by B A Fleming
King Edwards’ closest friend outside of his advisors is Lord Polan, of the House of Caitawalaan who has three children. A twenty year old son Druk, who wishes to marry Thais (even though she doesn’t like him), and two daughters Vivi and Carin, aged sixteen and fourteen.
Caitawalaan was named after the Great Queen Catherine, or Catherine’s’ Wall. The name of the line of mountainous outcrops that span the middle of the valley kingdom. The name was later changed to Brier’s Range after Captain Brier who led the first successful scouting through the range.
The House of Tharkomad consists of a Duke Brian Demour, Duchess Radach, their sons Boru and Dalchant, aged twenty eight and twenty four, and their daughter Anna, aged fifteen. Prince Boru had married but his first wife and child died during childbirth.
Tharkomad was named in gest after the Kings’ mad brother Thark who had planned to set up ‘a new kingdom’ in the western part of the valley. The lands could be seen from Catheridge but Grangol and Troll attacks had always prevented the Baron from creating a road link between Catheridge and Tharkomad.
Thark led a large force through Brier’s Range to explore the region. Although Thark died in the journey, Tharkomad was established as a small garrison four generations before with the Demour merchants took up residence in the form of Baron Brian’s father.
*****
Arthung, the Black Dragon swooped through a small valley to the north of the city of Bhagshau. The late evening darkness provided no dangers to him as he was the dominant force in the valley, he had called home for over two hundred years. He soared through the air effortlessly, angling his huge wings as he gently landed upon the large area of stone near the top of the castle.
King Edward stood solemnly, looking at the huge beast before him.
“We have a problem,” he indicated.
“What, no hello my lord King?” enquired Arthung with a chuckle.
“Dragon, you have served me well for many years, but now I sense great danger.”
The dragon chuckled.
“You worry too much my lord King. Who could possibly trouble us?”
“A young knight has just entered our realm and seeks the Seer so that they may kill you. He claims to have bettered the Blue Dragon, Zenath.”
“He has not,” retorted Arthung directly.
“How do you know?”
“I just do. We, each dragon, can sense when one of our own has fallen. Zenath still lives. Your stranger is a liar.”
“And his expedition to find the Seer and kill you?”
“Ha, ha, ha!” chuckled Arthung. “Let him seek the Seer. The mumbling old fool can’t even find his own feet, let alone know how to defeat me. Besides, my lord. The Ice Gols will destroy him before I do. I felt him enter our realm some days back but he managed to evade me. He will die soon enough.”
“I wish I shared your confidence great dragon,” surmised King Edward.
“You live too much of a comfortable life my lord. One small challenge and you seem to fall apart.”
Chapter 4
Baron Archivy sat at the head of the table. His advisor, Merlane to his left and son, Prince Casperi, to his right. The priest Nolan, Swordmaster Nathe and Denue, and Master of the Catheridge Guard, Norman, all sat at the table as well. Norman was a solid though thin man. Taller than Denue, but shorter than Nathe, he had been known for his swiftness within a battle until two summers before when he had fallen badly on a hunting trip, and now left slightly limp in his left leg.
“I have always asked that those who sit at my table speak with an open tongue and in this moment, I expect no less. So what do we think of this stranger, Dralan,” queried the Baron.
“Well, he is indeed a fine swordsman,” surmised Nathe. “He has bested all that have come before him, with both grace and honor.” To this, Casperi bowed his head and the Baron smiled.
“Even you, my son?” he questioned.
“He has gotten the better of my blade on two occasions father.”
“It seems that all the young ladies of the court are swoon with him,” observed Denue.
“And those of the town,” added Norman.
“And my daughter it would seem,” suggested the Baron. ”The boy does have his charms.”
“Some of the servants have observed him in his room at all hours of the day in something of a meditation of sorts, my Lord,” the priest added.
“The practices of his culture are certainly different to ours. His bowing before entering the court and arenas of battle seem all part of his rituals, and whilst they are different, I don’t seem to feel that they offend any of us in any manner.”
“That is true my lord,” surmised the priest.
The others nodded in agreement.
“And to the idea of this quest,” the Baron continued.
“The King has not sanctioned it,” said Denue.
“If I understand the words of our king correctly, I believe that he said that the matter of Dralan is in the hands of our Baron. I surmise that it is your head on the block for whatever actions the young knight takes,” mentioned Merlane.
“The king is always seeking means to remove my head, so I have no cause for concern. It is whether this quest serves to benefit us and our kingdom, regardless if the king can see this or not,” replied Baron Archivy.
“And why would you sacrifice these men of Catheridge to follow the word of stranger?” finally asked priest Nolan.
“Because it is the stranger that answered my thoughts.”
“Your thoughts my liege?” Nathe looked at him with a measure of concern.
“My children sit lost in the empty castle with just an old man as company and no decent thought of their future. I cannot imagine what their future will hold but I hoped that some form of opportunity would present itself, would present them to the world.”
