Brood: Wow! I'm flattered with the praise this first chapter got! *Even though it WAS only two reviews...*grumble grumble**
Zutsokaki: HAHA!!! Told you they wouldn't like it!
Brood: *sticks tounge out at* You be quiet! Anyway, I would like more feedback from readers, since it gives me an idea what you guys like when I write! So why not indulge me a bit! Zatken-chan and Ieyre-chan, THANKS for the warm fuzzy feeling!!! Here's chapter 2!!!
(Quick note, some characters WILL be OOC, since they have been born and raised in England, Constantinople, and France, so of course circumstances and a whole different time age would change certain points.)
CHAPTER 2
"^.....^" = spoken in a different language.
~*~
Far away from the humble beginnings of our tale, a young prince was striding along the halls of the castle in which he lived. The dark stone walls of the hallways were chill and dank, as was expected in this rainy weather.
His own room, he thought with a small smile, was outfitted comfortably with a fireplace and a large bed, filled with only the finest of feathers and made from the best of fabrics. He felt a short pang of guilt when he thought that he had all that comfort when his subjects lived in poverty and the anguish of war, but he had to put it out of his mind quickly. His father always taught him to preserve the kingdom first, then help the people within. And currently, the kingdom was in danger, and had been for some time.
In fact, the aforementioned king was who the Crown Prince of England was going to see. His father had summoned him to the throne room, and it was his duty as prince to answer those summons. Servants scuttled out of his way, bowing as they went, and passing nobles gave a short bow, and the prince nodded his head graciously in return.
When he reached the large set of double doors, intricately carved, the herald dashed nervously inside through a servants side door to announce him.
"His Royal Majesty, The Crown Prince Yugi of England!," he heard boom through the doors. The doors were then swept open wide, and the prince walked forward through the spacious hall to his father, the King Solomon. Prince Yugi gave a small bow and waited until the king nodded back. Then Yugi rose to stand next to his father.
"Father, why dost thou summon me to thine presence?"
The greying king sighed shortly, as if looking for the words to say. After another sigh, he began. "My son, I hast summoned thou for one purpose. Our many soldiers on the Frankish front are losing their fighting spirit, and I believe that now is the time for their heralded prince to go to the battle front and raise the dropping spirits. And speaking of heralds, I've TRIED to tell that one over there," the king nodded to the nervous looking one who announced Yugi, "that he dost not need to announce thine presense to thee...."
Yugi smiled. "I am aware of that, I just like to maketh him squirm."
The king smiled back and gave his son a jovial clap on the shoulder. Then he lowered his voice and dropped to the easier speaking of the peasants.
"My son, what do you say to leaving for the Frankish front tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure father.....are we not expecting the Duke around that time?" The seventeen year old prince narrowed his deep violet eyes, keeping his voice lowered like his fathers, using the easy peasant dialect as well. "I believe I volunteered to guide him around, if I'm not mistakened....."
"Oh...that's correct, isn't it? I don't know why you'd lower yourself to a mere guide, but if you insist...."
"Well I heard he's around my age, a bit young for a duke."
"He's eighteen. His father died last winter in the war, and he's currently searching for a bride. He hopes to find one while staying on our premises. He wants to find a suitable duchess, and I am more than certain that our own noble ladies are up to his expectations."
"Most young noble ladies are already engaged, father."
"Which is why YOU, my son, remain unengaged....FOR THE MOMENT." He accented those words instead of raising his voice, for this wasn't a conversation for servants ears. "We may end up simply finishing the war soon and have you marry a Frankish noble girl, or princess, if there is any. I'm sure there are." His voice dripped with the certainty that the English would finish this ongoing war with the Franks any day soon.
Prince Yugi winced slightly. He had heard unflattering things of Frankish women.
~*~
The travelling minstrel was still simply awed by the things he had heard from young Joseph Wheelman. His head spun as he turned the details, as slim and broken as they were, over in his head again and again. They were no longer inside the small hut, but at the insistance of the minstrel, were preparing to sneak out of Constantinople together.
~*~/FLASHBACK/~*~
"Your grandmother and I have spoken. We agree that you should come to England with me, young man."
Joseph's eyes widened in a sudden panic, and his brown eyes seemed to shake within their sockets with his sudden confusion.
"But.....my home here in Constantinople!!
"But you MUST come back with me to England, and tell this story to the king himself! I thought I could go back and do that, but I know that this story is told by you too well for me to match! Young man, you could also make a better life for yourself! What is your trade?"
This news seemed to spin Joseph's head in three directions. "I-i'm....a....stable boy...."
"But what is your apprenticeship?"
"Oh! I'm trying to become a stable owner and cart-maker!"
"Wonderful my lad! You could come to England and open up a stable with a sutable partner that won't cheat you! The army needs good strong horses, and I've heard much about the horse qualities here in Constantinople!"
Joseph looked helplessly at his Grandmother. "Grandmother? You agreed to all of this?"
The old woman looked sad for a moment, then shook the look off of her face. "It's true, you could make a better life for yourself in England. And you could get away from the attacks of those awful Turks....."
The boy's face seemed to expand to accomidate the widening of his eyes. "Grandmother! But who will care for you!? You know that Sere won't let me go alone!" Joseph stood quickly, hair bouncing over his eyes.
The minstrel shook the mention of another name out of his mind as the Grandmother responded to Joseph's protest.
"Don't worry for me....I have friends and neighbors who could watch over an old woman like me. But be careful.....you father disappeared trying to get to England himself...."
Joseph's eyes widened and he looked at the minstrel. "You came from England and made it here ALIVE!?"
"I took certain routes. You know, AWAY from the armies and the fighting?"
".......Right.....but there is just one more thing......." Joseph looked down and he scuffed at the floor with his beaten up thin boot.
The minstrel cocked his head and looked at Joseph. "Yes?"
The old woman looked at Joseph with understanding eyes. "I know what he means. She won't stay here if he goes."
The minstrel's eyes shot up to the woman. "She!?" That name that Joseph spouted a moment ago....a girl! On a trip like this!? "Now I don't think a woman would want to make this trip, even to go with her love--"
"It's not a girl he's courting. It's his younger sister." The woman looked at him with grave eyes, and the minstrel nearly swayed down to the stool again. A young girl coming with them....this was going to be slow progress indeed....
"....................How old is the girl?," he asked after a quiet moment.
"She's seen fifteen summers."
"Fifteen?" At least that wasn't TOO young.....it would still be slow though. Damn it all.
