The Lost Crown

The Spires of Selendril

Walliam decided to do as his mother ‘suggested.’  He shared the road with two men, farmer Marder and farmer Finly.  Farmer Marder was absolutely certain that the underground stream was on his property, and that meant the water was his, and that everyone would have to pay him for it.  He faced the wrath of both Kamilia and Fannial Frost with a stony face as they told him the stream was running on the border of the farms, and as such it belonged to the people of the village and the surrounding farms.

Farmer Marder decided to exercise his right to appeal to the First Family, which meant the Berthold family.  The village of Kelton, and the surrounding farms, were vassals to the Berthold Family.  At harvest time they gave their portion of tax to the Berthold collectors.  And if a decision was made by an Elder that was unwanted, then any vassal had the right to appeal to the Lord of the First Family to which they were all sworn.  

“And what are you going to do when Lord Anand tells you to go home and live with this?” Kamilia had asked farmer Marder.  “Go to the King himself?”

Marder waved his hat at her and harrumphed out the room.

Walliam was not happy that farmer Marder was going with him to Selendril.  But his parents insisted he had to go with the man.  They did not want him traveling alone.  His trip would be in stages.  There was a Magian at Selendril to whom Walliam would have to take his letter from Elder Frost.  The Magian would test him and see if indeed he could be a Magian.  If he passed the test he would travel on to Sundjahar and then on to Cerallon and the academy.  Walliam didn’t think about what would happen if he failed the test in Selendril.

Saying good bye to Maysie had made him sick to his stomach.  He had lain awake all night thinking about it.  He knew he had to go.  And he wondered if he could talk Maysie into going with him.  But his thoughts never went far down that road.  It would not be proper for the two of them to travel together.  He would miss her.  He thought of the Summer Day coming and how he had looked forward to dancing with her during the festival.  There would be no festival for him, now.

He might never see her again, not until he was much older.  And she would be married to someone else by then.  When his thoughts went down that road he grew very upset and had to shake everything out of his head.

On the day of departure he discovered that he had one more companion on the road.  Farmer Finly was also going to present an argument to Lord Anand Berthold.  When farmer Finly rode up to where farmer Marder sat on his wagon, horse reigns in hand, farmer Marder’s face had gone stone still.  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

Farmer Finly tipped his hat.  “I’m joining you all on your journey.  I have business with Lord Anand myself, and I thought this an excellent time to make this journey to present it.”

Farmer Marder gave the other man a long, cold stare.  “This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with water rights, would it?” 

Farmer Finly nodded his head.  “Well yes, it does,” he said.

Walliam rode behind farmer Marder’s wagon.  Farmer Finly rode to the side as they left the village on the west road.  As they rode the two men engaged in an ongoing discussion of the situation, and Walliam did not want to hear any of it.  The feuds between the Finly’s and the Marder’s had been ongoing for many generations.  Everyone in the village knew to walk away when they saw the two men get into an argument.

Walliam thought about Maysie.  She had been surprisingly easygoing about saying good bye.  He had expected some kind of reaction from her.  She had been happy for him, and all smiles.  He looked for some sign that she was upset or that she would miss him, but he saw nothing.  He had intended to say something about the way he felt for her, but when he saw no sign of sadness from her he bottled up his speech and his emotions.