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Arthas looked at Claudius, his hunting
companion, they had been friends since they were first enlisted in knighthood
as knight errants, when they were seventeen, but that was eight years ago, now
they had just hunted down an impressive elk.
-Well, that was fun, but I have to travel
to Quenelles for a couple of days, my father asked me to take care of the new
shipment to Carcassone.
While saying those words Arthas mind went back to thinking about his
father, he had left four days ago with many of the men in their land to fight
against another army trying to invade Bretonnia from the south, yet the absence
of a messenger with the news of his father's victory made him doubt that this
fight would be like all the others, yet Claudius had reassured him that they
were simply busy celebrating yet another victory.
Claudius looked back at him from atop his
horse, they were in the border of a small forest in the south of Quenelles, one
to two days ride from his father's keep, grabbing the carcase of the elk and
properly arranging it in the back of his horse he said:
-Don't worry Arthas, ill take this hunt
prize back to your father's keep and ill keep it there till you come back. In
the meantime, what should I tell Elvina?
The mention of his love's name brought her image to his mind together
with fond memories, her sweet brown hair and her smooth red lips were suddenly
in his mind, he was lucky, he knew, to have such a beautiful young and loving
lady as his wife.
-Tell her I'll be home in three days at
most, this business in Quenelles shouldn't take long.
Arthas said, and then he jumped atop his
horse, eager to go to Quenelles so as to come back to his home in the
Asturiens, his father, Lord Uther Di Asturien's keep, it wasn't really his
keep, Arthas had been told, it had been built ages ago when the Asturiens had
returned from the Border princes and had built this keep. He remembered the
whole story of the Asturiens, which began with the ending of Glanborielle, in
that time, the Asturiens were know as the Hastur, and were the second most
powerful lineage in Glanborielle, and had many marriages with the Glanborielle
family. When the land fell, and the lineage of the Glanborielle ended, the
remaining Hastur fled south trough the mountains, and trough perilous dangers,
of the total of fifty knights of the Hastur, only survived one Knight, Amadis
Di Hastur, his wife, Rosaline, his sister, Lorrine, and two young boys, one,
son of Amadis and Rosaline, the other, son of Lorrine, and so, the two boys
grew in the border princes, in a fertile and peaceful land where Amadis grew in strength, for while the years passed,
he gained more farmers into his land and allegiance, and thus, more land was
added, soon, the small parcel of land was big enough to own a garrison of
troops to defend the land, and so, the two boys grew, lived, fought, were
successful, and married to beautiful ladies, and thus, their lineage went on,
until the day when Tilea was invaded by the lands far to the south, and chaos erupted
in many of the lands nearby, while farmers abandoned their homes and fled, only
to later join in raiding parties, for they had no place to produce crops and
live as they had before, because of that, the lands of the Border princes were
plunged into the fires of war, raids and shacks devastated the country land,
and the land where the remaining Hastur had settled, was invaded by huge armies
of raiding farmers and mercenaries, he was said that if it had not been the
second crusading army from Bretonnia, leaded by Baron Tybalt, passing trough,
then their land and their lineage would be no more.
After the raiding parties were crushed, the Hastur decided to return to
their former land, and so they returned to Bretonnia and established themselves
where Glanborielle once was, between Carcassone and Loren, and there, they
renamed themselves, from Hastur, to Asturien.
Now days, there were only four, living and pure descendants from the
Hastur lived, he, Arthas Di Asturien, a paladin, his father, Uther Di Asturien,
lord of their land of the Asturien, his uncle, Marcus Di Asturien, a lord of a
land near to the Asturien land, he was brother to Uther, and finally, the last
descendant, Marcus son, Leonnardus Di Asturien, who was Arthas cousin and was a
Battle Standard Bearer, elevated to his post by the king himself.
Arthas woke up to reality with Claudius poking his arm with his finger,
and Claudius said:
-You started dreaming awake again!
-Uuups, sorry, I really can't help myself,
anyway, got to get going now.
Arthas answered, they said their farewells
to each other and started their way, Claudius to the south west, and Arthas to
the north.
Arthas still had to go trough a small part of the woods, but he didn't
mind, he kind of liked it, largely due to the fact that while a child he had an
old yeoman as a bodyguard, this yeoman, called Arturo, was once a wood guide,
and taught Arthas everything he knew about surviving in the forest, following
tracks, walking around without being seen or making a noise, all the essential
things for a wood guide, Arthas father did not like this, at all, because for
the Bretonnian code of chivalry, fighting in stealthy ways were dishonourable, yet Uther respected
Arturo as a veteran soldier, and so, he allowed it, also because he believed
that learning how to live in the woods might help Arthas someday, and so,
Arturo continued teaching Arthas many things about the forests, and those
lessons almost always became the high point of his day, until he was twelve,
when he was declared too old already to have a "nanny" and so, the time he
spent before with Arturo in the woods was replaced by lessons of swordsmanship
and tactics.
Arthas trotted along the road in the woods, hearing the wonderful sounds
of nature and chanting to himself the small tune Arturo has also tough him:
"When you are alone, in the road,
and it goes on, and on and on,
then go ahead and sing along,
a cheerful little song;
a cheerful little song like this,
it can be yours or even his,
if the song remains at least,
partially as it is!!!"
Arthas laughed to himself, surprised to
remember the small tune and also happy at the memories of it being called the
worst song ever heard in the black brew inn back at the village in Asturien, it
was a bad song, Arthas knew, but somehow, he would never forget it, and was
always a good tune to keep the morale up.
Arthas fastened the pace, eager to get to Quenelles as fast as he could,
so to return home quickly, to hold his beloved Elvina in his arms.
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