Giles looked out through the window, over the wall and rooftops to the stretching forest beyond. The two mountain ranges, hazy and cold in the distance, remained unchanged as ever. Though he could not help but suspect that he detected some sort of darker mist taking shape between them. This would be the gap of the mountain pass, he reaffirmed himself. Though he had never once seen it, it seemed to him that anyone from within the mountains of Tovoran knew of the entrance to their regions. He had been watching in this direction regularly throughout the days since the soldiers had all marched away towards the east. He did not know what drew his vision towards it so, and had no real expectations that he would see anything worthwhile. After all, his troubles were here and now, not to mention to the south, where it waited for him.

  This was his thought pattern until the evening when he heard the rumble, as he called it. A sudden shake of the world about him. For a moment, he thought that the tower holding him might fall, as it appeared rather old and unkempt. After finding himself still stationary within the musty structure, he clambered up to the window to look out. A few of the soldiers on the walls seemed to have observed the same tremor as himself, and a few in the yard moved about checking that things were alright. A strange moment, however none took much heed of the event. Then, later, long after the sun had found its rest, the quake revived itself. This time, more powerful. Giles stumbled from his bed narrowly avoiding two large stones that slipped from the ceiling and fell right where his head had been. Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Men ran about shouting below in the yard, and the town beyond the wall seemed to come alive with its citizens.

  Giles leapt back up to his viewing position, and strained his eyes into the night. Having been locked in the tower for so long without a torch or lantern, he found that his eyes adjusted rather well to the darkness beyond the window, and because of this he saw it. Between the two mountains, faint, and nearly impossible to make out, there appeared a subtle shimmering glow. It resembled that of a candle’s flicker when seen from around a corner. He blinked a few times and even rubbed his eyes. While the distance was great between the castle prison of Mountcrane and the mountain ranges, there was no doubt in his mind that what he saw was some sort of fire between the Pass. And his mind could only guess at what kind of fire would be enough for a thing like this.

  As the night moved to day, he kept watch. The light had long since ceased its reflection off of the mountain stone and the night went back into darkness. The only new event to be spotted was a surge of dark storm clouds building from the east and growing closer with each hour, shutting out starlight and moonlight as they went. Then, after many hours, the gray morning arrived. And with it, the sound of the door behind him being unbolted.

  When it opened, an older man stepped through. Giles had seen him many times through the window. Often he would be giving orders to the soldiers, or speaking to the young woman, who Giles understood to be the other royal of the castle. The old man looked him up and down, like a man considering the purchase of a horse. He kept a sword at his side, and the prisoner observed the aging upon its hilt.

  “Good morning, sir.” Giles found it hard not to smile at the phrase. The second time he had been called sir by a visitor to the cell. He nodded to the man, but did not respond. The old man took a step into the room. “I am glad to see you are feeling much better than when my men brought you in to us.” Giles was able to see him more clearly. He stood fully erect, with his shoulders back and chin held high. On his chest he wore a leather type of armor, the imprint of a crane’s head along the abdomen. “I am called Magnus. I am the master at arms over Mountcrane. And, while the king is away, second only to the queen herself.” A moment of silence passed between the two, and Giles, unaccustomed to such things, suddenly felt that he was supposed to say some sort of mannered response.

  “Yes, very nice, sir. I am Giles. Pleasure to meet you, this fine morning.” He spoke the words as one who is speaking a language for the first time in public, and he could tell by the slight smile on Magnus’s lips that he had not come across as high class as he had hoped. The old man nodded and took another step into the room.

  “Very good then, Giles. I came to ask if it would be too much trouble for you to walk with me.” Giles looked about the little room and then back to Magnus.

  “I feel there might not be enough room for the two of us, sir.” Magnus laughed and stepped aside from the doorway.

  “Yes, that is true. Then we had better make use of this old castle. Come. Walk with me along the walls, and talk with me about yourself.” Giles looked at the man suspiciously, and took a hesitant step down from the bed.

  “Would this be allowed? Would the queen be interested in seeing a prisoner walk about her home?” Magnus smiled and walked through the doorway before turning back.

  “Seeing as it was she who requested it, I think we’ll be alright, son.” Giles' heart skipped at being called this, and something within him hurt. Magnus gestured with his hand for Giles to follow, and after some consideration, and many glances towards the old man’s sword, he did so. A few minutes later, Giles found himself walking along the ramparts of Mountcrane, looking out over the battlements to the forest beyond.

  The moat separating the castle and the woods was empty of all water, and in its place, many large wooden spikes had been made. He felt that, should he try to jump from the wall, if the fall did not kill him, the spikes would. So, he decided that walking would be a nice change of pace from his usual routine.

