Aeolwyn's Conquest Book 1: The Boy General

The Upper Quarter was the district that surrounded the palace. It was where most of the nobility and upper-class merchants lived. The houses were large and opulent, at least when compared to the hovels the lower classes lived in, and those lower class houses were opulent compared to the shanties of Foretown.

Compared to the palace where Aeolwyn lived, these were all shanties. The size and opulence of the Teorton palace was legendary, and according to his father it was the most opulent palace in all of Laryndor.

All the roads were cleaned and well maintained. They were paved with cobbles, similar to the palace, only the roads to the palace had their cobbles shaved smooth. Laryn forbid if his father spilled a drink because his carriage hit an excessively tall cobblestone.

The roads were arranged in a hub and spoke pattern with the palace at the center. Where the more important roads intersected, squares were erected with shops and temples and lavishly decorated with large water-spewing fountains.

The Forlyn fountain was a smaller fountain at one of the less important intersections. Unlike the massive 3-teired Erolwyn fountain erected by one of his ancestors, the Forlyn fountain only had a single teir. It was themed as a carving of a kraken, with the central tower being the beast’s head. The kraken’s many arms snaked out underwater, along the bottom of the fountain until the came up along the lip.

During the day, water sprayed out from the kraken’s head as well as its arms. During feast days, the fountain would be magically programmed to spray water out in a variety of complicated patterns, giving the kraken the illusion of life.

His brother Alfyn was already at the fountain when he arrived, along with two of his noble friends. Aeolwyn recognized both of them immediately. One, the tallest of the bunch was dressed in a black tunic and matching pants, with a small sword at his hip. That was Egnever, who fancied himself a sort of gentleman assassin-for-hire.

The other one, a shorter bearded man was Rurik. He was also dressed in a black tunic embroidered in gold. Instead of pants, he wore elegant dark green tights and stout brown boots. He wore no weapons, except for a small dinner knife at his hip. Of the two, Rurik was more dangerous.

Like the others, his brother was dressed in all black. Unlike the others, his was very plain, with no embroidery, and no image of the rearing dragon that was the sigil of the royal house. The clothes were still made from very fine material, the two princes wouldn’t be caught in anything else; their father would whip them if they did.

“I told you to wear black, Aeolwyn,” Alfyn said, jumping off the fountain.

“No you didn’t,” Aeolwyn replied. But had he? Aeolwyn mentally replayed their conversation back in his head, and he couldn’t remember him saying any such thing. Aeolwyn would have to do better. Alfyn would be king some day, and he couldn’t forget his king’s orders.

“I did,” Alfyn said, “but I guess dark green will have to do.”

Egnever chuckled. “At least he didn’t wear pink,” he said.

Rurik tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. He burst out into a honking guffaw until Alfyn slapped him upside the head. Rage overcame his face, and he took a step towards the future king. Rurik wrestled his body under control before he did something he knew he would regret.

He turned to Aeolwyn. “Do you know what we’re doing?”

Aeolwyn shook his head. “No,” he said. Rurik, though a full grown was not a tall man. At 12, Aeolwyn was already near his height, and would surpass him in a year. He was rich, however. His father was a powerful soldier in the king’s army. A general of one of the northern detatchments if Aeolwyn remembered correctly.

Alfyn smiled slyly and winked at his brother. “We’re infiltrating the Star Base.”

“What? That’s really dangerous!”

He didn’t expect an adventure like this. He thought they would sneak down to the pub and steal a beer, or go to the brothels near the docks to see what all the fuss was about. Not breaking into one of the most heavily guarded fortresses in all of Teorton!

“What’s the matter,” Rurik said, “scared?”

Rurik smiled and jabbed an elbow into Egnever’s ribs, who also grinned. Alfyn just rolled his eyes and smirked. “No one’s forcing you to go, Aeolwyn,” his brother said. “You can just go running back to papa.”

Aeolwyn could feel the heat in his face. He called his father papa much longer than his brother considered proper, and mocked him mercilessly for it, suggesting that Aeolwyn was still a baby sucking on their mother’s tit. Even though he had stopped using the moniker many years ago, Alfyn still used it as a way to insult him.

“I’m not running anywhere,” Aeolwyn said. If Alfyn and his friends were brave enough to go, then he was brave enough to go. He wouldn’t be mocked for being a coward in front of his brother’s friends. If he was, he wouldn’t be taken seriously as a military leader when his brother was king.

Aeolwyn headed down the street to his left, known as Cockard’s Row. It led to the edge of the Upper District, and more or less directly to the Teorton Star Base, the home of the Star Children. He stopped and turned back to Alfyn and his friends. “Are you coming?”

