Private Tales The Broken Crown

[Alre Castielle]

Alre did believe in something greater than himself, it just wasn't a god. The crown of his kingdom, of his forefathers. The most sacred title that he could have imagined. That was what he believed in, what he fought to regain. If ever he had a deity, that was it.

He shook his head in disagreement, something that seemed to happen quite often between the two of them.

"We can't go at night." Alre said. "It will be too cold."

The sun was setting now, and already he could feel the chill. They would need to start a fire and...probably cuddle up close. "I know the heat is bad, but the cold will kill."

For once, just this once, he was not just being obstinate. Alre had vivid memories of what the soldiers had told him about surviving in the desert, about how you could warm yourself at night and how you could shield yourself from the sun during the day.

"Trust me." He said, if only just this once.

 

[Mariana]

Sadly for Alre, Averey wasn't quite ready to let it go.

She sat up, folding her legs beneath her. Dipping her hand into the springs, she brought up her palm for another cool drink. "Wouldn't it make more sense to travel during the night then? It would be cold but we would be moving. Burning energy to keep us warm. If we stopped and slept, we would be colder. Besides, fire draw too much attention during the night. There are predators older than these lands lurking the sands."

She paused but didn't look away from him as she added. Hesitantly. But finally admitted in a much quieter tone.

"I'm stronger at night. I'm a priestess of the night court for a reason. And how would we shield from the sun? It nearly burned us alive today." She was willing to listen but...she knew her reasoning was sound.

 

[Alre Castielle]

He rubbed his face. "The cold is cold."

Alre told her.

"Well below freezing." He remembered how chill it could be, and with no protection for miles it would come at them full force. Neither of them were dressed for such cold weather, and even if Avery could perform some sort of magic that would only sap her strength. "We'd be marching through freezing weather across open sands where wind will hack at us all night."

The Prince grimaced. "With the sun at least we can use my cloak to fashion headbands and coverings."

Not something he was eager to ruin, but it would do.

"Moving at night is a death sentence." Alre reiterated.

 

[Mariana]

Arms crossed beneath her chest.

"What about the predators?"

Midnight-blues narrowed in his direction.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"They exist during the day too." He reminded her.

The desert was big, and it was foolish to think that they wouldn't encounter something sometime. She was certainly right about that.

"If you're stronger at night then you can fend off any creatures by the fire." He reminded her. "Plus we can choose where we make camp."

Finding a good place with coverage would be hard...but if they started looking early enough it would be possible at least.

 

[Mariana]

A hand ran through curls of auburn.

A long, low sigh huffed free from the tip of her nose. The elf looked at the human tiredly. While the night did give her strength she was still tired from riding and walking all day. The burst of power she hadn't been able to contain from the scrolls now tattooed on her skin.

"You're not going to budge on this, are you?"

More of a rhetorical question.

"I'll try it and see how it goes," she finally relented, giving him an inch. If it didn't work? Well, then, she could always set out on her own again. "We camp here for the night and get going at first light?" She hoped they wouldn't be in the desert for that much longer.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"Before." He nodded his head, thankful that there wasn't going to be much of a fight on this at least.

Alre could argue with the best of them, could rile people up, but this was a matter of survival. He didn't care for much in this world, but he cared that he lived. He would reclaim his fathers crown, he would take back his throne, and he'd make it out of this damned desert.

Without another word he grabbed the end of his cloak and pulled the small knife on his belt free.

The sound of shredding cloth could be heard as he cut up a length of his cloak, dragging the knife through until he had a large enough piece of scrap. He wound it once, twice, and then offered it to Avery. "You'll want to wrap this around your head."

He told her.

"Will help a bit with the sun." Though not by much.

 

[Mariana]

“Thank you,” she managed and took the cloth. They were a long ways from day. But she didn’t feel the chill. Not yet. Even with her flowy dress on. More to combat the heat. Perhaps it was the warmth from the extra magic beneath her skin. She folded it up at her side and scooched back so her back could rest against a rock smoothed from the wind.

“Are you going to make a fire?” She had to wonder if a prince was ever taught how or if he’d relied on servants his entire life.

