The colors of black and red of Valmare, unmistakable to the eye, shined bright under the Sunlight.

  The cavalry of Valmare exuded an aura of pride and might. Corven Hale as their lead horseman.

  He rode fierce and just, showed no emotion and gave no reason for anyone to doubt his determination for his duty.

  But he felt deeply insulted.

  He was the hand of the king, who wished to look as an honorable man in the eyes of foreigners and didn’t care who’s honor was being tarnished in doing so.

  Corven felt powerless, and this feeling burned him from the inside out.

  He was the second most powerful man in Eldhraen, the acting hand of the king and lord of Ashforde, and he was now acting as entertainer for the Aelvaryans, as a sign pointing at their power, that the second most powerful man of the realm was so unimportant that he could be sent away anytime, on any job and could be replaced that easily.

  “Fucking idiot, he will not last a day without me ruling that city, that idiot and his boy will rule the city?

  Do they believe that?

  What a joke.”

  Corven thought to himself and this gave him calm in the moment.

  He knew the king and the elder prince couldn’t rule the kingdom, because they never did.

  Corven sorted the requests, the recommendations from the builders, opinions from the engineers and kept all the acting lords in the line of duty.

  He acted as king, and fulfilled his duties while the king, ate, drank, beat some men in a sparring contest which he thought was a competition. No soldier would ever dare to harm the king; he couldn’t see it.

  In the council meetings, the king often expressed his opinions on the matters, never giving a fuck if that opinion was the one that would make everyone in the room doubt if the king was simple.

  But he said it with zero doubts.

  Nobody dared to disagree with him, and he was satisfied with himself, he had thought of something that surpassed the strengths of the lords assigned on the matter and thought himself as the all-knowing, thinking he could rule the kingdom without any of them.

  Aldric had two eyes and two years but was blind to see where truth was buried and was deaf to hear who was ordering the burial.

  The escort rode through the fields of the sweet, where the majority of harvest for Eldhraen came from.

  The air was filled with with the aroma of grapes and the distinct scent of wildflowers.

  They kept on riding until the Ruins of Blackstone keep appeared in the horizon.

  That was the place where they would stop for the horses to rest.

  For Aelvaryans the keep served as just a place to make camp, but every Eldhraen knew the true meaning of the place.

  In that moment, the proud lord Aethric sided Corven’s stallion, as if challenging him.

  Corven didn’t look at him, he loathed him, just as much as every Aelvaryan and would give everything to kick him off that horse to get crushed under the carriages behind.

  Aethric soon overtook him and rode off to the ruins.

  Corven looked up to watch his figure become smaller, as Corven truly saw him.

  They arrived at the keep.

  Corven got off his horse, went up to the group of caretakers and ordered a roasted fish with bread.

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  The caretakers went to work without a word as Corven sat down to get a few moments of peace.

  But the peace was never a luxury Corven could afford to have.

  Aethric Silvar sat down from across the table and stared at the hand of the king without saying a word.

  Corven had no intention of breaking the silence either if anything he was glad to have kept it for this long.

  “Lord Corven, I do not have the knowledge and history of his castle and its doom. Would you be interested in educating me on the matter?”

  Aethric broke the silence with a request that wasn’t a request.

  Corven chuckled quietly. He knew this was no request, he was trying to belittle him as all Aelvaryans did.

  “Have you heard of the great fall of house Lovirya lord Aethric?”

  He asked him.

  “Everyone in the kingdoms has heard of its lord Corven.”

  “Well the proud lord Vorodim Lovirya was the most powerful and the wealthiest in all Eldhraen.

  He was the king of Eldhraen and house Lovirya ruled for centuries.

  Their strongest ally was always their gold; with it they had the undead army of mercenaries which always stayed at the same number no matter the dead bodies that filled the battlegrounds.

  For that House Lovirya’s pride grew into arrogance, which grew into something much worse.

  They belittled everyone and everything. Didn’t think anyone their equal and didn’t count anyone worthy enough to be their spouse.

  The lords started to pick women of their choice from any Greathouse, and they used to take them as taking a souvenir.

