Closely Guarded Secrets (Part 1)

Transcript

Back already? That was a rather short dinner, wasn't it? Oh, suggested you should retire.

Let me guess, your dad said something along the lines of, This next part isn't for ladies, why don't you go run off back to your room for the evening, dear? Or did he actually try to be more subtle? Excuse me? Do I address everyone like what? You don't have to remind me of my occupation.

Of course I'm a guard, I know that. Oh, I'm sorry. Were you expecting to hear me say, Oh, welcome back, m'lady.

I hope your candlelit feast for the nobility of the castle was pleasant. Is there anything that I can help you with before- Oh, come on! Don't do me dirty like that.

I've heard how you talk, I've heard how you complain. Don't all the little lordlings trying to woo you away do enough of that BS already? You look shocked.

Is that because someone below you is talking like this? Or is it because you don't know how easily sound travels through this door? I know you're only visiting for the week, so consider yourself lucky that I'm the one standing here.

Someone else might snitch about everything they hear you discuss with your handmaids. I think it's hilarious, though, honestly, and usually pretty savage, though true from what I've heard. Eavesdropping? Me? Well, yeah, all the time.

What else am I supposed to do? Stood here for hours on end. I'm sorry, but I honestly can't help it.

If there is a single noise and nothing else to pay attention to, wouldn't you listen? Okay, look, what am I going to do? Tell the son of the lord of Barok that everyone knows he hasn't banged all the maids here? The way he walks, his incredible ability of talking loudly over everyone else when they try to speak up, or his obsession of being perceived as a brute of hulking strength even when doing simple things like closing a door are all pathetic and more likely to attract a bear in the woods than literally any female?

I think I'd be hanged. Oh, come on, don't try to hide that laugh. You do agree, don't you? I mean, I get the basic being physically fit is attractive, but if your biceps suck all the blood from your brain, I don't know what kind of sounds must come out in bed, especially hearing the nonsensical gibberish he roars at the table.

And no, you don't have to worry, I won't tell a soul the things you laugh about once this door is closed. If rumors ever started to spread, you know exactly who they came from, and I am sure one word to your father later, and I'd probably be hanged for that too. Oh, please, it's something that I've learned to take for granted.

The fact that my own life is taken for granted. That's the way it is with the common folk. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up the next day to find out that I'm being sent off to the south and then thrown onto the front lines from there.

I probably shouldn't have said that bit, huh? I take it that you don't know about the, uh, tensions in the south? Well, I guess you already have enough to swing me from a rope at a moment's notice.

Yeah, that's exactly what your dad has been talking about every evening in the hall after you leave. It's all the nobles have been discussing for weeks. They seem more and more worried, especially since the king won't be going.

Mmm, I really should learn when to stop talking, shouldn't I? Oh, well, uh, I mean exactly that. The king won't be joining the army if war breaks out.

That bit of info I won't make a snide comment about because there's just too many rumors and speculations as to why, and I haven't picked out the best yet. What do you mean, what difference would that make? Have you heard any of the stories of the last war we fought? No? Have you.

.. Have you even heard of the Avarian Dragon? Oh no, not the children's story, that scaly lizard under the mountain.

I'm pretty sure parents came up with that one generations ago so that their kids wouldn't try to wander off towards the mines. Still a favorite of mine. But no, I'm talking about the actual person, the heroic title given to an unmatched warrior who now resides here, in this castle.

Well, I. .. I don't even know where to begin, but.

.. What, here in the hallway? I'm sure this looks strange enough as is.

If anyone were to walk by and see us. .. Come in.

I. .. I can't even begin to think of an excuse if I were caught by someone else in your room and the door were closed.

They might just kill me on the spot. Alright, come on. What would I get in return then, huh? What do I mean? Don't get me wrong, it is nice of you to invite me in to sit down and tell you a story, but I could really get my ass whooped if I was caught slacking on my duty.

As long as you tell them you asked me to step inside, my life will be spared, but I'd still get some sort of punishment. So what'll you give me for it? Oh, no, come on, I don't want money.

That's boring. Money just fucks people in the head. I want.

.. Something more interesting. Tell me a story in return.

Give me some juicy rumor, a kiss, a letter you're not supposed to share, I don't know. Something exciting. Yeah? Oh, me first, huh? Alright, I'll give you that much.

But, I hope you've thought of something interesting by the end. Hmm? Oh? You'll try.

Well, alright. Yes, yes, about the dragon. It's not.

.. Some exciting adventure or questing story that you might be expecting. It's kinda.

.. Sad and. ..

Tragic. You sure? Alright.

Oh, where do I even begin? I'm sure you must have at least heard of. ..

Something. Something of the dragon. No? Not even that old.

.. Well, I say old, old to me and probably you at least, but. ..

Not even that old rhyme. One that goes like. ..

Have you heard how the dragon got his name? Of days long past. Of legend and fame.

