A trumpet sounds out throughout the camp at daybreak. Ser Robert jumps to attention at the first sound. As he stirs, he knocks over ale glasses from the evening before. This six-month tour of duty is near its end, and the men have had trouble staying focused.
The Coven under the guise of the Crown has stationed him at the Old Palace until the return of the Meego Light to ensure the royal brothers do not return. It’s Marco’s final solution to ensure John Henry takes the throne.
The problem with missions like this is that they get boring very quickly. Robert hasn’t seen any action since the day the brothers departed the mainland for the sands of Meego. Drinking has become his pastime. But as the horn blows, he knows duty calls. Bad timing for sure.
Robert struggles to gather respectable clothes out of the pile he has lying on the floor of his tent. If he were sober, he probably wouldn’t bother since he knows they are all nasty. As he fails to find something to wear, a thought crawls through his mind. He misses the comforts of the Capital so bad; he misses his cleaning ladies and his bed. He misses rubbing elbows with the other knights of the Capital at Maverick’s.
The horn blows again.
“Somebody shut that idiot up! We heard you!” Robert shouts.
Another blow.
“Dammit!”
Robert steps out of his tent to see a crowd gather around the makeshift watchtower that was erected months ago.
“What is it? Come on… Why are you waking us up?” Robert demands.
The guardsman looks down at Robert with noticeable fear in his eyes. Unable to form words, he just points across the way toward the ruins of the Old Palace. In the middle of the field stands a man. He is hooded in grey. His cloak hides every detail about him. It doesn’t matter, every man in camp instantly knows that it is the silhouette of an Underbridge Assassin.
While visible, the Assassin’s use the grey cloak to hide their deformed bodies. Old women tell the stories of being cursed to see a grey hood in the world. According to them if you see it, you are dead, but you don’t realize it. They frighten young boys in their beds at night, and the stories stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Here one stands before the entire camp of five hundred plus knights without fear. Surely this one visible one is a warning that others are around in the shadows.
“Send a man out to meet him.” Robert shouts to a group of knights.
They discuss amongst themselves who should go but all the men are afraid. Most refuse to go, even with the threat of losing their knighthood. After a few minutes of discussion, word gets back to Robert that no one is willing to go.
The responsibility falls to Ser Robert.
“I’ll go, but I need a couple volunteers to go with me.” He says in a panic.
The Underbridge Assassins are legendary, and not many people are brave enough to stand before them. To all the evil campers, they are glorified ghosts built up in the minds of the men as children. The assassin before them is the embodiment of bedtime monsters, and these drunk men are terrified. They are unable to find the courage needed to act like true knights.
Robert doesn’t have that luxury. Griping to himself, he steps out of the ranks alone. As the senior officer, it’s his duty to meet the assassin. His misgivings about speaking with the assassin is weaker than telling the Coven that he was too afraid to do what needed to be done.
As he approaches the figure, he calls out. “Greetings friend, I suppose you have completed your mission. It’s about time too, the light nearly locked you away for ten years.”
The figure holds out a sword from underneath his cloak.
“That’s it? That’s the Royal Blade? I expected so much more. What did it cost you to get it, and what is it going to cost me to get it back?” Robert asks.
“It cost me everything, and you can’t have it.” The cloaked figure states.
The grey man lifts his head up to meet Robert’s gaze from under the hood.
“Aero?” Robert says in shock. “Aero… How?”
“It’s a very long story.”
As Aero speaks, Robert’s inebriated mind starts to connect the dots.
“You survived Meego!”
“I did.”
“Unbelievable, I wish I had time to hear the story, but I don’t. I’m sorry Prince Aero. I just want you to know, I won’t take any joy in this.” Robert says as he waves his men over.
Laughter is heard throughout the camp. They have known for months what to do if the Prince returned to the mainland. Each man is in the pocket of the Coven and have been embolden by years of freedom and treachery; still the camp is electric with the prospect of committing treason with the murder of a prince.
“Stop! Every man that stands down right now will be pardoned by the King.” Aero yells.
Robert joins in this round of laughter with a smile on his face.
“Aero, I would have thought you were smarter than this, but you are clearly the idiot that John Henry claims you to be. You just endured Meego against all odds only to die at our hands here. As far as the King is concerned, you never returned from Meego.”
The knights line up behind Robert awaiting his order.
“Let me do Ser Robert!”
“No, me!”
“I’ll cut that Fin in half!”
The men shout as they jockey for position to do the deed.
Robert holds his hand up in the air “Wait! We must hear Prince Aero’s last words.” He says as he laughs.
