footsteps echoed through the stone structure. Brenin
glared towards him. Kailron felt tiny in the powerful
hall.
“You called for me, Sire?” asked Kailron, his voice
was soft as he stepped inside.
Brenin held his hand up to the guard at the door.
The large door slowly closed, sending a boom through
the hall.
“I did, I need to know I can trust someone,” he
softly said, “you know that the roll of High Chief
Commander would see Harris at the forefront of this
war, the council were to leave matters of war to him,
tell me, who sent it?”
Kailron gave a heavy sigh as he walked towards the
throne, he made his way, slowly, up the steps.
“The council, tried to call a meeting, when Harris
arrived. A vote was taken, I can give the names of
those who wanted to remove the third.” Kailron shook
his head, his voice was filled with hate. “It was stupid,
what they did, I knew this would happen, and so did
they.” His eyes filled with unrestrained hate. “They
wanted to send them to Elmoor, they suspected the
Atlanti were heading that way, we had no proof of this.
I insisted they leave it to the HCC, but they didn’t
listen.”
Brenin could see that Kailron was holding back, he
could sense his rage. “What happened?” he softly
asked.
“Connor,” he harshly replied, “Connor happened,
the vote was against them, Connor was asked to
destroy the letter, he was passionate about voting to
remove them, he must have sent it.”
Brenin’s eyes filled with rage. “Then bring him to
me,” he insisted with a low grumble.
It only took a few moments, Brenin remained,
stewing in his rage in the hall. Connor stepped inside.
His frail frame shook as he scurried in.
“You have a choice, Connor,” grumbled Brenin,
“the only option is the truth. Did you remove the
Sonnin third, from Marrion?”
Connor shook his head, he looked to Brenin, wide
eyed. “We all did, Sire, a few who voted against, they
didn’t see the real implications, Marrion was as good
as won, even the HCC told us that, Harris himself, he
wrote it was as good as won.” His hands shook as he
came closer towards the towering throne. “I was
simply following what he had said, I sent the letter, as
Marrion no longer needed the third.”
Brenin slowly nodded. “Harelda, she will not rest,
until someone is found at fault, you sent the letter, it
left your hand, even though, all matters of war were to
be left to the HCC. It was placed into law, Connor,
that the High Chief Commander, would be the only
one to deal with matters of war. The Sonnin third is
the army of Sonnin, meddling in the affairs of another
kingdom is treason.” Brenin leant forward, the
calmness of his voice changed to a darkness, “I have
heard much about you, Connor, I refused to believe it
at first, since a tavern owner is not the most
trustworthy we have, the letters you have sent, they all
make sense now. The council will suffer for this, but
you have another choice.” Brenin took a parchment
from the side of his chair. Connor widened his eyes;
he knew what the parchment was. “Connor Malroy
Jenkinson,” Brenin officially began, “it is placed upon
me, by power of the gods, to find you guilty of treason,
murder, and mass extinction of life, you will now be
offered your choice.” Brenin leant forward, Connor
quivered as he did, a tear began to sit in his eyes.
“Offenmoor, or death?” he seemed unfeeling towards
Connor, he now knew the depth of his betrayal, he
had not only sent the letter to Marrion, he had sent
another, to Enderton, an area of neutrality, where the
Atlanti commanders would often stay, they had
received word from Connor, telling them when best to
attack.
Connor pleaded with Brenin, “Please, sire, I wasn’t
alone in this, please, I beg you.” His voice was high as
he begged, dropping to his knees, “please, the council
would see sense.”
His tears had no sympathy from Brenin, his voice
was deep as he ordered, “Choose, or your fate will be
chosen for you.” Brenin looked to the guards in the
hall.
Crying hysterically on the cold floor of the hall,
Connor still begged. “Please, I was not alone!”
“Guards,” called Brenin, “have him ready, for
Offenmoor.”
His deep voice sent a shooting fear through
Connor. “Please! death!” he called, “I choose death!”
The guards dragged Connor away as he continued to
scream. “Kill me! Please, just kill me! Death, Brenin!
Brenin!” His calls of anguish echoed through the main
hall of the palace, finally the calls died as he was
placed in a cart at the front of the palace and taken to
the first quarter, to await his fate.
The woodlands offered little comfort to Branwen,
she would be home the next day, but her heart was
still empty, she had suffered more loss than she ever
thought she could cope with.
“Once you’re safe in Sonnin, I’ll be going back to
Cronnin, I need to ensure this is dealt with
accordingly,” said Harris as he sat beside the fire. The
flames danced in her glaring eyes. “Bran,” he tried to
get a response from her.
