A Life Worth Living?(Wilbur Arron) A Life Worth Living?
By
Wilbur Arron





"I don’t know if he is alive or dead," I heard my Da say.

I was walking down the main dirt road of Annor next to the Luns River. If the town’s name does not sound familiar, it is only about a hundred years old; located about three days travel up the Luns River from Mithland. The Baron of Annor rules here as a vassal of the Duke of Mithland.

I was standing next to Mr. Adar’s Candle shop when I heard the two men speaking and stopped. I was returning home after being away fighting orcs. I had done exceeding well. Not only was I still alive after the battle, but I was rich and secured a promotion. I was coming back not to gloat to my family, but to keep a promise I made to myself when I left over a year ago.

I could not easily be seen from the front of my Da’s tinker shop located next store to the candle shop. I never liked living here with my Da, nor spending time as a tinker. That’s why I left. I heard my Da and old man talking loudly. Mr. Adar was nearly as deaf as a post, and you had to speak loud to get him to understand.

Mister Adar spoke out loud enough to be heard down the street. "Well, the troops have returned from Lake Evendim two days ago. He should have been back by now. You think something happened to him?"

"I don’t know," my Da said. "If he is dead, it serves him right, especially after enlisting in the House Guard for a year and then fighting the orcs in the north. I had to use my second son as my helper, and he was of less use than my oldest boy."

Nice to know I was missed. I didn’t care much. My Da and I never got along well, especially after Mom died. I hate tinkering. I left because the idea of being a tinker all my life made me ill. That is why I took Old Tom’s advice and signed up for a year in the House Guard. I learned many things there that turned out to be of more use to me than spreading molten tin to fix worn-out pots and pans. Besides, having found myself to be fairly good with sword, shield, and bow, I also found I had a good head for tactics and leadership. These skills and the others they taught me opened a new world to me much wider than a rundown shop on a dirt street no one cared about.

"He wasn’t a bad boy," the old man said. "But he never had his mind on his work, and that is for sure."

At this point, I figured it was time to reintroduce myself. I pulled my plume hat down around my face and lifted the felt collar of my black doublet up, and I walked out from behind the candle shop. I was looking the perfect local squire and gentlemen with a long sword, fighting knives, and am orc dagger at my side. I walked down the dusty street, keeping clear of the open sewer in the middle of the dirt road. I walked by both my Da and Mr. Adar who had no clue who I was.

"Good morning, kind sir," Mr. Adar said, turning toward me. "Do you need candles?"

"No, Mr. Adar, I do not, nor do I need my pots repaired," I replied calmly looking at my Da.

Both men looked at me with confusion. They were surprised I knew them. "Do I know you?" my Da asked.

"I sincerely hope so," I said and took off my hat. Both men’s faces dropped like a stone when they saw who it was.

"Tilsen," my father gasped and looked at me again to make sure. "What in the name of Eru are you doing dressed like that?"

"Coming home to visit," I said calmly. "I can only stay a short while. I have to leave again soon; I have business to attend to for the Duke and the Baron in Methelpon."

My Da just shook his head in disbelief. When I left here, I was wearing only the clothes on my back: a simple flax shirt, knee pants, both made of cheap cloth, and sandals with no socks. I was just like most people in the poorer trades section of town. Now I am back looking like a Gentleman Squire. Finally, Mr. Adar spoke up.

"I do not understand, Tilsen," he stammered. "How did you get like that?"

"It is a long story," I told them. "I will tell it to you if you wish."

"You even sound different," my Da added.

"I have learned much since I left here over a year ago. Much has happened to me since then."

"We can go inside my shop," my Da told us.

I followed both men into my former home. At the door were my younger sister Arlene and my young brother Heth. Both looked as surprised as my Da as I walked in.

"Tilsen," Arlene said with a huge smile and just hugged me around the neck. "I was afraid you were dead."

"No orc will kill me," I told her and kissed her on the cheek.

I was happy to see her. She was the reason I came back home. She is a gentle soul, unlike my Da and younger brother who is cut from the same cloth as my father. A brute and bully they both are. I looked her over and saw a large bruise on her left cheek that was mostly healed. Someone had hit her hard a while ago, and I could guess who did it.

We all sat at the small wooden table near the kitchen. Despite the house being a ramshackle at best, it was no different from other houses on this street. It was neat inside and that I knew was due to my sister. My brother and sister sat on one bench, Mr. Adar and my Da on another, and I sat at the head of the table. The first thing I did was reach in and take out a bottle out of the deep pocket in my doublet and put it on the table.

"First, some refreshments," I suggested. "This is wine from the Shire," I told them. "I took it from the wine collection of Orc King since he will not be drinking it." I then turned to sis. "Can you get us five mugs?"

