“Why are you unhappy?” she asked.
“I’ve just found out something that saddened me.”
“What was it?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” William answered. She wouldn’t understand even if he did answer the question. That was the bliss of childhood, and he wasn’t about to take that away from her; no doubt the future would do that. “It has to do with my mother.”
“My mother would always tell me stories,” Lilia recalled, smiling as she thought of her mother. “She told me stories about her time in the palace as a royal servant.”
William was only half-paying attention to her speak.
“She always told me one story in particular,” Lilia continued, “about the night one of the princes was born.”
With this William focused on her.
“You’re a prince, aren’t you?” the child asked.
William nodded, his attention full.
“I do not remember it all,” Lilia admitted, noticing William and everyone else now staring at her intently. She shied away.
“What did she tell you?” William demanded, but he softened his tone. “What did your mother tell you about that night?”
“Rumours of the child not living,” Lilia mumbled. “But then the next morning, the king had a brand new son.”
William could hardly speak. He sighed to himself. Her words only fuelled the validity of this entire nightmare. “I cannot stay still. I must move; I cannot stay here.”
“Did my story not cheer you up?” the child asked, her eyes filled with grief of her own.
William softened, remembering his desire to help her, and her parents’ hope in him. “Yes, Lilia, thank you,” he said as he gave her a weak smile.
“What do you want to do?” Max asked.
William looked to see Brian about to leave for the town. “I’ll go to the town with him to clear my mind. I need noise.”
“Will you take me?” Lilia asked.
“No,” William said firmly at first but softened his voice again. “I need for you stay here, Lilia.”
“I’ll watch over her,” Victoria assured.
Lilia’s attention alternated between the two brothers. “But…”
“I’ll wake you up when I return,” William said and Lilia reluctantly nodded. “I promise.”
“I’m coming with you,” Elizabeth declared. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway, not after this.”
“Are you sure?” Victoria asked as she glanced to the stone. “Is that wise of you?”
“We’ll have just as many Arraci in the town as there are here,” William answered for her. “And more of them will be awake.”
“Why don’t you come, too?” Elizabeth asked her friend.
She shook her head. “You know that Thrix wouldn’t allow it. He believes that I carry the stone.”
“He won’t notice your absence,” Elizabeth said.
“But I wear the ring, so he’ll see it on the map and come after me.”
“Well, I’m going,” William declared as he walked towards Brian with his horse. “I can’t stay here any longer. I need time to process all of this.”
“Be careful, brother,” Max worriedly called after him, seeing the pain in his brother’s eyes as William and Elizabeth walked away.
William nodded. His thoughts mashed into an incoherent mess. He tried to focus on walking and clear his mind, but it wouldn’t work. As he walked to the front of the camp, he made eye contact with Aroden but looked away. Of all the people to deceive him, even if he didn’t know William’s true heritage before today, it shocked William that his father had this immense secret. And he felt that Aroden wasn’t revealing it all.
His heart hurt. To live an entire life believing in a lie, for the simplest question of parental identity to turn out false, it crippled him. His legs felt heavy, as if he walked in quick sand or underwater.
As they walked, Elizabeth whispered over her shoulder to her friend, who she knew would hear her. “Victoria,” she said and noticed her friend intently look back to her. “Retrieve the map for us. We will need it.” Her friend’s eyes looked back curiously, but Elizabeth faced forward again. She knew that Victoria would succeed. “Please, do this for us,” she finished.
Before Brian could leave with the other Arraci, he spotted William and Elizabeth walking towards him with their horses. “What are you doing?” he asked as the two of them mounted their horses.
“We’re coming with you to the town.”
“I don’t think…”
“Brian,” William interrupted while patting Windrunner’s neck. “Please, I need to come to the town with you.”
His tone struck Brian off guard. He inspected William and saw Elizabeth’s dark expression. “Very well,” he cautiously said, unsure of the situation. “Stay close to me then.”
William nodded.
“Is everything okay?”
“No. I need to clear my mind.”
Brian nodded, choosing not to pry. His attention alternated between the two of them. “Let’s go, then.”
He led the rest of the Arraci down the road towards the town. William could feel his father watching him the whole time but refused to look back; he couldn’t bear making direct eye contact with him now. Elizabeth rode closely beside him in silence, seeing the pain in his eyes and his shoulders slouched. He felt sick. On top of the exhaustion, hunger, and fatigue, his conscience now weighed heavier than all the rest. He held onto the reins tightly with one hand and patted Windrunner again with the other. The contact with one of his oldest friends helped, a small comfort in the sea of thoughts plaguing his mind.
“I never knew my mother,” Elizabeth spoke up to break the silence. “She died around when I turned three.”
William continued to quietly pat his horse.
“But you knew your mother,” she continued in an attempt to comfort him. “Even if you didn’t share the same bloodline, William, you knew your mother.”
“I know.” He sighed and took the reins with both hands. “My mother made me who I am today; she’s the one that raised me in this world, but I don’t know the one who brought me into it, the one who instilled this power within me, who gave me life.”
