Arablest/ Prototype

It took another month to travel back to Thanti. The trip had been slower than I realized, mainly because we had a much larger group of people to travel with. When it was just Lenora and I, it didn’t take as long to move. That, or my sense of time was getting worse.

Nothing really interesting happened on our way back, but there were quite a few sites to see. Many towns in Thanti lay in ruins, other occupied, again by the unknown army. We were all stumped as to who it was, especially with Slazsk invading Thrycia. Perhaps they were a mercenary group?

That reminded me; I asked Tomer the other day about the size of his group.

“Hey, Tomer. Is it normal for a mercenary group to be only this small? I suppose you only take small jobs like this one.”
“What? No, of course not. I’m the leader of a large mercenary group, but I thought we wouldn’t need to bring so many people, so I only brought a few with me. Most mercenary groups need to be the size of a small army, but they can be divided to take smaller jobs. I command a group of about… a little more than a thousand men, I believe. It’s actually pretty small, but we’ve been very successful.”
“One thousand! That’s a lot of people! And you’re in command of all of them? How did you get to become their leader?”
“Well, it may sound like that to you, but in a time like ours, a king does need a small, already trained army to do things here and there for them. It’s much easier to pay than recruit. And as for how… that’s a long story. You want to hear?”
“Of course. We don’t have anything else to do, and I can’t do anything but listen while I’m still sick.”
“Ok then, where shall I start?”
I thought for a bit. “How about, when the Crimson Demon saved your village and you decided to become a mercenary?”

So that was when I learned about Tomer’s life.

I don’t remember what he said word for word, but generally, what happened was that after the Crimson Demon had left his village, Tomer could only stand there in shock at how quickly it had happened. He was amazed that someone so skilled could take out so many at once, and looked up to him, despite never meeting him again. But he knew that he never really had training, so he could never match up to his skill, but he had worked and toiled every day at the farm. He was strong, he knew that, and in healthy condition. And so, Tomer went to the blacksmith, bought himself the biggest sword he could find as well as a good shield, and set out to learn the sword.

The sword was heavier than he expected; even with his strength from working on the farm he was only 15 years old at the time. But every day he would practice increasing his strength by swinging the sword with rocks tied to it, squeezing rocks with his hand (for better hand control), and various other techniques he made up by himself.

Of course, with training like this he quickly broke his first sword before even being in combat once, so he had to go buy another one. The biggest sword this time at the blacksmith he was able to easily carry it with one hand, which worked perfectly with his shield. Just as he was leaving the blacksmiths’, he crossed roads with a mercenary band. Many of them took no notice of him, but one of the mercenaries, after seeing his sword, decided to challenge him to a test of skill.

Since Tomer accepted, this stopped the entire mercenary company, who decided to wait and watch the battle.

This was Tomer’s first battle in his entire life, and he lost, mainly because he didn’t have any real training beforehand.

Although the battle ended in Tomer’s defeat, he had managed to last longer than many had expected. For one thing, many of the mercenaries didn’t expect a 15 year old boy to carry a large two handed broadsword with one hand and a shield in the other. His quickness had surprised his opponent as well, but in the end, his lack of skill and his predictability caused his loss. Or so says Tomer now.

The mercenary leader, however, saw his talent. He said to Tomer, word for word, “Despite your obvious lack of skill, you have managed to put up a good fight against one of my seasoned warriors. You have much talent; would you like to join our group? I shall train you personally, for I want to see your full potential.”

Tomer never forgot his words, even to this day. He had immediately accepted the bandit’s offer, and soon admired his leader for his talent and morals; his leader was always fair, just, and kind. He quickly rose through the ranks as his skill with the sword grew; he eventually threw his shield away for custom made swords larger than he was, and was able to afford some armor as well. He was popular among the mercenaries, earning himself the nickname “Tomer the Troll” for his powerful and reckless fighting style.

Tomer soon became the right hand man of the mercenary leader, even leading his own regiment of a few hundred men. He soon was placed at the most important roles of many battles, and his vicious fighting style let no enemy come close to him. But since these were peaceful times, most of the time they found themselves fighting bandits and small monsters of legend. They separated their group, still under the same mercenary name, in order to efficiently help as many villages as they could at once, for it was because of the Crimson Demon that many villages and towns had become vulnerable. Because they became stretched so thin sometimes Tomer would be defending towns with only a few men at his side, and they become constantly outnumbered.

Tomer was lucky that the Crimson Demon was in Raalte while he and his mercenary group were stationed in Thrycia. If Shin had gotten word of their mercenary group, he probably would have seen it as an opportunity to fight powerful warriors.

