Chapter 4: Poem of Lament
The sun descended over the horizon on the night of the celebratory dance, casting the whole of Castle Garou in the single, enormous shadow of night. On the battlements overlooking the flower garden, however, only one person was there to watch the last light of the sun vanish, and she could only hope and pray that it wasn't a portent of anything. However, it was becoming harder and harder for Princess Maria to ignore what was happening all around her.
Maria had tried to hold out hope; to have faith in Draco; in fact, she'd tried with all her might, because it was the only hope that she had left, but the last several months had been a constant nightmare, regardless. Maria had felt totally helpless to do anything. In fact, she'd started to realize just how Draco must have felt when he'd been on Garou's council. Every day, it seemed like news of more lost battles had been coming in from towns closer and closer to Garou, but the chancellor hadn't seemed to want to do anything about it; at least no more than he had been doing. Maria had encouraged him, a number of times, to start retreating from the outer territories in the hopes of overpowering at least one of the eastern forces, but neither the chancellor nor the king had listened to her, and they'd continued to lose ground on all fronts, until news came in that the last of the Western forces was scattered, and the enemy was marching through the West unopposed, conquering towns wherever they went.
That was when King John had taken ill. He'd already been past his prime, and combined with the stress of the war and the despair that he must have felt over the seemingly-effortless conquest of his kingdom by Fannis and his son, he'd eventually weakened. Years before, he wouldn't have had any difficulty fighting off a simple disease like that one, but he seemed to almost be fading away on his own since Draco had left, and when the sickness had come on him, he just hadn't had the will to fight it.
The only time when the king seemed to have any strength at all was when Maria visited him in his room; which she made sure to do several times a day. She didn't feel like she was really helping anywhere else anymore. The chancellor hadn't listened to her, the council members or anyone else, and her father didn't have the strength to contradict him. Things had only gotten worse, however, when the armies of the East had finally arrived at Garou. The enemy numbered in the thousands, from every corner of the East, and the guards hadn't had a prayer. However, what the chancellor had done in response was something that Maria could never forgive.
Maria had met with the chancellor one last time when the armies of the East had arrived, to ask him for a favor. The castle was definitely in danger by that point, and at any time, the enemy could move in and finish them all off without a great deal of effort, but Maria had another concern, and that was the promise she'd made to Draco that no matter what, she would never marry anyone but him. She remembered the promise that he'd made to her too; how he'd sworn to come back if the war was lost and save her from Ralse, no matter what, but up to that point, Maria had thought that the castle was safe from Ralse, so she hadn't tried to escape or hide herself anywhere. The problem was that she definitely wasn't safe there anymore, and it looked like Draco wouldn't be back for quite a while, if at all. If she wanted to keep herself for him, Maria had decided, then she had to get away from the castle somehow, and hope that the armies of the East wouldn't be able to catch her.
It was a basic sort of plan, of course, but at least it was a plan, and the main reason why Maria had wanted to talk to the chancellor had been to get his help with it. However, the moment that she'd finished explaining her idea, the chancellor had essentially told her to grow up.
"We fought a hard fight," the chancellor said to her, looking very bitter as he spoke, "but it was always a lost cause. I think you know that. We just didn't have enough men or weapons, and now we've lost the war. We all have to accept what that means; even you. The objective right now is to save as many people as we can."
"Objective?" Maria had exclaimed, once again in desperation, "What objective? You just said you lost! That means you're not in charge of anything anymore! Why do I have to listen to a word you say?"
However, the chancellor had responded to that by drawing the sword that hung from his belt, and aiming it at Maria with a very cold look in his eyes. When he did that, though, she felt a strange mix of emotions rush through her at once, and they were hard to explain or describe. There was some fear in her at that point, but really, she was less afraid of his sword, and more of what he was going to demand from her in exchange for her life. The truth was, though, that she was helpless against him, because her father was too weak to stop the chancellor anymore.
"You're just being selfish, you ignorant child." the chancellor hissed, holding his sword completely still at level with her neck, "I've always thought that you were spoiled too much, and now I'm sure of it. This time, though, you have to face the facts. You're a princess, and you have a duty to your people, to keep them from harm as much as you possibly can. I've been talking with Prince Ralse, and he says that he plans to treat our people fairly under his rule if you marry him in exchange. I'm truly sorry that it had to come to this, but you have a responsibility to serve the needs of your people."
