Chapter IX

  "I told you, I have an urgent message from the Village Elders of Feldon." Darius repeated to the guard at the gates.

  On arriving at the gates to Falconhome, the pair had dismounted, joining the line of travelers waiting to enter the Capital city of Feltharin. The guards were checking each group entering the city before allowing them through the gates, but one of the soldiers had eyed them suspiciously and, after pulling the duo aside, didn't seem to be listening to their story.

  "And I told you" the big guard snarled, getting right up in Darius' face, "that King Kyphen doesn't have time for your foolishness. We don't want any part of your trouble, so just turn around and crawl back under whatever rock that you..."

  "That's enough Guardsman!" a crisp voice cut in, causing the sneering guard to jump and glance around guiltily.

  A tall man in armor with a Commander's insignia on his shoulder pauldron was striding towards the group, followed closely behind by another gate guardsman who was gesturing towards Darius and Aria. It was clear that the other guard had summoned the Commander when he noticed trouble starting to brew.

  "I know this man, you can let him through." the Commander told the guards.

  "But sir," the man who had been harassing Darius protested, "that woman is..."

  "I know who she is, Guardsman, and I am taking personal responsibility for them." Turning his back on the guard, the Commander clasped Darius' arm. "Darius! It's good to see you hale and hearty."

  Darius, smiling now in recognition, returned the greeting. "Bryce! It's been a few years."

  Commander Bryce beamed at them as he took a step back to look at Darius from arms-length. "You've grown." he said with approval. "Last time I saw you, you were that scrawny kid from Feldon that was dragging my regiment all over the Barrier mountains hunting bandits."

  Aria chuckled and Bryce's attention turned to her. "And you must be Princess Altora."

  Shaking her head, she pleaded, "Just Aria, please. I left the princess part behind years ago. Besides, I don't exactly have a kingdom to call my own anymore."

  Bryce dipped his head in acknowledgment. "As you wish, Lady."

  The brusque guard interrupted them "I knew it was the princess! Sir these two are wanted criminals. They..."

  The commander's face darkened as he spun on the guard once more. "I didn't realize that the Kingdom of Trideria made the laws here in Feltharin. Just because the Triderian ambassador insists on passing out wanted posters doesn't mean that the bounty has any legal standing here in the Capitol. So unless King Kyphen or Queen Seleane declares otherwise, these two are free to do as they please. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" he practically shouted the last part. The guardsman wilted under the verbal onslaught before throwing a final glance at Aria and slinking back to his post at the head of the line of travelers.

  Turning back to his guests, Bryce apologized. "I'm sorry for that. Horace means well, but is sometimes a bit too enthusiastic in carrying out his duties."

  Aria waved off the apology as the Commander continued. " I was told that you have a message for the King?"

  Darius nodded, "Two actually, one from the village Elders and one from Commander Tyrell."

  "Tyrell, huh..." Bryce chewed his lip and looked uncomfortably to the guardsman who had summoned him and was silently waiting for orders. "The King isn't seeing anyone right now." Bryce said finally, then asked "Where were you planning to stay tonight?"

  Darius chuckled again, "Has the 'Prancing Pony' burned down yet?"

  Laughing, the other guardsman spoke up. "Not yet, though not for lack of trying. I think we get called out there three or four times a month to break up one sort of chaos or another."

  Shaking his head in amusement, Bryce ordered, "Reynolds, send a runner to the palace and inform them that Darius and Aria are staying at the 'Prancing Pony' and that they have urgent messages from Feldon for the King. My shift is over, so I'll escort these two to their lodgings."

  Reynolds hurried off, and Commander Bryce led them to the gates and along the passageway that ran through the outer walls into the city beyond as a light drizzle began to fall.

  The city was just as large as Aria remembered it from her time visiting as a young teen. Whereas her home in Altor Castle was built on a mesa and housed a modest city within its secure stone walls, the Feltharin Capital was much more impressive.

  Falconhome had been built directly into the mountainside, with nearly impregnable stone walls towering above the mouth of the valley and marching up the slopes to either side where they met once again on the cliffs high up the mountain slopes above the far end of the city several miles in the distance.

  Multi-story buildings rose up on either side of the main thoroughfare and ran along side streets that terminated right at the edge of the sheer granite walls of the valley on either side. Even then, Aria knew that many of the streets continued into passageways dug directly into the stone over generations.

  The pair led their horses along the wide stone streets, with Bryce guiding the duo towards their destination. The early evening had turned chilly and they all pulled their cloaks a bit tighter against the rain.

