Birthright: Lord of Arda (5 page)

Chapter IX

Braden

The sun was beginning to pass over the horizon but already the forest was black, luckily for the three they had found a clearing only slightly larger than Braden’s house to camp in for the night. A fire blazed in the middle, they had already cooked the meat Alexander had carved off of the snake. Braden had to give it a once over to remove any remnants of the creatures bowels but his friend had done well. He has been more than happy to finally remove the chainmail vest and t-shirt and allow his skin to feel the cool breeze of the early evening, but now he was starting to feel the cold and had edged closer to the fire to keep warm. After some food Troy had become a little more talkative, his eyes were still full of fear and he jumped at the slightest noise. The poor boy had seen the worst of the attack the night before, he had been asleep when the first attack came but the butcher had woken him quietly and hidden him under the floorboards just before the attackers broke in, he watched as the butcher was brutally cut down, before the men had their way with his wife and slit her throat. He had then waited under the floor boards for what he said felt like hours before finally having the courage to come out of his hiding spot. He then spoke of how he had crept out the back of the butcher’s home only to see the two of them dart into the forest, Troy decided to follow thinking it was the way to another village. He had spent hours following them before he found the Naga, it looked as if it had actually been stalking him and Alex, but when Troy had tripped over a raised root, it turned and began to attack him. The boy had run for his life breaking into the clearing and was about to be eaten when Braden had turned up. Looking over at the boy sleeping now, he could hardly believe what he had been through in his short life, it made him think about the pain of losing his mother and how it compared to Troy’s life of misery. He smiled at the boy, he was a fighter though, he was already asking questions about what happened to them and why they were heading through the forest. He had thought they were running to another nearby town but when Braden told him he was heading for capital Alton the boy jumped at the chance to join him.

“He's been through a lot today.”

Braden looked over at Alex who was lying down next to the fire looking up at the stars.

“Yes he has, but not just today his whole life.”

“Yes but he will get through."

"I guess he has to."

Braden laid down on the ground and began thinking about his mother again. He had spent the whole day thinking about her, all the time they spent together, the memories of playing with her as a kid and then as he grew older taking care of her, wheeling her around the village and putting her to bed each night. They were happy thoughts but knowing there would be no opportunity to ever create new ones hurt the most. He shifted from side to side to get comfortable on the ground, a root was digging into his back but he finally found the right position. Braden looked up into the sky, his mother was up there now watching down with the gods. His eyes were heavy, it had been a long day, longer than any other he could remember. He closed his eyes and prayed to the god’s and his mother to keep vigil over them as they slept.

Braden’s eyes shot open, it was still pitch black and for a moment he thought he was back home and everything had just been a dream. He could hear Alexander’s snoring and for a moment he was content to go back to sleep and wake up in the morning back in his home. Then he heard it again, this time a crack from the burning wood followed and he realised it wasn’t a dream. He raised himself up on one elbow and looked around, his hand slowly slipping back to find his sword. Grasping the handle, he slowly drew the blade from the sheath as he stood up silently, the fire had died down, the flames now no more than a few inches high. He made a mental note that if this was nothing, then he needed to gather more firewood before he went back to sleep. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness as he looked out across the clearing trying to find the source of the noise. He finally caught a glimpse of some movement off to one side. He stepped around the edge of the fire and making sure not to disturb Troy who was  sleeping soundly. Reaching the other side of the fire, he heard a snap, he tensed raising his sword waiting for an attack. It went quiet before the silence was broken again by Alex’s snoring looking down, he realized the snap had been him stepping on one of the three branches Alex had used for the spit. He took a closer look over the campsite and saw that the remaining meat they were saving for breakfast had gone. He looked over at his friend to see if he hadn’t been treating himself to a midnight snack. But Alex hadn’t moved from the position he had been in when they had fallen asleep and it had been Alex’s idea to save some for the morning anyway. Braden knew that whatever had woken him had sneaked off into the distance with their food. His curiosity got the better of him, and he slowly moved across the clearing entering the forest where he had seen movement. He carefully placed each step, making sure not to snap any more sticks. He walked for ten minutes before he heard the noise again, there was a rumbling sound like water in the distance. Slowing his pace again, and moving closer to the trees to keep from sight. A few more steps and he heard movement again, it sounded low, perhaps it was another child from the village who like Troy, had gotten away.

He peered round the edge of the tree and stopped dead, his eyes and mouth wide open. Lying up against the trunk of a large oak tree was a huge lion, the beast was terrifying in size, even lying down Braden could tell that it stood over five foot tall at the shoulder. His eyes were transfixed on the beast, the moonlight siphoned through the trees onto the lion, it’s golden coat shone like gold. The beast was deadly still but Braden wasn’t sure if it was a ploy to draw in it’s prey, before striking until he saw the remains of the snake they had cooked, next to it’s front paw. Had the beast walked all the way up to their camp only to take their snake, It seemed unlikely, but then a lion the size of a horse in the centre of forest was unlikely as well. Braden felt the warmth of something brushing his leg and jumped away from the tree, raising his sword ready to attack or defend. It didn’t move, looking back at the tree Braden watched, eyes wide open in shock, as a small pitch black cub came out of the darkness. His eyes shifted backwards and forwards between the cub and the lion. He took a step back and fell against another tree behind him. He was pinned. If the adult woke up now he would be killed before he could scream for help. The cub kept coming towards him, finally stopping a foot away and sat down staring up at him, Braden didn’t know what to do.  He looked down and saw the liquid gold eyes of the cub staring back. It cocked its head to one side, then bolted back towards the adult. Again Braden tensed, waiting for the attack that didn’t come. He slowly walked towards the lion and it’s cub, passing by the last tree, he could finally see the full size of the adult lion. It’s paws were the size of a man’s head and he could see the razor sharp claws sticking out as the cub slowly brushed its head against it. When there was no reaction, it finally clicked to Braden that the adult was dead and the cub was on its own. Braden lowered his sword and walked closer to the lion. It was truly astonishing in size, he could see the defined muscle of the beast beneath its skin. He reached forward to touch it, but was met by the hissing and growling of the cub. Braden pulled back his hand, and took a step back before kneeling down in front of the cub.

