Jacob now sixteen was outside sharpening his sword against the smooth stone. He had been working at this for hours. He had neglected it, and Martin was complaining. A boy named Caleb had come to watch him. He stared intently as Jacob slid the sword carefully across the smooth surface.

Caleb was about ten, and had messy light brown hair. He was Jacob’s brother by adoption. When Jacob and his mom escaped North-point village of the region of Nikrook they went and rented a small country house in the region of Lookook. Jacob’s Mom had taught Jacob how to ride the horse, so Jacob usually rode to town and got things. Eventually they had a large farm going, and Swift had a colt named Surefoot. Jacob owned Surefoot, and loved him.

Everything was normal until one day Jacob came down with the flu, and his Mom had to take care of him, take care of the farm, and run items down to town, so that she could sell goods to a marketer. His Mom had met Caleb who was trying to sell an old beat up cart, and seeing how they’d always needed a cart, she offered to pay a small fee to rent it before the harvest. He would only accept if he could stay with his cart. Not wanting to argue she let him help her, but one thing led to another, and not only was she renting the cart from him she was paying for his services running the vegetables to town as well.

A week later Jacob was back up on his feet and helping with the farm, but Caleb became a more effective way of transporting the vegetables and wheat. Jacob was also relived to no longer have to ride to town for sales. And since finding Caleb they’d found an in-town Marketer that would consistently buy their vegetables. Everyone was happy, and everything was calm.

Things changed a year later. A terrible storm was blowing through, and Caleb showed up unexpectedly. He wanted to come in out of the rain. Of coarse Jacob’s mom let him, but it took no time at all for her to ask why he wasn’t with his parents. He said they had died long ago, and that is why he had been selling the cart, and even running services for them. Little more was said before she put Caleb to bed. She came out that night to Jacob who was watching the last few lightning strikes before the storm disappeared forever. She asked him what he’d thought about Caleb living with them. It was a question he knew she was going to ask, and he’d already made up his mind that he liked Caleb, so he told her that he wouldn’t mind it.

That was that, Caleb accepted living with them, and to this day Caleb helped with everything. Jacob enjoyed having him around. Jacob bounced ideas off of him, and often needed his help with personal hobbies. Caleb on the other hand was not normal in his choice of hobbies. He loved explosives. This they learned shortly after they had bought some fire powder. Caleb got into it and burned a pile of it. He was burned by the explosion, but he was so thrilled by it he kept trying to get into it. His mom long gave up on keeping him out of it, and instead focused on him using it safely, and on his own time.

Today though they had nothing but free time; as the fields had been harvested, and they had finished selling everything, and Jacob was training with an old Nithcur known as Martin the Lion Tamer. Nithcurs were hard to find because they were the elite soldiers of Melendy. This one had greeted everyone in his village as he was opening a school. Martin met Jacob’s mother, and after talking with her apparently offered free lessons to Jacob.

So here they were, Jacob was preparing for his lesson that evening, and Caleb was watching him. Jacob looked over and saw that Caleb was holding the hunters knife he bought him. Caleb had already learned how to take down a small animal with one. Jacob used to see Caleb running through the fields chasing rabbits that plagued them badly. They had to eat the rabbits though, and Jacob had never liked rabbit.

Jacob picked up his sword and looked it over. There wasn’t a way to get it any sharper, so he slid it into his scabbard. Caleb got up and ran back to the house. Jacob slowly lagged behind. The fields had turned brown for the coming winter when the ground got cool, and the winds were starting too cool down from the blistering heat of summer and autumn. His mom was waiting at the door of their small home. The home it self was run down and old, but his mom still kept it tidy. Unlike in the north where they used to live homes here were made of brick instead of a hardened mud. He walked inside the dark home.

Inside did not look run down at all. The brick walls had tapestries on them, and the wood floors were swept of any dirt from the outside. It was a small area, in the corner was a table with three chairs around it, and in the back of the hut was a fire roaring, and above it looked to be one of his mom’s stews. The aroma filled the house, and made Jacob hungry.

