The Tales of Neroman: The Silver Savior

by Tom Burton

  The man remains standing, and faces the crowd.

  ‘“Ladies and gentlemen,” he shouts, “may I present to you the rightful rulers of our kingdom, the King and Queen of Dellmoor and the Capital of Neroman: King Edmund and Queen Kendra.”

  The royal couple then proceed to enter from the small side entrance by the throne. Everyone in the room stands respectfully. Queen Kendra immediately takes a seat in her chair by the king’s throne. King Edmund, however, steps forward to greet the crowd.

  “Good evening everyone….and welcome to the Dance of Crowns. For those of you who are new here, and who do not know what this represents: the Dance of Crowns is a yearly tradition in which honorary guests may come to celebrate the peace and prosperity we have fostered across the entire kingdom of Neroman.”

  The guests wait expectantly. Standing at his position by the doors, Jaylen subtly shakes his head, unimpressed at the king’s comments.

  “I understand times have been difficult of late. But we have suffered through much worse for much longer…and we will get through these dark days.” He raises his voice in an attempt to reassure his guests; his reassurances are met by a cheer from the guests. The king then grabs a glass of ale from a table, and raises a toast. The guests follow the king’s lead, likewise grabbing their ales.

  “A toast,” King Edmund declares. “To the good health of humanity, and to the prosperity of those who seek it.”

  “To the king!” the crowd shouts as one, and they drink.

  Once everyone has finished gulping down their drinks, they place their glasses back down on the tables.

  “Enjoy the feast everyone—it will be long and bloody!” King Edmund shouts, laughing. The crowd laughs with him. Then King Edmund walks to his table, and sits on the throne beside it. After a few moments, a small band of musicians walk out of the side entrance. They sit in a corner and begin to play. Then more servants walk out of the side entrance—only this time they are carrying large trays with even larger portions of food. The guests cheer. They begin to eat as soon as the food is served.

  At the other side of the room, Aaron and Sam continue to look over to Jaylen, despite the fact that their ability to focus has already been depleted due to the deleterious effects of alcohol. But, once again, Jaylen scowls at the two.

  “Drink!” Sam shouts.

  The two men finish their pints of ale. They start cheering themselves. But just then a servant approaches with two more pints of ales. The two gladly take up the pints and immediately start to sip away.

  Near the throne table, Daniel and Laura are in the middle of eating their food, smiling and enjoying each other’s company.

  “So for how long have you been a part of this tradition?” Daniel asks.

  “This is a first for me. I have never been a guest at the Dance of Crowns, because I’ve always been on guard duty; Jaylen always has the night off.”

  She pauses, then the two look over to Jaylen. He smiles and nods encouragingly.

  Daniel and Laura return to their conversation.

  “So how are you finding your first capital celebration?” Laura asks.

  “Well…the food is certainly better, and the ales are free. It’s safe to say I could get used to this.”

  The two laugh away.

  Soon after, the man who announced the king and queen’s arrival stands once again. He slams the table three times. The room again grows silent.

  “The king and queen will now take the first dance,” the man announces.

  The crowd applauds. King Edmund and Queen Kendra then stand. They hold each other’s hand as they slowly move onto the empty space between the throne and the tables; the guests in the room rise. The large chamber falls silent once again.

  The musicians stop and resume to play a softer tune; the king and queen begin dancing together. The crowd simply watches. King Edmund and Queen Kendra smile to each other, keeping up to the slow, dancing rhythm. Soon after, several other couples begin to take to the dance floor. Daniel and Laura watch as they see the couples dancing. Laura then turns to Daniel.

  “Would you like to dance?”

  “I thought you’d never ask!” Daniel replies, shocked but relieved.

  The two hold hands as they walk toward the dance floor.

  Aaron and Sam see the two walking to the dance floor. They both shoot from their seats, jeering and clapping. Daniel notices them and laughs to himself. He then begins to dance slowly with Laura, holding her closely, both of them remaining silent.

  Aaron and Sam smile at the dancing couple. Sam then turns to Jaylen, to see him scowling at their jeering and clapping.

  “Drink!” Sam desperately shouts.

  He and Aaron quickly pick up their drinks and gulp them down. They begin laughing hysterically as Jaylen continues to scowl at them. Suddenly, however, Sam notices Kamara sitting by herself at another table. Aaron notices Sam looking over to Kamara—and he begins to laugh hysterically all over again, almost falling off his seat.

  Sam, however, is not amused.

  “What?” he asks sharply.

  “You want to get up close and personal with the lord commander’s sister?” Aaron asks.

  “Half-sister, actually! And I am not scared of the lord commander.” Standing his ground, he turns to see Jaylen standing over the two of them…and scowling as he does so.

  “Drink,” Aaron mutters.

  The two slowly finish their ales, trying not to laugh as they drink.

  “What are you doing?” Jaylen asks.

  The two shrug their shoulders.

  Instead of arguing, Jaylen decides to move on.

  The two again smirk at each other, but Sam looks back over to Kamara.

  Aaron shakes his head.

  “I’m going for it,” Sam whispers.

