by Sigrid Kraft
If you’re not a “Sir”, you count for nothing in the eyes of the nobility. Men gave their lives for Ardeen, and for the Black Prince too. But he doesn’t care at all.
Meanwhile Eryn had placed their supplies on the table and also provided some water. Prince Raiden and Master Eriwen reached for the food, and Eryn watched them. Afterwards he was unable to say why he decided to speak out so plainly, but this is what he did:
“Shouldn’t we commemorate the dead soldiers who have lost their lives fighting heroically?”
Eryn had been unnoticed all this while, but now he was the center of attention. The Prince asked half-heartedly:
“What good would that do them? Would it bring them back to life?”
Such an outlook was so strange to Eryn that he was prompted to add more rash words:
“Warriors fight together, celebrate victory together and grieve the dead with honor. And if you owe your life to someone, you remain in his debt, my Prince.”
A deadly silence followed, showing Eryn that he had gone too far. He almost expected to be struck a magical blow or to hear the Prince reply in his head, but the Prince spoke in a low cutting voice:
“We are not warriors from your barbarian past. Listen! Soldiers do their duty. Everyone who chooses a soldier’s life is conscious of the fact that he might lose his life in a battle. And now, soldier Eryn, you had better go outside and keep watch for the rest of the night!”
Eryn could have given in now, to defuse the situation, but he was past the point of no return and so he gave in to stubborn righteousness. He flared up obstinately: “It is useless to stand guard here, where no one will come and take three mages by surprise!”
The Prince’s eyes narrowed further as their glared at each other: “That is an order! Do I now have to discuss an order with an inferior?!”
Eryn was furious with the Prince, but at the same moment the soulban struck him and gained painful control. So Eryn gave in and the pain left him again. He surrendered, broken:
“Apologies, my Prince. Certainly not.” Then he rose quickly and went off into the night – further than necessary, but he wanted to put a good distance between himself and the Prince.
It was cold outside the shelter and the wind was still blowing. Eryn found a way to keep warm, although he could not keep out of the wind. It was also still quite an effort for him to control his anger at the Prince, but if he did not master his feelings, the soulban would swiftly teach him a lesson.
It was perhaps an hour later when Master Eriwen came towards him. The elder mage patted him on the shoulder and asked: “Everything all right?”
“Nothing to report, Master Eriwen!” Eryn snapped militarily, standing to attention with eyes straight ahead.
Master Eriwen spoke calmly: “Relax, lad. I’ve brought you something to eat. There’s no need to be offended. We have accomplished a great deed today, which will certainly find its place in the history books.”
Eryn accepted the bundle from Master Eriwen, then started to vent his frustration:
“Fabulous! I saved the Prince’s life today, and what thanks do I get? He hasn’t said a single word about it! No, on the contrary, I get a severe reprimand and have to sit out in the cold and dark. He should have walked out of the Unhaer by himself.”
He then added mockingly: “Oh, but he couldn’t do that, because he was out cold on the ground!” There, I’ve said it!
Master Eriwen tried to bring Eryn to his senses: “I understand your anger, Eryn. It’s been a hard day for all of us, a day on which we achieved deeds of greatness. But now listen to me, and I’ll give you some good advice for the future. I’ve known the Prince for a very long time, and there are some things he cannot abide. One of them is for another person to see him weak and helpless. Believe me, he will not forget that he owes you his life and he will reward you adequately, but never remind him of the fact that he is in your debt.
The Lord of Naganor is an extraordinary mage, but like other men he has his faults. Pride, vanity and arrogance are his companions. He can also be cold and harsh, otherwise he could not do what he did today. Do you know what it looks like down there in the valley?”
Eryn shook his head. I never went to the edge of the cliffs to look.
