Ballad of The Bard

The trees shifted softly, their shadows danced along the soft dirt road. Gallius watched the squirrels as they danced along the tree branches. The bard hummed a tune to himself and continued on his way. Gallius’s head was filled with many troubles and thoughts, even on such a sunny day. He was on the pursuit of a job once again. The people of Wolden were not fans of his ballads and poems. They practically drove him out of the town with sticks. So where to go? The Bard thought to himself. Rainholm perhaps, surely someone there would like his services. Or perhaps based on his current luck with big towns, a smaller village. Somewhere in the countryside, in the fresh open air. Fresh air would be good for his throat, which means better singing, and more coin.
Gallius’s thoughts were rudely interrupted by a ruckus behind him. Gallius turned his head and in a quick jolt threw himself to the side! The cart behind him ran ahead, wild and out of control. The horses were wriggling and fraying about. The cart jostled up and down, and up and down. The people inside were screaming! “Aahhhh!” “Aieeeee!” “God save us!” the women in the cart squealed.
Gallius stepped back in utter shock of the situation but brought himself back. He dusted himself off and walked round to the front of the cart. The horses were spitting and spinning out of control. The Bard only smiled and began to whistle. The horses looked at Gallius sharply and listened to his tune. Gallius kept whistling softly and slowly approached the frightened mares. The horses began to settle down, shifting their strong backs back into place. Gallius stuck his hand out and began petting the horses, still whistling his tune. He stroked the fine silver fur of the mares, soothing them and bringing the cart to a stop. “That was amazing!” a man shouted running down the road. He stopped to catch his breath once he reached Gallius. “Forgive me, this er is my cart. Afraid the horses saw something in the trees that spooked em. They bucked me off and went wild.”
“It’s no problem.” Gallius beamed
“That’s quite the talent you got there. You a horse trainer?”
“No, just a animal lover”
“How did ya calm em down?”
“Everyone loves music.” Gallius said somewhat puffing out his chest.
“Let me give ye a ride to wherever you are going. It’s the least I can do.”
“I don’t quite know where I am going.”
“In that case, come with us. We are headed to Xares.”
“Very well then friend, Let us go.”
Gallius scrambled to get up onto the cart, it was too tall for his tastes. He sat down next to the cart driver and huffed. The cart driver pulled back the curtain to check on the women in the cart. “Love, are you alright?”
“Yes dear we are just fine.”
“And little June?”
“Scared but fine. Hurry up, I don’t want something like that to happen again!”
The woman slammed her back into the side of the cart and slumped down, holding a little girl. The cart driver put the curtain back and pulled on the reins, heading down the dirt road once more.
The air had gotten quite hot now. Its heat was the smothering kind, the kind that you can never seem to get comfortable in. To distract himself Gallius began asking questions he didn’t really care to have answered. “Forgive me but I never caught your name.” Gallius said tugging on his shirt.
“Name is Tommin. Back there is my wife Melony and my lil girl June.”
“What takes you to Xares?”
“Nowhere else to go.” Tommin said, looking away to the thicket of trees. A week back our home got over run by those rat things. Horrible things they are. They picked up our own pitch forks and knives and began killing us with em.”
“Hush!” Melony hissed from the cart.
The group grew silent. Gallius focused on the sounds of the wheels creaking to distract himself. Finally after what seemed like forever Gallius broke the silence. “It sounds like you need a Black Dagger.”
“Aye, we did. Not much one could do for us now. Good for nothing hunters don’t show up till it's too late.”
“How do you know where Xares is?” Gallius asked, tilting his head back and resting it in his hands.
“Easy, you just follow the Small River. Leads right to and past it. We will be coming up on the river soon here.
The bard sighed and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the awful heat. In his head he dreamed of fresh snowfall and ice cold wine, an Elven wine to be sure. Perhaps one from the Thalands. He listened to the birds brush about the green trees and to the horse’s hooves clapping down on the road. The Bard had dreamed himself right off to sleep. The summer air brushed by and through the cart. The pine trees swishing back and forth rocked Gallius into a deeper sleep.