“Smoke,” she softly said. Harris sat back; a look of
sympathy caught his eyes. “I remember smelling
smoke.”
“That would be from our soldiers, the gobgee, they
hate flames, but the screams are horrendous.”
Branwen looked up to Harris, for the first time,
she looked into his eyes. “I was so scared, I remember
thinking, how much I needed you there.” Her voice
broke with tears.
Harris stood and quickly walked towards her, he
dropped by her side and held her close. “I’m here
now,” he tenderly said to her, his voice was filled with
the painful thought of losing her. “I didn’t even dress
properly, this is what I left in,” he gave a quick laugh,
“I couldn’t think of living, knowing you were gone.”
Branwen narrowed her eyes towards him. “How?”
Her voice quivered, she sniffed her nose and sat back.
“How did you know? Cronnin would only have found
out today how did you know so fast?”
Harris leant back; he held his index finger up.
“That is an interesting question,” he said with a wide
smile. He held her hands. “You once mentioned,
Librye, Brenin’s ward,” he sat beside her and looked
to the flames, “she’s certainly interesting, she knew of
this, the moment it happened, her powers are beyond
belief,” his words held pride in Librye. He looked to
Branwen, who was hunched over with her elbows
resting on her knees. “I can honestly say, if one person
> can force me to settle, it’s Librye.” His smile widened
as he spoke of her. “She’s so small, but so big at the
same time, her mind is a maze of knowledge, and
she’s only seven,” he turned to Branwen, “you’ll meet
her, soon.” He sat back, with a breath. “She will love
you.”
“Do you think?” finally, she began to smile. “I
can’t wait to meet her.”
“In the meantime.” It was a bad moment, but he
needed to mention it. “How are you feeling, about
us?”
“Honestly,” she raised her brows towards him, her
eyes were still red with tears which had now dried,
“better. Anna, she helped me.” Branwen’s smile grew.
“When you left, I stayed in the commander’s
chambers, helping Anna in whatever way I could. Our
talks helped, she knew about us,” she softly admitted.
Her smile withered as she looked down. “I suppose
that doesn’t matter now.”
Harris reassured Branwen. “Anna would tell no
one, she was one of the few I trusted, she will be
greatly missed.”
The Sonnin woodland was bright and airy as they
entered. Riding in on a white horse, Branwen came
through the palace gates, Harris followed on Svend.
The guards were shocked to see them both alive and
well.
Stepping into the palace hall, Harelda shot from a
room at the back of the plinth. Her arms were wide, it
was the first time her motherly side had shown in a
long time as she ran towards Branwen.
“My girl!” cried Harelda as she embraced
Branwen. She turned to Harris. “I am indebted to
you, Commander,” she softly said. Her eyes were wide
towards him a loving glow seemed to fill her eyes.
Harris softly replied, “It was my pleasure, my
queen, I did this for me, as much as you.” Harelda
seemed to give a dark look toward Harris. “Branwen,
and I,” he paused, looking down his voice was soft,
“we have a history, in saving each other’s lives.” He
gave a huff of a laugh before he went on. “Let’s just
say, whenever we need each other, we seem to be
there.”
His twisted smile towards Branwen caused her to
laugh. “He’s very right, we do indeed have a colourful
past,” she softly said. Branwen turned to Harris, as
formally as she could she said, “Thank you,
commander, for again, saving my life, we are both
indebted to you,” her wide smile grew, “please, stay, at
least for one night, before returning.”
Harris shook his head. “My work isn’t over,” he
said with a deep voice, he looked to Harelda. “I need
to find the person responsible.”
The slate cold glare from his eyes sent shivers
through Harelda, she enjoyed it. “They already have,”
she said with a low tone. She walked towards her
office at the side. “Connor, he will be executed at the
start of Nean.” She stepped into her office, Branwen
and Harris followed. He could not help but touch her
soft hand, as Harelda’s back was turned. They both
stood in the doorway. “It was believed the letter was
sent without consent from the council.” She turned to
face Harris, immediately he moved his hand and tilted
his head towards her. “I believe more is at play,” she
said with a tone of warning. “That will be your task.”
“Wonderful,” he said with a twisted smile,
“because we all know how much I love work,” he
sarcastically said.
Harelda gave a quick blink. “Harris,” she said with
a deep warning, “I know you have ways of finding out,
you and Librye work well together, I’m sure Librye
will be more than willing to help. Now, go, you should
make it back before nightfall if you leave now.”