  As they turned down a side street, a large wooden structure with a weathered, hand-painted sign came into view. The sign did indeed have a scene of a dappled pony prancing proudly across it. Though the animal seemed to have been regularly repainted with loving care and proudly danced in vibrant colors, the same could not be said of the Inn's name, and the text was faded to the point of illegibility.

  "Flannigan still hasn't learned to write?" Darius asked, catching sight of the sign.

  Bryce looked at the sign as if just noticing it, before chuckling and responded "You know Flannigan."

  "Readin' and Writin's for the Nobility!" the two men chorused in an exaggerated highland accent, before laughing and moving towards the stables.

  Once the horses were settled and Darius had negotiated the fees with the Stablemaster, the group entered the common room of the inn. Looking around, Darius was struck with nostalgia as it felt that no time had passed at all since he had last visited the inn.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  At the bar, a grizzled man greeted the Commander with a thick accent. "Bryce ol' boy. What brings you in this early? Ain't 'ad no trouble 'ere today."

  Darius stepped forward, "Hello Flannigan, it's been a while."

  The innkeeper looked lost for a moment before his eyes landed on the hilt of the sword strapped to Darius' back.

  "Darius?" he asked stunned as he took in Darius' brawny frame. "Wot 'appened to that scrawny little lad I was always tryin' to fatten up?"

  "Maybe if you actually served some decent food for once Flannigan, he would have filled out sooner." Bryce cut in, joking with the grizzled innkeeper.

  Flannigan glared at the Commander and grunted. "If my food's not decent, then 'ow come you eat 'ere three nights a week?"

  "It's all I can afford on my salary." Bryce deadpanned before quickly changing the subject. "Do you have any rooms available? Darius just arrived, and I doubt the palace will be able to receive them before tomorrow."

  The innkeeper's scowl broke into a wide grin as he replied "Aye, I've got two rooms. For Darius I'll take four copper a night, and include their meals for free." Glaring at Bryce he continued, "Your meals, 'owever, just went up to five copper each after insultin' my food so."

  Flannigan scowled at the Commander for a moment longer before winking at Aria as Bryce spluttered a reply.

  Ignoring the two friends with a shake of his head, Darius reached over the bar with a casual familiarity and collected the room keys from a hook before leading Aria upstairs as the bickering continued below.

  Aria accepted one of the keys and entered her room as Darius continued further down the hall.

  The room was tidy, but sparsely furnished with a washbasin and pitcher on the bedside table.

  With a sigh of relief for a moment's respite, Aria spent a few moments reveling into the simple joy of washing up and changing into clean clothes before returning to the common room downstairs.

  Darius was already seated at a table with the Commander as she took a seat and Flannigan set down a round of ale before joining them.

  "I did'na recognize ya Darius, if it weren't fer that ridiculous sword of yourn, I would'na known you." Flannigan was saying.

  Bryce almost choked on his ale as Darius rolled his eyes and muttered "here we go...."

  Bryce grinned and piped up "I told you before, Flannigan, it's not even a sword, Flannigan. It's actually a Yilinni dagger."

  Aria glanced at the massive blade still strapped to Darius's back as realization set in. "Yilinni - wait, you mean those big four armed giants that we just fought at Feldon?" She asked as Darius nodded and huddled deeper into his seat to nurse his drink as Bryce's eyes twinkled with mirth as he related the events.

  "I dont know about recently" the guard Commander said, "but about ten years ago, we were tracking the bandits that had raided Darius's village across the Barrier Mountains when we stumbled across the camp of a couple of those giants. Of course they attacked us immediately, and we fought back."

  Bryce took a deep pull on his ale before continuing, "I wont bore you with the details of the battle, but the scrawny little fifteen year old tracker we had with us..." he gestured at Darius with his ale mug and a smirk "...had somehow managed to break the sword he had been using."

  "The Yilinni tossed me aside and tried to smash me with its club. It missed me, but shattered the sword I'd dropped." Darius muttered grumpily into his drink.

  Bryce waved away the explanation. "The next thing we know the scrappy kid had found this huge dagger in the Yilinni camp, he had the sheath strapped to his back and was carrying it around as a sword."

  "I liked the heft of the blade." Darius interjected.

  "Heft? The thing is bigger than a greatsword! It has to weigh over ten pounds." Flannigan snickered, and Aria hid her smile by sipping her ale.

  "Its got good balance." Darius answered defensively.