"Not by making a mockery of marriage." Maria replied, heedless of the sword point so close to her throat, "Marriage is a blessing, not a duty, and Ralse is certainly not entitled to it. No one is."
The chancellor's eyes narrowed as Maria spoke, and for a moment, it looked as if he was about to lash out at her, but she knew that he wouldn't take that risk, and even if he did, it didn't give her any excuse to avoid doing what she knew was the right thing.
"Even if I loved Prince Ralse, I don't have any duty anymore." Maria insisted, "He's the one in charge of the West now; not you, and certainly not me. My royal station is meaningless now, so you definitely can't use that as a weapon against me. However, my honor as a maid is something that I still have, and I have to keep my word. I can't marry anyone but Sir Draco, on my honor."
For a moment, it seemed clear that the chancellor would really have loved to run Maria through, because he looked about ready to pull his hair out in frustration. At last, however, he sheathed his sword and scowled at her in true loathing before speaking again.
"I don't need to hear anything else from you. I don't care whether you can justify marrying Ralse or not. There are a lot of people depending on us to earn as much of the Prince's mercy as we can, and we're going to do that, whether you like it or not. He's our prince now, and soon he'll be our king. You don't have a say in that."
"If you think anything could ever convince him to show mercy, you're a tremendous fool." Maria said before she had time to think her remark over. It wouldn't have been reasonable to expect the chancellor to take that remark well, but his actual reaction was even worse than Maria could have anticipated. In only a moment, he'd rushed forward and punched her hard in the face, knocking her to the floor.
"Get to your room," the chancellor spat out viciously, "or you'll feel my blade next."
Of course, Maria knew that was a lie on his part, but she did return to her room wordlessly a moment later. The chancellor had the will to ruin people's lives, but he wouldn't have had the guts to kill, even if it had been right.
Ever since that day, the king hadn't even opened his eyes once. Maria had tried to tell him everything that had been happening, but he was already so weak, that she couldn't tell whether he could even hear her anymore, and he certainly didn't have the strength to do anything about it. The worst part, of course, was that his crown had already been taken from him by that point, so even if he had gotten out of bed and tried to protect her, Maria wasn't sure that the chancellor would have listened to him anymore. With the fall of the West, the chancellor's role had degenerated to little more than the lackey of Prince Ralse, but he was fulfilling that job to the best of his abilities.
Ralse seemed to be more or less in charge of all the western territories by that point, and he and the chancellor had planned out everything in preparation for that night. There would be a huge dance, just like the one where Ralse had first met Maria. Then, after the dance would come the wedding, where Maria would be married to the prince, and the royal chambers had already been prepared for them to occupy as king and queen. The whole idea horrified Maria, but it had been made quite clear to her that she didn't have any choice anymore. It was going to start with the last rays of the sun on that night, and there was nothing that she could do about it.
That was why, in desperation and despair, Maria stood on the battlements overlooking the flower garden that had once been a source of such joy to her; wanting nothing but the chance to give them all away to the only one who'd really been deserving of them.
Maria tried desperately to ignore the reality of her situation as she stood on that battlement, looking out between the crenelations, as the last light of the sun faded away. She knew that someone would be looking for her in a very short time, to bring her down to the dance hall, but she just didn't want to think about it anymore, so she tried to ignore it instead; doing her best to deny the sun's fading light and the cold stone that surrounded her. For a moment, she could almost felt, in all of that denial, the presence of the one man she'd loved more than anyone else, as if he were standing right beside her, and able to hear her words one last time. It was probably a silly thought, of course, but those silly thoughts were the only comfort that she really had left, and it was because of them that she eventually began to speak into the night, hoping that somehow, her words might reach her beloved.
"Oh my hero," Maria recited sadly, "so far away now. Will I ever see your smile? Love goes away, like night into day. It's just a fading dream..."
The words had never felt so sincere as they did then, and indeed, Maria had recited those words in her heart many times before that night; composing and refining them in the hopes of giving herself the strength to do what needed to be done. It was a piece of poetry that she'd written for Draco, but somehow, speaking it aloud seemed to give it a greater meaning, even if her beloved couldn't hear, so she continued to recite those special words.
"I'm the darkness, you're the stars. Our love is brighter than the sun. For eternity, for me there can be, only you, my chosen one... Must I forget you? Our Solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring? What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more!"
