Sweet Waters Throne

141 Chapter 14The guest who Lord Leoric was so eager to see turned out to be totally different from what he was expecting him to look. He thought whoever this man was then he would be wrapped in silks and satins, he will be rich and well informed. He even thought mayhaps this man was from Andreia — a city known for providing well equipped and smart men who had knowledge of everything.

Yet this guest wore a torn up wool grey robe which had somehow turned to brown because of not being washed for a while. He reeked of sweat, he didn’t have shoes on his feet and he was very thin in such a way his skin conjoined with his body. His face was full of wrinkles as so was his body, but he wasn’t that old for him to have so many wrinkles. Maybe it’s because he was so poor and lacked proper nutrition.

Lord Leoric and Princess Aeryn were both stunned by the look of this man who was said to know how to kill the dragons. But his servant said he had knowledge of how to kill a beast, maybe he may have misunderstood him. In the midst of confusion, Lord Leoric asked the man “Have you lost your way home?”

“No, my Lord. I know where I am” he replied calmly with his hands forward showing his devotion and respect for Lord Leoric.

Lord Leoric turned to Aeryn, she was very much shocked as he was. Then he looked at the bare foot of this man and his feet were covered with dust. “Are you from the mines?” asked Lord Leoric.

“Yes my Lord”

“Are you one of my slaves?”

“No, my Lord. I was sent here for failing to pay my debts” he replied.

“Where are you from?”

.....

“Penrith, my Lord”

“Penrith? Aren’t there dungeons in the Liberty Cities that they had to send you here?”

“I’m afraid I was owed a huge lump sum of money. My debtor thought this would be a good punishment”

Princess Aeryn intervened “Do you know how to kill a dragon?” she asked straight away.

The man exhaled softly, then he nodded and smiled “Yes, I heard my Lord was looking for someone who knew the way”

“Yes I do, I’ll free you and pay you in gold if you show me” said Lord Leoric looking straight at the man.

“It’s not about showing you my Lord, it’s about reading it”

“Reading it?”

“Yes, my Lord. I have a book passed down in our family through generations. I can exchange it with my freedom... and of course a few gold” he managed a smile at the end.

The man may have meant good to smile at Lord Leoric, but he was so ugly that his smile felt like a nightmare. He had lost his two front teeth, his nose was broken and he had squinted eyes.

“Show me the book” demanded Lord Leoric.

“Grant me my freedom first my Lord”

“I can’t do that, I need to see the book first so I may decide if it’s worth your life or not. No book, no freedom” This time Lord Leoric wore his serious look and he took few step towards the man.

The man was nervous and clearly scared of Lord Leoric. He lowered his head and took a few steps backwards, then he asked the servant for his small bag. The servant brought the man’s bag and gave it to him.

Princess Aeryn and Lord Leoric stood close to each other, their eyes focused on the small bag and what may come out of it. They couldn’t stop looking at this man, he seemed to have come out of nowhere — later on Aeryn said the man could have been a ghost who was just resurrected for how scary he was.

After a few seconds the man took out a small book with a black cover. He immediately handed it to Lord Leoric “The book of House Morrow and their downfall. All books were burned a thousand years ago, somehow my ancestors kept this. It will be useful to you my Lord” he said tying to smile again. But his smile soured Aeryn and that’s because of the bad breath that came out of his mouth, it was like a rotten rodent inside him.

Lord Leoric took his time. He went on to sit on a chair and slowly turned the pages of this book, Aeryn sat beside him. There were drawings of dragons, Dark Crawlers and their fangs, silver haired dragon riders on top of the skies.

“The dragon riders had silver hairs?” Princess Aeryn observed. Then she kept on asking “Why did the dragon riders have silver hairs?”

The man seemed well informed “Because once a rider claims a dragon, their hairs changes to silver” he said.

“My good sister still has her brown hairs. My brother too, could this mean they are different from the ancient House Morrow? Or is there a specific time, or a thing to do?”

“Once the rider makes his or her first kill on a dragon, the hair will automatically change to silver”

“They have to kill a human?” asked Lord Leoric now he was stunned.

“Yes my Lord, if they were to invade a village and burn a few children, then they will gain their silver hairs and become more powerful”

This was new information to these two, Lord Leoric and Princess Aeryn. This man who they thought would be useless turned to be helpful and very much well informed. As Lord Leoric went through the pages, he asked “Where is the chapter about killing the dragons?” while flipping the pages. He suddenly landed on one and announced “Here it is... the fall of House Morrow and death of the dragons” that was the title.

Unlike other chapters which were full of sketches in black and white. This chapter did not have even a single sketch, there were ten pages of words and instructions and history of House Morrow.

Lord Leoric turned to the man “Did you read it?” he asked him.

“I can’t read my Lord”

“You can’t?” Princess Aeryn was rather shocked. How could one carry a book and not know how to read it. “How did you know that it contained vile information if you hadn’t read it?” she asked with curiosity.

The man was silence, he didn’t reply and nor did he show that he was scared of either Lord Leoric or the princess. He ignored Aeryn and turned to Leoric “My freedom, my Lord” he said, but more like he was demanding.

Leoric sent for his servant to bring out a piece of paper, an ink and a quill. Then he wrote a letter of freedom, it was a casual letter like any letter he’s written for years when he freed his servants, prisoners and slaves from the mines. The letter only needed to have the Lord’s sigil to be legitimate, and Leoric sealed it with his sigil and handed it to the man.

The man fell down and kissed Lord Leoric’s feet as a sign of gratitude. Then he kissed Princess Aeryn’s feet too, although the princess wasn’t that much impressed by him. Then in a span of just a minute, the man stormed out of the castle and disappeared into the unknown leaving Lord Leoric and Princess Aeryn with the book.

It seemed not only Princess Aeryn experienced an unusual guest that day. Now formally known as Queen Aryan also received a strange letter from an envoy that same day, she just sat on the Silver throne for two days and here she was receiving strange letters which she had know idea where they came from.

She turned to her Lord Commander, Sir Tyriol. “Did you see the envoy?” she asked him.

“No, Your Grace” replied Tyriol.

“Alright, thank you Sir Tyriol” Aryan took the letter and placed it inside her pockets, she intended to read it letter when she was done with looking after the lions.

Things didn’t change drastically when Aryan became Queen, rather they remained the same through out the realm. Maybe because Prophisians felt like Gandalf was still alive once again, and whoever took his place carried his blood, his heart and ambitions. They trusted Queen Aryan just like how they trusted Gandalf, and they also believed Aryan will bring to justice whoever committed the crime against their late King.

Speaking of justice, later that day when Aryan was having dinner with Olivia and few of her friends. That’s when she opened the letter, few words in and her eyes widened with amazement. She read about the part where Lord Cregan Lawsend was responsible for the murder of her brother and she felt dizzy. Then the letter went on to describe the baker and his exact location in Whitebridge where he lives in exile. At the end it said “Find the baker first, he will reveal to you who exactly murdered your brother” and from there she folded the letter and exhaled.

Olivia knew something was wrong, she reached out to Aryan and asked. Aryan had no words to say anymore, she just gave Olivia the letter so she can read it for herself.