6

Prologue

It all started 15 years ago, to be more exact, on a typical, stormy, spring evening. The week before, the king and the best of his guard set out on a peace campaign with a neighboring kingdom.

It was their last evening they had to spend in the wild. Tomorrow, their group would reach the castle and their homes. If they endured one more night, they would be able to hold their loved ones close. In the king’s case, he was ecstatic to arrive home, so he could hold his newborn son for the first time. A messenger, one of the newest of the King’s Guard, had informed the group of his birth the previous day with the message that the Naming Ceremony would not begin until he was home and settled.

So you could understand that nothing could ruin the good moods of the soldiers as they tried to find a warm, sheltering place to set up camp. Not even the brewing thunderstorm could break their mood. If, perhaps, they continued straight home that night, they may have made it back alive. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The king was a young but quick-witted gentleman. In any situation, he was able to adapt and restore order with ease. It was this talent that saved one of the guards from a sure death. As the weary though high-spirited group stepped into a clearing, darts shot from the surrounding trees. The king was hit first by a deadly accurate dart in his broad shoulder. As he began to feel the poison take effect, he caught up the nearest guard that had not been hit or seen yet. He shielded the messenger with his sizeable bulk. He was not fat, just muscular. As the king felt his knees give way, he continued to hold the teenager close.

With his dying breath, the king whispered his wishes to the youth. The boy promised himself never to tell anybody what the king said that night, until the time is right. But the boy swore to himself that he would protect those wishes, even if it cost him his life. “Protect my boy. Protect my wife’s newborn. I don’t mean this as an order, but a friend asking a favor. And please….” Here the king struggled to get a breath as the poison started to close his throat. “Please tell my son to beware the greedy and….”

“And what Sire. Please Sire. Sire….” The boy stopped abruptly as the king started to speak. He began feeling desperate as he identified a tone of begging, pleading in the king’s voice.

“Tell him…to” as the king paused, the boy could hear screams around him as the poison tortured his other comrades. The king tried once again, “To always hold on to those he loves and… to never give up on them. Tell him. Please!” With his message finally said, with the knowledge that someone would look over his son, the king let out a shuddering breath and fell limp.

The whole forest grew quiet, as if everyone and everything had died with the king. This did have some truth since the king was the last to die of the soldiers. Everyone was dead. Not even Kevin the great cook, or Marc, who was joking not a moment before, survived. Tears silently fell from the youth’s eyes as he realized all of the best guards, and some of his unofficial family, had just departed their lives. As this thought hit the only survivor, he refused to cry anymore. If the soldiers were alive, they would most likely scold him. The enemy, if they were efficient, would soon come to make sure the targets were dead. He reminded himself to check that his body was completely covered by the king’s corpse, and not to make a sound.

Not seconds after the boy’s preparations, the assassins came out from hiding. One assassin, judging from the deep voice a male, came over to the king’s body. The boy held his breath as the murder kicked the king and whispered, “Revenge is sweet Majesty. With a new king on the throne, I will be free from law and jail. I’ll make sure to tell the new king to dispose of that excuse for a wife and son. Only of course, after he marries into the family. Rest in peace, but you can be assured your kingdom won’t.” For good measure, the assassin spit on the king and then proceeded to leave the clearing with the others of his group. Even as they fell out of sight, the boy could still hear their voices, voices that were joking and laughing, as if they just didn’t kill.

After waiting a considerable amount of time, the seventeen year old boy crawled out from under the king’s body. He was tall for his age, maybe about 62. As he stood, he ran his right hand through his jet black hair thinking. His clever eyes observed the horrific scene before him. When he was a toddler, no older than two, he was left abandoned in a burning hut on the edge of a major battle field. One of the king’s soldiers took pity and risked his life to rescue him. The battle worn soldier eventually brought him home to his wife and the determined toddler grew up in his adopted father’s footsteps. Since no one new his birth name, everyone called his Nefarius, which basically meant abandoned. The boy grew up with this name, and refused to tell anyone his birth name. When asked about it, Nefarius would respond that what was in the past should be left there. From this explanation, people guessed that the name brought up bad memories in which Nefarius wanted to forget.

From his observation, Nefarius concluded that there was nothing to do except to break the news to the beloved queen and the Court. There would be a Royal Burial and a week of mourning that would follow the news. Still, Nefarius felt uncomfortable leaving the bodies unprotected. In his mind’s eye, he could see animals feeding or marking the bodies as their own. But before he started trying to solve this problem, he reminded himself that no animal would be out on such a stormy night. Telling himself this tibid of information, Nefarius turned his back on the scene and started back toward the castle with a heavy heart.

ЖЖЖ

After hours of hiking, Nefarius finally reached the castle at daybreak. He was hungry, weary, and depressed. As he stepped through the gates, he requested an audience with the queen. Usually, the guards never let anyone talk to the queen without two days notice, and these days at least a week seeing as the queen just gave birth. But everyone liked Nefarius, and at that moment he looked so desperate and devastated. The guards were shocked to find not even a hit of a smile. After a quick conference between them, they decided that Nefarius would not look this way unless it was an emergency. Not five minutes after Nefarius arrived, one guard went to get the queen.

A short period of time passed in the Audience Hall before the queen swept in with a confident stride. Her face immediately fell into a look of concern when her gaze met Nefarius’. No one, not even the queen, could escape loving him.

“Nefarius, dear, you look so worn down. The guard said you look worse for wear, but you look as if even the gentlest breeze could knock you dead.”

