The Winds of Crowns and Wolves (19 page)

“This young man, not much younger than
myself, is our hope, just as you all are. Coinneach of Spleuchan
Sonse, what say you?” Tyrin coaxed a small diatribe out of Neach
who was frequently soft spoken.

He mustered up all of the courage that he
believed to be inside of him before he began his speech.

“Though we stand in this house, its physical
reality is much less sturdy than the fibers which bind our blood
together. I have been welcomed into this covenant with admiration
and respect, and for that I am eternally grateful. In the face of
darkness, the only source of light we may find is within ourselves.
The shrouded tunnel of war which we are set to embark on will not
always be clear, but it will be present nonetheless. Lean on your
brothers, lean on your sisters. Lean, but be aware that you must
shoulder the burden of others as well. With the might of the Gods,
we will reclaim our freedom, and live to fight for our righteous
cause once again,” he concluded his speech with a thunderous cheer
and applause emanating from every corner of the room. The other
members of the house had ceased their conversations to listen to
what the young man had to say. They looked on in awe as he
commanded the full attention of every person in the home.

From behind him, Daniel approached smiling
and clasped Neach’s right hand in his own.

“You have done good, son,” he whispered to
Neach as he reclaimed his position atop the platform.

“Let it be known that we have concocted a
most curious plan for infiltrating the castle. In an effort to keep
the casualties to a minimum for as long as possible, we will be
enlisting a member of this House to enter the castle as an
entertainer. For centuries, our people have been the subject of
song and dance as we maintained the peace and order within the
Kingdom. Now, we must assume that role to do so once again. I’m
afraid that King Henrig, being a member of our own bloodline, is
aware of every member that currently lives and is associated with
our fraternal organization. Everybody, except one,” Daniel’s voice
trailed off as he looked in the direction of Neach. The room was
silent and Neach froze as if Daniel’s glare had put an incantation
upon his legs, rendering them incapable of moving.

He approached Neach and shook his hand, his
eyes wide with fear.

“You want m-me to infiltrate the castle?”
Neach asked, perplexed.

“I do not want anything, son, but I can say
wholeheartedly that the Kingdom needs this service of you. You are
to pose as either a musician, or something else of your choice, in
order to gain intelligence on the movements and actions of King
Henrig, the bastard son of the House Goewig,” the room cheered once
again. Though the day was still young, many had been indulging in
the ciders and beers of the city in an effort to calm their own
nerves. Now, it seemed, the burden of this task was to fall upon
Neach’s shoulders. Young and narrow as they were, it was obvious
that the eldest members of the house felt he was capable of
carrying out the task.

“And so, members of the House Goedwig, in
three days’ time, our brother Neach will enter the Castle Leirwold.
Lo, he will bypass the happiness that is oft associated with
entertainment, he will require our blessing before this day comes,”
Daniel said and the rest of the room obliged.

There was silence for a few seconds before
Daniel began:

Firgilli Cuma lare dishi procirila mon, drit
dur vigi suda Cuma lare con

The words echoed through the hall as they
were spoken aloud by all one-hundred eighty members bar himself. He
remembered reading them in the Toriik Riamendi. If his memory
served him correctly, the message read: “as the righteous heads
into the bowels of the fire, cover him with a cloak of water”.

Neach stood idly, as he was approached by
the multitude of his brothers and sisters who gave their various
praises and exaltations for the task he was about to take upon
himself. He felt uncomfortable. Their praise seemed undeserving, as
the burden he was taking up was minimal in the face of those who
had died during the conflict. But, he took them in stride, and
expressed his gratitude for their prayers and goodwill, as he
prepared to enter the field of work that his House set forth.

As the people filed out of the area, Tyrin,
Dirk, Pliss, and Vilxa remained behind to speak with Neach.

“Enough of this seriousness,” Tyrin said
with a smile on his face, “let us drink to our health while we
still have it!” he exclaimed to raucous cheers from those around
him.