“You’ll find your answers,” she said.
He nodded.
Brian turned around, having heard their conversation. “What are you talking about, William?”
“I’m not the son of Valencia. I’m only half-brother to Richard.”
Brian’s eyes widened, his jaw slightly lowered. “None of the Arraci knew,” he firmly declared. “I want you to know that, William.”
“Not even my father knew,” William added. “Thrix just told him.”
“Your father’s heart is in the right place,” Brian said. “I know you feel anger towards him, but remember that.”
Elizabeth reached over to touch his hand, feeling the same strong energy as before. “I did not say when Zed was speaking, but I have heard of this Elitheria before,” she said. “Your mother possesses a great power, one greater than I have ever encountered.”
“How do I unlock that power?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps Tolin will know the answer.”
William shook his head. “He seems like the only person who may be willing to talk to us.”
“My father trusted him, so I must as well. If he knew about the stone as Thrix did, I’m sure he also knows about your heritage. The two appear interconnected.”
He didn’t respond, instead retreating to the deafening thoughts in his mind. How could he be connected to all of this? He recalled Zed mentioning the name ‘Elitheria’ in his old book, though he could read nothing more about it. Elitheria was connected to the Eternals, one of which protected him now, and there raged an ancient war that produced the stone that Elizabeth carried. But how can one being, Elitheria, control both the birth of creation and maintain control over the Eternals, too?
He thought aloud. “One that controls the Eternals
must be powerful,” he said.
“Yes,” Elizabeth nodded, but Brian didn’t respond.
William glanced at Elizabeth and changed the subject. He wouldn’t find any answers on this trip to Noteral and, after all, the whole point was to clear his head. He couldn’t ride in silence though, he needed a distraction.
“Have you been to Noteral before?” he asked her.
“No, though I’ve heard of it.” She took his prompt, willing to let him clear his thoughts.
He shrugged. “I’ve been coming to this town my entire life on the road to Orwell. It was one of my…” his voice trailed off. “…my mother’s favourite places. Her brother lived here for a while but disappeared shortly before the usurpation in Criton.”
Elizabeth didn’t respond.
“I have many fond memories on those streets.”
“Memories cannot be tainted by the future,” she said. “I will forever remember my father for what we did together, not his final moments alive.”
William nodded.
“What will we do in the town?” she asked.
Brian turned again. “Pick up bread and water for us and hay for the horses. It should be a very short trip.”
“Didn’t you live in this town for a while?” William spoke up.
“Yes, my sister and I lived here for a few years. It was the first place we went to after the wars with the Navarine Kingdom. Those were hard times.”
“When did you start the Arracian Order?” Elizabeth asked.
“We started the order on our own accord at the age of eleven; in fact, it was during our time here in Noteral. At first it was just the two of us; we wanted to make ourselves more equipped to handle war in the future, and it seemed many others agreed with our intentions. Our ranks quickly grew.”
“Quite a lot by the looks of it,” Elizabeth said while glancing at the other Arraci around them. “You have quite an impressive following.”
“Yes,” Brian said. “When Aroden and his sons passed through this town shortly after, he saw potential in our cause and invited us to the capital at fourteen years of age. Our ranks have been growing ever since.”
“How many did you reach in Noteral?”
“We became only about fifteen,” he proudly smiled, “the oldest members of the Order, like Orthol, Gringal, and Rachel. We showed tremendous skill and loyalty to one another. Adriana and I knew the only way we could fight back against the savage tribes to the North would be to gain support from Aroden.”
“I thought those tribes fell centuries ago after the Natavarn Wars?”
“No,” Brian sternly declared. “They still exist regardless of what the Navarine Kingdom says. They are blind to the threat. It’s because of those tribes that my sister and I started the order in the first place, because they ransacked our village and killed our parents. Those savages still exist,” he asserted again, “and will eventually pay for what they’ve done.”
Elizabeth nodded but didn’t ask another question, sensing the frustration in Brian’s voice. She could see William fighting with his own mind, a blank expression across his face and his hands clenched. She didn’t say much else, and they rode in silence, only the clopping of horse hooves and rattling of their riders piercing the quiet of the moonlit dirt road in front of them. The town lay ahead, the streams of smoke pouring above it with a scatter of large fires all around and the smells of ale and meats saturating the chilly air.
Seeing the town flooded William with memories of his mother, all the times they’d spent walking the streets with adoring crowds cheering for the crown. The advice she’d given to him as a child, to care for all and lead with passion, to protect family above all else and never let evil taint his heart, it all rushed into his mind. He refused to let those memories be tarnished. She was his mother regardless of who birthed him, regardless of anything.
“I miss her,” he mumbled. “I miss my mother.”
“And I miss my father,” Elizabeth said. “But we fight on for them.”
“Time passes too quickly to process it all. I don’t know what to do.”
“Keep going,” Elizabeth said. “It’s what my father wanted, and it’s what your mother would’ve wanted, too.”
