RavenGuard

Part 16

Spiderfell began showing up at odd points during my day. First during breakfast, which he previously took in his rooms, and again on my way to etiquette classes. He watched Bastien and I having our wrestling matches more and more frequently, and of course I saw him during council meetings, which we attended at least twice in a week. After a few weeks of this, I broke down and asked my history tutor what might be going on.

Councillor Lorus was an ancient-looking zealot, whose list of obsessions was almost as long as his scraggly grey beard. Mysteriously, the patchy mane sticking out of his head was still black, despite living on this earth for Gods-know-how long. He was often set apart from the crowd, not by his overly flagrant choice of clothing, but by his lack-thereof. Draped in only greys and browns, he flaunted his pride in his 'stately' appearance.

"We left off with the Twelve Stately Treatises, was it?" It was a manner of speaking which you would expect from an artifact of the antiquity; a wise opening, a middle section not unlike a misguided homily by a new head-priestess at the temple, and a somewhat inconclusive conclusion. Of course he had the hoarse voice from years of teaching the same outdated lessons to noble children, with that condescencion that implied something similar to the opinion of divine right, though his facts never were quite divine or entirely right.

"I was wondering about the relations between the noble families. Historically speaking, of course." His eyes started to light up, and I could tell he was ready to tell it all. "Specifically the Spiderfells."

"Well," He always started one of his sermons with this exposition. "When the original noble families pledged their allegiance to the first Queen, three of those families were very vocal about their loyalty."

"The Dragonhearts, the Greywolves, and the Ravenguards." I pointed out, trying to expediate the process of explanation.

"Correct." He said, a little surprised. "The Sword, the Shield, and the Hounds of the Crown. These were men who were very noble and righteous, always performing their services to their very best. The Spiderfells, however, had cultivated their influence through more subtle acts of loyalty." He shifted in his chair. "They were the eyes and ears of the court. Because of this, they knew everything that was going on between everyone. Each secret kiss, every stolen coin, it was all theirs to know. But with such a vast wealth of knowledge came a great temptation to withhold information to raise themselves beyond aristocrat, or even queen.

"When alliances were put to the test, the Spiderfells always came out ahead, especially during the Six-Nations wars. Usana was well fortified by the Grey Mountains and became the financial centre of the world at that time because of Coron Spiderfell's initiative to send envoys to the courts of the six opposing kingdoms. By the end of the war, three of the nations had been completely taken up by Taos and Draug. The remaining power had dissolved into twelve separate territories along the southern coast, now known as the United Merchant States."

"What does Spiderfell have to do with this?" I asked, losing patience.

"The other three families knew that the Spiders were a suspicious bunch. The Greywolf family suspected treachery, giving away supplies to their enemies to fuel their wars. The Dragonhearts accused them of treason and plotting with the other nations to take over Usana. The Ravenguards thought they were manipulating the queen so Coron could take the throne for himself. The Spiders were rounded up, some of them were killed before the queen could intervene. From that point on, the other families kept a close watch on them, even now." The councillor sat back in his chair, cocking his head to the side. "Why do you ask about this, child?"

"Since I'm the Ravenguard representative on the council, I should know the history of my opposition." I said, covering my suspicions well. Spiderfell wasn't one to be trusted, and this confirmed it. I sat back, furrowing my eyebrows. "Now that I think of it, what happened to the rest of the Ravenguards? I havn't seen another one since I got here..." I knew some of them were alive, but I had no idea where they went.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would start asking about that." He took his pipe from the table and lit it, taking a long pull of smoke and bitter tobacco. "I'm not an expert on the subject of military assignments, but that is what has happened to them, from my knowledge. It is question better suited to the Queen herself."

I nodded and rose, giving a small curtsy to the councillor. "Thank you, Councillor Lorus." I turned and flew out of the room, papers flying off the shelves as I swung the door open and ran.