"You alive, kid?" Colby asked as he entered the cottage.
"For now…" Adrian answered. Egway, the village barber, who always seemed to have a snarl etched onto his face, finished wrapping Adrian's wound.
"Should be clean. Should be no problem," Egway grunted. "Now get out. I've only treated you for free because of what you did. Any more seconds spent staying here and I'll charge you." His attitude matched his face perfectly.
"Will do…" Adrian quickly got to his feet and walked out, Colby following close behind.
Night had fallen. Torches lit up the village since the moonlight was blocked out by thick clouds. People were still up and about, moving with an air of alert tension.
"The Lord wants to meet you now," Colby said suddenly.
Adrian was taken aback. "Why? I've already said what I saw and did. Couldn't you just report it to him?"
"He wants to hear it from you himself. Melba is being taken there, too."
"Oh." Adrian nodded. He looked toward the only full stone building in sight, a small, square castle. Of course, compared to the rest of the buildings, it was large.
It remained unfinished to this day, with parts of the walls filled in with rough timber logs. It was the residence of the Baron of Harrowfield, Lord Gareth Harrow.
To most, he was a distant ruler, to Adrian, he was a distant cousin.
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"Milord… focus on the sensation more…"
Gareth leaned his head against the bed wall. His wife, nearly twenty years younger, guided him as she held his member and pushed it inside her.
He strained and tried to remember the pleasure, how it used to feel to be held in wet warmth, how every release once felt like heaven.
But now, those feelings were nothing but dreams. They were so distant he couldn't even properly recall the sensation. Ela, his wife, took his hand and placed it on her bare breast, prompting him to squeeze and he did, she was soft and warm, but he felt nothing else.
He tried to harden, desperate to pour his seed into her and conceive an heir, but sweat only trickled down his face. Hope vanished, replaced by a dull familiar ache. He should have felt shame, but it had long since abandoned him.
He pushed his wife away and planted his feet on the cold floor.
"Milord… you are just tired. Perhaps after a few days of rest…"
Gareth didn't respond. He had heard that lie too many times to count so acknowledging it only deepened the blade in his heart. A knock sounded at the door.
"Milord, Colby has arrived with the people he was tasked to bring."
"Send them into the hall," Gareth responded. He began to dress, Ela immediately at his side to assist him.
After a while, he walked out of his chambers, his steward fell into step on one side and his wife on the other. He passed through the halls of a castle his grandfather had dreamed of completing and expanding but couldn't.
Its unfinished form reminded Gareth of his own failure of achieving it.
When he reached the hall, those thoughts were washed away by the business of being a lord. He sat in the high chair as two people were presented to him.
He had heard of the monster, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. His people were finally recovering, they could not afford more loss.
Though the war in the Northwest had subsided, reduced to just skirmish, the Crown might call for supplies and soldiers again at any moment. And he had a feeling he might not return for good if the Crown did.
His wife and steward stood at his side. He gestured to the woman first, knowing she was the first to see the beast. Melba spoke of what she saw, mostly details already reported to him.
When she finished, he nodded and dismissed her, but not before granting her half a shilling. He was a poor lord, but he was still the Baron of Harrowfield, he could afford that much.
Then, the young man stepped forward. As he told his story, Gareth felt a nagging familiarity with the boy's name and face.
"Who is your father?" Gareth asked.
He saw the young man hesitate. "Adric, milord."
Gareth frowned. The name was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "And his surname?"
The young man took even longer to answer this time. Just as Gareth was about to voice his displeasure, the boy spoke.
"Harrow. His name was Adric Harrow."
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"Harrow? Ah… I remember now…"
Adrian saw the Baron recognize his father's name. He tried not to look directly at the lord.
"Adric Harrow… he was a bastard son of my grand uncle? Or wait… was he?" Lord Harrow was confused and looked at him for an answer.
Adrian's face turned awkward. "Milord, I'm afraid I'm not fully clear on that myself… my father was drafted into the war years ago, before he could fully explain it to me."
"Ah, I remember him now… tall and sturdy, quick with a spear…" the Lord said, reminiscing, before he suddenly fell silent, his finger tapping on the armrest.
Adrian liked to think of himself as someone who wasn't afraid of a lord, at the very least, he wasn't as reverent or intimidated as most people in the village.
