Rodrick started to make his way towards the castle, now traveling along the main streets through the bustling crowds that overflowed the city. It was nice to be back among people, to see the peace he was fighting to bring back to his homeland, to be reminded of what life could be and what life should be. He knew this feeling wouldn't last long, it never did, his mind always went back to his duty, to his people and would continue to do so for as long as it took to finish his mission. Every day he was reminded of this no matter what he saw or did in some way he was reminded of his past and the countrymen he knew before the free armies. Now was the time to focus though so he continued to the castle through some of the back streets to avoid most of the festivities thus expediting his journey through the capitol.
People often forget the ugly side of things, the back streets of a city for example were full of the rejected and discarded objects of an empire. Waste, filth, and people, to some perhaps they are all the same thing but to Rodrick everything and everyone had a purpose and potential. "A thing is only useless when you give up on it" this was a lesson his father had imparted unto him, one of the many codes he followed as a way to break the social limitations of the high born that ruled many other countries. Not many in this world thought of how to help others even if it would benefit themselves more, let alone just to better another persons life and that made it even more important to Rodrick to hold on to the values he had inherited from his fathers lessons.
He was now nearing the castle, he could start to see the walls popping up over the houses of the cramped back streets with their banners flying high in the breeze. As he was nearing a alley he had decided to use to rejoin the main streets a small boy, perhaps 14 or 15 years of age ran into him. Rodrick quickly snatched the boy as he recoiled from the impact and with a firm strike from his hand knocked the boy flat on his back. "You shouldn't take something that you haven't earned child, that's only going to bring you more pain." Rodrick said with a serious look as he stood over the child. He then grabbed the small coin purse that landed near the boy as he fell to the ground. "Many people don't get second chances to change their path in life," Rodrick then removed his ring crested with his family's emblem and tossed it to the boy, "if you want to make something of yourself and find meaning for your life take a walk outside of the city not far away you will find my army encamped near the river. Take that ring to any officer you see and tell them Rodrick sent you to be trained and I promise you will have a place to call your own and perhaps in time find your own path to follow." Rodrick then continued through the alley towards the main street.
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16 years prior at the military training grounds near the capitol of Garnea, the vanguard division of the 5th grand army was stationed here under the command of Georges. Rodrick was still a young boy but had been under the instruction of his father for many years now learning the basics of combat and leadership skills. One of the earliest memories that he had was of his time reading books on great national leaders and tacticians, commerce and international relations, agriculture and industry. To his father it was a commanders duty to understand his country and how to help it prosper in both times of war and peace and this required knowledge from all levels of society.
His father trained him personally, every morning they would start with physical training to condition his body to be strong enough to fight, in the early afternoon they would engage in combat practice, and finish off the evening with studies of historic battles and the tactics of the commanders that fought in them. Georges was a practical man when it came to training, while he did have Rodrick start off with blunted weapons he soon moved to sharpened blades and full combat practice. This was to help him understand the feeling of actually fighting with a sense of danger and this also led to his first scar. It happened during one of his combat training sessions with his father.
Rodrick was proficient with many weapons but when he had a choice he preferred a sword and shield. On this day he had both and light plate armor on, his father attacked him with ferocity and precision testing his reaction time and blocking strength. Each blocked shot made Rodrick stagger and struggle to stop the next swing, it took all he had just to keep standing with all the weight of his weapons and armor. His arms stung from the resounding impacts and he knew that he didn't have enough strength left to last for an extended fight and his shield arm couldn't be held up for much longer. Just as soon as it started to drop he saw his fathers leg explode towards him with enough force to cleanly knock the breath out of him even with the plate armor chest piece he had on.
The next thing he felt was the edge of his fathers sword slicing through the flesh on his face as the blood spurted out and he fell to the ground. The only thing going through his mind as he collapsed was "am I about to die?" and he knew then this was fear for ones life. As he lay there on his back trying to breath and deal with the pain from the cut on his face he heard the foot steps of his father slowly approaching him. When he got closer he knelt down and placed a cloth on the wound and moved Rodrick's hand over to it to help stop the bleeding. He then began to speak to him in a low soft tone "I want to to pay close attention to me now son, this is one of the most important lessons you need to learn in life. There are going to be times where you are tired, wounded, or just out matched and in all of these situations you have to react the same way. You keep fighting, block out the pain and ignore your fatigue, never give up for as long as you are alive its not over."
A soldier rushed over to Georges as he knelt next to Rodrick "Sir we have reports of a large military force flying Ox banners raiding the towns in the east, the royal family has ordered us to mobilize to suppress this threat." Georges helped Rodrick up from the ground " Its time for you to earn your place and show me that you have learned something from this experience, go have your wound cleaned and wrapped then pack your gear you will be coming with us," he then turned to the soldier and gave the order to mobilize his forces "I want the men to be ready to march by late afternoon we have no time to spare."
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The main gate of the castle was quite impressive, on the surface it seemed to be nothing but a large ornamental gate but as Rodrick grew closer he could see that it was a masterfully reinforced structure capable of withstanding a full siege. Upon going inside the castle walls he discovered it was just as crowded as the rest of the city, although it was mostly comprised of highborn and their servants. There were entertainers and food everywhere he looked and as he went from room to room in the castle the setting just grew increasingly extravagant. This made Rodrick question what exactly could this announcement be in order to afford such an overwhelming festival. For now it didn't matter he would wait for the unveiling and make his decision on how to react when he actually had some information on the subject, throwing around theory's with no facts was just a waste of time.
