by Jason Malone
The Pretender was strangely excited about the prospect of Emrys being released from his imprisonment. Emrys would bring chaos, but Carol was confident that history would repeat itself and that he and I would be able to swiftly defeat him, just as Godwin and Carol the Great had done three centuries ago. Carol loved the old poems and legends about his royal ancestors, and so he would not let a chance to relive those go to waste. And besides, Carol was yet untested, and such a victory would prove his worth and earn greater support for his rebellion.
I was not as enthusiastic about Emrys, however. I only wanted to find Philip and prevent more warfare and bloodshed. Nevertheless, it seemed violence was inevitable in those days. Those who did not pick a side were doomed to suffer the chaos.
Alongside the desire to relive old tales, Carol did have good reason to concern himself with Emrys, who, never having technically died, had a claim to at least a sizeable chunk of the Kingdom of Ardonn. It was a shaky claim, but a claim nonetheless.
His real lure, which would sway many men into supporting him, was what he represented: change. It would mean Carol would lose supporters to the Immortal King, not to mention that the land he wished to rule would be devastated by Emrys’s rampaging horde. The fear of that devastation alone would be enough to drive many to swear oaths to Emrys.
“Do you believe I was justified in my treatment of the priests? I trust you saw them as you passed the temple,” Carol asked me as he handed me a full cup of wine. He sat back down and looked into the fire.
“I am not sure it is my place to judge,” I responded.
“Your place is where your king puts you, and I put you at my side as my highest spiritual advisor and guardian of all the souls of my realm. This is a matter which concerns you,” he said. He flashed me a friendly smile.
“Well, I do think we need to do away with the false priests that poison this kingdom,” I explained. “But executing them on the spot may be a bit rash. In the future I would advise giving priests a chance to turn back to truth, and if they refuse, then they should be made an example of. If they preach treason, punish them as traitors. If they preach lies, let them keep their lives, but strip them of their titles. In ancient times the king was head of their order, and thus it should be your right to revoke their privileges.”
Carol nodded slowly. “I will trust you, my friend. I appreciate your counsel.”
“I would also advise against mutilating them, even if they do preach treason against you. Such treatment will not sit well with their followers, of which there are many.”
“Thank you, Edward. And what of those merchants? Did they deserve their fate?”
“They did, Lord King — I mean, Carol. They were traitors and deserve a traitor’s death.”
Carol smiled and took a sip of his wine. “We have much work to do, Edward. The false king marches on us as we speak, and with him comes the army of the Lord of Everlynn. We must go to war, and I need you at my side, but I cannot ask you to fight with me until you have rescued your apprentice.”
“Thank you, Carol.”
He reached over and placed a gentle hand on my arm. “Enough of this grim talk. Tell me, my friend, how were your Winterlow celebrations this year?”
And so I told Carol about Winterlow, then the two of us talked for hours and hours until late into the evening. I was growing fond of him — he was a likeable young man, after all — and he filled me with new hope for the future. This man was descended from the Gods, and if he was successful, I knew in my heart and soul that Ardonn would prosper.
He was not even king yet, but Carol already acted like he ruled all of Ardonn, and he treated both the men and women loyal to him and those loyal to Stephan as his own people. He would make a good king, far better than Stephan or his father, and I was glad to be his champion.
Several hours before midnight, Carol informed me that he needed to attend to private business with Roger, the Earl of Tillysburg. Carol had arranged for me, Matilda, and Dughlas each to have our own personal bed chambers in the town hall, and he escorted me to mine.
The room was small but comfortable, and it served its purpose. It had a double bed with rich silk sheets and an otter-fur quilt, an ornate dresser, and a small fireplace beside the bed with a little dining table next to it. Carol told me that I would have servants to attend my every need. He also said that supper would be brought up to me, and there was a selection of fresh clothes for me to choose from in the dresser. After ensuring I was settled, Carol left for his meeting with the earl.
I threw myself down onto the bed and let out a sigh. I realised then that I had not taken a proper sleep since Oldford. I could have fallen into a dream right then and there, but I was hungry, and the night was still young. I tend to stay awake late into the night because the days are always busy, and the night gives me time for contemplation.
Shortly after Carol left, however, there was a knock at the door. A servant had brought me supper, as promised, and I asked him to place it on the table by the fire. It was roasted duck baked into a pie and came with a tall bottle of red wine. Louisa, the healer, accompanied the servant. I had asked for her to help me re-dress my wounds and make sure they were healing properly.
Once the servant placed my meal on the table, only he left. Louisa stayed behind, though she did more than simply check my wounds. She was good, we enjoyed each other, and she helped to take my mind off Philip for a time, but as I lay beside her while she slept, I stared up at the ceiling, wondering why that felt like a betrayal.
Why did I feel so guilty? I could not shake these thoughts, and I struggled to sleep. A slight nausea lurked in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if it was the duck that made me feel that way, but looking back, I know it was far more.
13
Messenger
My companions and I stayed in Tillysburg for several weeks before Louisa told us we were fit to travel again. Thankfully Dughlas’s eye socket gave him no trouble, and our injuries healed nicely. I wanted to leave as soon as I could to resume my hunt for Philip, who since his capture had always occupied a place in my mind, but I understood it would have been futile if we succumbed to unhealed wounds before we found him.
