Father Knows Best

Amala confides in her father

12.

Father Knows Best

 

The rain had returned with a fury, and Amala covered her baby sister with her cloak and ran along with her to the shelter of a small church across from the Queen’s park.   The church was very small, nearly a chapel in size and was designed for the common people of King’s Reach to come in and pray and perhaps be counseled by the clerics that constantly kept the church of Yesh open for the faithful.

 

The church was empty with nearly all of the people of the capital city either in the Great Cathedral or standing in the rain outside, as the Ritual of Passing was chanted for Haroldris.   Inside the small church, the altar was lit up with seemingly thousands of candles which represented prayers offered up to Yesh, the Merciful, for the soul of their King by the mourning subjects of Westmark.

 

She had never really been very religious; finding that she felt the presence of God in his creation rather than sitting inside a building.   But today, with her heart overwhelmed by fear, guilt and worry, the reverent darkness of the tiny church seemed to beckon to her.  

 

Quietly she carried Aidan down to one of the front benches.   As she walked down the aisle, her eyes staring at the multitude of candles, she suddenly found herself about to walk into a person just leaving from spending time in prayer.

“Excuse me” she said, and her mouth dropped open when she looked up and saw the yellow eyes of an Orc looking equally as surprised to see a Drow in the church.

“Pardon me,” he said with a polite nod and a gentle smile, and she noticed then his shiny plate armor which told her he was a member of the Queen’s elite bodyguard �" a force made up entirely of Orcs.   The bodyguard had been in existence for as long as she could remember and were well-respected.  

 

But for Amala, she just saw a flash of some of the faces of the Orcs she had killed a few days before, and the horrid thought came to her that she might have killed some relatives of the guardsman she had nearly bumped into a moment ago.

Suddenly she felt weak in the knees and sick at heart.

 

“Oh Aidan, what if I was wrong?   They were probably deceived by that Baron �" I may have killed innocent people!”

 

Tightly clutching her sister as she began to tremble, she slumped down on a vacant bench, closed her eyes and began to pray for forgiveness.

“Amala?”  The voice came from behind her after she had sat in tearful prayer for a long, long time.   She thought it could be a priest of Yesh, though she had no idea how any of them would know her name.  

 

But before she could turn to see who it was, she felt a hand on her shoulder and suddenly kneeling in front of her was her father.

 

“Daddy!” she surprised both her father and herself by the title, but even more so by the desperate hug she gave him, crying passionately on his shoulder while poor Aidan was nearly smothered between her sister and father.

“Sweetheart, whatever is wrong?”  Her father asked her and she found herself pouring out to him everything that had happened to her; her horror at her ease at taking lives, the terror of being trapped alone amidst the hostile Orcs, the betrayal by Prince Edwarren, her desperate last stand, then her rescue by Jevon and the garrison of Southgate and finally, the sight of the dead prince and her decision to keep the truth about him and his actions from everyone.

 

Her father listened closely to her, holding her hand as with his other hand he patted Aidan’s head to calm the baby during her sister’s emotional story.

It was the closest that Amala had felt to her father in many, many years and she was so relieved when he reassured her and encouraged her.

“I don’t believe in lying, child, but I understand and respect your reason for choosing to spare the feelings of the Queen and honor the memory of the King’s family.”

“But what should I do?  It will break her heart if I tell her how her son behaved.   I don’t want to be the one to hurt her, dad.   I know I shouldn’t lie, but which is worse; to tell her the truth and hurt her, or to lie and allow some dignity to remain with the family?”

“I assume you have been praying about it?”

“Yes… I haven’t really been very devout.   Not like you and Mom.   I think that might have changed though.   I feel so… guilty and dirty inside.   As if I have not only the Orcs’ blood still on me, but the prince’s as well.   I know it’s crazy, daddy, but I just can’t shake it!   What should I do?   I just want to go home!”

 

Her father squeezed her hand, “Sweetheart, be strong.   I won’t let you face this alone.   Your mother and I will stand beside you all the way.   We’ll go with you to see the Queen.”

 

Amala blinked back more tears, “I know… but I think I’ve got to do it alone.   I don’t know why, but I need to talk to Queen Eioldth alone.    Maybe I don’t want to pull you and Mom into my lie.   I don’t know, but I want to talk to her alone.   But… if y-you want to, you c-can come with me and wait for me… if you want to.”

 

Duke Dullerm smiled at his daughter, seeing before him not only a strong young woman, but his scared little girl.

“Of course I will.   When are you supposed to meet with her?”
“I don’t know… will she send for me?”

“I imagine, but probably not for a few days.”

 

Amala groaned, “Yesh help me, but I REALLY want to get our meeting over with quickly!”

 

“Sweetheart, why don’t you come back with me to the Cathedral?   The service will be over by the time we get there and your mother is probably scared to death wondering about you.   I won’t tell her or your sisters or brother anything about what you told me until you are ready to tell them.  It will just be our secret… and Aidan’s, but I don’t think she’ll tell anything.”

 

The baby giggled as her father smiled at her and in spite of herself, Amala smiled as well.

“Okay, dad.  I’m sorry I wasn’t as strong as I was supposed to be.”

“Sorry?!   Heavens, child, you were amazingly strong to handle all of that!   If I had known what you were going through I would have died off from worry.   For heaven’s sake, don’t tell your mother about all of that right now or she’ll lock you in the Keep for a hundred years.”

“I’m not so sure that sounds so bad.” She stood up and leaned over and kissed her father on his cheek.  She hadn’t done that in decades, and the Duke’s eyes glistened when she added, “Daddy, I love you.”

“Sweetheart, I love you too, and I am so proud of you.   Don’t be afraid.”

To her amazement, at that moment, Amala wasn’t afraid at all.

Reviews

[Elina]

Aw, this was such a sweet, touching moment! I can honestly say that I had a bit of a knot in my throat while reading this.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Elina. As you could probably tell, the first 13 chapters of this book were originally just a 'short' story about Amala called 'Ambush at Orc Pass', but I added them to the second part, which was known as "Tournament' forming them into one book a few months ago. The second part takes place about 2 years following the story with Amala.

'The Forging of the King' will actually feature all of Aurei and Eleazar's children -- living and dead.