13.

Denrich meets the High King.

13.

 

The sound of birds chirping brought him out of his deep sleep and to his delight, when he opened his eyes he was greeted with the dim half-light of pre-dawn.

“I can see again!”  Denrich said, expecting to find Xael next to him.   To his surprise, she had slipped away and his head now rested against a puffy feather pillow that smelled faintly of her floral perfume.

“She’s an early riser, “  He said to himself as he slid out of bed and cautiously tried to stand up.

His muscles were slightly weak and sore, but he was fit enough to be on his feet.   A crazy idea popped into his head that he could not shake off.

I could just slip out and catch the Arcane Train and return to St. Wemricshire, he thought to himself.   Of course it would be an affront to the King, but would he really care with Avalynn and Xael newly arrived in his court?    He could always plead his duty as sheriff as his reason for leaving.   It was still the harvest season and that was one of his busiest times.

“It might work,”  He told himself, feeling a bit of guilt at not at least thanking Lady Xael for her kindness.   But if he didn’t see her, he’d be better off.   I’ll send her a letter thanking her, he thought as he rummaged around the room for his clothes.    They were no where to be found.   What he was wearing (except for his silver ring) was not his own clothing.

Opening a closet door in the room, he was pleased to find that someone had brought him several suits of clothes suitable for someone to have an audience with the High King.

Denrich selected the most humble of the fancy outfits and hurriedly dressed while trying to figure out the protocol for paying Reddric back without angering him, for the clothes that he planned to wear while fleeing from the capital.

Soon he was dressed and he debated leaving a note of thanks to Xael before he left instead of a letter to her later, but if the king intercepted the note, he might think she assisted him.   He didn’t want to get the kind lady into trouble; so instead, he crept over to the door and opened it quietly, peering out into the hallway.

It was dark and empty, though somewhere within the huge palace, he could hear the muffled sounds of servants preparing breakfast.   He hoped it would be served several hours later, after he had left, so he could get as far away as possible.

Though his head hurt slightly, he felt reasonably good and the thrill of sneaking around was filling him with energy.    Off he went, down the hallway, trying to get his bearings in the huge building.

Fortunately, no one came out into the hall and he slipped through a pair of large ornate doors at the end of the hallway, only to find another long hallway stretching out into the distance.

On each side of the hall were doors which he suspected were probably living quarters of members of the royal court.   He hurried down this hallway, expecting to encounter someone leaving their room at any moment, but no-one stirred.    At the end of this hall was yet another hall that went in both directions.

“Does this building ever end?”  He mumbled to himself, choosing the right passage simply because it was going in the opposite direction from where the muffled sounds of breakfast preparation were emanating. 

Doors lined this hallway as well, but they were further spread apart and only on the left side.    On the right were occasional windows, and he could see that they looked out onto a huge enclosed atrium garden, with another part of the building on the other side of the open area.    Figuring that an atrium usually was found in the center of a building, he decided to just keep going forward as long as he could.

Finally, the hallway turned back to the right, but just before it turned, there was a large pair of heavy wooden doors reinforced with decorative iron bands.   Clearly this was a door leading outside, but was it to another garden or walled inner courtyard?    He had to find out, so with a deep sigh he pulled the doors open and peered out.

A pair of guards wearing the royal crests of the High King were standing with their backs against the doors and they spun around in alarm with their pole-arms lowered.

“Hold it, sir!”  One said politely but somberly, “You are in the King’s private suites.    No one is allowed in here, uninvited.”

“I am terribly sorry, sir!   I simply got lost!”  He started to close the doors, but the guards moved forward to block this action.

“Wait a moment!   Who are you and what are you doing prowling around so early?”

Denrich could see past the guards into a large open courtyard with another atrium or garden in the middle of it.    Several people were moving around in there, curious at the commotion taking place in the doorway.

“I’m High Sheriff Denrich of St. Wemricshire,”   He replied and the two guards seemed to recognize his name.

“Well Sheriff, what are you doing up so early?”

