It was an early morning in Dol Amroth when the gates of the great city opened and 20 riders came out of it, their armour and weapons were shining as they reflected the light of the warm sun. The children of the city ran after them I the opposite direction of their school, watching as the first patrol of the day started. Somewhere in the front lines was a man with a wide smile and gleaming eyes, his name is Ingrandor, a boy that breathed for the army, the passion for honour and duty was instilled into him from his early days. The day he came of age he joined the army and some months later he distinguished himself among the rest. He never made it to the so-called Swan Knights though, due to the fact that they were consisted of noble families, which he wasn’t, and he didn’t care to join them. In his mind they were just rich folk who could pay for fancy armour and stay in the city claiming they were soldiers, when the real soldiers fought real wars out of the walls.
The route of the patrol was to go from Dol Amroth to Calembel, Ingrador’s birth town, the soldier’s reached Dol Amroth the previous day and spent the night there, now it was time to go back and assume their usual posts until their next patrol in the following days. The trip took almost most of the day and they reached Calembel late in the afternoon, after reporting, their captain led the men to the barracks where an unpleasant surprise waited Ingrandor. His bed and wardrobe were turned upside down and the moment he turned around to walk to the door six men and one of the rich “boys” entered the room and pointed at him, one of the soldiers put his hand on Ingrandor’s shoulder and told him to follow them. The man followed, not wishing to cause trouble; after all he’d go to the Captain himself after seeing what happened to his personal belongings.
The Captain was friendly and smiled when he entered his office; the rest of the men remained outside, as well as the one that pointed at him. He stood upright in front of the office, smiling politely at the Captain, yet his eyes were serious, awaiting to hear what was all that about. The man was sitting on his chair, leaning forward and inspecting Ingrandor with his eyes, one would say that he wasn’t too pleased with what he was about to do. He was dressed with the Captain’s uniform and had a black beard, which was slowly turning white, since he was above fifty winters. He pointed at Ingrandor’s boots with his eyes and asked in a serious tone “Whose are those?” to get the confused reply “Mine sir.”
The Captain stood up and walked towards Ingrandor and around him, looking at him and at the floor as he did so. “There is a serious accusation against you soldier, and there is no evidence to show the opposite. That young man outside claims you stole his boots, and you know that thieves is the worst thing in the army…” he said and walked near the desk and took a quill in his right hand, playing with it with his fingers. “I know sir and I agree but those boots are mine.” Replied Ingrandor with a frown. “The young man said they are his and his uncle, who is in charge of our regiment won’t hear a word against his nephew.” And walked towards Ingrandor and put the end of the quill on the man’s shoulder, “If you admit it and apologise you will face a five-day imprisonment for thievery and the story will end there.” And walked back to look outside of the window that overlooked half of Calembel and its plains.
Ingrandor looked down for a second before looking up at the man and replied, “I have never stolen in my life and I will never will, these are mine and I took great care of them, as I did with the rest of my uniform, I love being in the army.” He said truthfully, after all everyone knew that he was the only one who’d rather die than run from a battle, he was always in time for reports or training or the watch or patrols. He always kept his uniforms and gear clean and gleaming and some of the rest of the soldiers despised him for that. The Captain lowered his head upon hearing his words and shook it, letting out a sigh, he turned around and lowered his voice “You know that you stand no chance, you are honourable and truthful, but he’s rich with strong ties with the General and the other nobles. Just admit it and let the matter end!” he said in almost a commanding tone and Ingrandor only shook his head lowering it.
The rest of the days passed very slowly for him, his fellow soldiers were mocking him and his superiors had him do the worst hours and all the cleaning around, thieves are despised in the army, especially if someone with influence says that you are one… A week later a letter came from the General of the regiment who called him to his office, after a short talked he kicked him out of the army, saying that after having many meetings with the rest of the officers they decided to punish thievery exemplary, to avoid similar happenings in the future. Ingrandor walked to the barracks and took his things, while the soldiers grinned and laughed at him, he stood at the door and looked at them with a sly smirk shaking his head and walked away, his rage was burning within him and it managed to burn his honour and make him forget his oaths. Now he knew how corrupt the army is, how the oaths the soldiers take don’t matter, how rotten it is, just because honourable people don’t do the right thing and the rich people are corrupted.
He started travelling North, to visit the rest of Middle Earth and see the world. Now he had become a bastard with no respect for anything but coin and the will to fight. After all, no one respects anything else but coin, so he’d make coin in whatever way he could, but coin enough for a living and a good day’s food and wine. When he looks back at that day he remembers it as the day that honour died, as the day that he saw how rotten everything is and how blind he was to be honourable and full of giving to the others and most of his city. He ended up a sellsword, killing and fighting for coins, drinking at inns and sleeping wherever he could find a dry place to make a bed, unless work was too well and the coins were enough for a soft bed at an inn. At least now no one that would accuse him falsely would live longer after he’d learn it.
