The King of the Realm had not always been so bad-tempered. Until
recently the people thought he was the greatest ruler the realm had seen, and
for good reason. He had brought peace to the land, he had been even-handed and
fair and ensure that the wealth of the realm was shared with all its people.
For 27 years he had ruled in a matter that only a true king could and the
result was a truly prosperous and peaceful kingdom and the undying love of his
people.
However, things had changed. King Gocor Tinan had been through troubled
times before, but many thought this would be the end of him. The queen had been
ill for quite some time and had recently passed away. She had been carrying
their child, their first child, and the king had lost both of them in one
swoop. He fell deeper and deeper into a depression worse than anyone had ever
seen and many thought he would die as well. In addition to the loss of his
family he now had no natural heir. The closest thing he had to an heir was his
nephew who had not been seen in the castle for over 3 years. Ever since the
boy’s parents had died he had preferred the wilderness over the city and had
left to live in the forests and travel the realm.
Word had spread around the castle that guards had been sent to fetch
the boy, but that had been during the last moon and no one had returned. Word
had come that the guards were found dead near a small inn, but the boy was not
there. The inn had been burned and several bodies were inside. It was assumed
that the boy was among them and the kings only heir was dead.
News of the attack had made the Kings condition even worse. He had
taken responsibility for the boy and vowed to keep him safe. The boy was
trained harder than any other young man and had flourished to become a fierce
but intelligent fighter. He could hunt anything, never shied from a fight and
could shoot a bow better than any of the Kings archers. Despite all this the
boy had always preferred to walk away or discuss the problem rather than fight.
The King summoned his Commander in Chief to his private residence. Upon
his arrival, Gondol was directed to the library and took a seat near the window
rather than standing at attention until the king arrived. He and Gocor had been
friends since childhood and he knew that his king hated formalities when
talking with his friends. Gondol had been growing increasing worried about his
old friend and was looking forward to sitting with him to discuss what had
happened and try to help Gocor to deal with the bad luck that had been dealt to
him by the fates. He was a firm believer that things happened for a reason and
that the king could recover from the tragic events of the near past and become
an even greater ruler. At 46 years old he still had a long time to rule his
kingdom and ensure the safety and security of his people.
Gondol had shared his old friend’s pain at the loss of his family.
Gondol had never had time for a family of his own, having joined the Kings
Elite at 15 years old and dedicating his life to excelling at everything he
did. He had been the Commander in Chief of the Realms forces for 11 years after
7 years as the General Commander of the Kings Elite.
Gondol had taken the kings nephew under his wing when his parents had
passed away and had personally trained him for 2 years. He had enlisted in the
Kings Elite and had been one of the best young soldiers they had seen in a long
while. However after 2 years of intense training the boy had requested
permission to leave the barracks and spend some time in the wilderness. His
reason for doing so had been clear, the boy needed to spend some time coming to
terms with the death of his parents. Gocol had not been happy that the boy had
been allowed to leave the castle on his own and had sent his personal messenger
out to ask the boy to come back and discuss the situation only hours after he
had left, but there was no sign of Drauk and the messenger had returned
unsuccessful. Since that time there had been sightings of Drauk but he never
stayed in one place for long and was always gone before a messenger could
arrive.
It was only by chance that the Territorial Guard force sent out to
bring the boy home was at the Drogran Inn when Drauk arrived there. They had
only been there two days making enquiries of the local people and were planning
to leave the following morning. Unfortunately tragedy had struck that night and
they had all been massacred. Gondol had his suspicions about who had been
behind the attack and he had directed people within his ranks that he trusted
to gather more information. Now it was time to discuss his suspicions with his
lord and, more importantly, his friend.
Gocor entered the library, saw his old friend waiting for him and
smiled weakly. He walked over to the corner cabinet and poured a whiskey for
each of them before joining him at the window.
“How are you today, m’lord?” asked Gondol.
“I would be better if you quit it with the bloody formalities” replied
Gocor with a slight grin.
“It has been a while since I saw you smile. It’s good to see your face
didn’t crack when you did” quipped Gondol.
The king smiled again before replying “It becomes easier to smile with
each passing day, but I fear that the sadness will never leave my heart”
“There will always be sadness, my friend, but you would be doing their
memory a disservice if you did not allow yourself to feel joy and happiness as
well.”
“The loss of my nephew does nothing to help”
“No it does not, but I need to discuss that with you. I have suspicions
about who is behind the attack, but I cannot reason why. I believe it was the
work of the brotherhood”
The King’s mouth fell open at this statement, not wanting to believe
it.
“But…surely they…how…they have not been heard of for nearly seventy
years now” he managed to say in a choked voice. “Not since they tried to remove
my grandfather from the throne and take the kingdom by force”
“No” Gondol responded, “they haven’t been heard of since then and the
people would not tolerate them. They tried to oppress the people and take
control of the realm. It was because of the resistance of the people that they
did not succeed.”
“So why would they return now? Surely they can see that they will be
destroyed again. The people will not tolerate them, especially when it becomes
known that they were behind the massacre at Drogran.”
“Well I believe they do not plan to take control by force. I think they
are trying to capitalise on your loss. With the death of Drauk they know you
have no heir. This means that when the time comes there will be an election to
vote in a new King. They may be planning to use this to their advantage”
“But how can we combat that. There is nothing we can do to stop them
from trying to gain control”
“Well what we can do is find out who they are and destroy them. We can
avenge your nephew and ensure that they are wiped out. This will take time but
it is the only course of action. There is no room for mercy if we are to rid
the world of this poison”
“Fine, do what you must” was the King’s resigned reply.”