 

[Alre Castielle]

He rolled his eyes, nodding his head and setting about collecting some small pieces of brush.

In the desert, surprisingly, there was always something to burn. Most often it was not trees or wood at all in fact but rather dung. Animals were plenty within the sands, and when dried, dung burned perfectly well and provided a good amount of heat.

This fact he remembered from what the soldiers had told him, if only because at the time it had seemed so comically absurd that he'd hardly believed it. "There."

Alre said as the fire flickered into life, giving of an...interesting scent to say the least.

"Should be warm enough." The Prince said as he leaned back, using sand to wash his hands.

 

[Mariana]

An amused expression crossed her face. Fingers brushed hair beneath one pointed ear. “I’m not cold but yes, I imagine it will be enough for you.”

She bit back an amused smile.

“That smell might keep the wyrms away.” She leaned back on that rock, closing her eyes. “I’m impressed a prince knows how to make a fire.”

 

[Alre Castielle]

He didn't really know how Elves worked, but if she wasn't cold then she wasn't cold and he would take to the fire himself.

"I wasn't some ponce locked up in a castle." Alre explained.

His father had always insisted on the importance of being able to fend for oneself. Even a King had to know how to fight. In war their ancestors had fought at the front of the battle, and had things continued as they should have...Alre himself would have been at the front of armies.

"Long ago." He started. "My family had no lands, but we had armies."

The loyalty of thousands. "The Great Mercenary Kings we were called."

Until one of those Kings decided to settle on land he conquered.

 

[Mariana]

She shifted a little closer, pointing her feet toward the fire. Head came down to rest upon her arms encircling one propped up leg. Midnight-blue eyes looked at the prince in the darkness, their faces only illuminated by the stars tonight. The moons each only a small sliver.

"What happened?"

She didn't mind a good story before bedtime.

 

[Alre Castielle]

He shrugged his shoulders. "Its not that special of a story really."

Alre could still remember his father telling him and his younger brother, could still remember how exciting it had all seemed.

That was before he'd experienced war himself.

"My ancestors had no lands, as I said, but through sheer will they held the loyalty of thousands. They won battle after battle, won war after war." He told her. "They fought for Kingdoms, Churches, Empires, anyone that paid them well enough. The Mercenary King's, is what they were called."

There was a pause for a second. "Then finally, one of them got sick of fighting. A Kingdom hired them to fight against it's rival, and my Ancestor simply took over the Rivals Kingdom."

He shrugged.

"So we became just King's." Ordinary.

 

[Mariana]

"So did they travel a lot? Prior to taking over the land they took?"

Averey let her eyes close, settling quietly on the warm rocks and sand. Still warm from the day even though the night was beginning to drop significantly. Hands folded across her stomach, the ink and markings from her spell peeking out between folds of clothing.

She still couldn't quite believe her life had changed so quickly.

Gone were her friends and community.

Her home.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"Miles and miles." Alre confirmed with a nod. The Mercenary Kings had never been beholden to a single land or peoples. They picked up recruit,s moved as they wished, worked for those who they desired.

It had been a big principle of theirs, to only take on tasks that they truly wished.

"Freedom." Alre told her. "That had been the central tenant. To never expose yourself to those things you did not wish."

His shoulders coiled in a shrug. "My father always thought it a flight of fancy, he more believed in the duty of the people. Protecting them."

Seeing to their care.

Alre...Alre had never really thought about it himself. He believed that he was supposed to take his throne, was suppose to ensure his fathers legacy remained in tact. Right now he just wanted a nice comfortable bed.

 

[Mariana]

"And what about you?"

A quiet question.

"Do you care for your people? Do you know how they're being treated under your Uncle's rule?" Averey knew quite well what it meant to care for others. She'd spent nearly her entire life doing it as a priestess. And she would continue to do it, hopefully more so, after she figured out this mess with this ancient magic.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre shrugged. "My father was an absent King."

That was really the best way of putting it.

