Gee It’s Great After Being Out Late
A hundred years they sleep,
A hundred years they roam,
And if you rouse them far too quick,
Their anger you will own.
My eyes slowly opened to the sight of darkness outside the room’s windows. Lamps flickered around me. The right side of my face felt numb, but I did not want to stir yet. I wanted to sleep more, so I closed my eyes again.
The children sounded like they were playing a game that involved clapping and palms meeting, the words going faster at they reached the end of each stanza followed by laughing and giggling then a smack. Then more laughing and giggling.
…
…
All fall willingly down her feet,
Her beauty you beware.
Laughing. Smack.
“Ouch!” Jibel exclaimed.
…
All that grows and sprouts,
All that crawls and flies,
…
Giggling. Smack. Laughing.
“Ooooh, it’s red!” Said Jenaila.
…
The might of a thousand men,
…
Your kingdoms she will burn.
Jesus! What kind of game is this?
I straightened up from where I was slumped, wiping a spot of drool off my face and stretched, yawning as I did so. I noticed that there was way more wasted parchment on the table than I remember. They were doodles too, only more purposeful than mine, and more scrawly.
The children’s attendants stood towards the closed off washing area, still with worried faces. Checki and Hanni sat opposite each other on the table my bed and hers. From the lingering aroma, I deduced supper was finished.
“Tireanan.” I greeted.
Hanni nodded at me, the children looked my way and resumed playing their game.
“Tireanan, Lord.” The two attendants greeted in unison.
“Evening Jorj,” Cheki greeted me, bolting up from where he sat, “Would you like to eat? I wi-”
“No, no. Not just yet. Pour me a cup, please?”
From the looks on the attendant’s faces, I could tell they were confused at Cheki’s lack of acceptable decorum. I could also see why they had worried expressions. The backs of the children’s hand were bright pink.
“Those hands are going to be purple tomorrow.” I commented, taking the cup from Checki and taking his place.
“They’re enjoying it.” Hanni replied.
“What’s that game anyway? It sounds cruel.”
“Who knows? Children can be cruel.”
“I mean, the words too. Doesn’t sound like something children made up.”
“An old tale, perhaps. Something about spirits and gods, monsters too. Sleep well?”
“Not well enough. How did your sword fighting lessons go?”
“It was fine. Kept them occupied.”
“You’d think they’d be knackered about now.”
She gave me a mmm as a reply. I drank another cup while I listened to the children chant a verse about a demon. Jibel quickly slapped Jenaila’s hand after and they all laughed.
“You up for a walk?”
“Perhaps. What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing. That’s the problem. I have nothing so far.”
“Where to?”
“The ramparts? I haven’t been up there since we arrived. Only place worth going to this late.”
I gazed at the attendants, remembering my conversation with Jakeli that morning. I could not identify which one, either by looks or bearing, was a magic wielder. The more I looked, the more they seemed to common folk, especially with their incessant worrying.
Is that the trick?
“Why don’t you go ahead Jorj. I’ll join you soon. You’ll stay there a while, right?”
“I think so. Cheki?”
“Yes Jorj?”
“What news of the prince?”
“He is still in the throne room with the Lord Loremaster, Jorj.”
“This late?”
“Yes Jorj. Some nobles arrived just before dark.”
My thoughts about having sorcerers guarding the royal children was answered, in part, when I opened the door. Aside from the usual two posted on each side of the door, there was an additional four soldiers.
I guess that works too.
I turned to walk towards the castle entrance and remembered something. I called one of the soldiers to follow me, just in case those patrolling or guarding certain areas don’t recognize me.
The castle was relatively quiet. The only audible sounds came from the closed doors of the throne room as I neared the castle entrance. The quiet of my surroundings was in contrast to my thoughts. A dozen different things run parallel, grabbing my attention, with another added each time I noticed something. None of them were relevant. Whoever came up with the phrase ‘empty your mind’ must have been on some really powerful stuff.
The ramparts was not like how I imagined it. There was barely enough room for two people walking side by side. The parapets rose higher than my head and the spaces between them tight. That was another thing that was unlike what I thought it would be. I wanted to see the surroundings, not that there was much to see. A steady breeze blew providing a measure of coolness to the air. It made the ramparts feel considerably fresher than the rest of the castle, marred occasionally by the scent of burning fat from one of the torches.
I picked a spot above the castle gate, the dimmest space between two torches. Looking out of the narrow spaces proved to be another disappointment. I could not make out any light from any house at all. I chided myself for expecting such a thing as I recalled the layout of the areas outside the castle back when we went to the markets. I elected then to sit and prop my back against the stone, look up at the sky and hoped I would think of something. Or that something come to me.
It wasn’t happening. As soon as I noticed meteors, my mind went elsewhere. Despite the two torches some distance from me on both sides, the night was one of the darker nights. One moon was not visible, another was on its last waning phase, another was halfway through. None of these moons were as large as that of earth’s, but at certain nights when they all shone bright, the combined reflected light illuminated everything better than earth’s moon. When they all somehow approached their waning phases, the nights turned darker. It was such a night.
My attention was pulled to the present when I heard the light sound of boots to my right. I expected to see a soldier. It was Hanni. She handed me a small bundle.
“You must eat.” She said, removing her sword and hatchet from her belt and plopping down beside me.
“Brun.”
She brought me a sandwich. An attempt at one. It was just meat between bread but at least the meat was sliced thinly, into strips. She also brought several wraps of the sweetened nuts. She took one, unwrapped it and took a bite. I waited for a few seconds before speaking.
“Do you like it?”
