Dad got me into a comfy position in his arm so I could have a proper look at his damaged armor, it seems like it is story time!
“You see, your old man, not so long ago, was just a knight. But I did not come from any knight households, I was just a kid from a nameless village.”
Well that explains a lot, Dad feels more down to earth and does not act very much like he comes from old money like Mum and my grandparents do.
Dad’s face darkened as he said the next part, “and being a nameless village in the middle of nowhere did not speak to security. Every now and then we would drive off a bear that gets too close or whatnot, but we were not prepared for a bandit raid.”
“A bunch of deserter soldiers from one of the neighboring countries decided to come up and take over the village. When they went after the women and food, the men stepped up to resist. I was around 8 or 9 at the time and was there when the bandit leader was grabbing one of my lady neighbors, she did not take too kindly to being grabbed and shanked the bandit leader in the thigh with a tool she was carrying. This pissed off the bandit leader off enough to order his men to kill the whole village.”
God Damm, shanking a bandit? village girls don't fuck around. Then again she had good reason to carry around a shank, with all kinds of nasty beasts, monsters, and bandits around, I too would want to be armed to the teeth.
“My parents hid me away and went to help defend the village. Soon, the noise of fighting died down, and from the voices I heard, my village was lost.” Dad then carried me over to a worn-looking shield with a dulled silver insignia of a brick wall with turrets on each end, and I saw Dad’s face brighten up again.
“But as I was crying and trying to keep my voice low, I heard shouts again and shortly after, the thunder of horse hoofs and battle. When I peeked out there were knights checking the area for any survivors, they were from the Order of the Silver Wall who were passing by when they saw the smoke from my village.”
“By the end of everything, I was the only one from my village who survived. The Knight Commander took pity on me and took me in as a page of the knight’s order, from there I made my way up to a knight.” Dad said with much pride in his voice.
“As for how I became a baron. It was 3 years ago in one of the campaigns during this current war with our neighbors to our north. We were led by our King to siege a castle. When we arrived, we camped outside the enemy’s castles preparing to siege it at first light the next day.”
Oooo war stories, I do love war stories. And apparently, my country is in the midst of war, good to know.
“On the night before the siege, I was tasked to pass a report to the Order’s Commander who was usually in the command tent with the King. When I got to the tent, the Royal Guards who usually guarded the tent, were missing. I assumed that was because the King retired to his personal tent. But the moment I got close to the tent, the sound of a military camp turned to shouts and the clash of weapons.”
“I rushed into the tent sword drawn.” Dad mimed drawing a sword.
“And tripped upon entering the tent over the dead bodies of the 2 royal guards that were supposed to be guarding outside. What I saw there was the Order’s Commander on the ground with a dagger stabbed into his side and shoulder, and a man clad in black leather wrestling with him trying to plunge a dagger into the Order Commander’s throat. There were 4 of the men in black were dead on the floor and 3 more of them were advancing on the king who was defending himself. And everyone in the tent was blasting Aura in scary amounts.”
“Fortunately the assassins did not notice me. So I decided not to use my Aura in order to move unnoticed in the scuffle.”
Dad got more and more excited as he mimed every detail he was narrating.
“The first thing I did was to sneak up on the assassin trying to stab the Order Commander and lopped the assassin’s head off. After that, I sneaked up and ran through one of the assassins targeting the King.”
At this point, I was as invested in the story as Dad was while he was moving around the room, participating in an invisible fight I could almost see.
“After running that assassin through, I could no longer stay unnoticed as one of the last 2 assassins turned to me and started attacking me. While their Aura was not as potent as any of the knights or the King, the way they fought seemed designed to kill knights and armored warriors.”
“As I fought the assassin, I soon noticed that I was totally outclassed in skill. But the more urgent situation as was the King was getting more and more injured as the fight went on. Our king may be an accomplished swordsman, but he did not have any armor on, and the assassin he was facing was clearly a master.
As they fought, the assassin could not get a clean hit to kill the King, but the damage was building up and it was only a matter of time before the assassin kills the King.”
“So I had to finish my fight fast in order to help the king. So I took a risk. I purposely left my side open and the assassin took the bait.”
Dad undid his shirt and his left midsection was a scar that I had not noticed before because he had other scars all over his body.
