A Warrior's Redemption

  Chapter Nine

  Responsibilities

  Roric

  I rode at the head of the column eager to see the home of my ancestors. Thaddeus didn’t ride any more due to the pain it caused his bad leg. He rode in a carriage farther back in the column, every part of him still yearning for the freedom of his youth.

  This was the third day of the journey from Kingdom Pass and still no words could come to me to describe the beauty of the land that was on display all around me. Ancient primeval forests pocketed the dips and hollows of the mountains and valleys, while vast stretches of open grassland stretched out like a patchwork quilt over the rolling terrain of the valley bottoms. The terrain was broken up here and there by rocky up thrusts, which penetrated the seas of grass like ships at full sail. The snow capped ridges of the mountains rose up to the sky to our right, as everywhere gurgling brooks ran down from the mountains spilling their cold waters into the seas of grass on their endless journey to the sea. Waterfalls could be seen in the distance as they cascaded down from the mountains. A cool wind that felt just right blew into my face and rippled through the tall grass around me as far as the eye could see.

  My eyes drank in the paradise I was riding through, relishing every moment of it. Here and there isolated cottages and groups of dwellings could be seen with their cultivated fields and orchards. It was midday when my eyes saw, for the first time, the home of my ancestors, Thunder Ridge.

  The castle was built out of the side of one mountain and lay nestled in a cul-de-sac formed by several others. Towers rose majestically from the tiered castle fortifications echoing the grandeur of the surrounding mountain peaks. A huge waterfall tumbled down the sheer side of the cliff to the left of the castle. The stream that the waterfall formed, spilled into a moat, which flowed around the front of the castle wall and exited at the far end. It fell in a shorter waterfall at the end of the moat to continue lazily downhill where it swung around the village located at the base of the mountain against which the castle was constructed. The castle was built of the same golden granite as that of the wall at Kingdom Pass.

  The castle and its towers were wreathed with flowering vines that bloomed white and let off a honeysuckle smell that I could already smell on the breeze. This was Thunder Ridge. Unknowingly, I had stopped to gaze with wonder upon the still distant castle. I didn’t notice my grandfather’s carriage until it drew up beside me and stopped.

  “Quite something, isn’t it my boy?” Thaddeus asked, smiling proudly.

  I nodded my head, at a loss for words.

  “Beautiful and idyllic as it may look Roric, it has stood up to its fair share of war. Five times the village has been razed to the ground and once the castle itself was almost taken in a prolonged siege. That, of course, all happened before the wall at Kingdom Pass was built,” he finished.

  We started out again and soon we were entering into the village commons. They had apparently been expecting us and knew of my existence. People, my people, were thronged around us as we passed through the village. The people were shouting and singing ancient songs that struck cords that had never before been played within my heart. The women and children showered us with flowers, while the men respectfully saluted us with swords and fists held aloft. I and my arena friends trailing out behind me had never before witnessed such a spectacle of welcome. I felt countless hands touch my legs reverently as I rode by, as if to feel if I was real or not. I brushed by them and heard their words of blessing and greeting like the endlessly repeating litany of a chorus.

  These people were welcoming me as if I was one of their favored own. If this hadn’t felt like home before, they were certainly making it feel so now. I raised my hand in welcome to these people, feeling that it was too small a gesture to convey the emotion I felt for these people’s welcome of me. I was home and the welcome these people gave me had already won a very special place in my heart.