Rebekka was just as paralyzed, and the fear in her was just as great, for both of them knew that there would be bad news at the arrival of this company. Rebekka had the better vision and soon she said she could make out the king, and finally she looked at Lorriel and told her she could see Andrew with one of her brothers riding next to him, but she knew not which one it was. Soon they both realized it was Raven who was riding next to Andrew, and equally as quickly they realized it was Edward lying on the bier. When the procession stopped in front of the castle gate, Lorriel ran out to the bier and fell upon Edward’s body sobbing. The king came and placed his arms around his daughter and pulled her away to his breast with tears in his own eyes. Raven saw this and softened toward his father. Dismounting he joined the family, tears forming in his eyes as well. Raven felt a hand on his elbow and realized it was Rebekka. She was crying too, so he reached out and pulled her to him, bringing her into the family circle as well.
Edward was buried next to his mother in the royal cemetery the same day the procession arrived at the castle. The funeral service was short, with the dukes, their sons, Master Fields, and others who cared for Edward in attendance. The king did not stay by the grave long but turned abruptly and headed into the castle. Soon all the others left except for Lorriel, Raven, Andrew and Rebekka. Rebekka and Andrew stood a ways off, while Lorriel knelt at the grave with Raven beside her, trying to comfort Lorriel and contemplate the finality of Edward’s passing. Lorriel had a single white rose in her hand as she stared at the grave, saying nothing she laid the rose on the grave. She had done the same thing for her mother when she had died.
Raven then spoke, “Oh Edward, struck down in the prime of your life for a cause that was unjust and empty, but you found honor at the last, an honor that will stay with us forever, for you challenged me to bear it in your stead after your passing. That I will do, my brother, with all my heart, for you were the one I looked up to and wanted to be like, for in you I saw what is best in men and what a king should be.”
With these words spoken from Raven’s heart, a dam burst, and now he was finally able to express the grief he had suppressed during the battle. The cries from Raven alarmed both Andrew and Rebekka and they hurried to Raven and Lorriel’s side at the grave. Easing them gently away from the grave, they escorted them on a walk in the royal garden to give them solitude and time to ease their grief.
No one spoke for a long time as they strolled, until Andrew broke the silence, “You must eat something, Prince Raven, for you have been exhausted from the battle and all that has happened.”
Raven nodded and knew he would feel better after he ate, so all four of them made their way to the great hall where some food and refreshment awaited them. After they ate, Raven took a stroll with Rebekka while Lorriel and Andrew stayed behind to visit in the great hall. They walked for a while in silence until Rebekka spoke; “They say you are a hero and that you saved the whole kingdom, is that true?”
Raven looked at her and shook his head. “The real heroes were the Crestlaws,” he stated, “for trying to save Edward and for delivering the crushing blow to the Wickshields. If all were known,” Raven continued, “I would seem as any other soldier.”
“I doubt that,” Rebekka replied, “and remember, someday you will have to tell me the whole story. I must leave this evening and return with my father to see to the needs of our own wounded and families who have lost loved ones, and so will Andrew and his father.”
Raven nodded silently.
“Before I go, my prince, you kissed me once because you thought you might never see me again. So please now, kiss me because you have returned.”
Raven looked at her, smiled and gave her the same heartfelt kiss he had once before. Afterwards he looked into her eyes seeing something that he did not quite understand, then hugged her and escorted her to her waiting father.
Chapter 8
The Return of Honor
“Tis a day of sadness in the land when thy king goeth astray; how then can there be healing except those of noble heart set the king back on the path of righteousness.”
--Chronicles of the Ancients
The king could not stay long at the funeral for Edward. There were some things that needed his immediate attention. So the king left Raven and Lorriel at the grave and hastened to his council chamber, there to write a letter. He should have stayed to comfort his children at this time of loss but he could not. He knew they were in great pain and sadness, but none felt the loss of Edward more acutely than he, for he loved Edward dearly and had a special relationship with him that he possessed with no one else. He had carefully groomed him and had fully prepared him to rule in his stead after he had gone. Edward understood how a kingdom should be run. He would have made a great statesman and the best of kings. But now that position would fall to the ill prepared, undisciplined Raven.
Raven, the king thought, he blames me for the death of Edward.
