Chapter 86

86 Chapter 8Artemis shrugged off his excitement in seeing a very peculiar knight as Lady Aryan. As a gentleman and a wise king, Artemis offered refreshments to Lady Aryan and his guards. “Shall we sit like civilized people?” Aurora suggested.

The dining hall was usually used for dinners and feasts which Gandalf usually threw when he was feeling himself. This hall had one long table, with several chairs alongside it. The windows of the hall were huge enough to brighten the place up and also sooth them with the cool breeze coming from the outside, with how safe Aryan felt she excused her guards and it was just her, Aurora and Artemis at the table having lunch.

The servants brought in a feast, it was meant for the king and queen but now the Lady of Old City was welcomed to join them. There was a whole roasted turkey on the table, grapes, baked potatoes, Artemis’s favorite dessert – lemon cakes, boiled vegetables, pastries and breads.

“It’s quite a feast you requested, Your Grace” said Lady Aryan sipping a glass of wine looking cocky as she always is and overly confident.

“Thank you, Lady Aryan”

“But I’m positive you let me stay because you have something to tell me. Otherwise you would have kicked me out of my very own home”

Artemis managed a smile “You seem worn out from your journey and could use refreshments and some food” said Aurora also with a smile. There was something weird about the energy Lady Aryan brought to the table, yet Aurora couldn’t tell what it was.

Lady Aryan was amused by Aurora on her new role as Queen of Maldonia. “I saw you once in the capital, you and I are of the same age Your Grace” she said to Aurora.

“Oh, are we? I hadn’t really considered it...”

.....

“You were in rugs and your hair was messy, this was before you had a post in the palace. My father had brought us to the capital, my brother and I. I could never forget the face of a girl who shouted at me and punched me in the face thinking I was a boy” Aryan finished with a chuckle.

Aurora joined the laugh and it was indeed funny, except the part where Aryan talked about seeing her in rugs. “Well do forgive me my lady, I was a wild child”

“Aren’t we all Your Grace” Lady Aryan finished her wine and placed the cup down. This time she paid close attention to Artemis and looked into his eyes “With all due respect Your Grace, Old City is our home. The Squires have ruled it for centuries, you cannot take it away”

“The Squires betrayed the crown and fled the city leaving just five thousand weak garrison who can’t even slaughter a pigeon. Most of these men are farmers not soldiers, your brother took my men and force them to raise a Prophis sigil”

Lady Aryan interrupted “Your men?” she asked seemingly confused.

“Maldonia is the combination of ten great houses and their cities, I am the king of Maldonia. I sit in the Sweet Waters throne, every man woman and child belongs to me. They were my men and now they are Prophisians”

“And now they are Prophisians” added Aryan but with a smile on her lips. Then she leaned back on the chair while pouring herself more ale, one thing Artemis noticed about Aryan was she was no different to her brother. Apart from having the same face, they also had the same built and mannerism.

Hence Artemis was disappointed “I heard tales about you, Lady Aryan Squire. The songs they sing for you and your glory in Battle of Stonedance. I though you’ll be wise...”

“I apologize if I disappointed you, Your Grace. For simply speaking the truth”

“You are better than him” Artemis raised his voice. “You are a decorated soldier, you put him in that throne and he wouldn’t have survived the war if it wasn’t for you. But we all know it’s far from over, the Taelins will come for him”

“The Taelins are dead”

Aurora intervened “There are three Taelins across the Silent Sea, true born sons of King Taelin and his wife Taliya of House Ingiam. Prince Ambrose is sailing to the Liberty Cities as we speak, and he’s carrying his brother’s crown made of white and blue diamonds. It was Castellan himself who gave his brother the crown when he realized he lost the battle, Lucian Mithandir sailed to Doha where his son is a King”

Well, that was a lot of information for Lady Aryan to digest especially since she freed true born sons of Castellan and his brother Frost who was the last son of Taliya of House Ingiam and King Taelin. That’s when she knew the war was far from over, and Artemis was right, her brother would never be safe not when she’s not with him.

Henceforth, she came to a conclusion to return to her brother’s side and rule beside him because only her can protect him. When she abruptly stood up, Artemis and Aurora also stood up. “I better get back then; you can have the city. I won’t fight you for it, we have a whole kingdom to ourselves now and bigger cities than this muddy, clumsy, smelly of a place” she picked up her sword and placed it on her waistline.

It wasn’t really part of the plan to Artemis because he wanted to turn Aryan against her own brother, but now he actually bonded them even more and Aryan grew so worried of her brother’s safety.

Lady Aryan curtsied before Artemis respectfully like a good soldier who has let down her guards, Artemis had no choice but to accept the surrender although he didn’t think it would be that easy. Then Lady Aryan raised her hand to shake Aurora’s, for the sake of their childhood moments in the capital.

Aurora had a huge smile on her face and she shook Aryan’s hand as she always shakes any other lords and ladies. This however turned out to be different when she gasped loudly and immediately released her hand, her eyes widened with amazement at what she saw. Then she trembled as if she was about to fall down, and then suddenly she fainted and fell down.

“Aurora, Aurora...” Artemis reached out to her before she hit the ground. Lady Aryan helped and carried Aurora in her arms while the servant sought out for maesters. Both Artemis and Aryan were shocked at what happened since they were the only ones who saw Aurora suddenly changing and fainting.

Artemis however wasn’t so worried because he knew his wife’s secrets and he knew Aurora may have seen something strange. He urged Aryan to keep going “The queen will be alright; it must be the babe” he said to Aryan when they were at the gates of the castle walking alongside each other like good pals. Some of the people of Old City couldn’t believe what they saw, a rather strange friendship between Artemis and Lady Aryan.

“Is she with child?”

“Yes she is, a son presumably”

“Men... always wanting sons. I am thankful I wasn’t born a man, if the evidence isn’t good enough maybe the rotting corpses in Stonedance may persuade your yearning for a son, Your Grace. All those hundreds of thousand laying on the desert were sons, your cousin for example”

“Lord Deagol?”

“Yes, he came at a time when the war was already lost I hear. If he were a girl, he would still be alive just like his sister Lady Maurin” added Aryan and then one of his guards brought a horse to her.

Lady Aryan took a moment before saying goodbye to Artemis, then when she mounted her horse, she looked down on Artemis. “You are a wise king Your Grace, I owe you my life. You could have slit my throat or have your men kill me for being a traitor, but you fed me and sat down to talk. I yearn for my brother to be half of the king that you are, I am not your enemy Your Grace”

Artemis managed a smile and he was indeed happy to hear that coming from lady Aryan “I’m delighted to hear that my lady”

“Give my farewells to the queen”

“I shall do that my lady”

Hence this is how Lady Aryan Squire and King Artemis of Maldonia first met, and that’s how they departed from one another with no hopes of seeing each other again but their rather short encounter lived in their hearts for some time.

None of them expected the kind of encounter, Artemis stood where he was looking at Lady Aryan disappearing from his view as she bounced back and down from her horse while five hundred of her men followed her behind. How he wished he could have met her earlier, then maybe they could have talked more about Old City and training.

Until the gates of the castle were closed and Aryan was no more visible, that’s when Artemis walked back inside to his wife hoping she would be awake by then.