Lynelman64's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Lynelman64 stood at the mountain's edge and admitted he was lost. Somewhere in the far range lay his ancestral fortress, the home his pride was driven from generations ago. He had come to take it back. But the old paths were gone. He had climbed three ridges since dawn, and every trail died in loose rock and fog. His armored boots slipped. His white mane hung wet against his grey neck. A lion's head knows the scent of home, but his nose caught only cold stone and pine. A small voice broke the quiet. "You're going the wrong way, you know." He turned. A black and gray cat crouched behind a boulder, only its wide eyes showing. It flinched when he faced it, ears flat, tail wrapped tight. This was Booglet, though he did not know the name yet. The cat looked ready to bolt at the snap of a twig. "I seek the far range," Lynelman64 said. He kept his voice low, the way he would with a frightened soldier. "The old roads are lost to me." "Lost." Booglet crept out one paw at a time. "Everyone loses those. Nobody up here knows them." The cat swallowed. "But the king might. King Alfa keeps old records. Kings write things down." Lynelman64 knelt so his horns dropped below the cat's line of sight. "Where is this king?" "Figroot Castle. Down the valley." Booglet pointed a shaking paw. "I can show you. If you walk slow. And don't roar." So they went down, and the fog thinned as they dropped. By afternoon the castle rose before them, gray stone bound in thick fig roots that gripped its towers like fingers. Red banners hung from the walls. Guards watched from the gate, tense, hands near their spears. Something had them on edge. Inside, King Alfa waited on his throne, old and straight-backed, his white beard spread over a purple coat. His eyes measured Lynelman64 and did not flinch at the lion's face. "A stranger with horns and armor," the king said. "You come at a hard time. My kingdom faces a threat I will not yet name aloud." Lynelman64 bowed his heavy head. "I want no war of yours. I want my home. My pride once held a fortress in the far range. The paths to it are lost. I hoped your records might hold them." The king studied him a long moment. "An old people. An old place." He nodded slowly. "I will have the royal records searched for your fortress and your line. This will take days." Booglet spoke up from the shadow of a pillar. "He can stay in my village while you look. But he works. Chores for a bed." The king smiled. "Fair terms." Lynelman64 had come seeking a lost road. He left the throne room with something better: a search begun, and a place to wait. The far range was no longer blind country. Now he only had to earn his keep until the king's records opened the way.