12 Chapter 12

Four years have passed since they left The Eyree and all of their family behind, and yet neither Konrad nor Andar felt homesick. However, life was not fair or pretty and such, almost a week ago, Konrad was attacked by some bandits or so they called themselves.

He and Andar were returning to their home after Andar, after he promised Tyrek that nothing would happen to Konrad, went to the market to buy more books for the little lord, when a group of five men attacked them. Despite being a knight, Andar was far from being able to five men while at the same time defending his cousin.

Not wanting to take the initiative, Andar swung his sword with all his strength, trying to fend off the thugs who surrounded him and Konrad. Luckily for him, he managed to wound two of them, but that did little to nothing to their friends' morale. Judging by how prepared these men seemed, Andar knew that the man who was hunting them changed his tactics, and that meant, better-qualified thugs.

As soon as the fight started, Konrad hid behind one of the stalls, clutching his books to his chest. He was scared as any six-name's day-old boy would be, but at the same time, he was also hoping that his cousin would be able to end the fight soon. His cousin, for all of his flaws, was for a lack of better words, second only to a seasoned knight per Tyrek's compliment to his ex-squire.

Meanwhile, the thugs were getting impatient with the fight. It was clear by now that Andar was not an easy target, but at the same time, they knew that the young knight was from being able to fight endlessly. Knowing that and the fact that Andar was too busy fighting the two armored thugs noticed that the third one slipped past him before running towards the stall where Konrad was hiding.

"Gotcha, you freak!" the thug shouted. "You're worth a lot of gold, you know that? Someone wants your head, and he's willing to pay a handsome price for you."

Konrad struggled in his grip, kicking and biting. He dropped his books on the ground, hoping that Andar would hear them and come to his rescue.

"Let me go!" Konrad yelled. "Andar will kill you! He'll kill all of you!"

The thug laughed and slapped him hard across the face, making him bleed, before he tightened his hold on Konrad and started to drag him away from the stall.

"Not if I kill him first," the thug said. "And don't worry, I'll make sure he suffers before

The thug who had captured Konrad did not waste any time and dragged the boy out in the open before shouting at Andar.

"Hey, knight! Look what I have here! "

Andar heard the thug's voice and turned his head and as soon as he lay his eyes on what the thug was holding, his eyes widened in horror. Forgetting about the two armored men that he was fighting, he turned to rush towards his cousin and save him only for one of the thugs to swing his mace at his helmet, hitting him with a powerful blow. For a second Andar felt the pain, but then everything went black as his body hit the ground.

Once the only threat was down, the three remaining thugs gathered around Konrad and looked at the frightened boy.

"What do we do now?"

"What we were paid to do! We take his fucking head off and return to get the rest of our gold."

"We lost Harlan and Cab. What about their share?"

"We share it between us obviously, you dumb fucker."

As soon as he said that, the smaller armored thug grabbed Konrad by the hair and pulled his head back, exposing his neck before raising his knife, ready to slice it open and end his life.

Just as the pale boy closed his eyes and prayed for a miracle to happen, the miracle came in the form of an arrow that flew through the air and hit the thug's chest, piercing his heart. The thug gasped and his hand dropped, but it was too late to avoid injuring Konrad. While the blade didn't reach his neck, it did cut his right cheek, leaving a deep gash, before the thug fell on top of Konrad, sending him to the ground. Unable to move, when the thug's body fell on him, Konrad hit his head hard on the stone pavement, losing consciousness.

The other two thugs were shocked by the sudden attack and as they frantically looked around, they saw a man on a horse, holding a bow. Before either one of them could react, Tyrek shot another arrow at them, hitting one of the thugs in the throat. And as the thug choked on his blood and collapsed. Tyrek charged the last man, slashing at his chest, staggering the man, and injuring him badly before, cutting off his head.

After killing the last thug, Tyrek wasted no time and ran towards Konrad, who was still pinned under the dead thug's body. The second he pushed the corpse aside, Tyrek lifted Konrad in his arms before checking the boy's pulse and once he found it, he let out a sigh he didn't know he held.

"Konrad, Konrad, can you hear me?"

But Konrad did not respond. Seeing that the boy wasn't reacting in any kind of way, Tyrek cursed under his breath and looked for a way to stop the bleeding. He tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and pressed it against Konrad's wound, before tying using one of the ropes he had on his horse. It wasn't practical, but it should hold until they reach a healer.

