Another commotion in the camp. Aero has gotten used to these outbursts since the group picked up Roasa a few days ago.
“Tie him to the tree, I’ll take one shot!” She screams.
Stephen, Rich, Will, and Rosa had travelled into a nearby town to collect supplies, but upon returning Roasa is hot, again.
Aero, David, and Matthew meet the returning group outside the tents to find Stephan’s squire Rich with his hands bound behind his back and Roasa in his face.
“What’s going on?” Aero asks
“We have a traitor in our group.” Will responds.
Aero and David look at Ser Stephan to get greater detail.
“While we were getting supplies, Rich slipped off. None of us noticed except Roasa who followed him. He slipped inside a barn on the edge of town. She came and got me, and we found Rich inside talking with some false knights. He was relaying our true travel plans to them.” Stephan responds.
The three men are shocked at the revelation.
“So, he has been doing this the entire trip?” Matthew asks.
“Yes. It seems Marco offered him a large sum of gold and a knighthood for spying on us.” Replies Ser Stephan.
“Ser Richard, is that it? You wanted the honor of your full name?” Matthew asks Rich.
“No, it’s not the name. Rich isn’t his real name; he took it so he could better fit in at the Capital.” Stephan says.
“You take a Riverbend name to improve your image? That just shows how sad you really are.” Will quips
“He’s your squire, what do you want to do with him?” Aero asks Stephan
“I’m going to kill him!” Roasa exclaims “He’s with the false knights, he helped kill my husband!”
The group looks around to each other. This is betrayal, but none of the men had even considered killing him, but Roasa has justified her position. Rich was a false knight and the group had vowed to take down every false knight they came across.
“He’s mine!” Roasa says as she stares Stephan in his eyes. Her gaze is as sharp as his sword.
Matthew makes a move to the wagon, pulls out a shovel and begins digging.
Rich begins begging. “No! Please, I’m not with them! Marco is just paying me to report back to him… I didn’t mean to…”
“Get caught.” David speaks up “Get this over with, we have to make new plans.”
“PLEASE…” Rich screams but is cut off by Will gagging him from behind.
“We can’t kill him; he is my sworn squire.” Stephan says trying to work through all the thoughts running through his mind. He lowers his head in shame.
Roasa turns to Aero “You’re the leader of this group. Prince, what is your decision?”
Aero looks at Roasa then Stephan, then Rich. This is a decision he doesn’t want to make. His older brother and heir to the throne says kill him, his mentor says not to and now all eyes are on him; except Matthew’s; he is still busy digging.
“Roasa, when we take a squire, we make a vow to protect them. It is sacred and not easily broken.” Aero tells her.
To his surprise, she doesn’t explode in anger as she has so many times over the past few days.
“Answer one question for me before you make your final decision, okay?” She asks, Aero agrees “If Rich hadn’t reported back to the knights, would my husband still be alive?”
Aero immediately looks to Rich whose eyes enlarged revealing shock and guilt; his eyes return to Roasa’s. Tears flowing down her eyes, not anger but pain. Aero knows the answer, it’s not one he can bring him to say it.
He slowly draws his sword. As he takes a step toward Rich but Roasa steps in front of him and places her hand on his shoulder. “Please, I need to do this.”
Aero hesitates for a moment. He looks to Stephan who just nods and turns away. His gaze meets Roasa’s again. Still unable to find the words, he silently offers her his sword. She takes Aero’s sword; she struggles with the weight but is determined to get her justice. Matthew climbs out of the hole, walks over to Rich and pulls him back to the hole. As Roasa and Aero approach, Matthew forces him to his knees on the edge of his grave.
“Any final words?” Matthew asks
Rich just shakes his head no.
“I wasn’t asking you; I was asking her.” Matthew tells Rich.
“You killed my husband as much as the horn guy, you ruined my life…” Roasa says as she slowly impales Rich in the chest.
She lets go of the hilt and Rich slumps over sword still in his chest. Roasa turns to David who embraces her as they both weep. David takes her to his tent for privacy to mourn.
Matthew removes Aero’s sword and hands it back to him. Stephan and Matthew place the body in the hole and Will begins covering the hole back in.
“The knights that Rich met up with did not see us, we grabbed him after we left the town.” Stephan says.
“Matt, can you go through Rich’s possession and see if you can find anything?”
Matt nods and makes his way to Rich’s tent.
“So the knights don’t know we found their mole… We should use this to our advantage… don’t mark the grave… with any luck no one will see it for a while.” Aero says as he processes the events. Stephan and Matthew agree. “We are five days of hard riding from Bellum, we should continue on course. Once we get there maybe we can use our connection to our advantage and go through their land instead of around it.”
“We really don’t have much choice at this point, we don’t have enough supplies to cross the Barren Plains. Stephan agrees.
“We will give Roasa some time, then we will head out.” Aero states.
“I think we all need some time.” Stephan responds.
Relics of the Old Age 