It was a morning and sun already warmed Longon in its entirety. The castle was very much awake, and it was ready for the day. The soldiers and wards were preparing their armors, priests and Levites had an early service to God, while the servants and maids were preparing the meal for early breakfast.
The only person who was not awake nor prepared for anything was Einarr. He spent the entire last night cleaning the tables and dishes. The last thing he remembered was that he took a book to read and fell asleep on the table after some time. When the sun woke Einarr up, his head was still in the book, and he wiped the boogers from his eyes. Einarr was surprised for a second at a book that was bellow his face.
"Oh, yes." he said weakly, still waking up, after realizing how he fell asleep on that book. Einarr looked into the nearby window, seeing the light of the sun that woke him up. "Who says I can't sleep a bit more?" he said before placing his head on the table and slowly getting to more sleep. Until he realized what he missed.
"The morning service."
Einarr immediately got off the table and slipped on his robe.
"Curse it!" he said, and got up, and started looking for his clothes of a priest's servant. He was looking for his clothes everywhere, but couldn't find them. "Where is it, where is it, where is it! Oh, father Kalf is going to kill me if I don't..."
"Einarr, are you alright?" lady Rahel appeared in the kitchen out of nowhere. Few years ago, Einarr would have felt horrible being in front of her in clothes of a simple servant, but after few years and after seeing her dressed in that as well, he mostly got used to it.
"I, uh..." Einarr tried to explain himself away, but that was fruitless. "I am late to the morning sacrifice, my lady! That's it! And I cannot find my robes anywhere."
Rahel waved with her hands. "Forget about that." she said. "You have been working the entire night here and you slept just four, maybe five hours, I can see that in your face." lady Rahel then took the bread on the table. "Here. Eat some bread, and drink some water. That is all you need for a morning. A person can live on bread and water. It's a fundamental food and drink for every creature."
Einarr was baffled by this. "But, father Kalf is..."
"Don't worry about Kalf, son." She waved with her hand again, with closed eyes. "I will deal with him. I have to argue with him every day over the smallest of things. You don't have to worry about him. Now go out! You need some energy to fill, Einarr, you shouldn't just stand here, doing nothing. But don't go into the tabernacle. I don't allow you. Understand?"
Einarr was confused. That was lady Rahel's hobby. To confuse people.
"Yes, my lady."
"Good." she said. "Oh, before you go, call my daughter. I need to have a talk with her."
"Of course, my lady." Einarr said and left the room, looking for the toilet. After he washed his face, he decided to find Sarah. She must be somewhere in the castle. Until he found her. Sarah was around his age, a pretty, young woman with pale eyes.
"Sarah." Einarr said and she looked at him. "Good morning." he said with a smile. "Lady Rahel is calling you. She said she wants to speak about something with you."
Sarah nodded. "Thank you Einarr. Oh, and good morning." she said and ran to the room. Einarr once thought he would marry Sarah, but now he grew to love her like a sister. He never had a brother or a sister, so Sarah filled that role in his life.
Uncle Joram, on the other hand, Einarr thought, well, He is an uncle, after all.
Einarrwalkedthrough the hallway. Longon was a very delicate place from inside. It's walls were red in color, and full of banners. The most noticeable banner was the banner of lord Arvid himself: the red lion on a white field, surrounded by red flowers. There were many other banners, like the one of queen Elsa Arlic, but all banners seemed insignificant compared to the red lion. The red lion was the most beautiful and intimidating banner in the castle.
Einarr stopped thinking about those banners, and started walking around the hall. He forgot for a moment where is the way out of the castle and wanted to slap himself because of that. You are here for two or three weeks already, you should know this castle already.
Einarr then noticed one person in the hallway. Corvid, one of lord Arvid's wards. But he was not alone: in fact, he was with a few soldiers, and they looked like they wanted to go somewhere.
"How many of us are there?" Corvid asked the others.
"Around twenty." Azziah answered. "Lord Arvid gave us no important task, so we could just go there without too much to worry about his anger."
"I wouldn't be so confident." Bjorn said. "The last time we left with a dozen men, we got them all drunk. I am sure lord Arvid wouldn't be happy about that again."
"Come on, Bjorn!" Corvid said and placed his hand on Bjorn's shoulder. "We will just go to show our new friends the village. There is nothing bad in that. You will come friends, won't you?"
"Gladly." Halim said. "I want to see that tavern you said...how is it called?"
"I didn't knew how to name it."
"You mean 'didn't know'." Halim corrected him .
"No." Corvid said, while Halim was curious. "Seriously, that's what is called like. 'I didn't knew how to name it'."
Halim then laughed, with the others as well. "Maybe the owner should have called it 'I don't knew how to write'." And everyone laughed again. It was so easy to joke with people who cannot read and write, and they are very few. Of course, they are people too, but it's still hard not to laugh when they have grammar or speaking mistakes.
