Sweet Waters Throne

210 Chapter 21The anonymous letter sent to Old City by Aryan arrived safely in the hands of Sir Alan and Sir Brian, both knights loyal to House Squire and to Aryan. The note was from Aryan herself with the royal seal of Prophis, they knew it was sent when Aryan was still the Queen of Prophis and it was legitimate.

Sir Alan was stunned after he read the note, “She’s saying Artemis isn’t the true heir to Sweet Waters throne. And who is this Aprophil?” he asked his friend Sir Brian.

“I don’t know about him but if it comes from our lady then it must be true. We must spread this word as soon as possible, I shall go to the market square and whisper it to few gossips I know, and you take the road to the harbor and tell all the sailors. Sailors gossip, by a week the whole town will know” Brian gave out orders and then they spread out.

During this time Artemis had no idea about what Aryan did, he thought she was long gone and never set to return. But in truth she was plotting secret rebellions even from a far, the words she said to Aprophil stuck inside Aprophil’s head while he was making his way West. “What you need is across the Freezing Sea” Aprophil remembered those words as he remembered his mother or his son.

While sailing, Aprophil received a letter to inform him his wife Miranda gave birth to another son. He was overjoyed that day, he threw a small drinking party with his friends. This time he would name his son Aire, meaning the sun.

The birth of his second son aroused something inside Aprophil. A need to protect and be a good example to his sons, they were suppose to grow as princes and be raised in a castle. His first Arteides would he Prince of Blackmount and the next line to the throne, while his younger brother would presume the title “Protector of the Realm” while he rules close to his brother and they would sit together on small council.

If Arteides fails to sire a son, then Aire will inherit the Sweet Waters throne, but that’s something Aprophil wouldn’t wish on his son because that alone would invite war. Yet still he craved for something his mother forbade him ever since she told him about it.

Aprophil would always say to himself, “Women don’t understand wars. They are scared of wars, and I’m not a woman. I’m a man and I’m not scared of a war, if I have to fight off Artemis for my claim to the throne, then I must do it. But first, I must make my claim known to the Lords of Maldonia. How will they know if I don’t tell them?” he kept on thinking out loud.

It seemed Aprophil’s prayers had been answered. In a span of just two weeks after the Battle of Kins, Old City was flooded with his name and the good folks talked about him when they went to the market, to the harbor and even to brothels and wine sinks.

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They argued about his claim, “Is he the true heir?” they asked themselves. That’s when the people who once came upon Aprophil when he was living in the Mines, spoke about the resemblance between King Luca Arteides and Aprophil.

They said, “I knew he was our King’s son just by looking at him for the first time. The boy stole his father’s face, a bastard would never look like his father, only a true born son” and these claims spread like wildfire all over the ten cities while fanned by gossips and rumors that Artemis was a Usurper.

Even in Sea Tone the rumors that Aprophil was a true born son of the King reached Mathew Hofun and his wife Maggie, Petrus Octavianous’s sister. By this time Maggie had just delivered her second child, a son after having a daughter first. This was a sigh of relief for her, she was scared not being able to give her husband a son while Aegon’s wife had delivered two sons for Aegon, Mathew’s first brother.

Mathew confided in his wife, “Could this rumor be true? About Artemis’s legitimacy to the throne?” he asked Maggie who was breastfeeding her son at the moment, she wouldn’t let the wet nurses touch him, that’s how valuable her son was to her.

“He is Luca Arteides’s son, isn’t he?” asked Maggie confused by all the talks about politics and such, she wasn’t used to these talks and she didn’t even have a head for all of it.

“They say he may not be the first, and that this Aprophil is the first true born son. Many thought he was a bastard while living in the Mines... until now of course” said Mathew while fixing his silk robe.

“I think they are just rumors, he is a bastard”

Mathew refused to accept, “But he looks exactly like his father. He must be the true heir to the throne” he said with excitement, even a blind man could see that he was on Aprophil’s side.

Now Maggie was worried, she stopped breastfeeding her son and looked at her husband.

“Careful Lord Husband, the words you say may be mistaken for treason” she said clearly showing she was serious.

“But we are all alone my Lady wife”

“Yes we are, but who knows where you’ll blurt those words to. Remember we can’t trust anyone Matthew, especially during this time and I would hate for my son to lose his father when he’s just came out of the world” she insisted and went back to breastfeeding him.

Matthew went on and on about his conspiracy theories to his wife, he said he was telling her because he could trust her and that he would never say anything to anyone about what he was thinking about.

But he was clearly lying, the next day Matthew Hofun went to his friends who had also learned about the rumors. Although his friends chose to ignore it, Matthew told them to look at the bigger picture and think about it. How could a bastard look like his father? “Bastards are bastards, they are wild in nature and they never succeed in life. But this man, this Aprophil is the Lord of Free Hall and Master of the Sea. He controls over thousands of ships and rules Whitebridge harbor, the biggest city in all the Liberty Cities. Tell me my lords, does that look like a bastard to you?” Matthew said this to his friends inside a tavern.

Matthew was convincing, he knew how to attract a crowd and how to entertain it too. He was cheerful, charming and had a wit with people unlike his brother Aegon who barely talked and his face was always hard and grim. These two Hofun brothers were an opposite of one another, but since Matthew was the second born son, it meant his brother will be declared Lord of Sea Tone when their father died.

Hence Aegon had his path laid out to him already, to be a Lord of Sea Tone and control the royal fleet and all the fishermen and sailors of their city. So what’s left for Matthew? His path was unknown and that’s why he had extra time on his hands to give out speeches and his reviews about the rumors.

What he didn’t know was Lord Balrus’s rodents were everywhere, and they were looking at him and what he was doing which was treason at the very least. Amongst those he called friends, one of them was Lord Balrus’s rodent. And when Matthew talked about his views on Aprophil and that he could be the true heir, all he did was listen as he prepared himself to deliver the news to his Lord.

Matthew Hofun went further and started giving out speeches to the good folks of Sea Tone who mostly were fishermen, local sailors and terribly poor compared to other good folks of other cities such as the capital or the magnificent Green Town. He told them about Aprophil, his claim to the throne and asked them if they wanted to be ruled by either a true King or a Usurper?

These men of Sea Tone prayed to be relieved from their hardships. They prayed to one day be covered in silks and satins and gold like their lords. They prayed for rain and endless summers, they couldn’t care less about who sits on the Sweet Waters throne or who’s the true heir and who is not. Most of them hadn’t even seen the throne nor step foot in the capital, they knew nothing about the life of the Lords and Kings.

Hence they ignored Matthew’s speeches and gathering when he visited them as they planned to go fishing or as they laid down their fishes after a successful fishing, they didn’t even listen to him. But you know who did, the rodents.

News reached Lord Hofun about his second son’s endeavors. He was terrified at first, how could his son be so stupid to conduct treason out in the open? He was terrified for him, and for his House as well. Hence he summoned Matthew to warn him, but he was too late, the rodents had already delivered the news to Artemis himself regarding what Matthew has been saying for a span of three weeks.