"He didn't care much for the people, but they never cared much for him. He made sure that they were protected, and in return they paid their taxes." Strangely, he would guess that most people within his fathers realm had enjoyed the old man's rule, if only because it had been so...boring.

Nothing major had ever happened. His father had been fair to peasant and Lord alike. No one ever complained, but because they had no reason to.

"From what I have heard my Uncle is more..." He frowned. "Hands on."

His fathers brother had always held a streak of cruelty in him.

As for himself? He had never really thought about 'the people'. He was so far removed from them, so far detached. It did not seem to matter at the time.

 

[Mariana]

"Maybe we can set a trap and lure those after me to your uncle?" She murmured half asleep. Perhaps she'd figure out a way to get the magic out of her. Help Alre get his kingdom back.

"Do you even want your kingdom back if you could have it?"

Not all wanted to be kings and queens.

 

[Alre Castielle]

"I want my throne back." It was his ultimate goal.

He did not know if he wanted his Kingdom, if he wanted what came with it, but he wanted his throne. He wanted to see his Uncle's blood. The man deserved to suffer, to die. That was a fact he was more than confident in at least.

In her words though he saw opportunity. "Yes..."

Alre said with a nod.

"That might work." Of course he had no idea if it would, but if they went to his families Kingdom and her magic went into play? That was what he intended all along. "Two stones clashing."

 

[Mariana]

Averey fell asleep.

At some point in the night, after the fire died to embers, she found herself curled into another source of warmth. And once she woke up, she would be more than mortified to find it was Alre. He'd find that her skin was strangely warm to the touch, especially where those magic markings splayed across her skin.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Warmth in the desert was short, so he did indeed wake with Averey leaning against him.

The two of them weren't necessarily cuddling, at least not in any way that he would define. They were huddled closed together, but only so that the Prince didn't freeze to death. The fire helped a little, but with how cold it got there wasn't a great deal of help.

A yawn escaped him. "Suns up."

The once king commented, his shaking as he rubbed some of the sleep from his eye. The Horse was splayed out behind him, apparently having decided it was also too cold to be far away.

 

[Mariana]

Oh gods.

Eyes snapped open as she realized the warm thing beneath her was the king. She sat up with preternatural speed and shoved him away, quickly standing.

A slight clearing of her throat as she stooped to get the cloak he'd offered her the other day and wrapped it around her head and shoulders, trying to get as much exposed skin as possible. She'd fry otherwise.

"Which way do we go?"

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre snickered quietly to himself. Taking a breath and trying not to break into an open laugh as he shifted slightly in the sand and pulled himself up. Shoulders rolled for a second, and he looked towards the sun rising on the east.

He considered a moment, doing a small amount of math in his head. "That way."

The once King said as he pointed to the south west. He knew that way would eventually take them out of the desert and into Cortos. The free cities there weren't exactly welcoming, or rather the Cortosi Church wasn't, but it would be easier to get lost there than in the Empire.

Averey would just have to be careful with her talk of gods.

The Solar Choire was not exactly welcoming when it came to other religions. At least not from what Alre had heard of them. Fingers tightened for a moment and he took a breath as he motioned towards the horse, wrapping his own good around his head.

"Let's fill what we can with water before we go." It would be a long day, and there was no guarantee they'd find more.

 

[Mariana]

She ignored his laughter. This human too easily got under her skin. With a huff and wrapping his torn cloak tightly about her shoulders, she nodded and took an extra waterskin, filling it overflowing. Then she took a drink from the pool itself.

One last drink.

This night court elf was already grumpy in the bright daylight of morning.

"Let's go," she motioned the way forward as she attached the waterskin to her belt.

 

[Alre Castielle]

Alre didn't argue.

The faster they got going the more progress they would make throughout they day, at least that was how he figured it would be. Pulling the meager pack over his shoulder Alre grabbed the reigns of their horse and quickly lead the beast behind Averey.

In the distance the sun was beginning to crest the horizon, casting a beautiful gold light down upon the sands and illuminating the desert around them.

Warmth cascaded through the freezing air, an almost pleasant feeling washing over his skin. "If only if was like this all day."

The once King commented quietly.