Twelve Challenges

Chapter 6

(AN sorry for not posting sooner. My college has started now and I have been focusing on that. I am currently posting this during a zoom class)

Rowan

     The next morning I am standing in the corner of my father's large study waiting for him to arrive. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling with bookshelves full of leather bound books. The shelves look to be made of mahogany and the carpet on the floor was a deep, dark red. Across from the door that I entered a few minutes ago is a large double door that looks to open to a private balcony. The desk and chairs in the room also look to be made from mahogany. On the right side of the room the book selves are interrupted by a large fireplace that has two comfortable chairs resting next to each other. I start looking at the titles of the books on the shelf nearest me when my father and his personal servant, Sliversnow enter, "....I will be back an hour before dinner starts, please have everything ready for when I return." My father says to Sliversnow and he bows and then turns silently leaving the room. My father turns to me as I bow, He walks over to me and placing his hand on my shoulder pulls me up while saying, "Son, I want you to stop bowing to me when we are not in public. Kevan never bows to me and I want you to do the same thing. I no longer want my eldest son to be treated differently than how my youngest son is treated."

"Yes, my lord," I say as I nod my head. I am surprised that he would want me to stop giving him the respect due to him as my lord but I also feel honored that he cares about me to not have me bow to him.

"I am going to have to ask you though to continue working in the castle and to bow when we are seen together in public. This is to protect both you and your mother. If Lady Ravenstar was to find out that you are no longer being treated like a common servant by me, she might do something to harm one of you. I would like to say that I would be able to protect you both but she has been getting more and more secretively everyday.

I fear that she is planning on murdering your mother and even you." Lord Ravenstar walks over to the balcony and gestures for me to join him. "You and your mother mean a lot to me and I want to protect you as much as I can. I know that Kevan and you are both my sons but I feel like I don't know either one of you. I have spent time with Kevan but he is close to his mother and to protect you I had to treat you like any of the other servants, worst actually because when Lady Ravenstar thought that you were being treated any better than a servant she would threaten to kill either you or your mother. I know that this does not excuse the way that I have treated both your mother and especially you my own flesh and blood. Do you understand what I am trying to say?" He says this turning to me with sorrow and hope for understanding.

"Yeah, I can understand you did what you could to protect my mother and I. I want to thank you for protecting my mother. She looks up to and if I would have to guess still has feelings for you to this day," I said, coming to stand right before him. He lays his hand on my shoulder and nods his head and then says, "Come let us go and see the builders of your first challenge." He spreads his large wings and pushes off the ground into the air. I quickly spread my wings and join him in the air to fly side by side for the first time.

     We fly for a few miles west from the castle to a large meadow with Feya in the middle building several large wooden structures and a few smaller stone structures. A large tent surrounded by smaller tents let me know that the workers have been sleeping at the meadow. My father angles down toward the large tent and I follow behind him, staying far enough back so he can land and I can land next to him. After we both land and fold our wings to lay against our back we walk into the large tent where a small grey haired and eyed Feya was standing giving directions to other Feya. We wait for him to be done giving his direction before my father says, "Greetings Greyrock, we would like to talk to you about how the layout of the course will be."

"Greeting My lord, and young Rowan. I can show you what we have done now and explain how it will look. Let's step outside now," Greyrock says while leading us outside. My father and I spend the rest of the morning with Greyrock and the other Feya going over the layout of the first challenge. "I did not do this yesterday when Kevan was here but I now have a map of the course created so I would like you to have this. Lord Ravenstar I have another one here that you can give to Master Kevan. I know that you want this to be a fair contest," Greyrock stated while handing me a rolled parchment scroll, and another one to my father. Lord Ravenstar nods and takes off. "Thank you, Greyrock," I say while pushing off the ground to head back to the castle and then to my aunt's house.