Maria had started to grow restless as she'd recited those words, so she'd slowly begun to walk across the top of the battlement, and up a short series of steps to an even higher spot in the castle's turrets. Each step had seemed just as meaningless as the last, and each felt like it had taken an eternity, but at last, as Maria finished her poem, she looked up at the center of the upper battlement, and gasped in joy and amazement over the sight that greeted her.
A strong light was shining all across the tower, as if to replace the fading light of the sun, which had failed her, and at the center of that light was the only person who could truly have given Maria hope. It was her beloved; Draco, and he had the same expression of pure goodness and strength on his face that he always did; that look that one could really only see on the faces of men who had the power and desire to protect the people they cared about; a trait, Maria had discovered, which wasn't nearly common enough.
However, it was more than just the look on Draco's face, or even the fine armor he was wearing, or the clink of his boots on the stone, because a moment later, he spoke to her, and his words were clear and delightful, because he looked just the way he had on the night of their first dance; nervous, but eager and willing.
"Come, Maria!" Draco said happily, as she walked in amazement over to where he was standing, "Follow my lead..."
Under other circumstances, Maria might have asked questions at that point, but questions belonged to the other world; the world of facts that she'd left behind, because it couldn't offer her anything anymore. Besides, she didn't want any answers. All she wanted was to reach out and take the hand of her beloved one more time.
Soon, Maria found herself once more in the brave knight's arms, and as before, he let her lead as often as not. It was just like the last time they'd danced. He was bold, but he was also a gentleman, and he truly did care about the lady who he held. Though she knew, on some level, that she was still surrounded by enemies, Maria didn't care anymore. Draco was there, and that was all that mattered; being surrounded by his strength and love.
The dance lasted quite a while, she thought, but still not long enough. After all, unless it could last forever, it wasn't quite sufficient. Still, Draco looked happy when he finally released her; ecstatic, in fact, as though he'd longed for the dance just as much as she had, and she wasn't surprised at all when he looked up into the sky, and in one glorious moment, let out a laugh of triumph.
Just then, however, something happened that horrified Maria, because she couldn't tell what it meant, exactly. The light surrounding Draco flared up for a moment, forcing her to look away, and when she turned back to the place where he'd been, she found, to her dismay, that he was gone. All that was left was a large bouquet of bright red flowers, lying on the ground; one of the largest, in fact, that Maria had ever seen.
Maria wasn't quite sure what to do next. She was only just starting to realize that as real as he'd looked, sounded and felt, the shining figure of Draco must have just been a daydream, but the flowers at her feet seemed to be real, and she couldn't tell where they'd come from. However, once she started thinking clearly again, she knew that there was only one thing she wanted to do with them.
Quickly seizing the bouquet from the ground at her feet, Maria rushed up another set of steps in front of her, and towards the edge of the battlement again, looking down at the very bridge where she'd last seen her beloved in person, and as it happened, she'd been holding a bouquet back then too. It seemed like the perfect time to finish her message to the man she loved.
However, for some reason, the message that Maria wanted to give to Draco had changed. Before, she'd never even stopped to consider what she might do if Draco didn't return, because she'd always had faith that he would, but that night, she'd arrived at a very important decision, and it only seemed appropriate that her poem should change slightly from what she'd first planned, in order to reflect that.
"We must part now." Maria recited, "My life goes on. But my heart won't give you up."
With those words, Maria once again threw the bouquet of flowers down towards the bridge, watching ad they were caught up by the wind, drifting just a bit to the north of where she'd intended them to, but that was alright. She couldn't have thought of anything better to do with a bouquet of flowers than to give them up for her one true love, and she certainly didn't ever plan to use them again. It was the only decision that she could have made, and the only time that she had to finish her poem.
"Ere I walk away, let me hear you say." Maria continued, "I meant as much to you... So gently, you touched my heart. I will be forever yours. Come what may, I won't age a day, I'll wait for you, always..."
It was just a poem, of course, but Maria could almost swear that, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a slight flash of light in the very sky itself, as if even the stars themselves were confirming the strength of her words. However, it seemed as if the stars were wiser than mortal men, in that respect, because Maria could already hear the unwelcome sound of footsteps approaching her from behind, and knew that the man behind her had come to rob her of those vows.
"Prince Ralse is looking for a dance partner." the chancellor announced firmly from behind Maria, in one of the coldest voices that she'd ever heard him speak with, though she was tired of listening to the poison of his words, "Since you'll wed him later tonight, it would be inappropriate for him to dance with anyone else."
"There is nothing appropriate about any of this." Maria replied back, not looking at the man for even a moment, "Prince Ralse has no respect for anyone. If he's going to be in charge of my future, then there's nothing left for me."