The king had seen it in his eyes the day they had won the battle and he had tried to stop him from walking away. The king feared no man, but for that instant he was afraid of Raven. Something about the look in his eyes froze the king’s tongue and stopped him dead in his tracks. The king remembered now the end of the battle that day, Raven covered in blood with an impossible number of slain behind him and the Wickshields terrified of his presence. The king shuddered when he thought of that picture and then remembered the armor. He had noticed it when Master Fields had handed Raven his shield. On the ride back to the castle, he had looked at it again. It had the old family crest design. It must have been some old family armor Raven had found in some forgotten corner of the castle. The king dismissed it at that and began to contemplate Raven’s actions at the battle. He had disobeyed the king’s command in engaging the enemy before reinforcements arrived. If he had not caused the defeat of the Wickshields, the king would have had him stripped and publicly chastised, maybe even removed from being prince. He could not do that now, for the people hailed him as a hero. And perhaps he was, for the more the king thought on the events, especially the report that came back to them after the battle, that the bulk of the Wickshield army had only been about five hours away. He realized that they could have lost the whole kingdom of Glenfair and its peoples to the Wickshields while waiting for reinforcements. But it still bothered the king that Raven disobeyed, and now they were hardly speaking to each other since Edward had died. Things had not gone as planned. Instead of Andrew Crestlaw being killed, Edward had perished. Was that the plan of the Crestlaws, for Edward to perish? He hated Andrew more now than before. To even see him would forever remind him of Edward’s death, for it was Andrew who should be dead, not Edward, and in a way he blamed it all on the Crestlaws. Their plot to get the throne had caused all of this to happen. Worse, he had given his public blessing to Lorriel and Andrew’s courtship thinking it would be short lived, and now he could not go back on his word, for he would lose the respect of his subjects. That is why he must act now, while the kingdom was still shaken from the war. The murder of Andrew would just be another tragedy amongst many others and would probably not undergo too thorough of an investigation. The only thing that troubled him was the knife that had disappeared in the first attempt on Andrew’s life.
Not to worry, thought the king. The merchant who sold that knife to the assassin was long gone by now.
He would give the assassin one more chance. That was the purpose of this letter, inviting the man to come and discuss redeeming his reputation and to get rid of Andrew Crestlaw. The king could trust no one on this matter, so the letter only requested the man’s presence. He would give him the details himself when he arrived.
The king sealed the letter and called one of his servants. “Take this letter,” he said, “to Dark Vale and deliver it to a man called Allterus. You will know him by a large scar on his right forearm. No one is to see you leave, and you are to speak of this to no one, understand?”
The servant nodded. In light of
the recent war, this did not seem out of place to him. He bowed and departed quickly.
Lorriel and Raven talked together after Andrew and Rebekka left to tend to the needs of their own people. So much had happened in so short a time, they both were still trying to grasp it all.
Lorriel began to question Raven about something that she was still bothered about, “Raven, how did the Wickshield army know when to attack the pass? This is the first time I can remember it was not guarded well. They had to find out somehow.”
Raven thought for a moment on how to answer Lorriel. He would not lie to her, but should he tell her everything? How much did she know or understand? He knew he had to answer her carefully.
“That is a very good question,” Raven said rubbing his chin. “It will take some thought and looking into. Thank you for bringing that up.”
She seemed satisfied with that answer so he pursued it no further. Master Fields knew the whole story, but no one else to his knowledge had considered all the ramifications. Raven somehow knew that Rebekka had something to do with cultivating these thoughts in Lorriel and had probably mentioned it to her. He remembered the look Rebekka gave him at the fall feast when he stood to leave for the battle. She instantly knew he had foreknowledge of the war as well as the danger to Andrew. He was not worried about her, though, because she used discretion about when and what to say. Raven thought of the one person he could talk to about these matters, Master Fields. He would have to see him tomorrow and discuss what to do about this whole mess with his father.
Raven turned to Lorriel, “We must get rest, my dear sister. We will all feel better in the morning after a night’s sleep.”
They were both completely played out emotionally.
“You have said this before and it was true, so I will bid you good night, little brother.”
Raven walked her down the hall and watched her go to her room, then entered his and washed. Then laying on his bed, he fell fast asleep.
Dark Vale was unlike any of the other little villages scattered throughout Glenfair. This place was not a settlement at all in a real sense, just a tavern with a few small shanties and old buildings that housed the less reputable subjects of the kingdom. No nation or kingdom is free from the criminal elements that plague society, but Glenfair’s swift punishment and no tolerance for crime kept it quite under control. A kingdom that executes harsh criminals when caught and made lesser criminals like thieves become indentured servants to those they stole from until they had paid back triple of what they had stolen, has little trouble with crime. And those who were criminally inclined either were very careful or the fear of being caught and punished restrained their evil natures. Murder, kidnapping, rape and attempted murder were all capital offenses that required the offender to be burned alive at the public stake. Livestock rustling and armed robbery were hanging offenses. It had been a long time since anyone had been burned at the stake, and only a few hangings had taken place in recent years. Allterus had no desire to be burned at the stake and was contemplating leaving Glenfair altogether when the king’s servant arrived at the Dark Vale tavern. Allterus was sitting at a table having a drink when he noticed the king’s servant enter. You could spot him immediately even if you were not trained as Allterus was. He had been a weapons master in another kingdom long ago. When that had gone sour, he found other ways to make a living. He had been a personal body guard, a private arms’ instructor, but mostly he was a bounty hunter. Allterus had been an assassin a few times, but only because the money was so good. He was not a man who loved violence and took no pleasure in killing. In fact, his cold calculated nature allowed him little pleasure in anything. To him assassination was just another job to be done. Most of his work was done in other kingdoms, and he only journeyed to Glenfair out of curiosity. He had heard that there was little crime in the kingdom but did not believe it until he saw for himself. Dark Vale was as bad as Glenfair got, and no one here openly admitted to being a criminal or committing a criminal deed. He could not believe it. Dark Vale was as mild as most average towns in other kingdoms. Since he had been here, he had only taken two jobs, both tracking down thieves, which were very simple. He was bored and just about to leave this place when the king’s offer had come to him over a month ago. The pay was too much to resist, being more than he had ever been offered for any other job, only he had not gotten paid. The king wanted him to eliminate a conspirator to the throne and needed someone from outside of the kingdom to do it, stating he could not trust anyone in Glenfair to accomplish the task. The only problem was he had somehow impossibly failed. The knife had been the best he could find, made outside of the kingdom of Glenfair. The throw was true and hard so how could the Crestlaw boy not be dead? Allterus was not stupid so he laid low to see how the investigation into the attempted murder went. If enough questions were asked, he would simply leave Glenfair and vanish. But to his knowledge, no one was poking around. He thought of trying to find the merchant who sold him the knife and ask if anyone had inquired about it, but felt that might bring more exposure of himself than he wanted. The merchant probably had forgotten who even purchased the knife or what he looked like, and to show up again and inquire, would leave too much of an impression to be forgotten by the merchant.
