Drumwe Isles

chapter twelve

(tw: descriptive violence)

Niall had been the elder of them when their parents buggered off which left him feeling a tad bit responsible for the wellbeing of Cael. Taudor was many things, but merciful was not one of them. A life on its streets made for a harsh one and the brothers had their hands full with fending off boy-lovers, bandits, and general drunkards. Orphans made for easy targets and if you hadn't the wits or strength to defend yourself: you'd end up dead.

Niall, on one hand, had been blessed with wits. Cael, on the other, had strength. Together, they were able to scrape by. Cael found simple work, such as helping elderly merchants move sacks in and about their store or street fighting. Niall found himself invested in a life of crime; he was an excellent conman and made for a good thief too. Cael never approved of his brother's way but he knew better than to judge how someone went about surviving on the streets.

For the better half of their childhood, they got along just fine. They combined their earnings and bought the necessities: warm clothes, heavy blankets, sturdy daggers, and food. Occasionally they'd even have enough for some sort of luxury. A rich meat or pint of mead maybe. It was a simple life but neither of them had too much complaint. If anyone gave Niall trouble, Cael was quick to jump to his defence, and the same was true of the other.

Though as they grew, things took a bit of a turn. Niall had an acclimation for immorality and a bit of a machiavellian streak if he were being honest. He had developed a reputation in his select part of Taudor and rather intended to build on that. He presented himself as a brute and smooth talker, and used these facades to get his way. It seemed he was building a group of thieves out of orphans from about the city. With so many minions at his disposal, people began to grow weary of him. Cael, of course, still intended to support his brother whether he agreed with the acts or not.

That was until the Bronwen incident.

The Dragonfury family was amongst the most well known bunch of nobles in the Taudor scene. They were cousins to two of Taudor's council members and thus had a fair share of influence in Taudor government. Not to mention they oversaw a great deal of all the parfum sales on the coast, almost to the level of being their own monopoly. They were hardly the types to abuse that power, particularly when doing so in Taudor could mean losing a head. Still, they were renowned as people of high influence.

Further they were a large family in terms of numbers and they were very precise with how they married out their children. The head of the family was a matriarch known as Alexus Ann Dragonfury. She was a woman of great beauty, but further a woman of great sense. It was Alexus Dragonfury who dictated which members married whom and whom married which members. She was cutthroat when it came to the topic, and really nobody wanted to take the risk of crossing her on it. She had four heirs and was a widow. Each of her sons and daughters had produced at least two children of their own.

One such grandchild to Alexus was named Bronwen Dragonfury. Now Bronwen was a beauty herself and a bit of a dark mark on the Dragonfury reputation. When she had reached an age of marriage, Bronwen found herself to be pregnant outside of wedlock by a man she would not dare tell anyone about. Alexus, naturally, was furious. She went on the warpath against any man who'd looked at her grandchild in a way she didn't approve of. As for her new great grandson, she looked at the child with great distaste. No member of the Dragonfury clan could be allowed to be a bastard, and thus Alexus presented Bronwen with a very clear ultimatum.

Bronwen could either keep her son, be given some gold for the road, and never see her family again: or she could be rid of him. Being a girl of no craft and decent wits, she knew better than to expect she could make something of herself on her own. She hadn't the strength to be a warrior nor the knowledge to be a craftsman. This left her with little option outside of crime or brothel work. So, Bronwen knew she'd have to be rid of her boy. He was hardly two years old by then but she presumed that if she could get him to one of the nicer orphanages just outside of Taudor, maybe the boy would fare well, afterall, he'd inherited the Dragonfury beauty.