Branwen seemed to panic, she did not want Harris
to go, but she did not want to raise her mother’s
suspicions. She watched from the hall as Harris
quickly left towards the stairs. He gave a quick glance
back before making his way up the stairs back towards
Cronnin.
With the night lingering, Harris slowly made his
way through the Cronnin city, the guards on the turrets
paid their respects to those in Marrion, the Cronnin
flags were at half-mast. As Harris passed through the
gates, the soldiers on the streets stood with their spears
held horizontal, their heads bowed low. Harris
jumped from Svend. He slowly walked through the
city, the people, who would usually be going about
their business, stopped, they each lined the streets and
stood silently with their heads held down. As the
commander passed by, whispers were silent, the loss
of Marrion hung heavy in the air, his tunic was torn by
a few branches as he had thundered towards the Una
forest, his boots were still covered with red clay. They
did not care about the state of him, he had shown a
bravery, none of them had ever before seen. The
Shadow, The Commander, had earned his title and
more.
The sleeping palace had turned to a dull green
light as he stepped inside. Two people, who awaited
his arrival stood by the fountain. The state of Harris
concerned Maple and Kailron as they quickly made
their way towards him.
“Is she safe?” asked Kailron, panicked.
“She’s safe,” assured Harris with a breath of relief.
“Thank goodness,” said Maple, “come, we need to
talk,” she softly said as she turned towards the stairs.
He followed Maple and Kailron as they made their
way towards his tower.
The tower slowly lit with blue fire flowers. Harris’s
eyes followed Maple as she drifted through the room,
she checked behind the door to his room, she
searched behind cabinets.
“What are you looking for?” Harris asked as he
made his way towards his room.
“Ears, of an unwelcome nature,” she replied.
Harris shook his head and gave a quick smile. “I
must say, I have been appointed the oddest maid
here,” he commented, “a word of advice for you,
Maple, no one is awake while The Commander
sleeps, I rest my eyes, because even the sound of
raindrops over the Grenhilda valley would be heard by
me.” Maple stopped searching and looked to Harris.
“No one is in this room,” he assured with his brows
raised.
Harris walked towards his room, he removed his
harness strap and threw it on his desk.
“We need to speak, urgently,” said Kailron as he
sat at the chair beside Harris’s desk.
Harris removed his torn tunic. “Oh! My
goodness,” commented Maple with her hand to her
chest. “The rumours are true.”
Harris laughed. “Believe me, Maple, you have a lot
to learn,” replied Harris as he walked into his bed
chambers.
“Harris, please!” called Kailron, “we need to talk.”
“About what?” asked Harris as he emerged from
his room. He sat at his desk, waiting for Kailron to
reply.
“Connor,” said Kailron with a low grumble, “he
was not the only one who was set on sending the letter,
I have concerns, Harris,” he said with raised brows.
He sat forward in his chair. “You are the HCC; this
should have come directly to you.”
Harris raised his brow and relaxed back in his
chair. “It should have; however, the council are clearly
stuck in their ways, what would you suggest, Kailron?”
Kailron knew what he wanted; but did not know
how cunning Harris could be. “There is nothing I can
action with the council, you will struggle to action it as
well, proof is needed,” said Kailron with a low tone.
Harris took a moment to think, his eyes met
Kailron’s as he inspected him, his honesty, his lies.
Harris held his hands, palm up on the desk. “Pass me
your wrists,” he requested.
Kailron’s smile twisted from the corner of his
mouth, he shook his head as he sat back. “Why?”
Harris took a slow blink. “Do it,” he slowly
insisted. Kailron handed his wrists to Harris.
He held his thumbs against the bottom of his
wrists, looked deep into his eyes and asked, “You’re
the son of a lord?” Kailron nodded, “I need a reply,”
said Harris.
“Yes,” replied Kailron, unable to fathom what
Harris was doing.
“You never wanted to be a councillor,” said Harris.
Kailron gave a slight huff. He sat forward. “No,
does anyone?”
“I’m asking the questions, I am Xencliff, Kailron, I
know the dishonest.” He held his wrists tighter.
“Kailron, from this moment on, could you see
yourself as my enemy?”
Maple stepped forward. “We are here to help you,
Harris,” she said with her mouth gaping.
Harris turned to her as he sat straight. “I know,
Maple, he is answering honestly so far. Kailron, could
you see yourself as my enemy, from now, until the end
of our days?”
Kailron thought, he did not want to consider
Harris as such as he replied, “No.”
Harris let his wrists go, he had his answer, without
Kailron having to speak. “From this day on, you will
disagree with everything I say, you will show me no
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