Master Eriwen started telling him: “When the great spell was done, and I could leave the shelter of my niche in the rock, I looked down upon an enormous field of burned corpses. Nothing is alive down there anymore. A single field of corpses from the spot where the Unhaer begins to the place where the valley ends. Everyone who survived the inferno gazed at what he saw in horror. All was eerie silence and the smell of death. If hell truly exists, it looks like that.
What he did was cruel and inhuman, but it saved all our lives.
The Prince has a terrible power, but a power that will ensure peace for many years now. As long as this deed remains in his enemies’ memory, no other kingdom will dare to attack Ardeen for fear of his magic.
I agree that he has not shown due appreciation for your help yet. But you dared to challenge him, and touched a sore point with him: morality and being in debt to others. If you don’t want to bring down his wrath upon you, don’t do this again. When angered, he is hard, cruel and unforgiving.”
These words truly helped Eryn overcome his fury, even though he still felt that he was in the right. Master Eriwen laid his hand upon Eryn’s shoulder again. “I actually came here to have a pee. Seemed the right place for that.”
The mage turned his back on Eryn and relieved himself on a stone.
After Master Eriwen had gone back to the shelter, Eryn opened the bundle and ate although he was not especially hungry, having eaten already. Any time he had to prepare a meal for the Prince, he helped himself till he was full. His past experiences had taught him that was a wise thing to do.
Is he really better than other men? In the past when I was with Vrat the Raven, we shared everything. And though Vrat made the final decisions, he always listened to what we had to say during our meetings. No one was worth more than anybody else. Besides, no one ordered me to do useless things like this stupid night watch. We did things because it was necessary to do them, not because others wanted it done. How different these worlds are, the one in the mountains and the one outside.
The hours passed slowly. At first Eryn felt sleepy, but later the drowsiness left him again. The darkness of the night began to give way to the hazy morning light, and the first rays of the sun would soon light up the horizon.
Suddenly Eryn saw a figure approaching from the shelter. He recognized who it was by his shape and immediately stood up from the stone which had been his resting place. As the Prince drew near, Eryn sprung to attention.
He had had the whole night to think things over, and so his rage had eased, making way for cool consideration and a logical mind.
Does the Prince bear a grudge against me because of what I said yesterday? I don’t want to lose my few privileges and live in a cellar again. Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut? I will keep it shut now at least and not make things worse.
When the Prince approached, Eryn clicked his heels and stated:
“Nothing to report, my Prince!”
At first the Black Prince ignored Eryn, searching – as Master Eriwen had done before him – for a nice place to empty his bladder.
Seems to be the bogs here. A great place to be on guard!
The Prince still had his back half-turned to Eryn when he started to talk:
“It was a hard day yesterday.”
Is he talking to me? Does he expect an answer?
The Lord of Naganor fell silent for a while, staring at the dark, wet spot on the ground, as if he could see something special there. Finally he went on: “Yesterday I was somewhat exhausted by all that casting. If I had had a little time to recover, I certainly could have walked those few meters out of the Unhaer myself. Do you agree with me so far?”
Eryn had taken Master Eriwen’s advice to heart and answered with total c
onviction:
“Yes, my Prince.”
Raiden was usually a man of great eloquence, but he now seemed to be searching for the right words, and he was not saying the very thing that was bothering him.
“A soldier serves and obeys orders. That is the way of the world. In protecting me, soldier, you were only doing your duty. Not that I needed you to anyway.”
Eryn played his part, but still his words seemed to have a slightly offended tone:
“Certainly not, my Prince. With respect, if I may point out - I’m just a conscript, not a regular soldier yet.”
The Prince looked surprised: “Oh really?” Then he continued patronizingly:
“Well, in consideration of your achievement, you can probably be assigned to the grade of a regular. It hardly looks fitting anyway, if I am accompanied by a conscript. We will promote you right now, without any fuss. All that song and dance, swearing the oath officially before the rest of the troops – I think we can do without that. It’s the result that counts. If I say you are a regular soldier now, that’s that because my word is law. In any case, the spell-oath that binds you to me is much stronger than any other ridiculous oath.”
