“Dear princesses, how do you plan to save us, if I may ask?” Sloan asked, holding onto the reins of his horse.
“Well,” Galena said, her eyes locked on the horizon. “We intend to stop King Ward from rising. I am not too sure how we will achieve that but I do know that it will take some time. We will need to gather an army.”
Sloan smiled and his pink lips grew thinner. “When you start recruiting for that army of yours, please tell us in Raven Town. We will definitely enlist.”
I grinned at him, encouragingly. “So, Sir Sloan the Smith, how is your family?”
“My family is doing great,” he responded. “My eldest son just got married and his wife bore him a new born baby!” Sloan turned his head to look us all in the eye. “You know, my princesses, your father is the greatest King that I have lived to see. Your grandfather, King Dane, was not as good. Sorry, my princesses.”
“That is fine,” Aqua commented, as perky as usual. “Father always aspired to do better than our grandfather. And he has done so.”
Sloan nodded, scratching his horse’s unruly mane. “King Darius is a godsend. We, here in Raven Town, admire him greatly.”
“Sir Sloan,” I decided to ask him. “Do you know who the Lord of Light is?”
His eyes lit up. “I have only heard the beginnings of His splendid wonder.”
I smiled, rubbing Cloud’s long neck. “Well, I believe that He is on our side, fighting King Ward. So, I think that we will win.”
“Think?” Sloan coughed. “My princesses, the Lord of Light is great and awesome. If He is on your side, there will never be a time when you do not succeed. However, He may not want to win, that would be His will.”
“Why wouldn’t the Lord of Light want us to win?” Safire questioned, rolling her eyes as if that what Sloan had said was most foolish. “We are the good side and He is good. King Ward is evil so why would a good Lord team up with an evil king. It does not make any sense.”
Sloan shook his head. “I meant no disrespect, my Princesses. All I was saying is that the Lord of Light is powerful beyond anything and his ideas are complex beyond all of our thoughts.”
My sisters calmed down. The scenery of the outskirts of Raven Town was absolutely beautiful. The mountains rose high up into the sky, with their snow covered, white tip. The trees that lined up on the sides of the path were green and had pointy needles for leaves. The shrubs and bushes seemed totally natural, much more natural than the bushes in the Palace. The streams that ran behind the shrubbery were crystal clear and the fish that swam in them were rainbows of color.
“This place is beautiful,” I exclaimed, breathless.
Sloan grinned, pleased to have people appreciate his town. “Raven Town is just as beautiful as the nature.”
“Where is the inn?” Safire asked, impatient. “The inn that King Ward had been born, I mean.”
“It is called Nest Inn,” said Sloan, gently. “It’s just up ahead. Not many people go visit there anymore. Rumor has it that Room III, the room of King Ward’s birth, is haunted.”
“Tell us about it,” Aaron nodded.
Sloan sighed, happy to tell someone his story. “Well, Erid, King Ward’s father, was born and raised in Raven Town. When he married Lady Reyna, he insisted on raising their children here. Lady Reyna was pregnant and she was pretty agitated with her new husband. I mean, Erid was probably even more evil that his son. And at that time, there were rumors swirling around that he just married her for power and money. Lady Reyna was devastated. Imagine loving a man who just loves you for your power and wealth. That was probably how she felt. So she escaped Vine Court Tower in the city center to an inn in the rural outskirts of the town. There, she gave birth to her son but Erid found them shortly afterwards. Erid and Lady Reyna, then, fought over their newly born son violently. I do mean battling with swords and magic. Then the legends say that something happened. Erid was suddenly a saint but King Ward had received his father’s deadly addiction for death and destruction. They say that Reyna herself changed her husband but King Ward was growing up to be a troublesome young man. The small family permanently bought Room III as their own and that’s where King Ward grew up. He always seemed evil, even his parents couldn’t deal with him. When he was merely fourteen years old, they sent him to a metal shop to be apprenticed. They thought hard work might change him. Lady Reyna and Erid tried, desperately to have more children so that Ward wouldn’t be the heir to the throne but she couldn’t.
“The man who Ward was apprenticed to was named Heinz and was known for his iron works. Heinz had an immense amount of talent for metal work, some of his creations are still adored today by metal lovers such I am. However, this Heinz was rebellious to the government. Living in the outskirts of Palace City now, he sculpted depictions of all the flaws in the government at that time. Heinz was probably not right in the head. He told Ward all about uprisings, murder, and hope for a new government. Ward took on that challenge and promised Heinz that he would change it. After four years of metal working, Ward set off, back to Raven Town. He stuck down his father whom was reclining outside the Nest Inn. Ward, then, killed his mother but not without a fight. Lady Reyna was a tough women. There King Ward seized the throne and paraded all the way to Funnel Village with his new servants and soldiers.
“Lady Reyna had been murdered in that very room. Some say that they still hear her moaning at night, for her son. Others say she goes into a murderous rage, as a ghost, and destroys everything in her way. But Room III is no longer used. I suppose that the innkeeper has had enough. He had enough of those screams, shatters, injuries, and deaths.”
There was a long period of silence where all we could hear were the autumn leaves crunching under the hooves of our horses.
