FIFTEEN - Silvan

Silvan continues with his plan.

Everyone was gathered at the front of the city.  Xanthus stood atop the wall over the main gate.  Thaddeus and Willoughby stood on either side of him, while Silvan was relegated a few more places down.  The entirety of the King’s Guard was in attendance.  Silvan looked out over the wall into the Outskirts, where a massive crowd had gathered to hear what the King had to say.  Many of them were shouting obscenities, but he showed no signs of letting it get to him.

I hope they take this well.  And those who view it favorably will undoubtedly give me the credit for convincing him.

Xanthus waved the crowd down, signaling for them to be quiet so he could begin.  It took a few minutes, but eventually everyone was silent.  There’s nothing quite like the quiet before an announcement.

“I know that things have been difficult for all of you,” Xanthus began.  “We’re running out of food.  Many of you are starving.  You have families to feed and there just isn’t enough to go around.  I know a lot of you have lost friends and family members, and I can’t express enough how sorry I am.”  He almost sounds like he means that.  Silvan couldn’t tell if the people were buying it, but they were listening intently to every word.  “I can also say that we’re nearly out of supplies.  We’re running low on oil, we’re almost out of firewood, and steel reserves are completely depleted.  We’re in a very hard spot right now.  You’re scared, I can understand that.  I’m scared too.  Some of your neighbors have taken the crisis as an opportunity to act out, and that’s led directly to an increase in Exiling Ceremonies.  Today marks the first time that has happened since before I was King.  I’m sure that fact doesn’t escape you.”

I wonder how much they’re judging you right now.  All of this is your fault, and you haven’t admitted that once.  You’re talking in circles, like this whole thing just happened to us, and you had nothing to do with it.  But it looked like the people on both sides of the wall were lapping up every word.  Unbelievable.

“Many of you are saying that this is my fault.  That you’d all be better off without me.  We aren’t here to point fingers, we’re here to solve the problem.  And I promise you, I am going to fix this.  Today will go down in our history as the beginning of a new age.  The Day of Two Exiles, they’ll call it, and we will talk proudly of the day that Xantom was saved.”  He paused, perhaps waiting for a response, but was met with only a few people clapping quietly on the city side of the wall.  Not missing a beat, he cleared his throat and continued.

“Tomorrow, I will be leading the Hunt.  I’m not going to sit back and do nothing, hoping that the hunters bring back enough food.  I’m going to lead the charge into the Barelands, and together, the hunters and I will search for a new source of food and supplies.  We will not return until I am confident that we can last another hundred years and live prosperously.  Never again will we have to worry about whether our children will have enough food on the table.  Never again will we have to worry about whether our community can even survive another day.  And never again will we have to watch our friends die because there wasn’t enough to go around.  Because tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of our lives!”

There was applause, but probably not as much as Xanthus had hoped for.  What little applause there had been quickly died away and only silence remained.  Xanthus signaled to the King’s Guard to follow him and they formed a circle around him, leading him down the stairs and up through the city streets toward the castle.  The tension was unmistakable.  He thought that would go over better.  It was a decent speech, I’ll give him that.  But empty promises will only feed the people for so long.  You have to show them results.

When they reached the steps that led up to the front door of the castle, Xanthus stopped.  The Xantomians had returned to their homes or were still talking at the front of the city.  He was alone with his Guard.

“They don’t believe in me,” Xanthus said.

“That’s to be expected,” Willoughby said.  “You can’t expect them to turn around on you immediately.  These things take time.  But as soon as you come back with a solution to our problems, they’ll worship you.”

Xanthus gave a tiny nod.  “Thaddeus, Willougbhy, follow me inside.  Silvan, make sure you signal the curfew.  After that, you’re released from duty until tomorrow.”  Now, the castle would be guarded by a few of the guards from the wall.  Not much happened during curfew and the King’s Guard weren’t necessary.

Thaddeus and Willoughby followed Xanthus inside, and Silvan made his way up to the tower for the fifth time today to signal the start of curfew.  After the single drumbeat rang out, Silvan made his way back downstairs and headed home.  The city would go to sleep now.  Tomorrow was going to be a big day for everyone.

Silvan walked slowly through the streets.  I still have to talk to Esmarine about what happened with Zultan earlier.  I hope she broke one of his balls.  That man won’t rest until I’m removed from the King’s Guard… which may be sooner than I think, if Xanthus returns from the Hunt as a failure.  There’s almost no chance he’s going to succeed.  And when he fails, the city will call for a new leader.  Right now that will be Thaddeus.  As Head of the King’s Guard, the people will turn to him.  When that happens, Zultan will convince him to Exile me, or at the very least strip me of my position and return me to the Outskirts.  I’ll never let that happen.  I’ll die first.

