I hope you enjoy!
Meg
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The Tainted Crown: The First Book of Caledan
Chapter 2
Soren
“Seize him!”
The three men raced towards Soren, weapons drawn and battle cries ringing in
their throats.
The prince
froze beneath the portcullis. His bow lay uselessly unstrung and lashed to his
saddle. Soren struggled to draw his blade, assailants almost upon him, when a
fierce cry behind them announced the presence of another. They turned away for
a fatal moment of distraction.
“Prince
Soren!” the mounted figure’s voice echoed through his helmet as he charged
towards the fray.
Soren moved automatically despite his
confusion, unsheathing his sword as his mount plunged forward and slashing the
first man’s side as his horse kicked out in the close confines, stunning the
second. Before the third could react, the stranger had dispatched him, stabbing
the second who lay dazed on the floor, just as Soren cut down the first. The
stranger removed his helm to reveal the sweaty, battle-stained face of the
queen’s chief advisor.
“Sir
Edmund!” exclaimed Soren, keeping his dripping sword ready. His horse pranced,
nostrils flaring and mouth frothing. “These men wear the mark of House Varan;
what’s the meaning of this? Whoa Miri. Calm, girl.” He tried to soothe the
agitated mare beneath him with shaking hands as his heart pounded erratically.
“We must
leave. Now,” said Edmund, but the prince did not move. “Do you trust me?”
Edmund pressed, leaning forward in his saddle. Soren nodded. “Then do as I say.
Ride with me now!" He urged his horse into a canter through the gate.
“What’s
happened? What of my family?” called the boy after the man, but Edmund did not
reply save to press his stallion harder. Soren dug his heels into Miri to keep
apace, asking again, but to no success.
“Why do you
return so early from the hunt? Where are your guard?” Edmund asked the prince
grimly as they rode through the secluded grounds.
“A boar gored Sir Hark’s son, so we abandoned
the hunt to see him safely home. My guards took him to the healing houses.”
Soren would have grimaced at the memory, but the sight of his friend with half
his thigh hanging loose paled into insignificance. Instead of the boy’s
agonised face, the man he had just killed sprang into his mind, his eyes full
of pain, hate, and determination as he dropped to the ground, life fading. I just killed a man… but he was trying to
kill me. Both concepts were incomprehensible to Soren.
“Well thank
the heavens you arrived not a moment sooner or later,” replied Edmund,
distracting Soren. “Fate delivered you to my hands today."
Through the
landscaped trees, the perimeter wall of the castle grounds came into view. Here,
the wall that eventually joined Pandora’s great city walls was a mere ten feet
tall and four feet thick, defended more by the precipice beyond it than its own
strength.
Edmund
jumped down from his horse with an agility belying his age - Soren had never
seen the fifty year old move with such speed. To Soren’s astonishment, Edmund
began to scrabble at the ivy that grew in vast quantities along the wall,
sweeping it aside and ripping it from the wall in bunches. Soren began to
wonder if he had been right to trust Edmund without question, but before the
thought could materialise Edmund turned around with a frantic expression.
“Come help!
We must find the door.” Edmund wandered along the wall as he searched through
the ivy. Soren frowned to himself, but brushing aside his bafflement,
dismounted to help.
“Aha!” The
discovery came before Soren could begin. Metal rattled, wood clunked and the
rusty lock screeched as Edmund threw his weight backwards to pull the heavy
wooden door open. “Come! Follow me.” Edmund made to lead his horse by the
bridle through the wall but Soren seized his forearm.
“I just
killed a man!” Soren exclaimed. “A man wearing colours loyal to the throne, yet
trying to harm me... Why?”
“I will
explain, but I cannot now. Please, come with me; it is not safe for you here. I
will beg you if I must,” Edmund implored.
Soren
released him, surprised at the fervour from the usually taciturn man. “What of
my family?”
“I will
explain.” Edmund beckoned him again as Soren faced him, uncertain. “Trust me.”
Soren
considered the unwavering faith his mother placed in Edmund. He was swayed by
that, but it was with a sinking heart and growing unease that Soren followed
Edmund through the gate.
It was a
perilous climb down the cliffs in the fading light; impossible but for the
narrow ledge that guided men and horses down. Soren was distracted from the
blood - someone else’s - that speckled the hem of his fine jacket by Miri, who
had to be coaxed, pushed and shoved almost all the way down. The horses
skittered on the narrow track, taking fright every time their passage dislodged
small scatterings of stones that cascaded down the precipice to their side.
Every time
the horses balked, Soren’s heart leapt into his mouth, fearing that he would be
pushed off the path, but before the sun had fully set they reached the ground.
Edmund wasted no time in mounting, warning Soren to take care on the uneven
ground. Soren mumbled with dull acquiescence. The descent had been
excruciatingly slow and he was tiring after his intense day.
“At
least we have time, for tonight, to travel slowly,” Edmund said. “No one will
seek us here.” But, over the drumming hooves, Soren did not hear.
Two leagues
to the north lay the dark bulk of woodlands that Edmund made for. As the cooler
shade of the tree canopy enveloped them, their shadowy figures melted into the
forest, the thick cover claustrophobic in contrast to the open, rolling knolls
they had just left. Soren halted Miri. Edmund reined in his own mount, glancing
back.
Framed by
the trees on the fringes of the forest were the vast expanse of water, silver
in the moonlight, to Soren’s right, the sweeping plains to his left. In between
lay the great hill upon which the city of Pandora stood, a huge bulk in the
darkness covered with pinpricks of light. Nothing seemed amiss. The night was
tranquil. Soren followed Edmund to be swallowed by the forest.
They rode
until Soren was lost in the dark. The older man had been silent for hours and
rode so fast that Soren was forced to push Miri to her limits, despite his
worry that she would stumble and lame herself on a stray root or rock. Soren
wondered at Edmund’s urgency, but he was to exhausted to question him. Instead,
when they stopped in a hollow at the base of a rocky outcrop, he dumped Miri’s
saddle and bags onto the floor, turned her loose, and slumped against a tree,
snoring.
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