He nodded. “They’ll pay for what they did,” he said. “Only death will suffice as punishment.”
“Yes.”
“And I will discover who I am. I’ll uncover my identity and discover what I can do, what I’m capable of.”
“You will,” Elizabeth said while trying to smile, “and I will help you.”
Brian sat quietly atop his horse. “We’re almost to the town,” he said. “Stay close to me. We don’t know if this place has been compromised.”
“The map didn’t show anything,” Elizabeth said. “It should be safe.”
“Stay close to me nonetheless.”
Chapter XXVIII
The people of Noteral always flocked to the streets after the sun set and the cooler air replaced the scorching day’s heat. Much like the markets of Orwell, the people came out in troves during the early hours of the night, so it was no surprise to William, Elizabeth, and Brian to find the streets bustling at this late hour. Their horses trotted down the old stone roads and passed swarms of people walking in every direction. The horses seemed dismayed by the sudden onslaught of activity, and William patted Windrunner for reassurance.
The rest of the Arraci had held back and travelled around the village individually, much like they always did in Orwell. Small, stone brick buildings with scattered red tile rooftops lined the grey stone streets with all sorts of old, wooden signs in front of them, the engravings made either from a type of black or white chalk or simply etched directly into the wood with a sharp point. The buildings varied in both size and quality, depending on their purpose, age, and ownership, and gave the town a unique appearance and character.
The pub, unsurprisingly, was the second largest building in the town just behind the town hall at the centre, which lay directly at the end of the road before it diverged in both directions. Most of the merchant shops and homes were dwarfed by the town hall, its large stone walls and thick wooden rooftops boasting the town’s prestige. But in reality, it wasn’t that the town hall was massive but, rather, the rest of the buildings were relatively quite small. This city housed many of the Brutean Kingdom’s finest weavers with several fabric shops scattered throughout. In comparison to Skee, Noteral was practically a flourishing city.
The constant chatter around them created an incomprehensible single tone of conversation, just what William needed to help blot out his thoughts. The smells churned his stomach as he noticed the strong scent of freshly baked bread emanating out of the town bakery and spotted the well-cooked, salted meats displayed in front of the butcher’s shop right in front of them. His mouth watered just thinking about them; he stared longingly as they passed by the butcher’s shop with all the food displayed in pristine glass windows, screaming for him to take them. The place reminded him of Zed’s home, which brought a scowl to his face as he thought of what Zed had to leave behind and the pride he felt for his shop. It wasn’t fair that he’d had to leave but, then again, none of this was particularly fair.
“We can only pick up bread and water,” Brian said as the three of them road beside each other. He noticed William staring at the butcher’s shop and gave him a grin, sharing his longing for the meat. “We’ll have a full-cooked feast upon our return to Brymar. I think a small celebration that we made it out of all of this alive would be very reasonable. I’m sure we’ll eat and sleep plenty.”
William reluctantly nodded. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to pass those meats again on the way back.”
“We’ll take a different route then,” Brian smiled back, but it faded. “Our coin is short, though. We must spend it wisely.”
William slouched back in the saddle of his horse. “I’ll be looking forward to that cooked meal back at home then.”
“Won’t we all?” Brian grinned. “T
imes will be better when we are home. We will be safe there, as will the stone.”
Elizabeth avoided looking at the stone’s bulge beneath her dress.
Brian stopped in front of the bakery and dismounted from his horse, handing the reins to William. “I’ll be right back,” he said while removing a small pouch of coins from the side of his horse. On his back he still wore his bow and arrows with a sword hanging from his hip. “I’ll need help with carrying the bread back if you don’t mind since you came along with me. It’ll be quite a large order considering how many of us there are to feed.”
“Of course,” William assured as Brian walked into the small stone building in front of them.
The moment Brian stepped through the doorway, Elizabeth’s expression hardened. She turned to face William and waited to make eye contact. “It cannot go to Brymar first.”
“We have no choice,” he shrugged.
“We must travel to Durk’helm with the stone,” she asserted.
“You wish to leave with it without telling the others?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“If I must,” she asserted. “I will do what has to be done, what my father wanted for me to do. I cannot wait any longer.”
William paused, staring into her light green eyes before looking to his hands again. “Not without me,” he muttered to himself. “I will come with you. I will travel with you to meet Tolin.”
“You will?” Elizabeth asked, slightly shying away. He could see her thinking to herself. “You’d leave the safety of your home to travel with me?”
“Yes.” He paused but nodded with conviction, his hand clenching into a fist. “I’ve been thinking about it as we rode, and I’ve made up my mind.” He paused again. “I want answers. I need them.”
She gave a shallow smile.
“How do we leave?”
Elizabeth glanced towards the bakery and around them to check for listening ears. “We leave tonight while everyone sleeps.” She paused, continuing to glance around. “Thrix believes Victoria carries the stone.”
“Then he won’t be expecting us to leave.”
The Secrets of Brymar (The Elitherian Fragments Book 1) Page 32