Carol was kind enough to send his own men in search of my apprentice. Three parties of his best trackers went searching for any sign of Hakon and his men, but each time they returned with nothing. The thought of Philip and my failure to protect him gnawed at me, but the events of those few weeks kept me busy enough to prevent the anxiety and guilt from driving me mad.
I met Lud, my friend and messenger, in Tillysburg a few days after we arrived. We exchanged stories of our journeys to the town over a few pots of ale, and I gave him a letter I had written to deliver to Lady Ecwyn. I promised I would write to her, and write to her I had. I wrote a lot, since it kept my mind distracted, and when I exhausted all I had to say, Lud took my letters south.
Dozens of free men and outlaws poured into the town every day to swear oaths to Carol. Some of these men had seen many winters, and many had fought for Edwin during the civil war, but there was also a mass of young warriors eager for adventure and the chance to prove themselves in battle by serving Ardonn’s true king.
I also suspected some were criminals and bandits, men outlawed by Stephan who saw a chance for forgiveness in Carol. Not all of these men came to fight for Carol. Many would fight for themselves.
When Matilda and I first left Henton, she feared the rumours of rebels who would hide out in the woods awaiting Carol to raise the banner and call them to war, and during my stay in Tillysburg I discovered those rumours had indeed been true.
With the rebels coming to Tillysburg to serve Carol, we also received news from across the kingdom that raids were being carried out frequently against King Stephan’s supporters in Carol’s name. Matilda worried for her family, and so Carol issued a decree protecting Henton from the havoc his supporters were wreaking throughout the country. I hoped his followers would listen.
Each day, more
traitors were uncovered and either executed or banished as part of Carol’s purge. Despite his firm rule, Carol had great support from both the peasantry and the nobility, and many of the old rights, privileges, and laws were restored.
The town’s craftsmen were once again able to form guilds, trade was no longer monopolised by a few wealthy merchants, and the peasants were able to openly practice folk customs previously outlawed by corrupt priests. The purpose of these customs was often to keep harmful spirits at bay, and a lot of my work came about due to neglect of such customs.
It was the merchants who suffered most of all under Carol’s new regime, and many of them were tried as traitors and faced the noose. There seemed to be a new widow weeping every day beneath the gibbets in the town square.
The month of Dawning began about a week after we arrived in Tillysburg, and it was under that new moon that Carol summoned me to a small grove outside the town. A stream trickled through it, cutting the grove in two, and on a little island in the centre of the stream sat a large, dark boulder. I arrived there to find seven housecarls with helmets hiding their faces, and Carol, who was kneeling and praying before the boulder.
One of the housecarls stopped me at the edge of the grove and made me wait in silence until Carol had finished. The king held up a long, bent dagger, then dropped it into the stream. He mumbled something as the dagger sank to the bottom.
“This is a holy place,” he said. He stood, brushed his knees, and gestured for me to join him.
“It is, Lord King. I can feel it,” I said.
Carol smiled. “I have summoned you here because I require an oath from you, and what better place to swear an oath than in a temple built by the Gods in their forging of the world?”
I nodded, and he gestured for me to kneel. Drawing my sword, I went down on one knee and stuck the point into the earth. I held the hilt with both hands and bowed my head. I still remember the oath word-for-word to this day, because I have always regretted breaking it.
“My King,” I began. “My Lord Carol, rightful ruler of Ardonn. I offer you my sword, my life, and my soul. Before the spirits of this grove, before the Gods, before these men, and before you, I swear this oath of fealty and pledge my eternal loyalty to you. Should I fail to keep and uphold this oath, I pray that these warriors and the men of your kingdom strike me down, or better, you do, and may my ancestors banish me from their halls for bringing dishonour to their name.”
Carol placed his hand gently on my head when I finished, and I looked up at him. He was grinning. “Beautiful words, very beautiful. I accept your oath, Edward of Oldford, and shall hold you to it. These seven men here will remember it. Stand,” he said. I stood.
Carol placed his hands on my shoulders and winked. He put his arm around me and led me back to the town while the housecarls followed behind us, out of earshot.
We did not see as much of Carol as I would have liked during our time in Tillysburg, because when he was not administering justice against traitors, he was preparing Tillysburg’s defences for the coming war. He anticipated a siege, though I heard from Arne that all of Carol’s commanders were advising him to meet Stephan in open battle.
Carol felt that victory would likelier be found behind Tillysburg’s walls, not outside them, and apparently he would not budge on this idea. The disagreement with his commanders was causing some tension, especially between Carol and Roger, Tillysburg’s earl.
Carol’s soldiers, however, were much more enthusiastic about a siege than they were about marching to face Stephan. I suppose they thought, like Carol, that they would have a better chance at victory with the help of Tillysburg’s walls.
Carol spent many hours wandering the town’s ramparts and visiting the barracks and camps, checking the defences and inspiring his men with hope and courage. I talked to many of the warriors in Tillysburg, and they all spoke of how they loved the young Pretender.
