Chapter Four
-XXI-
“Hey lady, wake up. Hey!”
Mona opened her eyes in fear and saw a man standing above her – and another next to the horse. She shook in fear and happiness, the mystery of the unknown causing the former and seeing a fellow human, even with a drawn dagger at hand a scowl on the face, the latter. Surprise also filled her: she still remembered and understood Svalian perfectly well after these many years.
“Do you understand me?” asked the man that woke her up. Mona nodded her head.
“You’re sleeping in the forest, it isn’t safe. What are you doing here?”
“I… I came a long way. Am hungry” she said. Spring had brought its riches with, the forest was full of berries and mushrooms but she was sick of it all. Needed food, real food. Processed, warm, filling, tasty food.
“Matt, got some bread?”
“Aye” the man investigating the horse said and handed the man a loaf. Bread? Okay, was good enough. Mona took and looked at it as if it was the most valuable treasure, took a huge bite and thanked the men. Two others appeared shortly.
“It’s clear around. No signs of anyone else” said one.
“Her tracks go northeast, to the peaks. That’s where you came from, eh?”
She nodded her head and took another bite. She had made her mind up few days back: talk only to the chief and none other except what needs be said.
The man sent the two to scouts to further their search and talked to Mona.
“Who are you?”
“Mona.”
“I see that you’re a woman. I asked who you are.”
“Mona, not woman. Well, am a woman but that’s not what I said. They call me Mona, Mona Tupper from Sval.”
“Matt, send the name to Rock” the man said and turned to Mona. “We’ll see soon if what you say is correct. If not, you’ll be in deep, lady. And whence you come from, you said?”
“That a long story sir, needs be told to the Chief himself.”
“I have all the time in the world and you won’t see him till we clear you. Speak, I’m listening.”
Mona hastily opened the front of her cloak and showed the still sleeping boy. “It’s about him and not me. Please, I need to talk to the Chief” she said. The man took a look at the boy.
“And what is it about the boy? It’s his son or what?”
“By gods, no! I really need to talk to him. What I tell you will mean little if any” Mona said begging, closing the cloak.
“Look. You’re old to be a spy, and doubt many would arrive with a baby. Yet we’re preparing for war and I see no reason to let you walk away, let alone seeing the chief. I’ve already been generous not searching you, now it’s your time to pay back” the man said drawing his dagger. “Or I’ll need to cut it out of you”.
Mona sighed and took out her blade. “Here is my pay back for your generosity, sire. I have no other, you can search if you like” she said and opened her cloak again.
“You’re a tight-lipped one, eh? Left me no choice. Stand, we’re off of here” he said, tied Mona’s horse to his and helped her raise from the ground. Both were on the horse in a minute and at a cabin soon, used by the hunters. Mona was seated at a chair and her hands were tied. “Word should arrive before sun will disappear. The choice is yours now. Tell your story and you’ll sit comfortably, maybe even leave here and be on the way, or remain silent and I may be the last face you’ll ever remember.”
Would he understand if she’d tell? Would he believe? No, he wouldn’t. Yet she needed to tell him something, anything. An hour of weighing what to tell, she spoke in the end when the man was stewing three hares he hunted earlier in the morning. She decided to talk not to be released, she had already realized that it wasn’t going to be the case, but with the hope that he would share some of the food. Real, tasty, delicious food.
“Am coming from Damaria” she said looking hungrily at the stew. She never fancied hare but at the moment it smelled better than beef, even mutton.
“Well, well, you decided to talk in the end but with a bad lie. Even I wouldn’t dare crossing the mountain with Matt’s company, wolves would be feasting on my carcass before I could make it to the top” he said and checked if the stew was fine. Nope, still needed time.
“I’m telling the truth; you believe or not. I don’t know how many days have passed in the wilderness, stopped counting after ten days.”
“Let’s say that you’re telling the truth. Why are you here?” the man asked, took another chair and sat across Mona.
“I fled Damaria. I needed to.”
“And you’re heading to Sval?”
“Yes.”
“What for?”
“Told you, I’m from here. Been so many years since I left, more than half my life had passed far from home. Now came the time to return.”
The man wasn’t impressed with Mona’s words but let her speak on anyway.
“And you’re fleeing from what crime? None can dare crossing these mountains, even scared for their lives. What’s the reason?”