“The food will be ready soon. Caleb can you go get me some sweet apples from downstairs, I thought I would make a pie.” His mom said while cleaning up some more things before dinner. Jacob walked upstairs for he was going to remove his workman’s cloths and don his warrior suit for his lesson tonight. His room was shared with Caleb, who for all his help in the field could not seem to pick up anything in the house, so his side of the room was a wreck.

While Jacob was putting on his silvery armor he was listening to his brother and mother talking.
Jacob always loved his armor. It was custom made for him by a blacksmith. He’d never learned exactly why the blacksmith had done it, but on his market day Jacob used to ride down into town, and he always liked stopping by the blacksmith and seeing him work. Eventually the blacksmith asked him why he hung around, and Jacob said because he wanted armor. He was young at the time so He didn’t think about how silly that sounded. The Blacksmith laughed and then asked Jacob what he should start with. Jacob had replied “a shield,” and so the blacksmith the next time Jacob arrived at his shop gave Jacob a shield. It was a small shield in reality. It was a sword fighter’s shield, but at the time it was huge for Jacob. Later Jacob stopped by and was given arm plates, and so it continued as Jacob received his helmet, his chest plate, leg plates, and one thing Jacob had never expected his leather under-armor. All of it too large for Jacob, but all of it Jacob had later grown into.

Now Jacob stood in his armor, it was light and easy to move in. The blacksmith he learned made light armors out of stronger metals. He could walk in it almost as easy as his work cloths. He shield was even smaller than most sword fighters shields, because he needed that hand free the grab other weapons.

He went to his dresser and pulled a drawer open. His brother did not know where kept them, but Jacob had locked the second drawer down, and made it to where you had to reach around the top drawer to access. Inside were a bunch of small round objects called deathfruits. They contained a large about of fire powder, and had small metal pellets inside. Jacob had those, and the dummies. Dummies were like traditional deathfruits, but without the pellets. That was the kind that martin used for training, so Jacob grabbed three and clipped them to his belt.

On top was a sword. It was a single handed sword. It was around two and a half feet long. It was completely straight, and had no real design to Only this that made it interesting was that it had nothing to distinguish it. Other students had all chosen very fancy and elegant swords, but Jacob had chosen something that looked like it could kill. Jacob slipped the sword into the scabbard. He strapped that to his belt as well.

He jump down to the floor below, and landed with a thud.
“Hey Jacob the food is ready.” His mom said, and then she looked him over. “I see you are ready for tonight.”
“Yes, I am going to run down there after dinner.” Jacob said, and readjusted his sword.
“Alright, I and Caleb will put the chickens away later then.” She replied.
“Thank you.” Jacob said “I am already going to be late as it is.”
“Then eat!” His mom motioned to the table

The meal was as good as it had smelled, and the pie had been even better. Jacob was getting prepared to go down when he saw that his Mom and Caleb were going down to the chicken pen to feed them and get them back in their cages. He watched them for a minute before setting out down the dirt road. It was an old chicken hut like everything they owned, but it did its job.

The road leading up to their home was trampled grass and dirt. It was a very ugly road, but it was the only way to get to the stables. The thing Jacob hated was that unlike most farmers they’d chosen to live outside the city. This meant they saved money traveling out of the city every day to work, but it also meant that the stables were a distance away. Luckily there was an old stable that farmers kept for there work horses, and this meant that Jacob didn’t have to go all the way to town.

Jacob reached the stable which a man was guarding. He was little old, and Jacob knew the man was no match for him, but he clearly was taking his post seriously. This was good if he was going to protect that stable from horse thieves.
“What happened to Jake Jones?” Jacob asked.
“He is taking the day off, so I am working his shift, the pay is good you know.” He said. “My name is Frank Hensley.”
“Glad to meet you, my name is Jacob.” Jacob said holding out an armored palm. The man reached out his hand and clapped it down on Jacob’s hand, and held it firmly before letting go. “Good to meet you too.” He said. “I guess you have come here for your horse, and may I ask what horse you own?”
“I own Surefoot.” Jacob said.
“Ah, one of the half-breeds.” Frank replied.
“You know about him?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, gave me fits while feeding him, and not much better when it came to his water” Frank growled.
“That is him.” Jacob said while the man was unlocking the gate to the stable. Inside it smelled horrible to Jacob. Unlike others he knew Jacob never liked the smell of a horse. It was a dirty smell that one had to get used to. He walked past several horses of all sizes and markings. The man led him to two horses, his mother’s horse Swift, and to the right Surefoot. Surefoot was a larger horse like the southern breeds, but his build and his shaping made him look like a northern horse. He was all white except for a large black patch around his eye. The man prepped the horse to be ridden, and Jacob glanced over at Swift. Swift was getting old, and wasn’t as fast as other younger northern breeds.