When the other three managed to close their gaping mouths, they quickly caught up to Aeolwyn and let him lead them down the street, though his brother tried to push him out of the way so he could lead. Aoelwyn let him; he was going to be king one day, after all.

“What’s so great about the Star Base?” Aeolwyn asked as they walked.

“They’ve been going behind father’s back and visiting a lot of the noble houses,” Alfyn replied. “They’re planning something and I want to know what.”

The Star Children were always planning something, that was nothing new. They were always visiting nobles and commoners alike looking for new recruits. Why should that be any different now? His father had a spy network. Maybe he shared some of that information with Alfyn.

“What makes this time different?”

“I don’t know,” Alfyn said, “but father is worried about it.”

So he had heard it from their father. Aeolwyn wasn’t surprised. Alfyn had been ordered to regularly attend the privy council meetings, where they discussed the most vital information in the kingdom. His brother probably knew all sorts of secrets.

They continued to walk down Cockard’s Row until they reached the tall gates of the Star Base. The base itself was a round keep surrounded by a star shaped wall matching their sigil. Their sigil was an 8-pointed star similar to a compass, with the 4 cardinal points being longer than the other two.

Unlike most of the other gatehouses of the noble families who used ornate metal gates, the Star Children had stout wooden gates, manned on either side by two guards in armor covered in a white tabard with the Star Children’s sigil emblazoned on it with gold thread.

Even the wood gates had their logo inlaid into them using a white colored maple to contrast with the dark oak the rest of the gate was made from. The tall walls were made from stone and whitewashed with plaster polished so regularly it gleamed, even at night when it was only lit by torchlight. It was an impressive structure to behold.

They stayed in the shadows when they got close to the building to avoid being noticed by the gate guards. The guards may have looked bored, but Alfyn wasn’t about to trust that they wouldn’t be watching. He made sure all four of them stuck tight to the shadows and avoided the torchlight; especially Aoelwyn.

Aeowlyn started getting annoyed with Alfyn; he made sure he was close and was always ordering him around like he was still a little boy. He knew how to be careful. He did sneak out of the palace on his own, didn’t he?

“How do we get in?” Aeolwyn whispered.

“Shh,” Alfyn answered.

He turned to Rurik and beckoned him forward. The squat little man came over and took a long look at the Star Base. He moved his head back and forth, squatted down, then got on all fours, and then flat as a board while he studied it.

“Over the front door,” Rurik said and motioned to Egnever.

The rest happened so fast, Aeolwyn’s head was spinning. Egnever did some strange incantations with his hands, mumbled a few words under his breath, and then shoved his open palm out towards the guards. A thin blue ray shot out from his palm and expanded into a cone, covering both guards. The guards immediately slumped over and fell to the ground.

“Go!” Alfyn whispered, grabbing Aeolwyn’s arm. All four of them ran towards the door while Rurik reached into his coat and pulled out a grappling hook, which he swung around his head and then threw over the gate as soon as they were close enough.

Egnever leapt atop Rurik’s shoulders and jumped, grabbing the rope and shimmying his way up. Alfyn and Rurik grabbed Aeolwyn by the ankles and hoisted him as far as they could. He grabbed the rope and started climbing.

He wasn’t as strong as the others and his muscles started aching after climbing a few feet. He felt stuck. He couldn’t hold on anymore, but if he let go, he would fall, presumably to his death. His brother was whisper-shouting at him to hurry up, but he was frozen with fear.

Just as he felt his muscles giving out, Egnever reached out with his long arms and grabbed Aeolwyn’s wrist. He pulled him the rest of the way, giving time for Rurik and Alfyn to climb up after him.

Once they were atop the wall, Alfyn whacked him on the side of his head.

“When I say hurry, I mean hurry! Now go!”

Rurik pulled up the rope, flipped it around, and shimmied down it. Aeolwyn was next, and fortunately, sliding down the rope wasn’t nearly as difficult as climbing it. Alfyn and Egenver came down next. Once they were all on the ground, Rurik shook the rope loose and caught the hook as it came down, then stowed it away as they hurried off into the darkness.

“You know magic?” Aeolwyn was finally able to ask Egnever. He didn’t know nobles were even allowed to study magic. His father wasn’t particularly fond of it, despite having a court sorcerer who was important enough to him that he sat on his privy council.

Egnever just gave him a sly wink as they made their way to the central keep.

As far as keeps went, it wasn’t anything special. Like the walls, it was whitewashed and polished until it shone. With all the money that the Star Children had spent on the building, Aeolwyn would have expected the tower to me massive, but it wasn’t. It was only about three stories tall. Unexpected in a neighborhood where a building with only three stories was considered poor.

