Last Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 2) (18 page)

Conner took a deep breath.  “What do I do?  Do I kneel before him?  Do I bow?”

“Although he is ruling as if he were emperor right now, he is not the emperor.  It is not protocol to kneel before him.  But as you greet him, you should dip your head, bend at the waist, and give him a respectful bow.”

“Okay,” Conner said.  Then a thought occurred to him that sent him into a panic.  “I do not know Taran, how do I speak to him?”

Hibold smiled.  “He knows your language as well as I do.  In fact, there are many in Taran that do speak your language.”

“They know Karmon here?”

“To you it is Karmon, but to others it is called the Commoner language.  The language of merchants and sailors.  It is a widely used language throughout the known world.  It just so happens that your kingdom speaks it as well.  Taran is the language of the nobles of our people.  You will hear it in the halls of the palace and throughout the ruling class and academia.  Down by the docks, where they offload cargo from the ships, you will hear Commoner, and it will be like you were at home.”

“Oh,” was all Conner could say.

“The ruling class, the nobles, they all learn Commoner just as they learn Taran.  It has served them well when they are among the lower classes, as they can understand what they are saying.  It would not be wise to be around people that can speak a language that you cannot understand.  It would afford the commoners the opportunity to speak amongst themselves without the aristocracy knowing what they are talking about.  Prince Tarcious would rather speak the language of his class, but in the halls of his court, it is accepted practice for him to speak the language of the common man.  This ensures that his questions are properly understood by those who would come before him.”

Conner glanced back at the hallway where his attendant had left just moments ago.  “What about that man that was helping me, does he know Commoner?”

“He probably understands it well enough.  But he serves mostly noble guests, so he speaks Taran almost exclusively.  To many, speaking Commoner is beneath them.  So unless they must, they only speak Taran.”

A bell was rung and the curtains were parted.  Hibold directed Conner to proceed through the open archway.  There were two sets of curtains between the central chamber and the emperor’s receiving chamber.  Once they passed through the first set of open curtains, they were closed.  Then the next set was opened.

***

Prince Tarcious looked at the young man that walked into receiving chamber.  He stood at about the same height as the skinny emissary that led him into the room, but he walked with a confident grace.  He wore the customary robe the nobility of his people liked to wear, but it didn’t hang on his shoulders like it did for most others.  He filled out the robe with lean muscles earned through weapons training and decent food.  One of the things that he learned with his arena fighters was that they needed to eat.  Muscles didn’t grow on bodies that were starved, regardless of how much they trained.  He also did not have any semblance of facial hair that could be seen.  Maybe there was some fuzz on his cheeks, but he had light colored hair and it would likely not come in as full beard for many years.  The prince figured him to be no older than eighteen, but maybe as young as fifteen.  Either way, still a boy in his mind.  He was slightly disappointed, as he hoped he would be a bit older and a bit more ready for what he had in store for him.  But in due course, he would see if the boy was ready for manhood.

              Hibold led Conner forward until they reached a certain point on the floor.  There were red bricks inlayed in the stone floor which indicated that guests were not allowed to proceed further.

              “
Hackon dem sellinfa.  Hechen ze,”
the prince said with a sneer.

              Hibold gave his prince a low bow.  Conner did as well.  Prince Tarcious nodded his head slightly as the boy passed the first test.  Many who entered the chamber were clumsy and forgot their place.  There was nervousness on the boy’s face, but there was no fear in his eyes as he bowed just as he had been instructed.

              “If I may,” Hibold said in the language that Conner could understand.

              “Proceed,” replied Prince Tarcious.  It was protocol for all communication in the receiving chamber to be in Taran, but those who were called in front of the emperor, or his stand-in, could request to speak in the less formal language of the common man.

              “Your Imperial Highness, may I present the Karmon named Conner.”

              Prince Tarcious smiled.  “The King Slayer.”

              Conner glanced at Hibold.  He hated that name.  “I am no King Slayer,” Conner replied.

              The prince had been standing at the far end of the chamber next to the cushy throne. 

He preferred to stand, which allowed him to pace and move about the chamber as he saw fit.  It also allowed him to step forward in a threatening manner.

              “You question me?” Tarcious snapped sharply.  His mind began to recall the power of the magic.  His thoughts reached out into the web of magic, but he did not yet want to speak the words of a spell.  He knew he couldn’t needlessly use his magic as it needed to be used only when necessary.  His reserves of power were growing, but not enough to haphazardly cast spells around.  But just the thought of casting a spell started the process of drawing from the web of magic and it took effort for Prince Tarcious to not open up the well and tap into the power.

              Conner could feel a tingling sensation come over him.  The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as if something was pulling on them.  It felt much warmer in the chamber, which caused Conner to glance around to see if someone had just lit a large fire.  Whatever it was that came over him left as quickly as it came.

While Conner had been looking around to see what was happening, Hibold had taken one step to the side.  With as innocent of a voice as he could muster, Hibold said, “Of course not, Your Imperial Highness!  He is but a humble boy who does not wish to take any credit for the things that he has done.”

              “I have called for the King Slayer to be brought before me.  If this is not the one I have called for, he can be disposed of.”  Prince Tarcious turned his back and began to stride towards the far corner of the chamber where there was a door that led to the prince’s personal chambers.

              Conner turned to Hibold to ask him what the prince meant, but Hibold’s face had gone blank. 

              “Both of them can be disposed of!” the prince shouted just as he was about to reach the door.