  "It is balanced well." Aria jumped to his defense as Darius nodded in appreciation. "But it is ridiculously heavy." She finished as he wilted and flicked her a mock-hurt expression.

  "That's not the best part." Bryce said while trying to hold in his laughter. "I found out a couple of years ago that the blade is actually a Yilinni woman's dagger!"

  The group erupted in laughter as Darius covered his face with his palms. "Well, that does explain why the blade is as slender as it is." he finally responded.

  Flannigan could barely choke out "Slender? The things nine inches wide at the base!"

  "Relatively slender - for the Yilinni." Darius corrected defensively before throwing his hands up in defeat, and joining in on the laughter.

  "I still remember seeing him wield the thing for the first time." Aria said. "I guess he'd had it for a couple of years by then. My father and I were here in the city for the bandit's trial since some of the raiders had been deserters from the Triderian army."

  "I remember that." Bryce agreed. "King Kyphen had ordered a tournament for the nobles and dignitaries that were visiting for the trial. There were representatives from Malthorm as well."

  "Yes," Aria agreed. "It certainly made my father sit up and take notice when Darius used a blade almost as big as he was to beat the Malthorm champion." She looked sheepishly at Darius. "You were quite a bit smaller then. No one expected you to be able to beat him, and not with that sword."

  "Aye, 'e was a right little pipsqueek back then." Flannigan agreed, pounding Darius on the back with a meaty hand.

  "Father was even more impressed when he lasted two more rounds before that young martial artist - I don't remember her name - finally beat him." Aria finished.

  "Megumi." Darius said, draining his mug. "I thought she was crazy coming into the ring unarmored and bare-handed, she was even smaller than me at the time, but she was fast. She dodged my last strike, and I didn't even see her follow up kick." He sighed at the memory. "I just remember waking up in the infirmary and being told she'd kicked me in the head and knocked me out cold."

  "Father was still impressed with you." Aria said. "Even more so when he found out that you were the one that had tracked the bandits for over a year."

  Darius nodded, "He approached me soon afterwards." Darius looked at Bryce. "With the trial over, and your regiment reassigned, I felt cut adrift. I know you had offered me a position with your new assignment with the guard, but I was a tracker - a woodsman. The life as a city guard was no place for me, and there were still some of the bandits left that had fled to Trideria and Malthorm." Darius peered into the dregs of his ale as Flannigan got up to fetch another round.

  "When King Tasraan offered me work helping his knights track the remaining deserters who were in Trideria, I felt like I owed it to my village to go."

  "You would have been welcome with the guard, but we understood." Bryce said. "We heard you spent some time in Malthorm too, though you seemed to spend a lot of time around the Triderian palace." The commander smirked as he looked between Darius and Aria with a raised eyebrow.

  Aria chuckled, "You know, it's a funny thing. My country has an odd history of adopting foundlings into the Noble Houses, my own uncle is one of those after all. My father took Darius under his wing, and Darius was almost like a big brother to me in my early teens. In fact, after a year or so of Darius training with the knights around the palace - when he wasn't out tracking that is, my father was so impressed with this blockhead..." she elbowed Darius in the ribs "...that he secretly offered to adopt him into house Altor as part of the family - but Darius refused."

  "I would have made an even worse Triderian prince than I would have a Feltharin guard." Darius quipped, elbowing her in return. "Besides, by that time, Malthorm was having border skirmishes with Trideria. King Tasrsaan needed to send an envoy to smooth thing over, and we both agreed that I would accompany the delegation as a hired guard. Being a Feltharin citizen, I was seen as an independent mercenary, and was less of a threat in the eyes of the Malthorm government." Darius replied.

  "Your father understood my reasons for remaining independent and agreed with them, he could only send a single official escort, and that was Hector..." Darius trailed off, even now the memory of his friend's loss after the under-realms mapping mission made his stomach clench, and the lighthearted mood at the table dampened for a time.

  As the group continued to reminisce, the inn began to fill with patrons for the evening meal. Flannigan excused himself and bustled about, returning briefly to serve a hearty stew that surprised Aria with its high quality. She caught the smirk from Bryce as she took her first tentative bite, and realized that the Commander had quite a teasing sense of humor.

  Darius' and Reynolds' comments about the inn burning down came back to mind when a fight broke out later that night among a couple of patrons in the back and Bryce got up with a sigh to break it up.

  Finally, as the night wore on and the torches began to burn low, a messenger arrived from the Palace inviting the pair to an audience with the King in the morning, and the pair adjourned to their respective rooms for the night.