Sweet Waters Throne

93 Chapter 9In the gesture of goodwill and to further strengthen the trade relationships in Raven and still keeping the allies who they desperately needed if they were to continue being on power, it was up to Lady Aryan to make decisions while Gandalf whore himself in every luxurious brothel and showered his whores with silks, satins, gold and jokes.

In a span of just a month, Gandalf was the people’s favorite king and he seemed to be the exact kind of a King who the good folks of Prophis wanted. Lady Aryan also made a bargain with Prince Cregor Lamit and allowed the prince to take Lady Margery Boross back to his kingdom – the last member of House Boross.

This show of kindness and gesture towards the last living daughter of Lord Boross praised the Squires even more, and songs were even sung about them. Although at first, the lords who were present inside the court said Gandalf didn’t take it lightly and quarreled with his sister over that. He began to thank her later at the impact it had on his reign for a new name for him arose.

They called him “Gandalf, the Forgiving” all the good folks of the realm stretching from the frozen King’s City, to Claydall to his new capital Raven and all the small towns and villages of Prophis. The same folks who condemned Gandalf’s decision to leave Lord Boross’s head and his sons out of brothels for cutthroats, bastards, sailors, washerwomen, whores and anyone who felt like to piss on them. Now they were praising him in songs and night stories.

The praise reached Dark Town where Aurora and her grandmother Visenya were on the search for the once great palace of House Morrow accompanied with their host, Lord Spider. At first Aurora thought the journey would take less than a fortnight, “We’ll go in, take the egg... or eggs and leave” that’s what she said to Artemis.

However, a moon had turned and she was still in Dark Town. The pregnancy which wasn’t visible at once, suddenly now everyone she met in the ghost town knew she was carrying a child no matter how much she tried to hide it. Most of them paid no attention to her because they didn’t know her nor did they even know Artemis, how could they when some have never travelled to the capital.

“Most of the Darkies prefer to just stay here rather than mingle in crowded cities such as the capital. They live in silent and die in silence” said Lord Spider when Aurora asked why the people of Dark Town didn’t seem to recognize her as their Queen.

The new name shocked Aurora “The Darkies?” she asked raising her suspicious.

Visenya held her hand softly “That’s what they call the people of Dark Town honey”

.....

“It’s a weird name, don’t you think so Babushka?”

Lord Spider intervened just when Visenya was about to reply “Not so weird as you may think Your Grace. Do you know what they call you... people from the capital?”

“No, what do they call us?”

At first Lord Spider giggled, then he replied “The Sunnies” and with that Aurora laughed. “We are here...” They had arrived inside the once tallest palace in the world which had been reduced to ashes and black soot on the walls. It took them three days on a carriage to find it, not even Lord Spider himself knew the tales about House Morrow and nor did he even ask.

The only thing Lord Spider knew was that, House Morrow once ruled the lands but that was almost one thousand years ago. The tale was so old that it became a myth, forgotten and lost in history.

“Do you believe in these dragon riders?” Lord Spider asked Visenya. “Did they really exist?”

“The books don’t lie my lord”

“Books?” This shocked Lord Spider. “I can write a book about people riding elephants, or donkeys and somewhat you’ll believe it?”

Aurora intervened “This is true my lord. I have seen it”

“You have? How?”

It may have been too soon for Aurora and Visenya to start explaining of their origin and powers, nor tell Lord Spider about the dragon eggs. Hence Visenya excused herself and the lord, then Aurora was left all alone to wonder the palace of the ghosts.

It was during the day, an hour of the crow and the sun was shining even though it was freezing in such a way Aurora had to cover herself with a heavy fur coat just to prevent herself from freezing to death. The once great palace with hundreds of chambers, quarters, huge halls and the ballrooms, for Aurora it was like she was in a dream.

With every step she took, she felt like she could feel the ghosts surrounding her and from time to time she would abruptly turn back. Or even when her hair got stuck in a branch, she startled and gasped loudly. The place was covered in total morbid silence in such a way she could hear he own heartbeat, even the small steps she was making seemed to be so loud and caused great impact on the fallen stones.

Nothing would please Aurora more than if she could see the past, to get to know more about what happened to the Morrows and their powers to control winds which led them to fly their dragons whenever they want. “A dragon is not a horse” Aurora recalled Artemis telling her this.

And so it turns out Artemis was right, dragons weren’t horses who can be saddled and rode by anyone. It needed someone with special powers and attachments to them, a born rider who had greater claim to them and who could control winds.

At that time all Aurora knew was she was a seer and she didn’t know if she could control the winds, and if she can’t, then that will leave her with questions. How can she ride a dragon?

As she walked around her lost ancient home now covered in soot and blackened walls, with each turn Aurora made, it was as if she was led by someone. Or maybe it was all in her head because she was terrified of the silence. This guardian angel led Aurora straight to the vault buried underneath the castle.

Aurora took a shovel which laid around somewhere in the midst of the fallen stones and dug a little whole. She was stronger that day as she didn’t need any help as she pulled the vault out herself. It was a small vault surrounded by mud that it looked like mud itself, she decided to carry outside to her grandmother.

Visenya quickly abandoned Lord Spider and turned her attention to Aurora. “You’ve found it?” she asked with excitement.

“I’m not sure, it’s just mud”

Lord Spider offered to help “Hand it over to me, I’ll take the mud out” he said.

After an eye contact with her grandmother, Aurora allowed Lord Spider to take the small vault. Although he may have seemed to be petite, there was no doubt that Lord Spider was strong. He cleaned the mud off the vault and it was clearly revealed then.

Visenya had the first look at it and smiled, “We have it” she said and kissed Aurora on both her cheeks. “Now we need to work on the spell to unlock it” and that left Lord Spider without any questions as to what was inside the vault, but later on he was recorded saying he had no idea there were dragon eggs inside that vault.

The next day Aurora and Visenya left Dark Town in the royal wheelhouse and their men, they paid gratitude to Lord Spider and invited him to the capital. Aurora even made a joke “Don’t be like Darkies, come to see the sun from time to time” and Lord Spider chuckled. He made a promise to visit the queen when he somehow founds himself in the streets of Blackmount.

A moon turn is a long time when you leave a place, although no matter how short it may seem, it’s rather a long time when a city is under a plague fever. Ever since Aurora left there had been a terrible spread of Sunny Fever all over the city, the gates of the palace were barred and it’s guards were forbidden to leave the city for fear of contracting the disease and infect the King.

The fever saw to the patient’s body trembling cold while felt hot to the touch, like a pyre once set aflames. Their skin turned red, some purple hours before they died and they vomited continuously as if they were having sea sickness. No one who had the fever survived in the city, the gates were barred to prevent the people from getting out and spread the disease to other cities.

After he lost almost five thousand of his good folks in a span of a month, Artemis grew weary and scared of what was to happen next. His decision to bar the gates was to protect his other folks while he desperately waited for the return of his wife while he confined to his chambers praying for the sick and reading faith books.