“I won’t hurt you, or him.”

He knelt down looking over the beast, he couldn’t see any obvious signs of anything that could have killed the beast. No large gashes or any cuts that could have become infected. He thought about the wound maybe being on the lion’s other side. He stood again and walked to his right to get a closer look at the back of the lion. Leaning in close, he saw what looked like four small stab wounds in it’s side. He thought back to the Naga and it’s four fangs, had the lion come into contact with the snake before it had come after them? It appeared to be the only thing that could have caused the death of the magnificent beast which lay before him. A commotion at his feet caught his attention as he watched the cub struggling to pull a piece of the snake flesh from the bone. Braden and Alexander had already found the Naga's meat to be extremely tough, they had cut it into small pieces to chew before they could swallow it.

He moved back to the cub and knelt beside the chunk of meat, reaching forward, he was met with more hissing and growling. Using his small blade he cut a piece from the main chunk before pushing it in front of the cub. Braden could see it was cautious, not knowing whether to take the meat from him or not. Finally hunger won and the cub jumped onto the meat and chewed it quickly before sitting down. Braden cut another few chunks laying down it in front of the cub, it quickly devoured one after the other. He smiled at the cub, wondering when was the last time it had eaten? If the snake had been following them since around midday this must have happened at least the night before, he was surprised that the snake hadn’t come back for the cub. He fell back and sat down, the cub’s eyes bore into his own forcing him to cut off more of the meat, each time he did the cub had jumped up and down. He had been sitting at the base of the tree, with the cub for about half an hour when he suddenly yawned. He was still exhausted from the previous day, and really needed to get back, if Alex or Troy woke up and he wasn’t there they would surely panic. But could he really leave the cub alone, even if the Naga was gone there were many more predators who would come after a defenceless cub, there was also the fact that it couldn’t feed itself.

“Do you want to come with me?”

The cub looked back at him with the same look in his eyes he had had all night, Braden shook his head, why was he asking it? Braden stood and looked down at the cub and smiled. He couldn’t take it away from its father, not by force. He turned away from the oak tree and headed back towards the clearing, he thought about bringing Alexander and Troy back here in the morning, or should he keep it to himself, a private memory of a giant lion in the woods.

He was soon back at the clearing and he could see that the two were still asleep. The fire had all but died away. From the look of the sky they still had a few hours before sunlight and they needed more wood. He turned left circling the edge of the clearing picking up what small branches had fallen from the surrounding trees. About halfway round he had four or five decent size logsalong with a few smaller ones, it would do to keep them warm till the morning. Turning back to the fire he noticed something walking towards him, it was a stick, with golden eyes. Braden smiled as the cub walked up to him carrying a stick in it’s mouth. He reached down and rubbed the cub’s head then walked back to the centre of the clearing, how was he going to explain the presence of a small lion to Alex and Troy? Did he wake them up now or should he wait until morning and risk them waking up before him and spotting the cub. He placed three of the sticks in a tripod above the current embers before adding the two more he had and the third the cub had brought, then threw the smaller sticks on, they caught quickly and the fire grew. The cub just sat their staring at the flames as Braden lay back down by the fire.

He sheathed his sword and closed his eyes and as he drifted off, he felt the cub nestle into his side and begin kneading his ribs with it’s paws.

As the sun crept over the horizon and lit up the clearing Braden woke to the pressure of the lion cub sitting on his chest. He opened his eyes and the liquid gold irises of the cub stared straight back at him, it meowed before pushing its head into Braden’s face. He pushed back before sitting up the cub jumping down by his side. Alex and Troy were still asleep, he couldn’t understand how they were still tired, when he was wide awake even after the night’s escapades. He would now have to explain to them about the cub which sat next to him. In the light, he could see the full size of it. He was just under a foot tall at the shoulder and his fur was pitch black, the only colour was coming from his golden eyes and the white fangs which protruded slightly from it’s mouth. Braden pulled his legs up and crossed them. The fire was about to die out and he wanted to get underway shortly.

“Alex.”

He leant over and pushed his friend’s shoulder nudging him awake. Alex responded with a groan and what sounded like a few abusive words. He then leant over and did the same to Troy, who responded in a slightly more polite manner.

“Wake up, we need to get moving soon. Plus I have something to show you.”

“I hope it’s food.”

Braden watched as Alex rolled over to face him, he immediately jumped back at the sight of the cub, which just cocked its head at him.

“What the..”

“Cool!”

Troy’s reaction was the one Braden was hoping for. Alex recovered quickly sitting up and staring straight at the cub.

“Umm. Braden where did you find that?”

“In the forest last night. It came and stole the snake meat, I followed it back and found an adult lion and then the cub. It was no ordinary lion though it was bigger than any I ever saw at the Roost fair.”

Troy was up on his feet walking behind him and the cub, Braden could see the excitement in his eyes. It was a welcome change after yesterday.

“Is it yours's?”

“Well, I don’t know, he just followed me back last night.”

“What happened to the adult lion?”

Braden looked over and saw a concerned look in his eye.

“Dead, it looked like the Naga got him.”