Notes are at the end.
Chapter 1-Late
“Late, late, late!” Artham’s muttering echoed through empty palace courtyards as he ran through covered walkways, clutching a satchel that was almost overflowing with books and papers tightly to his chest. Everytime Artham breathed out, his breath made a little cloud in the crisp, cold, early winter air.
“Ugh, how did this happen!?” He asked himself as he skidded around a corner, clamping his hand down on a book that threatened to escape his satchel.
“Oh, you know how this happened, Artham Wingfeather- Aah!” The start of Artham’s rant was cut off as he rounded another corner and nearly collided with a wide eyed servant. Just in time, he jerked himself around the man in an odd twist and yelled an apology over his shoulder. He kept running, wishing he knew exactly what time it was.
I should not have started that book Aru gave me, especially since I knew that one of the most important conferences of the year starts today! Artham realized with a huff of relief and increasing frustration at himself that he was getting close to the council room. He sped up but tried to run more quietly, intending to stop before anyone realized he was running, hoping his late entrance would at least be dignified.
If he hadn’t been so frustrated about being late, he probably would have slowed down for the next turn in the walkway, and if he hadn’t been so preoccupied, he would’ve heard someone else’s panting and their footsteps ringing on the frozen stones of the path. In short, if he had been paying attention, he probably could have prevented what happened next. But he wasn’t.
CRASH! As he dashed around the turn, he smashed straight into someone who had been running almost as fast as he had been. Artham collided with the other person, his satchel flew out of his hands, spewing books and papers, and he felt his forehead smack against something hard, most likely the other person’s head. Then, trying to regain his balance, his boots slipped on the slippery frozen stones and he fell backward onto the floor, realizing that the other person must have fallen too, because they were now on top of him.
“Ouch!” The other person scrambled up, rubbing their cheek and extending a hand to Artham.
“Heh-here Arth, Let me h-help you up.” Artham rolled his eyes and let Esben pull him to his feet. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Esben trying to suppress laughter, despite the red bump growing on the side of his face and the matching one on the middle of Artham’s forehead.
“Are you okay?” He asked, both about the fall and whatever reason he couldn’t stop laughing.
“I-I’m fine. Not lau-aughing at you,” He said, glancing desperately past Artham to an arched doorway that led to the castle gardens.
“Why were you running like that?” Artham asked, then muttered to himself, “I can’t really ask you that when I was running too,” then as he began picking up his books and papers and stuffing them into his satchel, he raised his voice back to normal volume and asked,
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the meeting? And what’s so funny?” Esben took a shaky breath and tried to stop laughing as he told Artham what had happened.
“We had just started the meeting…wh-hen-” Esben snickered and clamped a hand over his mouth, then continued when he saw the look of utter confusion on his older brother’s face.
“Connolin must have got out of his pen. He found his way into the council room and-” Esben snorted and went off into another convulsion of laughter as Artham’s expression changed.
“Oh no, what did he do?” Artham asked, starting to get very anxious. Connolin was a huge hill herder dog. He stood higher than Artham’s waist and was very furry. The brothers had gotten him at the houndry at the Hollows on their last visit, two and a half years before. He was named Connolin because while most of his fur was a darkish cream color, he had black patches on all four feet and a big black patch in his face, making him look like he was wearing a Durgan patrol mask. Despite what most people assumed from his huge size, he was still a puppy, and loved to play. And he never really took the time to realize if other people didn’t want to.
That was what made Artham very worried.
“He got into the council room and went to play with the first person he saw, it was Lord Senan! I-I’ve been running after them, but he’s faster than I thought.” Esben bent over and placed his hands on his knees, still shaking with laughter.
“Oh no! Where did they go?”
“That way,” Esben pointed to the garden door. Artham took off running again, very worried about what he would find. Connolin was very gentle, he wouldn’t ever actually hurt someone, but Senan was very allergic to dogs, and…he was a pretty important, albeit annoying, official. He also got angry rather easily.
As Artham ran through the garden, trying to imagine where in the world they could possibly be, the corners of his mouth twisted upward in a smile.
He could picture everything that Esben had described in his head, and he almost started laughing himself. He heard happy barking and turned toward it, trying not to start laughing. He heard someone yelling and turned a corner to see Lord Senan standing with a bench between him and the dog, trying to shoo Connolin away. When he saw Artham come running up the path, his face flushed red and he straightened up, clearing his throat and trying to regain his dignity.
