Kaylith Chapter 1 - Digger of Latrines

Kaylith groaned as consciousness came. His head felt like it was exploding in pain and there was something heavy on top of him. His eyelids refused to open and his arms initially seemed to be pinned by the weight on top of him. After a bit of wiggling around he thought maybe he was still in the latrine ditch he’d been digging. Feeling around with his legs he was able to find something to push against. He was finally able to get his arms free at which point he wiped at his eyes & peeled his eyes open. The light of day hurt his head even more.

He had indeed fallen into the new latrine ditch he had just started and the hobgoblin that had knocked him out had several arrows in it, had fallen on top of him, and then bled all over him. He checked himself for any other wounds, but apparently the clubbing he’d been given was his only wound. His clothes and arm guards still attached, his magical protections had barely kept him alive. He assumed his shout right before he was knocked out had alerted someone due to the arrows in the hobgoblin.

As Kaylith finished pulling himself out from under the dead hobgoblin he rolled over, laying on the ground in order to survey the area around him. The humanoid ambush in the darkness had been deadly from what he could see nearby. Dead elves, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, and other bodies littered all the ground he could see around him. Tents and other things blocked his view, but he assumed the rest of the camp looked the same. The forest around them had hid their enemy well or else they had some powerful magics helping them.

Kaylith crawled the short distance to where he’d placed his gear before starting to dig the night before. The camp stool had been knocked over during the fighting, but his gear was still where it had fallen. Still laying low he continued looking around and listening. He checked his bow in his quiver and it seemed to still be in good condition. Both his swords and his dagger still seemed well seated in their sheaths. He crouched in order to affix his weapon belt and quiver.

Having not heard any sound of fighting and seeing the lack of looting, Kaylith assumed the elves had routed the ambush and given chase. He proceeded to search the camp for any other survivors. His entire lance, including lancepesades, lay among the dead. He found a few elves who groaned as he pulled them into more comfortable positions. He put the few humanoids he found out of his misery as the elves wouldn’t be interested in keeping this lot. There were too many mixed tribal markings for this to be a military contingent. The assumption would probably be bandits as he didn’t see any goblin or orc riders among the dead, but their beastly mounts could have evaded death and fled.

He heard hoofed riders approaching as he ran the last humanoid through. After a short bit he was finally able to see them through the trees and noted that however the chase had ended, the elves had survived. He moved to meet them as the army entered the camp. As he took in the reins of the army’s leader, he reported, “Kaylith, reporting. I found six wounded including myself, sir.”

As the elf lord dismounted he gave orders to have healers deal with the wounded, then he turned back to Kaylith. “Was there something else, soldier?”

“My lancepesades and the rest of his lance are all dead, sir,“ Kaylith replied. “Also, yesterday was my last day of service and I was to be released today.”

“Fine, speak with my marshal about that,” the elf lord stated.

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Kaylith replied while returning the reins to the now dismounted elf lord. Walking around the front of the horse Kaylith noticed he was going to have to wait a while for the lord’s marshal to finish handing orders out to the healers and captains. Hurry up and wait, so as he waited he wiped and cleaned as much blood off of himself. As one of the healers was leaving they paused next to Kaylith and looked his head over, eventually applying some balm and a head wrapping. The final captain left to perform his duties and Kaylith was able to speak with the marshal. “Sir, the lord asked me to speak with you.”

“So what should we speak about?” the marshal asked.

“Sir, my lancepesades is dead and yesterday was my last day of service. I was to be released today.”

The marshal thought for a moment and then asked, “can I talk you into staying with us until we get back to the fortress?”

“Sir, I dug my last latrine last night. I have other plans I need to start on. If you could lend me a horse I could make it to Kurdwood in less than a day.” Kaylith had plans to track down his father.

The marshal sighed and nodded. “Off to visit the humans, then? Because the beasties got away I can’t lend you a horse. Hmm… If you’ll deliver a letter to the guards at Kurdwood I’ll lend you some light cavalry.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll take the letter to the guards at Kurdwood.”

