"Quite something isn't it my boy?" Thaddeus asked smiling proudly.
I nodded my head at a loss for words.
"Beautiful and idealic as it may look Roric it has stood up to its fair share of war. Five times the village has been raised to the ground and once the castle itself was almost taken in a prolonged siege. That of course all happened before the wall at Kingdom Pass was built." He said finishing.
We started out again and soon we were entering into the village commons. They had apparently been expecting us and knew of my existence. People, my people, were thronged around us as we passed through the village. The people were shouting and singing ancient songs that struck cords within my heart that had never been played before. The women and children showered us with flowers, while the men respectfully saluted us with swords and fists held aloft. I and my arena friends trailing out behind me had never witnessed such a spectacle of welcome before. I felt countless hands touch my legs reverently, as I rode by as if to feel if I was real or not. I brushed by them and heard their words of blessing and greeting like the endlessly repeating litany of a chorus.
These people were welcoming me as if I was one of their favored own. If this hadn't felt like home before they were certainly making it feel so now. I raised my hand in welcome to these people feeling that it was too small a gesture to convey the emotion I felt for these people's welcome of me. I was home and these people had already won a very special place in my heart by their welcome of me.
I stood bathed in moonlight on the balcony of what was to be my room from now on. The rooms were carved out of the very mountain itself and were accessed by a tower that buttressed up against the side of the mountain. From my vantage point I could look out over the whole castle and the entire valley beyond the walls.
Thaddeus had given me the option of choosing any of the luxurious quarters within the castle including his own, but I had liked these rooms far from the great hall of the castle the most. It was a new experience having four walls around me that were not a prison meant to keep me in, but rather a home.
Most of the towns' people had long since settled in for a well earned evening of rest. They were a hard working people. There were no slaves at Thunder Ridge or in the village beyond. Smoke from their dwellings rose lazily into the cold still air of the night. Even though it was late spring and warm during the day the temperatures dropped rapidly after sundown. Yes, this is where I would stay. This was my home now.