The Fall of the Stars Book 1: Wheels of War

Homer Hallmar III

Talman Hallmar was King Homer's eldest son. When the boy was sixteen, his father allowed him to sail to Bastard Town with his uncle, Gelman Hallmar. That was four years past, though, and the short, joyful little boy had sure grown into a man by then. Homer, Tantalia, Elenia, and Vlad sat in the throne room awaiting Talman's arrival. Homer had taken a great liking to Vlad, though Elenia confessed she was frightened of him. He was strong and fiercely loyal, more than Homer could ever say of his own councilors, whom he had killed.

"My son."

"My sweet strong son."

"My brother."

The doors flew open and Talman Hallmar swaggered into the hall. He had grown almost two feet taller, taller than Homer. His white hair was shoulder length and straight. The hair on his face grew thick into what would soon be a fearsome beard. At his side was a dagger, and on his back was an axe. On his white leather tunic there was a crude stitching of the Hallmar family sigil: a white dove flying over a blue field.

Talman knelt in front of the throne. "I am back at your request, father."

"Stand, my son." Homer stood from the throne and embraced his son. "How did you like Bastard Town? Where is Gelman?"

"It was a great learning experience," he said, smiling. Homer saw that he had a gold tooth. "Uncle Gelly stayed in town when we left."

"You do not know how happy I am to see you, my son."

"There are people I want you to meet, father." Talman turned to whistle at the door and in came two men and a woman, two Erians and an Altarine. The two pale skinned, blonde haired Erians looked like twins, except one had a scar across his nose. Their hair was cut in the same fashion as Talman's and they each had gold teeth as Homer saw when they smiled. The Altarine woman was almost three heads shorter than Talman and looked very young. Her fiery red hair was curled and long. Next to her was a small child with long white hair and bright violet eyes.

"What is that, Talman?" Homer pointed at the girl's arms.

"That is Anora, the daughter of the captain who brought me to Bastard Town. In her hands is our daughter, Tanalia."

A bastard. Homer was hardly surprised. His brother Gelman was a frivolous man, so no doubt some of that would rub off on Talman if left to him. But why bring the thing here?

"These two are Lenn and Lonny Harden. They were my shipmates and great friends of mine."

The twins bowed, still smiling. "First time I ever seen a blue king," said Lenn, the one with the scarred nose. "First time I ever seen any king at all," added Lonny.

"You've taken queer company." Queen Tantalia did not look pleased at all with the people her son brought into the hall. "Shipmates, you say. On what type of ship?"

Talman smiled again. There was something sinister about his smile, something that was never there before. He smiles like a pirate, Homer thought. Then he had a realization. He is a pirate.

"I will not lie to you, mother. When Uncle Gelly first brought us to Bastard Town we boarded another ship to Sixhell. There, I met these two."

"What did you do at Sixhell?" Her tone gave away that she knew exactly what he was up to at Sixhell.

"Raided the Steplands," he said shamelessly. "I know it will anger you to know that I turned to piracy, mother, but I believe it was for the better."

"Better?" she roared. Elenia shrunk away from her mother's side. "Better how? You, the Prince of Gendrea, King Homer's son, my son, promised to rule, yet you sail halfway across the world to engage in piracy? You have soiled our family name with this. When word gets out of this... We should have never let you leave with Gelman. When he returns, I'll..."

"Uncle won't return. He likes wine and women too much, things he said we lack severely here in the Gendlands." He removed the axe from his back. "I've killed men with this. I've raped women. I've fathered many children that I do not care for. I've stolen. I've lied and cheated. I've committed many ills, mother. I do not regret any of them. If I will one day be king, I will need to know many and more about things like these that you do not understand."

"How will rape and murder help you rule a kingdom?"

"We will see." He smiled his pirate smile again, his gold tooth glistening. Then he turned to his sister. "Elenia, I haven't seen you in years. Are you not delighted to see me?"

"Yes, brother," she responded. She looked as frightened of him as she was of Vlad.

"You do not seem so, sister." He took a step toward her. Tantalia stepped between them. "What is it, mother?"

"Elenia is betrothed to Drake Darkfall's son." That was true, but the fighting between Anzul and Hanytower made travel to Bluffet too dangerous to attempt. The wedding was put on hold until King Homer could get the two houses to stop, but that proved impossible. Gromar Heddith ignored every messenger sent to him.

Talman laughed. A dry, haughty cackle. "Marrying her to a green man? Way to break tradition. I have green news for you too, mother. Do you care for rumors?"

"I do not."

"I do," said Homer. "What have you heard, son?"

"A bit of stirring in the Snowlands. Seems to be they are secretly scheming with the Moons."

"Moons?"

"The Colters, father. Their sigil is a yellow moon."

"I had forgotten. That is ill news."

"Ill indeed. We do not need any more enemies in this war."

Homer squinted. Tantalia asked, "How did you know already? Are people speaking of it?"

"Only rumors. 'The Blue Queen is marrying her daughter off to a green boy. She must mean to side with them in the coming war', they say. It would be interesting if there was truth to it."

"There is," Homer said at once. Tantalia looked at him incredulously. "He is our son. Do you mean to keep him out of all of this? We do not mean to directly engage with anyone, but we do plan to throw our support to the Starfronts in the coming war."

"I'd say the Colters would be a wiser choice," Talman said. "They have stronger allies, and the only way to get to them is to pass through the mountains. All we would need to do is prevent any greens from crossing on our side and we could coast through the whole matter."

"The Colters will not help us," Tantalia said. "I've reached out to many yellow lords with offers of marriage to Elenia, and they all either ignored me or responded disrespectfully. Only the green men show us any semblance of respect."

"And do not forget that Gromar is at war with Hanytower," Homer added. "The Yellow King is not like to."

"Then there is not much we can do, I see." Talman and his three companions took a seat at the steps of Homer's throne. "We do need men if we plan to fight, though. A good portion of our men are out fighting, I've heard."

"We do not plan to fight," Tantalia declared.

"Do you think the Yellow King will not invade if you side with the greens? Even if you mean to secretly fund them, you will eventually be found out and have to fight." Everyone was silent. "But I do have a means to get arms, mother and father, if you will allow me."

"What are these means?" Tantalia sounded apprehensive.

"Give me twelve ships, mother, and I will return with them full of fighting men." He smiled his pirate smile again.