Gerrik's War Journal 1st Entry (Revised)

***Special Note to Readers*** I am writing this particular piece to be extra material to go along with my published Novel: The Adventures of D'artello: Love and War. This account stands alone by itself, but the main character, Gerrik, is the father of the hero in the novel. My intent is to publish this on my book's website: http://www.dartelloadventures.blogspot.com. The journal will contain several entries and I will post them in this community piece by piece so that reading the account is not daunting. Please visit my portfolio for all available entries. Any feedback is greatly appreciated and once I build up a little, I will award more GP.

Thanks to all returning readers for the feedback by the way. It was helpful in creating this revision.

1031 Harpa Sumardagurinn

         The first of summer means the first of labor. Citizens of Vashti have migrated in droves of tens of thousands west of the Welson River. This land is absolutely breathtaking. The forests are so lush, the air is so fresh, and food from these near virgin farmlands has flavor like nothing grown in Vashti.  For the last four years I have looked forward to summertime with Erickson to learn of architecture and the perks of being a lord.

         Erickson has taught me to read and write, and last night he gave me this journal and told me to put an entry in it every night. Well, judging by the number of pages, he must not expect me to live out the year, so I’m only going to write the really important stuff down.

        Aside from sending a fourth of my pay to my parents to help them through the harsh times back home, my dream is to build us a house here in the west. To leave the troubles of the densely populated land of Vashti for something a little more...free.

         After a hard days work, we spent the evening at the pub drinking and feasting. Unbelievable, there serenading the drunkards was Maria. I’m 16 so she has to be 15, we have grown so much since my first summer here five years ago. She’s pretty. I wonder what she thinks of me. She sang and danced so wonderfully with her hair tied up in blue ribbons.

         Erickson elbowed me when he caught me staring. With his head against a whore’s breast and his meaty hand around his stein, he told me a woman had never loved him, thus he had no sons. He’d been a friend to my father for so long he thought of him as a brother, and me, a nephew. As he put it, ”should the drink take me before a lonely heart, I’ll leave my business to you.” Pleased, I bought him another drink. I don’t know what he meant about the love part, but he gets wild when he starts drinking. Just after the stein I bought him, he led the bar in song himself.

         This gave me a good chance to talk to Maria. Before I could get to her though, Norman burst into the bar. He’s a serious man, but he had such a look of urgency that I thought he was going to slug Erickson when he tried to get him to stop singing. When all was quiet he unfolded a letter from the Vashti Capital. King Rames had passed away. He was a great man. The last war with Genzak took all the old king had left in him. It left the country poor and him deathly ill. Still we were shocked at the news.

         Ever leery, John and Beck began to speak ill of Prince Eduard who was to take the throne. In all the commotion, I missed my chance to talk to Maria. She had already gone home. I must admit, I have always ignored the skepticisms of those gaffers, but tonight they left me with the unease to write.

-Gerrik of Vashti

See the next entry "Gerrik's War Journal 2nd Entry (Revised)"