“Down! Down, boy!” Senan told Connolin. In response, the dog jumped up and barked, his tail wagging up a little storm. Artham slowed to a jog and bit his lip to keep from smiling when Senan jumped at Connolin’s yip.
“Here, boy!” He said, patting his leg. The dog turned around and trotted happily to Artham, allowing Senan to stalk rather haughtily back onto the path. Artham leaned down and rubbed his big dog behind the ears, burying his cold hands in Connolin’s thick fur, which seemed to radiate heat. He grimaced as Senan’s angry footsteps rang on the frozen stones.
“Might I have an explanation for this, your Highness? And why were you not present in the council room when the meeting began? And why was this…dog allowed in the castle? And-”
Still looking down at his puppy, Artham rolled his eyes as he half listened to the man’s droning.
Of course Connolin has to try and play with the one member of the council who has absolutely no problem arguing with me…or insulting me, for that matter. To be honest, Artham enjoyed a good argument when he could get it, as it was rather refreshing from the way most of the other councilors tried to be diplomatic with him, but he thought it would be best for everyone if they got back to the council room sooner rather than later. Leaders from nearly every town in Anniera from the Shale Coast to Compass Point had come for a few days to discuss matters of state, and Artham didn’t want to waste any more of their time than he already had. He quickly interrupted the annoyed councilor and said,
“I’m very sorry, Connolin usually isn’t allowed in the castle. Would you mind if we discussed this later? Like you mentioned, there’s a rather important meeting going on in there, and they’re most likely waiting for us. I also happen to know that my brother, I mean the High King, has a rather important proposal for us. Shall we go?”
Artham straightened up and smiled at Lord Senan, hoping that he would comply, while at the same time hoping he would run into him again later for a good argument. Senan huffed in annoyance, and he glared at Connolin, but then he turned in his heel and stalked away without a word. Artham let out a breath of relief and bent over to bury his hands in the warm fur of his dog one more time.
“Good boy, Connolin. I guess it won’t hurt if you play in the garden while the meeting goes on. I’ll just lock the door behind me.” Connolin whined happily and pushed up against Artham, who smiled but then started walking back out of the garden. Connolin followed him, wagging his tail and still butting up against Artham at nearly every step. When Artham reached the door that led back into the hall, he put a hand on Connolin’s head.
“Stay, Connolin,” the dog whined but slumped down dejectedly as Artham closed the door. Artham let out a little half laugh and began walking quickly to the council room. Hopefully he hadn’t missed too much, but he was sure he could catch up on the time he had missed from the scribe’s word for word record of the important meeting. Besides, this conference was set to last at least three days longer. About half an hour wasn’t much compared to all of that.
Anyway, he thought, I’m sure Esben won’t break the news until I’m there. He knows how excited I am about this. Also, he reflected as he stooped to gather the books and papers that still lay scattered over the floor, stuffing them into his satchel. I have almost all the important information here. He winced as he heard some of the stitching in his old, overstuffed satchel pop.
I’m also going to need a new one of these. Then, as he struggled to close it after stuffing in the last book, I’d better get a bigger one. Artham walked quickly through the Throne Room, and paused with his hand in the council room’s doorknob. He couldn’t wait for this meeting, or for Esben to make the announcement. So far, the brothers were the only two who knew about it. Not even Bonifer was aware of Esben’s hopes to continue the project that had been on hold for almost two years now. Artham felt a shiver of excitement as he turned the knob and stepped into the council room.
Notes:
wahoo! I finally started this story!
Okay, so this is an early is a draft of chapter one, so please tell me honestly, does it seem choppy or rushed? Should I cut some scenes that aren’t exactly necessary to this plot? (Just so you know the thing with Lord Senan and Connolin is to show how things have gone back to normal.
This is a little over a year and a half after the end of Half Moon Rising. Esben is 16 and Artham is 19
I really wanted to post this chapter because I finally got a title (please tell me what you think of it) but I only have one other chapter done and my schedule will be a bit sketchy.
Because I have my taekwondo belt exam in approximately a month! I am super excited and might post about it later.
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