Chapter Twenty Four - Is There in Truth No Beauty?

The two newcomers to the table talked and laughed loudly like the rest of the people who frequented the Red Raven. At long last one of them stood up, bowed to the three sitting down, and with a hearty clap to his friend’s back, he flipped the mug towards the bartender and strode off laughing heartily.

A few minutes later the two men in hoods excused themselves and paying the bartender quickly walked out into the streets of Aiulindale. They did not see the other man leave the Red Raven after them, nor did they see the first man waiting in the shadows. The two men threw off their cloaks and revealed their uniforms.

“Ready to go Flager?” asked the first one, drawing his sword quietly.
“As ready as I can be, Joynse,” said the second one, doing likewise.
“Let’s go then, down that street I believe.”

With a nod Flager followed Joynse down the street that Joynse had been pointing too. The road led down to an area of Aiulindale that was clearly where the lower classes lived. Flager nodded towards a small clearing over a little ways on the right. With a nod of acknowledgement, Joynse headed over towards the clearing, moving slowly and staying in the shadows. Both of the men took care not to make any sound. They stopped at the corner of a building on the edge of the clearing, and Joynse peered around to see if anyone was there.

He stopped in shock as he glanced at the scene that met his eyes. Two men in capes were standing in one corner of the clearing, one of them was pinning the shoulders of a girl to the wall as the other unsheathed his dagger. The dagger glittered in the fading sunlight, the design on the handle and the shape of the blade clearly showing it was mad in the Seventeens. The man holding the girl pinned her shoulders to the wall more harshly and the man with the dagger jerked her head back. As he raised his arm and prepared to slit her throat, he screamed in pain as blood pooled over the back of his cloak.

Flager had reacted instantly and thrown his dagger into the back of the man. The man holding the girl took one look over at Flager and ran. But Joynse was waiting. With a flash and a loud clang of steel against steel, Joynse and the man brought their swords clashing together. Joynse attacked, and the man parried. Then the man attacked and Joynse had to parry. The two went back and forth, back and forth, until at last Joynse resulted to a Slendarian twist and knocked the man over. Not wasting his opportunity, he plunged the sword into the man’s heart, just as Flager returned from releasing the girl from her bonds. With a few words of assurance to the girl, who appeared to be named Cindy, they returned to the palace to report to King Eldor.

“I will take first watch tonight,” Edmund said simply.

The others agreed without protest, but Kathryn wondered. She wondered why he had been so quick to volunteer for the first watch. Would he be abandoning them? No. It was not fair. He could not just leave them. He could not just go and give himself up to the Duke. He had to do something. Fight, resist, something. I do not care what it is he does, but he can’t just give in like that. Stop it, you are being selfish. I do not care! Why do you want him to stay? I am scared. You, who talked about courage, are scared? I can not take responsibility for everyone. How can I do this? Stop it. Stop it now. You can not keep him from his destiny. The world will still revolve, life will still go on, the sun will continue to rise and to set. Let life work out its own course, just follow the road in front of you, looking neither to the left or to the right.

She woke up to the sound of Mara letting out a roar. Yoran stood in front of Mara leaning on his embroidery needle. Klicati arched her back nearby as she listened to the conversation between Yoran and Mara.

“What is going on?” asked Kathryn quickly. “What is happening?”
“Master Edmund has left,” Yoran said turning to her with a bow.
“He should not have gone,” hissed Mara stomping her foot in anger. “He has betrayed us all.”
“He has not betrayed us,” cried Jessica.
“Jessica, please, calm down,” said Kathryn quietly. “Mara, it is alright. Edmund has not betrayed us. He has gone to Ge’irdae.”
“Then he has indeed betrayed us,” Mara responded angrily. “I saw Ge’irdae when we were flying, and it is under the possession of the Duke. I do not know what plans of treachery you have wanted me for, but I will not be part of them.”
“Mara, no! You do not understand. The Duke is looking for Edmund. He has gone to give himself up.”
“Likely story,” muttered Mara.
“Kat, no, he could not. He would not. Why do you say such things?”
“He could, Jessica, and yes, he would. I say it because it is true. He wants to save us. The Duke wants him, and the Duke would not care about the rest of us. We would be in danger as long as we were with Edmund. Do you not understand?”
“I do not understand. How can you agree with it?”
“I do not agree with it!” Kathryn cried.

Then she sat down and buried her face in her hands, trying not to cry. She was angry with Edmund for leaving them without even saying good bye, and even more angry with herself for being so selfish. Life was not fair. She did not see Mara take off in anger, breathing smoke and fire. She did not see Yoran walk away and turn his back to the others. She did not see her sister turn her back on Kathryn, and sit on the ground herself.

“Stop worrying,” said Klicati archly from where she lay, preening her self, and licking her paws. “Mara will return. She just has a temper to match her spirit.”

Truth has a sly sort of way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it, coming to face you head on. We can never be fully ready for it. In time, perhaps, we will be ready to see it. But can we truly understand it before we are ready? Her own words came back to her, and her eyes seemed to be opened. True, she could now see physically but this was something different. Maybe she was not ready for the truth. Maybe she was, and she had been blindly ignoring it as it knocked on her door. Memories of the Prophecy that Heather the Sage had spoken came flooding into her mind:

Faded fading into light
Daytime springing out of night
Ligon’s breath and heated flame,
Showing truth of monarch’s name.
When fireproof are eyeless folk,
Into dark the fire broke.

Showing truth of monarch’s name. That line jumped out at her, fiercely glowing bright, almost as bright as the fire of the Ligon. She wondered, and thought. Eldor, was he not then the true king? Was there then another, the true monarch of Elenaesia? It could not be Orlando DiCaprio, of that she was sure of. But who, and why?

She was startled out of her reverie as the familiar flap flap of Mara’s giant wings was heard. She looked up and saw the brilliant ruby of a ligon circling in the sky, coming to land. Her face seemed anxious as she hurried towards them.

“Come quickly,” Mara snapped at the four who were watching her with curious expressions. “Come, if we are to rescue Edmund. He has been captured, and if we are to rescue him, we must go now.”

Edmund walked up towards the city of Ge’irdae. He noticed that the thick stone wall no longer surrounded it, but lay crumbled on the ground, leaving only the inner wall standing.

“Ho there, lad!” cried the man on top of the watch tower. “Who goes there?”
“I am Edmund, squire to Sir Paulo, chief Knight of the Eleven!” Edmund called up.
“What is your business in DiCaprio?”

So, Edmund mused to himself, he has already gone so far as to change the name of the city. This was interesting.

“I come in peace to Ge’irdae!” he answered.
“Ge’irdae this is no longer. DiCaprio it is now, and shall always remain. Come inside and explain your errand to General Binks then.”
“I shall,” said Edmund.

As he entered past the gates, two large men in the uniform of the Seventeens grabbed him roughly and quickly disarmed him.

“I said I came in peace!” Edmund protested. “I am will go willingly with you to our general. There is no need to manhandle me! I will not struggle, I assure you.”
“We have no reason to believe that,” said one of them gruffly.
“Yeah, you can tell all this nonsense to the General when you see him.”
“That is enough,” said an even larger man, coming towards them. “My lord General Binks has told me to take the squire to him. I hear and obey. I will do the will of my lord General Binks. You will leave him alone. Give me his weapons.”

The others were silenced immediately, and handed over Edmund’s weapons quickly. They also handed over a small stone that they had found on Edmund. The man nodded to Edmund and the squire followed him without protest.