Chapter 5: Inheritance

FFN...Je vous presente...the elves.

 

Chapter 5: Inheritance

 

Luxin, Tenebrisia

  

 

 

Regolith woke with the sun shining in his eyes. But that was not why he woke.

            Something blasted against the door.

‘Regolith!’ a voice yelled from the other side of the ornate oak door. ‘Regolith, wake up! Father wants to see us.’ It was Alystair, his sister.

Father wants to see me? Since when?

Absentmindedly, Regolith glanced around the room. The sheets of his bed were still rumpled, but the woman had already left his chambers. How long…? He shook his head, shaking the thought away. The better question was how long had he been sleeping.

Regolith stood up, ignoring his nakedness—he was in his own chambers, after all—and took a peek out of the window at the sun. Not quite high sun, he thought. About an hour until.

‘Are you up yet, or do I need to send Rifter in to get you out?’ A deep but feminine chuckle came through.

‘You would not dare, sister,’ Regolith called back as he nimbly slid into a pair small clothes and black silken breeches with silver moons embroidered down the sides. He knew that she would.

‘You know I will.’ Regolith laughed and put on a silken shirt the deep blue of the night sky.

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Regolith said, ‘Very well. I am coming.’ He grabbed his ceremonial sword belt after debating for a moment between it and the plainer one, but a meeting with his father would definitely mean more than a casual, ‘How are you?’

‘My, haven’t we made an effort?’ Alystair teased Regolith as he came out of his bedchamber, eyeing him up and down.

‘Be quiet, Alys,’ Regolith shot back good-naturedly. ‘You certainly aren’t dressed as a servant.’ He smirked as he eyed his sister’s intricate outfit. She wore a spun moonsilk blouse that shimmered from silver to pale purple or dark blue as she moved. Moonsilk was hard to come by, even for the royal family. Alystair had managed to circumvent these difficulties, though, because she also wore tight moonsilk breeches that hugged her slim hips and met black boots of the finest, softest leather.

Regolith chuckled at the blush he saw creeping into his sister’s pale cheeks.

‘Alright, you win this time. But you know that something must be happening,’ she said as they walked from Regolith’s chambers to the Moon Hall.

‘Well, our nameday was three nights ago. Perhaps there is something he forgot to tell us at the feast.’

Alystair nodded and furrowed her brow in thought. For a few moments, they walked in silence. Their feet trod lightly on the intricate carpets, which were just larger versions of the tapestries lining the walls. All were dedicated to the night, the moon, and the stars.

For Regolith, the walk to his father’s chambers was a long one, though in reality it was just down the corridor and around the next corner. All of the royal residence halls were situated quite closely to each other.

He arranged his face into the apathetic mask he almost always wore when not in private with his sister. The mask hid the worry and scepticism lurking in Regolith’s mind.

Alystair was not fooled. Regolith knew his twin could see through his every sigh, and he was grateful for the reassuring smirk she sent. But no words or gestures of comfort. They were outside of their chambers, and anyone could be watching. Regolith had no idea how important or secret their father’s summons was.

The door to the antechamber of the king’s suite was nondescript sturdy wood. It could easily have been a servant’s corridor. Regolith though some tutor might have called it part of the castle’s many layers of defence.

In unison, the twins knocked twice on the door.

A servant opened the door and ushered the two in. Then he bowed at the waist, the finger tips of his right hand lightly against his forehead, and exited.

Their father sat on an elaborate chair of ebony chased with silver filigree. Regolith could not help but stand a little taller, his jaw rigid with some amount of proud defiance. He felt his sister straighten, too, as if unconsciously. For all of this, Regolith still noted the king’s formality.

King Kratonis was dressed even more elaborately than his children, silver embroidery covering much of his deep blue formal court coat. Such finery was usually reserved for important state affairs.

What is going to happen? Regolith thought, with no small twinge of fear. There were no servants in attendance.

‘My son. My daughter.’ The king spoke in a cold voice that Regolith had only seldom heard turn warm. Yet...there were tendrils of warmth if one listened carefully, and his was a beautiful voice, full of strength.

The twins nodded their heads together in acknowledgement.

‘You have both come of age. It is time for you to participate in the ruling of the realm.’

Regolith had expected something of the sort. No doubt Alystair had as well.

‘What would you have us do, my lord Father?’ Alystair said. Her courage to be so informal as to call the king ‘father’ heartened Regolith somewhat, and he began to relax.

‘Regolith,’ the king started, directing his question away from Alystair. ‘To you, I give a mission, a mission of the utmost importance.’ Standing up, the king walked behind his ornate chair and picked something up. He walked back around holding a sword in a black sheath.

‘The stars have spoken. Your task, Regolith, is to search for the human bearer of the Sun Sword. When last I saw it, it was in the hands of a female soldier in the human army. To you, I give the Moon Sword,’ he said, placing the sword across Regolith’s open hands.