"Listen to me, silly boy...." Joseph looked up at his Grandmother, sadness clouding his brown eyes. "I want you to leave tonight. When I was in the market today, I heard scouts rumors that another attack will be started tomorrow morning. I want you three gone tonight! Do you understand me, boy?"
A tear threatened to fall as Joseph nodded. His whole life was about to change, and he only knew it was because opportunity had come knocking, and his Grandmother only wanted him to take it.
"Don't you start blubbering on me, you stupid boy. Start packing your things, immediately. Get your sister and tell her what's about to happen." Her attentioned snapped to the minstrel with amazing speed. "You! I want you to find the easiest route out of here!"
And just like that, the woman's word was carried out. The minstrel left, and Joseph went to talk to his sister, who was apprenticing a seamstress at the time. She had accepted the news with amazing clarity and calm, nodding her agreement that she'd never let her dear older brother go anywhere like this without her. She left to get ready to leave and arrange for a family friend to care for their grandmother, and was ready to go by nightfall.
Joseph had been granted permission by their grandmother to take their only horse with them, which was amazingly strong and healthy looking considering the family's poverty. That must be where most of the family income goes, the minstrel thought absently upon first seeing the beast.
The minstrel had decided upon his entrance route to leave the city, and had a few tricks up his sleeve to help get them all to England safely. His father hadn't been a spy for nothing, after all.
Upon seeing Joseph's sister, the minstrel couldn't help thinking that this trip probably wouldn't be as burdensome as he had moped about all day long. She seemed a determined girl for her age, standing tall when packing her few worldly possesions onto their family horse. She had reddish hair that reached down to her waist, with a ragged handkerchief covering the top. She shared her strong brown eyes with her brother, but seemed to carry a more calm and consistency in them than her brother did, as he was obviously a victim of emotion at times.
After a tearful goodbye between the grandchildren and their grandmother, they set out quietly into the night, and here they were all now.
"So which way are we heading?" Joseph whispered as they neared the edge of the city. The night gave them all the cover they needed within the city walls, but once outside of them, they'd have to move quickly.
"We're going to a small unguarded entrance I used getting into this city. There's a path closeby that will take us around the Turkish camps," the minstrel whispered back. He held the lead rope on his own horse, and Joseph held the other to the larger horse, and his sister walked beside their horse, a firm hand on the saddle. She would absently run her hand over the glossy brown coat now and again, seeming to be in a daze as she walked.
To the great luck of the small group, the Turks seemed to be preoccupied as the travellers went by. At the relatively safe distance of five hundred feet, they crept by slowly, as to not alert the scouts at the edges of the camp, using foliage as cover to it's fullest extent. By the bustle in the camps, it did seem like they were preparing for something like another battle. The old woman's rumors seemed to be true. Joseph shuddered as they went by, and stole one last look at his birth home before they went downhill and out of sight.
Over the course of the weeks that followed, the minstrel taught Joseph to hunt for the game on the lands, first by bow and arrow (which he seemed to have a natural knack for), and then knife throwing (which he was less sufficient at, but his sister tried it once after begging for a moment and did fairly well), then finally sword play.
Since the minstrel really didn't have swords on him, they used broad wooden sticks whittled down with the throwing knives. The first day of those lessons, seven weeks into the travelling, Joseph got knocked down and "killed" five times, his sister cheering him on the whole time. She was currently cooking up a young fawn that Joseph had shot with the bow, and would glance up from the fire now and again to watch.
They were currently at the edge of a forest close to the oceanside on the northern European border, and were about to cross the border into France. The minstrel was certainly not looking forward to that one little bit. They would have to go quicker and quieter once in Frankish territories, as the scouts would be everywhere and looking for English spies.
They would cross through a valley in the mountains, which he was certain wasn't being watched right now, and go along the northern border of the territories until they came to port he'd docked at from his journey across the Channel.
In the two weeks that followed, things went smoothly (except for one run in with a wild and lone wolf, but Joseph's sister threw a knife at it's neck, barely saving the minstrel) until they arrived at the small port city.
They had stopped at a pub, the minstrel looking for a mercenary type of sailor who'd take them across the Channel with barely any questions.
Unfortuneately, most of them were hired, and the one that wasn't, liked asking.
"^What's the cargo?^," a surly and sour looking middle-aged man asked in French, staring down at the now diminuitve seeming minstrel.
"^Just me, the two young ones, and the horses.^," the minstrel replied. He'd picked up the language from his spy father, and used it to get his way through the Frankish lands his first go through to Constantinople.
The sailor frowned, looking over the teens. "^Why the children? What's their importance?^"
The minstrel thought quickly, then a candle flickered on in his head. "^Foriegn slaves. I'm taking them to sell across the Channel^"
"^What country do they hail from? They don't look like our kind...^"
"^They are Byzantine.^"
"^Quite a long way. Why did ye not sell them sooner?^" He was obviously trying to find any fault in the minstrel's story whatsoever. A rat scuttled by Joseph, and his sister saw it and gave a small gasp, clasping to her brother's arm.
"^I can get better prices across the Channel.^" The minstrel replied quickly.
Obviously the sailor was tired of asking questions, so he simply pointed out of the window where the port was. "^I'm going to buy a cat for the ship and then I'll be setting sail. Be ready to go in about half an hour. The price is twenty silver pieces.^" The minstrel nodded, his face screwed up at the mention of the high price, and turned to the two others as the sailor walked away.
The minstrel lowered his voice as he spoke to them, in case there were any Frankish listening to them talking. It wouldn't do them any good to be heard speaking English in Frankish lands. "Alright, we have passage. I had to tell the sailor that you were slaves, so look the part while we're passing the Channel, alright? It shouldn't take more than thirty to fourty-five minutes to get across, understand?"
Joseph nodded and his sister stared at him, holding the reins to the minstrel's horse.
When the sailor returned, they boarded the ship, and the minstrel took the teens below deck after tying up the horses in a secure area on deck. He told the teens to stay where they were, and not to speak at all, and then he went up on deck.
The ride went as smoothly as possible up until docking on the English side of the Channel. The minstrel brought up the teens and untied the horses, and the began to disembark, the minstrel holding out the small pouch of twenty silver pieces. But the sailor instead touched Joseph's sister's hair and looked her over. She shivered and edged closer to her brother and the minstrel for cover.
"^I've changed my mind. Keep the silver, but give the girl to me.^"
The minstrel's eyes widened, and the two others could guess what the sailor wanted. Even though they couldn't understand the Frankish language, the could very well understand that strange glimmer behind his eyes.
