“Okay,” said Woods through a mouthful of food, suppressing a shiver as he pulled at his thick, frayed coat. “I’ll go to the orphanage to see if the girls are back, then I’ll head to the Greyline. Corrie, you go let the flower girls know that we’ll be watching those bums beat each other up again, then meet us down there.”
“If you want to get another jacket, then say that.”
“Fine! It’s cold as a winter wolf’s teet today, so I’m off to get me another jacket. See you fellas at the river.”
Alistar and Corrie made their way toward the outskirts of town, the other boy quiet throughout most of the walk as was usually the case in any setting. He did, however, thank Alistar for gifting him a permit to the collegia’s library for his Name Day the week before, a gesture made possible by his master’s unique position within the institution. In exchange for the permit Alistar had promised to do all of the man’s housework for the duration of the month, an easy deal considering that he had long since taken on those duties.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you since you turned fifteen. I’m glad to know you’re getting so much use out of the collegia’s library.”
Corrie put on a subtle smile, a silent admission that he had indeed spent the past week helping himself to the great amount of books that the institution had to offer. Although his hair was about a finger’s length longer than it had been when they’d met, it was still tousled in the same shaggy arrangement that had come to define the young orphan’s appearance.
“About the orphanage. Did they agree to let you stay?”
Corrie nodded. “For another two years, at most. Mother May wants me to teach the kids how to read.”
Although Alistar was a year and a half younger than his quiet friend—who was the oldest in the group—he was at least a hand’s length taller and of a much more muscular build. Lately in particular, Corrie had been looking quite thin.
“Meaning no offence, but have you been eating properly? You’re not reading so much that you’re forgetting your meals, are you?”
Corrie blushed a bit, eventually giving an embarrassed nod. “I always get home late, and when you live with Woods, if you don’t arrive on time for dinner then there is no dinner.”
“Why not just read at home then? You can sign books out, you know.”
“It’s too noisy at home. The library’s better.”
Along with many of his friends, at least thirty other children lived at the local orphanage, all of them sleeping in the dining area on furs and blankets when it came time to retire for the night. In such an atmosphere, Alistar doubted that he would be able to enjoy reading as much as he did if he were in the same position.
Pulling a small book from within his winter coat, Corrie opened it to a specific page and then handed it to Alistar. “I found this last night while looking through some old records. This book was written fifteen years ago.”
“This is…a copy of state registry for the Kingdom of Loyarre?” Scanning the contents of the pages before him, he felt a sudden, eerie jolt as he spotted the bit of information that his friend was trying to show him. “How could it be him?”
According to the documents, at the time of their compilation the lord of the County of Melsian was listed as Bertrand Loran.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“You recognize the name?”
“He’s the one who tried to kill me after I was freed from Crystellum.” From the mines, Alistar realized, that the man had once owned.
“The one who killed your uncle.”
Alistar nodded, his gaze dark and downcast. “Why were you looking into this?”
“It’s the least I could do.”
“Thank you, Corrie. Don’t tell the others about this, okay?”
“I won’t.”
The other boy disappeared down a side street without any words of farewell, likely heading to the library to continue his marathon of reading despite having been told by Woods to seek out the flower girls.
Bertrand…
When the man in question had murdered Alistar’s uncle, he’d mentioned that he had sided with Alistar’s family in some sort of conflict that had ultimately led to their imprisonment in Crystellum. The day of Raidon’s death was one that Alistar would never forget, the memory of Bertrand slitting his uncle’s throat still as vivid in his mind as it had been in the weeks that had followed the horrific incident. Even after all this time, he could still hear the grim conversation that had preceded the killing.
Come to think of it, when he was yelling at Uncle he mentioned being sent to rot in a place that he used to own. Alistar had mulled over Bertrand’s hate-filled words many times since that day, but it had never clicked in his mind that the hellhole the man had been referring to was actually Crystellum, no matter how explicit the suggestion. How could I have been so foolish? All these years and such an important clue had been just beyond the tips of his fumbling fingers.
There was no doubt in his mind that Bertrand had been the count of Melsian, which meant that at one point the man had been one of the most powerful and wealthy individuals within the Kingdom of Loyarre. The civil war that had devastated said kingdom had also taken place within that timeframe, which was just before his family had been enslaved.
That’s it, he thought sombrely as he made his way through the craftsman district. So that’s the reason why…
Passing through the gates at the end of South Street, Alistar made his way across the open plot of land with sure steps. Despite the fact that almost everything was covered in a light layer of snow, he knew where the trail that led to Big Hill was and hurried to follow it around the great mound of frosted earth.
As he made his way past the first few copses of trees that lined the riverbank, Alistar’s eyes rarely left the book that Corrie had given him. What he’d just learned had left a heavy weight upon his shoulders, for he was well aware that the golden eyes that he and his family had shared were likely characteristic of his father’s noble house, similar to how nearly all Silverkins had silver eyes with a smaller amount having blue. Since this was the case, he feared that if he and Kaila fled into the giant kingdom in the event that he actually managed to rescue her from Crystellum then at the very least Kaila would run the risk of being identified as a member of said noble house.
He was too ignorant, he realized, of the situation in Loyarre and how it might relate to his hopes of saving his friend. With this in mind, he resolved to do more in-depth research into which noble house his father had belonged to, a task that wouldn’t prove too difficult now that he had narrowed down the exact kingdom that Rodei had lived in. There were various clans and noble houses throughout the Continent of Mais that had golden eyes, after all, but he doubted that there would be many of these within Loyarre.
Thinking of his time in Crystellum as his ears were tickled by the soft sounds of snow crunching beneath his feet, he was hit by a bittersweet thought. So that’s why so many people in our work group had golden eyes. Throughout his childhood, so many of his innocent, curious questions had been answered with obvious deflections, almost always with the words ‘You will understand when you’re older.’ Looking back on the same scenes through different lenses, Alistar touched a hand to the locket that rested beneath his shirt and stopped walking for a moment.
Mama…Father…
Looking up at the icy, overcast sky, he was overtaken by a sudden chill.
“I understand now.”
The look in his eyes hardening, Alistar pushed all negative thoughts from his mind and gripped his practice sword tightly, as well as the sack of food and the little book that he’d just acquired. All of his family’s hopes and dreams had been entrusted to him, expectations that he fully intended to meet.
“Look who finally decided to show his face.” Jaden held up a wide, calloused hand to stop Zech mid-spar, exhausted eyes lingering on the bag in Alistar’s hand. “What’d you bring today, then?” He was still taller than Alistar, his shoulders broader and his body of a stockier build.