But seeing the Baron suddenly turn silent undoubtedly made him nervous. It wasn't unfounded for peasants to fear lords, as they could decide one's fate so easily. The only law around here is the words that comes out of a lord's mouth.
And since he was only 15, he definitely didn't want to lose his head so soon.
"You fought the monster and saved a villager. For that…" Lord Harrow suddenly spoke, then whispered something to his steward. The steward stepped forward and handed Adrian a coin. It was bright silver, a shilling, worth about twelve pennies.
"Thank you, milord!" Adrian bowed, releasing a breath, thankful that this was over. But then the Baron continued.
"How old are you?"
Adrian resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow as he answered, "15, milord."
"15…" The Baron nodded. "That is old enough." He then looked past Adrian. "Cordell, step forward."
A middle-aged man in half-plate armor, with clean cut beard, stepped forward.
"Milord," said Cordell, the only remaining knight of the castle.
"Take a soldier or two from the guards, find some hunters in the village, and hunt down this monster. Kill it and bring it to me as soon as possible."
"As you command, milord." The knight knelt on one knee and bowed.
"Take young Adrian with you," Lord Harrow added. Adrian was shocked, but the Lord didn't bother to explain further as they were dismissed, though not before the Baron's wife, Lady Harrow, shot him a look.
"Are you able on the morrow?" Sir Cordell asked Adrian, who was still in a bit of a daze.
"My apologies, what did you say, sir?"
Sir Cordell only smiled at him. His figure in armor made him seem much more taller and more solid than Adrian. "Will you be able tomorrow? Or do you need a few days of rest to heal?"
Adrian raised his right arm and touched the place where the monster had wounded him. The cut wasn't deep, he had made sure of that and according to the barber, it shouldn't be a problem, though moving too hard might reopen the wound.
"If I'm not, what would you do, Sir Knight?"
"Delay it."
That wasn't good. Not because Adrian was eager to go, but because the Lord had ordered it done immediately.
'Maybe I'm no different from any other peasant who fears a lord after all' Adrian thought, wanting to click his tongue but resisted against it.
He pressed the wound on his arm, feeling a dull but manageable pain.
'Better end this matter quick' He thought. The sooner the lord's attention is not on him, the better.
"I can set off tomorrow. I expect Sir Cordell will be the one to kill the monster, and I will be more like a helper."
Sir Cordell chuckled as they walked out of the castle. Colby had, at some point, gone elsewhere. "Tell me, Adrian, do you know how to fight?"
"I train with some people from time to time. I make sure to keep my body agile and active, it helps with my work."
"You do some carpentry, right?"
"I do."
"Make sure you bring some weapons to protect yourself. If not, we can provide you with one, do you have any armor?"
"I do not, sir."
"I'll prepare something for you on the morrow. Come here at the hour after first light."
"I will."
Sir Cordell nodded and turned back toward the castle. Adrian hesitated for a moment before calling out to him.
"Sir… why did the Lord Baron ask me to join you? I mean… I only luckily survived the encounter with the monster. I'm not sure I could be much help."
Sir Cordell only smiled. "I do not presume to speak for milord, Adrian. Be careful on your way back."
"Ah, of course. My apologies… thank you." Adrian bowed, and soon the doors to the castle closed.
Adrian looked at the doors and sighed. He turned to walk home, remembering it was night. He became alert as he walked, although there were more people patrolling, it didn't ease his concern. It was only when he reached and entered his house that he relaxed a bit.
As he lit a torch in his home, he sat at his worktable pondering the next day. He was worried, but at the same time, he wouldn't be alone.
Still, knowing his safety was ultimately in his own hands, he decided to spend the night preparing and training, not matter how little, to increase his odds of surviving.
His gift, which he called 'mending,' was only possible while he was conscious. It wasn't a passive ability that constantly healed his body and therefore, he had to be tough enough to avoid being easily knocked out.
He remembered a time as a child when he was gravely injured and passed out from the pain. He should have died, never to wake again, yet he did wake by luck and only then did he manage to survive. His gift was great, but it could only go so far.
The rest depended on his own effort.
Eventually, before the first light of the day arrived, he was up and about.