Role

Chapter 6

Illegal name, try another.
Name: took in my surroundings. A large white war steed
snorted in annoyance at me from over head. My Elder was a comical sight in
his ancient armor and out of style longsword. He looked frail, his hair had
long since turned stark white and his pale skin sagged on his face with many
wrinkles. His eyes were gray, yet teeming with life and full of anger.

'You are my Squire now.You are mine. If you try to run, when I catch you,
and catch you I shall, I will beat your bottom with a switch as should have
been done hundreds of years ago. I am to blame for your failures, thus I
have taken responsibility for your actions and cast myself into the world to
die, but first I will do right by you. This I vow to the Goddess and to
myself.'

I was scared. Like a child I ran. The high grass didn't slow my feet but
quickly I tired. The plains were vast and open. I was run down, but not
over, by his mount. Quickly he was off his horse, he bound my hands and
feet, lifted me bodily and threw me across the saddle, and beat my bottom
until it screamed with fire and pain. It was humiliating, and I swore not to
let it happen again. But it did. I was craven, I learned to run and hide in
a number of surroundings; cities, forests, swamps, and always he was there
within a day, and always I was disgraced like a child. Finally I submitted
to his iron will. The fear died in my eyes, and he said it was time to
begin.

He taught me many things. He trained me in the use of sword and shield.
Befriend and love them both as much as you have loved yourself, for when
everyone else is dead, they will be all you have left. Fight with courage
and purity of spirit, never disgrace yourself in battle with dirty tricks as
you did with dirty wines and women in the past.Sing for the glories of the
Light and the Maiden of Elves, not for the vanity of hearing your own voice.
Possess only that which you need to survive and strike blows to the wicked,
the treasures of your past will only weigh you down in body and spirit.Old
as he was, he was stronger of will, wit, and body than I, and far more
intelligent. I ran to build muscles, not in fear. I sang praises to the
light, not myself. I ate plain fare, bread, water. I was purified and
cleansed, remade into the form I take now. My head is shaven until such a
time that I know my vanity and past vices are cleansed from my soul.

I traveled on foot, my Elder on horseback. We traveled the cities of the
world, I identified the enemy. I found evil. We vanquished it when we were
able. Well, he vanquished, I watched, learned, and guarded him. He taught
me that the one true law was that the wicked must be halted and the innocents
protected. The laws of mortals cannot supercede this law. He told me of the
wars of old, the love he lost when his wife died fighting beside him as they
were overrun by a drow battalion, and how his heart died with her. In these
past twenty years I have grown more than I ever did since my birth.

We came upon them on the road. Two giants, two orcs, and a drow leading
them. 'It is time. Remember what you have learned. Regain your name and
honor. Now: Run!' I shook my head, running was anathema to everything I had
learned. I never saw the blow coming, he caught me with the flat