(A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chappy out. I was just so not
inspired, but I got inspiration!!!)
Bed of Roses
Chapter Three:
Prince Gavin had his own carriage in which to ride in on the journey to Ayortha. Semiedi and his daughters were in two separate carriages ahead of Gavin's, and both were surrounded by knights of both countries. As the small caravan passed by small villages, the residents would come out to greet their future king with waves and cheers. Gavin, having been brought up properly, returned their smiles and waves, but he would quickly withdraw into the recesses of the carriage when he could, and wish he were anywhere but on his way to Ayortha.
The book his Mother had given him lay beside him. As his trunks were being packed, he had forgotten to tell his servants to place the book with his clothes and before leaving he had noticed the book at the foot of his bed. He picked it up and took it with him to the carriage and at the steps his family waved goodbye. Char had made mention of visiting in a month or two, but nothing was made final.
The ride was a pleasant one, void of any highway men or ogres. As the sun began to set, the carriages stopped at an Inn that was on the two countries borders. The woman who owned the Inn professed to know the Queen, Elleanor, and exclaimed to Gavin that she had not seen him since he was "that small", holding her hand a few feet from the ground. Gavin smiled politely and was showed his room. He freshened up, then went down to dinner.
"It's good to be eating my countries food again." Semiedi said as a plate full of food was placed in front of him. "No matter where I go, no one can make this chicken smell of sweet herbs as well as an Ayorthian."
The meal was different from what Gavin was used to. Things were more spicy, and the taste was all together different than what he was used to. He tried not to think of the many meals that would consist of this strange food, but his thoughts often wondered towards the cons of this trip. The only pleasure he received, though, were from the Kings daughters. They were all quite taken with Gavin and were happy to see their preconceived notions of a pompous spoilt Prince were dashed to pieces.
"When we arrive we will have a great Sing, and in your honor!" Adia smiled.
"Is that where people get up and sing all night, and then they sing to let in the dawn?" Gavin had heard his Father talking about those.
"Yes, and they're absolutely wonderful! We have many good voices this year, Prince Gavin, and they will be pleased to entertain you."
"I shall not rest a bit tonight for thinking of it."
And that night Gavin did find it restless to sleep, but not because of the Sings to come. As he lay in his bed, tossing and turning, a vision was appearing in his mind. He was encompassed within a gray mist that he could not see through. A familiar smell entered his nostrils, though he could not quite place what it was. A soft breeze picked up and tickled the hair at the back of his neck and slowly, ever so slowly, parted the mist.
He was in a sort of room, a ladies chamber. The walls were covered in silk curtains that looked worn out from so many years. The carpets beneath his feet were also dull from the age of time, and everything in the room suggested that it had been unoccupied for years. He turned around and saw a four-post bed, or what looked like a four-post bed which had been covered in tangles and tendrils of vines and shooting from the vines were roses!
The smell he had smelt, were roses, only it was a strange rose he had never seen before, and the smell was mixed with that of years gone by. He wondered what place this was as he neared the bed, and he was shocked to see someone beneath the red and green.
"Help me." Came a feeble plea.
Gavin looked closely at the form, almost sure of it being some corpse, for its mouth did not move and its skin was as pale as a cloud. Gavin tried to move away the vines, but they were tough and fiercely covered in thorns.
"Please, help me."
Gavin tore at the vines, ripping them to shreds, feeling the thorns push into his skin, the blood oozing out of his wounds. He did not care, he needed to get to whoever laid beneath these bonds. Just when it seemed an endless task, a beautiful face peered up at him.
Gavin awoke from the dream with a start. For a moment he had no idea why he was sitting up in his bed, covered in a cold sweat, and in a strange room. Then the events of the day before came rushing back. The dream, however, left only a shadow on Gavin's mind. All he could remember was the smell of roses and a woman's cry for help.
~*~*~
Dear Mother,
I am safe and well in the Kings Palace in Ayortha. We entered the country yesterday afternoon and traveled through a desert place with mountains made of huge rocks. Everything was dry and empty. Around late evening, just before the sunset, we came in to the outlying houses of the Royal City and suddenly there were more colors than just shades of brown. Bright reds, blues, yellows, greens and oranges fluttered in the breezes from the people's washes and they were all wearing the colors and looking just as if it were a holiday. But the courtiers are another story.
