When Idris arrived, all of the Earls had made their way to the room. Inside he saw all familiar faces - Lord Tadeas Wakefield of the Northern Gates District, Lord Darien Candrin of the Military Ward, Lord William Gryn of the Old City, Lord Ingram Walters of the Port District, and Lord Tobias Sandrin of the New City, all Earls appointed by the Duke to represent their respected house on the Kings Council.
When Jayden made his entrance into the room, all of them stood and acknowledged him with a bow. “Shall we begin?” he said, taking his place in the chair at the head of the room. “What news of the Districts?” he asked gesturing to Lord Wakefield to begin.
“The Northern Gate District, we have no news or concerns Your Majesty,” Lord Wakefield reported as he stood before the King. “We do request a loan of one thousand Gold Crowns for the treasury.”
“One thousand? That’s a heavy request. On what grounds?” the King asked.
“Our treasury has felt the brunt of the crime in the Commons spilling into my district, resulting in merchants either having their goods robbed or having to move business. Plus, along with the heightened tax increase of the crown, I, too, have raised my taxes to compensate. More and more merchants leave, and my taxes must go higher and higher. My people cannot afford it, and after my city tax is paid, I do not have enough left for my peoples’ pockets. One thousand will cover the wages of my men until the Commons can be secured and business can be brought back.”
Jayden looked at him with a firm jaw. “No.” he said, “Your Majesty, please,” Lord Wakefield begged. “NO, Lord Wakefield. The crown's treasury cannot afford it....”
Idris had to intervene. “Your Majesty if I may...”
“No. If I want your opinion, steward, I'll ask for it and I haven’t asked for it. As I was saying the crown cannot give out charity. What good is a treasury without reserves? Now, Lord Wakefield, I suggest you get your finances in order,” Jayden commanded. “Now moving on, Lord Walters I understand you have some news to report?”
“Yes Your Majesty, I have received news from the north.”
“Please, Lord Walters, begin.”
“Your Majesty, I received word this morning from a traveling merchant ship from Four Rivers that a possible incident has happened in Denoi. Although these are just the words of sailors and merchants, they report that Duke Carlye - Aiden, the youngest son of William - has possibly sent his own soldiers to track down and arrest Lord Carlye, your Majesty.”
“Who were these merchants?” Jayden asked looking concerned.
“I do not know, Your Majesty. I do know he said that blood was possibly shed and along with two others - a soldier and a lady - he fled the city and was last seen in Anoch.” Lord Walters said bowing.
“Very well, Lord Candrin.” Jayden said turning his attention to the Earl of the Military. “Lord Carlye left over a month ago to attend his family at the death of his father?” He asked the Earl.
Standing, Lord Candrin responded. “Yes, your Majesty; he was expected to be gone another half month.”
“These are serious accusations. Can you spare Crimson Guard to investigate these claims?” Jayden asked.
“Yes, your Majesty, I will commit a company to travel to Anoch and investigate the claims from there. The Carlye Military is one of the strongest in Agantia, and one company of even my finest soldiers will be no match for their heavy mounted cavalry,” Lord Candrin responded.
“You have my blessing. In the
meantime, I want whereabouts on Lord Carlye and his host.” It was a command to all of the Earls, not just one. “Very well, I understand that the rest of you might be concerned with the increase of taxation also. Do you have any positive concerns?” he asked
Idris knew that now with this new development Jayden's mind was occupied elsewhere, and he didn't want to hear any more about the new taxes. He knew that the other Earls would eventually revolt against the taxation, but with the King's outburst earlier they were all more cautious now. “Very well, we are dismissed. Idris please accompany me.” Jayden said standing.
The rest of the Earls all stood and bowed as Jayden and Idris made their way out of the hall. Idris didn't say anything as they walked the halls of the castle to Jayden's private chambers.
Once inside, the heavy oak door was closed behind them, “First off, never interrupt me again, Idris, or you will be in far hotter water than you tread now. Now tell me, what do you know of this Aiden, Duke of Denoi?” He took his seat behind his desk.
“Not much, your Majesty. I only know that he resents Lord Dominic for leaving. The northern way of life is never to abandon family, and His Grace believes that by passing his seat to serve here, Lord Dominic has abandoned his family.”
Jayden sat looking across the room. “Idris, Lord Dominic is my friend. I would have never let him have Easterway, but I honor my father’s wishes. I must do what is right by law. If Duke Aiden has done something to Lord Dominic, it must be investigated and the truth found. Idris, this is volatile. Inform Lord Candrin to advise the Crimson Guard he sends north not to shed blood on Northern soil. I do not want to be known as the King who started a war. Now leave me with my thoughts,” he said, gesturing for the door.
Idris obeyed. He stood and bowed and turned to the door. This is wrong, something is happening. I must find out what before motions are set that cannot be undone, he thought as he headed to make his way to the Military Ward.
He made his way through the halls, alone with his thoughts, though he didn't feel truly alone. Something or someone was with him. He looked behind him, but just saw an empty hall.
