The moon tonight was hiding behind the thick veil of clouds. Its light didn't manage to reach earth, making the some parts of the castle-that didn't have any candles-dark. It was quiet, sinister, there were no sounds in the main chamber as everyone had already rested in their room. The only sound they could hear were the songs made by the owls, which came from the garden that was full of trees.
Then, suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard, disturbing the peace. It was a door being opened with force, startling the hinge and damaging the wall that stood in its way.
A single hooded figure stepped inside, followed by his guard. He didn't let the comfy castle interior persuade him to take off his hood. The guard quickly followed him and, in contrast to his master, closed the door slowly so that it made little noise.
The figure gave up his legs and sat down in front of his study desk. Contrary to the clean chair he was sitting on, the table was full of junk, and scribbles. There were papers filled with half-drawn runes, recipes of potions and even a map of the elven body.
Runford cleared the table away so that he had a nice clearing that was free of stuff. One of the junk, a wand, rolled its way down the table and almost fell to the floor when he managed to catch it.
He inspected the wand. It was an old toy of his. He used it all the time some 30 years ago to cast spells and conjure magic. But, the excessive use of it and the discovery of hand-casting made the now torn stick, useless.
If it wasn't for his uncle, then he might still use this very wand. He was the one who teaches him how to hand-cast after all. Not only that, he was the one close enough to his father, and at the time, he needed someone to look up to.
"That old man…"
However, that old lump of meat had his mind torn between two choices. Him or that of his cursed and magically inadept daughter.
It was supposed to be obvious. Him! He was supposed to replace him as the grand prince! He was the one close enough to a perfect heir in his eyes. He was the one more legitimate to rule the Realm of Calenon.
Healthy.
Had an experience in rulin-. Runford almost laughed when thinking about this, guess his step father never saw Sildori for himself.
And of course, magically talented.
But, when Runford asked him why he hadn't declared him the heir outright, he refused to give an answer, more than that he refused to speak about it at all. He acted against his daughter, who was very good at hiding her emotion, even for a child. And yet, he never said that to him directly. There was never an official royal statement about his ascendance to realm heir.
It made him nervous, more so than he thought. It was something he wanted to become clear, he was a mage-researcher, any uncertainty lead to unnecessary risks. So he wanted to make sure he had the succession sure, but the old man didn't budge, he didn't care about that.
"DAMN YOU OLD MAN!" Furiously, Runford threw the wand.
It hit the wall and landed on the foot of it. It made a repetitive ticking sound before rolling again, now hitting the foot of his guard. The guard, acting quickly, took the wand and presented it back to his master.
He took it from him, there was an aura of hate in his hand as he took it. He then, grabbed the wand with two of his hand and-
"RAAAGHH" The wand snapped in two his hands.
"DAMN YOU OLD MAN, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU!!"
Calenon was his, it was his birthright. It was supposed to be, but then that wretched thing he now had to call 'sister' existed, and she is the only obstacle Runford had before reaching the throne.
And when he reached it, when he reached… oh so many creatures in this realm to toy with. Such unlimited resources, such uncountable assets of wealth just lying there to become his!
He grinned a smile. He wanted to laugh, yet held it in front of his loyal guard. Not that his guard minded anyway, the spell was already inside him, the gold glint in his eyes made that clear.
"Oh dear step-sister…What should I do with you…"
He caressed his chin, it was clean yet remnants of his bear could clearly be seen.
"That throne is mine"
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Waking up the next day, I was immediately called to mother's palace. Haril woke me up, got inside my room without permission before my maid had a chance to stop her and told me that what my mother wanted to tell was very urgent. Nevertheless, waking up suddenly was very disorienting and I needed another minute to get my consciousness back.
Haril said that it was an official business so I had to wear my noble garb for this occasion. I took Strumnir too, which was leaning against my study table.
I huffed when I found out Yohan forgot to close the window after he left last night. Rain had come and gotten inside my room, making the floor wet. The maids realized this as soon as they entered and began to rush the cleaning while one of them closed the window.
After putting my clothes on, Haril escorted me out of the castle.
"Say Haril, did you accompany my mother right as the alliance announcement was being talked about secretly, yesterday?"
"Yes, I was your highness" She said with her usual robotic voice.
"Did you pick up anything my father said while in private with His Majesty King Gustav?"
"No, your highness, His majesty, your father, told the Princess-Consort to leave him with his majesty Gustav and his highness Runford to discuss the terms. I had to escort her back to her chamber so I wasn't present right as they were discussing the terms"
"I see…"
The rain outside was fierce, but luckily, Haril had prepared a parasol for me.
To get to mother's palace, I needed to traverse through the castle garden and then take the bridge that preceded the palace.
