Rise of the Darekian's, The

by Wood, Andrew

  With the bridge gatehouse now in a suitable condition for it to be used for the purpose it was built, General Skalton had now set a guard to be permanently based there. The actual building was more than just a set of large gates; it had a number of steps up to the battlements, as well as a few rooms built into it. These had been cleaned up, the walls re-plastered and furniture put in. There was now a functional guardrooms office, a small storeroom for both weapons and supplies, and a bunkroom with sleeping space for twenty men. Probably the second most important addition, after the gates, was the fitting of a new warning bell. With the city only a short distance from the bridge, the bell was to be rung in emergency to notify the city of any possible impending threat.

  The first of the New Easton watch were now on duty at the gatehouse. Their job to keep an eye on the citizens and workers that operated on the northern bank of the river. Several teams of woodsmen, still felling trees, not just for the much-needed timber they needed for rebuilding, but also to push the tree line back as far as possible. The further this could be pushed, the better from a defensive point of view. With cattle and sheep still using the fields on the north side, there were also a number of people given over to the task of keeping an eye on them. This was a job normally given to the older of the children, those not yet old enough to be utilised in work elsewhere. Having soldiers at hand on the bridge, would give much needed security should the inevitable enemy invaders make an appearance. They hoped this would not be anytime soon; the latest scouting reports had not yet encountered any hostile force heading their direction. This did not mean the destruction and killing had stopped, just that for now at least, Luken and the refugees were safe.

  Sarena had joined the prince and Taylor for the midday meal in his room. They sat around the table picking at plates of cold meat, cheeses and crackers. There was a plate of biscuits for afters and a jug of fruit juice to drink. A Knock on the door interrupted their talk, "enter" Luken, shouted, placing his hand over his mouth to cover the half-chewed piece of ham within it. One of the guards stepped in, "Lord Darak is here your highness; shall I admit him?" They had not seen sight of Darak since the incident two days ago; Lord Galliss had told them he was keeping away, trying to find solitude to help in his effort in giving up alcohol.

  Luken nodded, once he was certain both Sarena and Taylor had no objections. The guard could be heard talking outside the door before Darak made his appearance. The first thing Luken noticed was how utterly terrible the young man looked. He had the face of someone who had not slept for a week, and his hands visibly shook. He entered the room and placed a bundle of something wrapped in burlap on the floor, before bowing and greeting them all in turn. He wiped his shaking hands on his shirtfront, appearing nervous, "firstly I would like, if I may, to apologise to both the Lady Sarena and your son Taylor. I was out of order, and my actions towards both were inexcusable." Sarena spoke, "As far as I am concerned the matter is done with and over, no more apologies are needed," and she finished off with a warm smile.

  Taylor glanced at the man, and after looking at his father, just shrugged, in an 'it doesn't matter' type way. Darak tried a smile, "I am afraid I look in a terrible state, and I confirm that I also feel the same. However I have kept my promise, and not had a single drink, I am told it gets easier after a while." Luken stood, "perhaps you would like to join us for lunch" he gestured to the spare chair. Darak shook his head, "An extremely kind offer your highness, but I do not think myself great company at the moment, another time perhaps. I did have a purpose for my visit, other than to apologise." Bending down to the floor and picking up the bundle, "I wondered if Taylor would like these, I made them myself, the last couple of days have been horrific for me, and well I needed to keep my hands busy and my mind off the alcohol." He removed the burlap cloth to reveal a wooden sword and shield bearing the insignia of the Elite Palace Guard.