  The houses were forced to keep their mouths shut, the ones that didn’t no longer exist.”

  “Yes I’ve heard the story, I was interested of the castle not their ancestry”

  Aethric said with such arrogance that it made his figure even more petty and disgusting then it already was.

  “King Vorodim had no wife, and he made a mistake that would cost him his life and the lives of all the members of house Lovirya.

  He had his mercenaries kidnap lady Ninya Valmor.

  She was a noble woman, an innocent one, and pretty as the moonlight as they describe her.

  She was kidnaped and raped by the noble king. His arrogance made him forget that the woman she had stollen was the sister to Lord Reginald the strong.

  When the news reached his ear, he gathered the armies and sent the news to the man who his sister was to be betrothed to”

  “Lord Aelys Ael’Tharyn” Aethric cut in.

  “Yes, Aelys Ael’Tharyn or as he was better known, the undead serpent.

  When he received the news, the rage erupted and he called in all his army and the mages.

  Of course, the king knew and he sent his undead army to greet them at the entrance.”

  “Where we sit now” Aethric interrupted him again.

  “Mercenaries made a blockade near the castle, some two hundred thousand men.

  They awaited the enemy.

  Their king promised a land and residence to any who returned.

  Upon hearing these mercenaries left without hearing of their adversaries.

  King didn’t warn them either, as no idiot would go there for such a low price.

  They waited for army of men and instead got to face the massive beasts of great serpents and the violet-coloured dragon of Aelys.”

  “Surianys” The lord murmured to himself.

  “Chaos erupted, men were burned alive. Smart ones fled, the stupid ones stayed to battle the strong warriors of Valmor and Ael’Tharyn. The leader of the mercenaries was a fierce warrior himself. He cut down a hundred men as it’s said.

  But he faced the undead serpent, with his spear Abyssal serpent in hand.”

  “The twin serpents. That was the name I believe”

  “Precisely. Ser Reginald and Aelys killed a thousand men alone, the armies and serpents did the rest. Lord Aelys rode on his dragon straight to Blackstone keep and let his beast let Blackstone see how hot the fire of love burned.

  The rest that followed is history my good lord.”

  Corven finished.

  “Indeed, it is” Aethric agreed.

  “My lord” a voice rang out suddenly” There is a letter from the king”.

  Aethric took the letter out of the messenger’s hand in a hurry and opened it.

  He read for a long time as if the paper he was reading had turned into a list of sins that every living had committed.

  His expression said the same as it turned pale.

  “Is everything all right lord Aethric” Corven asked in a mocking voice, which was well hidden by his mastery of speech.

  But the smile was sneaking from his beard, the one no one could see but it was there.

  Like it understood everything, it knew exactly what that letter held.

  Aethric got up without saying a word, got on his horse and rode out in such a hurry that a one might’ve thought the god of light himself sent him a summon.

  Corven got up with that smug, satisfied face of his and walked over to the Aelvaryan soldiers, who had been abandoned by their commander.

  “Lord Aethric had urgent business I have no doubt, but now we are not in such a hurry.

  We will be staying the night here.” Corven commanded and felt joy in doing so.

  Aelvaryan soldiers didn’t say anything, but it smelled of disagreement.

  “We were told to deliver as soon as possible, and we plan to do so. Our lord commanded us.”

  “Your lord is not here now, is he?” Corven started “I am the authority here, not you, and not any other man, I am. And we will do exactly as I say. You lord abandoned the mission; it mustn’t be so important then.

  We stay the night, we leave at first ray of light.”

  He finished, turned and went to go to a chamber.

  Soldiers had no other way other than complying.

  What he said was true after all, Aethric had abandoned them, meaning it couldn’t be as important.

  Corven went to his chamber, closed the door behind and felt relieved.

  He stood still for a moment, listening to a sound he rarely heard-silence.

  Then he moved towards the bed and dropped heavy on it, with his clothes still on.

  He wanted to get up and undress but couldn’t and the enemy that everyone must go up against, bested him again.

  He fell into the sleep’s grasp.