My sister got up, walked into the kitchen, and returned with five wooden mugs. I then poured the wine from the bottle and divided it equally into the mugs.

"Have a sip of this," I told everyone. "It is a lot better than ale."

Everyone drank, and I could see the smiles on all their faces. "This is some of the best stuff I have ever tasted," Mr. Adar said. "I thought the Hobbits only brewed ale?"

"They do grow some good grapes in the east of the Shire," I told them. Then I smiled and started, "Now, where to begin."

"You can start by telling me why you left in the middle of the night," my Da spoke up, sounding agitated.

Remaining calm, I just said. "I left, Da, because: I did not want to be a tinker, I did not want to spend the rest of my life here, and I did not want to end up at the end of my life with nothing like Grand-Da did, and you will do. I wanted something more. A chance came, and I took it, and it turned out well as you can see."

Da blurted out, still yelling at me like I was a kid. "You and your two hoodlum friends Galnic and Snarlan listened to that old fool Tom too much and ran off looking for glory. Your place was here."

"No, it wasn’t," I came right back at him. "My place was doing something I wanted to, not spending a life of drudgery here with you. I did it, and so did my two friends. We enlisted with the House Guard, and they sent us to Stuffenhaus to train. Since the three of us could read and write, and most of the other recruits could not, we were made cadet leaders."

"That was your mother’s doing," my Da spit out. "Read and write; who needs that. You need a steady hand and good eyes and damn little else."

"To be a tinker, yes," I said. "To go someplace in this world, you need to read and write. While we were at Staffenhaus, they also taught those who could read some history, law, battle tactics, and fighting. I found out I was fairly good with a bow and arrow. I am also not bad with a sword and shield."

"And exactly what good does that do you?" my father added.

"It turned out to be good for me because we fought that orc army in the late summer near Lake Evendim. Duke Siegberht and Baron Osgar took the army into the forest. We left the militia and two units of troops in the valley with our baggage train, and the rest of us seemed to march away. Just as the Duke figured, the orcs came down from the hill and attacked us, thinking they could loot the baggage. When they attacked, we came out of the forest and attacked them. It was a hard battle, and we were hard-pressed for a while, but then the Orc King, whose name I cannot pronounce, decided to kill the Duke and Baron personally. He charged right into us. Fortunately, I was nearby, and as the King Orc and his rabble approached, I put an arrow through his left eye socket. He went down in a heap. His other orc leaders stopped, which allowed the men I was with to shoot our bows at them. In a few moments, we killed them all. After that, the orcs lost heart and ran. When the Duke brought in the Cavalry, the slaughter began."

"How many did you kill?" my younger brother asked eagerly.

"Enough," I said after another sip of wine. "Enough so that only maybe one in ten orcs lived to flee and try to escape. Anyway, we chased the orcs off the mountain and into the swamp near the headwaters of the Brandywine River. They ran into it, but I think very few got out. They all left so fast there was hardly any orcs around when we got to their fortress on top of the mountain. What few remained we killed."

I had a drink of wine. "Then what happened?" Mr. Adar prodded me.

"Well, the Duke knew the Orc King had a treasure trove in his palace, but try as we could, we could not find it. We tortured one of the prisoners, and he told us the treasure room was below the fortress in a hidden cave. He knew the entrance to the cave was in the throne room but did not know where in the room it was. We searched the entire room and found nothing. It was then that I remembered something. After I killed the Orc King, I went over to run my sword through him to make sure he was dead. I remember he had a strange ring on his finger, but it was made of base iron. Galnic cut off the figure and took the ring as a souvenir. On my own, I went back to the throne room and looked around, and found nothing. Both Galnic and I kept looking while others broke into the orc wine cellar and proceeded to hand out the wine. The entire army got drunk. While the celebrations were going on, Galnic and I went back to the throne room and looked around. We looked everywhere without success until Galnic suggested looking at the torch holders. We pulled on all the torch holders, and one pulled down, revealing a small hole. I put a torch near the hole and looked inside. It was a disk of metal that had a cutout on it. I took the ring that Galnic took off the dead king and found it perfectly matched the hole. I put it inside and then pushed on the metal disk. Then it gave way with a loud pop. Part of the wall opened. "

I took a sip of the wine and went on. "I looked inside and followed the passage down a flight of stairs until I got to the bottom. There I found chest after chest lying on the floor. I went in and opened one. Inside were hundreds of gold sovereigns from the Human Kingdoms, the Elves, and the Hobbits. I was tempted to come back later to take it all, but there was too much to carry. We both took a handful, then Galnic and I got Snarlin, and we went to find the Duke and Baron.
We found them discussing strategy. Since we killed the Orc King, they were willing to listen to us. I asked for permission to show them something. When we got to their table, we put the gold sovereigns on the table. That got their attention, so we took them and showed them the treasure. When they finally counted the treasure, it came to about twenty thousand sovereigns. The Duke gave Galnic, Snarlin, and me each 1000 sovereigns as a reward and made all three of us squires in a ceremony the next morning for our services. So now I am a squire of the Duke and an officer in his army."