“That, sir, wouldn’t be understood by you. Not by the Chief probably either, yet is to be seen.”
The man leaned back on the chair. “What I may or may not understand cannot be known unless I’m told what it is. And you know what?” he said leaning towards Mona. “I don’t believe in you”.
“Believe or not, I’m telling the truth. What would I be doing out here otherwise?”
“Times have changed. Ralph gathers an army at our door, waiting for a chance to attack. You’re here to spy on us, get information and share with them. We’ll see when we’ll find your company.”
“You’ll have to wait forever to find my company, then, for there’s any.”
“That we’ll find out soon” he said raising from his chair and checking the stew again. The conversation was over once more.
Another hour later the two scouts arrived. “Searched the land but nay, there’s no other. She arrived alone” one said. “On horseback. Camped in the night, set so small of a fire that even we barely could see” added the other.
“Do you two always say half of what needs to be said?” asked Mona.
“Any problems?” asked one. “And what of it to you?” asked the other. Mona had her answer and laughed.
“You’re a well-fitting pair, and a fun one. Don’t get me wrong, I like it” she said smiling. The men weren’t smiling, though.
“You see Leo? She’s making fun of us” said one of the two. The other looked at Mona first, and at Zakk, the man that questioned Mona later.
“What she told?”
“Bullshit. That she fled Damaria don’t know when and returned home many years later for don’t know what” he said and checked the stew. Yeah, it was done in the end. He took the pot off the fire and three men sat around it.
“Still hungry?”
“Like hell.”
“Then tell us what’s going on and we may share some.”
“Zakk, it was Zakk right? Okay. I told you the truth. Am Mona Tupper, born in Sval and left when I was twenty, the year of the great quake. Been in Iena first, and Argenta and Damaria later. Then came the time when I couldn’t leave from the front door, so I did from the back.”
“None can survive the mountain. In winter it’s cold and now the wild would kill you. Say Tomo if you need to lie, least would be believable” replied Leo. It was the other guy’s turn, Mona waited for him to speak. He did indeed.
“The great quake… I was in my ma’s stomach back then. She couldn’t carry me longer with the fear and I was born early. Damn, they thought I’d die soon but here I am, strong as an ox” he added beating his chest. He suddenly stopped and looked at Mona. “What you said your name is”?
“Mona, Mona Tupper.”
The man thought for a second. “Mona… I remember my ma telling something of a girl that left, didn’t stay to help the folk with the rubble. A good cook that lost…” he was continuing when Mona finished his sentence with a glimpse of hope.
“Her mom first and dad later, wouldn’t survive if Magda didn’t help her?”
Both men looked at the other.
“No. A bracelet, ma found it later and kept for many a year waiting for her return, yet sold later when she didn’t come.”
The bracelet? The only thing left to Mona from her mother was sold? How many days and nights she had looked for it. It wasn’t the time to mourn again for the loss, this could be the chance for them to believe that she indeed was herself.
“You remember what it looks like?”
“Hardly. It was…”
“You don’t, let me tell. A golden one with a butterfly on one side and sparrow on the other. My mom loved both, used to call me a sparrow and my sis a butterfly. I thought I was a beautiful girl as a result, how would I know that I was wrong… But no, that’s not the point. Remember?”
“I guess was something like that.”
“That’s it! Who’s your mom? She was, let me think, Rose? Or, or, wait, Daisy?”
“Daisy, aye.”
“Boy, we worked with her for half a decade! Where is she now, how does she fare?”
“Died last winter.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. Dear Daisy, what a good girl she was. Her sweet buns were the best I ever ate. Especially the ones with walnuts and berries… May she rest in peace and join gods in heaven.”
“That she never ate but loved to make. You knew her?”
“Of course I knew her! Told you, we worked together for Magda for five years. I was fifteen when she came and she was, wait, eighteen if I’m not wrong. Didn’t want to get married for which she was working. Philip ran after her for two years and managed to turn her heart in the end. Yeah, I remember all clear now. You were born few days before I left. Made a medallion myself, I used to have such talent back then. You’re William, right? Still have the medallion?”
The guy half-opened his collars and showed a medallion on which was graved sweet William. The air suddenly changed in the room. The suspect was a suspect no more and questions were more out of curiosity than doubt thereafter.
“How did you survive the mountains?” asked Zakk.
