When a Stars Teardrops Become Jewels: Eclipsed Garden

| 7 | Blood, Tear and Cloth

The moon rose to the center of the cloudless sky steeping the courtyard in the goddess's light. The courtyard looked both identical to the former night and was yet entirely different. It was the same moon, full and radiant. The same stars, bright and shining. It was the same pool of still water, reflecting all forementioned as a mirror. However, unlike the night before, the courtyard was crowded with not just clusters of stars or water droplets, but people as well. Nobles who had attended the party earlier that morning had brought their entire households to witness the once in a centenary event. 

Alta, his mother and brother had been escorted and seated at the left-hand side of the King. Alta was sat in between his mother and brother in the seat that, under previous circumstances, would have belonged to the great General Argon. He was overcome with relief when he saw that the general was on duty and standing guard behind the King's left side. 

The distance, however, did not stop Rhys from ogling the general's armor from afar. He continually assaulted Alta's right ear with constant chattering about how well the armor was made, how long it must have taken to make the armor, what materials the armor must be made from, where he must have gotten the materials from, asking what kind of sword Argon had. As much as he loved his brother, Alta all of a sudden missed the studious silence of his Master Orion's study. Rhys fiddled with the scabbard on his side, which held the sword he had been given by the King that morning and had not left his side since. He leaned over his older brother's shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"I heard from a knight that his sword is coated with a poison that kills you faster than you can bleed to death."

Alta turned to face his brother; his interest piqued. He whispered back, "Poison?"

Rhys nodded flicking his eyes to behind Alta's head. Unable to withstand the curiosity, Alta looked in the same direction. He focused on where Argon stood, straight-backed with his hand resting on his swords hilt. The scabbard itself was wrapped in a dark black wrap and a snake of silver entwined itself around the sheath. The snake's head faced upwards towards Argon's sitting hand as if poised to strike it. His younger brother whispered into his ears from behind.

"He's the son of the first daughter of the Coldwell's and Prince Aeron."

If Argon was truly the son of the first daughter of the House of Coldwell, then the rumors of a poisonous sword made sense. The House of Coldwell was named after their ancestors cold-blooded method of torturing their enemies. They would feed them a slow-acting poison and then put them at the bottom of a water well. As the water levels rose with the ebbing of the moon, their victims would panic at being unable to move their numbed limbs, watching them turn blue from the cold as they either drown or confess. The mere thought of it made Alta's own blood turn to ice. 

Realizing something, Alta's head snapped back to his brother. "Prince Aeron, King Tritons first-born son?" 

"Our uncle, late uncle I guess, since he's dead." 

"Rhys!" Alta hushed, glancing around to ensure no-one heard him.

Rhys ignored Alta, looking back at Argon with an excited smile. "Do you think he'd be willing to train me in sword-fighting, since we're now related by blood? Oh!" He seemed energized even by the mere idea of it. However, in the seat next to him, Alta's mind was spinning. Prince Aeron had died in a brother's war for the very throne King Rune, Alta's father, sat on. Now his son, their cousin, was a General and also a son of one of the twelve founding noble families. The more he discovered the more tangled the web of his complex ancestry became.

His mother noticed his internal battle and laid a gentle but callused hand over his own. He turned his own hand upward and grasped her hand into his own. The tight grip slowed his spiraling thoughts. At least until Queen Portia arrived in an equally dizzying fashion.