Taken By The Wind, Chapter 3

Jehu winced as David cleaned the wound caused by a stone thrown by the local children. A guard had shooed them away but Jehu took a stone to the head and was bleeding. The next day Jehu slogged through the great ebony forest which ran along the border for three hundred leagues. After that, what? Nobody knew where they were going or if they would survive the journey. Jehu remembered some of the history of Talmesh. Talmesh used to be part of orange land, but soon broke off under Yamdra the valiant who single handedly defended the Velquins bridge from 100 invaders and yet still survived. He founded the order of the Yamdors, the nobility and warrior class that held Talmesh together. They were highly trained and well-armed and bound by a strict code of honor. The Yamdors also had a retinue of warriors called Madrons, who were slaves trained to fight. After five years of service the slaves could swear fealty to the order of the Yamdors and become a Yamdor. Talmesh also requires two years of military service from each of its male citizens. The Yamdors are the only practitioners of a martial art called coldora. Coldora requires that users never be unarmed, thus the Yamdors always have a weapon with them and it is considered a great offense to steal a Yamdor’s weapon. Their weapon of choice is usually an Ebony staff.

            While Jehu was pondering the Yamdor order the group came to a quick stop. Jehu walked right into the person in front of him. He lost his balance and fell over a precipitous slope that was blanketed by sharp rocks. He heard a scream and saw two guards dive after him. He crashed into the ground beneath with a thud. Jehu only smashed his arm into the rocks but was alive. The other two were not so lucky. Jehu grabbed one of their knives and began to cut away his bonds. Another guard ran down the slope and at Jehu. Jehu prepared for the attack with his uninjured arm, the dagger clasped firmly. He stabbed, the guard crumpled to the ground. Jehu was still, he had never before taken a man’s life. The Man’s eyes were still open, a blank look of shock stood across his face. Jehu wondered who the man was, who his family was and where he was from. He ran, the preceding events in Jehu’s mind took ages, but to the prisoners it took 20 seconds. The rest of the guards were still climbing down the slope. Jehu saw a black and blue bird soaring towards him. It was a talmeshese blosa falcon, a large and fierce bird which could be used to hunt the largest of foxes. They could also be trained to follow a man or animal till it was dead or caught. Rolling into a deep pond he suddenly remembered something from brown land. He swam and found what he was looking for. A beaver dam still stood, abandoned for year. It was now Jehu’s shelter. Even the Falcon with its confident arc stopped and halted like it could not find its target. The guards fanned out in search of him. After many hours Jehu emerged from the dam. He started walking back to orange land when he heard voices behind him. He saw two girls walking along. The girls looked well dressed, they wore a burnt orange scarves which were a sign of the Yamdors order. Jehu then saw a large log get loosed by the beaver he stayed with. The log began to roll down the hill straight for the girls, Jehu ran to stop it before they were hurt. He dove and jammed his injured hand under the log, stopping it. The girls didn’t notice and kept walking. His wrist pulsed with an intense pain. He saw a hooded figure out of the corner of his eye then blacked out.