Read The High King: A Tale of Alus for Free Online

innkeeper.
    "It's a nice view, isn't it?" Stephen spoke over the pipe that he now had in his mouth as an after dinner relaxer. A small cloud of smoke left his mouth with each of his words. Simon watched as the gray cloud wafted slowly upwards and away towards the horizon in the west. To his vision, it soon mingled with another even darker cloud that was actually far off in the distance.
    As Simon noticed the second formation, it took him a moment to realize it was unusually dark and rising from the ground. "Look!" he said pointing it out to everyone, "there must be a fire blazing."
    Janus nodded calmly before unease started to cross into his face, "It lies in the west, Master Simon. You don't think that it is near to your home, do you? It is coming from that direction, I'm afraid," he said climbing to his feet to try and look over the hills between him and the smoke. He held onto the spindled column supporting the center of the overhanging porch roof and attempted to pull himself up high enough to actually make out its origin.
    Simon frowned worriedly. He tried to judge the distance and direction that the billows came from and wondered how close it was to the inn.
    Gerid stood calmly. "Even if it is not, it's too close to our home. It could be the Laurels to the south also. We need to go and find out, if we can help one way or the other." He turned to their host, "Sorry, Stephen, we will need to be going as quickly as possible. Thank you for your hospitality just the same."
    "No need to be so formal, my friend. A fire is no small matter, even when it is a small one in these hills and meadows." He clapped a hand across Gerid's back and leaned in worriedly, "Maybe I had better come to help you. I think that some of my neighbors would be willing to come help as well."
    "No, no, we don't know that it is anything really," Simon started, though worry was still taking root despite his strong front.
    "Nonsense, Simon. We should all work together to look out for each other if our lord will not. If a fire gets out of control at this time of year, everyone will wind up suffering from it as well," Stephen insisted. "Go on ahead. I'll alert my neighbors and we'll be there right behind you.
    "Simon, I know that you rode here. Gerid, have Samuel saddle mounts for both you and Janus. I can collect them after the fire is quenched."
    "You are too kind, Stephen," Gerid replied as the three men quickly ran to find Samuel and from there they rushed to the stables. The two brothers and Janus headed west quickly as they watched Stephen separate to round up help. Simon led the others in a dangerous gallop through the darkness that had sprung up from the final descent of the sun. The first moon had yet to raise high enough to help illuminate their path so even with the smooth road beneath them it was treacherous riding. The men didn't bother to speak as they focused their concentration on the mounts below them and the road under their hooves. The sounds of hoof beats and the gasps as their horses strained forward, closed around Simon becoming his world in the realm of night.
    It wasn't until they topped the final hill before their home less than a mile away, that the elder brother was knocked completely from his little world of safety. Simon reined in his horse strongly and stared sadly ahead. Gerid barreled past him with Janus following close behind as they left him to stare brokenly at the burning fields and house that were once his home.
    Simon was stunned by the destruction and, more severely, the death around him. Gerid and Janus had already dismounted and begun throwing water upon the tumbled remains of their former home by the time the elder Aramathea arrived. Hoof beats from the hills behind him heralded Stephen and his volunteers, but they would be too late to save the lives of his servants and friends. Simon looked about him in despair hoping to at least find Serra alive somewhere. He dismounted as his searching proved futile and the hopes