Original X-roads-2003

Meanwhile…
 
    Alrik Peit was the Kings closest consort, as his father before him and his father before that. No one questioned the loyalty of the Peit family.
    Though someone probably should have.
    Four hundred years peace reigned on the continent of Heldinbor. People contributed this to the army of Heldinbur and it’s many knights who served as generals.
    The knights were always recruited by the Peits. Every knight had to fit certain criteria. Honorable, trustworthy, loyal, and kind, the Knights of Heldinbor keep everyone in mind. Though some locals change the last word from “mind” to “line”. All knights acted uniformly the same. No matter how the opposition treated them, a knight always responded with kindness and patience.
    Alrik knew the peace of the land was winding down. More and more the citizens of Asron and Frija were becoming disruptive. Though they were small villages to the east, their agitation and restlessness grew. What had started as the town drunk and the blacksmiths of both towns had now grown to eighty percent.
    The reports varied from person to person as the cause, even the original three gave alternating stories. Perhaps they were all true, or maybe none of them were true. Irregardless they would not back down from their demands.
    They wanted freedom. Freedom from the Knights that roamed the land day and night tirelessly, spying and watching. They wanted the freedom to leave their land and explore other continents. Freedoms to do as they pleased, say as they pleased, work as they pleased.
    Alrik knew the system was not broken, it had worked successfully for four hundred years. Those upstarts to the east needed to be quelled. He picked up the spending allowance for the season, one third of it was to hire new knights.
    He trundled down the secret teleporter his great grandfather had built in the basement of the family home. In a flash he was standing inside an underground cavern.