Black Records 4

Dreichels Takes Up Arms - Year 949

	A young man lazed up on a grassy plain, enjoying a nap in the peaceful setting.

	Before long, however, his rest was interrupted by the arrival of a second young man on horseback. The youth wore the trappings of a knight and his expression was deathly serious. His armor bore many rents and scratches and his left arm was bound in a bloody bandage. The first young man had not seen him in several years, but a cheerful reunion did not seem to be his purpose.

	'You were right after all,' the second man said gravely. 'At this rate, the Empire's days are numbered.'

	At this, the first young man rose from the grass.

	He was none other than the third prince of the Erebonian Empire, Prince Dreichels.



	As a man with no claim to the throne due to his commoner mother and shunned by other highborn princes, Dreichels had long since left Erebonia behind, wandering from place to place and wiling away his days. Three years prior he had reached the land of Nord, where he had remained ever since.

	Though left to his own devices since childhood, his nature was noble and he was quickly accepted by the people of Nord and lived peacefully among them. But while he had left his homeland, he had not truly abandoned it in his heart.

	During his wanderings his mother had passed away, but while she lived, she had told him something that would remain with him for the rest of his days.

	'The blood flowing through you will not allow you to turn your back on the Empire's suffering.'

	Prince Dreichels had turned those words over in his head again and again. What could a powerless vagrant like himself truly hope to do?

	The knight's arrival, however, signified two things--that the war continued to worsen, and that Erebonia was on a certain path to ruination.

	His mother was probably correct. Hearing the knight's words, he decided that enough was enough. He could ignore the pain of his countrymen no longer.

	That knight, incidentally, was called Roland. He was a childhood friend of Dreichels' and was his confidant. He was also the man who Dreichels had left in charge of things in his place before leaving the country.

	Prince Dreichels set about preparing to depart, but before he could finish he was met by several of the tall knights of Nord, their cross shaped spears in hand. They, too, were close friends of Dreichels, and they volunteered to accompany him and Roland, fearing that the two men alone would not stand a chance.

	The next morning the prince departed the village, a mere seventeen men under his command. They bade farewell to the people of the settlement, and its elder wished them well.

	'May the winds and Goddess be with you,' he blessed them. 'Fortune favor you all.'