When we did see Carol, it was mostly during the many debates held within the town hall that Dughlas and I were allowed to sit in on. It was during one such debate that a new factor in the war emerged, which would force Carol to reconsider his war plan, and which changed my life and the future of Ardonn forever.
The debate was one surrounding the contentious issue of slavery, and just as it came to a close, the council chamber’s doors burst open and Earl Roger marched in. He was red-faced and panting. A dirty, bloodied warrior followed, also out of breath. They had clearly come here from Roger’s keep in a hurry, and the blood-covered soldier startled everyone in the chamber. He left a trail of mud behind him on his way in.
“Lord King,” Roger said, bowing. He was tall and broad-shouldered, in his late twenties, with dark brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail, a sharp face, and a layer of stubble.
“Earl Roger,” Carol said. The look on his face showed he was awaiting an explanation for the interruption.
“This man is a messenger from your fortress in the mountains. He has some information for you.”
Carol inhaled deeply and froze for a second. “Out! Everyone, get out,” he said. We all rose from our seats and made our way out of the hall, but Carol looked at me and held out his hand, indicating that Dughlas and I were to stay.
The messenger turned to leave, but Roger grabbed his arm and held him where he was. Within seconds, the chamber was empty aside from myself, Dughlas, Roger, Carol, and the bloodied warrior. “Lord King, I—” the messenger began. He limped forward.
“What is it? What happened?” Carol said.
Dughlas and I gave each other a concerned glance, and the messenger fell to his knees. “We lost it,” the man mumbled.
“You what?”
The fort was attacked, Lord King. They came out of nowhere in the middle of the night. We tried to hold them off, but we were caught off guard. Forgive me.” The messenger bowed his head, and a tear fell to the stone floor.
“I left Baldric in command of the fort. Is he alive?” Carol asked.
“Yes, Lord King. They are holding him prisoner, with the princess. They killed everyone else.”
“How did this happen? Was no one patrolling the pass?”
“We had twenty men patrolling the pass, Lord King.”
“So why were you caught off guard? There is something you are failing to tell me, man.”
I watched the messenger shiver and saw more tears fall from his face. His muddy knees had dirtied the stone, and dried blood had matted his hair. He looked up at the king and bowed his head again.
The messenger explained to Carol what had happened, and although Carol made his best efforts to retain his composure, we could all tell he was furious. Baldric was one of Carol’s oathmen who had apparently helped the young king escape the Capital when it fell to Wim’s forces.
Carol trusted Baldric and left him in charge of his mountain fortress while he ruled from Tillysburg. The defence of that fortress was crucial, not only because of its strategic value, but also because Carol had left his sister — his only heir — at that fortress in case Carol were to die while fighting Stephan.
The previous day, however, was little Clodild’s ninth name day, and she apparently insisted Baldric throw her a celebration. Every man posted to that fortress was ordered to partake in the celebrations. Why Baldric would agree to that vexed Carol, but I had suspicions there was more at fault here than a child’s name day party.
“So, Baldric has failed me. I should pray that the men who attacked my fortress will save me the trouble of disciplining him. But Clodild…” Carol said. He turned away from the messenger, lost in thought. The messenger stood, wiped his tears away, and looked at his king with sorrow.
Roger stepped forward. “Young man, you said they killed everyone else, but clearly you are an exception. Why?”
“They spared me, lord. They even gave me a horse and bandaged my wounds,” said the messenger.
“Why?” Carol asked, turning back to the man.
“Their leader told me that I was to carry a messa
ge. I’m supposed to find a man called Edward and tell him that his Lurian is waiting for him. He said you would know who I’m talking about.”
When the messenger said those words, everything seemed to slow down, and my heart sank. Carol turned his head to look over at me, and his jaw dropped. Carol’s fortress had been attacked and captured by Hakon and his men.
Both Carol and I immediately understood why. The fortress, which had been occupied by Carol’s ancestors and passed down through his line to him, was not protecting a mountain pass, as was commonly thought, but was guarding a legend.
And now Hakon had it.
It took great effort convincing Carol not to march his army back to the mountains to retake his fortress and rescue his sister. Roger and I explained to him that if he did so, Stephan and Odo would trap him there — that is, if he was able to recapture the fort, which would cost hundreds of his own men and possibly his sister’s life.
Roger’s scouts had reported that the usurper’s army was only a few days’ march away, and if he retreated now, the war would be over. Carol did not tell Roger what the messenger had meant, and so Roger believed that the fortress was taken as part of Stephan’s war plan. He suggested paying a ransom for Clodild’s release, but no ransom was offered. It was not gold Hakon desired.
“Our only hope now is to meet Stephan on the field. We choose the ground that gives us the advantage and beat the king in one swift move,” Roger advised. Carol had summoned several of his top strategists, including Arne, and we were now discussing what Carol’s response to the loss of his fort should be.
“Earl Roger is right, Lord King,” Arne said. “If we can play the offensive and beat the usurper in one big battle, then his men will lose heart and the nobles hidden away in their castles will emerge and support us. But if you go back to the fort, it will look like cowardice, and bouncing back and forth between here and there will make you seem confused. No one will support you then.”
