than you are." The voice was effeminate but distinctly male, "C'mon, we always welcome more people. Stay a while."

He heard the clicking of fingers and before he could process what had happened, he was sat on a log, blue fire roaring in front of him.

"Wait, what, where am I, how did I-" Eric spoke aloud before being interrupted.

"Don't you worry about that." The woman said.

Eric looked at the source of her voice. She was hard to look at. Not in the sense that she was ugly, but rather when Eric laid eyes on her, he was hit with an immediate splitting headache. His vision went blurry, he couldn't make out any details of her face, only a long, blue, flowery dress. He scanned the site for anyone else and quickly discovered that he was surrounded by as many as seven people, all of whom elicited the same splitting headache and blurry vision when Eric tried to look them in the eye. 

The music resumed again, it was a soothing melody played on a fretless lute, Eric hadn't heard music like it in his life on Earth, before he could realize, his breathing had slowed and his heartbeat had slowed to the degree that he wondered if it had stopped entirely.

"Hey, I can't move." He said, his mind foggy.

The group burst out laughing and the music grew faster. His surroundings were twisting and warping, colors danced and flickered and changed and tangled his eyes. No sound played clear, no object stood still. The trees, species he couldn't possibly identify, changed their leaf colors and branch lengths each time he blinked.

"Don't worry about it." The male voice reassured him.

"You see, we aren't here by accident." The woman spoke and a dramatic strum cried out, "See, we know what you are Eric. We've been observing you for quite some time. You aren't ready yet but when you are, we'll come and see you again, for now, ah... oh c'mon where is it." The woman began to pat her dress and her surroundings before her hand landed on a piece of parchment with a loud crinkling sound.

"Having some trouble?" The male voice teased.

"Shut it." She replied, "Where was I?" A pause followed, "Ah! Right. Our boss wanted us to tell you some things. Ahem. 'Beware the beast with no teeth', 'The man of white is not your ally'... and... Good God this writing is atrocious." She trailed off.

"Wait, wait, God? Singular? Not Gods? Shit I can't speak, who are these people?" Eric's mind grew restless.

"Right, here we go, 'The blood is impure, do not offer it to the beast'? Okay does this mean anything to you or? Oh, wait, yeah you can't speak. Okay, I think we should leave it there." She said with a giggle.

"Wait, weren't we meant to give him the mark?" The man asked.

"Were we? Argh, who can be bothered with that at this time of the night." She replied, "Take care, we'll be in touch."

Eric bolted awake against the tree he had been resting on the night before, his body dripping in a cold sweat.

"Looks like baby had a nightmare! Get UP! We're leaving." The knight stood barking in his face, "You know what? Since you're so well rested, you can march in the back today, ain't that just lovely?"

Eric stood up, ready to begin his long march, throwing his bag over his shoulder he followed the cart, all the while the knight cried out timings.

"One, two, three, four!" Or occasionally, "Left, right, left, right!"

The sun beamed down on his face as he marched through the dirt, his leg screamed at him to stop.

"Shit. I never picked up that cane!" He thought.

He thought this often on his long, long march forwards, he was told they would be hitting a village by nightfall but after six straight hours of walking on a disabled leg, nightfall seemed an eternity away. The cart in front of him kicked up dust and dirt into his face and eyes, his nice clothes sullied by grime, he couldn't help but feel like any progress he had made was truly gone.

After another hour of marching, he collapsed down to the floor with a hard thud, his leg had been threatening to give out on him for the duration of the march, all things considered, seven hours was an outstanding performance. The knight did not agree.

"What do you think you're doing? This is no time for a nap! You'd be dead on the ground if this was behind enemy lines. Worse! You'd be endangering real soldiers!" He screamed from the cart.

The message resonated, he was right. Where he was going he couldn't afford to be left behind. He grit his teeth and forced himself to his feet, trudging along behind the cart. He had another eight hours of walking to go.

He felt his knees grind together. Six hours remained.

He remembered a poem he was forced to read in history class one day, he hated that class, he hated poetry. But he understood. Men could go mad from all this marching. Four hours remained.

He felt his feet become warm and wet with blood from blisters. Two hours remained.

Half an hour was left on his march. He couldn't help but cough and splutter. The knight and men did too. Soon they realized something was wrong.

"Right, on the cart." The knight barked, ordering a faster approach.

Hooves echoed and wheels rattled, the knight's expression was not the rage-filled visage that Eric had grown accustomed to, instead, what took its place was a face of absolute determination and sincere concern.

Ten minutes remaining. Ash.

As the cart rattled to the gates of Juniper village, the knight jumped out the back of the cart first, brandishing his sword.

He gasped, "Wait. Here." He commanded in a tone stern enough to make Eric's blood run cold.

After the knight and men sprinted ahead, Eric deemed it safe to peak his head out and around the cart.

What he saw horrified him.

A bonfire of blue flames.