I should be happy with a promotion. But this speech is not exactly making me want to jump for joy. Is he reading my thoughts now?
Eryn was always in fear of that because he could never be entirely sure. That was the worst thing about this situation, that he could not even tell if the Black Prince was doing it or not.
As the uncomfortable silence continued, Eryn realized the Prince was waiting for his thanks.
“Erm, thank you, my Prince. An official ceremony is certainly unimportant to me.”
“Fine, we are agreed.” The Prince nodded thoughtfully.
What else could I say? As if I had a choice!
It was surprising that Prince Raiden seemed to be abstaining from reading other peoples’ thoughts for the time being and simply replied in normal human speech.
“How did you do it?” Curiosity colored his words.
“Do what, my Prince?”
The mage had turned to Eryn and his face showed clearly – for anyone capable of reading it – a message that said “Don’t act the fool, lad!” It was fortunate that he then put it into words, because Eryn had no idea what the Prince was talking about.
“After the rope broke... How did you get in and out again? I saw most of the rope still lying in the Unhaer, but you can’t walk more than a few paces in the Unhaer, as I recall.”
Eryn still bore a grudge, so he enjoyed correcting the Prince. It didn’t break. “After the knot in the rope came loose... Well, I had scanned the magical pattern of the ring, and it seemed to be nothing more than a bubble of the Circle of Gold. In your moment of need I just tried to copy that, and surprisingly it worked out quite well.”
It was one of the rare occasions that Eryn managed to impress the Prince.
“It seems that you have learned something at last.”
This was the greatest praise Eryn had ever heard from Prince Raiden’s mouth.
I can’t expect any more than that. It looks like I really impressed him, though, even if my experiment wasn’t a total success.
“So now you can walk through the Unhaer unharmed?” the Prince asked. Eryn told the truth:
“Not really, unfortunately. The magic ball only had a limited air supply somehow, and that ran out pretty quickly. So it all got a bit nasty at the end. I had to break the spell and walk the last few meters without it.”
The Prince frowned, carving deep wrinkles into his forehead, because he was only now realizing how dangerous the situation had really been. But he then dismissed the troublesome thoughts and said brightly: “Whatever. And since my efforts to teach you some magic have at last borne fruit, I am giving you a reward of a hundred gold coins and five days’ leave. Is that not what you young people long for: Time to laze around and money to waste?”
“Thanks, my Prince.” So a prince’s life is only worth a hundred gold coins.
“Don’t be impertinent, lad, and mind your tongue! Now piss off, before I change my mind! ”
Eryn did not hesitate, even if it was an unconventional way of dismissing him. He was away in an instant. A few hours of sleep will do me the world of good.
His rest period proved to be far too short. Just two hours later, five Guardsmen arrived. They had ridden their mounts hard and brought three more horses with them.
The horses’ shod hooves sparked on the stony ground when the whole group galloped south shortly afterwards.
Prince Raiden was seated on Lord Durin’s throne in the hall at Wyvernwall. The true Lord of the castle had given up his place without protest, but Durin thought it wise to stay as far away from the Black Prince as possible, holing up in the furthest corner of his home. His Highness had arrived in a foul mood, blaming Durin in part for the recent near-disaster.
The myth of the battle at Aspenway had spread like wildfire, and now the Lord of Naganor seemed to the common people to be like a god of death.
Awestruck and afraid, most people gave him a wide berth, not wanting to attract the Prince’s displeasure. The Prince himself could not have cared less. In his eyes, Lord Durin was no more than a worm that did not deserve his attention.
The Prince’s mood had not improved for two reasons. Firstly, he still felt weak as he had yet to recover fully. Magic was unable to cure all the negative side-effects of his spell-casting. And secondly, he was stuck here at Wyvernwall, awaiting the arrival of the High Lords of Gelderon.
Politics – there is nothing I hate more. I would rather go back to Naganor than wait for those deceitful knaves to get here.
