Waves and Weaver

The waves calmed, and Aurelio controlled the maelstrom beneath his feet. The torrent pushed him up into the bright sky and launched him onto his Goldspear, with the sun behind him. He eclipsed the light and looked almost godly, holding one of the three blades of kings. Arian quickly snapped out of the shock and angrily stomped to the front.

“It chose you?!” He asked sharply, clearly beyond furious.

“It chooses the true heir. Are you really surprised you lost?” Aurelio replied, mocking his brother, who began to boil over. He leapt from the shallow waters below and onto the Goldspear, pulled a short blade from his sleeve and rushed to Aurelio. But the blade was blocked and sent across the deck. Reina stood between the two, holding her Ezoan blade against Arian’s throat.

“Get out of my way, girl. I don’t hold back anymore.” He growled. But she kept her blade steady, facing him with unyielding force. Oswyn appeared then, stepping between the Skye and the Penrose and examining the scene. He was impressed with the daughter of Blackrose; she exceeded her reputation. The white cloak with silver swords cut into it was not just for show. By now, she had sheathed the curious sword and bowed to the chancellor before returning to the side of the grinning prince and new holder of the wave cutter. He examined it in all its glory, the blue-green hue and its glass-like blade. Its strange shape and the fact that it still had strands of water surrounding it, no doubt a countermeasure for Arian’s sudden attack. The old man grinned from ear to ear.

“The sword of the waves, finally we have it…” but as he reached out for it unconsciously, Aurelio pulled away.

“I have it. I’ve played your little game and won like I said I would. And when I win the next two blades, I hope you do not forget my promise to lock you away, Oswyn.”

The chancellor backed away quickly, and Aurelio examined his new sword while he overheard the ruckus below. Oswyn could see the anger on Arian’s face as clear as sunlight. Robin was definitely disheartened, but it was apparent he had expected as much. Coryn was sulking on Okul’s shoulder.

“Thus, the first of your trials is over. I would ask that you return to your ships and ready yourself-”

“What was your answer?” Robin blurted out, interrupting Oswyn. Each turned to the winner while he thumbed at the glass edge. No response was given, and Robin pressed further. “What makes a King?”

Aurelio was silent for a moment still. But soon enough, he faced his brothers. “Greed.” was his answer. It was the exact opposite of Robin’s, and he couldn’t understand. Clearly, it was written all over his face, and Aurelio basked in his confusion. Alas, he decided to elaborate further. “A King must want. He must look across the waters and desire everything he sees. Gold, land, blood, it matters not; a king must desire. And when he does, he can lead his people through fire and brimstone to reach it. When he does, his people see his great riches and aspire to be more than what they are so that when they finally make themselves useful, they too can have what they desire.”

But Robin completely disagreed. He stepped further towards the Goldspear despite Kamau holding him back. “That’s not a quality. Because of greedy kings, thousands suffer. Your father was greedy; he happily enjoyed his luxuries while the slums called for his help, and he did nothing. No, a real King sees the real value of his people and fights to protect them to the bitter end. He gives his all to make his kingdom a safer place!”

“Real value?!” Aurelio showed his first genuine smile and cackled. “What real value? They steal and kill and rape, and you think they’re worth more than the shit on the street?!”

“They’ve been abandoned!” Robin screamed, silencing all but himself and Aurelio. Tara’s grip tightened around the bannister of the Sparrowhawk as she watched, and Kamau became more hesitant to stop him. Arian was like his elder brother, and Oswyn held his usual high-born “better than thou” stare. Coryn was different; his typical happy-go-lucky attitude was gone in favour of brooding, listening to the words Robin had to say.

“When we starved, you held feasts in your golden tower. When war broke out, you sent our men, watching as our fathers, brothers, and sons were slaughtered for nothing…” He could feel his eyes wetten and the pain in his chest, his voice wavering. “When Frostheart hit our streets, you blocked us off and ignored our pleas, burning our dead before we had the chance to say goodbye.” Memories of his mother filled his mind, her cold hands and the light leaving her eyes. And then the cleansing fire… leaving her as only history and ash. He wiped away the tears with his sleeve. “If your father did his job, soldiers would patrol our streets and bring law. Instead, he left us with the murderers, the thieves, and the rapers…”. He paused for a moment, and all the pain, all the hate he felt balled up. His words caught in flame as he spoke. “He let them bring chaos because he knew that if we gathered together, we’d have his fat head on a spike!”

As he said it, royal guards, including Brakkan Redblade and Reina Penrose had their swords at his throat. Arian was held back by Kamau, but even he was overrun. Aurelio too, got close to Robin and held out Azura, with rage in his eyes.

“What an honourable king you would make, peasant. You would make yourself a martyr for their sake, and they would love you for a while. And then, when their pockets are empty, they’ll return to crime and copulating like rabbit. If you want to save people, think of it like a poison. Cut off the bad and save the good.”