It is best, he thought to leave it alone. He had almost passed it all off as a lost venture when he saw the king’s servant.
Before the servant could ask any question of the tavern owner, Allterus went over to him and asked, “Can I be of any assistance to you? Come, sit and we can talk.”
The servant went with Allterus and sat with him in the corner of the tavern.
“I am looking for a man,” the servant replied, “by the name of Allterus. Do you know him?”
“I am who you are looking for,” Allterus replied coldly.
The servant glanced at the right forearm and seeing the scar, handed him the letter, and left. Something about this man frightened him, and he was glad to get away quickly.
Allterus waited for the servant to disappear before opening the king’s letter. After looking around to see if anyone was looking his way, he opened the letter and read:
“The money promised you is still left in the same location where it was before. If you still want an opportunity to collect it, come see me at once.”
Allterus held the letter over a candle on the table and let it catch fire. Then he let it burn until it was consumed. He thought about the offer, so much gold, and decided that it was worth one more chance to collect. Only this time, the king would have to tell him where the gold was located before he would take the job. It was just too risky. Allterus never thought about taking the money and just fleeing. It rankled him that he had failed in the first attempt. That had never happened before to him, and he would not let it happen again. He left the tavern and went to his room, gathered his things, found his horse and headed for the king’s castle.
When Raven woke the next morning, he hurriedly dressed and went to find Master Fields before breakfast. Master Fields was waiting in the courtyard as Raven entered.
“Good morning Master Fields,” Raven said, “I need to speak to you, privately.”
Master Fields nodded knowingly “I thought you might,” he said. “That is why I was waiting here for you. I wanted to speak to you as well. The king is sending me away for more than a week to check on the condition of our troops in every dukeship. It needs to be done, but the king was very firm in his desire for me to take care of this right away. I leave this afternoon so I wanted to speak to you before I left. Where can we go,” Master Fields asked, “that is safe to talk, for I think I know what subject you wish to speak to me about.”
Raven eyed the stables and motioned for Master Fields to follow. Once in the stables, Raven saw that they were empty this early in the morning. Going to the last stall on the northwest end, he pushed the secret catches and opened the door that led to the outside of the north wall. When they were outside the north wall and the door closed by
itself, they sat down on the ground and began to talk.
Master Fields began first, “Raven you are full of surprises. When and how did you find this doorway out of the stables?”
Raven smiled, “You taught me, Master Fields.”
Now Master Fields was puzzled, “I taught you how? I never showed you anything about secret passages.”
Raven laughed and said, “The sensitivity training you gave me allowed me to feel the catches in the wall.”
Master Fields nodded and then said, “Raven, the sensitivity training never taught you what you now know and feel. It only awakened something that was already a part of your very being. No one could be trained to have what you have.”
Raven shrugged, “In any case, it was started by you.” Raven paused quietly and then said bluntly, “What are we going to do about Father?”
Master Fields was silent for a while and then said, “That is a very difficult decision that I think only you can make, Raven.”
“Yes,” Raven admitted, “but I need your guidance. The king has based every bad decision and action of late on the assumption that the Crestlaws desire the throne. That is not true as you have seen by their actions during the war. The very fact that the king has tried to deal with this secretly and not openly shows he has no proof of conspiracy. He has deceived himself into believing a lie, so no amount of talking or proof to the contrary will change his mind. But that is not what bother’s me the most. He has committed treason against the kingdom by allowing the Wickshields access to Glenfair. It breaks my heart to realize that the kingdom was almost lost by his actions to eliminate an innocent family. And speaking of innocents, all the people who died, their blood is on his hands, including Edward’s.”
The King's Folly Page 19