"^I'm sorry, but I can't sell her to you without her brother. They work best together.^"
"^I don't think she'll need her brother for the kinds of work I have in mind for her.....^"
The minstrel hid a shiver that ran down his spine and tried to think of something. "^Well, to tell you the truth my good man, I already have a buyer in these parts for them, which is another reason I needed you to bring me across the Channel instead of selling them in our fine France.^"
The sailor frowned deeply. "^Why did ye simply not tell me this when I first proposed ye give her to me?^"
"^Well, I thought you wouldn't want her if you had to take her brother as well...but even so, she is worth more than one trip across the Channel. She's in top physical form, as is her brother. They're worth at least twenty GOLD pieces each. But I must go and take my cargo to their buyer. But I thank you for the safe passage, and if I see a fine female slave, I'll be sure to send her your way.^"
The sailor frowned again and all but snatched the silver pouch from the minstrel. "^If ye can, try and find one with that hair color. It's interesting and I like it.^"
The minstrel plastered on a smile and let the teens and horses off of the ship. Joseph let out a deep sigh and whispered, "I am SO glad you got Sere out of that....."
"I couldn't let her become the wench of a Frankish sailor, now could I? Now listen to me young man, we're not out of the dark yet. We still have some travel yet ahead of us."
Joseph nodded and his sister looked gratefully at the minstrel. He nodded at her with a small smile and they passed through the small port village with no trouble at all.
Either the fighting must have died down or it moved farther away, but the minstrel found his trip back to the castle through the forest wilderness much more simple than his trip to Constantinople. He really had to thank the good Lord for providing them with safe travel, good water and grasses for the horses, and good game, and sheer luck. He'd put that on his To Do parchment.
About a week later, the minstrel and his group found their way to the outskirts of the city surrounding the grand castle of the King Solomon of England. The minstrel felt a horrible pang in his heart as he realized just how much he missed his home.
"Come, come young ones! I wish to see my mother!" The minstrel nearly ran to the gates, but Joseph grabbed his arm.
"Wait my friend....I'm frightened. Sere is also....we've never been here to England....it does seem more peaceful than our own home in Constantinople...but we're not sure....."
The minstrel took Joseph by his shoulders. "Don't dwell on it much Joseph. Things are good here. It will be a good place to live. You and your sister will be happy, I'm sure...Now come...I wish to see my home...."
"As do I...." came the soft reply of Joseph, and the minstrel squeezed his shoulder while leading the others into the city.
After walking around through the many turns and rough streets, they finally found a nice thatched roof home standing between a bakery and a small cart of fruits being sold by an older man.
The minstrel all but threw the door open and walked inside after tying up the horses outside.
"MOTHER!!!!!" The minstrel's voice rang into the hut, and suddenly, an older woman with brown hair drawn from her face bustled in, eyes wide and surprised.
"TRISTAN!!!! It 'tis you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She ran forward and grabbed the minstrel in a tight hug. "Oh my son, I thought I'd never see you again! After I'd heard that you'd left the castle on a trip towards the Frankish territories, I became to worried!!"
The minstrel, called Tristan, grasped his mother in an equally tight hug. "Mother, I've been to the Byzantine lands! And I've brought friends with me!" He motioned towards Joseph and his sister, and his mother's head darted towards them.
"Ooh! Byzantine children! Why ever did you bring them!?"
"Their grandmother wanted them to leave the city, and requested I take them with me. I couldn't say no, really. There are the Turkish people who besiege the city, and it's not too safe to wander about."
"Ooh the dears! Why don't we all get something to eat! Your brother and sister will be back here soon from the errands I sent them on....my goodness, in all your nineteen years did I think my son would make a journey like this....."
Joseph strode up to Tristan with a grin and spoke in his ear. "Nineteen, eh? By the way you called me "young man" all this time and acted the way you did, I could have sworn you were older than that!"
Tristan grinnned back. "A trip such as ours tends to age a man! You look not a day over twenty one! Once we get you cleaned up though, I'm sure you'll be back to your seventeen year old self!"
Joseph's sister walked up to Tristan's mother, and spoke softly to her.
"Madam, thank you for your hospitality, and if there's anything I can do to help...."
"Ooh dear, you don't have to help if you don't want to! You just got here! You're new to these lands and you need a rest! Why don't you just sit down over there...."
Joseph's sister would hear none of that though. Finally she got her way and got to peel potatoes for a stew Tristan's mother would be cooking up.
Once the stew was done and the three travellers had cleaned up, dinner was ladeled out to them in wooden bowls, and they began to eat.
"Ooh my goodness, I'm so rude! I've forgotten to ask your friend's names, my Tristan! Why don't you introduce them to me!"
Tristan grinned at his mother widely and gestured to Joseph. "This is Joseph Wheelman," Joseph waved kindly from behind his quickly disappearing stew, "And this is his younger sister, Sere."
She peeked up from her bowl and looked at Tristan's mother. "Actually, my name is Serenity, but everyone just calls me Sere."
At that time, Tristan's younger brother and sister burst in, holding a few fruits and some breads.
"Mumma, mumma! The market man tried to rob us of a few extra coins by saying that the bread was freshly baked....."
"Mumma! The fruits man said that there were no vermin on the apples, but I saw a fly......" They both tried speaking at the same time, very quickly. Then they immediately stopped at the same time, spotting their older brother and his friends.
"TRISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAANN!!!" They cried at the same time, both rushing him and hugging him fiercely, dropping the foods on the chair by the door.
"Mumma said that you were in danger and that the Franks would get you....."
"Zing! With their arrows! And she said that they could make metal fly through great big metal holes....."
"But you're back and have no holes in your or anything........."
"I bought bread all by myself today!"
"Woah woah woah!!!" Tristan held up a hand to calm his siblings. "Terya, Timothy, one at a time, PLEASE!"
"Sorry Big Brother......" they chorused.
"Tell us all about your trip!" Terya piped. She was a small girl who had her short brown hair hidden under a handkerchief, and a simple skirt and tunic top. Tristan noticed with a small smile that she had gotten taller.
"Yeah! I wanna hear about the Franks!" Timothy added his own two pence. Timothy was the youngest of the children, and had his mid-neck brown hair tied back with a thick piece of brown string. He too, had gotten taller.
Tristan sighed, realizing he'd been away far too long. "Fine, I'll tell you all about it! First off, I had trouble getting across the Channel to the Frankish lands......"
As Tristan spoke, it became extremely obvious to Joseph and his sister why he had become a palace minstrel at such a young age. He wove into his peaceful travel story tales of harrowing escapes, close calls, and even had to escape a battle happening around him. He told of how he'd stolen into Constantinople in the dead of night, slipping past fifty guards and more.
