Original Stories Fan Fiction / Romance Fan Fiction ❯ The Crusade of the Quandary ❯ Hemlin ( Chapter 3 )

Rain. It soaked Cadeyn's clothes as she walked the path out of Varshore alone. She closed her eyes as she thought back. Catherine had convinced her to leave the village and find the men. She would bring them back and they would resume a stable life of farming, trading and fighting against neighboring villages for the best land. Fertility and children. The last thought spilled out as a murmur. `and Jaser.' He was the only thing that pushed her over the edge of wanting to leave Varshore.

 

She kicked a stone out of her path. Five hours walk and she would reach a small shack which ran as an inn off a neighboring town called Hemlin. It would shelter from the gentle rain for the night. The rain always reminded her of her mother, the soft and cool way it touched her skin. She always had wondered what it would have been like to be a mother. She always defiantly claimed she would never have a child. Deep down she believed she was afraid of forcing her daughter or son to go without a mother, if she died in battle. She was afraid. She thought back to when she was only of 17 summers. It seemed like yesterday.

 

“Do you ever miss your mother, Cade?” Jaser sat on the grassy knolls just outside the village.
“Of course I do.” Cadeyn looked down, and sighed. “She was the only person I could trust, for awhile…I guess I wish I could have done something to save her”

“I never knew my mother. Elizabeth once told me she died when she gave birth to me. Father doesn't speak about her. I think it still hurts him.”
“I wish my father had cared as much about my mother and I. He was always off having affairs with the maid's daughter at the inn. Mother always knew that since she did not want another child he would go elsewhere for that sort of…attention” Cadeyn blushed as she looked up at the sky, trying to distract herself with the clouds. Jaser barely noticed.
“One day, I want to be a father to heaps of boys. I want to be like my father and teach them all to fight and farm. They'll be chased after by all the girls.” He grinned, a teasing gleam to his eyes.
“I don't want children.” Cadeyn replied with a laugh, her eyes twinkling. “Besides, if they were girls, they'd beat all your children up - I bet your children won't even be able to fight with a wooden sword!” She laughed at his dramatic shocked look.

“So you don't want my children? Is that it?” Cadeyn laughed in response to his claims.

“I don't want any children, Jaser. It would ruin my reputation of the only woman warrior. I might have a girl.” Cadeyn missed the fall on his face, as he turned away, faking a chuckle.

“And you would lose the reputation of being better than all the males, they are secretly jealous of you. They want to gang up on you and ship you away to a colony to work as a slave all your life so they can look a bit more glorious.” Jaser teased her as he stood. “I should get back to father. I will see you tonight, Cade.”
She nodded and rolled over. She didn't think he was hurt, at the time.

 

Cadeyn looked up at a small patch of clear sky and smiled weakly. Perhaps she would meet Jaser and the men on the way back. Perhaps they did succeed and Kemp was right. He would not let anyone down. Not the Jaser she knew. She just wished he is still the person he once was.

 

By the time she reached the town the sunset had already fallen. The dark brown dirt path turned to roughly cobbled path, which soon turned into a small town, and eventually she came across a small street, lamps lit outside every door. A hum of excitement was coming from within a building with a swinging sign, reading “The Hemlin Inn”. From within she heard a group of males burst into laughter as her hopes of seeing the villagers return rose. She grasped the wrought iron handle and swung it open. Scanning the people from the door, she looked around seeing not one familiar face. A slight bubble burst inside of her, as she realised it was simply a few men from the local town. Again she would have another lonely night.

 

She carefully walked towards the bar, returning the friendly smile the inn keeper gave her.
“So what's a lovely girl doing getting soaked on a night like this, then?” His eyes twinkled, “Did you run away from your village? He chuckled with a hearty laugh. Cadeyn gave a small smile.
“I am a fighter from the Varshore. I am a student of Master Kemp. I have been sent to find and send our village men back, they are on a journey, but must return as soon as possible. We are suspecting disease within the crops, and without their aid we fear the women and children will not make it through the following fall and winter.” She took a deep breath. The men sitting round the bar who heard her speech fell quiet. Her seriousness made the bartender frown for a moment or so.
“Master Kemp eh, I remember him when I was a child. Won every fight he got into. Was quite of a hero I hear.” A male to the side of Cadeyn continued. “His son was through with a crusade of men as you described. Wasn't going too well they told us, they stayed a few nights and left again.” Cadeyn's travel weariness fell as she heard a mention of Jaser.
“Jaser is a close friend of mine. I believe they had only just left our village when they reached here. Why did the crusade begin to fail?” Cadeyn's eyes were on alert as she watched the innkeeper frown at her, beginning to speak again.
“A plague fell upon the crusaders. Many of them were violently sick before they reached here. Three you will find buried behind the church. We forced them out and buried the dead they left behind. We do not want the chaotic forces of Aemiel here.” The innkeeper eyed Cadeyn, scanning her skin for mysterious plague symptoms.
“No one from our village fell ill. Did they speak of where they were headed? Jaser…he didn't fall ill did he?” Cadeyn carefully stared into the innkeeper's eyes, finding them growing more weary of her questions.
“No, I do not know the answers to those questions…I am sorry” He turned his back, pretending to wipe a mug with a dirty cloth. “I must get back to my customers now” Turning his back, the innkeeper served another ale. Cadeyn sighed.

