The Tainted Crown: The First Book of Caledan (Books of Caledan 1)

by Meg Cowley

  “So, gentlemen. We are on a venture of great importance. Your courtesy is appreciated, but unnecessary. I am more than willing to participate in the watch rota, and it is evident that the Lady Eve also wishes to contribute. It would be appreciated if all four of us could waive aside status and split the night watch in future. It will not serve you well today, Masters Nyle and Luke, to be fatigued in your duties.”

  The two guards bowed. “Our apologies, Lady Eve, Sir Edmund,” Nyle said. “We shall be careful to include you in such duties henceforth.”

  She agreed and saw the relief on their faces.

  “It is forgiven,” she said. “And you must all call me Eve.” Lade Eve, she thought with derision. Here am I in pants and a shirt like a man, unwashed and dirty to boot; I could not be less like a lady.

  She turned away to gather up her blanket and saddling gear without noticing her guards’ shocked expressions. They turned back to their own tasks, as Edmund stifled a chuckle behind her back.

  Edmund

  Edmund pondered as they rode. He had not expected to have any company, let alone the heir of one of his most trusted friends in his care. He was torn between accompanying her to Ednor, feeling bound to ensure her safety, and rushing back to Soren’s side.

  He dreaded what state he would find the monastery in, certain that as he rode north, Zaki would also be doing the same. He felt helpless, knowing he could not possibly reach Soren before Zaki and had no power in what happened next. The lack of control did not ease the burden of this knowledge. Was I right to leave him? He questioned his decision.

  Oblivious to his inner troubles, Eve and Luke rode behind him two horse’s width apart. Although they did not push the horses quite as hard as Edmund pushed Arkan in his race to Arlyn, they were almost half way to the monastery by mid afternoon. Blessedly, the road also quietened as settlements became less frequent.

  Although the four ran with the horses for a time to give them some form of break, they had not stopped and ate their midday meal in the saddle to avoid delay. By late afternoon, Edmund was optimistic of making the river crossing, where one of the great tributaries feeding the Great Lake flowed down from the mountain, just past which, those who knew where to search, could find the forgotten road to Ednor.

  It had once more been a solitary day in the saddle. The noise made it impractical to try to converse and there was little enough to be said. They were almost lulled into complacency and had just begun running with the horses once more to rest them, when up ahead a figure galloped into view still some distance away.

  The road was long and straight at this point. There was no chance of avoiding him and Edmund was sure that he must have already seen them. Edmund swore harshly, cursing their misfortune as he tried to formulate a solution. He stopped the four of them and ordered them to mount. They obeyed instantly, and he turned in his saddle to address them.

  “We are travelling north on trade purposes. Eve, you are my daughter. Luke, Nyle, you are our guards. Nyle, up front. Luke, fall behind. If we are discovered, Eve, stay back and let us capture or kill him without hesitation,” he ordered. He berated himself silently for his lapse in concentration.

  Quick and efficient, they obeyed and they set off at a gentle trot after composing their faces into relaxed expressions although their hearts pounded in their chests as the rider drew closer.

  The rider approached swiftly and in a matter of minutes had almost met them in the road. He travelled cloaked in dark brown, though a sword sat visibly at his side and his horse was laden with light provisions. From his appearance, they could not glean much more than that of his identity, as they glanced surreptitiously at him in passing. He reined in his horse to one side of the road to let them pass, examining them as he did so.

  “Sir Edmund!” he exclaimed as they rode by. Edmund’s reaction was swift. He forced his horse to turn on the spot and he quickly had the rider surrounded by a trio of swords as Nyle and Luke followed suit. The man’s horse shied and the horrified man narrowly avoided being injured as his horse tried to backtrack.

  “Peace!” he cried, dismayed and raised his hands away from his sword. “I come from the monastery! I have been sent by the abbot to warn you!”

  “Warn me? Of what?” replied Edmund. He did not not lower his sword.