Then he told of how he'd come across Joseph and his sister, being harrassed by a Turk in city walls, and how he'd courageously saved them from being taken prisoner. Then suddenly the city became very unsafe, and they had to escape amidst the pillaging and the dangers, slipping past the whole of the Turkish army, fifty thousand strong, only one hundred feet away from their rightmost flanks.
Next came the many dangers of bringing them back to England, past raging rivers and dodging Frankish arrows and cannon fire from ambushers, and how Joseph had been brave with a bow, taking down a whole fifty Frankish men to save them from capture and certain death.
As Tristan got to the part where they had to stow away on a vermin infested ship with no cats at all, Joseph and Serenity and Tristan's family was so absorbed into this tale that the siblings from Constantinople almost felt in the daze that his storytelling put them in that it was all true, and that Serenity actually did have to break the great giant sailor's nose to get them safely off of the ship, and that Tristan's horse really did nearly get swept down a river, if it weren't for passing performer men to help Joseph and Tristan get the horse safely out.
".............and how, here we are, before you and quite miraculously, unharmed!" Tristan finished with a flourish. The spell was broken, and Joseph and his sister were yanked back to reality with a sudden jolt.
"Ooh children, don't believe your brother's tall tales now.........." Tristan's mother began.
"--and and and those Franks and Turks must have been scary!! Did you really..."
"Brother!!! Did the guards really nearly see your horse as you tried to push it through the cracks in walls!!!"
"--and did Joseph really hit all fifty of the Frankish men right between the eyes!? That's really amazing!"
"Of course, of course!!! Would I ever tell you, my own flesh and blood, a lie?" Tristan winked at his mother, who only smiled and shook her head.
"Ooh, come now children, help me put away the groceries that you got for your mother now......" She gave her son one more hug. "Now I'm sure you'll be wanting to check in at the castle, so I'll see you when you manage to get back, my son. Will you be taking your friends with you?"
"Of course mother, I think Joseph has information interesting to the King....."
"He may want to hear of the warring in the Byzantine empire....yes yes....well, watch yourself anyway son, there's a Duke coming today, and his entourage will be coming right down the main road. So make sure to keep to the sides if you hear trumpets, right?"
"Yes mother. I'll see you later, and tell Terya and Timothy goodbye for me."
"I will, my son."
And with that, Joseph, Sere, and Tristan left. As they rode down the street, Joseph and Sere looked at everything, sometimes turning around to get better glances at everything. Women were bustling about holding baskets of foods, and men were bartering on the streets for simple things like horseshoes and cloths. A bakery they passed filled the surrounding area with the smell of rising bread, and they had to pause a moment to make sure that a passing chicken didn't get squashed under their horses.
"Are you sure our horses will be alright here?" Joseph asked, finally giving some attention to Tristan, and patting the flank of his great horse.
"Of course, mother will take care of them. Your horse is amazing, I wouldn't be surprised if she takes extra special care of him. I'm sure we have enough feed. You do good with your horse."
Joseph flushed, but then turned around to catch a glimpse of a blacksmith shop. "I'll be....everything is so different here. Even though they have smithies and everything, it's all just so.....different...."
Sere nodded in agreement as they neared the central gates to the inner city walls. They were opened for them, Joseph marvelling at their condition, and the continued travelling. Sere nearly got off the horse from behind her brother as they passed a dressmaker's shop, but kept her composure.
Then they came upon the castle gates, to the outer areas. After announcing to the guards who he was, the doors opened.
Joseph looked confused a bit. "Why do they open the doors immediately for a minstrel?"
Tristan glanced up at Joseph, as he had to since his horse was smaller. "The Prince Yugi had ordered me to report in to him upon my return. I am called Tristan Storyteller here."
Joseph nodded in some form of understanding as they heard trumpets blare quite a ways behind them.
"Ahh, that must be the entourage of the Duke that mother told me about. We will be in the inner cloister of the castle before the get here, so let's just keep going, shall we?"
"Wait! A duke? What's that?" Sere looked down on Tristan, and he sighed a bit.
"A duke is a high ranking land owner and official in England. The wife of a duke is called a duchess."
"Oooh.....I understand now." The continued forward, and after announcing his presence to the next set of guards, they were in the inside. A stable boy came and gathered their horses upon dismounting, and they walked along to the main doors of the castle.
"Who comes to these doors of the king?" said a doorman looking down upon Tristan.
"Ooh Mako, you know who I am!!" Tristan smiled, and Mako Doorman's face lit up with understanding.
"TRISTAN MY GOOD FRIEND!! YOU'VE RETURNED!!!!" He then caught Tristan into a crushing hug, and Tristan gaped like a fish out of water until his lungs were safe once more. "Tristan my good fellow! You must tell me of your journeys later after you've had your audience with the Prince! Come, come on in!! Ooh, you have friends with you as well! Well, welcome friends of Tristan Storyteller!" They were ushered in with such a friendly force that it nearly overwhelmed them all.
"Remember to tell me of your journeys later on!!!" After Tristan promised, he and the other two continued on to the main doors of the audience hall.
"Hello Herald. Is the Prince in the audience hall at this moment?"
The skittish looking herald nodded. "But right now, he's in audience with the king, preparing for the Duke's arrival....but....this notice here, given to me a week ago, said that you were to see the Prince immediately upon your arrival.....but he's with the King...."
"Sere...." Joseph whispered in awe to his sister. "We haven't been here yet a day, and we are to see the King and Prince of this land...."
"Yes brother," she whispered back, "It is very amazing....."
"Why don't you," started Tristan, "simply announce me, and ask if I should be admitted. Would that suit your needs, herald?"
The herald seemed to relax from his constant debating. "W-why yes...that should be just fine...." The herald opened the servants door and disappeared.
"Announcing the party of Tristan Storyteller! Should I admit them, your Royal Majesties?" boomed a voice very unlike the skittish speaking voice of the herald.
There came a surprised tone, more than likely the prince, and after a moment, the large doors swung open.
~*~
Brood: Woot! The travellers are now in the presence of the King and Prince! Yay! Next chapter, a peek into the Millennium Items and a bit of story on the Frankish fronts! We also get to meet the Duke that you've heard so much about this chapter! Yay! Aren't you all just SO excited!!
Zutsokaki: *coughs* I'll bet they're not.
Brood: Shaddap you. Myotsimon! Email me with a physical profile so I can write you in, buddy!
Zutsokaki: Why would ANYONE want to be written into a story like this?
Brood: .......................*whaps Zutsokaki with an empty Pringles can, which she had emptied in her writing efforts* Until next time everyone! Ja ne!
