Image Credit and Special Thanks to
. Please check out his work and the works of other amazing writers at VirtualPulp.net!The following prologue is from the unedited manuscript of Scars: An Infamous Legend. Things are still in development and this preview is subject to change from the final release. Please enjoy and leave your feedback in the comments.
The watch that day was as quiet as it always had been.
According to reports and rumors, the Carrialan wars were happening on the east, not the south. Cartan, guardian of the wall, always wondered why the dividing line between the two countries was necessary. The wall was only four and a half feet high. Any decent sized soldier could easily hoist himself over the border and into his homeland. Even the wall's thickness was something that the same person could venture. It would take but a few paces to get across. The only person who could make it difficult to cross was himself. His fellow watchman, Skarlan, was roughly fifty paces behind him. Though he was a skilled marksman, one man with a bow wouldn’t be able to lay down enough suppressing volleys to stop a Carrialan Agogex.
The skies were a gloomy, almost apocalyptic gray. Yet the wind was gentle and quiet. The watchman couldn’t help but wonder if this was a sign of the Divine Red. A great storm was foretold to be the sign that Divine Red would reclaim his shores. Any time a storm was to roll in, Cartan would pray harder than usual. Whatever the Red had in store for him, he desired to be prepared. Something about the silence made him mindful. This was no ordinary silence. It was the type of quiet which demanded an attentive mind.
Skarlan behind him had his mind on other things while on the watch that day. He thought about his newborn son. As much as he found this patrol boring, he was grateful that there was nothing that would jeopardize his return to his family.
***
He’d been traveling for days to get to this place. The Aratex, known as Grask, knew that this information had to be delivered to someone on the other side of the border. It didn’t matter who heard it, so long as the message got across to the other side. His mule had died three-quarters of the way through the journey. He walked the rest of the way. The information he carried would save thousands of lives.
Grask knew there was a better solution to the shortage than what others had in mind. Things already seemed out of order when the council of the Aratex started to splinter. Grask, leader of the intelligence sect of the Carrialan state, believed in law and order. He believed that diplomacy would be the means to stave off mass starvation. The war to the east was taking a heavy toll on the nation. Though the spoils of the conflict helped to prevent cataclysm, it was clear that the small victories wouldn’t create a lasting solution to the problem.
Cartan and Skarlan, despite their distance from one another, kept about 30 paces from the wall. The hills sloped away from the wall, giving the guards a vantage point to see into Carriala. Both guards would glance at a monastery of the Divine Red. The New National Religious Doctrine of the neighbor state made them fearful for its safety. Their religion was heavily frowned upon yet not banned. Of course, that was subject to change at any moment, they suspected.
As they scanned the foreign tundra, the two men noticed a lone figure walking the flat land. At first, it was a specter with no discernable features. But, as it drew closer, the figure resembled a man. “Skarlan,” Cartan exclaimed to his companion on the watch. “A wanderer approaches the wall!”
Skarlan, having also seen the figure, ran to meet his fellow watchman. “Is this one friend or foe?” Skarlan asked.
“Ready as if he were a foe,” Cartan answered. “But we shan't strike unless he attempts to cross the wall.”
The two drew closer to the dividing line. As the Knights merged, the figure came to the wall quicker than it started.
The Aratex knew he'd attracted the attention he needed. Despite the pain of running, he sprinted toward the wall. He knew he'd only have one chance to warn them of the impending danger.
To two of the men in this encounter of three, the meeting was dumb luck. Cartan, however, believed this moment to be divine providence.
The moment came and the three men were divided by a few feet and a low wall. “Halt, traveller!” Skarlan said forcefully. He would not take chances with this stranger. His wife and child wouldn't be widowed or orphaned on this day or any day.
“I mean you no harm, knights!” The man said. “I come bearing warning to you and your countrymen!”
“Speak, then,” Cartan replied as loudly as he could. “Who are you?”
“I am a member of the Aratex,” the man replied. His voice was thin, high pitched and raspy. He was plagued with the effects of The Recluse, a dark potion administered to him by the Patrarchons and the NNRD. Though, maybe through some magic or the divine providence of the Red, they could hear him just fine. “I demand an audience with your magistrates!”
“You demand an audience?” They asked through laughter. “We do not give passage through these lands lightly, Aratex! Speak your name and your warning and we shall deliver them to our commanders! By our honor as Knights of the Tower, we shall deliver it!”
“The recent incident between our two nations was ordered by Aratex Kolan!” the Aratex shouted. There was no time to waste. Though the patrol of the wall on the Carrialan side was distant, it would not be for long.
“Our magistrates are aware of this!” Cartan replied. “Your Captain Larizza told us so!”
The wanderer looked down for a moment. Would this revelation put her in danger as well? He could not say. “This order was not the will of the council,” the Aratex clarified. “I, Aratex Grask, divinely chosen by the Gods, leader of the council of the Aratex, have learned of a faction within our walls that seeks to invade you! The incident was a test of your defenses! Kolan seeks to invade your country with our warriors and new weapons he has developed! Gather your magistrates and ready your defenses! This plot and the weaponry is beyond anything our nations have seen!”
The two Knights looked at each other with concern. Did the pardon granted to their Captain Larizza signal weakness to this mysterious faction? How could they tell if this Aratex was telling the truth? “Very well,” Cartan replied. “We shall deliver your message upon our return to our commander!”
The time for pleasantries was cut short. A small troop of Carrialan soldiers, six patrolmen, had seen the Aratex at the wall, and above him two Knights of the Greater Valley on the opposing side. When the two parties of the same nation locked eyes, the Aratex turned and began to walk away from the wall. Walking became running as the patrol fired a volley of arrows to stop him. The Aratex wisely ran in a series of straight lines to confuse his assailants.
The Knights watched in horror. For fear of starting an incident between kingdoms, they could not defend the informant. This moment, however, made Cartan send Skarlan to signal the commander before the watch had ended.
Skarlan ran to his commander. Immediately Commander Gorman scolded the soldier “Why do you abandon your post? Speak now or be disciplined!” He shouted.
“Forgive me, ser,” the Knight replied. “But you must send a High Knight to witness the incident across the border and we must assemble the magistrates at once!”
It is written that single events can change the course of history forever. Indeed, the land of Carriala and the world at large would forever be altered as the Prophecy foretold in the Book of the Divine Red started here.
More to come in SCARS: AN INFAMOUS LEGEND!