Paragons: Year of the Ebony Crown

[JayRay]

BUMP Version 0.64

"Oh, listen to the trupeter's call, boy, you know the herald's tone!" The grizzled old earl, his long beard twisted into a knot, bobbed and jumped with each syllable. His yellowing eyes, flickering with the light of the nearby fireplace. His mutton, half-eaten, glazed with a marinade of onions and cloves sat, uneaten, as he stared at a boy nearly half the age of an adult, whose tasks were at hand.

"Is that the... Cloakrangers? Really? Here at Avariksan keep!" The boy began to belch forth a slew of questions, all of which were halted with the closing of the Earl's eyes, and a singular pointing to the front, to the iron and wood doors of the main hall. Quickly, the boy jumped off his wooden stool, and ran, stopping only to grab a diminutive shield, the coat of arms, not a shield of war, but rather of ceremony. The boy donned a cloak made of fine bear pelts, and rushed out the door to meet the incoming visitors. As he breeched the door, the cool autumn Meredean air blasted him with fresh atmosphere, and he watched as the huge drawbridge porticulus began to raise, the clanking of thousands of pounds of iron barricades lurching upward, aided only by the five guards at the top of the guardpost, turing the cranks. Inwards, six riders flanking a carriage rode in and upwards. The boy quickly stepped into action, he was the Earl's steward after all.

"Stableboys, fresh straw for the guests, tavernmaster, a barrel of ale, and housemiaden it appears we need at least seven rooms, if not eight! Step to lively, Sir! I bid you welcome to Avariksan Keep! " The steward watched as the first rider approached and as he grew closer, the steward let loose with him solemn invitation and greeting to the castle. The horseman stopped, his hand extending upwards into a fist, as the rest of his entourage and the carriage slowed. Slowly, his head and his eyes met the slack-jawed gaze of the steward.

"And... you're the castle guard?" the man was in his early fourth decade of life, his accent and complexion that of a Gharaili, with tanned skin, and golden hair, like their coatsake the lion.

"No sir, the castle guard were busy hoisting the porticulus, and those that are left know better than to cross blades with a Cloakranger. I am Aubren, um... Aubren Micharis, steward to the Earl. I've told the stableboy to..."

The man cut off Aubren's speech. "Ralos Micharis, you're Ralos' birthright, yes? Trueborn and all?"

Aubren was caught off guard at the mention of his father, an Earl far in the north of Merede. Not many people knew of him, at least not this far south. The fact that the son and noble of Ralos Micharis would be the steward for another Earl ould be a tasty nugget of news that anyone in proper circles would hold in a season of gossip. "Yes sir?"

"It's alright, Sir Micharis, I bled for your father once, I bled, and I had men die for your father's will. Without your father's tactical genius, I would have bled my last bit of blood. It's too bad you're not the castle guard though, cause if you were any part of your father's skill with the sword, this would be the most protected keep in all of Merede." The man nodded, looking up at the tall walls and high parapets.

"Sir, it is. I offer our shield, sir!" Aubren pulled off the shield, in a gesture as to offer the shield to a visitor. the man ceremoniously touched the shield, his palm underneath it, as the gesture dictated, accepting the sanctuary of the keep and the rule of its lord as long as they were there.

"I am Davars, and my men bring the Earl's daughter. Where may we find food, beds, and ale?"

- Hours Later -

"Well, Davaris, as you know the Avariksan family has a deep hold in the south, second only to the Queen of Ravencort herself, so while I understand your plight, I have to say, I'm more worried about a pack of Jedean Plunderers or Sharistan Mercenaries rushing our lands than a threat from the Shadow Thrones. I mean, really... those heathens are practically on the other side of the world!" The old man, poured himself another glass of wine in a large cup of silver, and drank heartily.

"Is that why you keep the Micharis boy? Because you want to protect the birthright from the armies that exist across the other side of the world? That boy's castle, razed to the point that not one stone left upon another, the Reydi refugees ripped to shreds and mounted on so many pikes that a man could walk ten miles and not once escape the gaze of a dead Haz-Reydi. Whether you like to admit it or not, Earl Tharan, the Shadow Thrones started over in Sumekidar, but they're here in Merede now." Davaris looked at the fire, his mind jumping to the fires of sieges in days gone past.

"Yeah, they might not be waving their flags over the Ravencort... yet, but trust me, their armies are here, and seeping into more and more places. Would you believe I was at Palemount?" At the mention of Palemount, the Earl grew attentive. His eyes focused on Davaris, on each word he spoke.

"I saw an army as large as any, appear as thought they just walked out from a curtain of heaven, they were not and then they were. Palemount was a slaughter, and that fiend controlling those armies? Zahl... Zahlamaan. He is NOT human!"

The Earl began to chuckle, catching Davaris off guard. "You almost had me at your jest."

"Your regence?"

"This talk of Zahlamaan... Zahlamaan, who walks through walls, Zahlamaan who walks to the world of the living form the bowels of hell and brings hell with him, the same one? Which version do you speak of? Is this the one where he flies across the sky, or the one where he lets hordes of imps terrorize the peasants while his abominations kill and destroy the people and their lands? Or is it the version.."

Normally, to interrupt a noble is considered not only bad manners, but can be punished. However, Davaris could no longer hold his tongue. "I jest not, Zahlamaan is real. And unreal as well. The things I hear, I have now seen with my own eyes, and I am Gharaili sir, We are not as prone to imaginations as our southern cousins the Kem-Vadii"

- - - - - - - - - --- -- - - - -
LINK TO ZOOMED MAP IMAGE OF KHARIS
((This map is rather large, if you right click and view image, but it would be nearly impossible to show the full size map on web for some internet connections, as the actual map dimensions are close to 8000x4000))