"We can go now." Corvid suggested. "It's the right time of the day, we are all full of energy, we all just had a feast. We should go there now."
"I agree." Halim said, and his companions agreed. "Just let us find our horses, and we will meet on the gate in about an hour."
"That's how I like it." Corvid said and he and Halim shook their hands. "We'll be waiting for you."
"Of course you will. Let's go, guys!" he said and they left the hallway. Corvid then noticed young Einarr sitting alone in some chair in the hallway.
"Do you want to come too, Einarr?" Corvid asked him.
"No, no, I..."
"Why not? We are all going to be there. We can show you the village if you want to."
"I can't...you know I can't drink any alcohol."
"Don't worry, we won't drink too much. Just a beer or two and we'll leave. What do you think?"
Einarr was thinking, and he gave up on refusing that. He wanted to go out and breath some air. "Of course I will." he smiled.
"That's great!" Corvid slapped him on the shoulder and left him alone again, leaving with his friends.
Einarr sighed and stayed in the hall for some time. Bored to death, he took a book to read while thinking what to do. The book he was reading was titled The Fall of King, a book about king Solomon, detailing the events that led to his idolatry, his death and the division of entire Israel between his five sons. Everyone else would find that book boring, except Einarr. He always loved history books.
After reading a few pages, he noticed that a paragraph in the book, that was actually a quotation from the Scriptures.
"Since you have not kept My covenant and have disobeyed My decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants,
Yet for the sake of David, your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, My chosen city."
Jerusalem. The city that no longer exists, except beneath Arendelle. So much was lost, so much was forgotten.
Einarr wondered: how long will they have to wait for the Messiah to come? When will he come and destroy all enemies of Israel and rule over it as their king?
Maybe the Messiah will come now, Einarr thought, maybe he will defeat the Red Snake. Einarr waved his hand and stopped thinking about it.
For now, he was waiting for father Kalf. He knew meeting father Kalf will be the worst way to start the morning, but he simply got so used to Kalf rebuking him and being strict with him, that not getting a lecture from father Kalf was like not breathing to him.
Maybe father Kalf will not allow him to go. Maybe father Kalf will tell him he is lazy. Or that he is irresponsible. Or maybe he will make him clean tables and dishes again. Alone.
Should he really wait for father Kalf?
Einarr scratched his head. If he stays here, father Kalf will give him a lecture. If he doesn't stay here and goes with Corvid, he will return and then the father Kalf will give him a lecture.
"Decisions, decisions." Einarr said to himself and looked through the windows. He punched his hand. "Curse it! I'll go!" he said and left the hall.
Later, Einarr joined Corvid and Halim and the rest of them in the courtyard. After thinking more, he really wanted to see the village. He was stuck in library and kitchen for so long, he wanted to be with others, even if it means one of those others had to Halim. Halim never loved Einarr (nor the opposite way). Halim was always frowned and grumpy towards him, unlike to Corvid. Towards Corvid and other wards, Halim behaved like he knew them for decades.
"Is everything ready?" Corvid asked.
"Yes, it is." Halim said. "We all prepared our horses now. We can go."
"Alright then." Corvid said. "Let's go."
Einarr started to follow them, only to realize he didn't even have a horse.
"Stop!" he said, and they all stared at him. "I...I forgot to take a horse."
Everyone chuckled when he said that, even Halim.
"Take the yellow one from the stable." Corvid said. "Don't worry about the owner, the Sun belongs to no one. He is for those who don't have horses. Like you." everyone chuckled again, and so did Einarr.
He went to the stable and took the horse that Corvid told him to. A short of medium height and size, and yellow in color. Einarr led him by the reins to the gate and mounted him there.
"Are we ready now?" Corvid asked everyone, and they all said "Yes!"
"Then let's go." Corvid said, and they opened the gate and left the castle.
The forests and trees covered all the way to the village. Einarr barely spoke with one, just looking at the trees and appreciating them. He thought this summer was going to be beautiful. Though, it would have been a lot better without a war.
"Have you heard what happened in Arendelle?" a soldier named Gim told Einarr. Einarr just shook his head with no response.
"Arendelle was attacked by the forces of the Red Snake." Einarr could hear his heartbeats when he heard that name. "They lost the battle, but the losses are not small for the Arendellian army."
Einarr wasn't very well-versed in the politics and situations in the kingdoms of Israel. He tried to ignore it all for the most part. But when he heard that the Red Snake returned, he changed his mind about all of it.
"What happened at Galenlond?" Einarr asked.
"It's still occupied by the Red Snake." Gim said. "I am afraid it will stay that for a longer time than we thought. It will be hard to reclaim. Besides that, lord Aramir's eldest son is still in Arendelle, and whether he plans to leave or not is a mystery.