"For your own sake, you should at least try to change that attitude of yours." the chancellor replied, sounding as if, for once, he was trying to subdue his anger, "Leave the past behind! Our kingdom is adopting the spirit of the East...!"
Then, without another word, the chancellor turned on his heel, his cape whipping around behind him, and soon, he'd gone back the way he'd come, leaving Maria alone.
Once again, the chancellor had tried to crush Maria's spirit, and once again, he'd failed, but that time, his failure had been complete, because Maria had arrived at a very dangerous decision. She'd seen the way that the kingdom had changed during the administration of the East; how a sort of strict dictatorship, stressing a dogma of ethical weakness had come into power over her people, and she'd heard about how the eastern armies had broken up families by force, stealing children from their parents, to be watched over by the government, while encouraging their parents not to honor their sacred vows, or to deny their sanctity. The only saving grace, as far as Maria could tell, was that since the whole thing had been imposed upon them by the sword, no citizen of the West had difficulty understanding just how evil their new lords were, or how much wickedness was being forced upon them.
Having seen all the injustice that Prince Ralse had imposed on the people who Maria had once called hers, she'd arrived at a very important decision about him. His people may have believed in allowing the strong to force marriage on the weak, but if he tried to marry her by force, she'd decided, she wasn't just going to put up with it. She couldn't survive as his wife, which meant that if he married her, then one of them would have to die, and if at all possible, she concluded, it wouldn't be her.
Slowly, Maria headed back towards the stairs, looking around carefully as she moved; watching for opportunities. She was starting to grow up and take responsibility after all, but not in the way that the chancellor had intended.
Gary frowned as he looked up from the hay that he'd spent the last three hours arranging into the feed trays of the horses. The lights and noises coming from within the castle seemed brighter and louder than usual, which was saying something. Ever since the East had conquered Garou, it seemed as if Prince Ralse had held a party there almost every night, and from what Gary could tell, there was no purpose to those parties. They weren't for talking with other leaders or planning how the government would use its wealth. They weren't even for simple socializing with peers, because he'd heard that not a single genuine lord or lady had attended any of them.
Gary lived in a tiny cabin, a mile or so down the road from the castle, but he had a lot of friends, and he heard about things that went on inside. He was also a fairly good judge of character. In another age, he would have been a great tribal leader, because he had every natural gift except one; he hadn't been born of royalty.
With all of those gifts, however, Gary found himself having an easy time anticipating what was going to happen to their kingdom, and those thoughts were hardly cheery ones. He could tell what kind of a man Prince Ralse was. He knew that Ralse had never done anything for anyone, except to support his rule, and force his own will on the people, and that will was simple. He wanted to be able to use his money and prestige to do whatever he wanted, regardless of whether it was right or wrong. There was no other way that he would ever have been allowed to wed Princess Maria, and yet, that was clearly his plan. For a wise man, with a full grasp of the facts, it was impossible to mistake Ralse for any other kind of man than that; a spoiled child, who was still railing at restrictions, and determined to tear the very world itself to pieces whenever it wouldn't let him have his way.
That very attitude had already done a large amount of damage to the people of the East. They were numerous, because of the former strength of their empire, and had great weapons, because their king had been willing to spend so much of his people's money on them, but in reality, those very things that had given them such military power at first were tearing their country apart from the inside. Gary had heard stories from the east, about how more and more rebellions were being put down, which was, he thought, a positive thing, because it meant that more and more rebellions were beginning.
Gary didn't know much about the rumor mills in the east, but he trusted the information that they'd given him, if only because it was at odds with the proclamations coming out of Fannis' castle.
Of course, Gary hadn't just been gathering all that information for no reason. Ever since the East had taken over, and his youngest boy had been taken away be those eastern soldiers, he'd been planning one last attack against Prince Ralse. Most of the able-bodied men in town wanted to be part of it, but the problem was that he just wasn't sure what kind of odds they'd be facing if they tried to storm the castle, and he didn't have anyone who could get them into the castle without a huge fight. They had to be very careful, though, because the rebellion was never going to get off the ground if they couldn't keep the crown from finding out about it, and that was why they never talked about it in public, and didn't let anyone see them carrying weapons. Gary didn't like having to wait any longer than necessary, but as things were, he knew they couldn't really be sure of victory, even if they waited for another couple of months, and he didn't want his plans to end in just another failed insurgence, so he waited carefully, watching for any signs of weakness to exploit, or any opportunity to strengthen the forces that were willing to follow him into battle.