Regolith’s pale eyebrows had risen during his father’s speech and wouldn’t go down, and his jaw hung slightly slack. He could only nod as the weight of the sword weighed upon his hands. The silver hilt was ribbed, save a small crescent moon in the middle. He swallowed as he ran his thumb across the identical crescent on the pommel.

Alystair had her mouth open to say something but the king cut her off.

‘You’re staying here, Alys.’ The elfin woman’s face fell. ‘You will be my assistant. You will attend every hearing, every public meeting that I do. Do you understand?’

Regolith saw her swallow, and watched as her already pale skin became even paler. They both understood. Alystair nodded stiffly.

Their father’s gaze on them became kindly. He must have seen the anxiety in their faces.

‘You will do fine.’ He smiled. ‘I will talk to you again soon.’

The twins touched their foreheads simultaneously and turned smartly around and left the room.

Alystair’s mouth was dry as she left her father’s chambers.

She glanced at Regolith. He looked as tense as she felt; his knuckles were white around the Moon Sword, his skin was pale, and his lips were thinned.

She was now her father’s shadow. And Regolith got to go out and explore. He’s going to look for some human, she thought bitterly.

Alystair motioned with her head for Regolith to follow her into her rooms. When the door was shut tight, the two looked at each other in stunned disbelief.

Shaking her head, Alystair turned from her bother and collapsed onto one of the long cushioned chairs, draping her legs over the fine silk-covered arm rest. She sighed heavily, and then said, ‘Regolith. This means—’

‘You’re the chosen heir to the throne,’ Regolith said softly. The tone of his voice told Alystair that Regolith had taken the step she had not: he was slowly realising what everything meant.

Alystair remained too stunned to fully put together the implications. ‘I’m the heir,’ she whispered. The Power Houses had been whispering behind their doors for years about which twin would succeed the king. Alystair had never truly counted herself an option. ‘The Moon strike me!’ She covered her eyes with a long-fingered hand.

Swinging her legs to the floor, Alystair bolted upright. ‘You’re the Moonbearer! What does that mean? And you have to go to Solterre to find the Sunbearer. You get to leave Tenebrisia. You’re going on a bloody adventure!’ She scowled.

Then her voice softened and she looked dolefully at Regolith, who sat quietly, thoughtfully, with a trouble look on his face. She was finally reaching full realisation.

‘What are we going to do?’ she asked plaintively. ‘I cannot rule Tenebrisia. Why would he choose me, Regolith?’

‘You’re the best choice,’ Regolith said. ‘You know the politics and can probably hold your own with the Power Houses. If you shadow Father, you should be fine.’

‘But there has not been a female queen for—’ Alystair cast about in her mind for a shocking figure that would fit, but Regolith cut in.

‘Fifteen millennia.’

Alystair’s jaw dropped.

‘I looked into it when the Houses began speculating,’ he explained.

‘That’s all the more reason not to pick me!’ she said, almost frustrated. ‘Unless that’s just the thing. Does he plan on shocking the Houses with an anomaly?’ she asked to no one in particular.

‘Possibly,’ Regolith answered.

Sighing, Alystair lay back down again.

‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘What do you think of your lot?’

‘Perhaps father is sending me away for some reason. It could be a ploy to get rid of me because of—you don’t think he knows, do you?’ He looked anxiously to Alystair for reassurance as she had looked to him just moments ago.

Alystair frowned. He meant his Mage talents. ‘I don’t think anyone save you and I knows that,’ she replied from the cushions.

‘And he’s given you the Moon Sword. That’s been the symbol of his sovereignty since he received it. He would not so carelessly toss it away. Perhaps,’ she continued musing, ‘he means us to rule together.’

‘That could be so.’

‘I fancy we’d rather make a good team, brother,’ Alystair chuckled darkly.

Regolith met her chuckle with a sardonic smile of his own.

‘If you don’t spend all of the coffers on your clothing first,’ he said, standing up. ‘I’m going to leave you to your antics, sister. I have, as you know, a journey to plan.’ He pecked the small blonde on the cheek and she watched him sidle out of the room with apparent lethargy. It would fool anyone he passed in the corridors.

Journey to plan, indeed, Alystair though to herself, smiling. Her smile faded, though, as she resigned herself to her own lot. She did not want to be queen. She knew she had the proper accoutrements...but she was still afraid.

Reviews

[Chris]

I really like how this is going so far. The story has been interesting from the beginning. A few things though:

"Regolith though some tutor might have called it part of the castle's many layers of defence."

I think you might mean thought instead of though.

"In unison, the twins knocked twice on the door.
A servant opened the door and ushered the two in. Then he bowed at the waist, the finger tips of his right hand lightly against his forehead, and exited."

Two things here. One, fingertips is one word. Two, I think it would be okay if you made the above passage one entire paragraph. You can't really draw much excitement from the reader by two people knocking on a door, so making the sentence its own paragraph looks a little lame, or at least in my opinion anyway. You did this at another place in the story too.

"...at Regolith, who sat quietly, thoughtfully, with a trouble look on his face."

I think you might mean troubled instead of trouble.