The Lord of Ruefort

By the time the messenger found them, they were almost to the village square of Ruel, within earshot of the walls of Ruefort itself. Tern, one of the village boys that would soon start training to be in the garrison, had been dispatched to find them. Looking at him now, perhaps he wasn’t a boy after all. Only a few years younger than Caden, he was tall and strong with a steely determination about him. He would make a good soldier one day, something they had far too few of. This is what Caden thought about as they flew through the night, trying to keep his thoughts off the matter at hand.

They had ridden hard the last league or so to Ruefort: a ten foot high wall of stone, surrounding a roughly square courtyard, inside of which stood the two-story manor house - larger than any other building in Ruel - and various other buildings: servants quarters, a guardhouse and a small abbey. It would be a mockery of a castle in any great city, but it was a veritable fortress in these parts.

Tern had not been able to tell them anything specific, only that he had been sent to bring them back immediately. As they had ridden through the gates of Ruefort, the first thing that he noticed was the number of horses and wagons inside the walls. It looked like the whole village was here, and most of the outlying farmers too. Whatever Tern couldn’t tell them, it was probably bad.

Upon entering the courtyard, Alder had taken their horse quickly and silently, his look unreadable in the torchlight. He stood in the middle of the courtyard with one of the other garrison soldiers, while three others paced the walls rhythmically, and two more stood at the entrance to the house, no one else was visible outside. Torches burned around the square, and along the rampart, lighting the fort and the land around for the soldiers to see, and casting their long shadows against the wall.
Aside from Frey and old Benton, who was getting too old even to hold a sword anymore, they were none of them professional soldiers. Most were farmer’s or craftsmen’s sons from the village, that had been trained to wield swords; a few were adventurers that had come to the hills for a hunt, or a bounty, and never left. When his father had left for the city several weeks ago, he had taken three of their finest soldiers with him, leaving their already inadequate forces depleted even more.

Which was a problem. Bandits were becoming more frequent, and more bold, with every passing day. As the great peace of ar’Turas spread south, it confined the brigands that once inhabited those lands to smaller and smaller hunting grounds. Like a cornered fox, they had begun to strike at anything and everything that looked like a possible prize, attacking things that a year ago would have been invariably safe. With fewer guards to protect them, and more than enough bandits to go around, an attack was always something that Caden feared.

As they approached the doors to the manor Frey spoke quietly. “Remember, you are the lord of Ruefort right now. Whatever has happened, these people need you to be confident. They need somewhere to place their trust. That has been your father for countless years, your grandfather before that, and right now, it is you. Whether you are up to it or not, you are the one that must solve whatever problem waits for us inside.” As he finished he placed his hand on one of the doors and slid it open, casting a long, yellow glow over the courtyard, and beckoned Caden in before him. As he walked past, the elf met his eyes. “Remember.” Caden gave him a quick nod and turned to enter.

The large entryway was filled with people - children mostly - those too young to understand what was going on. The spread out along the walls, and on the floors, even up the large banistered stairway to his right. Some of them appeared distraught to one degree or another, while others laughed and played in small circles. Many of them were huddled around the fireplace to his left, the night was starting to get a bit cold. Most were too tired to keep their eyes open. Roaming among them were many of the village girls. The ones too old to be considered children, but not yet married. Those that were not asleep, or too interested in their games, looked up as he entered.

He looked quickly for Rowena Adkins among them, as he seemed to do more and more often these days. He was slightly irritated to realize how disappointed he was at not finding her. Disappointment faded to fear as he started to realize what that could mean. He gave a quick assuring smile to everyone that was paying attention, before starting toward the banquet hall.

He could hear conversation from down the hall. Several voices standing out from a crowd of hundreds all speaking at once. A few of those voices he could pick out, but what they were saying was lost in the murmur. The hallway turned before entering the banquet hall. When they came around the corner, the doors were wide open. His mother stood on the dais, directly across the long room from the door, standing beside her was master Lukahn, the family abbot and the local schoolmaster, on her other side stood old Benton, the second in command of the Ruefort garrison. The three of them were desperately trying to bring order to the crowd.

The crowd itself was as big as any that Caden had ever seen gathered in this room. There must have been three hundred people all told. Men and women, boys not yet old enough to be called men, and those old enough to be his grandfather, mothers, grandmothers, farmers, hunters, trappers. He saw people from far enough away that they were hardly considered under his families jurisdiction anymore. The crowd was large, larger maybe than any Caden had ever seen before, spilling out into the hallway before him. Murmurs began passing through the crowd, as those in the hallway noticed him, and made way for him to pass.

Master Lukahn raised his hands to quiet the crowd, and opened his mouth to say something else, when he saw Caden. “Thank goodness you’re here,” was all that came out. A look of relief washing over the aging abbot’s face.

Caden stepped into the room, and all eyes turned to face the lord of Ruefort.