"Wretched rain..." I cursed out loud as one of the sandbags slipped out of my
hands splashing down on flooding cobblestone avenue. I was feeling miserable,
all my clothes were drenched and weighing like a ton and the sword sheathed on
my left side felt like it was created to bother my working, though I never
left it anywhere, without it I always felt crippled. My arms and back ached
and the cold was making my fingers go numb. In addition, I had been really
restless for couple of days now and could have used long night sleep but there
was no time for it now. Still I tried to stand proud and kept on humming to
keep our spirits up, trying not to make my fellow citizens worried about our
current situation. I was a man of code and conduct, sworn to defend the
weaklings and the order. Religion was not part of my life but when I raised my
eyes to the sky I couldn't help muttering to myself: "If there are some
greater forces up there, some of us are pondering what is behind all this".
Watching the sky didn't make me feel any better, it was dull grey and kept on
pouring water on us. Only orange glow from somewhere far from the south was
trying to colour the sky but I had a feeling it didn't predict anything good
either.

Village was almost empty, most of the people had left when the troubles
started. Only city officials, few inhabitans and some shopkeepers were left,
too afraid to leave their properties unguarded.
Most of the tenants were working together carrying the materials and
reinforcing embankments around the settlement. Cellars were already filled
with water but we still tried to protect whatever there was left to save. It
had been almost a week ago when I received an order from the knights council.
Guild was badly underoccupied and I was the only one available for this task.
I was to join cityguard of Pleasantville and help in protecting the city from
the flooding and co-operate with the militia if the village should be defended
from some other threat, not that I was too much of a reinforcement, but I had
given my oath and promised to come forth if any community ever needed aid.
Great lake and the river south of village's position were flooding badly and
the bad weather seemed neverending. In addition, situation was making others
nervous aswell, cities were in chaos, Batcity was crowded by endless stream of
refugees and there had been increasing amounts of reports of unrest from the
region, Bandit attacks, goblin raid parties, everyone was hauling supplies
preparing for the worst.

After another hard and long day of curses, rain, being a mule, slipping on the
streets and feeling cold I was relieved to walk in to the local inn. Old man
Allan Edward greeted me with reluctant smile on his face and poured me a pint
of ale without asking. "Could also take a dish of that spiced pork of yours,
if you still have some in stock" I told him and chose a place the table next
to fireplace. Dry and warm inn felt like a heaven and my mood got a bit
better. The meal enhanced my conditions even further and I almost felt good
first time in a few days. After another pint I went to my room, changed my
clothes to dry ones and laid down on the bed. Once again I found myself
listening to the furious hand of god beating the inn roof with steady pace,
unable to sleep. Soon I got frustrated and despite the weather decided to go
for a walk. Streets were empty, few windows had candles burning on their
window boards but most of the houses were lifeless. I strolled to the
citygate, saluted Gilebertus and his nephew Hereward who were sitting in a
guardhouse playing dices and headed outside the village to the countryside.

I have no idea did I really hear it or was it just my imagination but it was
long moan of a horse that caught my attention. Forest nearby to the southwest
was the origin of the noise and as I moved closer, I was able to hear metallic
clinks and above all clear voice singing an old battlehymn. I found myself
running towards the voices before I even realised what was happening. One
thing was certain, fellow bard had gotten into trouble. Sudden burst of warmth
filled my very soul and I started running faster, threwing my cape away as it
was slowing me down. Song had started having occasional breaks and the volume
had come down, almost if the will of the singer was about to break. Arriving
to the edge of a sparser forest, I saw lone figure surrounded by several
bandits battling for his life. His skills were superior to those of attackers,
but he was seriously underpowered. "Fortes fortuna adiuvat - Fortune favors
the brave" I convinced myself as I charged straight to the battle without
thinking it through, there simply was no time. "This battle shall be won! Stay
with me!" I roared storming towards the closest opponent. Sudden confusion
stroke through the ranks of already undisciplined bandit group, giving me and
the mysterious traveller in trouble slight advantage. Two of the bandits were
already down creating swiftly expanding red pool on the wet grass, panicked
black stallion with a spear sticking from his flank was struggling to get back
on his feet little further. If it wasn't for the element of surprise, I might
not be here to tell this story, but even shortest of moments was enough this
time. Me pulling attention out of the traveller, he was able to deliver two
fatal strikes on his enemy finally kicking him down on the ground. Battlesong
he was humming burst to its' full power again and his inspiration to battle
strengthened.
Thrusting my longsword through the leather armour of one of my unlucky
opponents I decreased the amount of bandits down to seven, snapping the
backbone of their motivation making all of them to take a steb back,
apparently hesitating. Uniting our powers we easily drove the attackers to run
and disappear back into the woods.

Breathing heavily I went to see the horse, badly wounded and bleeding he lay
on the grass, given up with all of the will of live lost. Delivering the shot
of mercy made me feel sad, such a wonderful steed. Owner of the horse had
collapsed under a large oak tree panting for air. As I approached him he
seemed to use all of his fatigue left, searched for something from his belt,
handing me a scrollcase and mumbling something obscure before falling
unconsious from exhaustation. I picked him up on my arms, adrenaline still
rushing through my veins was making the job easier as I begun the trip back to
the nearby village. Close to the gates, cityguards came and relieved me of my
burden and we took our sleeping visitor to the inn, luckily there were plenty
of rooms available.

I wanted to sleep, I wanted it badly, especially after realising I was
strained. After hitting the bed sweet dreams filled my mind almost instantly.
Something in those dreams was disturbing, almost if something was trying to
wake me up. Having no idea how long I had slept I woke up in shock.
Whole building was trembling, screams and sound of gushing water from the
streets filled the air. Had all our efforts been trivial, one of the
embankments must have had collapsed and released the forces of nature to rage
in the village. I quickly reached for my clothes as something caught my eye,
the scrollcase. I had totally forgotten it last night, being apparently
wearied. With shaking hands I opened the case finding a scroll adressed to no
one else but myself, bearing the seal of Shadowstring, the head of the bards
guild. The scroll was clearly of great importance and I quickly broke the seal
waiting for some explanations or instructions. There was not much to
comprehend, usually writer of such magnitude detailed information he handed
out carefully, this time the message was crearly written in a hurry and there
was nothing to be doubt, the writer was certain of himself.

"There is no time to explain. It is in vain, just leave it. Gather anyone left
and use any means necessary and head out to some of the largest cities or find
a boat or anything that will take you to safety and for crying out loud do it
now. - Amarth Shadowstring".



Yours, Searc R'otta, knight and a bard and proud of it