The God's Game

Serpant Sigil

A month flew by.

The life in Castle of Calamis was peaceful.

Einar had taken River to meet Kaizer after their tour to the armory and informed  that he had taken him as a deciple.

Kaizer had nodded solemnly. After Einar left the room ,saying that he had  overexerted himself for the day, the West King approached him and  rested a cold hand on his shoulder.

"Be diligent and dont dissapoint him"

He had then stormed out the door like a human blizzard.

Is that that an encouragement or a threat?

Since then he would wake up everyday at dawn , when the giant bell in Calamis clock tower chimed five times. River would bathe  , dress and then walk straight to the armory where he spent the rest of the morning before breakfast ,polishing and shining the blades or tidying up the workroom.

Before breakfast he would go to check on Einar. Somedays he would be up and bright, saying he was hungry enough to swallow  a whole cow alive while others River would find him crouched over a pail, throwing his guts up.

He was not the only person. Kaizer Schulz started everyday after making sure Einar is up. So River would run in to his miserable looking face every morning.

Kaizer would still be in his night gown and messy bed hair as he stop at Einar's chamber and peek inside. If Einar is up and ok he would mutter few words of greetings and walk away. If it is one of Einar's sick days he would leave silently. He would wake up Wolfram on his way and send him down the hall to check on Einer.

One particular morning River found him standing before Einer 's closed doors. Usually ,Einar would open his doors the first thing after he wakes up.

When River aporoached, Kaizer looked up ,his face paler than usual , eyes wide .

"It's still locked " he had said,sounding like a very scared,helpless child .

River had softly knocked on the doors and few minutes later a very grumpy Einar opened them. It so happened that he had slept in a couple minutes.

After breakfast the master -deciple pair would retreat in to the armory and dissapear for rest of the day.

River helped Einar draw his blue prints when his hands got shaky. He moved heavy things around because Einar could not. Einar would guide him and River quickly got hang of things.

Einar Ashford,in short ,was a sweet heart. He was kind and never lost his temper. If River could not understand something ,he would repeatedly explain it to him until he got it. He was full of warm smiles even on his most ill days.

Sir, how did you became friends with Lord Schulz ,who look like even air offends him?

Einar was full of stories. He had been the first general of Schulz armies before he had to retire early due to his poor health. He talked fondly of his soldiers and the time they spend together at North- West camps. He would talk a lot about Wolfram and Emby, stories from their childhoods. But he never mentioned his best friend, the West king.

River would accompany Einar for afternoon tea and Wolfram would join them. Somedays Emby would join his uncles too.

River could hardly believe how someone like Kaizer sired a child like Emby. Emby was very polite and well behaved for a kid his age. The child  was full of toothless gummy grins and adorable babbles.

Even after a spending month with the Western royal family River could not find out what illness Einar Ashford suffered from. Everyone ,including Einer himself , avoided the topic like the plague. River felt it was out of line to ask.