Jump to content

DRAGONMOUNT

A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Corik's Arrival to the Fortress


Arinth

Recommended Posts

The road had been hard and long. The ghosts, or ghost of his brother rather, had chased him the whole way. Sleep had not been kind. The wind, nor the sun had ever seemed to be at his back. In fact the sun seemed to be shinning furiously into his eyes as he tried to squint ahead on the road.

 

It had to be the Fortress of the Light. It was exactly where the others travelers had told him it would be. He was glad he had made it before dusk or nightfall. He was tired of sleeping under bushes or beside trees. He had grown up on a farm and used to working all day but sleeping outside was different. The road had been demanding but now he saw the end of it and it gave him new energy.

 

His doubts gnawed at him as he approached. He was not tall nor big, would they even accept him in as a soldier? His appearance was less than appealing. He had been unable to shave and he was still young enough that his red beard only grew in patches. He would shave it again as soon as he could, after he had a proper bath of course.

 

He considering turning back but the idea of the long walk all the way back home was unwelcome. There was the possibility of going anywhere else. There were

always farms and most needed farm hands. No, he could never make things right if he did that though. He forced those thoughts out of his head.

 

When he returned his focus on the Fortress he realized he was standing directly at the gate with a guard in front of him.

 

The guard looked him over and frowned. “Looks like you’ve been in a fight recently. You aren’t bringing trouble with you are you?”

 

Corik remembered the angry slash that burned across his right cheek. He raised his hand to touch it. “I, um, well no, no trouble.”

 

“You are here to join then I take it?” The guard asked.

 

Corik nodded.

 

The guard turned and pointed towards the offices where the Children of the Light were run and new recruits were enlisted. “You’d best be quick. Its nearing the end of the day. The Head Clerk won’t want anything delaying him from his diner after a long day of paperwork. I haven’t seen him today so I am not sure if he is in a bad mood or not. Safer to assume he is though. Paperwork will do that to a man I hear.”

 

Corik thanked the guard and hurried forward. He had not thought for a moment what things would be like once he joined the Children, only that he had to. He was impressed by the order and efficiency of the fortress. It was organized and everything appeared to run smoothly. He was tempted to stop and watch one of the sword classes wrap up. He had never learned how to use a sword.

 

Now was not the time though. He entered the offices and was directed to the Head Clerk whose name was Roudal he was told. He stopped in front of the man’s

desk and held one hand in front of the other as he waited for the man to finish what he was doing and address him. He had the notion that interrupting him would not be the best way to get off on a good foot with him.

Edited by Arinth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The day was drawing to an end, but not soon enough for the hunger in Roudal's stomach. His hand was cramping from the hours of signing and checking off numbers and his eyes were growing weary of cross checking forms for accuracy. He would have left it all by now if it didn't mean returning early to the questions of his wife over the early hour, and her inevitable jabbering over her day's wonders, or worse yet, if he came back early she'd have him up to neck in some project or another he would rather avoid. She would have a meal for him by now and that, coupled with knowing he could get away from the paperwork, was just about enough of a draw to bring him up away from his desk and back to her.

 

He dropped his quill once again and leaned back in his chair, stretching out his back and his hand and let out a noise somewhere between a sigh and a grunt. Only two more things to sign off on and he could finally be done, until tomorrow's stack of papers came in. He closed his eyes and just sat there, just long enough to find himself drifting to far off thoughts when he was startled back to the moment by the sound of someone approaching his door.

 

He reached out for the next paper and had his quill ready to write by the time the scruffy looking young man entered. He didn't look up from the paper until he was done signing off on it. Why do they always insist in busting in here just when I'm busy with other things? Don't they know I have other things to do than wait on them?

 

Roudal looked up at the young man with a deep scowl plastered on his weathered face. He looked the scrawny boy over, and stopped at the fresh cut hiding behind the tuft of red fuzz the boy probably called a beard. He peeled is gaze from the gash and met the boy's eyes, his scowl still firm on his face. "Well, I know what I'm doing here. What do you need boy?" he inquired showing just a hint of irritation.

 

Roudal

Head Clerk

Edited by Kathleen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

"Well, I know what I'm doing here. What do you need boy?"

 

The words sent fire burning through Corik’s blood. He had always hated being called a boy. He had killed a man. His jaw was firmly clenched as he struggled to control his anger. A confrontation with this man would be a terrible idea. Calm he told himself. The word echoed in his mind fighting his boiling blood. It did little good he knew but hopefully it would not be so apparent to anyone else.

 

“I am here to join the Children of the Light.” He said. Wasn’t that part obvious? Wasn’t this the man who handled recruits? That was who he had asked for after all. Where the Children of the Light so incompetent and unorganized? He realized again that his heart was pounding and he wanted to leap across the desk. His murdering brother’s blood was on his hands and this man wanted to ask him questions.

