The First Paladin (The New Earth Chronicles Book 1)

by J. J. Thompson

  She scanned the map. She dismissed the large central stretch of flat land in England. She had walked that area from one end to the other and there was no high, pointed hill like the one she had seen in her vision. In fact, such a landmark hadn't been noted by anyone in their travels. Was it even in Britain? Maybe it was somewhere across the channel in Europe. If that was so, then she was in trouble. Finding a boat that was seaworthy enough to get her there would be a challenge. The small skiff that Harold and his people had used had sunk just as they had approached the English coast, so that was out.

  No, she thought with a scowl. Surely whichever god had sent her the vision wouldn't have bothered if she was unable to get to that location. It had to be in Britain somewhere. But where?

  Her eyes kept being drawn to a grassy plain just to the north of the English/Scottish border on the map. Liliana had crossed it once, but hadn't scouted it out thoroughly. Lei had been the last one to patrol that area, but it had been on that journey that he had died in the battle with the cave bear.

  She sat up with a start. Maybe that was it! Lei hadn't been able to report back on the findings of his last patrol. Which meant that it was possible that the Scottish plain was what she had seen in her vision. It was a long shot, but it felt right somehow.

  “Well then, Scotland it is,” she said to herself with a sense of satisfaction. “Even though it's going to be a damned long walk.”

  The next morning, Liliana loaded up her pack with the usual essentials, as well as extra rations and bandages. She also brought some fine wire that she'd scavenged from a destroyed hardware store a few years back. She had found a thick roll of the stainless steel wire and learned how to fashion it into snares to catch rabbits while out on her patrols. Between dried fruit and preserved beef that she made herself, fresh game that she caught, as well as wild berries and leeks that she could dig up, the paladin rarely went hungry while on the road, at least not in the summer.

  Grom met her as she left her cottage. Liliana had cleaned her armor several days earlier, both inside and out, and had greased the hinges on the arms and legs, so that now she could move as smoothly and quietly as someone who was just wearing regular clothing.

  The wolf stared at her as she appeared and she stopped and grinned at him.

  “Do I meet with your approval, sir?” she asked him.

  Grom yipped several times and then followed the paladin as she walked around the cottage toward the back gate. She glanced at the garden and hoped that it would be okay while she was gone.

  “Giving me a farewell escort?” Liliana asked Grom lightly.

  The wolf simply walked through the gate and waited until she closed it and pulled the rope firmly through the hidden opening to lock the gate behind her.

  “Surely you aren't coming along?”

  Grom had never joined Liliana on one of her excursions. He preferred to stay around the cottage, an area that he considered his territory. The paladin approved of this because the wolf would defend his turf, which was also her home, while she was away. If he had actually decided to go with her, it would be for the first time.

  The pair walked around the perimeter of the wall, and stopped. Liliana settled her shield more comfortably across her back, adjusted her sword and pack and gave her home a final look.

  “Be back soon,” she whispered as she stared at the front gate. “I hope.”

  The journey north started off as almost a carbon copy of Liliana's hike home from Nottinghill, except in reverse. The weather was fairly decent and she and Grom made good time. At one point that day they stopped and waited for a herd of immense creatures to cross in front of them. The animals that were slowly making their way through the forest had appeared seemingly at random on Earth soon after the return of magic to the world.

  People had begun calling them bronties, a name taken from the dinosaur once called the brontosaurus, because that was what they looked like. Thirty to forty feet in length and half of that in height, the bronts had long necks and tails and tiny heads with rather overly large eyes. They were comical looking and fairly harmless if left alone, and the paladin and wolf waited while the group of six individuals passed by. The herbivores were placid enough if left undisturbed and even Grom was wise enough to leave them in peace.

  “It's a strange world now, isn't it?” Liliana commented as the last bronty moved past.

  Grom had watched the large creatures pass with seeming indifference and now moved forward soundlessly. The paladin watched him go and smiled.

  One of the strange things was the dire wolf himself, she thought as she followed along. And the fact that he had befriended a human.

  The sun was setting as the pair climbed a low hill and saw Nottinghill glowing in the red light of the dying day. It would be pleasant to stop in and see her friends, but Liliana wasn't going to do that. They would ask questions which she would feel compelled to answer, simply because she did not lie. And how could she explain to others who were not paladins about chasing a vision?

  They might think I've gone mad, she thought wryly as she stared at the castle. And they might be right. We'll see.

  Liliana walked down the hill until she found a large tree. She sat down with a rattle of armor and rested her back against the tree trunk. After years of practice, she'd learned that she could sleep in her armor if necessary, as long as she kept her head elevated. It wasn't comfortable, but it worked well enough.

  Grom watched as the paladin opened her pack and pulled out some dried meat wrapped in linen. She offered him a piece but the wolf ignored it and walked off, fading into the deepening shadows.

  Gone to catch his own dinner, Liliana thought as she chewed the stringy meat. Well, let's hope he's successful.

  The night became thick with shadows and she pulled a cloak out of her pack that she normally used as a rain coat. She draped it over her body, leaned her head back against the rough tree trunk and closed her eyes.