  Taylor leapt off his seat and over to Darak, "ooh Dad, can I?" he asked his permission to take them. Luken nodded; "of course" he said noticing the look of complete joy on his son's face. The sword was much smaller than a normal one would be, but perfect for someone the size of Taylor. It had been carved from a single piece of timber, the pommel had been painted black, and the blade rounded so not to cause injury. The shield was also painted black which the emblem on the front and a leather strap at the back. Darak clearly took joy in helping Taylor strap the shield to his arm, and place the sword in his hand. Taylor beamed, swinging the sword left and right, then pushing his shield forward, then swinging the sword again nearly hitting Darak. "Thank you so much," Taylor finally said, realising he had probably swished the blade about enough. Darak knelt down to eye level, "when I am feeling a little better and if it is alright with your father, I could show you how to use it properly, if you would like that is?"

  Taylor turned, looking expectantly to his father, hoping he would give his permission. Although it was clear, Darak was sincere in his apology and giving the gift was thoughtful, Luken was not overly sure whether he wanted the man spending time with Taylor, just yet. His son kept staring, giving the look of a puppy yearning for attention, "oh very well, but just for a little while. Remember you are only six, and you will be careful wont you Darak?" Sarena butted in, "oh Luken, I'm sure he will be fine, you do sound like an old woman sometimes." Darak patted Taylor gently on the shoulder, "well young man, give me a few more days perhaps, until I feel a little better, then we'll start you practicing properly," he bowed before his prince and the Lady Sarena before leaving.

  Luken turned to the young woman sat beside him, "I do not sound like an old woman...do I?" Sarena giggled, taking his hand "well, maybe a little, sometimes, but we love you all the same, don't we Taylor?" The young boy looked over taking a break from his sword swinging, "of course" he said, before continuing his fight against his imaginary foe. Those words did seem to appease Luken who was quite enjoying holding hands with Sarena, and loosing himself in her eyes. "Do you really love me?" he asked, lost in the moment as he was. She blushed a little, but remained composed, "with all my heart" she said. Luken swallowed, he had never really been one for romance, that had always been Caldars department. She looked at him expectantly, before he realised, "and I love you" he finally said. He thought how strange those small words were, as common as they were, he realised he had never said them in such a way or with such sincerity.

  Taylor paused from his play once more, putting his sword on the tabletop, before struggling with the strap to remove his shield. Once he had placed that next to his sword, he made his way round to his father's chair and climbed up on his lap. He looked his dad straight in the eyes, "does this mean Sarena is going to be my mum?" Luken spluttered, to tell a girl you loved her was one thing, to marry her, for that is what he knew Taylor was asking, was quite something else. Sarena was just as gobsmacked by the question as Luken, but appeared to be more calm to answer, "Taylor, your father and I, well I love him dearly, and I hope he feels the same, and I would love nothing more than for you to call me mum." She took the boys hand in hers, "you are a very special, loving young man, you have a father who loves you very much, but maybe we should wait to see how we..."

  Luken had one of his wild compulsive moments, "Marry Me," he blurted out without really thinking of any consequences. Taylor, looking pleased with himself, let out a small cheer, though Sarenas face was an absolute picture. "You love me, I love you, and I think had Taylor had a choice to pick a mother, he would only ever pick you." Taylor nodded excitedly in confirmation of his dads comments. Blushing profusely, Luken was in the moment now; he lifted Taylor down off his lap, and stood off the chair, before moving it out of the way. Bending down on one knee, and looking up, taking Sarena by the hand, "Lady Sarena, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" he asked in as romantic way as he could muster.

  Sarena put her remaining hand to her mouth, and for a moment, Luken thought she was going to be sick, judging by the strange noise that came out of it. Unable to speak and lost for words
she started crying, and Luken was beginning to worry he was getting a refusal, "Oh Luken I would love too" she sobbed, flinging her arms around him. Putting her cheek next to his, he could feel the wet tears, and deciding now was the time to make a move, he put his hands, cupping her face. Taking a deep breath, he moved in, and kissed her full on the lips. He was not too sure how long his lips had been stuck on Sarenas but they were forced apart by Taylor squeezing his way in between them, wanting to join in on the hugs. "So does this mean you are going to be my mum then?" he asked, "I guess it does" Sarena answered kissing the young boy on the forehead, who gave her a big hug.

