Automoi 1st, 995 A.D.

Princess Kate ate breakfast with her father and fiancé just after watching Manfred and Nathan finally gallop off from her castle balcony's vantage point. As usual, the food was delicious, and the conversation civil. Once finished, the two men kissed her cheeks and hustled off to go about their work.

Apparently, her father had many discussions to endure with Shafarian diplomats over opening Monterayne's borders to that restless land and allowing them to pass through and increase trade with the Alcontean Republic that way. All because Shafaria and Alminian couldn't learn to be good neighbors. And as for Captain Sloan, the personnel in his garrison had rotated a third of the men out for fresh faces, so he had many training exercises to conduct and orders to bark out.

Left alone, Kate enjoyed a few minutes of solitude and fresh air before setting her mind to carrying out her own business. She decided checking in on Sir Tom Holt would be wise, just in case there had been any more development in the arena of missing knights and barbed arrows. After putting on a lightweight, stylish violet coat over her indigo dress, she made her way to the knights' hall.

As Kate had come to expect by now, her presence in the stone-walled building wasn't ignored or downplayed in the slightest. Either gawking eyes tracked her progress down the hall, or knights clearly went out of their way to greet her, their attitude as nervous as polite. A younger Kate would have been irritated by all the unnecessary attention, but she'd since come to simply ignore it at worst and accept at best.

At last, Kate found Tom in one of the sparring chambers, which was currently empty besides the two of them. The one-eyed knight with the grizzled beard leaned against the back wall and sharpened his sword. The shrieking of metal on metal grated on Kate's ears every time he swiped with the sharpener, but she did her best to ignore it and complete her approach.

Tom glanced up and immediately bowed, a gesture she gave a polite nod to, but immediately brushed aside.

"Good morning, your highness. How may I assist you?"

Kate drew in a deep breath. "Firstly, I wish to know if there were any incidents last night."

"Nothing notable, other than a few of our knights reporting having felt as if they were being stalked. Of course, I wouldn't build a cathedral on that notion. It could merely be nerves."

"Likely so. But at least no blood was spilt."

Tom rolled his right shoulder, which audibly clicked into place when he did so. "Yes, no blood. I can only pray tonight is much the same."

"I share your sentiment. You appear burdened, though, Sir Holt. Why is that?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"No, it isn't." Kate contradicted with a sweet smile, "It's clear as day to me something is troubling you."

"Alright, you've found me out." Tom remarked with a warm chuckle, "I suppose I'm feeling a sense of having been through this situation before. Though it feels so long ago, the old order investigated that unmarked swordsman about ten years ago, and this feels much the same. The Council convicted Sir Raska unrightfully, and I suppose one could say I feel apprehensive now about doing no better presently, when I'm the one in charge."

"Ah, I see. Well, I trust your judgement, Sir Holt. And not only that, but unlike the old order, you have a council of men who strive to serve the kingdom, not their own interests." After a moment of thought, Kate's smile widened. "And the old order didn't have men like Sir Rickland or Sir Korynn."

"There were plenty of men like Korynn, your highness. Troublemakers they were. But you are correct on Rickland. He has his faults, but he reminds me of my grandfather, only more willing to act."

"Well, surely your grandfather wasn't always so pacifistic, or else he wouldn't have garnered the reputation he did."

Tom nodded. "That's true. He was once much more like Rickland is now. I can only hope Rickland doesn't decline the same way he did."

"I doubt he will."

Silence lingered between the two for a moment before Kate noticed a downfall in Tom's countenance. She frowned and leaned forward.

"Are you alright, Sir Holt?"

Tom took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded. "I'm quite alright, yes. Just...speaking of Grandfather reminded me how much I wish he was still with us."

"We all can identify with that feeling, believe me. But I sense...you have a particular reason for saying so."

"Yes, but it's nothing you must concern yourself with."

Kate shook her head. "Stop being so secretive. You know me to be no vain lady."

Tom exhaled slowly. "Alice is...we're with child."

"Oh, really?" Kate asked, her features instantly brightening, "That is a good report indeed!"

"It is. And I'd never want to detract from that, but I can't help but feel...directionless. I honestly don't know from example what a good father would be. My own...well, he was gone on knightly adventures early on, and then he was banished for good. And if there's something I've heard Grandfather did right, it was balancing his life as a knight with his fatherly duties. But I can't help but fear I'll repeat my own father's mistakes. Never present when needed, and rarely focused as a father should on the welfare of his children."

"Oh, I think you'll do wonderfully. The very fact you concern yourself about it now demonstrates to me that your heart is truly set upon performing your duties as well as you can. You aren't known to do anything halfheartedly, Sir Holt."