Once he stopped the bleeding to some degree, Tyrek looked at Andar, who was lying on the ground, motionless. Moving closer to his ex-squire, Tyrek saw that the back of his helmet was slightly caved in, and while there was no blood, he still feared that something might have happened to Andar.

"Andar, can you move?"

A few tense seconds pass by with no reaction from Andar, but to his relief, the young knight groaned and opened his eyes, looking confused and dazed.

"Ty…Tyrek?" Andar muttered weakly.

"Are you alright, Andar?" Tyrek asked with concern.

"I'll live," Andar said hoarsely. "Thanks for saving me."

"Don't mention it. Now, we have to hurry and get our little lord to a healer."

Darkness, that's the only thing Konrad could see. No matter where he looked or "walked" there was nothing but darkness, that was slowly making him wish everything to just end.

The last thing he remember before coming here was how a man fell on him while watched as his cousin was hit by one of the assassins that wanted him dead. He was about to give up and surrender to the darkness when he saw something that made his heart skip a beat. A small spark of light appeared in the distance, like a star in the night sky. It was faint and flickering, but it was there. And for Konrad that was all it took for him to decide that he needed to move, hoping that it would lead him to a way out.

Truth be told, he did not know how to walk in this place, but he somehow managed to move towards the light. He felt like he was floating or flying, but he did not care. He just wanted to reach the light.

As he got closer, Konrad realized that the light was not a star, but a fire. A fire that burned on a torch, held by a man. A man who wore a strange-looking armor, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The armor was white and black, with a red cross on the chest and a helmet that covered most of the face. Judging by his armor, the man was a knight, but from a different land or time.

Suddenly, the man turned and pointed his torch at Konrad, making the little boy retreat slightly fearing that the man might attack him.

"At last, we finally met." the man asked in a language that Konrad did not understand, but somehow could comprehend.

"Who… who are you?"

While not answering directly, the man removed his helmet, before smiling at the little boy, making Konrad let out a yelp as he watched a very familiar face staring down at him.

"I once had a family name, but I wasn't worthy of it or so my birth father said, but for many of my brothers, I remained Konrad, the young brother." The older Konrad paused for a second almost as if he was gathering his thoughts before continuing. "I know that this doesn't make any sense to you, but as you might have already guessed you and I bear the same faces, ableist you look more … exotic to say the least."

"H-How?"

"By God's will. I died in a grand battle, and maybe for my deeds, God gave me a second chance, one that I willingly forfeited in favor of not killing a young boy. Yes, I could have become you years ago, but I didn't. My faith and my training wouldn't have let me become a child slayer, no matter how much I wanted to live a new life."

While he was still shocked by what his older version told him, he still feared the man and because of that, he looked at the older Konrad with his wide eyes barely gathering the courage to ask him what was clouding his young mind. "Are… are you here to kill me?"

The older Konrad shook his head and smiled sadly.

"No, my child," he said softly. "I am not here to kill you. I am here to protect you. Not even God would make me a childslayer. I know this is hard to understand, but you are in danger. There are people who want to harm you, people who fear your birthright and while I can directly help you, I can at least give you the means to live a better life than that of a fugitive. I bear you no harm, my child, but I can't say for sure if what I would do to you will, by any means, harm you in any kind of way."

Not understanding what his older self meant by that, Konrad just tilted his head, awaiting an explanation.

"As I said, I will not take over your body, but I will share with you all of my memories regarding my training as a knight, all of the warfare knowledge my goodfather forced me to learn, all of the things my brothers had me read to become a better man and above all, how to become a proper lord. I might have not been one in my life, but my goodfather did have me learn how to manage the lands and the people living on them. However, that will also come with the fortunate or unfortunate effect of learning everything about my faith, one that I have no doubt, you too will enjoy learning and following."

"But?"

"Your world… is a strange place for faith. The seven, as the septa that tried and failed to preach to you when you were a babe, are nothing more than angels of God. Same with the Old Gods. As for the rest… they are only fools of mad men and women that desire power. I will teach you everything I know about Christianity, but I fear that the moment anyone from the faith of the Seven hears about you and your beliefs, they might brand you as a heretic, something that I don't wish to happen to anyone, not even to my enemies."

Once again, his older self paused, letting him digest this revelation. After what seemed like an eternity, Konrad heard his older self voice again.

"I know that this is a lot to take, especially for a six-year-old boy like you, but do you want to gain all of my memories, without their affections of course, about what it means to be a brother of Teutonic order as well as what it takes to become a proper lord, risking everything you hold dear in exchange for it?"

< Just change "3" with "e" Patr3on Link : https://patr3on.com/meatbunkun>

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