He embraced Neach, and guided him out of the
room, toward the dining area. The ground was lined with marble, and
the furniture was lined with gold that twinkled in the early
afternoon sunlight which shone through a stained glass window,
encompassing an entire wall. The ornate decoration that flooded the
dining room was typical of the lifestyle Daniel lead. Though a
musician by trade, he had made a fair income as a travelling bard,
and put it toward living an illustrious life. Tables of delicately
carved oak and furniture, made with the finest velvet and animal
skins, could be seen all throughout the house. It was a far cry
from the simplicity of life in Spleuchan Sonse. Before coming to
Leirwold, the most valuable item in his home had been his father’s
favorite chair, which his father had carved for him.

Tyrin swooped a bottle of wine out of a
cupboard and raised it high in the air.

“To life, to love, and most importantly, to
our brother Neach,” the bottle came crashing down, as he pulled a
large swig from its orifices.

He handed the bottle off to Neach first, who
took an equally large drink. The wine tasted expensive but it still
burned the back of his throat as it went down.

“That right there is the finest whisky from
across the sea, in the Kingdom of Lejman. Drink up, for tonight we
celebrate,” his words were once again met with rambunctious
applause. Tyrin never failed to evoke emotion from those who he
spoke to. Neach thought that he would make a great leader in the
future, even in his current young age.

The bottle of whisky was passed around for
hours from person to person, and the laughter grew louder as the
alcohol set in. Dance was ongoing through the wee hours of the
night, and Neach found himself in embraces with both Pliss and
Tyrin. Somehow in the chaos of the day, he had grown fond of his
brothers and sisters. It seemed they had a connection as deep as
the largest mineral mine in the Kingdom, yet they had only known
each other for the better part of a day.

He sang songs he did not know, and even
learned some in the native language that he knew he would
ultimately forget in the morning. For tonight, all that could be
heard throughout the house was bliss. Utter happiness and
exuberance for these young men and women, who were embarking on a
journey in which they were uncertain of its safety, filled the
halls. They fought for what they believed was the righteous cause,
and drank heartily as if it were commanded by the Gods
themselves.

Tyrin had a different side to him when he
was drinking. The seriousness and stoic nature that he usually
upheld evaporated, and he sank back into the seventeen year-old
being that he truly was. As the night grew old, Tyrin guided Neach
outside, in back of the home. He held a curious item in his hand.
It looked like a rolled leaf, and that was apparently exactly what
it was.

“This, in my hand, is the leaf of the
duvalnik plant that can only be found on Rosalia. The forest holds
many secrets, Neach, and this one will help you understand them the
most,” he said with a laugh. His happiness seemed to multiply, as
he become more and more intoxicated.

He lit the roll with a match, and inhaled
deeply. As he exhaled, pink smoked emanated from his mouth, and
Neach thought he could hear the morning birds singing in the
distance. In fairness, the birds may have actually loomed near as
the hour grew late. He handed it off to Neach, who inhaled like
Tyrin did, before his mind seemed to explode into the open air.

He felt like he was flying above the home,
above the city. Like a bird himself, he dove and banked and
narrowly avoided rooftops. In his visions, he even saw Jenos. Her
vivid green eyes were looking up at him from down at the
university, and he could not help but smile to himself. The colors
around him were exponentially more vibrant, and everything he
thought seemed to fill him with happiness.

His body felt warm, like he was sitting next
to the fire back at his home in Spleuchan Sonse. His eyes may have
closed minutes earlier, but Tyrin snapped his fingers in front of
his face to awake him.

“You should head to bed, Neach. Tomorrow you
embark on your mission. For the good of the House and Kingdom,
right brother?” he asked with a shy smile.

He clapped Neach on the back and headed back
inside, as he followed close behind. The journey to his bed seemed
much more perilous than the journey he would be embarking on the
following day, but he was grateful to crawl under his sheets just
the same before he faded off to sleep, the birds singing their song
of joy in his head.

Out they come to spread their cheer; they
drink till the morning to abide their fear. Joy is a blessing and
joy is a curse, as the morning lark sings each day a new verse.

