The origins

Chapter 11: Prince Erevin

The Prince had stood up and was looking out of the window into the inner courtyard. In those early hours, that courtyard used to be alone. The room was silent: the revelation that a son of the emperor was present there had caused a great commotion.

Only Fra' Kaistos doubted this assertion. He did not doubt that the gentleman was of good birth, but there was something that made him doubt about what the young man had said. The fact is that the Prince, ever since he was knighted at the age of 15, had permanently worn, in public, the armor. He had then gone to the port of Tiaronesta in the north-west, where he had enlisted as a seaman and had been absent for years. The only known portraits of him asan adult always portrayed him in armor. It is true that the helmet of the armor was not the norm: it had openings in the eyes, and also "normal" nose, and even lips, but those had nothing to do with what the real prince looked like apparently.

At the end, he asked:

- Your Highness, I don't really know who you are, and I can't help but think that some pretty amazing things have happened these days. You will forgive me, but I need you to prove to me in some way that you are who you say you are.

The Prince turned: he was taller than the monk had considered before, and he certainly bore a strong resemblance to the late monarch. But that was not enough.

- "Frey," the tone of his voice surprised him, it was calm, in spite of the tension he showed from his right hand, which rested strongly on the pommel of the sword he wore at his belt, as in his own defiant gaze, "as I told you before, we know you at Court. So I've come prepared. My father gave orders that, in case he had to identify me, I would give him this small boat. You can read the content".

Frey looked at him: despite the tension, in the depths of his eyes, the big prince was laughing.

He got up from his chair, picked up the canister, removed the corkscrew and pulled out a thin, very thin, almost transparent paliondrado on which he read:

"Anyone who doubts Everin's identity need only look at his two birthmarks: one on his right wrist in the shape of a waning moon and another on his neck near his right ear, in the shape of a star. The first is mine, the second is the Empress's. Signed: the Emperor."

The Prince was expectant.

- "During my life in the Navy, more than one high-ranking military officer has required me to show them both birthmarks. Does anyone here need to see them?"

Frey was on the verge of patience:

- "Personally, I don't care who you are and, if we were in different circumstances, I wouldn't have said anything at all, but..."

The Abbot cut off the discussion:

- "Your Highness, Frey, let's all sit down and talk about this with the necessary calm. I understand you, Your Highness, but you have to understand us too. I hope that what we have feared since we discovered the events in the monastery this morning will not happen, but if it does, it is possible that you will end up knowing things that are only revealed to people of proven trust".

The prince simply took off his right boot and showed the waning moon around his ankle. And then he did the same with the stain on his neck. Therefore, he had indeed proved that he was the one who said the note, and the note had a seal with wax, which was clearly that of the Emperor. Therefore, there was little doubt that he was who he had said.

- "Excuse me, Your Highness, but we need to know who we are dealing with here".

- "I understand, although I don't know what happened here".