Merlane looked at Baron Archivy who continued. “I hoped that they would find what we have always known, even if the King denies it. The lands beyond our mountain prison.”
“Our mountain prison my lord? I fear that you describe our homeland in harsh light,” offered Merlane.
“Harsh light indeed my old friend, for it is us that have been sitting in its shadows. We already know that other worlds exist. Just look at the merchants of Vasa and Bhagshau. Even a blind man cannot ignore that there are those that do not look like us. They have been amongst us for generations. Even Lady Cassiopeia could be acknowledged as ……. well, questionable heritage.”
“It certainly provides an opportunity for experience that my soldiers have longed for my Lord,” said Nathe.
“War is not to be longed for,” suggested Priest Nolan.
“Of course not,” responded Nathe. “But battle itself improves the skills of a soldier far beyond anything they could muster in the arena.”
“Including death,” added the priest.
With this statement, many around the table looked at each other, as if sharing thoughts without words.
“You, of all the young knights of the duchy seem to have developed the closest bond with this stranger my son. Since the death of your mother, I think it would be most unwise to forbid you to join this quest if you so wish to. I seek to know, as I’m sure my advisers around this table do, if you are at ease in his company.”
“Thank you father. I feel that it would be a great honor for me to represent the name of Catheridge in this journey. I don’t know him, although I sense that as a person he is one that is hard to know. From what I have seen and what I have heard he appears to speak the truth more often than not, and has not sought to bring harm to any of us.
He has not discussed, even with me, his conversation with the king. We only know that the king welcomed us with open arms and surprising warmth after their meeting. His quest seems difficult and dangerous, and worthy of my skills. To be bested by him reminds me that I need to keep learning.”
“Well said young man,” added Nathe.
“You know the king will try to stop them, my l
ord,” offered Denue.
“Oh, of course he will. I have no doubt about it. Which is why I’m sending you, and Nathe, and a group of others that I know that I can trust to accompany my son.”
Baron Archivy was in no doubt about his place in the kingdom It was only a matter of time when his conciliatory approach would succumb to the inevitable.
He chose to allow his children to leave, to grow through the adventure this stranger had offered. He looked at Nathe, the young man that had proved himself as a guardian of his children, although not formally acknowledged as one of their guardians. The Swordmaster had supervised their growth into adulthood from a young age.
“Me, my lord?,” queried Denue.
“You might not be in your prime, but you and Nathe are not that old. Besides, I’d trust you more standing beside my son than many others. I trust you both with the lives of my children.
You do have your own child now but please understand that my daughter needs you more than me at this moment.”
At twenty-eight summers, Denue would be considered in his prime, although since Casperi had started defeating him during the past two summers, when the young man worked out how to defend his charge, Baron Archivy’s dig had often haunted him.
“So, Thais shall travel with us father?”
“She seeks to find her own path as well my son. Whilst you were away I asked Nolan and Norman to put her through her paces. She is ready. If needs be she can winter in Tharkomad and await your return. I’m sure the princes there will not be too displeased with her presence.”
Casperi huffed at this.
“A fathers’ true love is their daughter.”
“True so, but what she needs now is strong men to stand next her whilst she finds her own strength.”
*****
“My family are amongst the oldest of the kingdom. You shall be afforded a handful of my best soldiers to accompany you on your journey,” spoke Baron Archivy to Dralan. “It will be long and dangerous and my men have already been informed that the chances of their death in this mission are high, although they are prepared for all that you shall face.”
Baron Archivy gazed through the window that looked out across the main courtyard as he spoke. The town and near valleys spread out below.
The sun would be setting in the west shortly, and he knew that further up the valley many villages had been bathed in shadow for several hours. This was one of the intricacies of the Kingdom of the Valley. Some places felt the warm sunlight most of the day, whilst others were seemingly perpetually frozen. Much of the south-western wall of the valley was left to forest for this reason, as nothing of substance could grow or be harvested there.
“Much of the way we do things, much of what we do is based on a fallacy of how our world is. Our traditions are
nothing more than the same process repeated over and over. Nothing has changed for generations. New sagas are not created, new tales of heroic expeditions not made, for nothing has changed.
Even the fairy tales told to small children are repeated time and time again, generation after generation, as if the same morals remain true and the people remain unchanged, because sadly they do. No one has created an original thought in this kingdom for over a hundred years, and with this comes a fear of change that submerges into the fabric of each being, so that any change, any idea of change is approached with fear. But what if our world and the kingdoms around us do not exist how we imagine them to be? What if all that we know is not true, but based on a percept that was told to us by people we trust, based on a lie that was sold to them?”
“These last words are a concern your king expressed to me,” responded Dralan.
“Silly old fool,” muttered Archivy. “He enjoys the good life too much and has corrupted the crown for his own luxury. It’s about time someone like you comes around to stir things up.”
Casperi, Merlane, Nathe, Denue and Thais stood a few steps away, observing the interaction.
“I have met with my advisors young knight, and thought of who would be best to accompany you.”
