Dream of Legends Read Free

are upon us now. Nothing like it, ever. We have to be very, very careful.”
    Edmund’s grin dimmed, and his face reflected his friend’s grave countenance. “I need no explanation. I knew what we are facing, the moment that I saw the look upon Aldric’s face. He is like the rock of a mountain … and has the presence of one too. But I know without a doubt that I saw a flicker of fear within his eyes, as he related the word that has come to us of the approaching enemy forces.”
    “The best of warriors still knows fear. Fear focuses the mind, and tempers the resolve,” Aethelstan commented. His expression then brightened a little. “So, have you eaten yet?”
    “They had some good woodland boar for the sky riders when we arrived. It seems that some men from the general levy met with some fortune in the woods nearby,” Edmund said. “To think that only nobles hunt in the forests of Avanor. My stomach gives thanks that our lands have no such laws! It is fortuitous that our levymen are hunters, not to mention valuable for our supply of archers.”
    “You know how to tempt an appetite, for I am starving after my own journey,” Aethelstan stated. He clasped his friend’s arm, just below Edmund’s left shoulder. “Then join me for some food and drink, if only for company. I am famished.”
    “Maybe there is some meade about?” Edmund said, with evident hope in his voice.
    Aethelstan laughed. “Alas, you hope too far. There is not, and if there were, it would truly be secured from the likes of you.”
    “My reputation precedes me always,” Edmund said, laughing as he shook his head.
    The two men walked to a nearby fire, where they were swiftly attended to by a couple of men from the camp.
    Wooden cups and platters were brought out to them, and they were soon provided with a simple meal. Some wheat bread was served, which was just starting to toughen, and needed to be softened in a vegetable and grain pottage. A clay pitcher of ale, already strained, filled their cups more than once.
    Some fresh mutton had been procured from a small village a few leagues back, and it took a little time to roast the modest amounts upon a spit. Finally, there were a few special cakes sweetened with honey.
    It was not the complex fare of a feast in a longhall, but it was a welcome respite from the usual foods partaken of on a longer campaign.
    “Some good fortune is with us,” Aethelstan commented contentedly, as his hunger pangs were eradicated.
    “Quite a good fare for a campaign,” Edmund complimented, taking a long draft of ale. He smacked his lips, grinned, and held his cup out, as one of the men attending to them filled it up once again.
    “Now slow yourself down a little,” Aethelstan said, not entirely in jest.
    “I want to enjoy times like this,” Edmund said, as he glanced up, staring towards the serenity of the night sky. “Two friends sharing a good meal and ale, under a clear Saxan sky. For me that is my treasure.”
    “And I hope to have many more such times, once we have dealt with these Avanorans,” Aethelstan said.
    He could see that his friend was wrestling with a number of fears. The years had taught him much about Edmund, enough to see that underneath the Saxan’s confident façade his friend was ridden with anxiety and deep foreboding about the coming struggle.
    “Do not worry about me,” Edmund said, almost as if he had just read Aethelstan’s mind. “No matter what thoughts enter my head, I shall be at the lead of our Himmerosen come daybreak.”
    “No matter what is hurled against us, let us make sure that we survive together,” Aethelstan said.
    “No man can make such a promise. Life is a fragile thing, and war so unpredictable,” Edmund stated.
    “We can do everything that is left to our own power … and be as clever as we are able, fight as hard as we are capable of, and what will come, will come. Only the All-Father knows what will happen,” Aethelstan said, resolve burning within