It was while Tomer was sent to singlehandedly protect a village when he met a swordsman around the same age he was. They were both still quite young, but before they could introduce themselves Tomer was already assaulted by what he came to kill. The swordsman joined Tomer in battle against what the villagers called a small demon; Tomer was amazed by the swordsman’s speed, just as the swordsman was astonished by Tomer’s brute strength. Together they fought the monster, taking advantage of each other’s strengths kill it. They easily became the best of friends, despite coming from different mercenary groups. Before Tomer left, he learned the swordsman’s name.

His name was Kal. The same Kal that is travelling with us now.

Over the years they would meet up again and again as friends; they considered how lucky it was that they never had to fight each other because they were paid to do so, even if that was the life a mercenary. When they first fought each, it was only to test each other skills out. Despite going all out, they began laughing as the battle dragged on; neither was able to land a blow on the other! Their first battle ended in a tie as the two men became friendly rivals. They were still friends, yes, but also rivals, so that they could feel that they had someone they had to try to surpass. After this their skill with the sword grew even faster than before.

However, in one fated battle, the leader of the mercenaries Tomer was in was wounded by a stray arrow, wounding him to the point that he would no longer fight in battle. Retiring from his role as the mercenary leader, he passed his job over to Tomer, who became the leader of the mercenaries. He imposed the same morals and rules that his retired leader did as well, and since he was already popular this decision was easily accepted by what was now his mercenaries. When that happened he no longer had the free time to meet up with Kal anymore. He had to deal with many people trying to hire him, and no longer had much time for leisure. By then he had known all about the legend of the Crimson Demon; so although he still looked up to him, he carefully planned his acceptances to jobs to avoid the Crimson Demon.

And that was how he became the leader of a band of mercenaries, and lived that live up until now, when he was hired by King Raymond for the second time; to escort me.

“You know, I never could figure it out myself; what did you do to gain King Raymond’s favor so quickly? This was only the second time he’s hired us, and this time it’s just to escort a young man, you, along with the Sage General Ira! This is an amazing feat!” Commented Tomer right after telling me his story.
“Honestly? I have no idea I was favored so much by King Raymond.” I responded. “All I did was… well, I don’t know if I have the right to tell you anymore. Ask General Ira. I have no idea what’s confidential and what’s not, so you’re going to have to ask General Ira.”
“I thought so. You’ve probably done some great service to King Raymond. Although why should there be anything to hide…? King Raymond is a trustworthy man, though. I can tell from my years of experience. If he has something to hide, he must have a good reason for doing so.”
“Yeah. Probably. But since I’m not really from around here, I don’t know what Raymond wants hidden or not, so I won’t say anything.”
“Ah, so that’s why. You know, you’re quite a considerate person, too.”
“Am I? I never really noticed it.”
“Well, maybe you haven’t, but I think you are.”
“Whatever.”

This time, as we travelled back to Raalte, we took no detour to the Northern Isles, and as we travelled through Thanti the destruction left behind by the unknown army was more apparent. Thanti had totally been caught by surprise and was not ready for such an attack. Town after town was left in ruins or occupied by the unknown army; making our way back was quite dangerous, but we’ve somehow managed to avoid any skirmishes, unlike last time when Veronica had been spotted.

It took a few more months to get to the border of Thrycia. Thanti had barely managed to pull its army together, and was having a last stand against the unknown army back at its capital, and was hiring as many mercenaries as it could. The capital itself was full of many refugees as well.

“You know,” Kal said. “I find it strange that they’re attacking without giving a reason or a identity to who they are. But I would say that whoever they are, their attack seems like a successful invasion, doesn’t it?”
“Now that you mention it… It does seem like an invasion, although not by a country, but by an unknown army. What is going on?” Tomer replied. “Do you think we should help?”

Ever since Kal had left his deceased regiment from his mercenary group and joined us instead, he is now technically become a freelance mercenary. After meeting Tomer on this mission, Kal had decided that after he has successfully helped me go home, he would join Tomer’s mercenaries as his right hand man.

But that’s not important now; they city we were at on the border Thanti and Thrycia seemed in good condition. It had not been attacked yet, but then again, why should it? Thyrcia and Thanti were on relatively good terms, and wouldn’t attack each other. If an enemy captured this city, it wouldn’t help very much, because then the enemy would have to face the wrath of two countries at once. In fact, this city was built a long time ago as a sign of friendship between the two nations long ago, according to General Ira. From here on out we would go straight for the capital of Thrycia, and meet up with King Raymond.

I wasn’t very excited, to be honest. I’ll rather just go home, but I had no idea how, despite being on this continent for over a year…

Travelling was so slow, too. It wasn’t helping me in my quest to find my way back.

I didn’t even know if it was possible or not, but as long as I could cling onto hope that I could, I could keep going.

To keep on living until I find my way back home…

But for now, we would be staying in this border town until the next day to stock up on supplies again.

It was then when General Ira got her second message concerning the war.