  Chapter 17.

  After the madness of lunchtime, Luken and Sarena walked about the camp hand in hand, with Taylor taking the place in the middle. The youngster beamed, as if showing the world his new mum and dad, although they had asked him to keep it under wraps for now at least, until other things were sorted. They made their way to Lord Galliss for the latest updates, and found him in the command tent. He stood as they approached and bowed, "my dad and Sarena are getting married," Taylor shouted out the second they were in earshot. Luken rolled his eyes back, oh well so much for keeping it quiet. Lord Galliss looked quite pleased by the news, "really? That is excellent news. A royal wedding, that ought to cheer the people up. Nothing like a party to make them forget their troubles, and may I be the first to offer my congratulations."

  Luken wished that Galliss would keep focus on rebuilding Easton, not talking about wedding plans. The city needed to be rebuilt, people needed homes and places from which to run their businesses, not wasting time on making wedding dresses and tailored suits. Luken decided to put things back into some sort of perspective, "Lord Galliss, yes it is true I wish to marry the Lady Sarena, my son appears to have a short memory," he added looking down at Taylor with a stern face. "Perhaps though it would be more feasible to continue your excellent work on getting the city built, before we start planning any festivities," he said it in a way he hoped was not to condescending. Lord Galliss took it in his stride, "of course your highness, I was getting a little carried away. However I still feel we can put some focussing of effort on to your wedding." He went on to explain, that when his wife was alive she loved nothing more than to sit in an evening and work on a new dress or shirt. He thought rather than removing people from their current jobs, perhaps ask if any would like to volunteer for little extra evening work.

  Reluctantly Luken agreed, but did stipulate that anyone involved be paid from his own purse, and that any materials be bought at a fair price, again with his own money. Times were hard enough without him burdening the people with the cost of fancy clothes for him and Sarena. That gave way to another of his brilliant ideas, "in fact, if you will allow my dear fiancée here to liaise with whoever you may find, I am certain she would be more than happy to oversee things from our point of view." Sarena smiled with glee, "ooh yes, what a splendid idea, now let's see, you will need a suit, and so will Taylor of course, oh and a nice dress for Hope..." Luken and Lord Galliss had switched off though Sarena rattled off an apparently endless list of things she needed, before realising they were just stood staring at her.

  Once the weddings discussions could now be put to one side, Luken listened to the latest news around camp. There was little of anything new, although Lord Galliss did request Luken join him inside the city walls for his opinion. Leaving Sarena and Taylor, the two men walked slowly from the camp, "Darak visited us earlier," and for a second Galliss appeared worried, "he looks awful; though he tells me he has managed to stay off the drink. He came to say sorry and bring Taylor a gift." Sighing heavily, "I hope he has turned a corner, I know he is ashamed of what he did" Galliss added, "he is not the only one, I am also ashamed of my part, I'm sure we can all put this behind us, and let us hope we are better people for having done so" Luken replied.

  Once inside the city walls, Luken was actually surprised at just how much had been done. In just a few days, huge patches had been cleared, the main street was clear of weeds, and most of its cobbles replaced. Several men were still at work, hammering down the small stones that made up the road, and were now nearly up as far as the keep entrance. Others were busy digging, and it was to these men Galliss steered Luken towards. Alongside them were long clay pipes, "you wanted a decent sewerage system, and I witnessed them using this method on a trip to Murati a few years back." He went on to explain the wide pipes were linked together to run waste to the river, each home would have a smaller pipe connected to the main pipe, and the best part was they were all buried just under the surface of the ground.

