A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind)

I rode at the head of the column eager to see the home of my ancestors. Thaddeus didn't ride any more due to the pain it caused his bad leg. He rode in a carriage farther back in the column, every part of him still yearning for the freedom of his youth.

This was the third day of the journey from Kingdom Pass and still no words could come to me to describe the beauty of the land that was on display all around me. Ancient primeval forests pocketed the dips and hollows of the mountains and valleys. While vast stretches of open grassland stretched out like a patchwork quilt over the rolling terrain of the valley bottoms. The terrain was broken up here and there by rocky up thrusts, which penetrated the seas of grass like ships at full sail. The snow capped ridges of the mountains rose up to the sky to our right, as gurgling brooks ran down everywhere from the mountains spilling their cold waters into the seas of grass on their endless journey to the sea. Waterfalls could be seen in the distance, as they cascaded down from the mountains. A cool wind that felt just right blew into my face and rippled through the tall grass around me as far as the eye could see.

My eyes drank in the paradise I was riding through relishing every moment of it. Here and there isolated cottages and groups of dwellings could be seen with their cultivated fields and orchards. It was midday when my eyes saw for the first time the home of my ancestors, Thunder Ridge.

The castle was built out of the side of one mountain and lay nestled in a cul-de-sac formed by several others. Towers rose majestically from the tiered castle fortifications echoing the grandeur of the surrounding mountain peaks. A huge waterfall split down the sheer side of the cliff next to the castle on its left side. The stream that the waterfall formed spilled into a mote, which flowed around the front of the castle wall, and exited at the far end of the curved castle wall. It fell in a shorter waterfall at the end of the mote to continue downhill lazily where it swung around the village located at the base of the mountain that the castle was constructed against. The castle was built of the same golden granite as that of the wall at Kingdom Pass.

The castle and its towers were wreathed with flowering vines that bloomed white and let off a honeysuckle smell that I could already smell on the breeze. This was Thunder Ridge. Unknowingly I had stopped to gaze, with wonder upon the still distant castle. I didn't notice my grandfather's carriage until it drew up beside of me and stopped.