A Promise Accepted

Boya sat with eyes wide as Anna remained eerily still in the air. Schon and Vardia too sat with interest in their eyes, as Akaj leaned against the wall. Fulcher clutched his fist and lowered his voice dramatically.

“-And then, he looked at him and said, ‘No, I am your father,’” Fulcher rasped.

“WHAT?” Boya said, rising to his feet. “No way, nah! You’re tellin’ me his master lied to him all this time!” Fulcher grinned and put a finger to his lips.

“I can’t say! That’s a bit later on in the story…” he said. Boya shook his head and waved his arms around.

“Nah nah I gotta sit on this. That one was deep! The story of father and son, AH! Fine. Imma let you in here, but you gotta promise me you’ll come back and tell me more of this… space fight or whatever you called it,” he said, pushing a wide door open deeper into the room.

“Yeah,” Schon said, a hint of skepticism hidden behind her smile. “You’ll need to tell us a lot more.” Fulcher cleared his throat awkwardly and started walking towards the door.

“So, uh… what should I look for?” he asked.

“Oh trust me, I got just the right thing for ya. You said Dilyniant, right? That traitor. I know what you need,” Boya said. He grabbed a torch from the wall and entered into the deeper room. This was clearly the rest of the building, completely hollowed out to allow towering bookshelves across the floor and walls. Torches lit the floor ahead, but the darkness above implied the shelves spread up to the very ceiling of the building. Their footsteps echoed as they walked, with Fulcher finally dragging his eyes back down to the troll.

Looks different from the trolls that I know. He thought. Seems really smart, for one. And he sounds a lot like he’s from…

“What? Yeah sure pal, whatever rocks your stone. Ehem. AY! Ay I’m walkin’ ‘eeeere!” Boya shouted into the abyss. Fulcher clutched at his stomach and laughed, catching the concerned expression of nearly the entire entourage.

“Are you okay, Sir?” Vardia asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. Ignore me, just… remembering something,” Fulcher wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Eh, you Invaders have always been a bit strange,” Boya said. He hooked the torch he carried into the end of a bookshelf, where it would not damage any tomes. “But, we’re here! This is some of the last tomes we received from Dilyniant’s kingdom.” The troll grabbed the last book on the bottom shelf and pulled it out, handing it to Fulcher.

“That right there, that’s the book you’re gonna need to take out your dad. Or, well, you know what I mean.” Boya said. Fulcher peered at the book and opened the cover, inspecting the first couple of pages. Each one held an image lined in gold leaf, each page dedicated to a king or queen of the kingdom. It was a history of the royal family, and Fulcher began to recognize some of the images as matching the tapestries he saw when he first entered the castle.

“What, a book of the royal family? How will this help?” Fulcher asked.

“Oh you’ll need it. Dilyniant’s got all the nobles under his fist. Each one will remain loyal out of fear they’ll be wiped off the map. That, and the fact he’s practically got two armies already between his standard military and scouting legion. But, there’s a secret in here that’ll uproot support for him, and turn the nobles against him,” Boya explained. He reached up and flipped the pages of the book to another king, the grandfather of Dilyniant. Fulcher peered at the page and read the history of the king’s life.

“Born as a minor lord, he raised a rebel army and… stole the throne?” Fulcher asked as he read.

“Oyeah. Big civil war, was a whole thing. Chopped all the royals’ heads off and stuff. Nasty business,” Boya said. He flipped to the final page, the page for Dilyniant. “Now read.” Fulcher’s eyes scanned the page before landing on the paragraph about Dilyniant’s wife and Queen.

“He married a distant cousin of the old royals? Wait, so Stella and I have royal blood?” Fulcher asked. Boya nodded.

“Oyeah. You’ve the blood of both the rebel kings and the true monarch. And that’s powerful. Dilyniant was scared that the nobles would rally behind you and your sister once the Queen passed away. He worked to undermine the truth of his family, burning tomes and killing those who spoke out against him,” Boya said, taking the book back. “He waged a war of misinformation and lies, wiped out his Scribes, and turned the world against the truth. Claimed it was the lies of the Gods and whatnot.” Fulcher turned to see the wide and shocked expressions of Schon and Vardia.

“So, I’m the rightful King?” Fulcher asked.

“Oyeah,” the troll said, slipping the book back onto the shelf. “But this is all you get! Story for story, and I still need to chew on yours before I’m ready for more. Shoo.” The troll pushed Fulcher’s leg harmlessly, trying to get him to move. Humoring him, Fulcher shifted towards the exit again.

“What, already? But there’s so much knowledge here,” Fulcher asked.

“Heard THAT one before. Come on, you can always come back later,” Boya said. Though he paused as the light of the torch flickered over Fulcher's hand.

“Wait, is that a ringcaster?” he asked.

“Yeah, it is. It’s stuck to my hand for some reason,” Fulcher explained. The troll seemed to pause, glancing at Anna who met him with an expressionless stare.

“Ergh, come on. I’ve got something for you then,” Boya said. “Follow me…”