Friendship

     Reading the front, the Xweetok bit his lip. Kitar Winterstone, in Dunburrow. It had to be from someone outside Dunburrow, to have any address at all. And with the war going on and the fanciness of the lettering, there was really only one choice of who had sent the letter. The military.

     He retreated into the cottage, not wanting to see if his guess of why they had sent to him was right. He would look anyway, but if he was right, Daesha would like it even less than he did. But that was the way of things. He opened it once he was in the main room.

     Kitar Winterstone,

     We know you have a life, perhaps even a family. We must ask you to put that aside for the sake of the kingdom. We know that you may not have had training with weapons. We will train you. We need all the soldiers we can recruit. We have no way of knowing you will come. We have no other way of convincing you to come. We can just hope that your sense of loyalty to the kingdom will prevail, and you will aid us.

     If you wish to aid us in the war against Terifen, begin traveling to Meridell castle immediately. Upon arrival, show the gate guards this letter. They will let you through. Once inside the castle, make your way to the barracks. You will be assigned to a unit, and trained in the use of a sword and a shield.

     Once your entire unit is able to handle itself in battle, you will be sent to a battlefield. If one battle ends, and you survive, you will be sent to another battle, and another after that, until the war is over. We wish you luck and good fortune.

     ~ Lord Wendfeld, Lord Marshal of Meridell

     “Well,” Kitar said, taking a deep breath. “That’s interesting.”

     “What is?” Kitar turned, and seeing Daesha’s green and brown form, smiled. “This,” he said, handing her the letter. He kept quiet while she read it, but when her green eyes met his blue ones, he shook his head. “I’m going. I’m sorry, Daesha, but if I’m called to help defend our country, I will.”

     She sighed, and hugged him. Kitar returned the hug, but let her go when she began to cry. “I’ll see you again,” he said as she left the room. “I promise.” Maybe she didn’t hear him. Maybe she couldn’t think of how to reply. Either way, she didn’t answer him. Kitar turned, and walked through the cottage to his room, and began packing.

     * * *

     The next day, fully packed, he left, pinning a note to the cottage’s door. With one last look at his house, he began walking down the road, not stopping to talk to any of the other villagers as he usually did. The sun was rising, and he had a long walk ahead.

     A long, dry, dusty walk. Brown dust soon covered his black fur, and he was panting, as summer was fast approaching and black wasn’t exactly the best color for keeping cool. But he endured, walking for most of the day, and only resting at noon, when he found a stream to cool off in.

     The days continued, and Kitar kept walking, though the sun came close to felling him at times. In a week, he could see the castle, and was joined by a young Lupe, a fellow traveler to Meridell castle, named Darren.

     From the time they could see the castle, it only took a day to reach it. The guards let Darren and Kitar in quickly, without even asking why they were there. It was easy to tell that he was bored, and used to people coming in for training, which was only to be expected, with the state Meridell was in.

     Kitar and Darren were assigned to the same unit, captained by Sir Kabe, a scarred red Kougra. Training went quickly, and Kitar and Darren soon became the two best of the new recruits in their unit, sparring against each other for fun.

     But all too soon, the time came for them to be sent to war. All of their unit went, those of them still not completely sure with their weapons being trained on the move.

     * * *

     “Everyone up!” Kabe’s voice echoed through the camp, and Kitar squirmed out of his bedroll, quickly re-rolling it before running to grab some food. Darren, who had done the same as he, ran beside him. The others tended to think they were crazy, using up energy that could be put to other uses, but Kitar didn’t care, and doubted Darren did, either.

     Breakfast, as usual, was dried fruit and meat, meant to be eaten on the move, though if you got up early enough, it was possible to eat it before starting the march. Not that anyone bothered to, as most people were tired out by the march of the day before and only got up when Kabe called.

     “Kit!” Darren’s voice broke into Kitar’s thoughts, reminding him of where he was. He quickly grabbed his portion of the tough food, and began walking back to where he had set his gear down. Darren followed, heading to his own gear. Kitar began chewing on some of the fruit, but his mind was elsewhere.

     Daesha would be missing him, he knew. And she’d be worried, since there wasn’t any way for her to know he hadn’t even fought yet. He’d write a letter to her, but he never had enough time to do so, since he was moving all day and collapsing into his bedroll at night. But when they got to the battlefield, he might have time between battles to write.

     * * *

     They reached the battlefield a few weeks later. Kitar looked around, curious. There was a giant mass of people in front of him, stretched out in something resembling a line. He assumed that that was the battle, and back here was the camp, with food and shelter. And hopefully healers for those who got wounded.

     “All right!” Kabe’s voice echoed over the entire unit, and anyone who had been talking quieted down. “This is what we call ‘home’ when we’re at a battle. You should be able to find the food easily enough; just follow your nose.” A wave of laugher followed that, and Kabe even smiled a bit, waiting for the noise to quiet down.

     “We’re camped near the center of the camp, to the rear, along with all the other green squads. We’re going to be infantry support. Got that, kids?” Everyone nodded. “Good. Now, follow me, and I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping until you leave the battle. How you leave it is up to you.”

     “Great,” Kitar muttered as they began walking. “How encouraging. It’s like he’s saying ‘Go home with your shield or upon it,’ except he isn’t.”

     “At least we have shields,” Darren said. “That’s better than some get.”

     “True. But I keep thinking that we’re going to get outmatched and die.”

     “We won’t,” Darren said, so fiercely that he surprised himself. “We’re fighting for Meridell. We’re fighting for our home. We can’t lose. We just can’t.”

     “Nice speech,” Kitar said. “Have you been practicing?”