"I do not believe it," my Da said.

I said, "You better."

"We are rich," my Da said.

"No, I am rich," I said. "You are still a brute and a tinker. I am here for one reason only. I have come to take Arlene away from you. No more beatings from you, old man. She is going to be educated and have a decent life. You can stay here and fix pots and pans until you die with my worthless brother."

"The hell you are," my father exclaimed. He stood up quickly and raised his hand to strike me.

I crouched low and shot out of my chair, hitting my Da in the gut with my shoulder, knocking him back into the wall that he hit with a thud and then bounced forward. I took my right fist and hit him square in the face as he did. Besides sword and shield skills, they also taught me how to pummel other people. My Da went down in a heap. My younger brother started to get up. I pulled out two fighting knives and went into a defensive stance. My brother wisely sat back down.

"Sis, get your things; you are coming with me." I then looked at my brother, who was exactly like my Da. I told him, "You and he can just stay here."

It only took a few moments for my sister to grab her few possessions.

"Now come with me," I told her. I led her out into the street and toward the town center. My sister was going to live with me. With my rank as a squire, I have rooms in the lower castle to live in.

"You will live in my servant’s quarters," I told her. "There, you will be safe from Da. If he ever bothers you again, just tell me, and I will take care of it. If you are lucky, maybe one of the other squires will like you enough to give you a good life.

I left my Da on the floor, my brother on the bench, and Mr. Adar still looking at me in shock, unable to take the whole thing in.

I walked with my sister down to a dress shop in the central part of the town. I asked the seamstress if she had anything nice for her. Arlene tried on about ten dresses and found two to her liking. The fit was nice and made her look like a woman of quality instead of a poor daughter of some tinker. It was eight silver pieces to a dress, and since it was twelve silver to a gold piece and five gold to a Sovereign, I gave the woman two gold pieces. She was pleased and gave Arlene some needles and threats if she had to make alterations. I took her to the lower castle, where the five junior knights and ten squires lived. Each squire had two rooms; shared a kitchen and cook with five other squires; and a private slop. The lesser knights had four rooms, a private slop, and their kitchen and cook.

I had already explained why my sister was here to my superior, Sir Grayloft. I’d given him the full story about her treatment at home. He more than understood since he came from a similar background as a tanner’s son who made good as we did. He told me if my Da came nosing around, he would be shown the door.

After I settled my sister in her quarters, I met Galnic and Snarlin near the upper square, where the paved road from uptown stopped and the dirt road of the commercial section began. It was the line that separated the haves from the many have-nots. My two friends had spent the early part of the day also taking care of their own family business.

"How did it go?" Snarlin asked.

I answered, smiling. "It was alright. I got my sister away from my Da. All I had to do was knock him flat on the floor and threaten to cut my younger brother open with my knives. I have her down in my spare room. "

"Nice," Snarlin answered. "Nothing so dramatic for me. I just said hello to my mother and father at their bakery and told them what happened. Both wished me good luck. I left them ten sovereigns to take care of their debts. I think they were happy that at least one of their sons had made good."

Galnic elaborated on his story. "My mother and father were at their weaving shop. I came in, and they damn near had a fit until I explained what happened. Both were glad, but my Da, I think, was disappointed. He wanted me to take over the shop soon so he could retire. Now he has to wait for my younger brother to get older."

"At least your parents didn’t beat you when they got drunk," I said. "I don’t care if I see my Da and brother for the rest of my life. So let’s go find Old Tom and give him the good news. We have to be back soon."

There was one more thing we all agreed we had to do before we left for Methelpon. We all wanted to thank Old Tom for suggesting we join the guard. He put us on the path to where we were, and we wanted to say thank you.

We walked across the square and up to the Old Bar, the name given to it because it was the first tavern to open when they built the town. As we walked in, there was Sark, the burly bartender, and his daughter serving to a smaller early morning crowd. We looked at where Old Tom liked to sit, but the table was empty. We walked up to the bar and removed our hats. Sark looked at our faces and went wide-eyed.

"By the Valar, it’s true what I heard," he gasped. "You have become squires."Welcome back," he said and then shook our hands. "I seldom see any of us from this end of town make out well, but you three did."

"We did alright for ourselves thanks to Old Tom's advice," Galnic said. "We came back looking for Old Tom to thank him for his advice."