“I wish to spend one night in your Inn. How much is the fee?” She smiled weakly as the Innkeeper let out a hearty chuckle.
“Now you're talking lass - Bertha here will show you to your room. He motioned at a slightly plump woman, who reached for a key in a cupboard. She will do any washing you may have, and fill the bath with buckets of hot water. A couple of pennies and I can help you out. I do not know where they were headed, but your friend Jaser, he seemed of good health.” He winked quickly and then motioned at Bertha as she headed towards the staircase, leading Cadeyn towards her room and bath.

 

Cadeyn pulled her hair back and quickly plaited it down her back. While she felt alert when she was clean, she knew that at some points on her journey, she wouldn't have that luxury. She pulled the lace on her boots tight before grabbing a dagger to conceal under her belt and her coins. She had to ration her money throughout her journey, and if she must, she would do odd jobs or steal to provide herself with enough cash for living. She didn't notice the dark haired woman who spoke from one of the doorways.
“I can provide you with a horse if you let me come with you.” Cadeyn paused as she continued.
“I want to come adventuring. The `Quandary' as it is also known, turned me away.”
Cadeyn bit her lip.
“I am traveling alone. I wish to find the villagers from Varshore, and to return home to the village as soon as I can. I don't have time or much money to hang around, you see…” Cadeyn attempted a weak excuse.
The woman stepped out of the doorway, closer to the light of the lantern which rested upon the wall.
“They rejected me because I was a woman, not because I could not fight. They simply told me I brought on Aemiel curse because I was not born from a `worthy parenthood'.” The woman seemed to seethe as she spoke, drawing in Cadeyn's curiosity.
“Then why do you wish to follow them? If you hate them as much as your tone implies. They did not have a problem with inviting me…so why not you…” Cadeyn asked softly, almost feeling apologetic.
“Because I have no place here, my mother was a maid who was impregnated by a wandering drunk. I have felt a lack of adventure lately and have no faith in religion here. I need to feel excitement and anger, love and distrust. Here I feel the musty bed sheets where traveling lovers have been.” The woman spat her words, glaring as she spoke. Cadeyn merely turned away, her blonde hair slipping out of its plait.
“Nor do I believe in chasing after ghosts, but I do not search for the Crusade for religion, nor excitement. Last summer the crusade reached Varshore, the village to the northwest, and left it in a state of poverty. Children have been sent to battles to be slaughtered, blights have taken hold of our crops, and only a handful of men stand to help the load which has been placed on our woman's shoulders.” Cadeyn paused, the anger leaking out as she spoke. Closing her eyes she thought. If she spoke of Jaser, it would only cause her more pain and embarrassment. She looked up at the woman, who simply smiled and replied in a flowing speech, more calming than Cadeyn could handle.
“Then let us leave the forsaken towns and villages we have come from and find the crusade, for our own reasons. I have money and the means to acquire two horses. I have two sets of maps for our use. We may have our own reasons, but we feel that same need to follow them. You cannot deny that.” Cadeyn simply turned towards the bar, closing her eyes.
“Meet me tomorrow in the stables. We can work out where we are going and how to get there then. The crusade is on foot, if we go by horseback we will eventually reach them.” She sighed after she spoke, turning her back on the woman, unlocking her door. Her thoughts again lingered back to better days.

“Hey Cade, do you believe in religion?” Jaser asked, stealing some of Cadeyn's food. Cadeyn's face was quizzical for but a moment before she replied.
“No. I do not.” Continuing to eat, Cadeyn left any more questions uninvited.
“Why's that? Any reason?” Jaser pressed, his dark eyes brimming with curiosity. Cadeyn simply shrugged and sighed. It was a question she had asked herself many a times, but never let herself answer.
“Too contradictory, Aemiel isn't supposed to take the souls of the innocent, so they are free to roam Casteri as spirits until they believe its time to go to the next realm. Yet if that was true...” Faking a cough, Cadeyn turned away, her face hardening. `I wont cry. I wont tell him about mother, no.' She thought to herself, silently. Jaser waited a moment until her face started to soften back to her usual gaze.
“If that was true what? You'd see an army of undead running around to yell at you when you break ancient tradition?” Jaser joked, oblivious of her hurt.

“Sure. Then you'd be able to find peace and quiet when you ate your meals” She grinned at him and took another bite, ignoring his laugh.
“Yeah, and you wouldn't be able to do…THIS!” shoving Cadeyn's meal out of reach, Jaser leant over the table, kissing her directly on the lips. Breaking into a laugh, Cadeyn smiled at him, placing a hand in his hair.
“I don't know what I'd do without you”