“Gods protected us, that’s all I can say. Were lucky, managed to flee bears and boars and wolves. And hunger. Actually…” she said showing her still tied hands and the stew with her eyes. “Got some for me”?
“Gods, wait” Zakk said, untied her hands and gave a spoon to her. “Enough for you, she’s been hungry for long” he added shooing away the two men. Mona jumped and ate as if she hadn’t eaten for years, none of the three disturbed her meanwhile. When the last drops of the stew was over the talk continued.
“And why did you flee?”
“Because of him” Mona said but couldn’t continue. The baby was a silent one even then, would cry rarely but never to stop once he did – and he did now.
“He’s hungry too. Had some milk for a while but since been feeding all useless things. He managed so far but I doubt he can longer. Can you find some milk?” she asked. Zakk sent Leo and Mona rocked the baby to sleep. Quarter of an hour later he was back asleep and all talked slower not to hear the cries again.
“You were saying?” William asked.
“What was it? Yeah. Because of him. He needed to leave.”
“What for?” asked Zakk.
“Told you, that you won’t understand. Need to talk to the Chief. I’m not sure if he’d get it either but got to try.”
“Okay, I won’t ask more but behold! Chief speaks less and is hard to convince. Whatever your story might be, better make it clear and understandable. Or you’ll be banished” he said, waited for a moment and finished his words. “Or worse”.
“Truth isn’t clear all the time, but I tell nothing else. Believing me or not is up to him.”
“Warned you” Zakk said and filled his pipe. Men, for Mona wasn’t to tell much, and Mona for she was thinking of how to tell the Chief about it all, remained silent till Leo returned with milk. Mona fed the baby and they left in the afternoon for Saratan, half the day’s ride from the cabin. Childhood memories rushed to Mona’s mind as they left the forest and saw the lake. She’d feel twenty again had her knees and back allowed.
The men were speaking in riddles with each other Mona didn’t know why and were checking on her time after time. Her identity was revealed, her blade was taken, and, with a baby on her bosom, not a fake or dead one as his cries probably were heard all the way from Sval, she wouldn’t pose any danger. Why she was back wasn’t known but it didn’t matter. Chief was to find out and make his decision of this captive.
Yes, Mona still was a captive meaning Rock, head of Svalian intelligence taking orders only from the Chief, Mentor, and no other, not even Orion the commander general, was supposed to question her once they arrived. Rock’s real name was unknown, it was long forgotten being called this way for well over a decade, and even he himself didn’t remember. Once he was asked of it, and after thinking a while he snapped asking what was wrong with Rock. “Everyone gets who you talk about, then what”?
“Then what will we write on your stone?”
“Rock will suffice if I ever will have one.”
-XXII-
They arrived at Saratan late in the evening. Mona and the baby were lodged at the last house of the village, and both were sleeping by the time Rock arrived. What he heard from his men sufficed for the moment and all had a good night’s sleep.
Next morning Mona left with Zakk for Sval. Lakeside road was yet to be paved, for which it took a tad longer than they’d prefer and they entered the city from the south gate past noon. Zakk took Mona directly to the town hall as per Rock’s order, and informed the Chief of their find. He was told to leave the woman and the baby there and leave for duty, Mona was given a room for the night as the Chief had more urgent business for the moment, allowing Mona to have yet another comfortable and peaceful night.
She was surprised with the city not having changed in all these years. The demolished buildings were rebuilt in almost the exact same way, the people still were as they were back then, and even the lavender smell filling the streets was there. It was as if she hadn’t left at all – except the young were getting old, the babies were grown up and the elder had left to meet gods – or were lost in hell. She wasn’t allowed to roam freely yet, all she saw was the main road between the gate and the town hall, and the much her window allowed, but that was more than enough for her to derive this conclusion.
She was awake before anyone came to wake her up. Asked a guard for a bath and was allowed shortly, probably because she smelled worse than the sewers. What is better than a warm bath? A long and warm one of course! She stayed there for an hour, washing herself thrice and taking the dirt of the past month on the path off. She was given clean clothes at the hall and the wait started. The Chief was busy again and found time only in late evening, or the night for some.
She was taken to the Yellow Room. Across the door were two statues. On the left was Elat’s, the first chief’s and on the right was of the goddess, more out of tradition than of belief. Between the two was the seat of the Chief. Candles were lit on the two sides of the room. On the right side for the Chief were the seats for the members of the council and on the other were the seats for the people that came to complain, request, ask, inform, or just to say hi.