The solid stone floor gave way to the muddy ground as we left the safety of the castle. Even though Haril had cover my head with the parasol-while sacrificing herself in return-some of the water still managed to wet my clothes.
Either way, The garden looked very peaceful in the rain. The raindrops fell from the sky and hit the green leaves, wetting it before sliding down again to the ground. I noticed some of the plants have outgrown themselves, normally, Yohan would cut it as soon as it was discovered, but right now he's on his way to the Imperial Capital.
We crossed the wet glass bridge that looked very slippery. Luckily, neither me nor Haril wore high heels so we're fine if we walked slowly.
As we entered the palace garden, Haril pointed at two figures sitting in the roofed gazebo. Based on the silhouette in the rain, I could see that it was my mother alongside another slender feminine figure. She was wearing a leather hood covered with forest leaves. Actually, her entire clothes were covered with the same pattern.
Haril excused herself as to not disturb us. Leaving as soon as I was inside the safety of the gazebo that had a large roof so that I, my mother and the old lady didn't get wet.
My mother was reading a book while drinking tea when she finally noticed me approaching her. She looked up and smiled. Unlike father, mother didn't look like she had aged a single year after she reached adulthood. Her face was still pristine, her body looked healthy and her spirit was still sky high.
"Ah! Eli! You've finally arrived!"
"Yes mother, I have"
Her face tilted to annoyance when she saw my noble garb again, something she called 'men's clothing'.
"A-anyway… I have a new guest that I would like to introduce to you" She leaned out of the way to present the old lady that was covered in what should be a ghillie suit in modern terms.
"This is kee-"
"Keeper Zani, master of the guards, lady-guardian of the Silveril mountain-forest and the sanctuary within it" I said, cutting mother before bowing to the old lady sitting.
She chuckled while covering her mouth. "Good, looks like those reciting we did back at the fortress had stuck with you ever since"
"Thanks for the compliment, Lady Zani. I didn't get the chance to thank you for facilitating my training these three years. So thank you, My lady"
"You…You two…knew each other?" My mother was left out and had her confused face look at both of us.
"Yes mother. Master Zani was the one facilitating my combat training in the fortress. There I was trained like Haril did when she became a palace guard"
"COMBAT TRAINING?!" She exclaimed loudly, her voice managed to break the rain for mere milliseconds. "YOU HAD A COMBAT TRAINING?"
"Yes? I thought you were aware of such things, mother"
"I…." Mother swallowed up his emotion. "Yes, I think I should've, it was obvious you would have it"
She looked away from me. Was that shame in her face? Shame that she didn't know what talent her daughter held. Or shame because she didn't bother to teach her daughter to be more lady-like?
"Her highness Princess Elissa was a star in the fortress, Princess Falah. She surpassed every expectation I had set for her. Especially her strength"
"Her…strength?" Mother tilted her head.
"Those two little hands," Zani pointed at my two hands, which were resting on the table. "They could snap a tree bark without doing much effort".
Mother chuckled, nervously after swallowing her saliva. "Hahahaha, You're exaggerating, right, Zani?"
"Maybe, or-maybe not…" Zani then took a sip out of her cup, drinking away the tea inside.
"Anyway, what brings you here, today, Master Zani?"
She chuckled, clearly blasted away by my generic chit chat question. "Oh… can't an old lady visit one of her friends? You should know Eli, when you're as old as me, you would start to miss a lot of your friends"
"So, you're just chatting with mother? No official businesses or something?"
She chuckled again, then she let out a grin. "If you wanted to make it business-related, your highness, then sure…" She read my mind.
"Yes..." It was part of my plan to keep my standing and legitimacy in Calenon. "while you're here, I wanted to ask something, and I want it clear from your mouth" Mother looked up to me as if wanted to scold me for being rude, but Zani catched her hand and let me speak.
"I want your full loyalty in the coming war, Master Zani. And for that, I want the entirety of Silveril be armed and ready, at a day's notice with the most loyal of men"
She listened to my demands, and sipped the tea again. The cup was now empty so she had to refill it.
"That'll be hard to do, especially training those men…" She said, blankly, mother, on the contrary, looked very worried too concerning Zani's loyalty. "But, for the moon's sake, I will always be at your side, Your highness"
I smiled. "Good, then"
She hesitated for a minute before opening her mouth. "But, I'm very surprised to see how quickly Calenon is now divided, your highness," She said. "Wouldn't it mind you if there were some way to mediate between the two of you?"
I laughed, tried so hard not to break the politeness due to my mother's presence, but I failed. "Oh… Master Zani, don't you understand" I smiled at her. "The Throne of Calenon is rightfully mine.."