  “Sirs, Lady, I think we should step off the road to discuss it. We do not know who else may be using it,” requested the man, as his horse reared again with its nostrils flaring. Edmund was cautious and still distrustful, but after some delay he agreed, sheathed his blade and they all dismounted to exit the road. They stopped when it could not be seen. Luke and Nyle with swords drawn and Eve stood to one side as Edmund faced the monk.

  “You may speak freely,” said Edmund.

  The monk took a deep breath. “My name is Jormund. I come from the monastery by order of the abbot. He gave me a seal to show you, so that you may know I am truthful in this.” He fumbled as he drew forth a ring hanging from a leather thong around his neck. He presented it to Edmund, who examined it – it was indeed the seal of the abbot in miniature – and invited for him to continue.

  “I have both good and bad news for you. Prince Soren reached the monastery safely yesterday. We have given him sanctuary and he has informed our Abbot of the events in Pandora. However, forces loyal to Zaki have surrounded our complex. He is sure to have arrived today personally, but there are significant military numbers already surrounding the monastery. Edmund’s heart sank at his words. I sent him into danger, God forgive me.

  “Our abbot’s plan was to smuggle the prince into the mountains with a small guard so that he is in no present danger if Zaki plans to assault our forces. I was sent to tell you this news and also to warn you to take extreme care if you plan to return, as we thought you would, and attempt to gain entrance.”

  “This is bad news, though not all unexpected, Jormund,” Edmund replied, still troubled. “Thank you for seeking me. How were you able to come so far so swiftly? Moreover, how did Soren reach the monastery yesterday? I left him nearby some days ago.”

  “I was informed that the prince was unable to immediately find a way into our sanctuary due to the hostile forces surrounding our walls. And of myself, I rode through the night to find you, as our abbot deemed this a high emergency,” said the monk.

  “Then I thank you most deeply.” Edmund bowed his head. “It seems I must now decide what I must do. Eve, I had planned to escort you to Ednor or partly there, so that I may have no guilt on my conscience for abandoning you in the wild. However, I fear I must find Soren before it is too late. I hope that I may trust you to the care of Luke and Nyle and I hope you will forgive me for leaving you.”

  “Let me accompany you!” said Eve suddenly. “I want to help my cousin!”

  Edmund shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. He drew her aside, away from the curious monk and her confused guards who had plainly assumed they would be travelling together, before continuing in a low voice they could not hear.

  “Your path lies towards the Eldarkind, and your father has tasked you with meeting them. You have agreed to this and your father is counting on you. You are duty bound to complete this and you may not get a chance to do so if you come with me. I do not wish to cause hostility, but I refuse to let you accompany me.”

  Eve

  Eve scowled behind his back but said nothing, knowing the argument would be futile. There is still time for me to change his mind. Her stubborn streak remained. In the past day she had begun to dread reaching Ednor. All the long years of anticipation and high expectations left her with a growing fear that it would not measure up to the place she had imagined. Worse still, she dreaded meeting her mother’s people, unsure whether they would accept her as she was not truly one of their own.

  “I’ll take the first watch,” Eve said in a tone that brooked no argument and stalked off with her blanket and some food. Her companions hid smiles, though Jormund was baffled.

  Although the monk was with th
em on good authority, Edmund had not informed him of Eve’s purpose and the monk seemed altogether at a loss of how to treat her. Behind Eve, the dim light of the solitary lamp illuminated the camp, before it fell into silence as the four men bedded down.

  Throughout the night, the thunder of horses along the road and the screeching and rustling of nocturnal animals disturbed the forest. Awake and alone in the dark, Eve grew more unnerved every time sounds filtered across the landscape. The little light from the lamp behind her was small solace.

  Her thoughts turned to home for comfort and repeatedly strayed to Luke. No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, she could not forget what her father had revealed. She felt unsure how to treat him. Whereas Nyle was several years her senior, she and Luke had grown up together as good friends, though distant of late; a fact not helped by her father’s admission.