The Chief had two members of his council with. He didn’t like to make decisions alone and had at least two people with all the time. Mona sat on his left, a man came and briefly informed the Chief of the case and the hearing began.
Or was to begin.
“I hear that you’ve returned after a long while. We will hear what you have to say and come to a verdict” the Chief said. Even seated he was tall and his voice was so strong, echoing in this rather modest room.
“I kindly ask to talk in private, Chief, for what I’m to tell may not be a matter regarding many” Mona replied.
“Then it’ll be better if we have these gentlemen here. What I won’t understand they will, and what they won’t understand I will” he said uninterestedly. He was but a steward in the end, needed to leave an administrable land for the Chief to come.
“I need to kindly insist, Chief, for some words need not be spread before they become public.”
“I trust my council more than I do myself. No word shall leave the walls of this room. What needs to be remembered shall linger in our minds till the end of time, and what needs to be forgotten shall be erased before we rise from our seats.”
“Please don’t get me wrong, this is not a matter of trust. It’s about a burden I need to carry, and it neither can nor should be carried by many.”
“No chief of Sval is entitled to hide a thing from its people, neither to add the council. I’m but a steward, will leave the seat for another after Yolken for good and can’t keep anything for myself. You’ll better tell what you are to, or we’ll keep exchanging words here this way till morning and neither of us shall gain a thing.”
Mona looked at the men, then at the Chief. She knew that albeit Chief was sure that no word would leave the hall, once she spoke it was going to become public. No, she couldn’t dare it. Insisting wouldn’t work, it was made clear. She had but one chance, then, and decided to see if it would work.
“Can we talk in front of the soothsayer? Her counsel, I believe, wouldn’t be less dear and valuable than these gentlemen, and if you two would end up to differ in verdicts, I’ll take yours and won’t oppose even the slightest.”
Chief wasn’t ready for this question and curiosity had grown in him. “I don’t remember such thing happening in history and am not sure if I should agree” he said. His voice and tone never changed so far and Mona couldn’t understand if he was inclined to agree or not – but had she another chance than pushing?
“There’s a first of everything. Elat had decided to have a council because she had to keep balance between different people with different needs, coming from all around and some not even knowing the language, at a time when there was no state but a small town, one that grew to become what it is now. Besides, my matter isn’t a matter of state but of a boy, one that might find home here, or elsewhere if you’ll decide otherwise, and neither it’s of great importance nor a matter of threat for the state” she said telling her first lie.
Chief had the same face: emotionless, with no sign of what was going on in his mind. He looked at Mona and spoke with the voice that was no different than his face. “I can’t get the reason of your demand. What need be told behind the walls while having no significance”?
“That will be seen once I’ll reveal. Please, just trust me for the time being. If you’ll deem it a stately matter, then you can bring it up at the council. Neither I nor anyone else can stop you. If not, my demand shall be fulfilled and what needs to be kept away from other ears will remain in shadows.”
Chief stood from his chair, which meant he had a verdict. Rather than sharing it, he called the men to the next room and the three returned in few minutes. “Your demand is accepted” he spoke. “This audition is now over. Kurt, Lucas, you may return your homes in peace. And you, Mona, follow me” he said and left the room. They passed the long corridor and climbed to the second floor, to the Chief’s quarter. They entered the tiny study. Three walls were filled with books and the third had a map of the world above, and of Sval below. There was but a table, chair, and two sofas as furniture, and Chief showed one of the sofas as he sat at the chair after closing the door.
“You should be happy now, I reckon?” he asked filling two cups and handing one to Mona.
“I am, yet am unsure if you’ll be later” she said taking a sip. Oh, mulled wine. “Thank you Chief, thank you thousand fold”.
“Don’t thank me. Kurt was sleepy, he’s the first to enter the bed even before children and Lucas didn’t seem interested. I was the only one voting against, and here we are. I’m all ears.”
Mona started feeling annoyed of his attitude but hid her feelings inside. “Where should I start” she asked and took another sip.
“Where you see fit.”
Where would Mona see fit? She thought for a second and decided to start from the beginning – the quake and her leaving Sval. Chief didn’t seem interested but didn’t interrupt. Mona told of her travels, how she made her living, how she ended up in Damaria and ultimately how she fled it – excluding what mattered the most: the prophecy.
