The Mad Spearman (Syr Dostan's Tale)
While talking, Syr Dostan Anpetór fidgeted with the crude figurine representing a horse, occasionally yawning and excusing himself for it, and sipping from the Temple of Summer's wine.
“When I was not yet a full grown man I squired for a knight. Syr Yulian his name was. I served him when he was a captain of the Southern Shoreshields. We defended our coastline from the Skygglanders. When peace came, we rode off for a tournament in Ljen, where he was hit by a lance in the face. I told him to keep his visor up. The lance tip cracked his skull, and Syr Yulian…wasn’t Syr Yulian anymore. I went home, and to my surprise…my parents told me I was to marry the baron’s daughter. I was knighted and married on the same day. There was another knight, Syr Illarim, who had died from constipation, and the baron needed someone to occupy his castle. And so I became the new Knight of Greywolf Hall.”
"When the Skygglanders began raiding our shores I was summoned to take Syr Yulian’s place as a knight of the Shoreshields. One night, while encamped near Obalar Castle, a stranger appeared among us. He had evaded our watchmen, just strolled up to our campfire bold as you please and sat down and asked for wine. Said he needed someone to help him with a delicate task. Carried a spear with him, but without a head.”
“I was curious and so I indulged him. He told me that the following morning, a Skygglander ship would pass near the cliffs of Masestra, and that there was something aboard that boat that must not go to the Skygg islands. The more I listened, the more sincere and desperate he seemed, and the more curious I became. I was a young man back then, still early in my twenties. I was easily impressed, I suppose. He spoke of the will of the Lost God and how the god had guided him to me, and he taught me much that evening, and…I think he changed me in some way. I was always a god-fearing man, but…”
“The following morning I followed him to the cliffs. We climbed down to the beach. I had decided that if indeed a Skygglander ship passed by, as close to the shore as he claimed it would, this man did indeed foresee things by the will of the Lost God. And…the ship came. ‘No one is manning the oars’, I told him. He nodded, as if he already knew. ‘There is no need,’ he said. But there was no wind that day, I swear it.”
“He told me there would be a baby aboard, and indeed, what I first thought was a gull’s screech was a baby’s cries. ‘It must not go to the Skygg Islands,’ he said. “The Mad Spearman”, my companions called him when I left them to follow him down the goats’ trail. And then he waded out into the water. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘Quick.’ I followed him. At that moment I saw a second ship appear, sliding up from behind a wooded islet, and it rammed into the Skygglander ship. I can still hear the groaning of the wood. And then the Mad Spearman was aboard, dripping wet. I climbed after him. There was no crew aboard. Just…just a woman.”
“She was just sitting there, holding this.. bundle. And her eyes were wide with fear, the Mad Spearman looming over her, trying to grab that bundle. ‘Give him to me,’ he snarled. ‘He is not going to your island.’ You must understand, my friend, that I was young and hot-headed, and I sure as hell had a bone to pick with the Skygglanders. I hated them, after all the raids I witnessed...the murders, the kidnappings, the rape... I do not wish to dwell on what I have seen them do to innocent villagers along our coast.”
“‘We serve the Lost God,’ the Mad Spearman shouted. Then I heard men reply from the other boat, now drifting around our bow. ‘We serve the Lost God.’"
“And so, when she kept resisting, and cursing us in her twisted language, I pulled my blade and swung it. I swung low, though, and hit her leg. I didn’t find myself quite so hateful toward a lonely beauty, Skygglander or no. She must have been some sort of Skygglander princess, I reckon. When I hit, she wailed. I can still hear that cry, as if it still echoes across the years to haunt me. But she did not let go. I told him to step aside, and he did. I…threatened her until the baby was in my hands. Then we climbed back into the water and walked up to the beach, where I put it…you…in his arms. There on the beach he blessed me, and said that I had done a great deed, no matter how vile it seemed. “Revere the Lost God today, and each day after this one, young knight,” he said, “And great reward shall be yours.”
Syr Dostan took a deep breath. His eyes glinted wet.
“Do not forget him, Syr," he said. "That which is given, can be taken away. And I would learn that lesson.”
“And with that, he waded back into the water and climbed aboard the other ship. His men took what they could that was of use from the Skygglander ship, and let it drift north with the woman aboard, untouched but for the cut across her leg. I stood there on the beach, at a loss for words, watch him sail off southward as he waved at me with his headless spear….”
Subject: Online session recap - 30.10.2017 
Mon 30 Oct 2017, 22:38