The Palace is quite grand. It's very open and spacious with tall, rounded roofs and large marble columns. There is a sort of network of streams running through the palace that somehow helps keep the Palace cooled. I asked about its mechanics, but no one knew how it worked, just that it did. The lords and ladies of this country are far different than the commoners. They speak only if they have something important to say, and sometimes not even then.
My first Sing, mother, was an experience I had never had before. I never truly believed it when people professed that Ayorthians have the most exquisite voices, but it is true. They were mostly men (it seems the royal ladies do not care to sing publicly) and their voices were balm to my traveling wounds. I had a pleasant sleep last night and the first thing I did when I woke up was ask for paper and quill, and here I am.
I hope this letter finds you well, mother, and also father and my brothers and baby sister. Give my love to them all.
Love, Gavin
~*~*~
Dear Mother,
I am glad to hear that everything is fine at home. I have grown quite accustomed to the goings on here. I no longer expect to have cheery conversations with any of the courtiers. It seems the royal family itself is quite changed since we first met at home. The daughters are all shut away in some private wing of the palace where they are attended to by ladies in waiting and that is all the information I am given as to their entertainment during the day. In the evening they are aloud to show themselves for dinner and most nights there will be dancing or acting. And after that the girls are then shut away until the next evening. It is sad to think that they live their lives-or rather don't live their lives-like prisoners.
I was astonished one day in being refused to travel outside of the Palace walls without an escort. The Kings adviser said the city was full of bandits and horrors and that only a Palace Page would be able to help me through the streets of the Royal City and to avoid the more undesirable corners. As you can imagine, I was disinclined to venture out.
The Palace itself seems massive! I am sorry to say that our own humble home cannot begin to compare with the extravagancies and luxuries. There are many courtyards with ponds and trees and every so often there is a cool breeze. I often spend my time in one of these courtyards and wile away the afternoon. Their marble corridors are extremely large and makes one wonder how it was built.
As I have mentioned before, the courtiers dress in quite a different style than the commoners. Their clothing may be a richer texture, but the colors are browns and blacks and the ladies that are married and are aloud to show themselves wear thin veils so you can only make out the outlines of a mouth and pair of eyes. They all seem quite content with this set up, but if I were a woman I would surely rebel.
Give my regards to Father and my siblings. Pray, mother, will you go to the aviary and see if Simon has any exotic birds? I would love to know what new feathered creatures he is taking care of.
Until next time, I remain your son,
Gavin
~*~*~*
Dear Mother,
Please, do not upbraid me much, for I am about to do something most mischievous.
One evening, just before dinner, I was laying on a lounge chair in the antechamber of my room when I heard a sort of scratching noise outside the window. Curious, I went to investigate, and lo and behold, it was Adia, climbing the wall outside my room! Seeing as there was nothing for me to do but help her up, I soon got her through the window and had her seated on a chair while I poured a glass of water. I demanded to know what she was about, and felt astonished to realize it had been a full two months since I had last talked with her in Kyrria.
"I have come to free you, your majesty." She said with a most familiar smile.
"Free me?" I was confused, for here I was thinking she the prisoner, and me the free man.
She then revealed to me the secrets of her and her sisters. It seems that their wing of the Palace is right on the edge of the Palace walls. There are many guards at the doors, but none by the windows. Each sister has a dozen or so ladies in waiting to keep them company, send them on errands and the such. Whenever one of the daughters is feeling wrestles and needing time away from the palace, they dress one of their servants in rich clothing, putting on common garb themselves then lower themselves out the window and land in an unguarded alleyway by the side of the Palace.
Thus disguised, they are now free to explore the city and enjoy its many thrills. Though they do not do this often-they have not done it since returning to the Palace-each have a thorough understanding of the city well enough to navigate themselves wherever they please. I was shocked at the nature of these seemingly complacent girls, but feel that I would have done the same.
A plan was then unfolded to me. Adia had heard that I had wanted to see the city, but refused to go escorted by the Page. She then told me that she could get me out and among the streets whenever I chose, and that her and one of her sisters were planning on going tomorrow evening and that I would be most welcome. By the time this letter reaches you, Mother, I will have been outside the Palace and if it is followed by a letter from me you must know I made it back safe. If, however, it is followed by letter from the King, I might need some Kyrrian interference.
