The Tales of Miriela: Shadowborn

Chapter 4: Kline Wullmont

The stain of Kadrin Redford's blood lingered on the fringes of his cloak. Kline and his bannermen had nearly returned to the walls of Ferenor. The grey stone of the Southern Gate began to crawl up over the horizon. The gate entered into the Common District of Ferenor. It was one of three districts which comprised the city, the Westbottoms and the Noble District being the other two.

Kline continued to think of the words Thomas Siln had shared with him the night before. He had informed Kline of Kadrin Redford's failures as an Overseer, but he also spoke a boy with dark hair and a jagged nose. Lord Siln believed that the boy had been found. But Kline had given up on finding the child of darkness years ago.

When the Grounds first started, as training grounds, he was hopeful. But after years of learning to fight, none of the boys showed any promise of being the child who was prophesied. And so Kline turned the Grounds into a slave camp, producing raw goods and weapons. If there ever was such a child, he must have died long ago, somewhere outside of Ferenor.

Yet the thought of the Shadowborn still ate at his mind, a continuous thought which would not relent. It was an answer to his greatest angst, a way to secure his grasp upon his throne. There was another who had also been waiting like the King, Giddeyal Ayson. They hadn't spoken of the Shadowborn in years, since the King had decided it was all nothing more than legend. One that he was ashamed he had once foolishly believed as truth. But the Eastern army was again approaching, and Kline was desperate to protect what was his.

As he sat upon his horse, returning from the Grounds, Kline simply could not keep himself from hoping that the boy Lord Siln spoke of could be the one he'd searched for. The King and his bannermen followed the road through the Southern Gate, and continued North through the Common District of Ferenor. They continued North even further, until they reached the Noble District, where the bannermen went West for the Royal Estate.

But Kline had other matters to attend to, for his thoughts pulled him East. He left his bannermen and made his way to see Giddeyal Ayson, who resided just outside of Ferenor's walls at the Tasilmire Vineyard. It was the land Kline had granted him, in return for the loyalty he showed in alerting the king of the Magee's betrayal.

The king went East, until he arrived at Tasilmire, and entered the vineyard's small wooden house. The old Magee priest sat near a collection of scrolls, all of them stacked neatly on a shelf that stretched to the ceiling. "Giddeyal," King Wullmont said.

"Your Grace, It's great to see you. It's been years. Entering without a knock still, some habits never change I suppose. What brings you to Tasilmire of all places?" Giddeyal said smiling. Giddeyal was tall in stature, a thin man. His arms reached nearly to his knees, and his hands were twice the size of a normal man's. He had a young face but grey hair sat atop his head. He loved to read and discuss the thoughts of men, something Kline admired about him. None other than the king knew of his past as a Magee priest. To the others in Ferenor, Giddeyal Ayson was a foreigner whose wine was among the most delicious in the West of Miriela.

The vineyard sat in the fields of Tasilmire, flat lands that stretched from Ferenor all the way to the Valendale Mountains. Peasants from the Westbottoms worked the fields of his vineyards, producing its wine. The vineyard was near the Old Road, which ran to the North, where it crossed the Northern Pass of the mountains and into the East of Miriela. The Northern Pass was a break in the Valendale Mountains near the coast of Skull Bay, the waters to the North of Miriela. It was the safest passage East, as it did not require travel through the Valendale Mountains themselves.

Caravans often used the road to carry export from Ferenor to Highland, Oaksguard, or Cranst. As the caravans passed by, they stopped for Giddeyal's wine. It too was exported all through The Realm, and had made Giddeyal a very wealthy man.