A Clash of Blood and Snow

Brendel

Brendel had been rudely awakened by the burning cold steel of his bed warmer graze against his big toe after stretching too far which had long cooled down during the now cool winds of night. He grudgingly stuck out his right foot onto the wooden floor which was being cradled by the stone walls decorated with pictures of brave knights killing wyverns, with loyal squires at their sides giving them praise.
Brendel was the second born son of Edward from the family Harner, his elder brother Tom was five years older and his two sisters were twins that were 2 years younger. They were all born in the North except Tom who was born in the south during the war of the four kings. The most trauma the great kings felt was a chill riding up their spines like a cavalry charge storming its way to overthrow their heads with hate and corruption. However the people of all four kingdoms, they were left with scraps from the skinniest of chickens and the most malnourished of cows as grass could not grow with the ash clouds blocking the sun and took all hope. That is until allegiances were formed...
Brendel was to turn 11 within the coming months, his dream was to be a knight, fighting battles for his elder brother when he would become king in the north, however his dream was thwarted many times, he constantly heard stories from his father that Tom could take the leader of arms in single hand combat, the only thing he remembers during those conversations was the pride in his fathers voice while Brendel often slipped up whilst training, occasionally leaving his guard down too much, not paying attention to the opponent's body language. Of course this annoyed him and would eventually cause him to lash out on training dummies. His younger sister, Jaedyn was his favourite as they would share common likes and a rivalry in archery, she would often tease him by laughing or by exaggerating how easy it was for her...
He dressed himself into his standard boiled leather clothing, then he out on his boots and made his way through the long sweltering corridors, he hated the fact that most of his wardrobe was made up of leather and plain shirts as he would often get too hot to the point where he would have to only have his shirt on.
He found his way to the central courtyard where he would come as a toddler to sit on the frame of the family's fountain. It was at least fifteen feet high and twenty feet wide, the fountain was also shaped into a knight bent on one knee using his shield as support which had a six sided star while holding a sword in the opposite hand, the water burst from shown gashes on the knight which appeared on the torso and legs.
Brendel heard his fathers voice call his name from the corridors surrounding the courtyard "Brendel!". Edward walked toward Brendel and took a seat next to him on the fountain. "the leader of arms says you haven't practiced in a week, what's going on?" Brendel looked to his father who was now staring waiting for an answer. "Nothing's wrong, its just that.... that I know that I'm not good at fighting, I always seem to slip up in standard combat." Brendel looked down at his boots not wanting to see the look on his father's face which he would of thought to be angry or disappointed.
"Look at me Brendel" his fathers slowly becoming more sympathetic, "Just because you can't fight with a sword doesn't mean you can't fight at all, I'll find something for you to do, but for now we can go hunting together and see how you hold up with a bow." "Yeah, Alright father." Brendel slowly raised himself and walked back through the corridors contained pictures of fallen ancestors, however he would spend most of the time looking at the picture of his great grandfather, Aeron.
Aeron was the first man to have ventured past Aegirion, he took a small group of sailors to accompany him whilst journeying across the black sea, only two came back from the journey, both of them say that Aeron died fighting a winged beast that could tower over the tallest houses of Aegirion, it allegedly had spears for talons, swords for teeth and stone for skin, one of the survivors called Aeron a fool and an egotistical asshole, the next day he was hung, drawn and quartered. But that's why Brendel favoured his great grandfather, he was the bravest to go out to an unknown place that could contain worst things.
After Brendel had been changed of clothing for the activity he met his father who was waiting on a horse, holding on the reigns of Brendel's horse. The gates to Sommerstone raised and his father started his horse at a gallop and Brendel did the same with his horse. "Where's Tom, usually he joins you" "Yes he does but I told him to look after your sisters Jaedyn and Airis. The two wandered through the forest the lay about three miles from the castle, they got off their horses to look for tracks of boars. After an hour they came across a promising trotter track that led to a nearby lake.
The lake was crystal clear Brendel observed the several shoals of fish gliding through the water. Brendel carried on to catch up to his father who was now crouched behind a tree staying out of sight from the boar that was laying down in the mud, rolling round. As Edward had drawn his arrow onto the bow, Brendel walked closer, and closer, until a branch snapped under his foot, causing the boar to flee in panic, however Edward had let his arrow fly and let it catch the leg of the boar which lead to him breath with relief.
"Well, you really are one for timing aren't you?" Edward chuckled to Brendel, who was now grinning at the remark. "You're one to talk, leaving it to the last second to shoot" "we should go and follow the boar before we lose it" Edward exclaimed only now realising it could get away.
The two walked close to the blood trail left by the boar and found it's body laying lifeless on the floor of the forest. At this moment an idea popped in Brendel's mind. "why don't I invest some of my talents into becoming a spy" he could tell his father liked the idea which was suggested by the some what curious look on it. "I don't know, if there's twigs then you're done for." He said throwing a sly dig at Brendel's arm.
They both dragged the corpse of the boar back to the horses and lay the body on top of one. They rode back to the castle and the thought of becoming a spy excited Brendel and left him in a constant thinking process of being in the shadows and actually being a useful asset to the kingdom of sommerstone.
Once they had arrived, Edward had called for an available warlock to arrange a training session for Brendel with a trained assassin with allegiance to Sommerstone.
Brendel had went to the library to perhaps find a book on how to be silent and be unseen by people when he doesn't want to be seen.
He did find one book, "The arts of the shadows" by Sharoq Tiryl.
He acquainted himself to different techniques so he could get an advantage whilst learning, to speed up the process.
In the evening after he had eaten with his family he had went to his chambers where he would receive a knock on the door from one of the newer warlocks "Your highness, I am Anderon, the newest warlock under Paxtan. I have received news that your training will start in the morning, in the main courtyard."