The two false brothers faced, lightning clashing between them and so many swords in between they looked like one conjoined steel circle. And they stood in place for what felt like forever, waiting for one wrong move to lead to a fountain of blood.

“Enough!” Oswyn commanded, cutting through the tension. “The first trial is complete. All of you will return to your ships and stay there until you are told otherwise!”

“My men move as I command” Aurelio growled.

“And their Prince will move them, as commanded!” Oswyn stared down at him from the Kaminos menacingly. “I told you that until you hold all three swords, you follow me. Unfortunately for you, you seem to be missing two.”

Aurelio’s face contorted with pure rage, but he could not disobey; he knew it would not be worth it. So, he reluctantly sheathed his water sword and stormed back to his gallion. “Reina!” He called, and she followed, along with the knights that were loyal to him.

Each of them watched as he went. Soon after Arian ordered Redblade away, the two snuck off into the darkness. Kamau immediately rushed over to Robin to check on him. Tara collapsed on the deck, with a few of the ship hands making sure she was well, only to find bleeding fingers and cuts in the wooden rail the size of fingernails. Coryn hadn’t moved from the wooden dock post he had hoisted himself upon, and Oswyn angrily stomped back to his quarters once he had verified everyone was safe.

Robin was exhausted, pissed off and completely devoid of all hope. Dejected, he dragged his feet while Kamau escorted him back to the Sparrow for the end of the first of three.

*-*-*

Oswyn had each of the heir’s closest guards sent to his chambers at midday and ordered a complete lockdown of the ships, no one on, no one off. Robin cooled his head by the bow, watching the waves below the Sparrowhawk swaying in the moonlight. Kamau had sent out a few of the ship hands to the Kaminos for food before the lockdown was put in effect, and that evening, they sat by the fire with roasted crab and red grain. Robin ate beside Tara, silent and sombre.

Kamau and Captain Boros had duties in the engine room, and the sun had begun to set. It left Robin and Tara by the fire pit, along with a few stragglers, though they soon grew tired and wandered back to their quarters.

Robin was quiet, sullen and aggravated, and Tara wanted to cheer him up but didn’t know how. She gave it thought, pictured different ways she could take his mind off it, but… there wasn’t much she could do now. “They’ve been abandoned” she heard again; it reminded her of home. Of the dirt streets that felt otherworldly to the islands they sat beside now. She worried, thinking about the friends she and Robin had left behind, were they okay? Truth be told that first night aboard the Sparrow she dreamt the worst, dreamt of a darkness enveloping them, forever stealing away their light.

She woke with cold sweat on her skin and the taste of blood. Then again, she had felt that way before, many years ago. The days she weaved her way through the narrow, dirt-filled corridors to the sounds of a groaning mother and a yelling, drunken father. The day she heard screaming, then silence. The day she walked past a backstreet to see her father in the dress of a royal girl. She remembered the rope around his neck when the girl’s father caught him. Blood pumped from his crotch, she only realised as she got older that before the hanging, they’d castrated him.

All of it was life; it was normality to her. She felt empty when she saw her mother’s corpse being dragged out of their house with blood flies crawling from her mouth and wound. When her father’s carcass was cut from the rope and burned, she enjoyed the warmth. The only pleasure in life back then was the world in her mind. She would walk blood-covered roads, but in her mind she was exploring a lost city, sneaking past ancient stone guards and uncovering treasures.

But then, she met her “brother”, met Robin and her other friends. And they taught her how to smile, how to laugh. They brought her back to life; she treasured them all. But now it was Robin in that darkness, consumed by fear and duty and emptiness… she hated seeing him go through it, so she breathed in slowly, thought of the wonders that she wished to seek out, and… “There’s a land far to the east…” Robin lifted his head. She continued. “said to have been formed by old magics. It is in the shape of honeycomb. Each outer layer is home to a noble family, all surrounding the grand palace in the centre… the home of the Elven King Ka’ruil.”

“Wasn’t he King during the Gold and Red?” He asked. “Pretty sure he’d be dead by now.”

“No no!” She shouted. “They live for thousands of years! When they started the Gold and Red, he was just a prince, like you. When the then King was killed by a tree god’s wooden arrow, Ka’ruil picked up his father’s sword, saved the Hero of Rowe from the same fate, and cut her head clean off!”

“That’s… appealing…”

“When the fighting was done, he took his father’s crown and held the hero of Rowe as a brother. He took his people across the great sea and formed his kingdom.”

“To the land of Aethir.” A voice spoke in the darkness. Robin’s heart dropped to his stomach, and he quickly stood between Tara and where the voice came from. The crew were all downstairs, and Kamau hadn’t returned yet. No one should have been there…

The flame flickered in the wind, and the light followed, illuminating a young Prince sitting against the wall on top of a crate. Not the dangerous Arian or the wielder of Azura… but the hyperactive Coryn.