That night, of course, Gary kept those thoughts in the back of his mind as he worked. He hadn't planned to launch any attacks, or even meet with any other resistance members that night; he was just trying to finish caring for the horses; the honest job that he did every day, and had once been nearly satisfied with. For that one night, he was willing to at least try to forget how it made him feel, to think of those very horses being used to support Prince Ralse's meaningless debauchery. However, as he closed up the stables that night, then turned to head for home, just as the last light of the setting sun started to fade away, he saw that one man was standing in the road, just between the stables and his house, and that person seemed to be looking right at him. He was an odd-looking man, because he was dressed in a long cloak with a hood, and he looked very broad at the shoulders. On top of that, he had a fiery look in his eyes, like the kind of man who'd already decided, once and for all, what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Clearly, he was a very strong-willed man, but the question was, what did he want with Gary?
The stable hand just walked towards the cloaked man for a few moments, then stopped, since the man in the long, brown cloak wasn't moving aside. Obviously, the he wanted to talk, but he didn't seem like he was going to speak first.
"Do you want something from me?" Gary asked the man after a couple of moments, and it was at that point, finally, that he heard him speak. For some reason, his voice sounded familiar too, but it was hard to place it exactly.
"I think we should discuss this in private."
Gary still wasn't sure what to think about that; whether to suppose that the cloaked man wanted to join the rebellion, wanted to expose it, or was just upset over a loose horseshoe or something. Still, he opened the door to his house a moment later, and invited the man inside. His wife Sarah looked distressed over having such an odd stranger in their house at dinnertime, but it couldn't be helped. Whatever the stranger wanted, Gary was intent on resolving the issue quickly.
"Now, then." Gary said, closing the door behind them and sitting down at the table in the middle of the central room of his small house, "I don't have much to offer you for dinner, but if you'd like, you can share our meal while we talk. The taxes are getting worse every day, so we're having a hard time making end's meet. Still, I don't want to seem unfriendly."
"Thank you," the cloaked figured replied, "but I've already had dinner, and I don't want to impose. Besides, I don't expect this to take too long."
"Suit yourself." Gary replied with a brief shrug, leaning back in his chair a little, "So what's the problem? What do you need my help with?"
"I heard you were the leader of the resistance in this part of town," the cloaked figure replied somberly, "and don't think that information was easy to come by. I could use your help to storm Garou."
"What?" Gary asked with an amused smile, "That's it? You show up out of nowhere, and we just storm the castle? You've got big dreams. I'll give you that, but if my forces could've stormed Garou and taken out the Eastern guards, I would've done it already. Unless you brought an army with you, there's not much I can... I can..."
However, by that point, Gary's voice started to trail off, because the man in the cloak had folded his arms and was looking more confident than ever. That was when Gary started to take him much more seriously.
"You do have an army, don't you?"
"Half of the people out in town right now are my men in disguise." the man in the cloak replied, "and all they want is to end this nightmare we've had to endure for the last couple months. Of course, even if we succeed here, the enemy will still outnumber us, and we'll have to move quickly, but if we can just disrupt their power base here, we may have the chance to defeat them a little bit at a time."
"I just want Ralse's head." Gary replied quickly, looking down for a moment, "If I had that, I could live like a fugitive. Just how many men have you got, anyway?"
The cloaked man's reply was like a breath of fresh air to Gary.
"I've been gathering survivors from all the main territory battles. They're all veterans; people who've survived some of the worst mismatches in the history of war, and any one of them could have planned better battle strategies than the council we used to have. There's over a thousand of us now."
"A... A thousand vets?" Gary muttered, suddenly awestruck as he pondered the incredible good fortune of the situation, "They... They all follow you?"
For a moment, the cloaked figure just nodded, not saying another word, but that wasn't enough for Gary. He had to know more.
"I don't understand." Gary remarked firmly, his expression of determination returning, "Why would all those warriors follow you? Who are you, anyway?"
The man in the cloak still didn't speak, however. Instead, he pulled his hood back, and suddenly, Gary knew that he'd follow the man in front of him into any battle; no matter how mismatched, and he was sure that the other members of the resistance would agree once they learned the truth. It was even more than Gary had hoped for.
"So..." Gary Mansfield replied, a smile breaking out across his face, "I'm guessing now's as good a time as any to call a 'town meeting.'"