Tom offered her a tight-lipped smile. "Thank you, your highness. Perhaps you're right."

"I have a tendency to be so."

After sharing a light laugh, the two transitioned back into talk of potential plans for neutralizing and capturing the knight killer in the event he or she returned again.

****

By the time midday rolled around, Manfred and Nathan had traveled half the distance to the Monteraynian Ring forming the kingdom's border. The summits of the rolling line of mountains to the east wore white caps of snow, with most of their bases remaining bare rock faces. Thankfully, the mountain pass Tom had informed Manfred of wove between the peaks without ascending very high at all, so no time would be wasted in climbing.

Currently, the two knights sat near a tranquil lake and ate a lunch that was hearty even if somewhat bland. Their horses grazed freely in the lush grass nearby. With a cool breeze coming in from the north and the sun beaming gentle rays from above, the temperature became enjoyably balanced.

Manfred glanced up from a bite of dried meat and gave Nathan a pleasant nod. "I've never asked...where are you from?"

"You won't believe me, but I'm from the wildlands." Nathan replied with some mixture of pride and expectation in his smirk.

"The wildlands? Nobody lives there."

"Well, my people do. Small tribe just about a hundred strong. You want the history lesson?"

Manfred chuckled. "I'm getting the sense you'll force it down my throat anyway."

"Your senses serve you well, Manfred. So, something like 70 years ago, this Forbachean man led a revolt against the ruler at the time. I guess the ruler was dabbling in some sort of Alcontean witchcraft, and the man didn't appreciate it. So he and those who followed him were cast out of the country, into the wildlands to the east. Everybody thought it would be a death sentence."

"Well, naturally so."

Nathan shifted his weight and scooted back to a more comfortable spot in the grass. "I mean, most of them did die, but this revolter was determined he would eke out survival in the wasteland just to spite those who cast him out. So he led the survivors from one oasis to another, until he found this fertile valley. Fertile for desert standards, anyway."

"That's interesting. Where is this valley?"

"Now that's an insider secret, my friend. If the exact location got revealed, everybody knows Innutuk or Shafaria would swoop in and try to claim it. They have to have every smokin' coin in their coffer."

"That makes perfect sense." Manfred said.

"Yes. So anyway, it was decided this valley was suitable for a settlement, so they set up permanent dwellings around the water and started farming, with the men sometimes going off to border towns just outside the wildlands to buy supplies, with or without money."

Manfred raised an eyebrow. "How do you buy something without money?"

"Also known as theft. But anyway, settling down resulted in families being made, and so a tribe was born. A couple generations later, here I am."

"Do you have a name for your tribe?"

"Well, we usually don't have dealings with outsiders for it to be a word uttered often, but we're the Pikalanites."

"I see." Manfred said with a nod, "And is there a story behind that name?"

"Pikalan Korynn was the revolter who started the whole thing."

Manfred smiled. "So you're an insurrectionist's grandson, I see. That makes sense of some things."

"Maybe so. But enough about my rocky background; where're you from?"

"I'm a Borderman. Grew up in a little town in the forest almost as far west as Monterayne goes. Really the only notable thing about it is there's a garrison there."

Nathan's head bobbed up and down. "Isn't that where those cannibal people live?"

"The Garuntans?" Manfred asked with a grimace, "Yes...their settlements basically surround the town from a distance. The stench of burning human flesh in the distance drove us indoors many a day in disgust."

"That's terrible. Did they ever sneak into the town to restock, so to speak?"

"They did. Once the garrison upped their surveillance, it started happening less, but still, every now and then someone's child would disappear and leave an empty seat at the dinner table. One never knew whether to cry or retch."

"Maybe don't choose one or the other." Nathan remarked with a wrinkled forehead, "If anyone deserves to be cast into the smokin' wildlands, it's those people."

"I can't agree more."

"Well, after we catch our knight-killer, maybe you and I will be the ones tasked with shovin' them into that wasteland."

Manfred offered Nathan the slightest of smiles. "Maybe so. Of course, that is assuming we're successful in our investigation."

"Well, I assume with all certainty. We'll find the guy and bring him to justice in no time."

Manfred laughed. "I sure hope you're right about that."

**** 

A/N: Well, I hope that worked as a lighter chapter to cleanse the palate, some nice conversations and backstory. I guess I find it a little poetic too, because Princess Kate chats with Tom Holt, who's one of the more elegant, refined knights, and Manfred and Nathan are more some of the rugged country boys in the order, in a manner of speaking. 

Anyways, let your votes and comments speak for you, my people! 

Okay, that was bad. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll get right to posting the next!