I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Chapter 515: Journey to the Top

"I never thought I would be up here again after such a tough summer," Irene commented from where she peered at the valley over the tops of the trees below.

She had lifted the visor on her helmet, but knew she couldn’t merely stand there and admire the scenery, so she turned towards the group she and Felix were leading. It consisted mostly of apprentices, while Henry had his apprentice, Bren, and a few knights on the other side of the mountain.

"Better hurry or you’re going to have a worried Commander rushing down the other side of the mountain to make sure you’re in one piece if we don’t make it to the top by this afternoon," Felix insisted with a devilish smirk.

Irene let out a dramatic sigh.

Before leaving a day before, Henry hadn’t liked the idea of his bride sleeping on the cold ground overnight. It led to an argument that, shamefully, lasted until they were in front of the knights. That was when Irene decided that she would join Felix and the apprentices so she could focus on winterization rather than making sure she seemed comfortable while doing a job that wasn’t meant to be cozy.

"He will shape up," Irene grumbled. "He knows deep down that I didn’t want to be a knight so I could be coddled. It isn’t as if I will get shot with another poison arrow by a goblin as with my first winterization."

One of the apprentices cast a sideways glance at Irene as if to silently wonder, ’That is a possibility?’ However, Irene patted the apprentice on his shoulder clad in leatherbound armor.

"The poison in this region has been eradicated, and we haven’t seen goblins so far this journey," Irene assured him. "Sylaron has been controlling the pests. At this point, our job is to ensure the finer details don’t go without notice. Her method of eradication is fiery and fast but not thorough."

Felix merely shook his head and started walking again. He took the head of their party while five apprentices followed him, and Irene remained in the back.

There wasn’t much to be said as they continued up the rockier points and avoided obstacles in the path that caused the trail to weave in and out. Even in the time Irene had been a knight, it seemed that it had eroded a little bit. They may have to take more measures to dig a new trail if that was the case.

However, they came to a bend and noticed smoke rising in the air.

"Fresh smoke?" Felix questioned.

He picked up his speed, and everyone followed him, all drawing their weapons as they cautiously rounded a bend, a uniform noise of metal scraping as swords were unsheathed. Their response time was something to be admired, but Irene kept it to herself, considering the moment could result in an emergency situation depending on what they found.

Once they rounded this southern side of the mountain, they came upon something Irene recognized instantly.

"This is where we once entered the mountain and found a shortcut to the summit," Irene explained, amazed.

"Is it worth going inside, dame?" Hugh asked. "What if someone is down there?"

"It collapsed inside while we were battling goblins," Irene explained, and she ran a gloved hand along the outer edge of the small opening. The stone was scarred with black, and she knew what it meant. "And it seems that a dragon has been here before us. It isn’t a manmade fire."

Even though all apprentices glanced around in amazement, Felix could only laugh. The kids were still getting used to a dragon being in their arsenal. While everyone in Chemois knew of her existence by now, many didn’t know that she wasn’t a pet but a useful creature who served their Duke and Commander.

"Let us press on," Felix directed. "We will be able to have a nice long break once we summit. There might even be an option to get a deer or rabbit if there is anything trying to winter in the small meadow at the top."

The apprentices who were all growing boys with bottomless pits for stomachs nodded eagerly and kept up easily with the knight after he said as much. They were food motivated, which made them easy to reward, in Irene’s opinion.

As she observed them, she couldn’t help smiling and thinking of her own journey to the top of this mountain a few times in her past. It seemed so impossible at one point, especially because she didn’t summit on her first trip, but now it was she and Felix teaching the apprentices.

Admittedly, it also caused her to remember Leif and his blatant fear of heights despite his insistence not to talk about it. Her heart clenched. There would always be whispers of her old friend as long as she lived beside this mountain and in the foothills and valley. Every piece of it was full of their memories. Even though they had rounded the trail to the other side of the mountain, she knew if she saw the ancient wall segment now being used as a point for where they would build the new wall, she still thought of Leif whenever it caught her eye.

They did arrive at the top without a hitch. After all, many summers had passed since they used to have to traverse over the landslide that Felix had once almost slipped down. It had been hollowed out and secured with ropes so future winterization travelers would never have to bother with the fear of falling to their deaths. This was something Gunnar had assured them was taken care of when they were without a Duke. For being someone unassuming, the old knight had given a great deal to the knighthood in his own silent way.

Irene watched as the apprentices rushed forward and through what was left of the grasses that autumn as they began to dry up and wait for the snow that would soon come. They were so excited to be on flat ground. Even if the path had been made safer, it still was a bit overwhelming, especially if it was your first time.

"You seem a bit thoughtful," Felix commented as he watched the kids take off.

"Being up here reminds me of Leif," Irene admitted. "There’s still a bit of him left in every part of the mountain and the lands around the Duke’s Tower."

Felix smiled warmly. "That there is. He would be amazed to see the knight you’ve turned into."

"I appreciate that," she responded quietly. "He would feel the same for you. Although my competitive nature makes me think that if he were still here, we would have had to spar it out for the third rank in the knighthood."

Felix chuckled and shook his head. There was no way of knowing that for sure, but he couldn’t imagine anyone else ranked just below him.

However, as her eyes scanned the mountaintop, she saw the point at which it bowed downward and where they would likely camp that night behind the trees and towards the rocky wall. Instead of Leif, that part reminded her of Henry and one of the first times she realized just how nervous he made her.

She was so eager to see her husband even though it had only been one day.

Felix wouldn’t admit that he noticed her pace pick up as they walked deeper into the meadow and towards the trees. This was where they were supposed to meet the others. He imagined if he were married to someone, he would also be eagerly waiting for the other half to see him again.

The knights decided to let their packs down and remove the upper halves of their armor since there were evidently no threats and enough leaves had fallen from the trees in the small crop of trees that there were no predators to speak of for them to worry about—unlike when Irene garnered a scar she still carried near her collarbones and shoulder.

They wouldn’t totally settle in since they would sleep closer to the wall where warmth could be preserved, but sitting felt nice after a full day of hiking up.

At the sound of the other knights finally arriving, Irene stood up and cast her eyes towards the noise.

However, her eyebrows lowered when she saw the handful of knights and one apprentice, but her husband was nowhere to be found.

Her questioning gaze was met with an answer—albeit a confused one.

"The Commander left with... the dragon?" Bren responded, his inflection going upward at the end of the sentence as if he wasn’t even sure what he was saying.