Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Twenty Three : Reminiscing the Past

16th July, AD 1656

Griswall Royal Family Mansion, Migrath Alsea Outskirts

It was already evening when Everent had arrived at his family’s mansion. As the limousine passes through the gates of the estate, he could sense the nostalgic feeling emanating from all parts of the mansion. The front porch reminded him when he was a young toddler; his father along with his mother would often observe their little child as he played with his fluffy toys in his pram.

The fountain too reminded of his early childhood days when he nearly drowned and his father quickly jumped into the fountain to save him. His brother too was running from behind his father, crying about the mischievous deeds that he had done: pushing his elder brother into the fountain.

Everent could remember them as a family. The family, the three of them who’d lost their mother and wife, lives on, sharing their sorrows and happiness together. When his younger brother was like an angel to him. And their father, a joker and the bringer of happiness to the family, accompanied them towards their adulthood.

Those stories of the past made Everent shed tears. He dearly missed those precious times when his mother had whispered warming words of stories about fairy tales and evil spirits. And those times during their childhood days when Everent’s brother managed to persuade Everent to follow him into the woods.

They went into the vast forest just behind their mansion, taking their father’s antique longrifle with them. They’d never know whether the rifle was loaded or not. They did not care, all it matters that they had a rifle, and it seemed to give them comfort.

And so, they ventured deep into the forest jungles and explored the mystical wonders of nature. It was not long before they’d stumbled upon an enormous cave. Big as it was, it could fit in at least two mansions like the ones Everent and his brother live in.

And it was the best experience that the both of them had shared. The darkness of the tunnels in the cave that resembles the nocturnal view of the everlasting night skies, the sounds of drops of waters that echoes along the cave’s stony walls. And a fossilized whale that was found stuck between a pair of jagged rocks!

The boys stood there for seven minutes, then ten, staring in awe at the magnificent wonders of the cave. They wouldn’t have moved if they hadn’t heard a blood-curdling howl ring out nearby. It was a wolf’s howl and it echoed from within the cave itself.

Coming to their senses, they rushed back into the forestry area, and raced towards their estate as fast as their legs could carry them, having thrown all caution to the wind, and several times, nearly falling down into the muddy floors of the forest. Supporting each other, and pulling each other up to their feet once again, they made back to their mansion in mere minutes.

But Everent could feel the intense grip he has on his father’s longrifle. He was too scared to let go of it and he brother would’ve felt the same way too if he were in his brother’s shoes.

But remembering that they had brought the attention of the wolves to their estate and endangering the lives of many people who’d stayed next to their estate, the boys have agreed to not reveal the endeavours that they had gone through. At home, they’d told the butler that they went out to the forest for some hunting and, sensing there was a wild dog nearby, they fled home.

Everyone believed them, despite having seen several wolves converging onto their homes. But that matter was dealt with instantly with the use of firearms, snares and booby traps.

The boys, of course, caught hell from their father. Their punishment was a rather heavy one from their father, a well respected general in the Aurelian Army. As expected from the man, he had the both of them receiving ten lashes on their buttocks with his belt.