Zutsokaki: HAHA!!! Told you they wouldn't like it!
Brood: *sticks tounge out at* You be quiet! Anyway, I would like more feedback from readers, since it gives me an idea what you guys like when I write! So why not indulge me a bit! Zatken-chan and Ieyre-chan, THANKS for the warm fuzzy feeling!!! Here's chapter 2!!!
(Quick note, some characters WILL be OOC, since they have been born and raised in England, Constantinople, and France, so of course circumstances and a whole different time age would change certain points.)
CHAPTER 2
"^.....^" = spoken in a different language.
~*~
Far away from the humble beginnings of our tale, a young prince was striding along the halls of the castle in which he lived. The dark stone walls of the hallways were chill and dank, as was expected in this rainy weather.
His own room, he thought with a small smile, was outfitted comfortably with a fireplace and a large bed, filled with only the finest of feathers and made from the best of fabrics. He felt a short pang of guilt when he thought that he had all that comfort when his subjects lived in poverty and the anguish of war, but he had to put it out of his mind quickly. His father always taught him to preserve the kingdom first, then help the people within. And currently, the kingdom was in danger, and had been for some time.
In fact, the aforementioned king was who the Crown Prince of England was going to see. His father had summoned him to the throne room, and it was his duty as prince to answer those summons. Servants scuttled out of his way, bowing as they went, and passing nobles gave a short bow, and the prince nodded his head graciously in return.
When he reached the large set of double doors, intricately carved, the herald dashed nervously inside through a servants side door to announce him.
"His Royal Majesty, The Crown Prince Yugi of England!," he heard boom through the doors. The doors were then swept open wide, and the prince walked forward through the spacious hall to his father, the King Solomon. Prince Yugi gave a small bow and waited until the king nodded back. Then Yugi rose to stand next to his father.
"Father, why dost thou summon me to thine presence?"
The greying king sighed shortly, as if looking for the words to say. After another sigh, he began. "My son, I hast summoned thou for one purpose. Our many soldiers on the Frankish front are losing their fighting spirit, and I believe that now is the time for their heralded prince to go to the battle front and raise the dropping spirits. And speaking of heralds, I've TRIED to tell that one over there," the king nodded to the nervous looking one who announced Yugi, "that he dost not need to announce thine presense to thee...."
Yugi smiled. "I am aware of that, I just like to maketh him squirm."
The king smiled back and gave his son a jovial clap on the shoulder. Then he lowered his voice and dropped to the easier speaking of the peasants.
"My son, what do you say to leaving for the Frankish front tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure father.....are we not expecting the Duke around that time?" The seventeen year old prince narrowed his deep violet eyes, keeping his voice lowered like his fathers, using the easy peasant dialect as well. "I believe I volunteered to guide him around, if I'm not mistakened....."
"Oh...that's correct, isn't it? I don't know why you'd lower yourself to a mere guide, but if you insist...."
"Well I heard he's around my age, a bit young for a duke."
"He's eighteen. His father died last winter in the war, and he's currently searching for a bride. He hopes to find one while staying on our premises. He wants to find a suitable duchess, and I am more than certain that our own noble ladies are up to his expectations."
"Most young noble ladies are already engaged, father."
"Which is why YOU, my son, remain unengaged....FOR THE MOMENT." He accented those words instead of raising his voice, for this wasn't a conversation for servants ears. "We may end up simply finishing the war soon and have you marry a Frankish noble girl, or princess, if there is any. I'm sure there are." His voice dripped with the certainty that the English would finish this ongoing war with the Franks any day soon.
Prince Yugi winced slightly. He had heard unflattering things of Frankish women.
~*~
The travelling minstrel was still simply awed by the things he had heard from young Joseph Wheelman. His head spun as he turned the details, as slim and broken as they were, over in his head again and again. They were no longer inside the small hut, but at the insistance of the minstrel, were preparing to sneak out of Constantinople together.
~*~/FLASHBACK/~*~
"Your grandmother and I have spoken. We agree that you should come to England with me, young man."
Joseph's eyes widened in a sudden panic, and his brown eyes seemed to shake within their sockets with his sudden confusion.
"But.....my home here in Constantinople!!
"But you MUST come back with me to England, and tell this story to the king himself! I thought I could go back and do that, but I know that this story is told by you too well for me to match! Young man, you could also make a better life for yourself! What is your trade?"
This news seemed to spin Joseph's head in three directions. "I-i'm....a....stable boy...."
"But what is your apprenticeship?"
"Oh! I'm trying to become a stable owner and cart-maker!"
"Wonderful my lad! You could come to England and open up a stable with a sutable partner that won't cheat you! The army needs good strong horses, and I've heard much about the horse qualities here in Constantinople!"
Joseph looked helplessly at his Grandmother. "Grandmother? You agreed to all of this?"
The old woman looked sad for a moment, then shook the look off of her face. "It's true, you could make a better life for yourself in England. And you could get away from the attacks of those awful Turks....."
The boy's face seemed to expand to accomidate the widening of his eyes. "Grandmother! But who will care for you!? You know that Sere won't let me go alone!" Joseph stood quickly, hair bouncing over his eyes.
The minstrel shook the mention of another name out of his mind as the Grandmother responded to Joseph's protest.
"Don't worry for me....I have friends and neighbors who could watch over an old woman like me. But be careful.....you father disappeared trying to get to England himself...."
Joseph's eyes widened and he looked at the minstrel. "You came from England and made it here ALIVE!?"
"I took certain routes. You know, AWAY from the armies and the fighting?"
".......Right.....but there is just one more thing......." Joseph looked down and he scuffed at the floor with his beaten up thin boot.
The minstrel cocked his head and looked at Joseph. "Yes?"
The old woman looked at Joseph with understanding eyes. "I know what he means. She won't stay here if he goes."
The minstrel's eyes shot up to the woman. "She!?" That name that Joseph spouted a moment ago....a girl! On a trip like this!? "Now I don't think a woman would want to make this trip, even to go with her love--"
"It's not a girl he's courting. It's his younger sister." The woman looked at him with grave eyes, and the minstrel nearly swayed down to the stool again. A young girl coming with them....this was going to be slow progress indeed....
"....................How old is the girl?," he asked after a quiet moment.
"She's seen fifteen summers."
"Fifteen?" At least that wasn't TOO young.....it would still be slow though. Damn it all.
"Listen to me, silly boy...." Joseph looked up at his Grandmother, sadness clouding his brown eyes. "I want you to leave tonight. When I was in the market today, I heard scouts rumors that another attack will be started tomorrow morning. I want you three gone tonight! Do you understand me, boy?"
