Arnos, Goderic, and Kara Whilton

 

Arnos, Goderic, and Kara Whilton

 

"Come on you great lug! Let us show Kara our day's good fortune!" Arnos said laughing as he motioned to his brother, who grinned broadly in response and nodded as they continued up the trail. Even as massive as he was, Goderic's sturdy shoulders struggled under the weight of the sixteen fine trout on a line that he was toting on his back.

Fresh fish tonight, and for many nights to come, it would seem. Fortune smiled, and the tiny family of Arnos Whilton would eat well indeed. The crops had been harvested on their modest farm of thirty acres, and they had been bountiful. That, coupled with the day's catch....oh yes, there was cause to celebrate!

"I can still scarcely believe that our Lady Ahnwick has pledged to hear our case personally....with a stroke of luck like that, mayhaps this year, we'll not have to give up half the harvest to those damnable Barringtons!"

It was true....for some five years now, the unfortunate family of Arnos Whilton had suffered through more than their share of misfortunes, beginning with the untimely death of the brothers' beloved father.

With his passing, Arnos, as the eldest son, was placed at the head of the family, and took on the mantle of responsibility for his younger, somewhat simple-minded brother.

Oh, Goderic was intelligent enough, in his way, and no man could wish for a finer, more reliable brother, but in many ways, he struggled. Never learned to read or write, nor had any real interest in scholarly studies of any kind, but he was strapping and strong, and could tell you more about crops, planting, and harvesting than most men twice his age, anywhere in the Basin.

As the new head of the family, Arnos, who had recently begun working in the Temple Compound, where he spent the greater bulk of his day shut away from the world, surrounded only by Holy Books that he painstakingly scribed by hand in order to spread the word, used his scant connections to land his sturdy and reliable brother a posting as a Temple Guard, and for his part, Goderic served well and faithfully.

The family thought it a great boon when Goderic was assigned the honored position of guarding a group of young aristocrats (a group of eight boys, ranging in ages between twelve and sixteen), when they arrived in High Summer to tour the historic sites on the Temple Estate.

As it was, however, this represented a deepening of the troubles for the small family, and Arnos' brow furrowed with frustration as it flitted across his mind.

Young Lucas Barrington had been among the group that Goderic was given charge over, and they turned out to be unruly bunch indeed. Shortly after a picnic luncheon at the bank of Lake Sparling, they decided en masse to enjoy a swim, and what was Goderic to do? There were eight young charges in all, and all were of high station. It wasn't as though he could have pulled them roughly to the shore by the hair and make them mind him, so he let them do as they wished.

At some point during their frolic in the lake, Lucas let out a single, alarmed cry, and then was gone.

No warning, no signs of a struggle...nothing.

One minute, laughing and frolicking with the other boys, and the next....gone.

Needless to say, his sudden absence caused a general panic, and the rest of the young nobles made haste out of the water, while Goderic frantically shed his armor and made his way in.

After more than an hour searching, they gave up, and Goderic brought the boys back to the Temple Grounds.

Lord Barrington, furious and distraught, demanded Goderic's head, and it took every connection Arnos could muster to stave the powerful Lord off.

In the end, the Whilton family had won the battle, but lost the war, or at least that's how it seemed to Arnos at times.

A brief investigation was conducted, and for his negligence, Goderic's family was stripped of half their land, forced to pay a hefty fine, forced to indenture themselves to the Barringtons for a period of not less than seven years, and Goderic lost his tongue for his insolence at the brief hearing on the matter.

Thus, for the last five years, Arnos and his family had been all but the slaves of the powerful Barringtons.

Now though, it was possible that their time of hardship would end, for it was widely known that the Lady Castillar was as good hearted a woman as they came. If anyone would hear their cry, it was surely she.

Brimming with an optimism that he had not felt in years, Arnos led his brother home, where young Kara was waiting.

Kara.

Another bit of joy in the otherwise bleak landscape that had been their lives for these many years.

His beloved wife Kara had died giving life to their daughter, and so when she was born, he saw to it that she got the same name as her mother before her, and now, at the age of seven, she was already turning into the same sort of young lady that her mother had been.

Cascades of flaming red tresses that were unmistakable at any distance. Slight nose and chin, lightly kissed with freckles. Pretty blue eyes. Curious-minded, too, although oddly shy around anyone she didn’t already know, she expanded her already keen intellect by talking and questioning constantly. Sometimes Arnos fielded two hundred questions a day, and his daughter hadn’t yet stopped surprising him with the width and breadth of topics her questions might cover.

It was wonderfully exhausting, and he beamed the rest of the way home, just thinking about her.

The three of them had just sat down for their evening meal together when the knock came at the door of their humble cottage on the outskirts of the Church Estates. Arnos rose to get it, leaving the others to their meal.

"Ahh, Milo! Won't you come join us?"

"Thank ye kinly sir, but I cannot...I've just come to fetch ye fer the Inquisitor...says he has some important unfinished business with ye."

Arnos' heart sank. He had hoped to have done with the demands of the Church for the rest of the day and spend some time with his family. "Did he make it a point to say that it had to be attended to today?" He asked, hopefully. Even though this was only the second time in his career that he'd had any dealings with a member of the Clergy who was outside the Tower of Records, he knew enough to know this was likely not the case. The Inquisitor was an important man, and he would want whatever it was he wanted, as quickly as he could get it.

"Beggin' yer pardon sir, but I'm sure I don' know. But the quisitor ain't one to be kept a waitin' if ye get me?"

Arnos got him very well, and shuddered at the thought of the repulsive man in Inquisitor’s Robes.

Liam made his skin crawl, but what to do? He was far too powerful to ignore.

Duty called, and Arnos sighed heavily, knowing all too well what it was about. "Very well." He said at last. "I thank you for relaying the message to me."

Milo nodded curtly and departed, no doubt, on some other errand for the Inquisitor.

A deep sigh, and he turned to his family. "I...I have to go back to the compound for a time."

Goderic's eyes narrowed in disapproval, and Arnos held up his hands. "I know...I know, but what can I do? The Inquisitor wants to see me, and who am I to delay the man...I'll just go and make it as quick as I can." He donned his riding cloak and gathered up a few scrolls and things, stuffing them into a leather saddle bag. "Just wants to go over my translation of the writings of Tash Rennken, I'm sure. I'll get all this back to him and hopefully be back in time to give my favorite girl a bedtime story, how would that be?!" He kissed her on the nose and she giggled, nodding her head.

Goderic shook his head slowly, a troubled look on his face.

"I don't like him any more than you, brother, but again...what choice?" He held a breath briefly and then blew it out all at once. "I'll make it as quick as I can...that, I promise you.”

And with that, he headed for the door.

He was so intent on his mission and his destination that he did not notice Goderic rise from the table and prepare to depart as well.