The horse was ready and Jacob mounted him, and then they clapped their hands again, and he rode out of the stable. Surefoot for being large was one of the fastest horses he had ever seen. He let Surefoot run as though they were being chased. Jacob never liked going that fast, but his horse did. After a few minutes the horse settled down and they both relaxed.

The sun was setting and it would soon be nightfall on their land. Jacob saw the rolling brown fields, and took in the view. The sky shown a brilliant orange as the sun set on the flat lands of Melendy. Up in North Melendy in the region of Nikrook he and his mom watched the sun set over the mountains, but now he lived in the region of Lookook, and it was flat. He heard that Nikrook was the only region like it, and that all the rest of Melendy was flat, but he still longed to see those mountains again.

It was night as Jacob entered the village filled with small huts. Everything at first seem as Jacob always knew, but something had changed. He could see lights in the middle of the city. It was off of his path, but he headed there anyway. As he approached the light He could here sounds of music, and laughter. When he arrived he realized what he was hearing and seeing.

Before him was the yearly festival of freedom. Jacob never quite understood it. It had to do with the battle that freed Melendy. Jacob just never knew why it was a three day event. His mom never attended it, but they all celebrated it at home. He had forgotten it was almost that time of year. He let his eyes adjust to the bright light, and then moved forward.

As he rode in he saw several events happening. The thing he saw first were two men on a platform fighting with sword dripping and sparking fire. He knew he was supposed to be impressed, but he found himself snickering at the poor job on the two famous fire swords. He looked at them for a fleeting moment, and then turned his attention to the fireworks display. It was impressive he thought how that could achieve all of those colors. He noticed that some people were startled by his armor. He nodded at them, and rode on to the large dance in the center of the village.

He arrived at the dance, and looked at the thirteen pillars with fire at the top of them. The pillar stood in a huge circle in the middle of the city square. The dancers were mostly clothed in skin tight blue or red clothes, but some were wearing street cloths. The performance was impressive by some, but others who joined the dance were clumsy. He noticed on each of the thirteen pillars were a man trying to keep the fires lit. The band on the far side was playing a well known battle song.

All of it was great, but not what Jacob rode into town for.

Jacob rode out of the festivities, and into a darker corner of the village. The street could only easily be accessed by alleys as the street ended way off to the south which was the only way to enter it. Jacob rode into the alley and came out on the poorly lit street. The houses were all old, and most were abandoned, but Jacob was going further. He came out to a road leaving town, and took it. It was the road that led him to the training grounds.

It had been a week since his last session. Longest period of waiting Jacob had ever had. Jacob had been training for the past few years, and had gotten quite skilled. The thing he dreamed of was to become one of the Nithcur. A Nithcur was an elite soldier that was highest rank of warrior in the military. Nithcurs were both master fighters, and great strategists. They usually held rights to lead armies off to battle, and were well paid by the King, or Council.

Thinking of that reminded Jacob that there was no king anymore. He had heard it from several men, but When Jacob was an infant the King was said to either have been killed by Devioun, or driven away by him. No one but the Council knew exactly what happened.

Jacob looked up at the shadows that lay ahead. Off on a hill stood a dark ruin; it was part of an old castle, and all that remained was the tower, and a smaller stone building connected to it. He breathed deeply as he approached the building. He arrived at an iron gate which always stood open. Martin had always said “If the gate were closed it would not stop an intruder, but would stop any help.” He rode his horse in and noticed that none of the lamps were lit. Jacob found this unusual, so he checked the area with caution.

Something was wrong, he could feel it. Everything was neatly put away; arrows taken off the board and put away. Not once had Jacob come to these grounds to find things put away. He rode his horse into the personal stable of Martin. He then noticed everything was neat and tidy in there as well. Jacob got off his horse quickly and ran toward the door.