Silvan never understood how Thaddeus had been made to be Head of the King’s Guard.  He’s as corrupt as they come.  There’s no way to know what he’s thinking.  He’s never around when you need him and he always seems like he’s plotting something.  Of course, Silvan had no power to convince Xanthus to replace the Head of his Guard.  Thaddeus had already held that title when Silvan had been promoted, so he had no way of knowing the chain of events that led to Thaddeus being given the position of power.

Maybe if the circumstances surrounding my promotion had been different, they wouldn’t distrust me so much.  But I can’t help where I came from.  I did what I had to do to save my family.  And I would do it again.

Silvan still lived in the same house he had been given shortly after his promotion.  The only thing that was different was the sign of the King’s Guard that had been nailed to it after his most recent in a string of promotions.  Every time he looked at it, he remembered everything he had to do to get where he was.  Now it was a symbol, a sign that things could get better, as long as you were willing to fight for them.

He stepped through the front door to find Esmarine sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, staring intently at the flames.  A single log was crackling, the light dancing across her face.  She didn’t even move when he walked through the door, seemingly unaware of his presence.

“Es?” he said.  “Esmarine?”

He approached her.  She still remained motionless.  That’s a little odd.  His heart began pounding as he reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder.  She jumped at his touch.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Fine.  Yes.  I’m great.  Sorry.”  She looked up at him and he saw something in her eyes that he hadn’t seen since she was a baby�"fear.  She would never admit it to him; he knew that.  She was too proud to ever admit that she felt emotions like fear.  She smiled half-heartedly and turned back to look into the fire.

“You’re not worried about what happened between you and Zultan, are you?”

“What?”

She doesn’t even remember.  Something else happened between now and then, something she isn’t willing to tell me.

“What have you been doing since Castiel brought you home?”

“I haven’t been doing anything.  Just sitting here, waiting for you.”

“It’s fine.  You don’t have to tell me.”  She gave him nothing in response.  It’s times like this I wish her mother was still alive.  She would have known what to do with her.  I haven’t the slightest idea what to say.

“Did you hear the King’s announcement?”  She looked up at him, unsure.  “It’s okay.  I didn’t expect you to stay in the house and miss that.”

“I heard it.”

It’s pointless.  I’m not going to get anything out of her by asking questions.

“Well, I think I’m going to go to bed,” he said.  “I just wanted to tell you that… I’m proud of you,” he said.

“You’re… proud of me?” She seemed genuinely shocked by this statement.  At least that shook her out of whatever funk she’s in right now.

“I know things haven’t been easy for you.  I can’t imagine what you’re going through without your mother around.  I just want you to know, I’m going through the same thing.  I miss her every single day, and it’s even harder for me when I know you’re going through a rough time.  Whatever it is, I love you.  And I promise, I’m trying.  Whatever happened between you and Zultan today�"just forget about it.”

Her eyes widened.  “What do you mean?”

“Zultan is a prick.”  She let loose a snort of laughter and Silvan couldn’t help but smile.  “Whatever you did to him, I’m sure he deserved it.”

“He did, I promise.”

“Good.”

To his amazement, Esmarine jumped up and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.  He felt his eyes starting to well up.  She hasn’t showed me this much tenderness in years.  He wrapped his arms around her in return.

“I love you, Esmarine.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

The hug ended and Esmarine walked toward her bedroom.  She stopped by the door and turned back.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“You can’t tell anybody about the kids that King Xanthus adopted.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?  Those kids from the Outskirts?”

“I just don’t think anybody should know about them, that’s all.”

“Wait, how would you even know about that?”  In his head, Silvan began to put the pieces together.  She bumped into Castiel and Zultan while they were collecting the children.  That’s not a coincidence.  “Is that what you were doing in the Outskirts?  Were you… were you trying to save those two kids?  How did you…?”

“Nobody can know about it.  It’s important.”  She walked into her bedroom and closed the door before Silvan had a chance to say anything.

Every single day that girl surprises me.  How involved is she in the Outskirts?  I didn’t think she remembered when we lived out there, but maybe she still talks to some of those people.  He thought back to that morning, when she came to see him outside the Throne Room.  It was right after that that she would have had to leave if she were going to rescue those kids.  Was she friends with that boy we Exiled this morning?

It was almost too much for him to take.  He stood up and headed for his own bedroom, hoping to sleep on it and talk to her about it in the morning.  If I even manage to see her again.

Why would she care if I told anyone about the children?  There’s nothing I can do to stop people from finding out about that.  Word travels fast in this city.  But if I can’t find a way to stop it, maybe there’s a way I can use it…