“Now let me summarize. The boy was condemned to death, you saved him somehow, survived the wild and brought here. Correct?”
“Aye.”
“And why does it matter for me? I’d understand if he was yours and you wanted to hide but now, I don’t get a thing.”
“Ever heard of Stephen’s prophecy?”
Mona was looking deep in the eyes of Chief and didn’t see a thing.
“Never heard of such a thing.”
“Few know of it am told. Was hidden behind the walls, then even the soothsayers forgot.”
“How come you know, then?”
“What I do for living caught the attention of a soothsayer, which one is irrelevant.”
“Neither I care. What is this prophecy?”
This time Mona read him the poem and told the reason why not only Harald and Anna but also their children were to be killed.
Chief reached to a shelf and filled some whiskey this time. Mona saw him knitting his eyebrows for a second, took it as a good sign. Chief meanwhile had sat back on the chair and was thinking.
“You say, he brought but misfortune” he said in the end, still thinking.
“For them, yes” Mona said and reached for the mulled wine, filling her long empty cup. Chief didn’t care, neither looked nor intervened.
“And that he’ll help Sval reach new heights?”
“That the prophecy said.”
“And you expect me to believe in this?”
Chief saw no reason to hide his feelings at the moment. He was not anxious nor excited. He was more doubtful if not taking it as rubbish.
“Told you, Chief, that few can get it – and why I’d rather talk in the presence of the soothsayer. I believe she’d confirm what I’ve told.”
“She was your sister, aye?”
Mona was caught red handed. She lowered her head, removing any doubt Chief had. “She told me of this, yes” Mona confessed. You could describe Mentor with many qualities and being smart, smart as hell, was one of them. He collected all clues in a moment and looked at Mona, the way that the woman felt desperate. There was lightning, no, no, a storm in the man’s eyes.
“Never did I ask her counsel, neither did I need her guidance. I prefer facts to fiction and a woman between four walls has no idea whatsoever about what we deal with, however much information flows inside.”
“Gifts of gods shouldn’t be taken lightly, Chief. What we see is but part of what’s out there. We have eyes, we have smell, we have touch but that’s all. On this earth roams many things unseen to us, but they’re there no less real than you and I. They are the ones that see.”
“Tell me a thing that she does and I don’t?”
“I… Don’t know.”
“Thought so” he said seemingly annoyed. “I’m responsible of all I do, gods are responsible for all she says. No, call forth another one if we need a witness, not one hiding in cloth”.
Mona returned to the topic at hand realizing he was not much different than her in preferring facts to fiction. Problem was that this fiction was supported with facts. How could she make him believe? Ah, the clot. She told the morning, him coming the last with the sunrise, holding the clot. “Coincidence is when one thing happens, or two. But this many? No, this can’t be explained as easily as that”.
She thought that she had the upper hand but Chief hadn’t revealed all his cards.
“Sigmund decided to step down as the Chief, asking for the candidates to step forward. None managed to secure the majority in either round, forcing one of Elat’s blood take the seat as steward for the first time in history. That year passed and others were preparing when Ralph decided to attack us, after which the new chief’s election was postponed for another year. Folk somehow fancied me and albeit I hadn’t the slightest desire, I still sit here waiting for the coming Yolken to step down. Two months and I’ll be back to my simple life, yet you ask me to make a decision on behalf of the coming sovereign. Tell me, is it the fate arranging this? Are these mere coincidences as I take, or something bigger as you should claim?”
“That’s not for me to decide” Mona resigned. Chief wasn’t finished yet.
“These gods you speak of, how many are there? Ever counted? Goddess of fertility here and god of war there and this is over that here and that’s above another elsewhere… Gods, ha? Gods that eat, gods that sleep. Ask them and you sure will find some worshipping Elat, making up stories of how she fought a dragon herself atop the Lonely Mountain to protect her land. No Mona, gods aren’t for real. They’re just tools for us to keep sane and hopeful. Never did I need them so far, nor they tried to turn my mind. I’m happy ignoring them and return the favour.”
Mona had accepted her fate and was thinking where to leave for in the morning. She didn’t want to return to Iena. Yargan? Nay, it was too risky, as was the far north. Tomo seemed to be the safest bet if not the best, its mild sea weather could even benefit her weakening bones.
