There was also another horse with no one on it. “This horse is for you. A servant already put your stuff on the packhorse.”

One of the soldiers hopped of his horse and approached Thomas. “If you are going to ride with us, then you will need some stuff to defend yourself until the day that you start as a page.”

He went up to the packhorse and brought three things over. “We all chipped in to buy you this stuff. We figured you’d need it at one point or another.”

The first thing he handed over was a nice bow with a set of arrows. Thomas was beaming. He was honored that they thought him strong enough to keep this. The other thing he handed him was a scabbard containing a sword.

Thomas’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Go on son.” Said one of the soldiers. Thomas took the sword out of the scabbard. It was a nice steel gleaming sword. It was a little big for him, but it was meant to be, that way he could grow into it.

“Thank you so much.” He said tying the scabbard around his waist. He put the bow and arrows in a bag that the horse he had been given had on it.

Then he propelled himself over and on top of the horse. Grabbing the reins, he asked, “What is its name.”

“Her name is Moondance.” Said Liam.

Thomas patted her neck. She was a big black gelding, and her hair was silver. Thomas made himself comfortable.

“So first we will go on the path through the woods that will take us towards the desert where we will spend a day out in the open. It’ll take us a day to get through the woods, so we will camp at the edge of the forest tonight. By tomorrow night, we should be in Anray. Thomas, come ride up here with me.”

Thomas urged his horse up towards Liam until he drew level with his. The other men began to follow them. “You seem sure comfortable with a horse even though none of us ever taught you about them.” Said Liam.

Thomas’s face grew hot. “I had to learn some time, and since none of you seemed too keen to teach me the ropes, I decided to figure it out myself.”

“I should’ve figured you would. You learn everything you can learn, even if someone won’t teach you.” Thomas grinned at Liam’s words.

They rode for several hours in the woods with nothing but the sound of some of the men talking and the sound of the woods. By noon, they took a break to eat.

Thomas jumped down from Moondance and went over to where the men were sitting down to eat. He grabbed a bowl of cold soup and ate it very fast.

“So, Thomas,” Said a soldier named Andrew. “I haven’t seen you practice in a long time. Are you able to handle a real sword yet?”

“I can for some of the simpler patterns, but I haven’t quite mastered the more difficult ones yet.”

“Really? What about your punches?”

“My knuckles haven’t bled in weeks.”

“That’s a pretty big accomplishment for your age.”

Some of the other men sat around talking about other matters, and after some time, they left to get back on the road.

When the sun started to set, the men set up camp, and some of them helped Thomas learn how to make his own spot to sleep.

“We’ll take turns for watch. I’ll go first.” Said Liam. The rest of them drifted off to sleep.

Later in the night, one soldier came and shook Thomas awake. “Your turn.” He said.

Thomas got right up and headed to their watch spot. It was an honor for them to allow him to keep watch. That means they had confidence in his abilities and trusted him fully.

Thomas kept vigilant for several hours and the Sun started to rise. He wasn’t tired, just excited. Slowly, the men started to wake up, so Thomas decided to pack his things.

After eating meat strips for breakfast, they left their campsite behind, leaving no trace that they had been there. Soon, they entered the desert which was boiling hot, and all you could see was sand, sand, and more sand.

They rode for several hours, passing around water in water skins to drink.

At one point, Liam made the signal to stop. Thomas wondered why they stopped until he saw a group of bandits coming towards them from the nearest sand dune. As they got closer, he saw there was about 40 of them to their small troop of seven, and they were dead set on their group.