Rodrick

Heavy thick boots slapped the muddy trail, the sounds of snapping branches, the chatter of wild animals, and the occasional scrape of Kent's plate armor filled the ears of Rodrick. Rodrick, it was just Rodrick, not Rodrick Dunn as Kent's namesake. They shared the same father, Lord Ferric Dunn, King of Berin, nicknamed "The Gregarious" by his loving subjects, and the Lord loved them just as dearly, some particularly deeper. That is how he came to be, "Bastard", that was his title, his only title. Kent was the son of Lord Ferric Dunn and Lady Mira Stanner, one of the few descendants of the last emperor of Raxus. He however was the son of some tavern whore who his charming father brought to warm his bed one evening outside his city.

Lord Dunn didn't pay the price for this, he merely accepted Rodrick as his kin and afforded him the small courtesy's required from a king. The real price was on Rodrick's head, bearing the blue mark on his flesh, watching his half-brothers live the life he was so close to having, but not him, he had the wrong mother. Like most bastards in Rexral, Rodrick joined "The Bannerless" an army of sellswords, the only way a bastard could try and make a name for himself, the only way to try and find honor. He half regretted coming back to Berin on Lord Dunn's request a week prior, then he wouldn't be here, and he wouldn't be left babysitting the fourth born.

Rodrick looked over his shoulder and slowed to a halt, watching the slim boy stumbled his way towards him. Kent's arm's hung low, his knee's nearly buckled with each step. Only three days and this boy was ready to keel over, he'd never make it with the bannerless. This made Rodrick smirk, he may not be a trueborn, but he had that over Kent, "Need a break...again?" Rodrick asked as he crossed his arms, now hearing Kent's soft pants as he reached him,

"N-No, I'm...I'm fine, lead on, Brother," Kent said a strongly as he could, doing his best to stand straight,

Rodrick's smirk drifted away, pride being replaced by guilt quite quickly. Kent was the only one who always called him brother, never with hesitation, no matter who was there with him, to Kent, Rodrick was his brother just as Asher and Harren were. "Here, sit down, we can take a moment," Rodrick easily told the boy who swiftly fell down onto a stump, reaching out for the waterskin Rodrick handed him, "Drink slow, and not all of it, the nearest stream isn't for another five leagues.

"How do you know all this?" Kent coughed as he guzzled some water,

Kent always had questions for him, and unlike most boys, Kent asked with the intention of listening to the answer and learning from it, he'd always had that virtue. Rodrick ran his hand up and scratched at his bushy beard, "I traveled Kent, I've traveled these lands for years, Berin the most out of any,"

"With the Bannerless?" Kent continued to ask as he handed the waterskin back,

"Well yes, but not in the beginning, I preferred the wilderness and villages instead of the cities and castles that father kept you and your brothers in," Rodrick explained,

"Father wanted you to stay there too, he used to tell me," Kent said with a chipper tone, "He wanted you to train to become master-at-arms. Then you could have trained me and Harren, made as good of fighters as you are,"

Rodrick fought off a scoff, he could scarcely believe that his father was heartbroken over his leaving, he hadn't paid him any mind during his youth, and never expressed him being placed in an important position in his court. He was a burden on Lord Dunn's name, that much he knew without a second thought, "I had more important callings to answer, Kent, I know father understood,"

"I'm sure he did, I just wished you were there more when I was growing up," Kent admitted as he got back to his feet, "Okay, I've rested, lead on, Brother,"

"Try to keep up, the last trueborn son of Ferric Dunn is a mighty prize for headhunters, as well as my only chance to get accepted into Naeria," Rodrick replied, the tail end of his sentence showing a rare amount of playful teasing,

"If I see the walls and get there first, I'll remind them to close you out," Kent joked back as the pair continued to make their way towards the Naeria's border. Rodrick thought four more days would bring them to Sunriseway, and to the last of the Stanner house, the only hope for Kent's protection.