A tear threatened to fall as Joseph nodded. His whole life was about to change, and he only knew it was because opportunity had come knocking, and his Grandmother only wanted him to take it.
"Don't you start blubbering on me, you stupid boy. Start packing your things, immediately. Get your sister and tell her what's about to happen." Her attentioned snapped to the minstrel with amazing speed. "You! I want you to find the easiest route out of here!"
And just like that, the woman's word was carried out. The minstrel left, and Joseph went to talk to his sister, who was apprenticing a seamstress at the time. She had accepted the news with amazing clarity and calm, nodding her agreement that she'd never let her dear older brother go anywhere like this without her. She left to get ready to leave and arrange for a family friend to care for their grandmother, and was ready to go by nightfall.
Joseph had been granted permission by their grandmother to take their only horse with them, which was amazingly strong and healthy looking considering the family's poverty. That must be where most of the family income goes, the minstrel thought absently upon first seeing the beast.
The minstrel had decided upon his entrance route to leave the city, and had a few tricks up his sleeve to help get them all to England safely. His father hadn't been a spy for nothing, after all.
Upon seeing Joseph's sister, the minstrel couldn't help thinking that this trip probably wouldn't be as burdensome as he had moped about all day long. She seemed a determined girl for her age, standing tall when packing her few worldly possesions onto their family horse. She had reddish hair that reached down to her waist, with a ragged handkerchief covering the top. She shared her strong brown eyes with her brother, but seemed to carry a more calm and consistency in them than her brother did, as he was obviously a victim of emotion at times.
After a tearful goodbye between the grandchildren and their grandmother, they set out quietly into the night, and here they were all now.
"So which way are we heading?" Joseph whispered as they neared the edge of the city. The night gave them all the cover they needed within the city walls, but once outside of them, they'd have to move quickly.
"We're going to a small unguarded entrance I used getting into this city. There's a path closeby that will take us around the Turkish camps," the minstrel whispered back. He held the lead rope on his own horse, and Joseph held the other to the larger horse, and his sister walked beside their horse, a firm hand on the saddle. She would absently run her hand over the glossy brown coat now and again, seeming to be in a daze as she walked.
To the great luck of the small group, the Turks seemed to be preoccupied as the travellers went by. At the relatively safe distance of five hundred feet, they crept by slowly, as to not alert the scouts at the edges of the camp, using foliage as cover to it's fullest extent. By the bustle in the camps, it did seem like they were preparing for something like another battle. The old woman's rumors seemed to be true. Joseph shuddered as they went by, and stole one last look at his birth home before they went downhill and out of sight.
Over the course of the weeks that followed, the minstrel taught Joseph to hunt for the game on the lands, first by bow and arrow (which he seemed to have a natural knack for), and then knife throwing (which he was less sufficient at, but his sister tried it once after begging for a moment and did fairly well), then finally sword play.
Since the minstrel really didn't have swords on him, they used broad wooden sticks whittled down with the throwing knives. The first day of those lessons, seven weeks into the travelling, Joseph got knocked down and "killed" five times, his sister cheering him on the whole time. She was currently cooking up a young fawn that Joseph had shot with the bow, and would glance up from the fire now and again to watch.
They were currently at the edge of a forest close to the oceanside on the northern European border, and were about to cross the border into France. The minstrel was certainly not looking forward to that one little bit. They would have to go quicker and quieter once in Frankish territories, as the scouts would be everywhere and looking for English spies.
They would cross through a valley in the mountains, which he was certain wasn't being watched right now, and go along the northern border of the territories until they came to port he'd docked at from his journey across the Channel.
In the two weeks that followed, things went smoothly (except for one run in with a wild and lone wolf, but Joseph's sister threw a knife at it's neck, barely saving the minstrel) until they arrived at the small port city.
They had stopped at a pub, the minstrel looking for a mercenary type of sailor who'd take them across the Channel with barely any questions.
Unfortuneately, most of them were hired, and the one that wasn't, liked asking.
"^What's the cargo?^," a surly and sour looking middle-aged man asked in French, staring down at the now diminuitve seeming minstrel.
"^Just me, the two young ones, and the horses.^," the minstrel replied. He'd picked up the language from his spy father, and used it to get his way through the Frankish lands his first go through to Constantinople.
The sailor frowned, looking over the teens. "^Why the children? What's their importance?^"
The minstrel thought quickly, then a candle flickered on in his head. "^Foriegn slaves. I'm taking them to sell across the Channel^"
"^What country do they hail from? They don't look like our kind...^"
"^They are Byzantine.^"
"^Quite a long way. Why did ye not sell them sooner?^" He was obviously trying to find any fault in the minstrel's story whatsoever. A rat scuttled by Joseph, and his sister saw it and gave a small gasp, clasping to her brother's arm.
"^I can get better prices across the Channel.^" The minstrel replied quickly.
Obviously the sailor was tired of asking questions, so he simply pointed out of the window where the port was. "^I'm going to buy a cat for the ship and then I'll be setting sail. Be ready to go in about half an hour. The price is twenty silver pieces.^" The minstrel nodded, his face screwed up at the mention of the high price, and turned to the two others as the sailor walked away.
The minstrel lowered his voice as he spoke to them, in case there were any Frankish listening to them talking. It wouldn't do them any good to be heard speaking English in Frankish lands. "Alright, we have passage. I had to tell the sailor that you were slaves, so look the part while we're passing the Channel, alright? It shouldn't take more than thirty to fourty-five minutes to get across, understand?"
Joseph nodded and his sister stared at him, holding the reins to the minstrel's horse.
When the sailor returned, they boarded the ship, and the minstrel took the teens below deck after tying up the horses in a secure area on deck. He told the teens to stay where they were, and not to speak at all, and then he went up on deck.
The ride went as smoothly as possible up until docking on the English side of the Channel. The minstrel brought up the teens and untied the horses, and the began to disembark, the minstrel holding out the small pouch of twenty silver pieces. But the sailor instead touched Joseph's sister's hair and looked her over. She shivered and edged closer to her brother and the minstrel for cover.
"^I've changed my mind. Keep the silver, but give the girl to me.^"
The minstrel's eyes widened, and the two others could guess what the sailor wanted. Even though they couldn't understand the Frankish language, the could very well understand that strange glimmer behind his eyes.