Sark’s face dropped. He drooped, took a deep breath, and spoke lowly. "I am sorry, boys, but Old Tom died last winter." He caught a cold, and it eventually killed him. His youngest son buried him outside town in the community graveyard next to his wife. They had the wake here, and all his family came. It was a merry party. Many, many stories about him were told. There was much laughter, food, and drinking. If there is a next life, his family gave him a good sendoff to go there."

"No," I muttered, tears forming in my eyes.

"Damn it," Snarlan said, hitting the bar with his fist.

We stood there for a second before Galnic spoke up. "We can’t do any more here. Let’s go back and get ready. We still have to march three hundred men to Methelpon. We can stop by the graveyard on the march out of town."

"You are right," I said, looking at Sark. "We will come back after we are finished in Methelpon."

"I understand," he said in a low voice. "Good trip."

It was a sad group of squires who returned to the old castle and told the others what happened. Old Tom had not only been known to us, but many of the other knights knew him as well. Two had even been given the same advice as we had. Once I set Arlene up in my spare room, I gave her some money to buy food and other things since I would be away for more than two months. I dressed in my uniform and armor and packed my other things. We went into the courtyard to meet Sir Tahasa. Three hundred men, mainly consisting of this year’s Home Guard recruits from here and other nearby towns, had assembled. I was put in charge of one group, Galnic was placed in charge of the second group, and Snarlin had the third. We were all under the command of Sir Tahasa, a person like us who had come from tradse and made good. We told him we would stop at Old Tom’s grave for a moment and then join him. He did not mind.

The grooms brought out three horses, one for each of us. I am not a great rider. I had only had basic lessons in how to ride a horse, but we were told we had to become proficient in both riding and fighting on horseback. Sir Tahasa thought the four-day journey would give us riding practice. The last thing was that a dozen mule-drawn wagons joined us to provide supplies and more equipment for us and the fort. It was now midway from sunrise to noon, so we started.

We stopped at the graveyard and found Old Tom’s grave in the new section of the yard after a search. The three of us stood there, and each of us buried a gold sovereign under the soil of Tom’s grave so it would not be stolen. We each said our silent thanks to his spirit and hoped that wherever he was, he would hear us and be happy. Since we could do no more, we all left and continued our march.

Our journey to Methelpon was uneventful. It is a new hill fort just constructed, located about a league away from where we destroyed the orc army last summer. It was a wood and earthen stockade about two hundred paces on a side. Inside were eight barracks buildings that held fifty men each. Larger quarters for the fort commander and his three officers were in the center. There was also a large building for meals, a well, storerooms, and a row of open latrines dug along the downward slope of the fort. We'd be here for about two months before the next troop arrived. The first thing we did was unload the wagons into the storehouses. After we settled in, the wagons went back to Mithland. They would be back in about a month. In the meantime, we would patrol the area. For our first assignment as squires, it did not seem too complicated.


# # # #

Duke Siegberht looked over the carnage with Baron Osgar standing next to him. In front of him lay the bodies of over three thousand Orcs. They were made up of the remains of the Orc Army they killed last summer, which had been reinforced by over a thousand orcs that came down from the hills to the far north. The dead orcs pleased him; the dead soldiers of his army did not, and there were far too many of them.

"I doubt if they will be bothering us again for a long while," Baron Osgar said, looking over the green and red blood-stained soil, outside the fort.

"No, the plan worked fine," the Duke said. "It is still a pity we lost everyone in the fort, but we had to make the bait look enticing. The orcs saw their chance for revenge and assaulted the fort. They never saw our cavalry coming up from behind them, nor our infantry coming up the rear side of the hill."

"They certainly saw them after they broke from the cavalry charge," the Baron said smiling. "Of course, it was a little late then. I do not think even one escaped."

"I did not hear of any," the Duke added.

"Shame about the troops inside the fort; they never stood much of a chance," the Baron said, looking at the living troops taking the bodies out of the fort for mass burial.

"No, they did not, so I used both the new levees and the new lower class officers to staff the fort. I figured we might lose all of them, and this way, there was no great loss. We can replace them all with next year’s levees. Our better troops and officers remain alive, and it is much easier to explain the loss of so many men to a bunch of peasant families than to the nobles. The peasants are not nearly so inclined to rise in revolt."

The Baron looked again at the fort, now a broken and burnt ruin. They would have to rebuild it. This time in stone, he thought. Anyway, like the troops inside, they had all done their jobs, if unwittingly. They were also both expendable and easy to replace. "It is still a pity," he muttered out loud.

"Well, come on, the service for the newly dead heroes will start soon. We should attend," the Duke groaned.

"If you insist," the Baron said.

THE END

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