  The man called Magnus decided on a slow meandering pace. He kept his eyes forward at all times, though Giles suspected that he was indeed keeping a peripheral view upon him at all times. In the open, and this close to the man, the prisoner could now make out the clear size difference between the two. No matter his advanced age, Giles felt it clearly best to stay on the man’s good side, and not make any foolish moves. Especially with a blade so readily available to him.

  The outside air, while cold, felt less damp and more freeing than Giles had expected after being confined for the time that he had. His legs, while not as strong as before, had healed up a good amount and it felt good to be able to stretch them out. In fact, being able to look about at the open world again felt like one big muscular stretch of his entire spirit. How long had he been in that cell, he wondered. Or had this feeling been with him since before that?

  “Abner tells me you are from the south. Is this true?” Giles sniffed, and looked down to think. He found his mind had been growing dull within his trapped state, and he feared letting something slip that should not be known.

  “Ah, well, in a matter of speaking, yes.”

  “In a matter of speaking?”

  “Well, to you, where I come from would be south as anything. However, my family-” He stopped at the mention of the word, and had to swallow his emotions. “My home is to be found on the north side of the Bluehead. So, south from here? Yes. However, should you ask any southerner where I am from, they would tell you I am as northern as your king and queen.” Magnus smiled and nodded understandingly. Giles found that he liked the way the old man’s face looked. It reminded him of his grandfather’s ever calm presence in their old home. He blinked and focused his eyes back on the path ahead. “Where are you from, Magnus? If you don’t mind me asking. You just seem a bit different from the others around here.” Magnus chuckled but kept his eyes ahead, never breaking stride.

  “How do I seem so different? Do I speak differently?”

  “Well, no. It’s just,” Giles had to think for a moment. He was so used to watching others and spying for their hidden truths, that he had not noticed his mind doing it without his own effort, and he had to rethink what he had seen about the man. “The people here in the north, they are nothing like those where I am from. I have been watching them from my window, and they all mostly seem like an older type of people.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “I am not sure what you mean.” Giles searched for the least offensive way to speak his thoughts. He stopped and moved behind the older man to look down into the yard. He spotted one of the soldiers, standing by the open gate, holding a tall spear in his hand. Giles pointed at the man and gestured to Magnus to look. Magnus stopped and too gazed into the yard.

  “I mean that. Look at this place. Look at its stone. At its structure. Clearly it is a place of ancient making, am I right?” Magnus nodded.

  “You are correct. Mountcrane has been standing for longer than anyone living within its walls. Including myself. It has been here since before the great war, if Mr. Abner’s research is correct.”

  “Yes, as I suspected. I passed by a place like this on my way here.” Giles recounted his fevered memory of the ancient ruin that made up the maze he had passed through in his escape from the creature. “There are places within the north that are older than any of us. Yet the people here, they seem like a tribe that has stumbled upon an ancient abandoned city and taken up residence within it.” He looked down at the soldier though his eyes seemed distant, as he spoke. “A people who accepted their new home but were far from the ones who made it.” Magnus looked over at Giles with an interested look.

  “You sound like one speaking from experience. Were your people of a similar sort?” Giles kept his eyes on the soldier.

  “I suppose you could say that.” He moved back to his position along the wall and continued walking, head tilted down in thought. Magnus followed alongside him once more, keeping his eyes ahead.

  “Then, how do I seem to you, that I might not be from here?”

  “You seem too proper.” Responded Giles, not missing a beat. “The people from my home were nothing more than what you might call country bumpkins, people who were easy to fool. And those that I find here look like they stepped out of an old story. A hard people that survived through much struggle, but never left their cultural roots. Compared to all of them, you seem like someone who actually knows what a real city looks like.” They reached the south east corner tower, and Giles walked along its circular edge until he faced the mountains. There, he stopped. Magnus stayed behind him at the tower’s center, now watching the prisoner.

  “You’re right.” He said after a few moments. “I am not from the north. Though, I have lived here for many years now. In truth, I am from beyond the mountains, as your people would say.” Giles nodded, but did not turn around. He instead strained to see if the haze still remained between the ranges.

  “What brought you here?” He asked, not fully interested in the answer, now finding himself more engaged with his new task. Magnus looked off to the south, over the far end of the mountain range where the great sea ruled all.

  “I was a sailor. I traded along the coast for my whole youth.” He walked over to stand next to Giles, who glanced sideways at the older man as he joined the prisoner by resting his arms on the stone crenellations. He let out a heavy sigh. “I would leave my home for one or even two years at a time. Made a rather good fortune for myself. I like to think my father would be proud.” Giles detected a slight nod of the man’s head, agreeing with his own assessment.

  “Sounds like a life far from where you ended up.”

  “Oh yes. Yes indeed.”