Less than an hour later, Kaylith was riding with a small unit of light cavalry through the woods and towards Kurdwood with a letter in his pack. Many hours later they finally reached the shore of the Barntham River. The city of Kurdwood expanded up and down the river, on the other side, with many farms laying out beyond the city. As they crossed the bridge over the river a mounted scout, with a surcoat bearing the local lord’s emblem upon it, approached from the city. After some conversation Kaylith was waved forward.

The leader of the elvish unit spoke in elvish, “Kaylith, dismount. This man will lead you the rest of the way. Good luck and safe passage on your way.” Kaylith dismounted and watched the elves ride away.

“You an elf?” the young scout asked.

“Half. A bastard.” Kaylith replied, a bit annoyed, as he turned around to look at the scout. “Can you show me who to give this letter of report to?”

“Aye, I’ll take you back to the castle.” The scout started his horse at a slow trot so Kaylith could keep up at a quick walk beside him. They wandered down a major street through the massive city passing many of its citizens finishing up their workday. Kaylith noted that not everyone, but many of them were armed. The scout pointed out a tavern that might have a spare room, if he didn’t have a place to stay, that was near the castle. The street that they were on ended at the drawbridge into the castle. The scout and Kaylith continued across the drawbridge, through the gatehouse, and into the bailey. The scout dismounted and let the groom take the horse away while leading Kaylith over to a larger man, wearing a similar surcoat as the scout, coming out of the gatehouse.

The larger man talked a short bit with the scout after which he turned to Kaylith and stated, “I’m Tirvin, marshal of the castle. I understand you have a letter for me?”

Kaylith pulled the letter out of his pack and handed it to the man, “Yes, here it is.”

Tirvin checked the seal, opened the letter, and proceeded to read it. When he was done he looked Kaylith over and stated, “you seem to be evidence that there was an attack. How bad was it?”

“I called out the alarm before they overtook me. I’m unsure of the numbers, but the dead were numerous and the elves were able to route them. Based on the dead they were probably bandits. Beyond that the letter writer probably knows more than I.”

“Huh, well it’s been reported. Are you heading back?”

“No, I’m heading over the mountain with a caravan. I have plans in other lands.”

“In that case if you plan to stay with the caravan all the way to Unster, the capital, I can pay you to carry this letter all the way there.”

“My plan was to make it to Unster and then make my way to the sea, so yes I can deliver it for you. There seems to be a couple of useful paths from your capital towards the sea.”

“The caravan plans to leave in 2 mornings. Let me add a note to this letter for payment and reseal it with my lord’s seal.” Tirvin headed back into the gatehouse and Kaylith proceeded to wait.

Kaylith looked around the bailey watching the activity around this portion of the castle. Day patrols were slowly filtering in as the sun was getting lower. The first night shift patrols were preparing to head out. He wondered how bad it was here considering the elves patrolled the other side of the river and the smaller fortified towns the humans had farther down the river dealt with most of the humanoid attacks. Eventually Tirvin came back out of the gatehouse and headed over to where Kaylith stood and handed him the letter, a silver piece, and a fairly large old sack, “the coin is an upfront portion of the payment to help on the trip. The sack you’ll want to put your weapons in when you reach Unster as they don’t like you walking around the city with your weapons out.”

“Thank you,” Kaylith stated as he took all three. He noted the coin was a local silvermoon so slipped it into his glove, ready to be used when he reached the inn. “Would you know who I should ask about hiring on as a guard with the Caravan?” he asked as he put the letter and sack in his pack.

“Mooran,” Tirvin suggested. “Show up early and find Mooran because he’ll get busy as the day progresses. Tell him I sent you and he should be able to help you with that endeavor.”

“Again, thank you.” Kaylith headed out of the castle and back down the road to the tavern the scout had pointed out earlier. Sure, he could look around for something else, but it was late, he was hungry, and it would just be for the night.

As full as the tavern was Kaylith grew concerned there would be no beds, but the scout had been right. He pulled the silvermoon from his glove to pay for a night and dinner. The three coppers he received back were of random coinage. He thought that odd, but two of them matched the rest of his coins. Perhaps they thought he was going back where he came from and they could avoid the exchange. After eating he headed up to his room, removing the bandage wrappings before bed as the healing balm had done its work.