The Age of Solace: The Silver Wolf

Chapter 18: Hesitation

Faradeigh Shackle was not a happy soul in the slightest. His servant had finally managed to keep track of him and had begun to show him around. It was annoying to Faradeigh since he had already figured out the general layout of the castle, including the areas he had not yet been to. He could not explain it, but it was as though he had already walked the halls...

Between that, and being asked to spar with various knights, Faradeigh had no time to visit his draconic companions. While Syckle was Faradeigh's friend, he mostly wanted to see the hatchling again. Another issue bogging the young warrior down was his new group of "friends." Things were a bit tense, given the stunt he had pulled the last time they had eaten together. While he held no regrets, he supposed that perhaps thrashing everybody that gave him problems may not have been the best way to make "nice" with others.

At least they warned him of one thing though... The Prince of the Cardinal kingdom and his father, the King, were coming to the castle that very evening. A knight rode in with a report that they would arrive before twilight, which was a mere hour or two from then. The food was already being prepared, and the entire castle was in a state of panic as servants, knights, and Corvin's Blades did everything they could to clean up and make themselves look presentable. Faradeigh simply dressed himself up in the outfit Cornelius had given him before the welcoming ceremony, unfortunately having to leave his weapons behind. Other than Syckle and Meyna, those weapons were greater companions than sentient life.

'I am not apologizing for whatever happens today...' Faradeigh thought to himself, knowing he would not be able to keep himself quiet.

Realizing he was ready, he decided to meet up at Cornelius and Syrah's room. Despite how much he wanted to believe that they would have his back, there were doubts in his mind. Perhaps if he kept them close, they might prove him wrong. It was not like he had never been wrong before. He had wanted to distance himself from Syckle once after all...

As he reached the door to Cornelius' room, Faradeigh brought his hand up to knock, but stopped when he heard commotion from behind the door. Curiosity got the better of him and so he pressed his ear to the door, attempting to listen to whatever was going on behind it.

"... -eft it over there!" He could hear a muffled Syrah shout.

"Don't look at me!" Cornelius argued, "That's your side of the room, your responsibility!"

He could hear something get thrown into a wall at that remark.

"You're the messy one!" Syrah shouted once again. "And don't act like you've never messed with my stuff before!"

"Syrah. Syrah, listen to me!" Cornelius pleaded.

Faradeigh could not hear what he said next, so he guessed that Cornelius was whispering it to her. He pressed against the door slightly harder to see if he could hear any clearer, but instead jolted in shock as a heavy object made contact with the door, and the curved blade of a scythe entered his vision at a much closer distance than he would have liked.

"Gah!" Faradeigh panicked as he fell to the floor.

"Found it! Sorry!" Syrah apologized coyly as she opened the door, met with the sight of Faradeigh scrambling off of the floor. "What are you doing lying on the floor there?"

"I just came to see if you guys had gotten ready yet, and almost got skewered!" Faradeigh explained frantically, pointing to the now ruined door with the blade still pierced through it.

"Sorry about that, Cor lost my belt." Syrah apologized, pulling the scythe free. "I'll have to convince Will to fix that for me, he owes me a couple of favors..."

"Wait a sec- I lost it?" Cornelius came out, just as confused as Faradeigh had been, "That's funny, because as I recall, you found it tied up to your-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Syrah commanded, tossing her scythe into the room and slamming the door, causing splinters to fall to the floor. "We have to get going! The last time someone was late, they were locked in the dungeons and later forgotten about."

"Wait, what?" Faradeigh asked, not believing a word of it.

"Never mind, we've got to go." Syrah insisted, storming off towards the Great Hall.

Cornelius began muttering about how impossible his sister was and trudged on, lagging behind bit. Faradeigh stood in silence for a moment, trying and failing to sort his thoughts, given everything that had just happened. Despite nearly dying, and dealing with the bickering of two siblings, he still managed to recall the situation he had found himself in.

Faradeigh had met the King of the Cardinal kingdom only twice. The first was when the King himself had sentenced Faradeigh to death by sending him to the Arena. Fortunately he had met Meyna there and managed to escape that place before he had gotten himself killed. The second time... his backstabbing "friend" Thayo had taken a job to assassinate the King. Faradeigh had infiltrated the royal guard to get his hands on a weapon, the sword he now carries, and interloped on the assassin's scheme by accident. The employer had never been identified...

Faradeigh had lost that fight, even with the sword, and would have died if the Black Rose had not seen the commotion from a distance and intervened. He was just glad that she too had needed saving during the altercation, not having been the only one present to get bested. Thayo, however, got away, but so had he. Despite saving the King's life, he made no hesitation to send his men after him, ordering his execution for his theft and for making an attempt on his life. He never did find out why the Black Rose had been there, but after a quick introduction they had parted ways. The next time he saw her was at the Rift in Glenwood, which led him to Corvin's Blades. To a new life.

'Ugh!' Faradeigh thought, 'All of this is going to be the death of me...'

Finally getting his thoughts together and his head back in the game, he took a breath and made his way to the Great Hall himself. While he would never truly be ready for such a confrontation, he knew that he would have to go through with it. For better or worse, it was a demon he would have to face. If only facing inner demons were as easy as fighting actual demons. If that were the case, then he would not be sweating in nervousness at that moment.