  She considered that she and Luke had been close, being schooled together and exploring the town and surrounding land with their other friends. She remembered the happiness they had all shared, yet recalling her naivety brought forth wistfulness.

  It was only when her father withdrew her from that life to become the Lady of Arlyn that responsibility soon fell on them all. Play became training and although Luke took a role with the guardsmen, frequently training alongside Eve, things had not been the same since. Status and tradition steadily dismantled their close friendship until they never idly talked or ran wild in the woods as before.

  Whether she would have wanted to remain friends was beyond his or her control, but she could not forget the sadness for the fading friendship. Her life was lonely, for all its privileges. She could not decide whether to remain angry with him for breaching her privacy. Unlike Nyle, she knew Luke well enough to know he would never do so with malice.

  At the end of her watch as her eyes grew heavy, Eve awoke Edmund for the second shift. Her nerves remained on edge from the creatures of the night she had heard and so she carried her bedding between Nyle and Luke who slept a few metres apart, not wanting to feel exposed. She lay down to sleep as quietly as she could. As she did so, Nyle opened an eye and observed her guardedly.

  ~

  Unseen to her in the shadows, Luke also awoke and as she laid down, his breath caught as he saw her so near to him, her hair glowing in the lamp’s illumination before she sank into the shadows beside him. His mouth dried and his heart leapt in his chest as she sighed, and sunk into slumber quickly after her long watch.

  That night he rested poorly, and it was with great contemplation that he took the last watch of the night. His thoughts strayed repeatedly to the sight of her reclining so near to him, so unguarded and natural, and his throat constricted. Her unexpected close proximity that night and her constant informal presence over the previous days had stirred strange feelings within him and his head was a jumble of emotions.

  ~

  “We are here,” Edmund said, to Eve’s confusion. She had not expected the path to Ednor to be so inconspicuous. Without further explanation, he dismounted and bade them all to follow him off the road.

  They trekked westward and up a slight incline for a further half an hour until they came upon a clearing large enough for them to see the foothills. Covered in their mantle of evergreens and soaring high above them, they hid the true mountain range from view.

  “It is here we part,” he said. He smiled at Eve, Luke and Nyle in turn before reaching into his saddlebag for the spare map he had brought. When he had opened it out on the ground, he pointed at their location on it. Nyle made to speak, but Edmund forestalled him to explain which path they should follow.

  “Ednor and the land of the Eldarkind in the mountains can be accessed solely by this pass from this side of the mountains it would seem.” He focused his attention on Eve, who listened, entranced. “It is recorded that there used to be a road here, built by great civilisations long past and ruined before Caledonians and Eldarkind came to live here.

  “The Eldarkind do not wish to mingle at large with our people anymore and so the trails were allowed to be overrun. To many, there is nothing in front of you but mountains and past that the wastes of the North, however some know better.

  “I know that Eve has not described your purpose and destination to you,” Edmund said to Luke and Nyle. “I know you think the Eldarkind a race extinct in the long past, but they live as they ever did, hidden away in corners of the world.”

  “How do you know that? Are we to chase fairy tales and dark powers?” Nyle interrupted.

  “I know because I have journeyed there many times,” replied Edmund. Eve saw the look he gave Nyle; one that dared the younger man to challenge him. “One such centre of their dwellings can be found where the March Mountains join with the Helm Mountains.

  “I ask you not to judge and to trust that this mission is of the utmost importance. You carry the safety of Caledan on your shoulders now. Heed not the petty legends of fiends and untrustworthy spell casters that they are portrayed to be in your fairy tales, for these bear no resemblance to the great and noble race that is the Eldarkind.”

  Luke and Nyle exchanged a shocked glance as Edmund continued.

  “As you journey up into the mountains and cross over the pass you will come into a great valley. At its longest point it is just shorter than the journey from Arlyn to here. It is there that the road is at last maintained once more and you will be able to follow the path to Ednor itself.

