The Chronicles Of The Council #1: The Sun's Tears

Chapter 24: Aebbé - Threat

"The coward only threatens when he is safe." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My life lulls into a comfortable routine for a few days. I wake up before sunrise, join Prince Eoghan for training, rush back to the castle to freshen up, hurry to the hospital and then join dinner in the main hall. At the end of the week, I am exhausted, and luckily I'm spared overtime work as the Darkelanders seem to pause their assault.

I am quite surprised when I arrive in time for dinner one night and notice that both lord Caith and prince Eoghan are absent. My brothers do not seem surprised by this and ignore me whenever I try to fish for information.

The next morning my curiosity grows even more when I arrive at the Second Order's practice field and do not find either Lord Caith or Prince Eoghan. I make my way to Walter's tent, but there is no answer, and after a while, I feel retarded for speaking to the tent.

I return to the castle and decide to find my nephew before I'll join Ria in my hall. It is my turn to host the cackle today.

It takes me a few minutes to navigate the servants' quarters before I arrive at Aelfraed's room. He doesn't answer after a few knocks on the door. An errand boy informs me that Aelfraed only ever is in one of three places: his room, his guard post, or the kitchen. Having no idea where he might be posted at the moment, I try my luck and make it to the kitchen.

The kitchen is a bustle of pots and knives and vegetables. At first, nobody notices me, but an old lady chopping carrots points me toward Aelfraed after I caught her attention when ramming against her wooden table causing her to narrowly miss adding the tip of her finger to the menu.

I study Aelfraed for a moment before approaching him. He is seated on a wooden table in the corner of the kitchen, picking at a bread roll without appetite. His head is hanging low, and he looks defeated – something my bubbly nephew has probably never experienced before. His shoulders are slumped. He looks up when he hears me approaching and I am shocked to see the circles under his eyes.

In a moment he jumps down from the table and stands straight, but the picture of a moment ago is etched into my being.

"Aebbé! What a wonderful surprise! I haven't seen you in years!"

I smile half-heartedly: "Now you are lying - that was the previous time. I saw you days ago."

"You sent me half an apple saying it looks like my face! I have never been insulted like that! Not even that day my father chose to rather give my prize to that brat of a butcher's boy, publicly declaring that I cheated!"

"When did you start spinning the truth so much? Nothing could ever come close to your hurt that day," I say with a feigned frown.

Years before my father decided to host a wrestling competition for the boys in Raven's Peak. The tournament lasted days, and one by one the boys were defeated, until scrawny Aelfread and a block of meat twice his size remained. The other boy kept cheating and almost beat Aelfread when he tossed some sand into his eyes. With great skill, Aelfraed managed to turn the situation to his favour and against all odds he managed to get and keep the other boy in a winning grip. The crowd cheered as Aelfraed was their favourite since the beginning. When the time to announce the winners came, my brother – Aelfraed's father – declared that Aelfraed only won because he threw sand into the other boy's eyes. A hush fell on the crowd as he handed the winning prize to the other boy. Afterwards, Aelfraed and I cried in his small room in the servants' quarters, swearing we would never be as unjust as Friduric.

"This court has turned me into someone spinning the truth for his own gain. You don't get to climb the ladder of success if you don't," Aelfraed says with a dark look.