Oswyn’s exact instructions were to stay aboard their ships until his order. Coryn struck Robin as the type to ignore orders if they stopped him from having fun; he’d done it before. But, this felt different; there was more motive to his appearance on the Sparrowhawk than just fun. He latched onto one of the leftover plates and shovelled it into his mouth, barely chewing before swallowing like a starved dog. Robin and Tara backed away while keeping their eyes on him.

“You weren’t eating this, were you?” He asked with half of it hanging from his mouth. Robin shook his head, and Tara almost puked just seeing it. “Anyways, this King, Ka’ruil. His father was Galathor the Glaive. A warrior known for his unbreakable will and strong arm, yet he cowered from our ancestor.” He looked over, expecting some surprise or intrigue, but was confused that no such response was given. “What?” he asked.

“You’re supposed to be on your own ship, Coryn. What are you doing here?” Robin asked cautiously. The intruder looked back at his own ship, with Okul at the entrance to his quarters and the window wide open.

“Oh, that!” he turned back to them with his fist playfully hitting the palm of his other hand. “I got bored.”

Robin was expecting trouble, for Coryn to either try and get in close so he could whisper poison or flash steel. He felt a little silly as his guard completely dropped. “Bored?”

“There’s not much for me to do on the ship, y’know. Oswyn’s such a killjoy, Aurelio and Arian too. I figured I’d drop by to see if you wanted to play. But then I heard you talking about elves and the Gold and Red, and I couldn’t resist!”

A gutter rat is the lowest on the food chain. If a pureblood decides to play games with one and throw them away when they are done, who is there to care? A story as old as time in the Reaver’s was the tale of Ellarie. She had a sick mother and wanted to buy her medicine, so she did everything possible to earn money. Then, a band of nobles spoke honeyed words, promising they could get her the medicine she needed and more. Being a young, naive girl, she believed them. Three days later, she was found in a ditch with stab wounds and missing limbs.

Robin’s mother, like all mothers in the slums, taught their children to be cautious and to read between the lines. So when Coryn spoke, it was clear that he wasn’t lying… he was just hiding something.

“Why are you really here, Coryn?” Tara asked, and Coryn doubled back.

He tried to keep up the charade but knew from the suspicious look that the game was over. He sighed with a smile on his face. “Relax. I’m not here with ill will. I have a request.”

“A request?” Robin responded cautiously.

“Azura now belongs to Aurelio, someone who was a master swordsman even before he got a legendary blade. And Arian has our father’s muscle; he could fight an army bare fist and still walk away smiling. Everyone knows how far you and I are from them.”

“What’s your point?”

“If Arian wins the next blade, we’ll be even more disadvantaged than we already were. And if Aurelio wins…”

He’ll be unstoppable… Robin thought.

“Aurelio has the skill, Arian has the strength, and I like to think I have the brains. Which is why I’ve come to you, the wildcard. The runt of the litter.”

Robin kept up his guard as he tiptoed a little further away. “To kill me? To threaten me? What? What do you want, Coryn?”

“I want a truce.” Coryn answered sharply. “Instead of fighting over the scraps at their boots, we work together to reach the goal. If and when we get there, whoever reaches it first takes it.” Coryn had finished up the crab legs and wiped clean the juices as he spoke, obviously seeing Robin as no threat. He assumed the peasant prince would jump at the chance, but…

“If you get there first, what’s stopping you from taking the last trial for yourself?” Tara questioned. With only two remaining trials, it made sense for both Coryn and Robin to take a trial each. But it wasn’t that simple, and the goal of these trials was never to return with just one blade. They needed all three, and Coryn could easily double-cross Robin at the last to hold the remaining two swords. His two against Aurelio’s one, even if he was a master swordsman; if Stormcaller and Glimmer were as strong as Azura, it’d be an easy win. Coryn smirked as he heard her suspicion and reached out a hand.

“Then I’ll let you take the next one, sound fair? I’ll take Glimmer, and we can figure out the final steps after that.”

But, even still, Robin and Tara held cautions. “What makes you think I won’t just turn on you?” He asked. And Coryn simply smiled back, stood, and stepped closer to them.

His face was blanketed by the shadows, and his happy demeanour changed to that of a wild beast on the hunt. “Will you?”

Robin could only shake his head, showing he had no ill will. And as quickly as Coryn changed, he was back to smiling and laughing. “Good.” He cheerfully responded, tapping them both on the shoulder as he skipped off the Sparrowhawk. “The second trial is two days from now. I look forward to working with you!”

He left joyfully, returning to his vessel to sneak past Okul the Colossus, leaving Robin and Tara fearing what lay in store in the second trial.

They didn’t have to wait long, and once the two days fell, The Cloud Splitter mountain welcomed the heirs with thunder and fury.