  Before Aaron can respond, Sam gets up from his chair. He begins to sway his way over to Kamara’s table. Aaron slowly stands and raises his empty mug—a servant pours him another pint. Aaron smiles as he looks down inside his drink then shoots back down to his seat.

  Sam trundles over to Kamara’s table. Kamara turns and sees him walking toward her.

  “Enjoying your night?” Sam slurs.

  Kamara puts her hand over her mouth in an attempt not to laugh.

  “Clearly my night has not been as good as yours—are you drunk?” Kamara asks.

  Astonished, Sam stares back.

  “You think ver—”

  A loud burb interrupts Sam’s sentence. This only causes Kamara to laugh louder.

  Sam takes a moment to compose himself.

  “Do you want to dance?” he asks.

  “Are you sure you are capable of that?”

  Once again, Kamara’s leaves Sam shocked.

  “Clearly you are underestimating me,” Sam replies. “You shouldn’t do that!”

  He offers his hand to her.

  Kamara smiles to herself. She slowly gives her hand in Sam’s. The two then move toward the dance area. As they arrive there, Sam sees Jaylen watching him. The lord commander gives Sam another scowl—only this scowl is by far the worst scowl of the entire night.

  Sam smiles smugly back to Jaylen.

  The two start dancing, enjoying each other’s company.

  “Jaylen told me about your journey to Redlock,” Kamara softly says.

  Sam’s thoughts regarding what happened in Redlock sober him up a little.

  “Were you scared?” Kamara asks.

  Sam looks into Kamara’s eyes and slowly nods his head.

  “Were you scared at Rylom?” he asks.

  “Yeah,” Kamara whispers back.

  The two embrace and begin swaying to the music.

  Daniel and Laura continue swaying on the floor.

  “Do you have family waiting for you back home?” Laura asks.
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  Daniel takes a moment before answering.

  “My father died on the day I was born, and my mother—she died of a deadly illness when I was young.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  “For most of my life, I have been on my own. I hardly ever had any family to look out for, or anyone to rely on. The only person who comes close to that is Aaron. He is like a brother to me, and I have a lot to thank him for.” He looks over to Aaron sitting by himself, drinking his ale. Laura follows his gaze. “If it wasn’t for him…I would never have met you.” Laura turns back to him.

  “Well, I suppose I have a lot to thank him for, as well.”

  The two smile at one another then resume dancing.

  Aaron continues to drink his ale. He stares aimlessly across the room, seemingly mellower than before.

  As King Edmund and Queen Kendra continue dancing together, the king sees Aaron sitting alone.

  “I need to speak to someone,” King Edmund whispers into the queen’s ear. “I will see you later.”

  The two kiss and Queen Kendra leaves through the side entrance.

  King Edmund walks slowly toward Aaron. Aaron chooses not to acknowledge him, even as the king reaches the table and stands over him.

  “We are going to have a meeting in the dinner hall at first light tomorrow,” King Edmund informs Aaron. “We need to organize the defense of this city.”

  “I guess I’ll need my sleep then,” Aaron coldly responds.

  He stands quickly from his chair and storms to the front entrance.

  King Edmund watches him with growing concern as he walks out of the throne room.

  The next morning, the castle stinks of alcohol. Cleaners walk into the throne room to see tables flipped over and broken glass littered on the floor.

  In Aaron’s chamber, Sam is lying on the floor, passed out while Daniel sleeps soundly on top of his bed. Aaron, in his bed, begins trembling violently while sleeping. He wakes suddenly and gasps for air. Then he slowly sits up in bed and wipes the sweat from his forehead.

  Aaron turns to make sure that his sudden awakening did not disrupt Sam and Daniel’s sleeping. Instead, he notices that Daniel and Sam are wearing the same attire that they wore the night before. He chuckles to himself then slowly climbs out of bed. He groans in pain, and holds his head.

  “That was some strong ale,” he mutters to himself.

  He approaches the table then pours himself a glass of water. He quickly gulps it down, and, after a sigh of relief, pours himself another glass. He hears movement behind him and turns to watch Daniel and Sam slowly waking up, groaning as they greet another day.

  “How was your night?” Aaron asks. He continues drinking the second glass of water.

  “We did quite well, didn’t we Sam?” Daniel replies.

  He and Sam smirk at each other.

  “Do tell.”

  But Sam turns away and tries to go back to sleep.

  “Just a bit of laughter and dancing—all perfectly innocent,” Daniel replies.

  Aaron smiles back at him.

  “I spoke to the king before I left,” Aaron says. “We need to head to his chambers to discuss preparations for the attack.”

  Sam stops himself from falling asleep. He sits up to look at Aaron.

  “Why would the king want us there?” Daniel asks. “We have no military command.”

  Aaron simply shrugs his shoulders.

  “I suppose we will find out.”

  Sam rolls his eyes and groans.

  “I will be less than useless in something like this,” he says. “You guys go on. Make sure you’re thorough.” He turns in bed again and goes back to sleep.

  An hour after Aaron awoke, Daniel and he leave the chamber in a better state than when they first woke up. They leave Sam to sleep, closing the doors behind them.

  “What time did they say they would start?” Daniel asks.

