Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Chapter 1 Memories of Home
Chapter One
Memories of Home

"Don’t forget to pack your supplies before you go to sleep. Last time the Company almost lost the trail of Micolub’s Marauders. If Jacob hadn’t gone and harassed them into thinking we were on the other side of the Maradon River, they would have been to far gone for us to catch even on horseback." Jako was getting tired of telling Tomas how to ready camp, but for some reason it never sank in.
Tomas nodded his thanks to a man 10 years his junior. It still amazed Jako how lucky he was to have been found by Ira. As the camp was set up around him, Jako lost himself to the memory of the day he first met Ira. It was a just days after his family died, while he was being chased by Lord Bartholomew’s Guards in the City of Teravonee. Jako had managed to get to Carlton before the guards found him. But when he got there, Lord Bartholomew’s men had already persuaded the townspeople into be leaving he was a liar. If Nate hadn’t helped him escape, he would have been taken to Bartholomew’s Manner, and tortured. Poor Nate, Jako still couldn’t believe he protected him with his life. It was just after he was captured….
"It will go easier on you if you cooperated with us boy! Stop fighting! You can’t win." The sadistic smile on Bartholomew’s face was the only thing he could see. The smile was that of a murderer. One that believed he was going to get away with it.
Jako finally gave in. He was suspended over the floor by ropes tied to each wrist. There were welts all the way up down his back. The torturer hadn’t been allowed to draw blood, but even without that option he tried his best to break Jakos spirit. He had failed. Jako hadn’t even allowed them the gratification of a scream. But hanging there watching this monster, that had so brutally slain his family, smile up at him with savage contempt took all of his resolve away.
"You win." Jako said in a defeated voice. He went into town thinking that he would find help. Instead he was arrested and given to Bartholomew as a gift from the people he thought were his friends.
"I new you would surrender. It was only a mater of time. I am going to take you on a little trip tomorrow. This town is too suspicious of me. They would start to question if you disappeared in the night. Were we go, things that are done never travel beyond my men’s ears. You will be free to scream all you want. My Mansion is quite secure; it will be as if you just stepped off the end of the world." Bartholomew walked off to speak with the lone guard.
It was then that Jako first saw him. Nate was hiding in the hay loft where the Lords men couldn’t see him. A thought came to Jako. If I am to die here then I will make sure it’s not in vane. Someone has to know what has happened to my family.
"Why did you kill my family?" Jako remembered digging the graves himself. He saw his families’ bodies in his mind. He began to cry.
"Simple me boy, I am a Noble Lord. Your mother disgraced me when she ignored my advances. No one ignores my advances. Your Mother and Father were examples to all that if they think they can defy my wishes! Haa. And your sister was for the pleasure of my men!" The way Lord Bartholomew’s face twisted from a wicked snarl at the mere mention of Jakos’ Mother to the bloodcurdling smile of pleasure at what was done to his sister made Jako loose control of his bowels. The resulting stream of warm liquid ran down his leg to form a large puddle on the dirt and straw floor of the barn.
It was that moment in which Nate decided to make his move. With a thunderous crash two bales of hay landed atop the only guard in the barn. At the same time Nate jumped down, landing feet first on the head of Lord Bartholomew. As Nate rolled off of the unconscious man he drew a long bladed knife from behind his cloak. He quickly began cutting the restraints off of Jakos arms. As the last rope was cut, Jako tried unsuccessfully to remain on his feet. He fell to the ground face first into the soggy floor.
As Nate was helping Jako back up to his unsteady feet, the guard crawled out from under the bundles of hay. As he scurried to the barn door he began to shout, "Someone is freeing the boy! Lord Bartholomew is down! Get in here and stop them! If they escape we are all going to pay! Hurry!!! Get over here now!!!" With a blast of light the temporary prison doors opened wide to show the mid afternoon sun. Nate froze as the shadowed forms of eight men come through the doors opening.
We won’t be leaving that way thought Jako as he began looking for a weapon. As Jako looked for something to use against the approaching guards his eyes kept catching on a short gold bar with rubies incrusted all over it. After the third search of the room his eyes were again caught by the ruby incrusted bar. With eerie recognition Jako realized that he was looking at the hilt of a ornately decelerated dagger. He jumped for the body of Lord Bartholomew.
As Jako removed the dagger from the Lords sheath he raised it to stab the helpless mans body. With all of his strength Jako trussed the dagger at his tormentor. When nothing happened he tried again, to no avail. It was then that he noticed Nate holding his arms, "He deserves it, but he won’t suffer that way. It is best to flee now and get vengeance later." Jake was about to protest but then he saw that their adversaries had surrounded them.
As Nate focused on the guards, Jako put the daggers point to Lord Bartholomew’s throat. "Back off or your liege gets it!" Jako growled. He pricked the unconscious mans neck to emphasize his meaning. In response to the direct threat the men simultaneously drew swords.
Nate’s face had gone white and he began to shake. Jako wondered if Nate was having second thoughts about what he had gotten himself into. "Man Jako, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t leave you hear with those men, but I wish I was anywhere but here." I feel the same way, thought Jako as he tried desperately to figure a way out of the barn that didn’t involve his funeral. He was now turning constantly trying to see in all directions at once. He wasn’t sure who would charge first but he didn’t want to be looking in another direction when they chose to make their move.
Jako saw a Questioning look on Nates face so he spoke out loud for every one to hear. "I know that if we give up we are dead. Nothing you can say will change that fact in my mind. So, our only option is to fight. So the question is do we rush you or do we wait for you to come at us." As he finished, he heard Nate mumbling something about Jako sounding older than his eleven years should account for. Yes. I have had to grow up these last two days. They robed me of my childhood. Now I have grown into a man. Let’s just hope I have grown enough to get us through this. Jako began to look for a way out. They couldn’t afford to fight. There were only two of them, and if one of them made a mistake there wouldn’t even be that.
Jako noticed a pile of boards by the back wall. They were all broken and placed there hazardously as if someone was in a hurry, but after a second look he saw that each was the same size. It dawned on him that some farm animal must have made a hole in the wall. The farmer must not have had the time to fix it before his barn was commandeered by Lord Bartholomew. Jako made a decision. He didn’t know if the hole was large enough to fit through, but he did know that if they tried to go for the entrance they would die.
"I’m leaving!" Jako announced to everyone. "Nate, follow me."
Jako started toward the entrance then charged at the rear guard. The fake worked. The men all ran to position themselves in front of the entrance. The guard he charged didn’t even have time to raze his sword before Jako ran him down. As he reached the wall, Jako began to yank the boards away from the hole. He was thankful to see that the hole was large enough to accommodate Nate, but as he finished Moving">Moving">Moving">Moving">Moving">Moving">Moving">moving the boards he was slammed against the wall next to the opening.
Jako began to push Nate off when he felt something warm and wet begin to spread over his back. "Nate! Are ya’ alright? Is it bad? Can you go on?" Nate answered by shoving him through the hole.
"I’ll hold them off. No mater what you keep going kid. Ya’ ain’t that bad at getting out of scrapes. Now go!!" He heard a thumping sound and then the screams of one of the men Nate was fighting, then someone hit the wall. Hard. Jako started running without looking back. There wasn’t anything he could do for Nate, but he could hear him screaming as he ran. He ran as far from Carlton as he could that day. At night he stopped for a short rest, but he didn’t allow himself to stop long.
He later found out that Nate survived the fight, but was hanged shortly after for the alleged murder of three guards.

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