He explained that he had awoken free from the effects of the poison and merely wanted to see where he was.    Denrich turned on the charm, trying to appear as a laid-back, harmless country person who was overawed at the grandeur of the royal palace.  Of course he didn’t tell them about his plans of sneaking away and heading back home.

“What’s going on here?”   The male voice came from behind the guards and upon hearing it they quickly turned to face him, standing to each side so he could see Denrich.   He was an elderly man, still tall and viral for his age.   His form was imposing and regal with blue piercing eyes and perfectly trimmed hair and beard.   His hair was still streaked with a few strands of the fiery red hair that had earned him the nickname ‘Firebrand’ back in his youth.   His face was that of a battle-hardened warrior, handsome for a man of his age, but with just a hint of an underlining cruelty that was masked by regal elegance. 

It was High King Reddric.

 

Denrich had never had a face-to-face meeting with the king, but he knew what was expected of him.    Quickly and respectfully he bowed, frustrated that his escape plan had failed.

“Ah, Sheriff Denrich of St. Wemricshire, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Is that him?”  A young female voice from behind him asked and Reddric turned to her.

“Yes indeed!   This is the hero of the train.    Notice his slightly pointed ears - Ledalia, this is what a half-elf looks like!”

A couple of young teenaged human girls pushed past him, eager to see, as if he was a two-headed unicorn.     Denrich’s face flushed at the indignity of it, but he kept his eyes averted and his mannerisms humble and respectful.

“Oh, Sheely look; they are pointed, but not as much as I’d imagine that they would be!”  The girl said to another young female.

“Girls, he is only half-elven; that is why his ears are like that.    If he were a full elf then he would probably not be standing here in front of me, now would he?”

Reddric, the two girls and several people behind them laughed at the king’s humor.   Denrich didn’t know quite what to do, so he gave a somewhat sickly smile and just stood there waiting to be spoken to by the king.    He tried not to think of the stories that he’d heard about the atrocities this man had ordered upon the elves that had once lived throughout Albyia.

Reddric finished laughing at his own comment and put his arm on Denrich’s shoulder in a friendly gesture, “You’ve been the talk of the court for several days, Sheriff.    I see that you are feeling better.”

“Yes,Your Majesty, thank you.”

“I had planned to come and visit you this afternoon, but instead you have found me!”

“I apologize Your Majesty; I got completely lost in the grandeur of your palace.”

Reddric smiled at his complement, “It is impressive, isn’t it?   What were you looking for, Sheriff?”

Denrich felt the High King’s blue eyes piercing him, almost as if he could read his thoughts.    The Half-Elf Sheriff shrugged as if he was slightly embarrassed and said, “Well, I was rather hungry and I was looking for the kitchen.”

“Which one?”   Reddric snipped, which got laughter from the two girls and the handful of courtiers behind them, “All you needed to do, young man, was ring a bell and food would have been brought to you.   I addressed you as ‘young man’, but you are half-elven; tell me, how old are you?”

“I am fifty years old, Your Majesty,”  He replied somewhat reluctantly to share his age.

“Fifty!   That is the same time that I began my reign!   I was nineteen then!”   Denrich turned to the two teenage girls, “You see, girls, half-elves mature at half the rate as humans, though they actually stop aging at twenty, unless they choose to give up their immortality.   I would imagine that Sheriff Denrich didn’t give his up.”

“No, Your Majesty,”  He answered, unsure if it had been a question.

“No, indeed, who wouldn’t like to stop aging!   So you see girls, he appears forever more in the prime of his life, and most human diseases and maladies don’t affect them.    He will be fit and hale until he meets an accident some day.   Or someone murders him.”

The king turned when he said this and was still grinning, but his words chilled Denrich’s bones.    Desperately he wanted to be free of the royal court and back in St. Wemricshire.

“Well, Denrich, we have wasted enough time discussing your half-cursed blood.   You have been a loyal and faithful servant of your king and the Archbishop tells me that half-elves possess enough of a soul to make them eligible for heaven, so you are in good standing with your king.    I will order some food brought to you.   You are staying in Lady Xael’s quarters, aren’t you?    That is a reward in itself, isn’t it?”