“There’s nothing more I can say. I’ll leave directly by morning” she said.
“We’re not done yet.”
Mona looked at him questioningly.
“Our conversation so far had been on if I take the boy different than any other, not if I let you resettle here. Don’t expect anything for the former. But for the latter, so long we’ll be level on terms, or rather you accept mine, I see no reason to refuse.”
“I’m all ears” she said with a smile created with the sudden return of hope that left for a stroll.
“This talk of prophecy and being chosen and what not shall be forgotten so much so that neither you nor him will ever speak of and nor even think of it” he said with his head resting on the back of the chair. Mona nodded her head and “thinking of I can’t promise, yet won’t raise the issue ever again” she added. Chief got what he wanted. We all think of things we don’t do, it was even good of her to confess it.
“Second, following the first, you’ll treat him no different than you’d any other child under your watch, neither you’ll ask, desire or force others to do so.”
“Consider it done.”
“Lastly, I may not be a believer of them gods but I have other things I hold close to my heart and mind. These things you claim he brought… Anything such happens here and I’ll finish what John started, and enjoy some wine and pipe watching you hang on the gallows. Or, yeah, burning at the stake. Would be better.”
There was no such punishment in Sval, Mona knew it either, but the point was made and that was all that mattered. “Shields will splinter” she thought. The last verse told of coming good days, not bad. None could ever promise that nothing bad was to happen. There were tens, actually hundreds of thousands of people living in the city. Neither she not the boy could be held responsible of the ill that they do, right?
But what if they would? Someone poisoned the wine, whose identity she still wondered about. The grains could have gone bad themselves as the fire in the forest could have started itself. That happening, or at least being seen in the night showed that there probably was something fishy but she still was sure that Harald didn’t involve in any. He couldn’t the last one anyway. But Anna? No, no. She had no idea about this prophecy, how could she? Okay, she wouldn’t dare to commit suicide and would prefer to be killed, but such devious way?
“None can control what the others do. I doubt I can promise such a thing” she said. “Though I believe he’ll bring prosperity with, it’s neither promised nor certain. Nay, that I can’t be sure of what the future holds for us”.
“You heard my clauses, it’s for you to decide.”
“Gods protected us in the wild, they’ll not forsake us now. I accept.”
Such a bold move it was! She remembered the guys talking about Ralph on the way to Saratan. What was it? Him preparing an attack on Sval? Damn, she already regretted what she said but it was too late. “Then welcome back home” Chief had said already. “Gods are with us” she thought as Chief was talking about lodging her at the hall temporarily till finding an appropriate house.
“Can I make a demand?” she asked.
“So long you won’t want an answer right ahead.”
“I had a school for midwives. If I can start one here too, I was wondering?”
“And what do you need?”
Mona explained. “That’s lots of coin” Chief said after a long and melodic whistle. “Can you afford”?
“I have some with, yet am unsure if will suffice. I can work meanwhile so long there’ll be people willing to pay for it.”
“Folk here aren’t rich as the Damarians, yet you’ll make a decent sum I reckon” Chief replied and taught a while. “Come morrow noon, we may sort something out. Anything else”?
“You won’t regret, Chief.”
“That I hope either. Now that we’re done, I have other things to work on” he said and dismissed Mona. “By the way” he asked as she was leaving. “What’s his name”?
It was wonder on Chief’s face than fear. Mona gulped and spoke.
“Stephen.”
“Surprise, surprise… Have a blessed night.”
So Mona left for her room, now without a guard to watch, hence no one to direct her to the room. It took a while till she managed, locked the door and prayed looking at Stephen. “May gods really look upon us. We’re too young to die yet”.
-XXIII-
She queued for an audience next morning and asked again the means for her school. Kurt, now wide awake, listened to her carefully, paying all his attention. Asked her of what she did in the past and her aims for the future. “If she really is that good as she claims, she’ll be a huge asset for us all. Am ready to fund this school” he said joyously. Chief agreed, as did three others. In a week Kurt bought the old mansion next to the lake and gave it for the school, where Mona and Stephen were to live meanwhile. It was furnished by Mona, for which she spent all her coin so much so that she was left penniless, and ads were put around the city: Girls of Sval! Come to Mona’s midwifery school to help your fellow citizens and make your own living thereafter.
