Beyond The Wall

Beyond The Wall

  Wil Clayton

  Long Shadows on a Wide Plain series

  Copyright 2015 Wil Clayton

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  Chapter 1

  The walls of the Royal Keep burnt red in the dawning light. Orleena looked out her window still wrapped in her light pearl nightgown. The smell of the newly blossoming flowers wafted up from the garden below, filling her room with the sweet smell of spring.

  She had been unable to find a comfortable place to lie in her large feather bed, so Orleena had pulled herself from it and sat upon the cool sill of her bedroom window and watched the moon march across the sky.

  Her father was coming home today and she was to meet him for the first time. Orleena’s five year old mind panicked at the thought of the stranger. What would he look like? Would he like her? Why did he come home now? But most of all she thought, did he still blame her?

  Tears had burst forth when Orleena was told of the homecoming by her guardian, Da Raloff, who had then immediately and harshly told Orleena to hush and that it was no way for a princess to act. She choked back the emotion until she was excused. Once alone in her room she let the emotions take over her again.

  The Royal Keep stood large and strong against the purple sky. It was the home of her brother who hated her. It was because of her brother that she had not been allowed to leave her family’s tower.

  Her father had left her five years ago, after cursing her for killing Mother. This was what a young hand maiden had once told her when no one else was around to hear.

  Orleena had run to Da Raloff crying over the words of the hand maiden. Da Raloff did not say a word, simply found the offending hand maiden and physically threw her from the tower. Then, when the maiden had vanished beyond the tower gate, howling as she went, Da Raloff had turned to Orleena and told her never to listen to such stories and that no one loved her more then her father.

  There was no reason for Orleena to doubt Da Raloff, except if her father loved her so much, why did he not return and take her from the tower. Why did he did he stay away when her brother threatened her? Orleena did not have the answer, but as the sun rose she knew the answer would soon come and that made her want to her lock door and never open it again. She did not want to learn that the whispers that floated in the halls were true.

  Orleena’s uncle, was the only family she knew. Uncle would come to play when he had time away from his duty running the city. Whenever she asked about her father, her brother or when she would be allowed to leave to tower, he always replied the same.

  “Be a good girl and do as Da Raloff tells.”

  And she did, not because she was told to, but because Orleena loved and respected Da Raloff more than any other person she knew, the only one who had ever watched over her and made sure she was safe.

  The sun peaked above the high walls that surrounded the city of Hallow’s Keep. Orleena looked down at the small crypt in which her mother slept. This was the time when she would usually wake and put on her clothes before heading to lay a rose on her tomb, but Da Raloff said she must stay in her room today until her father came for her. And so she did.

  In the night, Orleena’s obedience was tested more than once, she would look from the window and plotted a path through the city to the gate, she could easily hide from her father in the swamp. But the the idea of leaving her tower became as terrifying as the spectre of her father. The tower and the gardens that surrounded it were all she had known in her short life and she did not know what waited beyond.

  All she could do was pull her doll, Elena, close and I try to quiet the fear that came to her.

  Orleena’s doll was a pristine, clay doll with deep orange skin, a neat dress and decorated small red and blue ribbons, a gift from Mother who had told Da Raloff to give it too her when she was four. When she received the doll on her birthday she had wanted to call her Helena after the fearless dragon slayer and goddess of the west, but her Nan had rebuked her, telling her that naming a doll after a goddess was blasphemous and Nan would not hear for it.

  Orleena had stomped off to Da Raloff in protest, demanding a new Nan that was not so difficult, but Da Raloff would also not listen to Orleena. Instead telling Orleena to listen to the wise words and respect the gods and their power.

  Orleena, furious, stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her. Doll in hand, she stomped up to Nan and grumbled the her doll’s name was going to Elena and she did not want hear anything else about it. Nan laughed and approved with a smile.

  The hand maidens knocked at the door softly. Orleena didn’t want help dressing today and turned them away. She then went to her towering pine closet and opened it. She pulled a stool from the corner and climbed up, finding her day clothes tucked neatly in the draws. From within she took her leather pants and her soft yellow tunic with her clan’s insignia, a white-silver willow tree. After dressing, Orleena, very precisely, folded the night gown into a square and placed it in its correct draw, then picked up the stool and moved it back to its corner where it belonged and closed the closet.

