Respite; or, Taking a Vacation Shouldn’t Concern the Kingdom
AN: I had this idea about a retired adventurer taking a much needed vacation, and well, here it is.
Tila knocks an arrow and sets her sights on a bandit some feet away. Her knee digs into the ground as the string is pulled taut. Her arrow flies down the slop of the hill into the man’s neck. The bandit lets out a wet gurgle before another arrow hits them inches from the last. Tila takes three arrows and knocks them. She aims for a bulkier, well-armoured bandit intimidating the hostages.
The reason Tila took the job. Five helpless villagers were plucked yesterday from their homes and held here for ransom. Or was it an execution? Tila couldn’t remember, this would be her seventh rescue quest in a single moon.
The three arrows sing through the air and thwack into the tall woman’s shoulder, back and leg. The armoured bandit cries out and falls to her knee. The other bandits, who were idling around, jerk at the cry and look around.
One spots Tila and yells in a strange tongue. Tila replaces the bow in her hand for a battleaxe and swings as the closest yelling bandit. It splits them from a shoulder. They cradle their stump.
“Sorry, meant to get yer head.” Tila apologizes again and sweeps the head off. It lands with a thud by the feet of a villager who shakes and opens their mouth in a silent scream. Tila winced.
Their families would not be happy if they came back shell-shocked. “Try to keep your eyes closed.”
Another bandit rushes her from behind and they fall in a grapple, Tila flips and presses the dull wood into their neck until it snaps. She shakes off the bandit hammering at her shoulders with a fist and cracks the blade against their neck but it gets stuck.
Tila sighs, tired. She jerks her wrist and it cleaves through. The armoured bandit is the only one left. the bandit kept the arrows in as she swings her sword. Tila catches it against her axe and wedges it near the hilt; the sword flies into the brush.
“I thought the legendary T—”
Tila slices thrice, lobbing off hand, nose, and finally head. When the blood seeps into the soil, silence carries to the villagers. They shake and tremble but open their eyes. Tila turns the unit, now huddled into a group hug for support, and walk with them toward the city.
They make it before nightfall, thankfully. Tila had to encourage them the whole way and even then they slugged their way back. The guard captain and several loved ones wait by the gate and rush to greet the group.
“By the goddess, you’ve returned!” The captain shouts. Tila winces upon hearing the townsfolk all rush out of their homes and crowd around them.
People prod and poke at her for attention, grabbing her hands, shaking her body this way and that.
The villagers run into the arms of their loved ones and turn to Tila. The captain roughly jerks her shoulder in praise. Before he can open his lips to give, no doubt, long-winded speech about heroics, Tila calmed the shouting and excitement with a raised hand.
The crowd once clamouring for her attention now looked to her in awe. Tila begins with a look to the skies. “Listen, this is…” she sighs, “it is nice of everyone to greet me and praise a job well-done but I can’t stand this anymore.”
The captain tilts his head and grips her shoulder, “Stand what?”
“This… noise and nonsense.” Tila shrugs off the captain. Several villagers step forward to take his place in comforting the hero. “Enough!” the crowd settles back. “Look, I just need some peace. I need…” she trails off and villagers shout out replies.
“A pint?”
“Compensation?”
“A good nights rest?”
“Where is this coming from?” the captain speaks through the answers.
“I have been feeling this for a while, lately I’m been so tired. Walking around hearing pleas and cries for help, getting paid, then being called once more to fight, then falling asleep and doing it again tomorrow. It’s endless!”
“What did you expect? You’re a hero…isn’t that par for the course?” a few villagers slip away and run up the road.
“No it is not! Or it is but not why I do this. I don’t need praise or money, I need people to start thinking for themselves and not being easily led into traps so they can be rescued. I need a break.”
The crowd goes silent and the villagers all turn to the captain. Before he can ask, a horse is heard clomping down the road and sliding to a halt just past the crowd. The queen hops of her regal decorated panting horse, with a slipper and a barefoot. “How long will you need a break?” The queen demands, holding her self tall despite the lack of shoe.
Tila deflates, honestly. “You didn’t need to get the queen.”
“How long?”
"Perhaps break was the wrong word…I am taking a vacation.” As the words fall out, Tila becomes more and more confident and at ease with her plan. “I am taking an overdue vacation in the country, perhaps a quaint cottage nestled between the forest and the coast, or a fancy inn and I will not be coming back for a undetermined period of time.”
Gasps and huffs circulate through the crowd, even the queen and captain look struck by the claim.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Tila uses her pointed hands to part the crowd and makes her way to her tiny room under the barn, they couldn’t house her in a normal room and they ask why she wants to leave? She throws her extra set of armour and meagre clothes into a sack and flings it over her shoulder and once again parts the crowd and begins walking.
“A vacation is exactly what I need.” She decides and nods to herself, skipping out of the city with her mind wandering to salty breezes and succulent meals.
END OF PART ONE
