The Three Kings by Slawomir Rapala	Biography and Bibliography
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Troubled Tides part 4 of 5

“I never heard that!” The boy looked at him with new interest.

The aged warrior was silent for a moment, then he put his arm around Iskald and pulled him closer.

“It all happened a long, long time ago, before you were born and just after your father married Dynah,” he began the tale. “I never led a decent life, you know that, but back then, I was really bad. I didn’t know your father then and he didn’t know me. When I first came to Lyons, the people here, much like anywhere else, didn’t really want me around. They thought I was a mercenary, a killer.”

“Were you?”

The old man shrugged.

“I can tell you what I wasn’t: a good man. I was quick to temper and just as quick to reach for my sword.

“After a couple of days in Hvoxx I killed a few fools who had their sights set on me. In any other Kingdom something like that would be forgiven and forgotten. After all, hundreds of people die each day. But I think you know your father. He is ruthless and he rules the Estate with an iron hand. He already had his eyes on me and having heard of what happened, he immediately had me imprisoned.

“After a few days I was placed before Vahan. No doubt I would have been hanged that very same day, if it hadn’t been for Dynah who was also present at Court. She was the one who defended me when everyone else asked for my death. I think that she knew, intuitively she knew, that I wasn’t all that evil, that there still was some good left in me, and she wanted to give me another chance.

“Either way, Vahan grew angry and tried to convince her of my guilt, but she was stubborn. She spoke for a long time in my defence. I don’t remember what she said at all, but in the end Vahan gave up. He abandoned the idea of having me hanged and only banished me from Lyons.”

“But what could make him let you go?” Iskald wondered, already forgetting about the tears. “Father is very strict, and as far as I can remember no criminal in Lyons ever got away after being caught.”

“Well, thanks for placing me in that category,” Aezubah gave a sour look.

“You know what I meant,” Iskald waved his hand impatiently. “Finish your story! What happened then?”

“Well, if you ask me, words or pleas alone could never have granted me my freedom. It was commonly known that the Duke simply adored his wife, so I think that he just could not have refused her anything, no matter how absurd her wish was. I even think that setting me free actually gave him a lot of pleasure, though he seemed very displeased at the time.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he saw how happy it made your mother,” Aezubah smiled. “I don’t even think he realized how much power she had over him. She was the mother of all Lyons, she was a true Queen.

“After she died, Vahan changed. He became more ruthless, more distant. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a noble man and ruler, but it’s just not the same without Dynah. She was his link to the people, she walked among them and she was one of them.

“Vahan is loved because he is strong and just and noble. People revere him but they don’t know him, they’re not connected to him. To them he is a distant god, a Monarch sitting on a gold throne atop a cliff overlooking their lives. Dynah was one of them, one of us, one of all of us. She was and still is the heart of Lyons.

“Anyway, after gaining my freedom I left the Estate immediately, vowing never to set foot in the cursed country again. Still, as I left I could not help thinking about that beautiful woman who gave me a second chance at life. It broke my heart when I heard of her untimely death. I came back to witness her burial in Uaal.”

Aezubah and Iskald sat quietly beside one another, each deep in thought. A hummingbird flew by singing his song. The wind rustled the leaves above them. They felt peaceful and serene.

“I never heard that before,” Iskald said after a while. “I always assumed you and my father had been friends forever.”

“We made peace over Dynah’s grave,” Aezubah said with his eyes glued to the now cloudless sky. “He spotted me at the funeral and asked me why I came back even though I knew that if caught in Lyons again, I’d be killed. I said I had to say farewell to the woman who saved my life. He said nothing, only smiled and we made peace. I left shortly after that but we ran into each other a few more times in the Far North. I saved his life in the battle of Knoss, we came to be friends after that.”

“I know about that battle!” Iskald exclaimed. “Father was outnumbered three to one, the Vikings were pressing and suddenly you came down from the mountains with ten thousand highlanders! With your help the Wolves shredded the Viking army to pieces! Oh, I wish I could have been there!”

“No you don’t,” Aezubah shook his head and a shadow passed over his face at the grim thought. “It was judgement day. Twenty thousand warriors lay dead at the end of it. The Vikings were thrown back but not defeated.

“To this day they’re still thinking of overtaking Biyack and of becoming the sole power in the North. It’s rumoured they’re preparing armies, the highlanders say the same. Ever since Arynos elected Irvinn as their new bati, there’s been more and more talk about an invasion.

“Othar is also pressing strong, but the black-hairs from Arynos don’t mingle with the red-beards from Othar. Thank the gods for that because if those two fused their strength, Biyack could not hold out much longer and Lyons would be second on their list. Who knows what would happen? It’s never good when we fight the Vikings.

“Anyway, both your father and I were wounded at Knoss and we spent days recovering. That’s when we came to be friends and some time later, when I needed a place to simmer down, your father invited me to stay here and asked me to instruct you. It makes him happy to see that you’re becoming a great warrior and true man, and I...”

“And you?” asked Iskald when Aezubah didn’t finish.

“I’m just happy that by being your teacher and your friend, I can at least partly repay the debt of gratitude I owe to your mother.”

They sat in silence some more, both of them thinking about the beautiful woman who by now was without a doubt a Queen among the angels of heaven. Even though one of them had never met her and the other had seen her only briefly long, long ago, she touched their lives immensely and they would never forget her.

It was late morning when Aezubah finally rose to his feet. “That’s enough of that,” he said. “Didn’t you hear what your father told you? If you want to leave with him today at noon, you better hurry and ready your horse. Remember, a good warrior thinks of his horse before he thinks of himself.”

The boy started to rise sluggishly. He glanced at the old man with a little smirk. “You know, I’d never suspect you to care so much for horses.”

“Oh, yeah? Why is that?” Aezubah asked, half-expecting a snotty response.

“ ’Cause you really don’t look much like an animal lover. That killer blade at your side makes you look more like a cattle-butcher!”

“You ungrateful ape!” Aezubah laughed out loud. “That’s how you repay me for all my advice and all the instructions? Here’s another one for you: never forget that life sometimes makes you do or become things you never expected to be.

“My calling, for example, is indeed to be a butcher, because war is nothing more than slaughter, but I do have a certain sentiment towards horses. A steed sometimes becomes the only friend and companion during long journeys through treacherous lands.”

Having said that he picked up the boy’s bow and quiver and started back towards the residence. “Go to the stables and look after your horse,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll put these things away in the armoury.”

Aezubah disappeared in the palace and Iskald turned on his heels and marched briskly in the direction of the stables, which were located at the rear of the palace. The boy entered the main stable, a large, spacious and well cared for building. If Vahan was known to have a weakness, it was the love for his horses and he made sure they were treated with utmost attention.

A long open corridor connected two opposite entrances to the stable. The horses were kept along both sides of it, separated from one another by wicker partitions, each for the purpose of giving the animals their own space. There were only about thirty of them in the stables at this time; the rest were already on the grazing fields. The ones that Vahan valued the most remained inside until late afternoon when the heat subsided and only then were they allowed on the pastures, where they stayed until late evening, guarded by a dozen stable boys and a few warriors.

Iskald’s steed, Ruppé, was a valuable animal and as such, it was now still in the stables. The animal neighed softly when it recognized its master and waved its long, beautiful tail. Iskald went to work quickly, realizing just now how late it was getting.

He was just finishing brushing and saddling his mount when Vahan entered in the company of two giant members of the Order of the Northern Wolves, a unique and separate entity in the Lyonese army with a longstanding history and tradition.

Proceed to part 5...

Copyright © 2008 by Slawomir Rapala