The Broken Soldier, Part 4 (Finale) - "The Wandering"

For about another three days, I rode through the fields and hills of the countryside, stopping to rest at small villages every now and then. On the third day of travelling back, I had reached Easthill. I trotted my horse down the road and back to the farm where I had grown up and fallen in love. Peppri’s father was out in the stables, feeding the horses. When I had reached the stable doors, I unmounted by horse and approached him.
“So you married her off. A rich man came through town, and you handed her over to him when he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her,” I said. “You kept the letters I sent from Peppri, and lied to her about my death. I assume that you plan on selling the farm so you can live the twilight of your life in wealth.”
“I did what had to be done,” he said quietly. “You can take the horse as compensation.”
“Oh, so now you offer me my horse as compensation for my broken heart?” I was more enraged than I had ever been. “I raised this horse myself, and helped you raise almost every other damn farm animal here! Since I was a boy, I toiled in the barn and field for nothing else other than a place to sleep! I slaved away for you, Boren! You’ve betrain not only me, but your daugh-”
“I only wanted what’s best for her! I didn’t want her living a miserable life as a poor farmer!” For a moment, there was a silence.
“For the rest of her life, she will be married to a man she does not love. That is true misery, Boren.” I walk back and mounted my horse. “Rirgeset kwez Durnag. You and all the scum of this world.” I rode out of town and into the hills and plains of the countryside.

For weeks, I wandered aimlessly. I had no home and nowhere to go back to. I would pick up simple jobs here and there so I could feed my horse and I. On the road, I had nothing but my shield and my axe to defend myself. In my spare time, I carved myself a new wooden leg. It was shaped like an actual foot, and I was able to strap it on with some leather. I could wear a boot, and no one would notice I that I was missing a leg. It made me more likely to be able to get a job.
After about three months, right before the winter set in, I had arrived in the capital, Whitegate. In a tavern there, I saw a sign up for a guild called “The Knights of Fortune”. It was a “mercenary guild for those willing to sell their sword arm”. It was getting colder and colder by the day, and I needed money and a place to sleep, so I joined. Their guild leader, Morchîn, was more that happy to have another member. I became guild-brothers with the other members. There was Heitvor, a strong and gruff man who had the strength of a bull. Thrätrin, a retired knight of Anúrendor who takes jobs up for some extra coin and for fun. Beonord, a pickpocket who changed his ways and stopped stealing from people (most of the time). And Freulagg, a dwarf who’s family resettled here long ago after coming from the west. We ate and drank and sang together in the guild halls. We went out on commissions together. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I felt happiness again.
By the end of the winter, rumor was that the war was over in the south. The rumor was proved correct at the beginning of spring when soldiers began returning home. There was a huge festival in the streets in celebration of winning the war against the Empire of Jeyawahle. That was when she came back. Tircínwen, the Faen who saved me during the war, arrived at the guild, along with a few other men. We were both surprised to see each other. I was never told of there being any female guild members, and she never mentioned being part of any guild. I told her everything that happened: Peppri being married off, her father lying to her about my death, and how I came across The Knights of Fortune. She felt terribly sorry for me. She told me of the rest of the war and the attack on Teh Kefiq and the surrender of the Jeyawahlen forces.
So, we began to take up jobs together, and would split the money. We were a great team, and always got the job done. Weeks passed, then months, then, eventually, years. I grew I grew from being just a boy into a man. Tircínwen and I took up a job that lead us to High Keep (the details of it aren’t worth mentioning). After we had finished, we had heard of the Magic College needing help with tracking down a thief who stole research of theirs. We went to go see what the reward was, and to my surprise, were greeted by a (somewhat) familiar face there. It was Maerith, the young mage student I met all those years ago who was now a magic practitioner, and was studying to teach there. He was to aid us in finding this thief (who was a rogue magician) if any “complications with magic” came up. We were promised a hefty sum of money for this task, and headed out at our first chance. We were told that this magician was from a town far off, and was likely heading there with the research he had stolen. We travelled for two weeks, reaching the northern province of the Faen-kingdom of Greenmere, and were going to pass through Tircínwen’s hometown of Northwood. One day, we were ambushed by goblins, but they were no challenge. But then, an oddly dressed boy speaking in an unknown tongue approached us from the bushes. Maerith casted a communication spell on him so we could understand him. Once he could speak to us, what he told us changed my perspective on the world as I knew it.