His head felt like it weighed one hundred
pounds. He was awoken by a loud pounding on his door from the
outside. As it swung open, his head throbbed, and he raised his
hand to his temple to prevent the onslaught of pain that was coming
his way. Standing in his doorway was Daniel. He bore the same
overenthusiastic smile as he usually did, but today it was
different.

In his hands, he held a delicate green
velvet robe with gold trimmings. He thrust it forward into Neach’s
face, and Neach groaned at the sight of the clothes, partially from
their appearance, and partially from his hangover.

“There is an audition for entertainment at
the castle today. I hear you are quite the shot with a bow, perhaps
you could use that to your advantage?” Daniel chuckled as he posed
the rhetorical question to Neach.

Neach had little time to react before Daniel
thrust an ornately carved bow in his face again. The repetitiveness
of Daniel’s actions, combined with Neach’s ill feeling, made for a
very unpleasant interaction initially. However, he sucked up his
pain and obliged Daniel’s wishes.

“When does this audition start?” Neach
inquired, rubbing his eyes with every word that left his yawning
mouth.

Daniel laughed a hearty laugh before his
replied.

“Twenty minutes; good luck!” he exclaimed as
he slammed the door behind him and ran downstairs.

Neach couldn’t help but wonder what it was
that made Daniel such a peculiar individual. He was sending him off
into danger with the widest smile on his face, laughing the whole
way.

He donned the outfit which Daniel had
bestowed upon him, and jogged out of his door down the staircase.
Bursting out of the front door and onto the street in front of
Daniel’s home, Neach quickly turned the corner and headed for the
castle which loomed overhead behind the house.

From a sprint, he slowed to a fast paced
trot, as he approached the castle gate that was guarded by five
men.

“I’m here for the audition, sire,” he said
in his most polite tone.

“What is your name, boy?” the fat, red faced
guard in the center asked sternly.

“Coinneach,” he hoped this would be
sufficient, but was prepared to manufacture his way in if all else
failed.

The guards separated at the sound of his
name and he was permitted entry into the Castle Leirwold. From his
first glance, he could not believe what he was seeing with his
eyes. A massive square of grass was lined with flowers from the
entrance until the bridge a few hundred feet away. The inside of
the castle walls was expertly crafted, and it gave an artistic
aesthetic to the otherwise purposeless rock.

As he headed over the Castle’s moat, he
entered the central sphere of the compound. The way the castle was
organized, it had three rings which made up its design. The outer
ring was the castle wall, which protected it from the rest of the
city. The secondary ring protected the center market and living
area of the castle from the outer ring, and the primary ring housed
the King and his family in a large stone tower.

Neach’s jaw dropped as he entered the
secondary ring and saw how high the wall rose on every side. It was
as if it were its own bustling city inside of the castle,
completely cut off from the rest of Leirwold. He was approached
nearly immediately and assumed that Daniel had sent word that he
would be coming for the audition.

“Greetings, Coinneach! Good to see you here
so promptly,” the man chided with a thick layer of sarcasm. Neach
had evidently shown up a few minutes late for his appointed
time.

“Come along now, the King will be waiting,”
he added as he ushered him toward a room at the far end of the
courtyard.

Neach’s heart sank, and he felt as if it may
hit the ground completely unencumbered. He was going to be face to
face with the man who had ordered the deaths of his brothers and
sisters. If he weren’t in such a hurry, he may have been shaking
where he stood, but he swallowed his fear and set his sights upon
his ultimate goal. For the next few minutes minimally, he would
need to muster all of his courage to entertain the bastard who
wanted him dead.

The temperature seemed to drop a noticeable
twenty degrees as they entered the King’s presence. Outside, the
early summer sun beat down and scalded exposed skin. Under the
shade of the rooftop and with the luxury of personal fans in the
form of captured criminals, Henrig sat atop a bejeweled throne, fat
and happy. Though the air outside was humid and thick with heat,
the King still wore his thick lion’s fur robe around his broad
shoulders and stomach. Neach was motioned behind a group of four
other performers, and he watched on as they went before the
King.