The rumors they sow are plenty I'll know. But few recall the source of that flame. You have heard of that then, haven't you? I can see it on your face.

It was probably the beginning of a bard's tale before your father scooped you up, muttered something about bedtime and started to walk away. Before you could hear what followed. I can't blame him.

I don't think any child needs to know those stories. Did you know. ..

It was actually Gallant's mother who was supposed to inherit the throne. Yeah, it's not something often talked about, really. I don't know much of her story myself, but.

.. The bits that I have uncovered. ..

Are rather dark. Actually, the whole family's history, save for that of Prince Gallant himself, is. ..

Unfortunate, to say the least. Well, some say it was. ..

A curse. Some say she was born that way. And others say it.

.. Whether through. ..

Unknown circumstances, or. .. Depending on who you ask.

.. Abuse, much earlier in her life. But.

.. All seem to agree that. ..

At some point, she simply. .. Went mad.

That is a vague term, isn't it? It's hard to say. ..

Exactly. Just like you, I wasn't there. That's the word thrown around, though.

Mad. Lost her mind, went insane, however you think of that phrase, but. ..

I don't really know the specifics. I'm sure anyone would tell you a different symptom. Hearing voices, thinking she was someone else.

An uncontrollable change of temperament, or. .. Simply being.

.. Vacant, all the time. I've heard them all, and.

.. I don't know which to believe. But.

.. It didn't change the outcome. What outcome? Have you seen Gallant's mother? No.

No, of course not. No one has. Not for.

.. Well, maybe as many as. ..

25 years now. Oh no, they. ..

Didn't lock her up. I don't know if that would have been better or worse. But.

.. I guess. ..

She'd still be here, if that was the case. At least. ..

In body. No! She threw herself from the Keep's tower.

Right onto the rocks of the shore below. Well, that was the first question, of course. Isn't it always, when royalty dies? Who's guilty? Who did it? Handmaids, who had grown to loathe her over the years.

A guard, maybe. Upset that he could not have her. The king himself.

Knowing that her death, and the lack of a daughter, would ascend him to the throne. But this is where the story really starts, in a way. Because.

.. It wasn't the king. Not at all.

It couldn't have been. He wasn't even at the Keep when it happened. And his reaction, when he came home, was.

.. Well. ..

More than enough to eliminate the thought that perhaps he had ordered someone to do it. It was, uh. ..

Well, it's kind of hard to describe. And I'm not actually sure exactly what he did. Though I'm not sure I would have wanted to be around just to know the answer.

Hm? Oh. Sure.

I mean, it was only, what, a generation ago? Plenty of the older guards and workers were here. But I've learned to not ask them about it.

I think the kindest response I've gotten was simply a blank stare before they walked away. Most will berate you. Though I think berate is too soft a word.

More like. .. yell at you.

In a way that just. .. washes you over with shame and guilt and makes your skin crawl and made me wish I could just squeeze my way into the cracks between the bricks on the walls just to leave the conversation.

And of course, it wouldn't answer my question. I did make it sound like I had an answer, didn't I? That's because I'm a dirty fucking snoop and can't seem to keep my nose out of other people's business.

Especially when there's such a good story involved. I mean, come on! You'd be curious too, wouldn't you? So I, uh.

.. poked around in a lot of places that I probably shouldn't. Well, I'm talking like diaries, journals, books that usually aren't accessible to guards.

Military reports, letters between nobility. It was kind of exciting. Oh, I'm sure it would have gotten me into more than just a lot of trouble.

But you wouldn't tell, would you? No, of course not. That's what anyone who wants to hear the end of the story would say.

Oh, I trust you. I wouldn't have opened my mouth if I didn't. I mean, I've been the one on duty to guard your room each night and you trust me with that.

It has to go both ways, right? Alright, I'll keep going. You look like a hawk ready to drop on its prey you're so focused.

Ah, oh, right. So sadly, no one talked about, wrote about, thought about, mentioned what exactly happened in a way that made a lot of sense. But the feeling that I get from it is that it was horrifying.

Now, I was not at the castle during this time. I wasn't even in the capital city. I was off north in some small hovels smacking my friends with sticks, but I was alive and I was old enough to remember the change in attitude that came afterward.

Up until that point, and for a few years after, because stories take a while to spread, I'd always been taught that our king was a very loving one. Kind, generous, friendly, almost to a fault in fact. And that it was the queen who kept things in check and ruled more firmly.

But something broke in that man and I think it was the shift in personality out of all the changes that truly terrified people. But the title, the name, the attribution of that mountainous serpent came from their common affinity for fire. What do I mean? Surely you must have heard of the dragon's success on the battlefield during the peak of his reign.

No? That makes this more difficult. Why? Well, because I don't want you to laugh.

I don't want you to smile awkwardly, nod, and then ask me to leave because you think I'm crazy or. ..