A few doors were scattered along its circumference, with large double doors facing the gate they had just climbed over. All the doors were guarded, but thanks to some luck and quick movement, the guards at front door hadn’t seen them.

“How do we get in?” Aeolwyn whispered.

Alfyn glared at him, but it was a reasonable question. It wasn’t just two guards to put to sleep this time. In addition to the door guards, there were roving patrols they had to contend with. They couldn’t wait here, or one of the patrols would find them, but neither could they move, since the door guards would spot them.

Alfyn looked to his two friends as the patrolling guards neared. He reached into a pocket in his trousers and pulled out a thin rod. A wand? What would he need that for, and why didn’t Aeolwyn get one?

“Hey!” Alfyn shouted, and then was…gone. He had just instantly vanished.

Rurik and Egnever also had wands in their hands, but were both shaking them a look of panic starting to sprout on both of their faces. Egnever began waving his hand over the wand, while Rurik starting hitting his against a stick, but neither wand appeared functional.

“Don’t move!” one of the guards shouted as the four armed Star Children raced towards the remaining three men. Panic began to set in. What had Alfyn gotten him into? This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. They were supposed to get in and out without being noticed!

Rurik broke and ran, his short legs stretching as far as they could with each stride. He was fast for his height, but not fast enough. A quiet ffft raced past them and moments later an arrow struck Rurik in the back. He collapsed.

Aeolwyn was paralyzed with fear. Egnever was still working his hands, but whatever magic he had used before wasn’t working. Alarm bells began ringing all over the courtyard and men in various states of dress began pouring out of the tower, each bearing a sword and a shield.

As the guards came upon them, both Egnever and Aeolwyn just raised their hands in surrender. Neither wanted Rurik’s fate.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” One of the guards yelled as he pointed the tip of his sword at Aeolwyn’s throat. Aoelwyn was too scared to respond. He could do nothing but burst into tears. What was his father going to say? He was suddenly in a lot of trouble.

Another guard with a sword still in its scabbered came up behind the two of them. Aoelwyn wished he was brave enough to pull the guard’s sword from its scabbard and use it to free him and Egnever, but he couldn’t.

Instead the guard grabbed his hands and bound them together behind his back, then did the same to Egnever. Safely restrained, the guard shoved them into motion.

“Where are you taking us?” Egnever said in a braver voice than Aeolwyn could muster.

“The dungeons,” the guard said. “Where else would we take tresspassers?”

Dungeons? Were they to be tortured? This was turning into the stories his nanny Mistress Growlins used to tell him. The brave warrior would be taken to be tortured and then escape at the last minute without telling his captors anything.

Right now Aeolwyn couldn’t imagine being that brave. He wondered if he should tell them who he was, and if that would make a difference. The Star Children weren’t particularly fond of his father, and would like the idea of one of his sons sneaking into their fortress even less. What if they killed him on the spot? He couldn’t take that risk. So he just hung his head and wept as silently as he could.

They led them through one of the side doors of the keep. The walls inside gleamed even brighter than the walls outside. They were stark, barren of any decoration, except for labels at doors, and the occasional sigil.

They went through a door and down a darkened set of stars. The walls weren’t whitewashed or plastered, it was hallway after hallway of bare stone as they went deeper and deeper into the basements of the tower. At this rate, there was more of the tower below ground than above.

Eventually they came to a large door with a peephole in it. One guard banged on the door and the peephole opened then closed as the man on the other side recognized the guard who knocked. A moment later the door opened and Aeolwyn and Egnever were shoved through.

Inside was a long hallway lined with wooden doors. Each door had another miniature door at head height covered with little bars. The interior guard opened the nearest one with a key and threw Egnever in it, closing it and locking it behind him.

They then dragged Aeolwyn a few doors down and did the same to him. He collapsed on the hard stone ground. The cell was plunged into darkness as the door slammed shut, leaving only a slight sliver of torchlight from the gaps in the door.

The cell stunk of piss, shit, and death. The stone was slimy where it wasn’t covered in rushes. Though he couldn’t see it, he knew the walls would be as slimy. He could touch each side of the cell with his outstretched arms, but it appeared to be longer from door to the back wall.

He could stand comfortably, but a tall adult like Egnever would have trouble doing so.

He slumped down against the far wall. What was he going to do? Not only was he caught, he was caught by the Star Children. What were they going to do to him? Leave him here to rot? They couldn’t! He would be rescued for sure. His brother was probably telling his father right now. He wouldn’t have to wait long.

A voice in his head was telling him his brother did this on purpose, but he wouldn’t believe that. His brother might be an arrogant prick sometimes, but he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Aeolwyn, would he?

Or would he?