Edan road out with a retinue of his men, his mate Gwenmaris riding right alongside him as a small group of his personal soldiers set out across the country. He had been asked to put down a growing rebellion for Father that had started raiding crop stores and had taken two farms already. He would see to their reckoning.
He road a fine steed, black fur and saddle with a few red and orange adornments, including the symbol of his lady dangling by the reigns. A small pair of burning wax plates made out of bronze and burning with a dull orange flame. It held no harm to the horse, even soothing it in the cooler nights of their ride as travelled.
Long plains of crop fields and thick forests brimming with emerald lined trees rushed by. Hoofsteps on gravel or dirt roads rang as they traveled through smaller villages of wood and labor, asking for my tips to this roving band of rebels. Many eagerly spoke when they saw Edan, and he always made sure to give them a letter of thanks to be cashed for a decent sum at their nearest magistrate, right from his own coffers. He barely touched his own earnings beyond keeping his arms, room, or loved ones happy.
He traveled in the less showy armor that was also less taxing on the horse, as his retinue followed suit. Black leather trousers with padded chainmail under, navy blue hauberks over padded scalemail, and scorched metal helms that covered all but their eyes like a shroud, but Edan often kept his off. He kept the brass knot as always, and favored a red bandana over it that kept the sweat from his eyes. Gwenmaris wore a similar green one.
"Is been three days!" Gwenmaris exclaimed as he plopped onto a small stump. It was twilight now, and they had made it near the village of Hadeton, renamed apparently in the last couple months for the king. They were still about half a days ride from there, so they had begun to set up a simple camp near the edge of an old forest that smelled of secrets.
"Sure has been mate, 'n could be another three more at this pace." He chuckled, patting his shoulder as the stoutly man fanned himself, sweaty from the helm and ride.
"We got good leads. 'Ats what mattas boss." One of the other men commented as he dropped down some logs.
"Mah back could sure use one a them leads." The smaller man cracked his back with a chuckle. "Near crooked from all that ridin'. Get it back on tha straight 'n narrow!" He laughed a bit at the idea.
"Here here." Edan laughed as he began skinning the night's meal of rabbit and potato stew. A simple hearty meal as he glanced into the forest, a little entranced by it. The leaves fell slow whenever the wind blew by, and when he gazed further, the trees almost formed clear paths to nowhere he could see. It was a haunting loom, but not one that frightened him.
"Who's got first watch?" A woman grunted on her have dried ton under her helm.
Edan nodded to her. "I'll take first."
...
The fire crackled with a pleasant energy between them in the camp as his men slumbered away. Three of the men leaned against a log, half slumped between them and snoring. The two women were cuddled in a blanket against a boulder by the fire. Gwenmaris was just snoring away, lounged against the Prince's boot as the man chuckled and let him rest.
His eyes drifted back to the darkness in the forest, which had become abyssal. It stretched on long a cove entrance into another world, and it loomed twice as much with a vivid power. Edan stood, glancing across the open field behind him and dropping his helmet by Gwenmaris. It would wake him in five, if his started mumbles were any indication. In time for his watch, and Edan's helmet would be enough sign to him the prince was just exploring.
He fixed his sword as he started down the path. The soil soon became barren and dry mere feet into the trees. He sparked his hand, flicking his wrist as the roar of a forming ember briefly puffed before settling just behind his shoulder as an illuminant. It painted orange on black and dark brown trees that grew thicker and denser, with masses of bulging weight like boils becoming more present the deeper he went. He had long stopped hearing any signs of lofe, and a chilling breeze tickled his back.
"What is this place...?" He could not recall anything of significance as he walked in further, his eyes catching a brief motion in the dark. "Who goes there?" He drew his blade as the longsword sparked the air lightly. He ran his scar across the blade as he watched the growing number of red eyes in the darkness begin to get closer, the metal snapping across its etched pattern of licking cinders turning into a glowing hum of bright yellow. The edge humming so intensely, it sizzled the air as he gripped the blade firmly.
"Let's dance." The first pair of lurching men were swift, each garbed heavily in scavenged leathers and bandana masks. They held crude weapons that almost seemed rusted and beyond use, yet one slashed with a dagger that tore a tree nearly in two, and the spellsword was confident his flesh and armor wpuld have faired no better without the sidestep. He swung up, cleaving with a roar of fire as his blade tore through the first man, leather, bone, and flesh alike as his body was flung in two directions, each rapidly seared to ashes.
The second was similarly dressed, but burly and wielding a massive battle axe. It chipped along the head with rust, and Edan could swear something smelled strangely rotten. "What are you...?" He murmured, stepping back slowly as more men began to fill out the tree line. "Seems ya got mates. Shame mine aren' bere ta see this." The largest one swung at his midsection, but Edan leaped and land with his boots on the blade, kicking off into a palm grab that set the man ibto burning ashes as the prince landed with his blade piercing the earth. "So who's next?"
The melee was rapid. Rusted, broken, yet startlingly sharp blades tore through earth and bark, yet none found their mark. The prince danced slightly, blade focused on slashes and speed over force. A graceful stule that painted images of flames between strikes that gave one the image of arching branches ablaze. They fought with an almost defiant fury, yet none held any kind of direction beyond violent intent. Edan knew these could not be their rebels, but just who were they?
He dipped below a swing from a mace, sweating slightly now as the last three still had a lot of fight left. He swept put the attacker's legs, catching the swing of a bastard sword from his left as he flashed the third with a brief snap of light. He struggled in the bind for a moment before his blade melted through the other's, taking his head soon for a prize as the prince rose with a twirl, tearing through the rising maxe wielder and putting his torso and legs in separate ashpiles.
The last swung wildly, blinded heavily as the prince dispelled his flame and pinned the man with the flat of his blade to a tree. The man snarled with a feralness nlt unlike an animal, but surely they were not all rabbid. He slashed cleanly, letting his drop to the ground in two soft thumps as he wiped down the edge. His eyes drifted along the remaining unburned corpse. He started inspecting it, kneeling and checking through it for signs of some cult marker or strange magicks. He found it. An odd mark like a scythe on the back of his neck where the flesh was entirely dead.
"Living... corpses...?" He quirked a brow in confusion, looking over the man's hands. He was long dead, his skin dry and fingernails ragged with flesh statting to fall fron the torso and jawline. "Explains the heavy clothes." He looked further into the darknesa, sheathing his blade as he considered his options, smiling softly at the thought of purging seeded evil.
"No place to go but onward."