El-Vador's Travels Read Online Free

expected to
eat.
    'What is that slime?' asked Gurgash, wincing at the smell.
    'Stew,' snapped a Goblin who was dishing out servings. He didn't
seem too pleased about it either, they hadn't had a good meal in
weeks and this was even worse than before. The foragers had come up
empty and had lost a good number of men to stray arrows from unknown
sources.
    The
Goblin spooned stew into Gurgash's cup. Holding his breath, he downed
the burning mixture in the hopes that it would stay there and not
cause his stomach to protest. Had Gurgash got a supper like this at
home he would have gutted someone. With the scarcity of food on this
campaign, he wasn't going to pass it up. For all its vile flavour
this goop was still better than starving to death. Not that it was
going to take long for death to come anyway.

    Cusband
looked fearsome when arrayed in the armour of his people. A
long-handled axe with a bronze curved blade and a towering shield.
There was no bow for this soldier, nor would there be any skulking in
the shadows when the time to fight came.
    El-Vador
was growing impatient at not being handed a weapon. 'When will I be
getting equipped?' he asked. 'We are travelling together, are we
not?'
    'No,' growled Cusband. But the one word that would usually have
silenced his son had no effect here.
    'I
am travelling with someone else then?' El-Vador asked, beginning to
see where this was headed. 'I can fight father, you know that I can!
You said we needed everyone we can to hold the line against these
Orcs!'
    'No,' said Cusband once more, deeper and more menacingly than
before. Again, El-Vador shook his head, realising now for certain
that he wasn't being allowed to accompany his father against the
invading Orcs.
    Reluctantly,
Cusband spoke further. 'You are not yet fully matured, you would not
fare well against an Orc.'
    'I
have fared well against you before!' El-Vador replied, failing to see
how dangerous the territory his words strayed into was. 'I'd make the
Orcs pay for all they have done to us.'
    What
he said did have an element of truth whether Cusband knew it or not.
But he felt that no untried boy would last long against a foul Orc
with a practised and bloody blade.
    'You're
too young. You'll stay here and take care of your mother.'
    El-Vador
wasn't listening. 'I won't!' he said shrilly, 'as soon as you leave,
I'll run off and join one of the other settlements to fight.'
    The
fist came out of nowhere, his head spun and the world rang painfully
in his ears as he tried to stand once more.
    His
father stood over him, breathing heavily more out of anger than
effort. 'You will do no such thing,' he said menacingly.
    El-Vador
sprang up and grabbed for his father's axe. It was a mistake.
    Cusband's
larger hand swept forward and slapped him back down onto the earth.
    'You would have me show you why you are not fit for battle?' roared
Cusband. 'Defend yourself then, I will fight as they do and we shall
see if you can match me.'
    He
had been hit often by his father, he was used to his violent ways.
Never had he been given such a beating as he was receiving now, it
was nothing like their previous sparring. He tried in vain to defend
himself for as long as he could but his father kept railing on him
until he had no more fight left.
    'Life is hard.' Cusband said bleakly, grinding his teeth and trying
to compose himself, he didn't look pleased with what he had done.
'You are not enough to withstand everything that is to come.'
    El-Vador
lay in the dirt, his feverish desire to go forth to battle completely
extinguished. His father was right.
    He
stayed there for some time, blood weeping from a dozen cuts as his
father strode off into battle. Nobody said a word as they passed him
by, not a single neighbour offered to help him up for fear of
provoking his father's future wrath. Feebly he stirred and dragged
himself back into his home and his bed, away from both the war and
his father's judgement.

II
    All youth is foolish, we are but the seeds