Tommin brushed the sweat from his brow and huffed like one of his horses. In the shaded cart Melony worked softly knitting something together, swirling blues, reds and purples into a beautiful array. Fallen pine needles crunched under the cart's weight, this seemed to please June. she watched gleefully, hanging her head out from the back of the cart, and giggled each time a needle crunched. “Get in child.” Melony said softly.
June crawled back into the shaded cart and curled up with her mother. Melony put down her pattern and held her little girl tight. “We will be there soon baby, a few more days now.”
“Mommy tell me a story, I’m bored.” Little June squeaked.
“What story do you want to hear?” Melony asked, combing back June’s long golden hair.
“Heroes! Tell me about heroes!”
“Mmmm,” the mother hummed. “Very well. To the south is a little village, just like ours. This village, Greenhaven, sits on a lush field, surrounded by the most vibrant of green trees. When the winds blow in Greenhaven the long grass dances so lovely, like nobles at a ball. Now, the little town used to never exist. It was built by a mighty monster hunter and his wife some time ago. That monster hunter had a little boy with thick black hair and eyes like emeralds. When the baby boy was born the Elves sought him out. They wanted the boy to go far away and train like an elf. So they took the boy to the Golden Lands and named him Filavandrel. Filavandrel trained with a group of Elves that rode dragons, big dragons, they soared through the skys, defying gravity and skipping along the clouds. The Dragon Riders made Filavandrel a great warrior and a Dragon Rider himself.
“What did his dragon look like momma?”
“Filavandrel’s dragon wasn’t like the others. It did not soar through the air, in fact, it did not have wings at all. It was a long, large blue serpent with four legs and claws sharp as knives perfect for cutting up naughty children.” She said tickling June. Then she continued, “ It dived deep below the ocean, its deep blue scales blended with the water as if they were one in the same.”
“Momma I wanted to hear about heroes.”
“Oh but Filavandrel is a hero. When the demons from the east came out from under the sands they infected The Vale. A plague, they drove us out of our homes and into hiding. We were broken and had nothing, until one day, Filavandrel rode in, atop his dragon with bright yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth. Filavandrel took up a lance made of shining silver and rode at the demons. He washed the evil out of The Vale and brought us back to our homes."
“Tell me about another hero momma!” June said, fidgeting out from her mother’s grasp.
“No don’t,” Gallius said from the otherside of the cart, now awake, “I want to hear more” ****************************************************************************************************************************************** The horses neighed abruptly and the cart came to a stop. “Sun is going down,” Tommin exclaimed. “Time to set up camp.” Gallius grabbed his leather pack and set it down in front of the river. As he pulled a fur canvas over a leaning branch he sighed, watching the river. Oh how I wish I was a river he thought to himself. Just flowing about day after day. Peacefully going by, and watching the world pass before you. The Bard finished tying down his tent and walked back to the cart to help others.
The fire started to settle down and Tommin pulled his meat skewer back and began to chop down on it. Gallius on the other hand was in no hurry to eat cooked rat, but he couldn’t be rude, so he reluctantly began chewing the rat. It was stringy and tasted like charcoal and dirt. “We should..mmmm..reach the bridge by next sundown.” Tommin said, still chewing. “We cross it and if we hustle we can reach Xares in a week.”
“That’s wishful thinking dear.” Melony said, taking a drink of water. “Two weeks more like, and we probably won’t reach the bridge tomorrow.”
Tommin rolled his eyes.
“No worries,” Gallius said, trying not to choke. “I am in no rush.”
“Aye that's good, but not the problem. Monsters, we need to avoid em, so we need to rush to the city quick as can be.”
“I’ll feel safer once we are behind walls.” Melony said, pulling June back into the group.
Gallius looked up at the waxing moon “You should feel three times as safe in Xares then.”