A Cool breeze hits his ankles from the inner cave as he eases further down the darkened shaft.
A sense of meaning envelopes his mind. For the first time in his life, the young prince feels that he has made a decision on his own. He would decide his fate, not his father. The warmth of the torch light on his handsome face reveals a smile even though he has just broken a law punishable by death.
Death…
A certainty for him anyway, his pride pushes him forward.
That small feeling of euphoria doesn’t last long as he passes a lone skeleton on the dark floor. It has clearly been in that spot for a long time as he stops to examine it. Barely visible are the remaining rotted tatters of this poor soul’s clothes. A rusty shield lying next to the body.
He kneels to examine it.
The emblem on the shield appears to be a spire with both Suns in the background. He doesn’t recognize it. A minor house perhaps… or a forgotten one.
The distraction of the bones doesn’t last long as he hears rumbling in the dark cave before him.
Unnerved, he cautiously walks forward with complete darkness on every side of him outside of his torches reach.
Movement! Closer now, too close. He stops in his tracks.
“I smell king’s blood…” A deep low voice states from the darkness shaking the young man to his bones.
“It’s been a very long time, but there is nothing like it. Smells better than the best meats over the fire.”
“He..Hello” states the young prince as he draws his sword slowly. Terrified, he’s never seen himself as prey before.
“What are you going to do with that? Do you think that pathetic steel will save you from me? There is no magic bound to that blade.” The voice says arrogantly from the dark.
The prince frozen in his tracks, contemplates his options before sheathing his sword as slowly as he had drawn it. A sudden realization that he in fact did not want to die arose in his mind. Too bad, he thought. If only he had made that decision a few minutes before… But here he stands, inside one of the twelve forbidden locations in the kingdom. Waiting to find out what the voice is attached to, waiting to see the thing that is going to kill him.
“Good… Good” the voice says as the young man releases the hilt of his sword.
“You are braver than everyone else who has ever came here.”
Silence fills the room, the torch light has blinded him to the darkness of the cave.
“Are you the king?” The gravelly voice asks.
“No… I am the kings son.” He answers nervously.
“Which one?”
“I am the third son to King William. My oldest brother David will be King one day, after him my brother John Henry, then me. The line of succession if that’s what we are asking.” Stupid, does the line of succession mean anything to him? The prince’s answers prove how nervous he is, and how he has just now realized the danger he is in.
“I’m not sure I would put you in line, no one has ever left my cave alive, Prince…”
“Aero, I am Prince Aero.”
“That’s not a royal name! Ha Ha Ha Ha”
The volume of the voice rises and the laughter is echoed off of the cave wall creating a thunderous noise.
Aero, the frightened prince just stands in his spot, torch light revealing the indignation upon his face. After a short time the laughing storm subsides.
“Tell me Prince Aero, how did you come to have such a name?”
“My mother was from the Breaker Islands… After my brothers were born, my father allowed her to name me in hopes of giving her something to remind her of her home. She was like a fish out of water in the capital. So she gave me an Islander name, and laughter has followed me my entire life. Even my brothers look down on me because of it.”
“How did the insignificant Breaker Islands become so important that they were placed into the kingdom rotation? Did they rise up and take Meego’s place?” The voice asks with obvious interest.
“How long have you been in this cave? The Breaker Islands belong to the region seat of Bellum.”
“For how long?”
“Eight hundred years.”
Suddenly the voice is whispering, lowly like it is talking to itself.
Aero, only hears parts
“Has it been that long?”
“It can’t be.”
“He is a liar.”
Aero, speaks up to engage the voice cautiously “Who was the last king you remember?”
“King William, just like your father.”
“Which one?” Aero asks
“William the seventeenth… He had sons Matthew and Paul.”
“I know them.” Aero states guardedly. “They are some of the most important names in the history of Avodroc. King William the Seventeenth ruled eleven hundred years ago. His son Matthew was killed in the Great War near the end of his reign. Paul the Ninth ruled briefly before his younger brother, William the Eighteenth overthrew him in the first Civil War of the kingdom. Paul was known Paul the Devastator, because of his actions as king. The name of Paul ended with him.”
“Eleven Hundred Years!”
Silence again followed by more whispers.
“Great War?”
“It’s not true… impossible.”
“My father is King William the thirty-second, David will be the twenty-sixth and John Henry would be the fifth…”
“And you would be Aero the first… why are you here? To die?”
“Yes, and no… it’s complicated..”
The voice peaks “Well then…”
Suddenly movement is heard throughout the cave.
From behind a rock, a huge body begins to appear. Muscular and exaggerated. Hairy, dark fur lines the body. Sharp claws are impossible to miss. Looking up at least eight feet high, Aero sees the low glow of yellow eyes. The darkness still hides its face.
“… if it is death you want.. you came to the right place.” The beast states “But you don’t sound so sure to me.”
“It’s not that I want to die, but my father gave me a death sentence. So I am going to die.”
“What kind of death sentence? Beheading? They were always my favorite.” The Beast states in obvious amusement.
“No” Aero states “I have to go visit Meego on behalf of the crown. Every royal who has went to Meego for the past thousand years has been killed by one of the Governor’s daughters…”
Aero pauses as he adjusts his sword belt and leans against the wall.
“My father can’t risk his heir, or the second in line… so he says I will have to do.”
The Beast remarks “But Meego is a beautiful oasis sitting over the Inland Sea. The place is magnificent. It’s not a den of murder.”
“But it is to the royals. A lot has changed in the world since you were in it. A spell causes a royal to fall in love with a daughter of the Meego’s Governor and she uses it to kill him. The daggers of Meego are legendary in my family history.”
“Ah, this is a simple fix. Just get a Sage to null the spell.”
“I can’t. The Great War was between the crown and those that practiced magic in the land. The crown won and cast out all of those that practiced the arts. There hasn’t been a spell cast in the land since you have been in this cave.” Aero states.
“Your people got rid of the magicians, but are stuck with the magic they casted? That is quite humorous.”
“Over a thousand years after the Great War that forced all magicians out of the land, ancient spells still dominate it.”
“Very humorous indeed.”
“Not if you’re next in line to be slaughtered, you wouldn’t find any humor in it… Not even meeting the Monster of Brintz comforts you.” Aero says as he slumps in the cave floor.
“Monster? Is that what I am to you?”
“I don’t know, tell me what you are?”
“How about this. You stay in the cave for a while, tell me about the land. How it is, how it has changed and answer my questions and maybe I will answer some of yours along the way. I may even let you leave this place… ALIVE. A great reward for a few conversations wouldn’t you say?”
“If that’s my best option, then I will take it. Maybe I’ll gain a little knowledge before I die.”
Relics of the Old Age 