“When the assassin stabbed my side, I grabbed the hand that stabbed me and slashed down at the assassin. The assassin tried to defend himself with a dagger in his off-hand but that did not stop me from cutting him in 2.” Dad almost shouted the last part in excitement.
“After killing the assassin I was facing, I rushed the last assassin attacking the king, and that assassin clearly saw me coming. And I got to tell you, son, that assassin toyed with us, I would even go as far as to say he was taking his time to kill us with a thousand cuts.”
“At this point, both me and the King were bleeding out. Seeing our weakness, the assassin started showboating and telling us how we were going to die and other shit that I was too tired to understand. So my tired mind could only come up with the same strategy that worked earlier, I charged the assassin mid-taunt.” Dad pulled open the right side of his unbuttoned shirt and there was a scar where I think his right lung should be if I remember my biology classes correctly.
“Bastard got me right in the lung, but I managed to grab him in a hug and his majesty came up from behind me and drove his sword into the assassin’s face before he used his other dagger to stab me in the back.
By the end of it, His Majesty, the Order Commander, and I were all lying on the floor bleeding, and only His Majesty the King had any strength to make his way out of the tent to call for help. After an investigation into why such a scuffle did not attract any attention, turns out the master assassin was hiding a magic tool on his body that sealed off all sound in an area. And I just turned up in the right place and time to save the day.”
“And after saving the life of not only an Order Commander, and His Majesty the King himself, not only was the King obliged to reward me, he wanted to do so. That's how your old man got bestowed the rank of baron, this land with the mansion we live in, and a sizeable amount of gold.” Dad finished with a pose and a puffed-up chest.
I, of course being his son and liking good war stories, gave him a resounding baby laugh and claps. This made Dad so happy that he began regaling me with more stories of his path to knighthood.
But while listening to Dad’s stories, I could not help but wonder, what was the king doing on the battlefield, should he not be back at the capital managing the country and kingly shit?
The answer I found out later on was, No, our King is kind of a muscle head who very much fights, which made for a lot of stress for the Ministers back in the capital.
So I had to finish my fight fast in order to help the king. So I took a risk. I purposely left my side open and the assassin took the bait.”
Dad undid his shirt and his left midsection was a scar that I had not noticed before because he had other scars all over his body.
“When the assassin stabbed my side, I grabbed the hand that stabbed me and slashed down at the assassin. The assassin tried to defend himself with a dagger in his off-hand but that did not stop me from cutting him in 2.” Dad almost shouted the last part in excitement.
"There will come a time when you must achieve a goal at all costs. It may come in attack or in defense. And the only way will be to allow the sword to be sheathed in your own body. ... when the price is worth the gain, and there is no other choice left to you. That is called Sheathing the Sword. Remember it." al'Lan Mandragoran
Heard of The Wheel of Time series, is it worth getting into it? Just checked the audio book playlist, super long.
@Samofthepen The Wheel of Time books are great, but certainly not for everyone. It's a long 14 book series, with an additional prequel novel, and all the books are super long. It's one of the most popular fantasy series, even having sold more copies than game of thrones. If you like fantasy then I think that they're worth a shot. The world is insanely well crafted and the magic system is cool.
The first few novels are a bit similar to Lord of the Rings, but as the series goes on it develops more of its own identity. The main premise is basically that a legendary figure known as The Dragon has been reincarnated in modern times, and they're fated to either destroy the world or save it.
The world is largely matriarchal since only women can use magic safely, though that doesn't mean that men are thrust into a submissive role like many novels you can find on here would suggest. It follows five young teens (three boys and two girls, though there is a true main character among them) as they're forced out of their small mountain village and into the wider world of magic, politics, and monsters.
Ultimately it's a very expansive series with insane world building and ideas and maturely explores its themes. It can get a bit slow in the middle, but definitely finishes very strong.
TLDR: Super long but really well crafted and detailed. Not for everyone but at least worth checking out.
Ps. The tv show on amazon is a really poor adaptation that verges on fan fiction territory. It's not accurate to what the books are, they're pretty separate. It's not terrible, just not truly Wheel of Time as the author envisioned it.
@Kizaru_Etrus Thanks. no idea when i am going to find the time to give it a listen, but thanks.
@Kizaru_Etrus Now thats the type of story i like, long ass fantasy story with amazing details is just the type i find entertaining