     Darren glared at Kitar, but didn’t say anything. They set their gear down, along with everyone else, in the designated area. “Kit,” Darren said, “stop acting like this.”

     “Like what?” Kitar asked, confused.

     Darren sighed. “You’re being all pessimistic and stuff. So stop it. It won’t help anyone, least of all you.”

     “Yeah,” Kitar said. “I guess so.” He glanced at the sun, which, though setting, was still fairly high in the sky. “I’m going to write a letter to Daesha now,” he said. “Try not to interrupt me unless it’s dinner time.”

     Darren grinned, almost laughing. “Of course I won’t. Why would I, after all?”

     * * *

     Daesha,

     I’m sorry I haven’t written to you before now, but I’ve had no time. I’ve been kept busy, first by training, and then by marching to battle. At the time of writing this, I’ve just arrived at the battlefield. We get one day to settle in before fighting, and I’m using it to write to you, and tell you what I’ve been doing.

     It took me a week to get to the castle, and on the last day, I met a Lupe named Darren. He’s nice, and has become my best friend here. We’re in the same unit, and are the best of the new fighters in it. Even our unit leader, Sir Kabe, says so.

     The training was tiring, but it worked. The march to the battle was exhausting, however. We marched from dawn until dusk, and ate on the march. When we camped, all we had time to do was set out our bedrolls and climb into them before we fell asleep. And at dawn, Sir Kabe woke us all up. It took some time to get in to the routine, but once I did, it was fine.

     And now I’m at the battlefield, and I’m scared. The noise of metal clashing on metal is everywhere, and I only got a few weeks of training. I’m not sure I’ll be able to survive this, Daesha. But I’ll do my best, and that’s all anyone can do.

     I wish I were still with you. ~Kitar

     * * *

     The weeks passed, neither side giving in to the other, though both sides tried many times to push the other back. In one such battle, a mace-wielding Terifenite smashed both Kitar’s shield and his arm. So when the Terifenese finally broke and ran, ending the battle, Kitar was lying in a healer’s bed, his left arm in a sling. The cheer that spontaneously arose from the throats of the warriors came to even the muffled room he lay in.

     “Can I go see what they’re screaming about?” Kitar begged the healers. “I promise I won’t run off. I just need to see what’s going on.” The healer on duty hesitated, but eventually let him go. Walking out of the room, careful not to jar his arm, Kitar was filled with suppressed excitement from the screaming.

     When he opened the tent-flap that served as a door, he almost fell to his knees. The mounted knights had broken the Terifenese line, and the Terifenese were breaking, running away and being cut down. “We did it,” Kitar said, triumph in his voice. “We did it! They’re breaking, running away!”

     The healers didn’t seem to react much to the news, but when Kitar turned, he saw that they were all grinning, and some were almost crying from joy. He could understand that. After all, with the battle won, they wouldn’t be getting more and more injured people to tend.

     One of the healers gestured Kitar back to a bed, and he returned, sitting down, too full of energy to lie down as would be best. He wanted to bounce up and down like a kid, but with a broken arm, he couldn’t, so he settled for smiling as widely as he could, and waiting to hear what had happened from Darren.

     * * *

     More battles had to be fought, but as fall gave way to winter, and rain began turning the roads from dirt in to mud, the Terifenese were driven back, and all the soldiers given leave to stay in the military or to go back to their homes, whichever they wished. Kitar chose to go home, for though he would miss those in his unit, he would miss Daesha more.

     Besides, he had promised her that he’d come back. And he didn’t want to break a promise, especially not to her. Sighing, Kitar went to begin packing up all of his gear.

     About halfway through his packing, Darren came by. “Kitar?” he asked, rather hesitant. “Can I come to Dunburrow with you?”

     “Of course,” Kitar said, tightening the straps holding a bow on to his pack. “Why would I stop you? I’d like it, in fact.”

     “Good,” the Lupe said, grinning. “Because I’d come with you whether you wanted me to or not.” Kitar laughed. The journey back seemed so much brighter, now that he’d have company. “I think you’ll enjoy Dunburrow. You might even want to stay.”

     * * *

     “Thanks for coming back with me,” Kitar said. Darren shrugged. “I don’t have any obligations back where I came from, and Dunburrow is as nice a place as any.”

     “Does that mean you’ll stay?”

     “Well, I don’t have any reason to return to Ulfhame, so why not?”

     Kitar smiled, happier than he had been since called away to war. He knocked on the cottage’s door, and when it was opened by a Xweetok, green of eyes and mane, he said, “I’m home.”

     Daesha cried out, leaping towards him, hugging him so hard he felt like she was squeezing the breath out of him.

     “Hey, hey,” he said. “Stop hugging so hard.” But he was hugging her back, just as hard, and tears were coming out of both of their eyes.

     Eventually they released each other, and Daesha looked at Darren curiously. “And this would be?”

     “Darren,” Kitar said. “I’ve told you about him in the letters I sent, remember?”

     “Yes, I remember. Why’s he here, then?”

     “Because,” Darren said. “I wanted to see what kind of place made Kitar what he is.”

     Kitar blushed, though it was impossible to see that he did through his black fur. “You didn’t tell me that.”

     “You didn’t ask.”

     “True,” Kitar said. “And if you’re going to stay, you can live with me. Until you get a house of your own, at least.”

     “Thank you,” Darren said. “That’s more than I expected to get, coming here with nothing but your friendship.”

     “Hey,” Daesha broke in. “Aren’t you going to ask me if it’s all right that he lives with us?”

     “Sorry. Do you mind?”

     “No,” Daesha said. “Not at all.”

The End