  Orleena sat in front of the mirror of the large dressing table and took the ornate, wood and pearl comb, given to her by her Uncle during the last year’s Night of the White Faces festival. The comb pushed through her long, brown, wavy hair that fell just below her shoulders, catching on the occasional knot. Orleena looked into her mirror, blotches sat under her wide green eyes. She wondered for a moment if her father had brown hair or green eyes. Uncle had black, straight hair, so she guessed that her father would have the same.

  Orleena tighten the green ribbons sown into the sleeves of her tunic and then pushed the cuffs up, causing them to billow outwards. She then took the wreath of white flowers and twigs she had woven two days before and place in onto her head.

  The ritual of getting dressed had calmed her mind for a time, but now that it was done and the fear came again. Tears welled in her eyes, but she held them back, she did not want cry again, she had cried enough.

  Orleena took a final look in her mirror and, content with what she saw, went back to her window. The sun was now high above the walls and washed over the city. The waters of the swamp sparkled between the islands of stone and dirt that the crooked buildings of Hallow’s Keep sprung from.

  The sun rose just little bit further when she saw him walking up the path that led to the tower, he had black hair, like her uncle, that specked in the light, cut short. Her father was dressed head to toe in polished, silver armour. The front inscribed with a willow tree, on the armour the tree was painted bla
ck as was the tradition for the armour of the Hallow Clan. Uncle had visited once in an similar set of armour after a thanksgiving festival for the returned soldiers. She had asked that day, when would her father return, but Uncle would not say.

  Now her father had come home and he was walking through her garden towards her tower, limping slightly as he approached, his right leg refused to bend fully.

  As he approached he nodded to the guards at the gate and then looked up at the bedroom window high above the front entrance. The glance physically knocked Orleena back from the sill, she did not want him to see her. Not yet.

  Orleena went to her door and pulled it open, the guards were gone and the hall was quiet. She moved to the stairs, she descended the first set and found the guards had left the next floor of the tower as well. She descend the next two levels, following the hallway as it circled the tower and came to the last set of stairs that led to the large atrium on the ground floor of the tower.

  The house guard was lined up within the atrium facing the large doors that led to the garden, waiting. The servants were with them, forming three lines in front. Each had worn their best clothes, the guards had polished their armour and washed their cloaks. Da Raloff was standing in front of them all, facing the doorway wearing her ceremonial armour made of heavy, dull iron, decorated with elaborate spirals. On the front, a single fang had been beaten into the metal, the symbol of her clan. The armour followed the curves of her body emphasising the woman’s form within. She wore a her families helm, a hard undecorated cap with a sheet of chain mail covering the her face and neck, her arm stuck straight out from her body her sword pointed to the ceiling, motionless.

  The doors were opened by a waiting guardsman and her father entered.

  “The master has returned,” shouted Da Raloff and raised her sword to the roof.

  “Ya,” shouted the guards in response and snapped their heels together, there arms crashing to their sides.

  The assortment of servants dropped to one knee their heads lowered.

  There was a moment of stillness in the room as her father looked upon his gathered family and servants.

  “Please, rise,” commanded her father with a smile and laughed, the servants rose from their bow, “it is good to see you again after so long. And I must thank each of you for the loyalty you have shown in my absence. Where is Irana?”

  “I am here, my lord,” called Irana the small Dun who headed the kitchen.

  “A feast comes from my brother’s tower to honour my return, if you will have it. His servants come as well to wait on us all for the evening. A small gift for all your services.”

  “It will be accepted with great relief,” laughed the Dun.

  “It has been organised,” said her father, “you are all dismissed for the day, please return with your families at dusk, I look forward to from hearing from each of you. I have missed so much these last years.”

  “Servants dismissed,” called Da Raloff from behind her mask and the front lines dispersed quickly out the backdoors without a word said.

  The guards remained unmoved.

  “Sora,” said her father, “take off that damned helm and let me see you.”

  Sora removed the helm revealing her slender face, her short black hair tied back, tight, against her head.

  “I am Da Raloff, now,” she said sternly.

  “I have been away for so long, you have to forgive me, I was not told. Your son is doing great work up on the walls. He has saved the lives of many, less worthy men.”

