With great anticipation and a fair bit of anxiety, Stephan opened the door next to the oak gate of Blackhawke Castle. He hadn't been inside the castle for some eight years. Now as he stood looking over the entrance to the courtyard, its well-manicured look was in real need of work. Most of the windows were shuttered but a few had broken their restraints and now clapped lightly as he stood there. Perhaps they were mocking the return of the son who had left under such dubious disgrace? What ever his reasons, Stephan now stood there looking at the place his father called home. Yes, father's wife also had lived there along with the brood of children she gave life too. Why did he have so much trouble accepting her? Was it Father's unfailing trust and confidence in her? Perhaps her constant defiance and willingness to speak into his face had charmed him. Whatever reason, Stephen never felt comfortable with her.
Slowly Stephan walked about the entry area where once knights and nobles stood. But now an occasional field mouse scurried about searching for that elusive meal. After a brief tug on his sword belt to shift its weight on his hips, Stephan entered into the main house where the memories flooded back at every turn. Everywhere he turned he saw dust and cobwebs, signs that life had left this place long ago. Stephen nearly choked when he sat down in a large chair and a white cloud filled the air. Stephen fell into a fretful sleep as his life danced before his eyes.
After running for his life, Stephen would up in the Middle East where he survived on odd jobs until the day he accepted what seemed a simple rescue job of a young girl from a bunch of savages. That whole affair blew up and took away almost six years of his life. He and 25 men landed in Africa and traveled inland searching for the child only to run into the soldiers from hell. Those savages pursued them as no man has ever pursued him. Of the 25 men he commanded, nine of them were eaten and some of them were still alive when that happened. The jungle consumed the other sixteen and it was never satisfied. The days all ran together as Stephen recalled the years he wandered the jungle in search of a way home. Fever, sickness, boils, and wounds were his constant companions after his men were gone. When the French merchant found him, Stephen was nearing the point in which he was just as wild and dangerous as the jungle that trained him. It was nearly a year before his body healed and the worse nightmares ceased. But slowly, they did and he became the man he is now.
As the sun slipped below the horizon, Stephen awoke with a start. Wrapping his cloak about him he headed back for Camelot and the Firehall. Hopefully, his beard and the cloak would disguise him enough that no one would recognize him and try to arrest him.