As always, give my love,
Gavin
Bed of Roses
Chapter Three:
Prince Gavin had his own carriage in which to ride in on the journey to Ayortha. Semiedi and his daughters were in two separate carriages ahead of Gavin's, and both were surrounded by knights of both countries. As the small caravan passed by small villages, the residents would come out to greet their future king with waves and cheers. Gavin, having been brought up properly, returned their smiles and waves, but he would quickly withdraw into the recesses of the carriage when he could, and wish he were anywhere but on his way to Ayortha.
The book his Mother had given him lay beside him. As his trunks were being packed, he had forgotten to tell his servants to place the book with his clothes and before leaving he had noticed the book at the foot of his bed. He picked it up and took it with him to the carriage and at the steps his family waved goodbye. Char had made mention of visiting in a month or two, but nothing was made final.
The ride was a pleasant one, void of any highway men or ogres. As the sun began to set, the carriages stopped at an Inn that was on the two countries borders. The woman who owned the Inn professed to know the Queen, Elleanor, and exclaimed to Gavin that she had not seen him since he was "that small", holding her hand a few feet from the ground. Gavin smiled politely and was showed his room. He freshened up, then went down to dinner.
"It's good to be eating my countries food again." Semiedi said as a plate full of food was placed in front of him. "No matter where I go, no one can make this chicken smell of sweet herbs as well as an Ayorthian."
The meal was different from what Gavin was used to. Things were more spicy, and the taste was all together different than what he was used to. He tried not to think of the many meals that would consist of this strange food, but his thoughts often wondered towards the cons of this trip. The only pleasure he received, though, were from the Kings daughters. They were all quite taken with Gavin and were happy to see their preconceived notions of a pompous spoilt Prince were dashed to pieces.
"When we arrive we will have a great Sing, and in your honor!" Adia smiled.
"Is that where people get up and sing all night, and then they sing to let in the dawn?" Gavin had heard his Father talking about those.
"Yes, and they're absolutely wonderful! We have many good voices this year, Prince Gavin, and they will be pleased to entertain you."
"I shall not rest a bit tonight for thinking of it."
And that night Gavin did find it restless to sleep, but not because of the Sings to come. As he lay in his bed, tossing and turning, a vision was appearing in his mind. He was encompassed within a gray mist that he could not see through. A familiar smell entered his nostrils, though he could not quite place what it was. A soft breeze picked up and tickled the hair at the back of his neck and slowly, ever so slowly, parted the mist.
He was in a sort of room, a ladies chamber. The walls were covered in silk curtains that looked worn out from so many years. The carpets beneath his feet were also dull from the age of time, and everything in the room suggested that it had been unoccupied for years. He turned around and saw a four-post bed, or what looked like a four-post bed which had been covered in tangles and tendrils of vines and shooting from the vines were roses!
The smell he had smelt, were roses, only it was a strange rose he had never seen before, and the smell was mixed with that of years gone by. He wondered what place this was as he neared the bed, and he was shocked to see someone beneath the red and green.
"Help me." Came a feeble plea.
Gavin looked closely at the form, almost sure of it being some corpse, for its mouth did not move and its skin was as pale as a cloud. Gavin tried to move away the vines, but they were tough and fiercely covered in thorns.
"Please, help me."
Gavin tore at the vines, ripping them to shreds, feeling the thorns push into his skin, the blood oozing out of his wounds. He did not care, he needed to get to whoever laid beneath these bonds. Just when it seemed an endless task, a beautiful face peered up at him.
Gavin awoke from the dream with a start. For a moment he had no idea why he was sitting up in his bed, covered in a cold sweat, and in a strange room. Then the events of the day before came rushing back. The dream, however, left only a shadow on Gavin's mind. All he could remember was the smell of roses and a woman's cry for help.
~*~*~
Dear Mother,
I am safe and well in the Kings Palace in Ayortha. We entered the country yesterday afternoon and traveled through a desert place with mountains made of huge rocks. Everything was dry and empty. Around late evening, just before the sunset, we came in to the outlying houses of the Royal City and suddenly there were more colors than just shades of brown. Bright reds, blues, yellows, greens and oranges fluttered in the breezes from the people's washes and they were all wearing the colors and looking just as if it were a holiday. But the courtiers are another story.