  “From here, bear west. You will find yourself in a steep sided valley with a stream in the bottom that runs a rusty orange with the richness of iron ore in the hills. Keep to the north side of this stream and you will soon happen upon what appear to be the remains of the old road. Admittedly, it is more of a trail now, but still discernible. If you follow that, you will reach Ednor tomorrow.

  “Any questions? Peace, Eve,” Edmund said at the unhappy expression upon Eve’s face. Unwilling to speak in front of Luke and Nyle, she drew Edmund aside.

  “I feel as if I’m going in the opposite direction to where I should be, Edmund,” she said. “For so many years I’ve wanted to see the land where my mother was raised. My father has denied me this for reasons I still don’t understand, but now of all times I wish I could be journeying elsewhere.”

  “It is a great thing, to wish for something for so long and be faced with finding out whether the reality meets your expectations,” Edmund replied. “However, we all have our path through time laid out before us, and sometimes it may take us away from where we wish or towards our fears and we must face that bravely.

  “Even I fear my own journey,” he admitted, “but there is always a reason for everything you do. I know it is difficult but there is great value to you going to the Eldarkind, not least for your own enrichment and the fulfilment of your desire to meet your mother’s people, but also to act as an envoy for our entire race. It is you that must inform them of the plight of Caledan and ask for their aid.

  “You have no less a responsibility on your shoulders than I do at this moment in time. Where I go to help Soren reclaim the throne for the good of Caledan, you go to help him do the same; your path takes you one way and mine takes me another. Yours is no less important.”

  Pacified, Eve nodded. “I suppose I understand,” she acknowledged reluctantly. “I must put aside my fears in this.”

  “So you promise you will go as an envoy to the Eldarkind and that under no circumstances will you follow me instead?” Edmund pressed her, leaning forward. After a short pause, Eve agreed, to Edmund’s relief and they turned back to Luke and Nyle.

  “Good. Let us not delay, then.” Edmund picked up the map, folded it away and offered it to Eve. “I do not need it. Do you know anything about Ednor at all?”

  Eve shook her head.

  “Just that my mother was born there.” It was said before she realised Luke and Nyle would hear. She bit her lip, mentally kicking herself. Edmund seemed surprised that she knew nothing more, though he did not remark on it. Luke and Nyle had frozen with
aghast faces at her accidental disclosure. Edmund did not notice their reaction.

  “Very well. If I am correct, for I have not heard anything of them for some time, their current ruler should still be Queen Artora. Ask for her directly and speak with the greatest courtesy when you are in her or her advisers’ company. I wish I could instruct you in more length as to how to conduct yourself, as the Eldarkind have many specific ways of expressing courtesy and respect, but alas, you will have to do your best. I have faith in you.”

  As Eve, Luke and Nyle led their horses west into the forest, Edmund made for the road with Jormund, who had kept his distance during the exchange, to continue on to the monastery.

  Eve and her guards walked on, still leading the horses on foot through the woods that were too dense to allow them to ride. Because of this, they walked in single file; Nyle led Eve whilst Luke brought up the rear. Eve was glad, for it gave them no excuse or opportunity to talk and gave her time to gather her thoughts. What she could not see was the growing worry on Luke’s face and Nyle’s fuming countenance.

  Eve puzzled over Edmund’s words. Her thoughts dwelt on why her father had never before permitted her to journey to Ednor. She recalled with a sigh the faint memory of her mother’s hand caressing her head, a smell of flowers and her long golden hair, which Eve had inherited, falling in a curtain as she bent to embrace Eve and tell her yet another fairytale from the land of the Eldarkind.

  After her mother’s death when she was still a young girl, she had asked many times if she could journey there. It had seemed to her to be a land of magic and wonder, a place she had always yearned to visit to see the truth of the tales.

  Her father – at first grief stricken and later distant – had always denied her this wish without explanation, to Eve’s great frustration. They had many an argument over it, but Karn was adamant in refusing her permission to visit, and in recent years, she had given up asking.