  Already there were areas marked out with bits of string, these were evenly spaced out in rectangles of about twenty paces by fifteen. Each of these he was told would be a home, nothing fancy, each would have two sleeping rooms, a General living and kitchen area. As he had asked there was space around each allotted home, and only ten in a row before a side street was marked for construction. The construction of the homes themselves would initially have to be from a similar to the type he was currently living in. The main differences being, these would have glass in their windows, and a shingle roof, as well as each having a water pump for drawing fresh water. He was shown a stand pump currently in operation; this was able to suck water up from the wells deep below the city. It was hoped a smaller version could be implemented in each home. In addition, every house would be able to dispose of its waste through the sewerage system he had been shown before.

  He had to admit, when Lord Galliss had asked him to accompany him into the city, he had not expected much. If they could make homes for everybody like he described, he knew the people could be happy here. That was not all, after the house explanations, he gestured Luken up the newly cleaned cobbled main street towards the keep. Here, a small set of gates were already being fitted across the entrance, nothing fancy, just iron bars running vertically, held together by several horizontals. These would never keep out an invading horde, but that is what the city gates were being made to do. These were more a barrier separating the city from the keep, and once painted would suffice perfectly. Inside the keep yard, several teams were working on the stone buildings; those he had presumed were barracks and stables. It appeared that the builders had been able to use the remains that had survived, and these looked, as they would be finished sooner than any other.

  Inside the keep itself, several lamps were lit, to give extra light. Window frames were being replaced, and already much of the ground floor was cleared of debris, a staircase was being fitted, and a number of men were carrying long planks of wood up ladders onto the upper floors. The roof was now watertight, the upper most floor, was being laid out and fitted as Lukens quarters. Much to his annoyance, it was quite clear that Lord Galliss insisted on making this a priority. He showed him a large plan, drawn out on paper, of large rooms being set aside for royal living. He may have gotten his wish on not having any sort of palace, but it was quite evident Galliss was going to make the rooms being made for him as eloquent as possible.

  Caldar and Vanessa slowly walked their horses side by side, chatting about the latest rumours they had heard. News was apparently coming through, confirming that some sort of rebuilding was being undertaken at Easton, but most bizarrely were the stories of some great magician or wizard. Some say he attacked the people trying to rebuild, others say he is on their side and in position to fight for them. They talked of a young man able to bring down entire towns by shaking the earth beneath them, or summon great walls of flame to incinerate anything or anybody that gets in his way. "Do you believe all this magic talk?" Caldar asked Vanessa, having been thinking about it for the last hour, running it through his mind. She shrugged her shoulders, "I do not know really, but I suppose, I would say I don't not believe, if that makes sense." She explained her theory that, she thought it may exist in some shape or form, there were always stories or rumours of people doing the most strangest of things. She used the fall of Hamalin as her example, and though it clearly made Cal
dar uncomfortable just to hear it, he supposed that must have been some great dark magical occurrence.

  "It comes down to, I'll believe it truly when I see it with my own two eyes" she finished off her surmise. That he thought was probably his feeling on the matter, magic was one of those things you really needed to be witness too. Stories and rumours were fine, but he knew all too well how gossip could be exaggerated the more it travelled from person to person. It was as if each liked to add their own little personal touch to the rumour, maybe to make it sound more exciting or news worthy, and before you knew it a tale that may have started off about a man shovelling a pile of earth, had become a magician who moved a whole mountain.

  Caldar was utterly surprised by what came into view as he rode along the road to Casham. When last he had seen it, a week or two earlier, it was surrounded by a shaky looking wooden palisade that he had ordered built. What he saw now, was quite something else. It still had its wooden surround, but it now had a line of fortifications stretching as far as he could see east to west. When he had left Lord Willem of South Besemia to oversee his defences, he certainly had not envisaged such a transformation. He could see several more watch towers along the line, as well as rows upon rows of stakes, ditches, as well as a number of smaller, what he could only describe as hill forts. These appeared to be built up on raised ground, earth he assumed from the digging, and intersected the ditches and trenches every several hundred paces. He thought of them as small strongholds, if the ditch or trench was breeched, men could better defend themselves on raised ground from behind a barrier.