“And just as suddenly, King Ulric and his Knights turned around and vanished back into his cave, never to be seen again by those unworthy of his sight. But if you ever travel to King's Throne Mountain, keep a weather eye for a cave with a strange bell at the front, for you just might have found the resting place of the King in the Mountain!”
“I love that story, it’s my favorite! Tell it again, please!” Cried Vincent, my youngest nephew at five very proud years.
“No, I want to hear about your court life, Uncle Derek! You haven’t said anything about life in court the whole night! I want to hear something new!” Cried Victoria, the oldest at twelve years. She acted as the general spokesperson for the siblings usually, but when it came to story time it was anyone’s game.
“Yes, please say something about the King’s court! I haven’t heard anything for ages!” Said Veronica, eleven, with a groan.
“Alright, alright. I’d thought that I should wait until morning to share this, but I suppose now is as good a time as any,” I said with a smile and they all cheered, though Vincent was a little more reluctant about it than the others.
“Well, a few weeks ago I was at a feast the King was having in honor of Saint Gygax’s Day. While I was taking a break from dancing,” I started to say and the nieces interrupted me.
“Were you dancing with the Queen?” Asked Victoria, her eyes wide.
“Or some princess from a far away land?” Asked Veronica. They both sighed at the thought.
I chuckled. “No, I was dancing with the daughter of Councilor Teller. Anyway, while I was taking a break from dancing, I ran into an older gentleman, Lord Ryder, who seemed content to just sit off to the side and grumble about the namby-pamby nobility that seemed to be around today and how wretched his children were.”
“You’re not namby-pamby!” Cried Vernon, who was ten.
“Yeah, you’re the best knight in the whole world!” Said Vincent, and they all cheered.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “As it happens, he agreed with you that I was not a namby pamby. I must have spent an hour talking with him about life, the universe and everything. When his manservant Jenkins reminded him that he needed to leave, he turned to me and said ‘Sir Derek, you are a smart, competent ambitious young man with the terrible luck to be born into world that will not let you move up. I am going to do my best to amend that.’ Then he left. A few weeks later, a lawyer came to visit me and told me that Lord Ryder had made me his full heir and I was to inherit his title and estate when he died. Two weeks after that, I received a letter from Jenkins telling me that I was the new Baron of Middleham just before I set off to see you all.” I leaned back in my seat as I finished. “I hope that’s exciting enough for you all.”
The nieces and nephews stared at me in amazed silence before they erupted into cheers.
“Uncle Derek’s a noble! Uncle Derek’s a noble!” Said Valerie, the second youngest child.
“Knights are nobility, Valerie, so I was already a noble. I just moved up a bit on the ladder.”
“But you’re a baron! Can we see your estate? Does it have horses on it? I would love to learn how to ride a horse,” said Victoria, and she and Veronica both swooned.
“I haven’t been there yet, but I’m sure that they have horses you can ride if I have anything to say about it, or anything else you may care to do,” I said in an attempt to stem the growing tide of questions.
“Did you bring us anything from there?” Asked Verence.
“I brought the bottle of wine Jenkins sent with his letter to give to your father, but that’s all. I promise to bring a real present next time,” I said, and they all groaned.
