[center][h2][i][color=6ecff6]Ethelred[/color][/i][/h2][/center]

Outside of the castle walls, sitting upon a rock overlooking the shore, Ethelred sat with a book in his hand.  His horse stood nearby, its reins held firmly in Ethelred's other hand.  The knight's lance and shield lay nearby, ready to be used if he found himself facing peril.  The horse seemed to be sniffing something in the air, but the knight paid no heed, his attention completely given to the book he was reading.  While it was true that some found his found his appearance, being unable to remove his strange, crystalline armor, and it was true that the stable keepers were somewhat relieved when they didn't have to watch his strange, cursed horse, he had a much simpler reason for his isolation out here.  He simply wanted better light to read by, with no shadows to obscure the rays of the early morning sun.

The book told a tale, written after he had been frozen, of the struggles and conflicts of a village somewhere in the northern part of Albion.  It was a rather quaint matter compared to the tales of the Betrayed God or the great king of Albion, but it was nonetheless a piece of history that Ethelred had missed while he was trapped in ice.  Since being freed, he had sought to catch up on everything that had transpired in the century that had passed during his imprisonment.  Sometimes he listened to the tales of bards in taverns, while other times, such as this one he sought out books from the town's humble library.  From what he could surmise from the stories, things had gotten steadily worse over the last century.  However, with this queen showing up and gathering the greatest knights of the land, it seemed like there was finally hope to make things better...

Suddenly, Ethelred heard the bells from the town.  He jumped to his feet, dropped the book, and grabbed his weapons.  He made it a habit to always be prepared for trouble when venturing outside the walls.  His armor, cold powers, and animal companion would normally be more than enough to handle most troublemakers, but the knight knew from experience that he might need his lance.  He climbed atop his horse and rode off towards the town, the mount's excitement causing it to create a trail of frozen footprints and icy fog behind it.  He wasn't sure what the commotion was about, but whatever it was, he needed to get there as quickly as possible.

[color=6ecff6][i]It sounds like it's coming from the north gate,[/i][/color] he assessed as he drew close enough to the town to distinguish the direction.  He cantered off, heading in the direction in the north gate, unsure what he'd find there.  There were several possibilities he could think of.  There were many greedy people out there who would seek to take advantage of the honest people of the town, and many supernatural beings that'd take delight in tormenting them.  Furthermore, there were those, both mundane and mystical, that likely saw the Queen and her aspirations as a threat, and would seek to bring her down before her goals could be realized.  Whatever the case, whoever they were, whatever their aims were, they needed to be stopped.

Or perhaps a sentry simply saw a large animal lumbering about in the distance and mistook it for an Elder Beast...