"^I'm sorry, but I can't sell her to you without her brother. They work best together.^"
"^I don't think she'll need her brother for the kinds of work I have in mind for her.....^"
The minstrel hid a shiver that ran down his spine and tried to think of something. "^Well, to tell you the truth my good man, I already have a buyer in these parts for them, which is another reason I needed you to bring me across the Channel instead of selling them in our fine France.^"
The sailor frowned deeply. "^Why did ye simply not tell me this when I first proposed ye give her to me?^"
"^Well, I thought you wouldn't want her if you had to take her brother as well...but even so, she is worth more than one trip across the Channel. She's in top physical form, as is her brother. They're worth at least twenty GOLD pieces each. But I must go and take my cargo to their buyer. But I thank you for the safe passage, and if I see a fine female slave, I'll be sure to send her your way.^"
The sailor frowned again and all but snatched the silver pouch from the minstrel. "^If ye can, try and find one with that hair color. It's interesting and I like it.^"
The minstrel plastered on a smile and let the teens and horses off of the ship. Joseph let out a deep sigh and whispered, "I am SO glad you got Sere out of that....."
"I couldn't let her become the wench of a Frankish sailor, now could I? Now listen to me young man, we're not out of the dark yet. We still have some travel yet ahead of us."
Joseph nodded and his sister looked gratefully at the minstrel. He nodded at her with a small smile and they passed through the small port village with no trouble at all.
Either the fighting must have died down or it moved farther away, but the minstrel found his trip back to the castle through the forest wilderness much more simple than his trip to Constantinople. He really had to thank the good Lord for providing them with safe travel, good water and grasses for the horses, and good game, and sheer luck. He'd put that on his To Do parchment.
About a week later, the minstrel and his group found their way to the outskirts of the city surrounding the grand castle of the King Solomon of England. The minstrel felt a horrible pang in his heart as he realized just how much he missed his home.
"Come, come young ones! I wish to see my mother!" The minstrel nearly ran to the gates, but Joseph grabbed his arm.
"Wait my friend....I'm frightened. Sere is also....we've never been here to England....it does seem more peaceful than our own home in Constantinople...but we're not sure....."
The minstrel took Joseph by his shoulders. "Don't dwell on it much Joseph. Things are good here. It will be a good place to live. You and your sister will be happy, I'm sure...Now come...I wish to see my home...."
"As do I...." came the soft reply of Joseph, and the minstrel squeezed his shoulder while leading the others into the city.
After walking around through the many turns and rough streets, they finally found a nice thatched roof home standing between a bakery and a small cart of fruits being sold by an older man.
The minstrel all but threw the door open and walked inside after tying up the horses outside.
"MOTHER!!!!!" The minstrel's voice rang into the hut, and suddenly, an older woman with brown hair drawn from her face bustled in, eyes wide and surprised.
"TRISTAN!!!! It 'tis you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She ran forward and grabbed the minstrel in a tight hug. "Oh my son, I thought I'd never see you again! After I'd heard that you'd left the castle on a trip towards the Frankish territories, I became to worried!!"
The minstrel, called Tristan, grasped his mother in an equally tight hug. "Mother, I've been to the Byzantine lands! And I've brought friends with me!" He motioned towards Joseph and his sister, and his mother's head darted towards them.
"Ooh! Byzantine children! Why ever did you bring them!?"
"Their grandmother wanted them to leave the city, and requested I take them with me. I couldn't say no, really. There are the Turkish people who besiege the city, and it's not too safe to wander about."
"Ooh the dears! Why don't we all get something to eat! Your brother and sister will be back here soon from the errands I sent them on....my goodness, in all your nineteen years did I think my son would make a journey like this....."
Joseph strode up to Tristan with a grin and spoke in his ear. "Nineteen, eh? By the way you called me "young man" all this time and acted the way you did, I could have sworn you were older than that!"
Tristan grinnned back. "A trip such as ours tends to age a man! You look not a day over twenty one! Once we get you cleaned up though, I'm sure you'll be back to your seventeen year old self!"
Joseph's sister walked up to Tristan's mother, and spoke softly to her.
"Madam, thank you for your hospitality, and if there's anything I can do to help...."
"Ooh dear, you don't have to help if you don't want to! You just got here! You're new to these lands and you need a rest! Why don't you just sit down over there...."
Joseph's sister would hear none of that though. Finally she got her way and got to peel potatoes for a stew Tristan's mother would be cooking up.
Once the stew was done and the three travellers had cleaned up, dinner was ladeled out to them in wooden bowls, and they began to eat.
"Ooh my goodness, I'm so rude! I've forgotten to ask your friend's names, my Tristan! Why don't you introduce them to me!"
Tristan grinned at his mother widely and gestured to Joseph. "This is Joseph Wheelman," Joseph waved kindly from behind his quickly disappearing stew, "And this is his younger sister, Sere."
She peeked up from her bowl and looked at Tristan's mother. "Actually, my name is Serenity, but everyone just calls me Sere."
At that time, Tristan's younger brother and sister burst in, holding a few fruits and some breads.
"Mumma, mumma! The market man tried to rob us of a few extra coins by saying that the bread was freshly baked....."
"Mumma! The fruits man said that there were no vermin on the apples, but I saw a fly......" They both tried speaking at the same time, very quickly. Then they immediately stopped at the same time, spotting their older brother and his friends.
"TRISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAANN!!!" They cried at the same time, both rushing him and hugging him fiercely, dropping the foods on the chair by the door.
"Mumma said that you were in danger and that the Franks would get you....."
"Zing! With their arrows! And she said that they could make metal fly through great big metal holes....."
"But you're back and have no holes in your or anything........."
"I bought bread all by myself today!"
"Woah woah woah!!!" Tristan held up a hand to calm his siblings. "Terya, Timothy, one at a time, PLEASE!"
"Sorry Big Brother......" they chorused.
"Tell us all about your trip!" Terya piped. She was a small girl who had her short brown hair hidden under a handkerchief, and a simple skirt and tunic top. Tristan noticed with a small smile that she had gotten taller.
"Yeah! I wanna hear about the Franks!" Timothy added his own two pence. Timothy was the youngest of the children, and had his mid-neck brown hair tied back with a thick piece of brown string. He too, had gotten taller.
Tristan sighed, realizing he'd been away far too long. "Fine, I'll tell you all about it! First off, I had trouble getting across the Channel to the Frankish lands......"
As Tristan spoke, it became extremely obvious to Joseph and his sister why he had become a palace minstrel at such a young age. He wove into his peaceful travel story tales of harrowing escapes, close calls, and even had to escape a battle happening around him. He told of how he'd stolen into Constantinople in the dead of night, slipping past fifty guards and more.
