Darkspur

Chapter 10 - Good Friends

As Keria made her way to the Great Hall, she could hear the clamour long before entering the large, ornate chamber. It was by far the biggest room in Darkspur that had over the years seen the coronations, weddings, christenings and funerals of every royal line that had ever ruled. Most of the time though, it lay unused, Caden preferring a more intimated setting for his sporadic gatherings with his people, favouring the castle gardens for any large meetings; including in winter, which never went down well with his subjects. This perplexed most but Keria knew the real reason, Caden simply was never comfortable sitting on the large, gaudy throne that sat on the slightly raised platform at the far end of the Great Hall. This was not to say it literally hurt his rear but rather that he never truly felt as if he deserved to sit on the royal throne. Caden had been third in line and only inherited the kingdom after the deaths of his two elder brothers when he was but a young knight. He never got over the fact that he was never really meant to be king.

Even when he did decide to use the space, it was hardly ever for its designed purpose. Instead, he would sometimes have small tournaments in the hall, no horses of course, but there was more than enough room for archery and fencing competitions. So, it was only by luck that a few days earlier the harvest feast had been held and the tables, benches and accompanying silverware that would normally be in storage were unpacked and ready to be taken advantage of.

As she entered Keria noticed the throne had been moved off to the side of the hall, hidden in the shadows under a sheet that had been half-heartily draped over the colourful chair. It was not a surprise to her.

The room was full of raucous chatter. Elves and men mixed as if it was an everyday occurrence, even though the last time an Elf visited, Milly hadn't even been born. The tables heaved with food and servers scuttled about filling tankards or clearing empty plates. The smell of roasted meats and fine ale assailed her nostrils causing her stomach to grumble, reminding her, she hadn't eaten for some time.

Even from the door, Keria could see Caden wasn't himself, his mind was obviously on the Darnach. He sat at the head table, Egrinlast on one side, Ordwin the other, only speaking when forced to do so. The rest of the time he sat staring into the distance, concern etched on him face. She decided this just wasn't good enough, even though there was much to deliberate, this was not the time. Heading over to Caden's table she leaned over, looking into the old man's eyes.

"Do I have to start on you?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, oh," Ordwin said, shifting uneasily in his seat.

"I have much on my mind Keria, please don't," the King pleaded.

"You have guests, Caden, they have came a long way and deserve better," she continued. Egrinlast was sipping some wine, doing his best to ignore the conversation beside him. "From what I could tell earlier you two are good friends. Then again, I'm only guessing, as you seem to want to keep it a secret. Which begs the question, in what way were you good friends?"

Egrinlast sprayed his wine over the table, coughing and laughing at once. Ordwin was roaring, banging the table with his palm.

"I think we better set this young thing straight. Don't you, Caden?" Egrinlast said, wiping wine from his face, still chuckling.

Caden was laughing now, shaking his head. "Ok, Keria, you win. Grab a seat and I'll enlighten you."

Keria pulled in a stool, smirking at Ordwin, who winked back at her.

"We didn't meet under the best circumstances," he glanced at Egrinlast, who lowered his eyes. "Egrinlast, had a sister, Tari, the High Priestess of the Elven Cathedral. We never met but it was said her beauty matched no other." Egrinlast nodded. "One day though, she disappeared, leaving only a letter which described a calling from the Goddess. It was not unknown for the Priestess to vanish for months at a time, but as time wore on Egi got ever more concerned. So he and a handful of friends decided to go and find her, riding out to try and pick up his sisters trail. That's when he bumped into us two," Caden shot a thumb at Ordwin, who nodded as he stuffed his face with a chicken leg. "We were young, petulant adventurers and had, lets say, taken a holiday from our training at Darkspur in search of excitement. A quest to find the missing High Priestess of the Elven Empire sounded great to us."