This Road We Walk

[That Lass Over There]

And here we go @riddlepug

 

[riddlepug]

Isabel Lynch was not the sharpest tool in the blacksmith's repository of weapons, but she was nonetheless chipper to play a song for the king. It was a big day for her, as before that she only sang to peasants in the town. Now it was her time to show them all what she was really made of. That was, of course, all shattered when the king exiled her due to her song being rather offensive to him, containing many innuendos relating to his personal life. Her punishment was simple: death or exile. Considering the fact their method of execution was being fed to their domesticated dragon, the latter seemed to be the more pleasant option. She was one of the only bards in the kingdom, so the fact that she of all people was being exiled concerned her. It was her songs that calmed the ogres that came to threaten the land. It was her songs that entertained even the most grumpy of people, and now she had to leave.


The one thing that kept her at peace was the fact that there was another bard in town. Little did she know that they would be exiled as well.


She sighed and began to leave the kingdom, saying goodbye to her few friends. She packed her things in a small leather bag, which consisted of some apples, a couple potions that weren't exactly legal to make, and a book she crafted herself, filled with her many ballads.

 

[That Lass Over There]

He strummed the last note on the guitar, finishing the solemn ballad with a low hum of his voice in tune with the final note. The dark beauty of the battlefield he imagined faded away with the note, fading to calm as the wind does before a storm.


"Wrong." The king's soft but commanding voice, hoarse for some reason, destroyed the silence that the ballad of the kingdom's rise had created.


"Wrong, my lord?" The bard looked surprised that he had made a mistake he didn't notice. "How so?"


"The tale of my kingdom's rise should not be sung with such sorrow and dark tones." The voice rose little by little as the king put a hand over his face.


"My lord, if you will forgive me for saying so, I think that it was written to be dark so as to-"


"Just leave. I have no time for you." The king made a shooing motion with his free hand and the bard left without further word, knowing already that his return would not be welcome. He chuckled as he walked out of the palace onto the road and let his feet carry him as his his hands strung notes on the precious instrument by instinct, flowing into a beautiful melody that gave him the picture of a mountain's view of the world, oceans and lands spreading out below him as far as any canvas ever created had, and the sun rose in the land the song wove as he took his first steps away.


"Onward, to new adventures! I am young after all and should enjoy myself, eh? Find a nice tavern and play there earning money until I meet the beauty of my life..." He chuckled and paused for a moment before continuing both song and journey. "Yeah right, like I'd be that lucky. I'm a loner for the rest of my life, devoted to my art of song. I don't even have any food or water."