Denrich blushed, which greatly humored the king and his followers that they roared with laughter.

“He’s a good sport, is he not?”   Reddric said to those around him, then turning to him, “Go get some rest and something to eat, young man, and we will chat this evening over dinner.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, you are most kind,”   He replied as was expected of him and bowed low again.   As he bowed, the ring that he wore around his neck on a chain dangled forward and caught a stray beam of light from a window in the room beyond.   It glimmered with a silver gleam that caught the king’s eye.  

“Ah!   You wear something shiny around your neck.   Let’s see… why it’s a ring!   How odd to wear it as a necklace, “   Before Denrich could do or say anything, the High King had leaned far forward and cupped the ring in his hand to look at it closely.

Denrich expected the examination to only last a few moments, but they passed, followed by many more, until it became very awkward.   Hazarding a glance down at the king, he saw with dismay that the good natured expression on his face was beginning to fade as he gazed at the ring.     Reddric seemed pale and the courtiers behind him stirred uneasily, wondering what had his interest.

“Your Majesty?”  Denrich said softly, “Is something wrong?”

The King’s hands were trembling, but Denrich didn’t think it was from fear.

“Where did you get this?”   Reddric said in an icy whisper.

“Your Majesty?”  He hesitated, not sure why the King was so focused on the ring.

“WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS RING!!!” The High King screamed in rage, inches away from his face.   His eyes were cold and wild like an enraged predator and he clenched Denrich’s ring tightly in a fist.

Reeling from Reddric’s fury, Denrich was too stunned to respond and tried to back away, only to have the king fiercely backhand him.    The courtiers scattered, but the guards grabbed Denrich’s arms as he stumbled backwards.    Reddric was again in his face; spit flying from his mouth as he roared, “WHERE DID YOU GET IT!  ANSWER ME YOU HALF-BREED MAGGOT!   WHERE DID YOU GET IT?   WHERE?!”

“It was found around my neck by the monks of St. Wemric’s when they found me abandoned as a baby!”   Denrich blurted out, fearful that his life would soon be over.

“LIAR!   YOU LYING PIECE OF…”   Reddric ripped the leather cord from his neck savagely, “I WILL FLAIL YOU UNTIL ALL OF YOUR SKIN FALLS OFF!   WHERE DID YOU GET THIS RING?!”

“I told you the truth!   The monks of St. Wemric’s found it around my neck.    They gave it to me when I was older.    It is mildly enchanted - it only fits my finger.   Mother Julia told me that I should-“

His words were cut short by the king’s hands around his throat.   Denrich struggled, but the guards held his arms.   

“Liar!”  The king said in a softer, but not less angry voice, “You know who Julia is, don’t you?”

“Yes…”  Denrich replied, barely able to breath from Reddric’s choking hold, “Your… mother…”

“You tell me exactly what she said to you, do you understand me?   Exactly what she said about this ring!”

His hold lessened enough for Denrich to tell him about her words that he should treasure it always.

“Your mother gave this to you?”   Reddric asked after Denrich finished.    The High King’s hands slipped from the Sheriff’s throat, though he still loomed near, ready to explode with anger at the slightest thing.

“That’s what the monks said.    They were guessing too; they never saw her either.”

“You didn’t know your mother or your father?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“No one told you who they were?”

“No, sire.”

“If you are lying to me…”

“I swear to you, sire, I have no idea who they were.”

Reddric stared banefully at him for a long time, still clutching the ring in his hand.

“We shall see about that.    I will get to the bottom of this very soon, half-elf.   Until then you will remain my guest - yet not in a suite with that wanton w***e, but in the dungeon!”  He turned to the two guards restraining him, “Take him away and chain him by the neck in the tower cell!   Give him food and water but no one is to see him until I say so!”         

An instant later he was being roughly dragged by the royal guards away, leaving him with a certainty that his life was as good as over.