“I like it better than the first. Ha.” She replied between chews. “This should keep well during travel.”
“Hmmm.”
I let her enjoy it while I attempted to eat the sandwich.
“How goes your… scheming.” She asked.
“I wouldn’t call it scheming. Not yet anyway. I’m drawing a blank. Litoc is on a warpath and unless he himself decides to call it off, it’s going to turn into a war, or an occupation.”
“The driver does seem the kind of man to follow through.”
“That he does. The fact that he commands the Guild of Nights does not help.”
“I’m not certain what this guild is capable of, but more is usually better.”
“Usually,” I agreed, “but from what I heard, he’s after the most powerful man in these lands. Jakeli said it well though I hate to admit it.”
“Said what?”
“That we only got away from that assault at his place because we knew, or Litoc knew, where to go and of course, he revealed himself to save the three of us.”
“Perhaps. You did well that night.”
“Not as well as the three of you. All I did was scurry around and take gambles.”
“Your gambles paid off. That’s what matters. What I don’t understand is, if everyone is certain that the other kingdom orchestrated the death of the rulers, why don’t they just go and demand justice? Or compensation, or go to war?”
I turned to her with disbelief written all over my face before realizing she was out patrolling for assassins that night I was made aware of the conduct between kingdoms. She listened patiently as I explained why and informed her of all I’ve been made aware so far.
“People and their rules.” She commented dryly, reaching for another wrap.
“It does seem to work. From what Cheki said, the late monarch’s reign was peaceful.”
“So had you not come up with a ridiculous story, the prince would have already initiated this… charge and slowly drain this kingdom as it happens?”
“Yes.”
“And with this ridiculous story you made up, Khevernak still slowly boils Silaron until nothing is left but only slower?”
“That’s the idea, yes. We’re, they are hoping,” I corrected, “that agents or spies will be caught soon, or that Khevernak grows impatient and makes a mistake.”
“Because they did not get the effect they wanted.”
“Correct.”
“It is a lot of trust to put on a concocted story.”
“It is,” I admitted, “I might have had far too many cups of wine. But the idea is not entirely mine. They, well Litoc mostly, added many to fill in the gaps.”
“And now he risks breaking that, and everything because of someone he has not seen in many years.”
“It’s not just someone.”
“Still. It is foolish.”
“I doubt he sees it that way. You’ve seen him, we’ve seen him exact revenge for people he barely knew.”
“The only time I have seen the driver solemn.” She agreed. “What will it take for you to make up another ludicrous story to get this done?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I can. The man wants to take a life by his own hand, for some convoluted reason which may or may not have contributed to the death of a person he values. I personally think he is stretching it, but it is how he feels, and he will do it. There’s no tale I can spin, to dissuade him from this… this bloodlust.”
We sat in silence for a long time, long after all the food she brought was finished.
“How do you stop someone from killing another when that someone will only be satisfied when the other one is dead?” I asked, breaking the silence.
I let the question out loudly to hear it than to ask her. As if giving it voice would magically deliver the answer to me.
“Cruelty.” She spoke softly. “I would kill if killing were to be done. It is the faster way. Cruelty, torture, that will keep one from killing another.”
The way she calmy delivered her statement sent chills down my spine. Cold. Brutal. Honest. I gawked in her direction as I considered her words. She had a point. How exactly that could be applied to the situation was another matter altogether.
Kidnapping the most heavily guarded monarch in all the kingdoms then keeping him in a dungeon to be tortured at Litoc’s pleasure was as far-fetched as me hitching a ride to one of the moons at that moment. Litoc wouldn’t want something as dastardly as torture. At least that’s what I wanted to believer.
Unless…
A germ of an idea crawled out from the cobwebbed recesses of my mind. I leaned forward, arms around my knees, chin resting on my interlocked hands as I considered the possibilities. It was vague and elusive but I stubbornly refused to let it go. My neurons finally decided to join in as I pursued every avenue I could think of.
It was a long shot and needed some fleshing out but the goosebumps on my skin told me that this hail Mary was worth giving a shot. Had Hanni not stirred, I would not have been aware of the amount of time I spent there, seemingly catatonic.
“The prince’s children should have gone now, I should be going back.” She declared as she got up.
I looked up at her, a slow smile spreading.
“How do you feel about setting out at first light come the morning?” I asked.
She eyed me curiously.
“I see that look you have on your face again Jorj.”
“What look?”
“The same look you have when you talk about foolish things, like giants and dwarves.”
“I might be. So, are you up for several day’s of riding?”
“Why?”
“Because our driver friend is drifting to sea and he needs an anchor.”
“You have thought of a way out of this already?”
“Maybe. Part of it, I think. Going where I need you to go is one of them. I would ask Tukru but he’s nowhere to be found and I, well, you know I suck at riding. And navigating.”
“And the child?” She asked, putting back her hatchet and sword back on her belt.
“I’ll look after him, them, in the meantime. I’m sure we can manage.”
“Fine. Tell me about it when you get back.”
“I will. I will also need your help reading a map when I get there.”
“A map?”
“Yes. Please ask Cheki to get one of all the kingdoms and of Silaron before he retires for the night. The most detailed ones they can lend. Oh, and ask him to pack you provisions for at least three days and coin enough to buy another steed… and more provisions on the way back.”
Hanni’s face turned to the side ever so slowly but her gaze remained pinned on me. She turned to go.
“Hanni?” I called after her. “Dramontadeste.”
She replied by giving me her trademarked signature look of superiority – slightly turned face, upturned chin, and a raised eyebrow. The addition of a smirk, however, told me everything was alright.