 

All he wanted was to join the Children and make up for the wrong that he had done. He wanted to fight for the light. He wanted the blood cleaned from his hands. He wanted to kill dragonsworn and darkfriends and anyone else who did wrong in the world. He wanted a sword and he wanted it bathed in the blood of the evil.

 

He stood straight reaching his full height, which was average at best, and waited. It was late in the afternoon. More than likely the man wanted to spend as little time as possible dealing with him and that was just fine with Corik. His patience was a little frayed at the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roudal stared at the boy as he watched the anger build inside him, at least he had the brains to keep it restrained. He pushed the paper he had just signed off on to the side and with a wide smile he spoke, "Ah, very well! Please provide me with the following information." Roudal reached to the find the recruit book and flipped through it for a few moments before continuing with what he was going to say. "Full name, age and place of origin." He looked up young man and held the pen ready as his smile faded. "Once you provide that you're free to find Emanuella's study - The Quartermaster, to explain things better to you." The Head Clerk waited for the boy to give the details and he quickly added the information to the old book.

 

 

Roudal

Head Clerk

 

OOC: give Roudal the information and then set out to find Emanuella

Link to comment
Share on other sites

“Corik Resolme, twentytwo, from Ghealdan.” Corik said no more and no less to the man. His momentary flash of anger was fading and he felt a little foolish. There was no doubt that the man had picked up on his attitude and hadn’t said anything. Corik doubted that he would be able to get by with anything that suggested attitude once he began, at least not without it being thoroughly addressed.

 

Once the man recorded his information he was quickly dismissed and found himself wandering the grounds looking for the Quartermaster. Emanuella’s study, that was the place for him to be to find out what else was needed from him. Maybe if hadn’t been so rude he would have been given directions. Well there was nothing else to do but to learn from the lesson.

 

Eventually he accepted the fact that there was very little chance that he would find the quartermaster himself without any help, at least within a reasonable amount of time. The day was fading, he was hungry and in bad need of a bath.

 

Once he asked for directions he quickly found his way, with only a few wrong turns and additional sets of directions. By the time he reached Emanuella’s office he was pretty sure he had seen the entire fortress. Well not really but it felt that way.

 

As he knocked he began to wonder if she had already left her office. What was he suppose to do if she wasn’t even there? He breathed a sigh of relief when the doors were finally open though as he stepped forward he realized he still had no idea what was actually in store for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Emanuella had scheduled too much to do and was not too pleased to find her self still at the office so late. Still, she had set herself up to do it all today, and she would meet her goal. With a satisfied smile on her lips she finished the last of her work. Just as she was preparing to leave a knock came to her door. Who could that be at this hour? she wondered. She tried to keep her voice pleasant as she called for the visitor to enter.

 

When the young man was in she offered him a seat. It was clear he was a new recruit and so she started right into getting him settled. "The Fortress is going to be your home from now on. The first days are always the hardest. You need to find yourself within these walls and get familiar with your surrounding. But it will improve in time, no doubt." Emanuella flipped thorough her room assigning book. "Looks like you will be having a room of your own for now. Until other new recruits are assigned to it. Room number 5."

 

Emanuella closed the book with a thud. "As for superiors, you will know all of their faces, eventually. Generally speaking, though, the military officials wear insignia. The questioners, on the other hand, seldom use the appointed insignia. However, you can distinguish them quite easily. Added to the sunburst icon on their cloaks as the rest of the Children have, they have a red shepherd's crook behind it. Hard to miss. You are expected to address them with the title sir. Added to a bow if it's a Questioner or a salute when if it's a Commander." Emanuella reassured Corik with a warm smile.

 

"You will find five sets of uniforms in the closet in your room. Take good care of them. They will not be replaced. As for curfews. You have one day of rest and one afternoon off a week, in which you're permitted to leave the fortress' premises. At any other time you are expected to remain within the Fortress' grounds. Now, if you have any questions, I'll be delighted to answer. But first and foremost; Welcome to the Children of the Light."

 

Emanuella

Quartermaster

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

The room was empty. Corik stood in the doorway for a moment in silence. This was his new life now. Things had gone more smoothly once he had succeeded in finding Emanuella. His room had proven much easier to find than her own office had at first. He had seen others in the hallways but nobody had spoken to him yet. He felt completely alone.

 

He stepped into the room and closed the door. He dropped his bag and found a basin to wipe off the worst of his travel with. Then he crossed to the closet and took out a uniform. He tried it on to see how it fit. It fit him well. He didn’t need any adjustments to be made. He looked at himself in the small mirror provided. He hardly recognized himself with his new uniform on and the lifeless look in his eyes.

 

He sat down on the bed and stared at his hands for a long time. The last rays of sunlight vanished from his window and he found himself in darkness. He found a candle and lit it and then he returned to his seat. He thought about his life. He thought about his brother and his parents and his friends. They were gone now. He thought about all the hopes and dreams he had had. They were gone now too. He let them go. He let them all go and when they fell away he felt like a different man.

 

He took off his uniform and blew out the candle and settled into bed. It was the last day of his life as he had known it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...