XIX
The trip to Anoch took only a few days. Ash spent most of his time below deck guarding the book he had bought from Jaeger. He dared not for one minute allow the book to be unguarded, and as badly as he wanted to, he didn't even take it from the pack.
During his schooling and training he had familiarized himself with most of the known languages of the world, past and present. He wanted to open it and learn more. His mind was filled with the small passage he had seen from the shop. It wouldn't be long now.
As he made his way through the town of Anoch, he tried not to draw any attention to himself. The town itself was not as large as Caramon. It was a river town, and that made the town grow from the shadow of Anoch Castle on the banks of the Prine River. It was not as crowded as it should be this time of year. Things were different. He noticed more Crimson Guard soldiers than he had ever seen. It was odd that there were so many this far north of Derancross.
Making his way through the town nothing changed but the colors of soldiers patrolling. Anoch was under the jurisdiction of the House of Carlye and Denoi. Earl Anders Duron was the lord of this land. Lord Duron had his own men at arms but he was seeing the black and green of House Carlye. What is going on? He asked himself as he watched the soldiers.
“Stand up thief.” he heard one of the Crimson Guards tell a street side merchant. “Where did you find this boar?” Ash stopped and tucked himself into a small building corner. He didn't need to become involved with this.
“I ask you again; where did you get this boar?” The guard asked in a heightened voice.
He watched as the guard pulled his dirk from his belt and cut the rope holding the fresh boar meat above a table. “I....I killed him.... along the river bank.” The merchant said.
“Did you kill him east or west?”
The merchant was silent. Ash could tell that he was frightened. “West,” he finally said.
The guard turned and looked at his two comrades. “Then you have stolen. By the laws of our King, his Majesty Jayden, I hereby arrest you.”
Jayden! What did I miss?
The guard took the man’s hands and bound them with a piece of hemp rope from his belt.
“HOLD!” came the command from more guards. These guards were not of the Crimson Guard; they were of House Carlye.
“You have no right. House Carlye has no right to this man,” the Crimson guard said.
<
br /> “And the Crimson Guard has no jurisdiction in His Grace's province without just cause.” The Carlye soldier said.
There were five of them, all mounted on horses. The rumored House Carlye Calvary, he thought as he watched the situation unfold in front of him. The Carlye soldiers wore lightweight armor with gators around the legs to protect them. Unlike some mounted soldiers they carried short muskets with an additional handle in the center of the barrel to help steady any shot.
“The King's just cause is to protect his interest in the north. Your Duke has seemingly committed a crime that we are investigating, but seeing this, I suspect more crime is present here than before. His Majesty only hopes to resolve this situation without bloodshed,” the crimson Guard said.
“Then let’s prevent bloodshed. As a citizen of the north this man has killed a boar in the jurisdiction of House Carlye. These lands are not the King's. If this man chooses to hunt in these lands he may, and now I ask you in the name of the lands of House Duron and Carlye to release this man and move along with your investigation.”
The whole thing was avoided rather easily. The Crimson Guards turned the man over to Carlye soldiers. Ash could tell neither side wanted bloodshed.
In his time away from Agantia he could tell that things had changed. House Carlye was being investigated for a crime, Liam was dead, Jayden King, the Crimson Guard facing off with Carlye soldiers. What else could be happening?
He found his safe house. The entrance was through the base of a public privy. An unpleasant way to enter but no one would venture in the sewers of a privy. Inside was a single small room. In one corner was a bed, the other a lamp and a desk. On three of the walls he had maps of all the major cities in Agantia along with a map of all of Berasaid. The last wall, however, housed a series of shelves and racks. The shelves had several small vials of liquids, poisons, and on each rack different daggers, swords, throwing knives, dirks, muskets, pistols, and grenades, a weapon for any occasion.
He sat down and lit the lantern. The book was as he suspected, written in a language that was so old it was even hard for him to read it. Passage, time, hard, hope, lost, death, mankind, some of the words he was able to pick out.
He had no idea what he was reading. He spent hours going through the book, trying to find somewhere in his mind a way to connect the words that he didn't know. This is impossible. He thought as he rubbed his eyes. It was getting late by now and he had gotten nowhere through the book. I have to find someone who can read this, someone I can trust, but who?
He turned more pages, nothing. He was looking for anything in the pages that would lead him to know more about the mystery behind it; why it was found by the bastard born boy and why he was running.
Orange eyes. He thought remembering what Jaeger had told him about the boy. The Shadow Beings were known for their orange glowing eyes, he thought. They were powerful in manipulating people to their will, their will to rule absolutely without opposition.
They are gone, destroyed. He thought turning the pages even more before coming across text that he was able to translate easily;
We fought most of the day. The Walkers had moved an entire regiment of men to the western ridge with the sun to their backs. They were running out of time and the sunlight would cause the regiment to cast more shadows. By the time King Alavin moved more men to cut them off, the regiment had doubled, Shadow Beings raised from their men’s shadows and charged.
