We lived in the back country. Endless, untamed forest and field. Never had I seen any of the magnificent cities or even any of the larger towns that supposedly existed in the Kingdom of Angorn.
But I loved the stories.
Majestic castles, fearless knights, honor and glory! Stories like that excited me, made me think life could be about more than just filling one's stomach.
Nothing like that ever happened out on our farm though. Or even in town, though there were only four buildings in our little village and I had only been to town a handful of times in my life. Sometimes I wondered if castles really existed or if they were only as real as dragons.
My thoughts were on these far away fantasies when my father's voice jerked me back to Earth. "C'mon Eddie, I'm not gonna tell you again. Stop day-dreaming and get Boris squared away for the night! Make sure you lock the shed before you wash up for dinner!"
"Yes sir," I responded, appropriately chastened for standing around while everyone else worked hard. This was not the first time I'd been caught staring off into space. Or the hundredth.
My younger brother and my father headed for the house, leaving me alone in the field to finish up the work I'd neglected to complete. The sun was already almost under the horizon.
I guided Boris, our family's lone ox, back to his paddock and made sure to lock the gate behind him. The bovine turned around and stared back at me. I swear he had the same poorly disguised look of disappointment in his eyes that my father had.
Even though I was the eldest, I was universally seen as the weakest member of my family. Don't get me wrong, my family loved me, and I loved them. It was nothing mean-spirited. But I was always the black sheep, the odd man out, different than my parents and my brother and sister.
They were all fair-haired, while my locks were jet black. And that was the smallest of the differences. They always seemed to be made of sturdier stuff like good countryfolk should be, while I was brittle and frail. My brother was two years younger than me, but he stood a foot taller with at least 10 kilos more muscle. My father shared his tall, robust frame. Even my sister seemed beefier than me, though I was a little taller so we were actually about the same weight.
I looked more like our mother. I was fit, but my frame was slim. Lithe, you might say. In war, I could maybe be an archer. Never a swordsman, just wasn't built that way.
Everyone knew it wasn't really my fault that I was different. I wasn't doing it on purpose. But it still annoyed them. So whenever I ACTUALLY did something wrong - like run behind on chores due to my day-dreaming - everyone's frustration boiled over.
It didn't seem to matter that today was my 18th birthday. If anything, that made things worse. A full grown man and he's still that weak-looking? And still day-dreams? How will he find a wife? How will he provide? My father had been looking around for work for me, maybe something like a stable boy on the local lord's estate, the lord who actually owned our farm, but so far nothing had been found.
That night at dinner, everyone seemed just worn out, but my mother always managed a smile for me. "Happy Birthday, Eddie." She looked at my father, who swallowed his last bite and then reached into his satchel. Out came a bright red apple, only a little bruised on one side, but ripe enough you could smell it. It smelled good. He handed it to me with a little nod.
"Thank you, Mother! Thank you, Father!"
They managed weak smiles back at me, even my brother and sister, though their eyes kept drifting back to the fruit.
"Let's split it!" I suggested. The smiles increased to full strength now. My father made quick work of it with his knife and an instant later we each had a fifth of an apple to enjoy, savoring every nibble.
*************************
In the morning, my brother and I had just gotten out in the fields when we heard a clamor and saw dust on the road. Seconds later, a carriage flying the royal insignia flew past, escorted by a dozen knights on horseback in full armor.
This was, by far, the most interesting thing that had ever happened to us. I mean, that time we came across a lizard fighting a snake by the creek was a close second, but this was truly exciting.
My brother and I looked at each other for a second before dropping our tools and sprinting toward the house to see what was happening.
As we came over the hill, we spied an older, severe-looking man dressed in fine clothes step out of the carriage and enter the one bedroom house to talk to my parents. My sister was standing in the yard, ogling the fancy horses and their riders.
When we got close, two of the men stepped into our path. One held up a hand. "Stop! That's far enough."
"We live here."
The knight just stared us down and shook his head. "The king has business in there. You boys wait out here until they're done."
My siblings and I stood in the yard, confused and speculating. Was this good or bad?
Bad, of course. This was the country, where things don't get any more real. We were all too old to believe in fairy tales.
Finally, my father opened the door and called me in. When I stepped inside, I saw that my mother had been crying. My father looked....generally pissed, a look I had seen on him many times, but he also looked scared. I'd never seen that before.
"You must be Eddie! I am Master Rogen, Captain of the Royal Guards. You are to come with us at once as a matter of grave importance for the kingdom."
"What? I...I don't understand."
"The king has sent us here on a secret mission. I'll share what I can with you along the way, but we must leave at once," he said, already moving for the door.
I turned back to my parents in shock. Could this really be happening? My mother started to sob and forced herself to smile through it, "I know you'll make us proud, Eddie! You'll be fine. Just do as the Master here tells you and remember what we've taught you." She pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "There was nothing here for you anyway. You're always dreaming of adventure, now's your chance, baby!" She handed me a bag she'd packed with my meager possessions.
Five minutes later, after hurried goodbyes to my father and siblings, I watched the house shrink behind us through the back window of the carriage. I was in shock and more than a bit scared, my entire life felt like it had been blown away in a half hour.
But at the same time, my mother was right. This was just like the stories I loved. The kingdom needed me. Adventure and glory await!
At the main road, I noticed we turned east. Away from the capital. Strange...
"Where are we going?"
Rogen ignored me. He had his hat low over his eyes, but he couldn't have fallen asleep so quickly.
"The capital is the other way, you know. Are you sure we're going the right way?"
Without lifting his hat, Rogen spoke, "We're headed for Aldea on the eastern frontier."
The eastern frontier?!
"Orc territory," I said under my breath.
Rogen tipped his hat up and looked at me. Maybe respect in his eyes that I knew geography beyond our hamlet?
"What do you know about orcs?" he asked me with all seriousness in his voice.
"Ummm, well they're brutes. Mindless savages that raped and murdered and burned our villages until we defeated them at the Battle of Twin Rivers. Since then, no orc has dared cross into the kingdom's lands in a hundred years." I smiled, happy that I'd been able to recite the history my mother had taught me.
Rogen did not return my smile. "Closer to 200 years now. And defeated is....the wrong word. Though that is the version most of our subjects believe." I stared back at him in suspense, waiting for him to continue. But instead he dropped his hat back over his eyes.