"He will have to leave." Einarr said. "He has a duty to his people, doesn't he?"
"Of course he does." Gim said. "I am just not confident that he plans to abandon Arendelle just like that."
"Why not?"
"He has an entire army there." Gim said. "And some people are afraid that the queen won't allow him to leave." Gim became silent. "The rumours say she raised her hand and froze the sea again. She was fighting the Red Snake's soldiers, of course." he sighed. "But people say she also killed some of her own men as well."
Einarr swallowed. Magic. He never loved listening about it, and he never will. He will always run away from it. It's true, Moses commanded the Israelites to not hurt any child found to control fire, air, water, or earth since their birth, but it didn't make much of a difference whether that magic is natural or not. It sent shivers down Einarr's spin.
"And, what do you think?" Einarr asked. Gim scoffed.
"She is a Snow Witch, Einarr." he said. "I am afraid of her as much, if not more, than I was afraid of the Red Snake. People should stand up and kill her."
"Why didn't they do that?"
"How could they do that?" Gim asked back. "That witch can freeze an entire kingdom! It seems she doesn't want to, however. We should all remain calm and wait for the day some servant slits her throat or she dies in bed." Gim spat into the ground. "I heard people like her don't live long. When that witch dies, I will celebrate."
Suddenly, people started charging at their group, yelling, wielding spears, axes, clubs and other weapons. About ten archers started shooting everyone. Gim was hit by an arrow in his chest and he fell from his horseback. Terrified, Einarr jumped from his horseback to the ground, and started praying to God and started to look for the place to hide.
The battle was slowly raging on, but Corvid and other were all better armed and equipped, and they didn't even come here to fight. When he saw the fight, Einarr was ashamed of himself and wanted to raise a weapon and try to help them in battle. But he knew he would be useless. He was never experienced with a weapon, except a bow, and he never knew how to fight.
That is what terrified him the most when someone grabbed him and started dragging him through the ground. Einarr tried to fight his way out of that, but the man threatened him with a knife bellow his neck.
"Try to escape, and I will slit your throat, do you understand?"
"Crystal clear!" Einarr said terrified and the man threw his face into the dirt. He saw the people were all chasing each other.
This was horrible. Not just because people were going to die, or even if Einarr was going to die, but also because Einarr was in danger of touching a dead body, which he was forbidden to do, because of his Nazarite vow. The man who held him was keeping his foot on Einarr's back, not allowing him to get up. Einarr had to think of a plan, but had no idea how to escape. Then, there was an opportunity.
The man was attacked and he had to leave Einarr. Einarr seized the chance, and he took the nearby club and stood behind the man as he was fighting Corvid. Einarr wanted to be very careful. He didn't want the man nor Corvid to die, but he also wouldn't be mad if he lived as well. He was standing for a few moments, waiting for the time to hit the man.
Aware he couldn't waste his time anymore, Einarr punched the man in the head with the club and the man collapsed to the ground. "Stop!" Einarr said to Corvid, afraid that Corvid will try to kill the man. "It's over. Let's take him as a captive."
Corvid nodded.
"Corvid!" Bjorn called him. "Come here! Azziah is terribly injured." Einarr turned and saw that Azziah had three arrows in his chest, with blood on his mouth, and he was laying without any strength. The sight made Einarr's stomach turn, but more than anything, it made him feel sorry for everyone. Corvid ran to Azziah, leaving Einarr alone. Einarr walked to Halim, believing he will give him the answer. When he came to Halim, a group of soldiers was on the ground, some of them tied and the rest were knocked out.
"Who are these people? Simple bandits?" Einarr asked him.
"I don't know." Halim said. "But we will find out." they then gathered all the captives and the wounded and headed back to Longon.
When they returned, Azziah was immediately taken to the healing house, while lord Arvid Ethac and priest Eliezer were waiting for them on the gate...and father Kalf with them as well.
"Corvid!" lord Arvid said. "What happened here?!"
"We were going to the village, my lord." Corvid said. "On our way there, we were attacked by these bandits. They weren't hard to defeat, but Azziah is terribly injured."
A look of concern could be seen on lord Arvid's face when Azziah's name was mentioned. However, he quickly regained his noble standing.
"They were not trying to kill us." Halim said. "They were trying to capture us instead. Probably for ransom."
"Bandits can get much gold from raiding innocent people." priest Eliezer said.
"We are not bandits." one of them dared to speak. "We are fighters! For freedom!"
Lord Arvid raised his eyebrows, while Einarr was curious about what the man will say next.
"And for who are you fighting for?" lord Arvid asked. The man spat in lord Arvid's direction.
"For the true king of our people!" he yelled, so that the entire castle could hear him. "King Agnarr of Arendelle has returned! The Messiah has come!"
Einarr's eyes widened, and everyone else gasped.