The Palace is quite grand. It's very open and spacious with tall, rounded roofs and large marble columns. There is a sort of network of streams running through the palace that somehow helps keep the Palace cooled. I asked about its mechanics, but no one knew how it worked, just that it did. The lords and ladies of this country are far different than the commoners. They speak only if they have something important to say, and sometimes not even then.
My first Sing, mother, was an experience I had never had before. I never truly believed it when people professed that Ayorthians have the most exquisite voices, but it is true. They were mostly men (it seems the royal ladies do not care to sing publicly) and their voices were balm to my traveling wounds. I had a pleasant sleep last night and the first thing I did when I woke up was ask for paper and quill, and here I am.
I hope this letter finds you well, mother, and also father and my brothers and baby sister. Give my love to them all.
Love, Gavin
~*~*~
Dear Mother,
I am glad to hear that everything is fine at home. I have grown quite accustomed to the goings on here. I no longer expect to have cheery conversations with any of the courtiers. It seems the royal family itself is quite changed since we first met at home. The daughters are all shut away in some private wing of the palace where they are attended to by ladies in waiting and that is all the information I am given as to their entertainment during the day. In the evening they are aloud to show themselves for dinner and most nights there will be dancing or acting. And after that the girls are then shut away until the next evening. It is sad to think that they live their lives-or rather don't live their lives-like prisoners.
I was astonished one day in being refused to travel outside of the Palace walls without an escort. The Kings adviser said the city was full of bandits and horrors and that only a Palace Page would be able to help me through the streets of the Royal City and to avoid the more undesirable corners. As you can imagine, I was disinclined to venture out.
The Palace itself seems massive! I am sorry to say that our own humble home cannot begin to compare with the extravagancies and luxuries. There are many courtyards with ponds and trees and every so often there is a cool breeze. I often spend my time in one of these courtyards and wile away the afternoon. Their marble corridors are extremely large and makes one wonder how it was built.
As I have mentioned before, the courtiers dress in quite a different style than the commoners. Their clothing may be a richer texture, but the colors are browns and blacks and the ladies that are married and are aloud to show themselves wear thin veils so you can only make out the outlines of a mouth and pair of eyes. They all seem quite content with this set up, but if I were a woman I would surely rebel.
Give my regards to Father and my siblings. Pray, mother, will you go to the aviary and see if Simon has any exotic birds? I would love to know what new feathered creatures he is taking care of.
Until next time, I remain your son,
Gavin
~*~*~*
Dear Mother,
Please, do not upbraid me much, for I am about to do something most mischievous.
One evening, just before dinner, I was laying on a lounge chair in the antechamber of my room when I heard a sort of scratching noise outside the window. Curious, I went to investigate, and lo and behold, it was Adia, climbing the wall outside my room! Seeing as there was nothing for me to do but help her up, I soon got her through the window and had her seated on a chair while I poured a glass of water. I demanded to know what she was about, and felt astonished to realize it had been a full two months since I had last talked with her in Kyrria.
"I have come to free you, your majesty." She said with a most familiar smile.
"Free me?" I was confused, for here I was thinking she the prisoner, and me the free man.
She then revealed to me the secrets of her and her sisters. It seems that their wing of the Palace is right on the edge of the Palace walls. There are many guards at the doors, but none by the windows. Each sister has a dozen or so ladies in waiting to keep them company, send them on errands and the such. Whenever one of the daughters is feeling wrestles and needing time away from the palace, they dress one of their servants in rich clothing, putting on common garb themselves then lower themselves out the window and land in an unguarded alleyway by the side of the Palace.
Thus disguised, they are now free to explore the city and enjoy its many thrills. Though they do not do this often-they have not done it since returning to the Palace-each have a thorough understanding of the city well enough to navigate themselves wherever they please. I was shocked at the nature of these seemingly complacent girls, but feel that I would have done the same.
A plan was then unfolded to me. Adia had heard that I had wanted to see the city, but refused to go escorted by the Page. She then told me that she could get me out and among the streets whenever I chose, and that her and one of her sisters were planning on going tomorrow evening and that I would be most welcome. By the time this letter reaches you, Mother, I will have been outside the Palace and if it is followed by a letter from me you must know I made it back safe. If, however, it is followed by letter from the King, I might need some Kyrrian interference.
As always, give my love,
Gavin