  “So, what brought you here of all places? Why would you leave your success?” Magnus looked over at him for a few moments before bowing his head slightly.

  “After leaving home one time, I found that a place called Greyrock was looking for ship builders, and experienced sailors.” Giles felt his stomach churn at the name of the greatest kingdom in all of Tovoran. Magnus continued. “Apparently, they were readying themselves for war, and needed ships fast. I offered them my services at a high price. Higher than anything I had ever demanded from peasant or king. And they paid it.” He chuckled. “I even stayed after the job was done. Helped with the war.” Giles looked at him.

  “You saw the war?” Magnus nodded. “What was it like?” The old man looked over at him, a knowing smile on his mouth, and a sadness in his gray eyes.

  “Why ask me? You’ll see something far worse soon enough.” Giles lowered his head and looked down at the moat again. Even now, freed from his cell, the feeling of being trapped began to claw its way up his body.

  “So, then you’ve stayed ever since?”

  “No.” Magnus stood back up. Resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, he continued walking. Giles, now finding himself interested in the man’s story, followed beside him. “After the war, I left with my crew back for my home. Traveled for months. As I looked out to the coast of my country,” he trailed off and shook his head.

  “What did you see?” Giles pressed. Magnus looked ahead.

  “Miles of ash and bodies.” He stopped and turned to the prisoner. “War doesn’t only happen here in Tovoran, my friend. If you think you can leave for better lands, I am sorry to disappoint you.” He kept walking, and Giles followed silently.

  The two carried on like this, now approaching the top of the gate as they walked. A steady breeze rolled in over the rooftops to his right, and yellow leaves found themselves ripping free from the woodland only to shimmer about the castle. Far to the east, the storm clouds continued to grow, graying the distant horizon. But Giles saw none of this. Of all things, from talks of history and the coming threats of war, he found himself thinking of Abner.

  “Do you know the Magi well?” He asked. Magnus nodded.

  “Well as one can know a Magi, I suppose. Though others might know him a bit better. Why?” Giles shook his head and looked forward.

  “Just curious. Never met one before. What do you think about them?” Magnus took a deep breath and placed both hands behind his back like a school master.

  “I have only met five in my time. From what I have seen, they are closed off, strange, and rather rude.” Giles’ eyebrows lifted. Then, Magnus looked at him with a wink. “But Abner is not rude. So, I wouldn’t worry.”

  “Why would I worry?” The two stopped on top of the gate, and Magnus looked down at Giles. The prisoner felt his mind coming back through their exercise, and the sensation that this old man knew something, or rather, was trying to know something came through in his mind. Giles crossed his arms over his baggy wool tunic. It fit two sizes too big, and made it impossible to take him seriously when standing alongside the armed man. But he tried, all the same.

  “He is the reason you are still here after all.” Responded Magnus. “Do you think this would be the case if he did not have some sort of plans for you?”

  “Yes, I am still confused about what those plans seem to be. I suspect that is why we are going on our little walk now.” This time Magnus’s brows raised. “Well, you can tell your queen that she can save her time. The Magi told me nothing. In fact, I was hoping to ask the two of you some questions about what I should be expecting at this Willow’s Nest.”

  “Then we are all in the same boat.” The feminine voice called up to them, and Giles turned about to look into the yard. The queen called up to him. He looked her over, now getting a far better view of the woman than he had been able to from his high cell window. The bright eyes, and smile ever playing around her lips seemed brighter than all the world about in the daylight. Her royal dress had been decorated with crafted yellow flowers, similar in color to the banners, though much more elaborate in their details. In her hand she held a book. Giles took a closer look at it, and found it to be one of the thousand scrolls. He wondered if Abner had given one to her as well. Judging by the blue ribbon used as a place marker, she had nearly finished it.

  “Hello there, ma’am.” He called down. Magnus placed a hand upon his shoulder.

  “I know you are unfamiliar with royalty Giles, but within Northguard, she is a queen. You shall address her as such.” He removed the hand, and nodded for the prisoner to try again. Giles turned to face her.

  “My apologies. Hello there, queen.” She covered her laughter with the book, and Magnus rolled his eyes.

  “Shall I bring him down to you, my lady?” She removed the book from her face.

  “Yes, I think you had better.”

  “Come along then, Giles.” Magnus walked along the wall again, heading for a stone staircase. “We have little time to find our way about things now. So bring your wits with you.” Giles looked after him then to the young woman who was now walking back towards the hall. He placed his hands on his hips.

  “Suppose there are many things I have left to learn about the world.” He thought back on his time in the south and the many trials and games of outsmarting others that he had accomplished. Better learn fast, if I want to survive, he thought. Then he looked back over his shoulder to the gap between the mountains. He took a deep breath.

  “Better learn fast indeed.”