We were able to fight the men off but the Walkers were already here and we couldn’t fight them all. The king’s forces were killed in no time and we had to retreat. We were too tired, too weak to cast any more into the horde of Shadows….
It was a journal, no a series of journals from men who fought in the Shadow War. He flipped more pages reading what he could, all of them telling stories from the War.
We agreed today what must be done. I’m afraid that after all is said and done, I will not survive this. I have been a Guiden and I have served faithfully but if it means peace for this world and the end of the Shadow Beings, I will give my life without question. It will take all of our power to do this but in the end they will forever be locked away. Some of us will survive but that will depend on the strength of the prison; the stronger it is the less of us will live, and those of us who live will forever walk this earth, a curse but needed, an immortal prison must have an immortal warden.
It made since, there were stories that the Guiden were immortal. But this was the first time that Ash, or possibly anyone, had ever read any text that might prove that theory. He turned more pages looking for more journals, and then he saw something.
To anyone else it would be just another defect. Holding it to the light he could see the slightest cut along the top edge of the page. It had been beautifully done, the glue almost invisible, but not to an eye as trained as his.
Carefully and gingerly he took his knife and cut the glue line. When the last piece of glue was cut the page dropped open. It was a pocket, the page had been split slightly, enough to hide something inside.
He found inside the pocket a small piece of parchment that had been folded and flattened with a name written across it in the common tongue.
“IDRIS”
Carefully he unfolded it. This is not as old as some of these pages. He opened it and started to read.
My dearest Idris.
If this letter finds you well, then my impending death has occurred. Throughout these years I have known death would find me even though my life felt unbreakable. I have been here in this hut for many years now, wishing that I was able to feed from the power of this place.
I have been seeing things in the night that we both saw all those years ago. Even though we made a final stand and poured our power into their prison, it has failed. We failed this realm and the generations to come.
I fear that the wards around my sanctuary will fail as time goes on and then as you know, they will be able to cross. The Watchers power is strong but not eternal. I do not fear death as I have lived all these years without death.
My friend, they have come back. I don't know how or why, but they are here now in these woods. Their power is not as strong as before, but it will be. They are leaderless, lost, wandering. Idris, DO NOT let them find a leader to unite them. If they find one, they will be unstoppable. We failed, my friend. Please know that I fought to live and tell you this in person, but I didn't. Please dear friend, find a way to end this darkness and fast, as our power put them here but it is now fading and fast. Please remember if they find you, kill them before their blade slices you.
This land must have a strong leader to overcome this darkness. If Liam should die upon his throne, I fear that our thoughts of Jayden will become true. If he is not strong enough to lead, then look to the north; they do not fear the darkness as we do. The Shadows are coming.
Your Friend,
Richard
The words he read made sense but only from history. He felt he was reading a letter hundreds of years old, but it wasn't. He knew the name Idris. He was the King's Steward, or he was when Liam was still king.
But something tripped in his mind from reading Richards’s letter to Idris, our power put them here but it is now fading and fast. He thought running the words through his mind and thinking of the journals from the previous pages.
Please dear friend, find a way to end this darkness and fast, our power put them here but it is now fading and fast! The Guiden trapped the Shadow Beings at the end of the war but in doing so some of them died, those who didn’t kept the prison, an eternal prison. He was more confused than anything now; the Guiden who survived, is this Richard one, maybe a follower of their teachings. How is the King’s Steward connected, how?
He knew now what he had to do. He knew where he had to go. The time for his normal job was over. He felt he had a new path in front of him. He started collecting an assortment of weapons from the racks in his safe house. Daggers, throwing, fist knives, pistols, anything he could conceal on his
body. He took his sword - Judgment Calls was the name the sword was given - and strapped it on his back. Lastly he took his cloak and hood.
It was made from lightweight cotton dyed black. If he read the letter right, a war was coming with an ancient enemy and he now was caught in it and remembered his first standing order and oath.
I am crafted
I am phantom
I lurk in the shadows
I protect the weak
I protect the innocent
I take a life when that life is forfeited
I kill only to protect
I live by a code
I am my own
I will take no love
I will bear no children.
I am the Righteous Blood.
I am the hunter of the Shadows.
His years of training had led to this. He collected his things, the book and letter secure in his ruck sack. He was leaving, and Derancross was his destination; he had to know more about Idris.
XX
The ship arrived midmorning at the Derancross port. It had been nine days since they left Anoch. The port was crowded with ships from all over Agantia--textile merchants, livestock merchants, food merchants, soldiers returning from far off assignments.
Dominic felt safer now than he had in days. He knew here he was away from Aiden's madness, maybe not forever but for the time being. Once on land, they made their way up the port landings to the upper level of the docks.
They passed huge, long cranes made from solid redwood trees from Trodainia. The bark had been taken off them and to each end pulleys had been mounted. The trees themselves had been embedded in the thick stone walls of the city and several dozen oxen yoked to each rope lifted the heavy crates of cargo from the ships.
The Coming Of Shadows (The Shadow Tide Book 1) Page 8