  “You are too kind, my lord.”

  “You have served me well,” said her father, “better than I deserve.”

  “I did what I could. Orleena is safe but what of the vermin in the keep, say the word and his head is yours.”

  “No need,” said her father, “I have taken care of him myself.”

  “I will take you to Orleena, then,” she smiled, “you two have been apart for too long.”

  Orleena stepped back from the steps, ready to run.

  “One moment,” said her father, “I do have something I need from you, first.”

  “What?”

  “The war is done and Pa negotiates the final peace. This means I will need a new imperial guard to watch and protect our family. I want you to find those you trust most amongst the men in the city and, when they are assembled, I will have you with them, as my new Imperial Captain.”

  “Yes, my lord… as you command,” stammered Da Raloff and knelt onto one knee.

  “Arise and hug me, you arse,” he laughed.

  Da Raloff stood and laughed, hugging Orleena’s father with the grip of old friends. Da Raloff then released him.

  “You must see your daughter.”

  “Yes.”

  Orleena was off this time, running as fast she could down the hall. Her small boots clattered against the hard wood of the tower floor. She ascended the stairs as quickly as she could and pushed through her door, panting. She scooped Elena from the bed, she gripped the doll close and slowed her breath.

  Her heartbeat was soft when she heard the sound of the the two suits of armour loud outside the door. There was a knock and Orleena’s stomach dropped like stone, her mouth was dry, she tried to be calm.

  The door then slowly opened and the man with black hair stood before her, he looked just like Uncle but not completely. She stepped back, instinctively, and held Elena tighter.

  “You look just like your mother,” smiled the man as he moved into the room and she stepped backwards again.

  “Orleena,” barked Da Raloff, “don’t step away from her father.”

  He went down on one knee and held his arms open.

  “Will you give your father a hug?”

  Orleena paused for moment, knowing she could not refuse. Slowly, she approached the figure not sure what to do. She could not raise her arms, they were frozen to her body. His arms wrapped around her. The metal of his armour was cold to the touch and poked at her body. Then he release her.

  “I have missed you so much,” he said the smile not leaving his face.

  Orleena stood, quietly. The man never stopped smiling.

  “Will you come and see your mother with me?” he asked.

  She nodded, the thought of seeing her mother made her tightness in her chest loosen.

  The three walked from the room, Da Raloff trailed slightly. They moved slowly, the limp in her father’s leg causing him trouble on the stairs. He made a joke about it and dismissed the injury.

  “I like your headband,” said her father as they crossed the garden, “what kind of flower are those?”

  Orleena stayed silent, she did not want to speak.

  “Answer your father,” said Da Raloff from behind, “he wants to know how clever you are.”

  “Ystari stars,” Orleena muttered, reluctantly.

  “And what are they used for?” said Da Raloff urging her on.

  “You can use them to heal swollen joints and headaches, also in cookings to give a bitter flavour to a meal,” her small voice recited her lessons.

  “I have a very smart, daughter,” cheered her father, “who is your tutor?”

  “Shepherd Elor,” said Orleena as the praise made her smile.

  “Is he a smart man?” asked her father.

  “Yes,” she nodded, “Shepherd Elor is the smartest man in Hallow’s Keep.”

  “I will have to make sure I meet him,” replied her father as they arrived at the metal grate of the crypt.

  “Can I get a rose?” asked Orleena turning to Da Raloff.

  “Ask your father,” said Da Raloff, “when he is here I am not your guardian.”

  Orleena looked up at the man.

  “May I get a rose?” she asked.

  “Yes, of course,” he said and she went to one of the many rose bushes and snapped off a pale yellow flower, catching her finger on a thorn, as she sometimes did, and returned to the man waiting for her.

  Her father put his hand on the bars. Orl
eena noticed him take a deep breath as he pushed in the gate inwards. Orleena followed, Da Raloff did not follow.

  The crypt was lit by a single eternal flame at the bottom of the coffin. The room was filled with roses of all different colours, all in different states of decay.

  “Did you lay all these roses?” asked her father.

  Orleena nodded.

  “You must speak, daughter,” said her father, “I am here now, please speak to me.”

  “Yes,” she said simply with nod and lay the rose next to the others.