  The journey had started out well, but she was experienced enough to know that it probably wouldn't last. Might as well enjoy it for the moment.

  The next morning, Liliana awoke at dawn and felt a warmth along her right leg. In the light of the rising sun, she saw the heavy body of Grom stretched out beside her, his head on his paws. As she stirred, he sat up and turned to look at her.

  “Good morning,” she said thickly as she pushed herself slowly to her feet. “Sleep well?”

  The wolf made a deep sound in his throat and stood up.

  “I'll take that as a yes.”

  She groaned as a dull throbbing pain began to pulse along her back.

  “I wish that I could say the same. Ah well, better a sore back than traveling without armor, I suppose.”

  She folded her cloak and slipped it into her pack. Then she walked in a slow circle to work out the kinks while she sipped water from her flask and ate some dried apple slices. After that she left Grom to watch her pack while she walked off to answer the call of nature. Slipping into and out of her lower body armor was a trick that came easily to her now and the task only took a few minutes.

  Back at the tree, Liliana picked up her shield and slipped it across her shoulders. She settled her sword on her hip, shouldered her pack and looked at Grom.

  “Ready?”

  He yipped once and they set off together, skirting the area around Nottinghill before heading north again toward the unknown.

  It took three more days to reach what was once the border between England and Scotland. The country here was broken up by a series of rolling hills and narrow rivers and travel was slow. It didn't help the paladin's progress when it began raining steadily on the second morning of her journey. The game trails in the forest were narrow and the grass in the occasional clearing was slippery, especially for someone wearing armored boots. It was a depressing and exhausting slog.

  At one point, Liliana looked across the foaming waters of a shallow stream and sighed loudly.

  “Remind me again why we're here?” she said
to Grom, who was watching the water with what looked like irritation.

  His fur was heavy with moisture and he was constantly stopping to shake off the water, usually dousing the paladin at the same time. Considering how wet she was anyway, it made little difference.

  Her cloak was as soaked as the wolf's fur and she had to wring it out every hour or so, just to get rid of the excess water weight. The journey had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

  “Well, it looks like the ground starts to rise just past this stream,” she said as she looked at the country to the north. “Maybe this will be the last one we'll have to cross for a while.”

  Grom growled and suddenly leaped forward, crossing the wide stream in three tremendous hops. Then he stood on the opposite bank and looked back at her.

  “You're laughing at me, aren't you?” Liliana called to him.

  The wolf was panting, his teeth showing in what did look like a lupine grin.

  “Fine. Sooner started, sooner finished,” she said resolutely and stepped into the swift current.

  The country fortunately did begin rising as the pair left the stream behind. And the rain thinned out and stopped as well. It was an immense relief to Liliana and, a few hours later she found a sheltered copse of trees and gathered some semi-dry branches to build a fire and dry out her things.

  She took off her armor for the first time in days and bathed in a small pool of water left over by the torrential rains. She changed into clean undergarments with some relief and then washed out what little laundry she had, using a bar of lye soap. It did a good job of cleaning, but had a strong chemical smell that she didn't care for.

  Whoever makes this soap at Nottinghill should add some sort of pleasant scent, she thought as she wrinkled her nose at the smell. Crushed flower petals or something. It smells revolting.

  Unfortunately, after ten years of scavenging, bars of soap from the old days had become scarce and so the people had begun to make their own.

  She hung her clothes on branches to dry in the welcome sunlight, as well as her cloak. She used a small towel to dry out her armor and sword and then set them out in the sun as well.

  After that, she found a dry spot on the ground near her fire and relaxed as she ate a quick meal.

  Grom had wandered off while she was working and returned licking his lips.

  “I hope whatever it was, was delicious,” Liliana told him as he lay down with a heavy sigh next to the fire.

  His fur began to steam in the heat and he looked content for the first time in days.

  “Now the question is, how far are we from the grasslands?” she wondered. “And just how big are they? Do we have to search from one end to the other?”

  Grom closed his eyes and began breathing deeply. The paladin looked at him affectionately.

  “You're no help at all,” she muttered. “Point taken though. Only worry about things that you can do something about. The rest will take care of itself.”

  Chapter 4

  Liliana decided to spend the night at her camp, to allow her clothes and armor to dry out, and to rest up before reaching the Scottish plains. Grom was generous that day when he headed out for a second hunt and he brought her back a whole rabbit. The fresh meat was welcome.

  By the time the paladin was ready to sleep, her cloak was dry and she wrapped herself up in it and lay down next to the fire. For a change, she decided to sleep without wearing her armor and it was a relief to be able to lie on the ground and stare up at the stars.

  The armor glittered in the flickering flames of her campfire and she looked over at the silvery suit as she began drifting off to sleep. She felt a little vulnerable without its familiar protection, but Grom was nearby and she kept her sword by her side just in case.

  “Well now, what do we have here?”

  Liliana sat up abruptly, a chill breeze flowing over her as the cloak slipped from her shoulders.

  The day was just dawning and it was dim and hard to see anything clearly, but she could make out several vague figures standing a dozen feet away, on the other side of her cold fire pit.

