A new era for Bree had come and I have survived another cycle.....
So I had thought.
More often than I care to admit, I would question the creature I am, or what I am supposed to be. My goals and what I aim for. I can no longer count the times I have questioned myself, something which occurs more and more each year. So when I say I have survived yet another cycle, there is not complete truth in that, I have not emerged with the determined traits I once held. Worse still, I lacked my sense of direction. I was torn between two different lives. I stood at my door after knowingly putting on my armour, my sword and dagger yet had questioned its use. Should I no longer wish to battle, I no longer required a sword or this cursed armour. If a foothold is what I sought, then indeed it is required.
I knew in this moment the Cyfier that departed so long ago was not the man I was starting to unearth. He had no grand vision, no plots or torments. No dark urge to destroy that which is not his own. This man, this person I had shaken off many times when I questioned myself in the past, was front and centre. But the Armour so naturally fitted. I had no time to make self discoveries at this point. The lights of those Hall would not remain and the curious nature in me wished to learn of their activities and so I tried to bury these new sensations and be the cruel, thought-out Cyfier the House knows too well.
Unfortunately, thought-out this was not, every single word I muttered was an act. It felt like I had jumped out of myself, in to a play and I was the role of Cyfier. It was not natural, my motions faked and my thoughts maintained by worries of forgetting my lines. Worse still, I assumed the plot would play out for the best and all would be well in time for the next scene. I assumed I would walk down the hill, into the Halls and resume my former roll and rebuild for this new age. My mind did not recall the tatters I had left the House in and I of all characters would be the one unwelcomed and heckled.
I was met with hostilities, an overall opinion that I was their enemy. That I had return as some spy for another’s gain. They threatened me. I who had risen that House back into glory and would do so again. My pride had taken the better of me and refused to bow to their demands. The result was conflict and I was out numbered. I had sat to long in my home and not lifted a blade for time but no doubt all that have stood before had done so daily just to maintain their lives.
Fortunately for me but not for the unsuspecting Laiani, she tended her horse just close enough that I could grab her to ensure my safe passage out. I had never held hostage in such a way, cowardly hiding behind a shield from a foe, holding a dagger to her throat and keeping her between me and Faustino. This was unlike me and more that of a common thief, caught and desperate for escape having not considered an exit long before the crime.
I neared the gate only to be delayed by the most hideous of all that council, Julian. The Gondorian strolls chin high with gluttonous pride, commanding a horde of archers and swordsmen loyal only to the coin that pours from his pocket. This man I cannot stand. He uses the coin to gain his own power in the name of the house and council we had so carefully constructed an age ago. The fat orcish man using our proud work as mere foot stool and had complete disregard for his fellow councillors. He dismissed Faustino's concern for Laiani's safety, openly stating her as acceptable loss just to have me thrown down.
It angered the others as it did me and it took Faustino to step between the Archers and I to assure my escape. Yet it was short lived. In my haste to get away from my former house, who surely by now are hunting me, I gathered my loyal horse and Laiani and rode to the nearby waterfall to which I placed to girl.
I took from her the red cloak she famously wears and I then made for the exit of the homesteads only to find the fiend Julian had already blocked it and foreseen my approach. I had blindly ridden in to the Archer’s sight and range before I knew of the ambush. I had blindly taken the direct and obvious road, a fatal mistake I had never made before that night. By now I had only Laiani's safety to barter with against a man who cared little for her and more a proud trophy from a hunt he had not played but hired guardsmen to aim for him. Outnumbered and for the first time, in a long time, I was out witted and face to face with clear defeat.
I was once again without clear mind, without a plan or a plot, completely at the mercy of some horrid beast. I tried everything to barter with Julian but all was failing. My time in hiding ensured I knew nothing of anybody to which I could exchange information. My determined self preservation of my previous engagement meant I had little power over him.
My back was against the wall and I needed to be the man I always was more now than ever yet even he had even abandoned hope. Had Julian simply gave the order, no exit would have come. Yet the selfish power hungry creature couldn't help himself. He didn't just want his victory, he wished to revel in it at my expense, he wanted to hear me beg for mercy as he spilt the truths of his bastard plan. I was to be the first of the council, former or otherwise to fall so that he may gain complete power of the house. My emergence being just the catalyst he needed to begin his plot.
The last I recall was the arrow making loose work of my leg. I must have somehow been thrown around and off my horse by its impact as I recall the morning sky was as bright as I have ever seen it, the pain as I slumped to the ground and sorrow. Not for myself. But my Horse, the loyal horse I reigned for so many years.
Her beauty unmatched by any steed and her black coat, greyed in places as if she paired with my own armour. I had never named her for I never found a name to do justice the loyalties she had paid. And pay she did.
My own conscious slipping was a mere background concern as I lay in the dirt and I saw that before she had made it to ground, the life was gone from her eyes.