Aero nods as he begins to speak. “The interesting thing about the Royal Blade is that it only works for the true King of Avodroc…”
He holds up the sword, and it begins to glow yellow. Rays of golden energy burst from the sword. Robert’s eyes enlarge, instinctually he kneels. Most knights draw their swords, others run. Aero swings his sword and cuts down dozens of false knights in one fluid motion. He continues swinging. As he does so, he catches another knelt man to his left. He swings above the head and keeps on swinging.
After several swings, most of the knights have turned to run away.
As they do, they are met by the Meegan security force assigned to Aero. The Calvary runs through them with little effort. A few seconds later it is over. More than five hundred knights are slain.
Aero covered in the blood of his enemies, calls over three members of the Meegan force.
“Take these men into custody and search the camp. There is no telling what we will find in it.” Aero commands.
“Yes, my King!” The three guards say in unison.
Robert is bound and brought before Aero. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I uh… I mean… What I want to say…” Robert studders.
“Take him over to one of the armored carts, give him a few minutes to collect his thoughts.”
The soldiers take Robert away. The other knight is brought before him. “What’s your name? Where are you from?”
“You don’t recognize me?” the knight says.
Aero looks over the bound knight, there is something familiar about him. A burnt man, with dark skin and black hair. He has braided hair all over his head. Aero looks him in the eyes, the man has a blue eye and a brown one. “Gyn?”
“Yes.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Surveillance.”
A coded message that Aero clearly knows.
“Unbind him.” Aero commands. The guards hesitate for a second. “He’s not one of them. Let him free.”
They do so, and Aero hugs the knight.
“I will tell you everything in private.” Gyn says.
“I look forward to it. Send him to a carriage, I will speak with him alone shortly.” Aero tells his soldiers as he turns to Gyn. “I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Aero turns around to find his brother David and Ser Stephan walking up with a couple people.
“We found these two, they were being held prisoner.” David says.
“Rune? Yorba? What happened?” Aero asks.
“They found us in the Community. They slaughtered everyone but us.” Rune replies.
“Why did they spare you?”
“Because he has information about the magic axe he carried, and they recognized who I am.” Yorba responds.
“She is the missing daughter of the Summerset family; her name is Raven.” David says.
“How did you know?” Yorba asks.
“I knew the moment I saw you. I have spent a lot of years in the Royal Court with your father. You can change your name, but you can’t hide your features.” David responds.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I couldn’t risk you knowing who I was, I am David. Aero’s oldest brother.”
“You’re the future King?” Yorba says in shock.
“No, things have changed. We have a new King and Queen now, Aero and his Meegan bride, Asna. They rule together as one. I am just an advisor now.”
“And so are you, Raven.” Aero says. “Come with me to the Capital and be an advisor to us. We need someone with your unique perspective.”
“I can’t… my father would…”
“Your father answers to me now, he can’t hurt you. Where else would you go? Do you really want to rebuild the community at the Dump and help a few people or do you want to be in a position to help more?” Aero asks. “And as for you Rune, you will come too.”
“I go where Yorba goes.”
“Where’s the bear and the axe?”
“The Bear took me back to Yorba and told me that my time with the axe was up. He took it from me and ran away. But he did say that if I tried to reclaim it the forest would kill me.”
“That’s unfortunate, but I remember you weren’t interested in violence.”
“Not at all.”
“Then please, join us. There will be violence in our future, but our goal is peace and prosperity for all, not just the rich. I will not ask you to fight, just be advisors to us. We will protect you, and you will in turn help guide the Kingdom.”
“We will go with you. For the sake of the poor and powerless, but you know that we both do not agree with the ideals of Monarchism. We will speak our minds.” Yorba states plainly.
Aero grabs her gently and pats her on her arms. “I expect nothing less.” He pats Rune on his shoulder and instructs his guard to find them accommodations within the convoy.
Aero, David and Stephan watch as they walk away with the guard.
“I never thought I would see them again and now they are with us. Brother, there goes a whole lot of opinion… I hope you don’t regret that decision one day.” David says as Stephan laughs behind him.
“King Aero, the guards say that Robert is ready to speak.” Stephan interjects.
A few moments later, King Aero steps into the prisoner cart, which is a steel box without windows, with small holes in the top to allow light and air in. The door is slammed shut and bolted. They are effectively alone.
Aero still covered in blood, stares into Roberts eyes as if he is trying to see into his soul.
“I will ask one question, and you will give me the most honest answer that you have ever given in your life, is that understood.”
Robert shakes his head while looking the young King in his eyes.
Aero speaks “Tell me everything you know about the Covenant of the Whispering Owls.”
Robert goes pale, how could Aero know anything about them? There can’t be but a handful of people who know the name, and a royal shouldn’t even know that. He is torn between the knowledge that he is alone and powerless, and that if he does speak then the Coven will kill him. He surrenders to the fact that he is helpless, and he begins to speak.
Relics of the Old Age 