  The early morning dampness made her skin rise in goosebumps and the light sleeveless shirt she was wearing was no help at all.

  “Look boys,” a rough voice said. “We found a delicate flower out in the woods. What are the odds, eh?”

  “You shouldn't be wandering the forests alone,” another man exclaimed with a laugh. “A woman needs a man's protection in the wild these days.”

  Liliana kept her right hand under the cover of her fallen cloak. She was gripping her sword hilt but the intruders obviously couldn't see it.

  “Hey Lincoln, she looks familiar, doesn't she?” a third voice piped up. “Man-sized, hair cut short. And that armor?”

  There was a hiss in the darkness and one figure stepped forward, close enough that Liliana could finally make out his features. He was a stranger.

  “So, it's you, is it?” the man, Lincoln, growled.

  He was almost as tall as she was, but very thin with slightly protruding eyes and a drooping mustache. He was wearing a chain-mail shirt that was smeared with dirt and had a few leaves and twigs stuck to it. An axe swung from his hip.

  This was the leader of the rebels? Liliana wondered what he could have said or done to inspire others to follow him. He certainly didn't cut a very heroic figure.

  “The great paladin, chosen of the gods. Better than the rest of us, they say,” he sneered. “Not wise to remove your armor out here, girlie. There's mean monsters and bad men about. Although right now I think the bad men might be the bigger threat.”

  The paladin remained silent, waiting to see what the intruders might do. Even with her sword, she was at a disadvantage against three armed and armored men. Why had she given in to the temptation to sleep without her armor? It was idiotic and foolish and might be the last mistake she ever made.

  “Well? Speak up, woman,” Lincoln snapped. “Are you deaf and dumb as well as stupid? What are you doing out here?”

  He advanced another step as the day grew brighter and Liliana tightened her grip on her weapon. She could see the entire group now and realized that she had been mistaken. There weren't three men here; there were seven.

  Another four men were standing in the trees behind the others. They had remained silent but were looking at her and her exposed shoulders and arms and smiling unpleasantly.

  All of Lincoln's followers were dressed as he was and armed with various iron weapons. Apparently when they were exiled, they were allowed to take armaments, but the weapons and chain armor were of very poor quality. Liliana doubted that the men would survive more than a few months unless they built themselves some sort of shelter and surrounded it with at least a rudimentary palisade.

  “I'm looking for something,” she finally responded. “What are you doing out here?”

  Lincoln's mouth twisted and he cursed viciously.

  “You know damned well what we are doing. We were turned out, all of us, by your oh so superior friends. Mages? Bah! Powerless impostors is what they are. Magic is gone from this world and people need strong leadership, not simpering aristocrats who don't even know how to do a hard day's work.”

  “I don't think attempting a coup is the best way for someone to prove that they are a good leader,” Liliana said calmly.

  Lincoln glared at her.

  “A coup, is it? There was no coup! No one was injured; well, not seriously anyway. And those two, Tamara and her limp-wristed brother, Sebastian, were just locked up, not harmed. Once people had come to see that our way was the better way, we would have released them. They might have had to learn a skill or a trade, but so what? We all must pull our own weight if we want to survive.”

  Liliana felt a moment of disconnect. She was having a political discussion with a man who had betrayed his own people, out in the wild surrounded by who knew how many unseen monsters. It all began to feel a little dream-like.

  Apparently Lincoln's followers felt the
same way as one of them spoke up.

  “What is this, a pep rally?” a man from the group still in the trees asked. “We have to keep moving, boss. Figure out what you want to do with her and let's move on. Oh and how do we decide who gets that sweet set of armor?”

  Lincoln looked surprised by the interruption, and the paladin wondered if he had been caught up in his own rhetoric. He spun around and looked at the man.

  “What are we going to do with her? Nothing! We do nothing to her. What are you, a bunch of animals? We'll leave her here without her pretty armor and, if something happens to her before she gets back to the castle, well then, our hands will be clean.”

  “Nothing?”

  Some of the men began grumbling.

  “Here now, I know she ain't pretty and looks a bit manly,” another ruffian spoke up as he leered at Liliana, “but I've never had a paladin before. Why can't we have a bit of fun before we go, eh? Fine, you say don't kill her, then we don't kill her. But a few minutes play ain't nothing. We can take turns. You can even go first, Lincoln.”

  From behind, Liliana couldn't see the leader's expression and she had no idea how he would respond to the man's suggestion. But when she'd been a wife and mother in a previous life, her long lost and unlamented husband had been a beast who had treated her no better than if she had been his property. Well, now she was a paladin and, by the gods, she would not meekly allow these animals to assault her. And if she died as a result, then so be it.

  She slowly began to lift her sword and braced herself with her off-hand, preparing to leap to her feet. If she swept Lincoln's feet from under him and then rolled to the left, she'd have a good chance of grabbing her shield where it rested against a tree. And once she had that, her chances of survival would increase dramatically.

  Taking a deep breath, Liliana tensed as the leader began shouting back at his rebellious followers.

  And then, from the rear of the group hidden in the shadows, one of the men bellowed in pain. His companions spun around to look at him, but there was no one there. The man had vanished.