  “They didn’t.”

  The two walk down the corridor, making their way to the dinner hall to learn why King Edmund has requested their presence.

  Aaron and Daniel approach the closed double doors of the dinner hall. The two look at each other nervously, then Daniel knocks on the door.

  “Come.”

  Aaron opens the doors. The two find King Edmund, Jaylen, Laura, and a few other guards sitting at a great table. The men all scowl at the two, but Laura smiles at seeing Daniel again.

  “At first light I said to you,” King Edmund tells Aaron sharply.

  “Apologies, your grace. The royal ball became quite the spectacle,” Aaron says sarcastically.

  King Edmund continues to scowl at Aaron. Nevertheless, he gestures to the two vacant seats before Aaron and Daniel. As the two men sit down, they see a map of Dellmoor spread across the table.

  “Shall we begin?” Jaylen suggests.

  King Edmund stands from his chair.

  “Thank you, everyone, for coming. We are gathered here because an attack is coming. We may choose not to believe it, but that’s how Rylom fell, and I will not let this city fall, not while I am wearing the crown.

  “Everyone in this room has either a high command in our military barracks, or they have confronted our enemy face-to-face. Everyone in this room knows best how to beat them—and we will beat them. So you have but one question to answer: how do we defend the capital and all that she holds within?”

  King Edmund sits back down in his chair.

  “Your grace, you refer to the orcs?” one of the guards ask.

  King Edmund nods.

  “How many are there?” the same guards asks.

  “Thousands of them,” Jaylen says. “Too many to count. They stormed Rylom in mere hours.”

  Jaylen’s answer worries the guards. The lord commander then stands from his chair.

  “The orcs have no strategy…no war calls. They swarm their enemies, using their superior numbers to overwhelm them; that’s what we need to isolate.”

  “Dellmoor has stood through it all, and every war that came has ended with Dellmoor standing taller,” Daniel says from across the table.

  “If we go into this war thinking Dellmoor’s defenses will fight our battles for us, we will suffer very, very quickly,” Jaylen argues.

  “So first we need an evacuation plan should the city fall,” Laura suggests.

  Jaylen looks over and nods at her. One of the guards then stands and points to the map in the center of the table.

  “There is an underground passage that leads to the southeast part of the city. From there we can head straight to the royal forest, it is only a mile from the walls.”

  “We need to use the keep located next to the royal castle,” Jaylen says. “The civilians can protect themselves there…. How close is the keep to the entrance of the escape passage?” he asks the guard.

  “Quite far. If we call for a retreat, it will need to be before the orcs get too far into the city.”

  Jaylen nods.

  “Are we all in agreement?” he asks the others in the room.

  They all nod at Jaylen.

  “The royal forest is no stronghold,” Laura reminds Jaylen. “There will be nowhere left to hide should the city fall.”

  “Then we make sure the city doesn’t fall,” Jaylen replies.

  Outside the doors, in the hall, Kamara waits. She is dressed in Dellmoor armor, and stressed, she grips the hilt of her sheathed sword.

  “Staring at the door won’t open it.”

  She turns to see Sam walking toward her. Kamara smiles.

  “I thought you’d be asleep, curing your hangover.”

  “Aye,” Sam replies. “I’m not much of a drinker, to be honest.”

  “So over the night, how many pints did you have?”

  “Erm…three.”

&nbs
p; The two of them laugh.

  “You fought the orcs on your mission to Redlock, why are you not in there with them?”

  Sam sighs sadly.

  “When we went to the North to confirm the existence of Mutaro and the orcs, I didn’t fight. I didn’t lead them; I didn’t look after them. The only thing I did on that trip,” Sam notes, “was navigate in the right direction.”

  “You’re too hard on yourself,” Kamara argues. “I’ve only been here a few days, but I see how your compassion and your kindness to the others keeps them together. Without you, we might not be here.”

  “I’ve spent my life reading the achievements of better men,” Sam laments.

  “Maybe one day, people will read of your achievements, and how you helped fight Mutaro and the evil he controls.”

  Kamara’s generous words bring a smile to Sam’s face.

  “Shall we go for a walk?” Sam suggests. “They will find us when they come out.”

  “Yeah,” Kamara agrees, “sure.”

  The two walk away from the doors of the hall.

  Back in the dinner hall, Jaylen remains standing before all the others gather around the table.

  “Even if we have an exit strategy in place,” Aaron tells the lord commander, “we cannot sacrifice Dellmoor so easily.” “I agree,” Jaylen replies. “We need to hold out for as long as possible.”

  “So how do we fortify the city?” Daniel asks.

  One of the guards replies, “We can barricade the front gates and any side entrances that the orcs may wish to exploit.”

  “We have enough trained archers to guard the wall at the front of the city,” Laura observes. “However, we cannot fortify the wall around all of Dellmoor.”

  “So we need to train more people,” Jaylen replies. “Everyone aged fifteen to fifty will drill daily with the enlisted soldiers.”

  He looks toward Aaron and Daniel. Then he looks toward the king.

  “I will train you, your grace,” he tells King Edmund.

  Stunned by his pronouncement, the king looks at his lord commander.