After a long night of guard duty Nathe would arrive in the dawn to find his young wife baking softened bread, the smell of its crust wafting through the tiny stone rooms. He sat and drank tea with several pieces and butter, tired, glancing at the beauty he had loved since his early years. Finally, he told her about the journey, the barons’ words, and his loyalty to the house of Catheridge. She cried as he wrote a message to her brother to request the man to stay whilst he was away with offer of a job as a guard to take his place.
“Do you have a list of men in mind my lord?” asked Dralan.
“We shall discuss this at dinner this evening. Merlane, Casperi and Thais I will request your input as well.”
“Father, may we speak in private about this,” bade Thais.
“Of course, my love,” he answered with a smile.
Thais approached her brother, who stood upon the parapet of the Catheridge Castle, looking out across the valley, both enjoying the autumn sun and reflecting on the journey ahead.
“I’m coming too!” she mentioned without emotion, coming to stand beside him.
“Ah, no, you’re not.”
“I’ve already asked father and he said I could.”
“He has already told me of this decision but I think it’s too dangerous,” scolded Casperi.
“He says that you need my talents. Besides, I need a new mentor now that mother…” her words trailed off.
The mother of Thais and Casperi, the Baroness Margaret Catheridge, had died less than two months before. She had been more than a mother to them both, as a tutor and advisor to her teenage children who were about to come of age.
Margaret had been struck down with an illness that even the kings’ surgeon could not determine. The Baron Archivy thought that she had been poisoned, but the surgeons could find no evidence of it.
Baroness Margaret had secretly instructed her daughter in the fine arts of magic in a room deep below the castle walls. Thais had shown early skills, setting fire to her brothers’ clothes, making his cup spill or daggers disappear when he wasn’t looking. For all his frustrations with his younger sister he loved her dearly and kept his promise to their mother to protect their secret.
For Thais, her unbridled imagination had always gone beyond that which others saw of nature. Moments of her childhood had burst with flashes where her imagination had produced fantastical aberrations and unplanned reactions.
The one time Thais had let her magic flow unchecked was when her brother and her had snuck out of the castle to buy the delicious peaches that their kitchen staff seemed unable to locate. Thais had saved a small boy with her magic but with so many onlookers the siblings ran quickly for cover, only sneaking back into the castle hours later.
As a consequence, their mother had then started the rumor of Saith the Sorceress, who had approached the Barony in need of work but had been turned away earlier in the day.
Several times over the next few years the Baroness and Thais took turns to masquerade as Saith the Sorceress, either turning up at a back country village to cast different sorts of spells, or once drowning two men who were taking advantage of a woman. Saith developed a following as a protector of women, which both Thais and her mother were very proud to know.
Their father, Baron Archivy, although deeply concerned when his wife had shared the family secret with him, was also amazed by their level of skill. Now he understood the want for Thais to seek the Seer for her own needs, along with those of the kingdom.
They had stood in silence next to each other for over a minute.
“Well, I don’t agree. It will be dangerous enough, without having to look out for you as well.”
“I can look after myself!” she spat.
“Well, I’m going to discuss this with father again,” he said as he walked away.
“Well you just do that,” muttered Thais under her breath.
Of all the soldiers of the kingdom, those
of Tharkomad had faced the most battle, often coming in contact with Ice Gols on their borders and Grangols within. The soldiers of Catheridge manned five small garrisons throughout the duchy plus the castle, and apart from the occasional Grangol or run in with a troll they kept pretty quiet.
The standard armor of the valley consisted of a thick tunic with a thin metal alloy breastplate, normally with a small collar re-enforced with thick leather hide on the inside, and similar pauldron armor. Most soldiers wore similarly made vambrace arm guards that extended from beneath their thick leather gloves to below the elbow. Their re-enforced leather boots provided a measure of protection, warmth and water resistance, especially during long winter garrison duties.
The royal garrison and Caitawalaan soldiers were all considered average warriors as there were few creatures to attack them in their regions. The House of Vasa still trained using traditional methods and although having limited opportunities, trained hard to perfect the subtle skills of quality swordsmanship.
Knights of the House of Vasa would regularly win all the tournaments, just barely better than Catheridge and Tharkomad knights and guards until Casperi was old enough to compete. During this last summer, he had bested all swordsmen in the land. Catheridge had now dominated their sister duchies as they always won the horsemanship events of the Valley Games as well.
The son of the Horsemaster Miguel, and handy stable hand, Renual had grown up with the beasts. Renual was also in his fourth year of the guard, and his obvious affection for Thais had more than once left him open to embarrassment. He was to join the party as a soldier, but also to organize and maintain the horse train.
Renual wore a small goatie and saw himself as some sort of suave charmer, which although regularly wining the affections of several of the kitchen maids, had failed to impress his beloved princess.
Servants ran back and forth across the main court yard of the outer castle. The stables and second stores were accessed from this level of the citadel and it seemed the logical spot for the horse train to be assembled.