At the mention of death, Nefarius face fell even more. He took a deep breath and replied, “Your Majesty, we were ambushed. I’m the only survivor.” He wished he could have said it in a lighter note. Heck, he wished even more that he didn’t have to relay the bad news at all, but that was impossible. Though, he reminded himself, it was his duty and the words were the best he could do considering his condition. He was in shock. And more importantly, he had questions. Why did the king choose him? Why was he still alive when the others were dead? Why was he chosen to live?

ЖЖЖ

For Nefarius, everything afterward was a blur. He briefly remembered describing were the bodies were and what had happened. The only thing he left out was what the king told him. He remembered the sorrowful funerals that proceeded after the burying of the bodies. He even vaguely remembered quitting the King’s Guard. If he was going to follow the king’s wishes and protect the prince, the direct heir to the throne, Nefarius needed no distractions.

He became quiet, with absolutely no smiles. People tried to cheer him up, but after several attempts gave up, and avoided him altogether. Nefarius found that he didn’t care. His charge now was and always would be Prince Andre. He barely even noticed people look at him with pity, blaming his change on that forbidden night. If he did notice, he did not give it a second thought. He was just too busy. His thoughts were always on the prince, the prince’s safety, and the future. When he wasn’t trailing the prince around the castle, he was training. Everyday Nefarius went to bed past midnight and woke up at the crack of dawn. His days consisted of training until the prince woke up and then following Prince Andre around, working on his stealth.

Nefarius was so intent, so dedicated to his work, he never noticed the days, then months, slip by. When six months had passed, just when the realm began to emerge from mourning, an unexpected test came. As Nefarius looked back at that month, he knew he failed.

ЖЖЖ

On the first Wednesday of the sixth month, a Duke and his daughter arrived in the realm. The only words that could be used to describe the pair was spoiled brats. They demanded from the first person they saw to take them to the castle where the best quarters must be prepared. However, the most ignorant command was to have an audience with the queen, no matter how many people were waiting.

Duke Malvagio and his daughter, Lady Victoria, presented themselves before the queen after twenty minutes of waiting. No matter how mad they were for having to wait, they shielded it from the queen. Their faces only showed grace and kind pleasure.

As they knelt before the queen, Duke Malvagio bowed his head and greeted, “Good morning Your Majesty. My daughter and I have traveled far from our kingdom east of here. As soon as we heard, we packed and left our Court to pay our respects. Please accept our deepest condolences. I have never personally meant the king, but I’ve heard many great things about him.”

“Thank you for coming. I know it must have been hard to leave your homes. King Noland III would have been very pleased,” replied the queen, but anyone could tell her heart wasn’t in it. It sounded as if she had said it more than hundreds of times before. The queen hated to talk or hear about her late husband. Since no one wanted to see their once beautiful queen fall apart, the realm had made an unofficial law not to speak of that night.

But as the Duke and his daughter detected the sorrow in the queen’s voice they had a hard time concealing there glee. Each in their own mind knew that the queen would be easy picking. “We have come all this way and wish to stay a while. Do you have room to accommodate us?” the Duke asked, not even bothering to try to comfort the sadden women.

“Of course, but the only room we have is located in the Lesser Noble Hall. Will that be okay.” It was not a question. Even if the queen was oblivious to her audience’s glee, she could feel that they did not have a caring heart.

“That will be fine,” the Duke replied. Although everything about his and his daughter’s manner told else wise. At that moment the two of them hated everything about the queen. She had insulted them beyond words to ask them to sleeping the same hall as lesser nobles. But at that moment nothing could be done. If the plan was going to work, they needed the queen’s trust. At the time they could only plaster a smile on their face and think of vengeance.

ЖЖЖ

An hour later found the Duke and Lady Victoria in their tiny room in the Lesser Noble Hall. “That bitch! She put us in this idiotic room on purpose. Oh, how I wish I could strangle her!” Lady Victoria was furious and nothing was going to calm her down. She then continued to scream at the top of her lungs all the curse words she knew toward the queen.

After what seemed forever the screaming died down and her father was able to be heard. “It’s okay darling, daddy will take care of it. Soon you will be a beautiful princess and you will get everything you want. As I predicted, the queen is weak without a husband. It will take but a work of a minute to succeed. Soon my baby, we will rule and you will have all the slaves and money you want,” Duke Malvagio promised. There was a look of hatred in his eyes that surprised even his own daughter. His family could have taken the throne a long time ago, but they were all cowards that were too scared to cross the royal family and their elite army. He would take the crown for himself, proving to his family he was better than all of them. He would take what he wanted and kill the queen and prince in the process, just like he organized the death of the king and his guards. What were two more lives if it allowed him to become king?

ЖЖЖ

The story goes on to say that six months later the adored queen married the Duke. There were many theories how this tragedy occurred, the most common one claiming sorcery. The wedding was a sad day indeed. On that day, every citizen asked himself or herself at least once how the queen could have been so blind toward the greed the Duke possessed. An old man and friend to the queen believed it was a punishment from God. His solution was for everyone to repent and maybe the problem would fix itself. In a way it eventually did.

Four weeks after the wedding, March 7th, the queen was reported dead. No one knew the cause of the death, but rumors believe the power hungry Duke murdered her. The fact that the Duke was supposed to be crowned on that day fueled the rumor even more. However, when Duke Malvagio demanded to be crowned he found, to his horror, that the queen had left a Royal Will. Somehow the queen had discovered the wicked plans of the Duke, or some people argue, the queen had broke away from the spell she was a under, and wrote the will. The document contained a list of the people who would rule after she died. After the prince’s name and the names of everyone else in the kingdom, were Duke Malvagio and Lady Victoria. The only way one of the two would rule is if they killed every single person in the realm.