Sweet Waters Throne

67 Chapter 6At first light just like how Lucerys instructed, Lady Aryan and Olivia had already fled the palace and they were at the harbor. The port was crowded for an early morning, they had to stand underneath an oak tree for twenty minutes just waiting for Lucerys to show up. Aryan wore a black hoodie to hide her face with black trousers and black boots, on top of it she had a huge fur jacket as it was so freezing she could feel her bones cracking.

Olivia had two jackets and she wore huge boots to keep herself warm, most of the time she clung to Aryan’s arm to keep herself warm. She was scared a little bit, unlike Aryan who was strong and fearful – Olivia was a common-born with no taste for sword.

Their indifferences is what balanced the scale between these two, while Aryan was strong and commanding, Olivia was weak and submissive. Lucerys arrived at the port and he went straight after Lady Aryan. “Follow me my ladies” he said.

Hence they passed through throngs of fisher folks, seamen alike and thieves looking to start their day. Just a few yards laid a beautiful ship, not so huge and it was also not small. Lucerys said the ship can even sail to the Freezing Sea that time of the summer since the sea was weeping. The hype was to assure Aryan the strength of ship and no doubt it will cross the Silent Sea.

Three servants came outside to greet Aryan, they wore red dresses and covered themselves with heavy cloths and from where Aryan stood at the dock she could those three poor ladies were freezing. Lucerys helped Olivia into the ship while Aryan refused to be helped “I got this” she said to Lucerys.

Once inside the ship Lady Aryan inspected it. The ship had broader beam and deeper hull to store food and tanks of fresh water, that helped so much because of the long voyage. Two tiny bedrooms under the deck and one up the top close to the captain’s room, this belonged to the captain.

Lucery gave instructions “One bed for you my ladies, and the other for the servants. Forgive me they are tiny but the mattresses are comfortable” he said and climbed upwards. Aryan and Olivia followed him to the open space of the ship.

Ten men all in black walked inside the ship, these were Lucerys’s men and they came to sail with Lady Aryan as sail men per what they were employed to do.

“These are your men?” asked Lady Aryan.

.....

“Yes my lady, they are loyal and they will get you to Penrith and serve you the whole voyage. I have filled their pockets with gold” Lucerys then turned to his men “Come on now, start the ship” he ordered them and they got to work. The captain was a young man of twenty years old, the same age as Lady Aryan and her twin brother Lord Gandalf.

Before departing the King’s City in an attempt to cross the Silent Sea, Lady Aryan took Lucerys to the edge of the ship for a conversation while Olivia retired inside the bedrooms claiming she was feeling cold.

The port was engulfed with heavy fog in such a way no one could see the horizon, these were the summers in Prophis and if gods were cruel then winters were even bitter. Everyone had small clouds of air coming out of their mouths when they spoke.

“The sun will be out today and the fog will clear” said Lucerys.

Lady Aryan took a small piece of paper which had a Squire seal on top of it, inside it there was a letter. “I want this to reach my brother in Stonedance” she said handing Lucerys the letter. “By any means there must be men in the King’s City carrying a Squire sigil, give it to one of them at once”

Lucerys took the letter and placed it inside his huge jacket “I will not fail you, my lady” said Lucerys and then he bowed softly and walked away.

Lady Aryan helped the men in taking the ship off port. She was of course a sailor herself and she has sailed bigger ships as far as the river lands while Lord Gandalf gets sick before the ship leaves the harbor. These two twins were so alike and yet so different, some maesters of Old City used to say Lady Aryan was more of a man than her brother.

The ship which Aryan later named it Stormbreaker sailed away from the King’s City that day while Katarina was warm in her bed and further in her dreams where she obviously dreamt the war was over and her husband was back home. The good fire and the blankets made the bed a cozy place and lack of duty made her stuck inside her bed most of the times. When she woke up and didn’t find Lady Aryan, she wasn’t shocked at all rather she wrote to her husband, the King.

In Stonedance, the war was just a few days away. The horn blew earlier that day and notes were sent between the two parties to start marching towards each other. The Stonedance wasn’t so kind to Lord Gandalf who complained about the strong winds which blew off the sands onto his face no matter how much he tried to cover himself, the sands almost blinded him.

Being at the south of Maldonia, Stonedance was a desert and the men were drenched in sweats during the noon and froze during the night. Like a typical desert features, Stonedance was hotter during the day and colder when it got dark. Some men said the cold at night resembled the winters in Prophis, hence the best time to fight was during the day.

King Castellan however wasn’t bothered by either the heat nor the cold, he trained every morning with his men shifting from one tent to another trying to form a bond with the men who declared to fight for his throne. He made sure his men were supplied with fresh water, enough food and better swords.

The words of encouragement raised the morale of the soldiers and that was something not even Gandalf was capable of. Being a Lord of a big house like Old City and owning lands, lions and men was nothing compared to ruling a kingdom.

That was the first time Lord Gandalf knew he didn’t have it in him to be a King of Prophis, he was terrible at speaking and giving out speeches how can he lead his men if they were to invade Maldonia. His successors, other lords of Old City who took up arms against the realm were all perfect in motivation speeches and ruling.

Even Aryan, his twin sister was good with motivation speeches and that’s how she came to have fifty thousand men loyal to her. For a woman so young to lead such strong army it wasn’t likely seen at court or any place for that matter. “I need my sister” Lord Gandalf said to himself as he sipped hot tea while trembling as the desert was freezing.

The next day early in the morning, Stonedance will dance just like what it’s name proved to be. Swords will be crossed and that’s something Gandalf would never put himself forward for. He were to stay at the end of the whole army with King Castellan and Lord Aubrel on horsebacks looking on as their men kill or get killed.

“What’s the pursuit of war? If not to fill the graves” King Castellan walked slowly towards Gandalf with a smile on his lips.

Each tent was lit up by lanterns and in totality there were almost one hundred thousand tents belonging to the Prophisian side. Each tent was well supplied with food, water and swords. One tent housed five men, to three depended on how huge the tent was. But as Lord Aubrel said “Men do not need to sleep with a war ahead of them”

Lord Gandalf paid no attention to Castellan, he turned to look at him with a smile but then he went on looking at the open sky and the beautiful stars which aligned carefully.

King Castellan went on “My father told me that” he said.

“That wars fill graves?”

“Yes, but yet still men crave for it. He went on a war and dethroned Mithandirs from Prophis, one of the powerful and richest houses and with that his men died”

“And he filled the graves...” Gandalf took a sip of his hot tea again and this time he turned to look at Castellan. They were of course the same height but different in everything, Gandalf’s hairs were short while Castellan’s curly ones fell down effortlessly behind his back.

Castellan’s eye lashes and eyebrows were full of “k’ohl” an ancient black decoration amongst the Prophisians something which all the men from Prophis must have when go to war. It was a symbol of their goddess Thelma who is said to have ruled Prophis from the skies, it may be a myth but it was something well respected amongst the Prophisians.