              “No, Your Imperial Highness!” Hibold shouted out.  “He is indeed the King Slayer!”

              With his hand on the door, about to push it open, he turned to look back at the two of them.  “I would like to hear it from the boy.”

              Hibold poked Conner in the side.  “You must say it.”

              Conner looked over the prince, a bit confused about what was happening.  After a moment, he said the words without much conviction, “I am the King Slayer.”  He was indeed the one who killed a king, but to give him a title was bordering on the ridiculous.

              Prince Tarcious turned back towards them.  “You slew the king named Neffenmark?”

              “Yes,” Conner replied, glancing at Hibold.

              “You are a Knight of Karmon?” the prince asked.

              “I have trained with them,” Conner said.  “I am a commoner, a peasant.  I am not noble, so I cannot be a knight.”

              “And yet you slew a king?”

              “Neffenmark took the throne only when the rightful king fell in battle.  He was a king in title only, but he was certainly no king worthy of serving.”

              Tarcious starting walking slowly back to the center of the room.  “Your reputation proceeds you, King Slayer. The tale of your deed has reached my ears through the caravans that have come from your homeland.  With each passing mile, I am sure the retelling of the tale has grown beyond what truly happened.  A peasant boy killing a king is hardly a tale that could be believable.  So I wanted to see you, to ask you face-to-face, if it was you.”

              Conner gave the prince a perplexed look.  “You brought me here to ask me if what I did really happened.”

              “Many tales reach my ears.  Many of them are false.  Outright lies or just exaggerated to impress me.  So when I heard of the King Slayer, the peasant boy who would change the course of a kingdom, I had to know the truth.  I needed to see your face, to hear your words first hand.”

              “Yes, I killed King Neffenmark,” Conner replied.

              “And why did you do that?”

              Conner hesitated.  He did it out of pure anger at seeing Elissa being beaten.  There had been no thinking; it was only pure reaction.  He was not entirely proud of the end result, but he also knew that the world was a better place without Neffenmark in it.

              “It is okay,” Tarcious said.  “You can tell me the truth.”

              “I was on guard duty outside his chamber.  I heard the queen yelling for help and I just reacted.”

              Tarcious took a moment to sit down upon the throne.  He looked at Conner for some time and then said, “So you, a peasant, a commoner, was posted outside the king and queen’s chamber?  You were given the responsibility of protecting your rulers?  I find that hard to believe.  Only the most trusted of my soldiers are even allowed in the palace, much less given the responsibility of my protection.  Is your kingdom so backwards that they would allow just any commoner to protect the most important of your people?”

              “I had befriended the queen before she was queen. When she was still a princess.”

              “Oh,” the prince said with a smirk.  “The lowly commoner and the princess have a thing going on?”

              “No!” Conner replied too quickly.  “We were friends that is all.”

              “I understand, of course.  So you charge into the king’s chamber when you hear the queen shouting for help, and you just kill the king?  I had heard that Neffenmark was an accomplished swordsman.”

              Conner shook his head.  “I do not know if he was or not.”

              “So you are an accomplished swordsman?”

              “I trained with squires.  I learned how to use a sword.”

              “And as you trained with the squires, you spent time in the castle?”

              “I did.”

              “Then you know the layout of the castle?”

              Conner did not answer immediately.

              Tarcious leaned forward and asked again, “Do you know the layout of the castle?”

              “I know some of it,” Conner answered with a puzzled look.  “Why?”

              Tarcious adjusted his robes as his mind spun the tale that he was about to share.  “There is an artifact of our empire that was stolen from this palace many years ago.  It happened during the reign of Emperor Pruen.  He had an affinity for history and had added many artifacts of our history to a secret chamber that he constructed here in the palace.  There were ancient weapons, scrolls, and other items of historical importance.  The chamber was secret to the people of the empire, but he did show it off to special guests.  One of these guests was a young king of a small eastern kingdom.  He had been invited to the castle to develop a trade agreement with the empire.  But Taran had the upper hand as it had a large army, many resources, and the clout to set whatever terms it wanted.  So, in order to gain some leverage, this young king stole the artifact from under the nose of the emperor.

              “The emperor was enraged and sent an army east to recapture the artifact.  But something happened.  The emperor’s army was turned back by mounted knights that had skills that the foot soldiers had never seen before.  Again, the army attacked and they were turned back.  Finally, after a third assault, they were able to break through.  The army drove all the way to the castle of this kingdom, but the army was so depleted that it could not sustain a siege.  And at the same time, the barbarians from the north attacked deep into the empire.  The emperor’s generals defied orders and called the eastern army back to the empire in order to fortify the north.  Enraged at being defied, the emperor ordered the execution of all of his generals, but the army was too powerful and refused.  The emperor was disposed of and his son took over as the ruler of Taran.  With the battles of the north taking precedence over some silly artifact of the past, the new emperor forgot all about the theft.  Trade continued with this eastern kingdom at terms acceptable to both this kingdom and the Taran Empire.  Unbeknownst to the new emperor, the artifact remained with this kingdom and it soon passed from the memory of the empire.”

              “And now you want this artifact back?  Why don’t you just ask for it?  If it belongs to the empire, I think Queen Elissa would be happy to give it back to you.”

              Tarcious leaned back and stroked his chin.  “It is a bit more complicated than that.  The artifact is something special.  If the queen knows about it, she surely would not give it up.  And if I were to ask her to return it, and she figures out what it does, then she also would not give it up.”