Rodrick was here to meet an old acquaintance of his father, lord Maisson a land owning noble responsible for many provinces throughout the nation. He had hoped to gain some insight into the expedition that his uncle embarked on after the war had ended which had been in part funded by lord Maisson. Rodrick had tried many times before to attain this knowledge through correspondence and only ever received half answers that just raised more questions and never fully explained anything. This time was different in the fact that Lord Maisson had contacted him about it but wanted to meet in person in Blueshire during the festival. He had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, a chance to reunite his uncles forces with his own.
His search soon led him to a side dining hall, it was much more reserved than the rest of the castle and just had a few servants preparing and bringing out food for several long feasting tables. Sitting on the far side near one of the corners of the room was lord maisson, he was sitting with a few other people away from most of the others. They seemed to be engaged in a private conversation that was a bit more serious than the surrounding festivities. Rodrick slowly made his way towards the other side of the room and was quickly spotted as lord maisson stood to greet him. "My dear Rodrick how wonderful to see you again, I believe the last time we met in person you were just a young lad. Come now sit with us I'm sure you are weary from your travels and it will do you some good to relax for the time being."
"These two fine gentlemen sitting here with me are Lord Karnet commander of Farthan keep and Lord Vodner of the Mellisen Highlands they knew your uncle very well and had even fought several battles alongside him. They have mutual interest in my ventures and have come here during the festival for much the same reason that you have." Both of the men sitting next to him looked like they were in their early 40's and had the bearing of warriors, they sat at the table uncomfortably draped in formal wear that they were forced to wear at events such as this. "My uncle has mentioned both of you on several occasions, its an honor to finally meet you after all these years, he spoke of both of you as though you were family." Lord karnet reached across the table to shake Rodrick's hand, "Yes son we too have come to know you through your uncle, I have also had the pleasure of meeting your father in my youth, he was quite the leader in his time." Lord Vodner joined in on the conversation, "I was told that you were there during the battle at the capitol when he fell, he must have been proud to have you stand and fight by his side to the end. It is fortunate that you survived, considering all that has happened we will need more men like you and your father in the future. There are many things in this world that must be kept at bay so that we may survive, and so few of us willing to stand up to stop them."
Both of the lords kept up appearances yet there were still small signs of fatigue showing"My dear friends you are all weary from your recent work please try to relax some and for now enjoy our time while we can." [/COLOR]"It has been quite some time since we sat still in one place, perhaps it would not be such a bad idea to relax a little if only to catch our breath. In all these years I cant even remember the last time we just sat down and appreciated the world around us. Its good to experience normal life even if we cant ever truly be apart of it." "Ha ha that's a very grim way to see our situation but I suppose you aren't wrong. We have been separated from society for so long I'm not sure we could ever really reintegrate fully but I suppose we can work on that another time." "As you know I have brought you all here to discuss several things, one of which includes your uncle and the focus of his efforts but at the moment there are more pressing matters to attend. As you all well know this celebration that we have attended has a certain special attraction, an unveiling that some believe will have great influence on the course of history. Sadly not even I have been able to glean what is hidden within the walls of this castle but soon everyone will know and we must be ready to react. For now you should all go enjoy yourselves for the time being," Lord maisson stood up to leave "forgive me gentlemen but I have some other business to attend to before the ceremony but I will rejoin you soon please take this time and catch up with each other."
As Lord maisson made his way out of the room the men continued"Even when he has nothing to do that man never sits still for long, and he always seems to have some grand story he feels the need to go through.""Haha my uncle used to tell me almost unbelievable story's as well, about your war against the great witch clans. Battles against magical creatures that took days to bring down, having to combat fatigue and madness, a campaign that was supposed to be completed in a month which in the end lasted years. I feel that even the war that ended my country was nothing compared to the struggles you faced during that campaign. I can't imagine what could have all of your resources tied up now after all you have been through." "Perhaps but considering the current state of affairs we may be in for much more conflict before long even with our allies it will be difficult......""I'm sorry to have to cut this conversation short gentlemen but there is something I need to look into, I will catch up with you all at the reveal." There was a servant moving along the side of the room, normally this would not be anything worth noting but he seemed distressed. As he walked closer to the table where the three men sat Rodrick noticed blood slowly running down his hand from behind a small cloth.
Rodrick met the servant in the hall as he exited the room and pulled him aside. The man had a look of terror on his face and was trembling from whatever ordeal he had just been through. "You need to tell me what happened, I expect the truth or what misfortune has befallen you already will be the least of your worries." The man started to speak but it was mostly unintelligible mumbling and Rodrick realized that he had to calm him down before he would be able to learn anything. "You need to take a breath and speak to me I cant help you if I dont know whats going on. Just take your time and tell me everything." It took some time but he eventually spoke of a rough looking guard who had inflicted the wound on his hand and a man he had helped get a key to an officers quarters. Rodrick then handed the servant over to the guards standing near the end of the hall. "I need you to hold this man on the authority of Lord Maisson until I return." Letting the guards know any more about the situation would have just made it more complicated and Rodrick hoped to avoid any more violence if possible. He then promptly left in search of the men the servant spoke of.