Then he told of how he'd come across Joseph and his sister, being harrassed by a Turk in city walls, and how he'd courageously saved them from being taken prisoner. Then suddenly the city became very unsafe, and they had to escape amidst the pillaging and the dangers, slipping past the whole of the Turkish army, fifty thousand strong, only one hundred feet away from their rightmost flanks.
Next came the many dangers of bringing them back to England, past raging rivers and dodging Frankish arrows and cannon fire from ambushers, and how Joseph had been brave with a bow, taking down a whole fifty Frankish men to save them from capture and certain death.
As Tristan got to the part where they had to stow away on a vermin infested ship with no cats at all, Joseph and Serenity and Tristan's family was so absorbed into this tale that the siblings from Constantinople almost felt in the daze that his storytelling put them in that it was all true, and that Serenity actually did have to break the great giant sailor's nose to get them safely off of the ship, and that Tristan's horse really did nearly get swept down a river, if it weren't for passing performer men to help Joseph and Tristan get the horse safely out.
".............and how, here we are, before you and quite miraculously, unharmed!" Tristan finished with a flourish. The spell was broken, and Joseph and his sister were yanked back to reality with a sudden jolt.
"Ooh children, don't believe your brother's tall tales now.........." Tristan's mother began.
"--and and and those Franks and Turks must have been scary!! Did you really..."
"Brother!!! Did the guards really nearly see your horse as you tried to push it through the cracks in walls!!!"
"--and did Joseph really hit all fifty of the Frankish men right between the eyes!? That's really amazing!"
"Of course, of course!!! Would I ever tell you, my own flesh and blood, a lie?" Tristan winked at his mother, who only smiled and shook her head.
"Ooh, come now children, help me put away the groceries that you got for your mother now......" She gave her son one more hug. "Now I'm sure you'll be wanting to check in at the castle, so I'll see you when you manage to get back, my son. Will you be taking your friends with you?"
"Of course mother, I think Joseph has information interesting to the King....."
"He may want to hear of the warring in the Byzantine empire....yes yes....well, watch yourself anyway son, there's a Duke coming today, and his entourage will be coming right down the main road. So make sure to keep to the sides if you hear trumpets, right?"
"Yes mother. I'll see you later, and tell Terya and Timothy goodbye for me."
"I will, my son."
And with that, Joseph, Sere, and Tristan left. As they rode down the street, Joseph and Sere looked at everything, sometimes turning around to get better glances at everything. Women were bustling about holding baskets of foods, and men were bartering on the streets for simple things like horseshoes and cloths. A bakery they passed filled the surrounding area with the smell of rising bread, and they had to pause a moment to make sure that a passing chicken didn't get squashed under their horses.
"Are you sure our horses will be alright here?" Joseph asked, finally giving some attention to Tristan, and patting the flank of his great horse.
"Of course, mother will take care of them. Your horse is amazing, I wouldn't be surprised if she takes extra special care of him. I'm sure we have enough feed. You do good with your horse."
Joseph flushed, but then turned around to catch a glimpse of a blacksmith shop. "I'll be....everything is so different here. Even though they have smithies and everything, it's all just so.....different...."
Sere nodded in agreement as they neared the central gates to the inner city walls. They were opened for them, Joseph marvelling at their condition, and the continued travelling. Sere nearly got off the horse from behind her brother as they passed a dressmaker's shop, but kept her composure.
Then they came upon the castle gates, to the outer areas. After announcing to the guards who he was, the doors opened.
Joseph looked confused a bit. "Why do they open the doors immediately for a minstrel?"
Tristan glanced up at Joseph, as he had to since his horse was smaller. "The Prince Yugi had ordered me to report in to him upon my return. I am called Tristan Storyteller here."
Joseph nodded in some form of understanding as they heard trumpets blare quite a ways behind them.
"Ahh, that must be the entourage of the Duke that mother told me about. We will be in the inner cloister of the castle before the get here, so let's just keep going, shall we?"
"Wait! A duke? What's that?" Sere looked down on Tristan, and he sighed a bit.
"A duke is a high ranking land owner and official in England. The wife of a duke is called a duchess."
"Oooh.....I understand now." The continued forward, and after announcing his presence to the next set of guards, they were in the inside. A stable boy came and gathered their horses upon dismounting, and they walked along to the main doors of the castle.
"Who comes to these doors of the king?" said a doorman looking down upon Tristan.
"Ooh Mako, you know who I am!!" Tristan smiled, and Mako Doorman's face lit up with understanding.
"TRISTAN MY GOOD FRIEND!! YOU'VE RETURNED!!!!" He then caught Tristan into a crushing hug, and Tristan gaped like a fish out of water until his lungs were safe once more. "Tristan my good fellow! You must tell me of your journeys later after you've had your audience with the Prince! Come, come on in!! Ooh, you have friends with you as well! Well, welcome friends of Tristan Storyteller!" They were ushered in with such a friendly force that it nearly overwhelmed them all.
"Remember to tell me of your journeys later on!!!" After Tristan promised, he and the other two continued on to the main doors of the audience hall.
"Hello Herald. Is the Prince in the audience hall at this moment?"
The skittish looking herald nodded. "But right now, he's in audience with the king, preparing for the Duke's arrival....but....this notice here, given to me a week ago, said that you were to see the Prince immediately upon your arrival.....but he's with the King...."
"Sere...." Joseph whispered in awe to his sister. "We haven't been here yet a day, and we are to see the King and Prince of this land...."
"Yes brother," she whispered back, "It is very amazing....."
"Why don't you," started Tristan, "simply announce me, and ask if I should be admitted. Would that suit your needs, herald?"
The herald seemed to relax from his constant debating. "W-why yes...that should be just fine...." The herald opened the servants door and disappeared.
"Announcing the party of Tristan Storyteller! Should I admit them, your Royal Majesties?" boomed a voice very unlike the skittish speaking voice of the herald.
There came a surprised tone, more than likely the prince, and after a moment, the large doors swung open.
~*~
Brood: Woot! The travellers are now in the presence of the King and Prince! Yay! Next chapter, a peek into the Millennium Items and a bit of story on the Frankish fronts! We also get to meet the Duke that you've heard so much about this chapter! Yay! Aren't you all just SO excited!!
Zutsokaki: *coughs* I'll bet they're not.
Brood: Shaddap you. Myotsimon! Email me with a physical profile so I can write you in, buddy!
Zutsokaki: Why would ANYONE want to be written into a story like this?
Brood: .......................*whaps Zutsokaki with an empty Pringles can, which she had emptied in her writing efforts* Until next time everyone! Ja ne!