May and half of June passed peacefully. A week before Yolken came the news: there were skirmishes at the border which soon escalated to war. Not only the festival was cancelled and the elections postponed but also Chief lost his son in Sval’s decisive victory. Each day Mona woke up in fear of Mentor’s wrath, holding her and Stephen responsible for the war, yet he was too busy managing order in the city and beyond. Ceremonies to thank and bless the fallen was held at the Martyr’s Cemetery where the first twelve martyrs, including Durvadur Elat’s beloved brother and Corinne the shield maiden were buried, and the townsfolk attended one or the other that lasted for a whole month.
Mentor changed after that in many ways. He had considered himself a temporary one at the seat until then, against the will of the folk that were happy with his lead. A ring was forged bearing the title chief, hence dropping the one that said steward, and he started acting like the chief elect, not postponing decisions waiting from the past years but passing one law after the other, proposing his candidates for the high seats, and asking for counsel less rarely, but not eliminating it totally. The winter passed with him reshaping Sval and asking for the allegiance of the people to himself, not only to the seat. Six found guilty of treason were hanged by none other than himself, their bodies were burned and their families were banished from the land. Mentor’s wife, who held her husband responsible for her son’s death, came to be unable to cope with the sorrow of losing her only child and passed away two months after him, leading Mentor for this last decree. It went against the law, that each is held responsible only of their own deeds and not of others, because of which Chloe the Lawmaker, the chief justice of Sval who had the last say on judicial matters, protested against the decree to no avail. “Treason is a crime unlike any other and its measures need be on par with the evil” Mentor said not withdrawing his decree. Folk sided with Mentor in this very circumstance and the land was cleansed of their dirty blood.
-XXIV-
It already was February when Mentor managed to pull himself together. A new year was round the corner, marking new beginnings. Now forty years old, left without a family of his own and busy with but the state affairs, he desired to start life anew. Elat’s law ordered that her blood was never to run for the seat, and be seated only when no candidate secured two-thirds of the votes, Mentor’s heart changed back and declared that he was to step down, asking for candidates to step up.
And none did.
Rare in history were chiefs had the full support of the folk. Mentor had to accept that his new life had actually started few years back. He couldn’t take marrying a second time and found an orphan in need of a family. This is how the relationship between him and Stephen started. Mentor had triple benefits in this: he found a divergence from the affairs, had a family the much one not from his own blood could be and, most importantly, one that could stand against and replace him once he turned twenty-one, the age that Elat got elected as chief, hence the minimum age for the seat.
Stephen’s training started when he turned six, on March 21 the first day of Svalian calendar, the day Tolon and his family set up their tent under the now old but still tall, strong and beautiful oak tree which later found itself on the coin, banner, and flag of Sval. He learned horse riding after literacy, followed with history and math courses. He held a wooden sword the first time at the age of ten and a real one a year later, and mastered bow and dagger at the age of sixteen, using all at war. Survived a deadly sickness when he was seventeen, which left him the legacy of never sleeping when he had fever, for he believed that the god of death was to take him in such sickness. He was a beloved lad in the city and beyond, almost as much as Mentor, and was considered the next chief by many, and the next commander general by some others – Mentor belonging to the first group and Orion to the second, when he was eighteen.
And the creation of a legend began.
I needn’t say at this point that Mentor remained the chief. Over the years he changed a lot – was eating and sleeping little, talking even less. The folk loved him all the time but he came to be respected no less, enjoying a luxury few in history had. In the end, after the war with Yargan where he commanded himself, and capturing the long-deserted land, in which Stephen killed the first enemies and rose in rank becoming a lieutenant, Mentor’s name was in the chronicles not only as a chief but as one of the greatest. Folk was happy not only with their ideas about him proving true but also with living at a time such legend was walking among them.
His rule was not free of problems, Sval was no heaven. There was drought now and shortage of water another time, crime wasn’t eliminated – there still were corrupt people of all sorts, from killers to thieves, arsonists, kidnappers… What made Mentor special was him sharing his duties with only the best out there than keeping all to himself, allowing each to act swiftly and mercilessly against them trouble makers, and holding the land and the folk above anyone and anything, including himself. Hence and in short, it is no surprise that his very own ward on whom he spent a great deal of time, effort and energy was as great as him – at least for the time being.