  “The last time I held you, I was standing right here. You were still wrapped in swaddling clothes. The nursemaids were so angry at me, ‘She’s too weak,’ they cried. But they had did not know you.”

  He moved over to the edge of sarcophagus.

  “We knew you,” he said looking down at coffin.

  There was a moment of silence between the two as her father ran his hand on the stone.

  “Come here,” said her father, “let me show you something.”

  Orleena walked over and felt her father picked her up under her shoulders. She had never seen the carving from above before. Frozen in the stone lay a young, woman with wavy hair much like Orleena’s and the same wide, round eyes. She was beautiful.

  “Do you see what sits by Ma’s feet?”

  Orleena looked beyond the bare feet of the woman.

  “A dragon head,” Orleena said quietly.

  “Do you know which dragon?”

  “Kor’asha, the dragon that Helena slew.”

  “You are such a smart girl,” said her father.

  He lowered her to the ground and then knelt next to her. His face was orange in the light of the flame.

  “After your brother was born your mother became very ill. The herbsman where able to save her, but they said she would never be strong enough to have another child,” said her father in a warm voice, “but your mother was not a woman to be told such things. She cursed the herbsman and said they had no power to proclaim such things. From the day she was able to get out of bed she spent her time in the shrine praying to Helena, asking the goddess to bless her with another child. And Helena heard your mother’s prays and gave you to her.

  “The Shepherds who counselled said she was too weak to have another child and that neither of you would make it, they begged her to give you up but she refuse, she knew your strength, she knew you would survive. And that was all that mattered to her. She called you her gift from Helena,” her father cleared his throat loudly and faulted, “Orleena, you were very special to her and she loved you more than any other mother has ever loved a daughter, just like your father loves you more than any other father has loved his daughter. Can you understand that?”

  “I love her, too,” said Orleena, “she still talks to me sometimes.”

  “What does she say?”

  “Be good to everyone in the tower and don’t be afraid of what is coming,” said Orleena, “and listen to Da Raloff. She said I would leave the tower one day.”

  Her father laughed and stood up.

  “Why didn’t you come back?” Orleena asked looking at her feet

  “I did, but you were only a babe,” he said softly.

  “Why didn’t you stay?”

  “I am here now.”

  “How long?”

  Her father was quiet and looked away.

  “Has Shepherd Elor told you of duty?” he asked.

  “Yes,” muttered Orleena.

  “And what does he say about duty?”

  “It is above all else,” she recited.

  “And why is it above all else?”

  “Because we keep the ways of Roland and the Free Men.”

  “You are the smartest girl I have ever seen,” cheered her father.

  The sudden praise caught Orleena off guard and she smiled again.

  “Do you know what that means?” he asked.

  “That I must do my duty as a Princess,” she replied.

  “And I must do my duty as Low King,” he said, “and that means I must go away, sometimes, for years. Just as a Princess it may be your duty to leave Hallow’s Keep one day. We must always do our duty no matter the cost. Even if it costs you something you love,” he paused and then added quietly, “that is our way. And no matter where I am Orleena, I will love you with all I am.”

  “Will I have to stay in the tower when you leave?” she asked.

  “No,” he said an anger rising in his voice, “you will never have to stay in the tower again.”

  Orleena nodded and smiled at her father, for some reason the anger in his voice brought a comfort that the softness did not.

  “Will you go and see Da Raloff?” her father asked as he looked at the coffin, “make sure she is still waiting.”

  “Yes, father.”

  “You will call me ‘Pa’,” he corrected softly.

  “Yes, Pa,” she nodded and went back into the brightness of the garden Da Raloff and waited for her father to emerge. After a while he reappeared, his eyes were red.

  “Well, Orleena, it is time for you to see your brother again,” he declared.

  Orleena was taken back. She did not think she would be taken from the tower so quickly, nor did she think she would be forced to face the brother that hated her so soon.

  “Will you need an escort?” asked Da Raloff.

  “No,” declared Pa, “we will go ourselves.”

  “I’ll see to my task then,” Da Raloff nodded and bowed deeply and then quickly added, “welcome home, Soven.”

  Da Raloff headed back to the tower as Pa held out his hand. Orleena took it, still timid, and he gripped it tight. Pa then led the way out of the gate and into the city.