He had spent a lot of time thinking about the recent incidents, and something did not add up.
For a start, the story about the defiant rebel leader is strange. It’s also true that Gelderon gave us false information on the armies. There were many more men than they made out at first. Moreover, they tried to lure the Guard towards Tworivers to reinforce their own army. But now, according to our latest reliable reports there are ten thousand men stationed in Tworivers. So where’s the sense in adding three hundred more - given that the rebels were already outnumbered and the Gelderon army was surrounded by a high city wall?
It’s complete nonsense, and not even the most incompetent military leader would make such a plan. No, it only makes sense if the facts are completely different.
Reasoned mistrust brought Prince Raiden to an entirely different conclusion.
What if Lord Berington had never intended to attack Tworivers? Which, from a tactical point of view, wouldn’t have been a clever move anyway. Let’s assume that it had nothing at all to do with that bloody town, and that it had everything to do with the gate, seeing as Aspenway is on the way to Aspengate. In a bottleneck like that, three hundred men can make a real difference. And that’s why the enemy wanted to divert the Guard from that vital spot.
Trade routes have changed enormously since the gate in Ardeen was discovered, lessening the importance of the other two gates – the Gelderon gate in particular. It has certainly had a significant effect on their economy and on state income as a result. It’s probable, then, that it wasn’t Lord Berington’s idea at all, but came from the Crown itself.
They can’t attack Ardeen directly, because they all fear my black magic. But magic is useless in the Unhaer. This would make more sense, although the picture is still incomplete. I hope my men capture Lord Berington alive. Then I’ll get answers to all my questions.
Lord Boron had yet to return, but Prince Raiden had spoken to his brother, the King, that morning. As ever, Danian had advised caution. He also asked Raiden to wait until he arrived before meeting the Gelderon ambassadors.
The Prince had agreed to that, but by now had already changed his mind. This situation needs straight talk, and Danian is always so forgiving. I didn’t ask to be dragged into this conflict. But now I’m in the thick of it and came within an ace of losing my
life.
The Nurin saved me. Now we are connected by more than just the soulban – which is bad enough on its own. Now I owe him something too. That hurts my pride, and the Nurin dares to rub my nose in it.
He will always be a barbarian and never have the proper respect a citizen of Ardeen owes to his Prince. I hope he at least understands that he must keep his great deed to himself. He shows signs of intelligence, as with the gold-bubble idea. I never studied the Circle of Gold much, as it was my thinnest vein anyway. But the Circle of Gold opens doors and gates...
The tramp of heavy boots on a stone floor suddenly seized Prince Raiden’s attention. The door flew open to reveal Lord Boron back from his mission with a report for his Prince.
“Greetings, my Prince!”
For a second, I thought the Gelderon snakes were here... “I am delighted to see you, Lord Boron. What news do you have for me?”
The Lord’s armor was covered with dirt, and his boots and cloak were caked in mud.
The Gray Wolf lives up to his name, the Prince smirked, amused because Lord Boron was usually so fastidious about his appearance and spotless shining armor. The wild gray hair and unshaven face added to this unkempt image.
Lord Boron pulled a small leather pouch from his bag, presenting it to the Prince.
“Good and bad news, my Prince. We cornered Lord Berington, but he chose to commit suicide.”
Prince Raiden took the pouch and started to untie it. “You are sure it was Lord Berington?”
The Gray Wolf nodded. “I actually talked to him – of nothing of importance unfortunately. The poison he had taken was already affecting him and none of the mages could do anything for him anymore. He was unconscious within seconds, and we couldn’t get any information out of him. But then I remembered our many travels together in the past and so I brought you this. I know you are able to get information in other ways.”
The Prince had finally managed to untie the cord and emptied the pouch’s contents onto the table. There was a signet ring on the finger of a glove, with the finger still inside. The Prince pulled the ring from the finger and placed it on the table. The finger he put back in the pouch.