Darkspur

Chapter 15 - The Fifteen

Keria and Milly were in the castle garden, sitting under the spiralling branches of Erwethwen's Tree. It's tall, thin, white trunk seemed barely thick enough to hold the mass of fine corkscrewing limbs that exploded above the mother and daughter. At present the tree was covered in tiny silver leaves but soon, when autumn arrived, these would be replaced with thousands of delicate white and yellow flowers that would cover the branches all winter long. It would be watch intently and on the day the first petal fell from one of the blossoms, the people knew winter was at an end. The only blemish on the tree was a small square panel, carved into the trunk. Set into the middle on a tarnished bronze cast plaque was a quote from the Elven scriptures: Let the trees channel your potential, for they are natures heart. No-one knew what it truly meant but that was the manner of many of the ancient texts; deliberately obscure.

Milly was struggling with the Indridan Family Tree book her grandfather had given her, it was far too big and heavy to lay on her small lap and Keria helped hold the book open as they both appeared to read from it's pages. In truth, though, they were reading a book of The Fifteen, slotted inside the heavy, dull history volume. This was in case Caden happened by, anything to do with The Fifteen irritated him deeply and it would cause the king to descend into one of his notorious moods. The Fifteen had been Darkspur's protectors for hundreds of years; the small group of heroes selected from the bravest and best the kingdom could muster. A mixture of knights, rangers and sorcerers, they fought and died for Darkspur, taking on any task that was commanded of them. But the last incarnation of The Fifteen had been disbanded under a veil of whispers and rumours, it's members banished from Darkspur. No one in the population knew for sure what had happened but the general opinion was that The Fifteen tried to over-throw Caden, for what reason was still unclear and probably would remain so.

"You were there mother, weren't you?" Milly asked.

Keria looked at her daughter, frowning, shaking her head.

"When the last Fifteen left," Milly continued.

Keria nodded, her face stern.

"Why did they go?" the young girl asked.

Keria thought about this for a few seconds. "Your grandfather and The Fifteen had a disagreement about something, a disagreement that got way out of hand."

"Was there fighting, I heard someone say there was?"

"Yes, unfortunately there was but it was Hanian, their leader, that halted the bloodshed. He got his company to lay down their arms before anyone was killed. What made you bring that up?" Keria asked.

Milly turned her head, gesturing to the racket of sword play and shouts coming from the neighbouring courtyard, Keria was so used to it she had almost tuned the sound out of her consciousness. Combat training had been going on for days now, with Ordwin desperately trying to get his men ready for the impending battle. Keria too had been training with her Outriders but they were far more prepared than the City Watch and she had allowed them a day of rest.

A door opened in the adjoining courtyard wall and Caden appeared at the far end of the garden. He had a piece of cloth held over his eyes, first one side then other. Keria and Milly looked at each other smiling.

"What's he doing?" Milly whispered.

"I have no idea," Keria answered, shaking her head.

Caden noticed them and strode over. His daughter in law slammed the large book shut, hiding the other story inside.

"You need to see this, amazing stuff this cloth." He was holding the piece of Sendrach cloth the Darnach prisoner had wrapped around his head when he had been led into Darkspur.