Free The Ransom Knight by Jonathan Moeller

Chapter 1: A Lord’s Task

    “You’re going to deliver a ransom for me,” said Malden Roland, Lord of Knightcastle and liege lord of Knightreach. 
    Mazael Cravenlock grunted. “I am?” 
    He had known that something was happening. Every morning, Lord Malden Roland went for a walk around the walls of Knightcastle, starting with the outer curtain wall, ascending the tiers of the massive castle, and ending at the Arcade of Sorrows, the pillared walkway around the outer edge of the High Court itself. From here Mazael had a splendid view of the lower towers and walls of Knightcastle, the gleaming silver ribbon of the Riversteel, and the walls and houses of Castle Town a few miles away. 
    The view did not cheer him. Lord Malden only took his knights up here when he was displeased with them…or when he had a task in mind. 
    “You are,” said Malden. He was a tall man in his early fifties, with iron-gray hair tucked beneath a cap, an aquiline face, and pale blue eyes. He wore a mantle and cloak of the finest materials, his gleaming boots clicking against the polished stone of the floor. A pair of nervous young squires in blue tabards adorned with the silver greathelm sigil of the Rolands trailed after him, ready to answer his commands. 
    “There are couriers for hire in Castle Town,” said Mazael.
    Someone behind him coughed, and Mazael glanced at his own squire. Gerald Roland was now thirteen and in the midst of a growth spurt, which left him looking awkward, though he had the same blue eyes and aquiline features as his father. Yet he attended to his clothes and boots with the same sober devotion which he brought to every aspect of his life. The boy would have made a good priest or monk, but Lord Malden wanted his youngest son to become a good knight, so Gerald had become Mazael’s squire. Mazael was neither pious nor particularly sober, but he was very good at fighting. 
    Which was why, he suspected, Lord Malden had a task for him.
    “I could hire a courier,” said Lord Malden. “I could also visit the cheapest tavern in Castle Town and eat whatever they slop to serve as stew. I shall do neither, because I am the Lord of Knightcastle. Which is also why you are going to deliver the ransom for me.”
    Mazael sighed. “Very well. Who has gotten himself captured?”
    “Sir Edmund Redmane,” said Malden, “one of my vassals. He has a keep on the eastern edge of Knightreach, not far from the Stormvales.” Mazael had met the middle-aged Sir Edmund once or twice and had a vague recollection of him. “Recently he went on a hunting trip, and ranged far afield into the Stormvales themselves. One of the petty robber knights of the Stormvales, a man calling himself Sir Traeger Highstone, has abducted Sir Edmund and is holding him for ransom at Castle Highstone.”  
    Mazael snorted. “Someone dared to abduct one of your vassals? You ought to call out your knights, hang Sir Traeger from the highest tower of his castle, and then burn it down around him. That will let the other lords and knights of the realm know that you are not to be trifled with.” 
    “Alas,” said Malden, “while I appreciate your enthusiasm for mayhem, this requires a more delicate touch. Technically, Sir Edmund was trespassing upon Sir Traeger’s lands. Granted, the nobility of the Stormvales are a collection of brigands who occupy half-ruined castles and pretend to be noblemen, but the point still stands. Attacking Castle Highstone would draw the other knights and lords of the Stormvales as flies are drawn to rotten meat. The Dominiar Order is stirring to the south again, and if the eye of Knightcastle turns towards the Stormvales, then Grand Master Malleus might think to carve off some of my lands for himself. That I will not permit. So while burning Castle Highstone to the ground would please me greatly, a softer hand is required in this matter.”
    “Fine,” said Mazael. “If you appreciate my enthusiasm for mayhem, and this matter