On the Wrong Side

Epilogue

"Come on Myerdden. It'll help you. You can trust us." Myerdden, Emalin, and Anchael were in the brothers' shared chambers. It had been Emalin's idea and Anchael had gotten permission for it.

"Myerdden, it's for your own good. We know, or at least I do, that it's painful, but you need to tell us." 

Myerdden shook his head. He couldn't tell them. There were too many emotions and nightmares locked in his memories. He didn't want to release it just yet. 

"You can be really stubborn, you know?" Emalin had yet to find out just how stubborn he could be.

"You have no idea," Anchael responded dryly; Myerdden could sense the joking tone behind it.

"Oh, like you'd know anything." The voice rang clear in both their minds.

"Look! he speaks!" Myerdden rolled his eyes at Anchael's antics.

"Maybe you should become jester instead of king." To an outsider, the insult might seem harsh but Myerdden knew Anchael would get it.

He did. His face turned beet red as he gawked at Myerdden before erupting into peals of laughter.

"Enough fooling around you two. Myerdden, just tell the stories. It doesn't have to be everything at once. Just as much as you want. But please start at the beginning."

"But I don't want to talk."

"Fine. I'll talk about my own childhood."

Anchael was laughing his head off at her frustration.

"Sut up Anchael," was the retort he got.

"I don't know where I was born but I do know where Caradan had found me. He had been out gathering herbs when he saw the basket. It was right outside the gate, hidden by some grass.. He picked it up and saw me. He brought me to Loholt and asked for permission to bring me into the kingdom as a citizen. There were no notes or tags with the basket so he chose my name. He knew I was half-faerie, he could tell by my appearance, and researched faerie names and eventually settled on Emalin, the anacient, fair ruler of the faeries. She was said to have brought great glory to the faerie kingdom. I grew up with herbs and healing. When I was old enough, I began to help him. I was around five. I mainly learned herbs, poisons, and tools before cleaning them up. When I was old enough, I was allowed to go outside to gather herbs. I was ten and Caradan had made me learn basic defense spells as well as train with the knights in knife fighting and hand to hand combat. I hated fighting. I vowed to only heal others after I accidentall injured another boy in a fight. It was sickening.

This was also around the time when I began playing pranks on Caradan. I hid books and once put tadpoles in his water. He wasn't pleased. I bumped into Myerdden while gathering herbs five years later and you know what happened from there."

"Myerdden, you have to tell your story now," Anchael teased.

"Fine you git."

"Now that wasn't very nice." Anchael feigned hurt.

"Do you want me to tell you or not?"

"No, no. Please tell."

"You're still a git," Myerdden muttered. "I was born in a small Egesa village far away from Qyrelt. I never had a father nad my mother was always tough on me. She loved me but with no father, I needed to grow up quickly. I learned how to help in the fields as soon as I could walk and run. There was no time to joke around or play. I had to help or we would starve in winter. My mother told me my father was a brave man and helped the other villages when Jonathan attacked. He was killed in the first village he tried to help. All I got from him was his spare cloak. When I was five, my mother hid me under the floor boards of our kitchen with my father's cloak. She said to stay there, not to trust anyone, and to not speak. She left to fight.

She died. Jonathan used Draak. They came into the house but couldn't find me. I was terrified. There were several other occasions like it. Eventually, the attack stopped and I fell asleep. Anchael found me and brought me to Qyrelt. We talked and soon, I started training. We started wit swords, then knives, then archery. After those were mastered, we worked on axes and maces. We did poisons. It was mainly being able to identify it. After working on hand to hand, we moved to torture. I was ten. The first night, I slit my throat. I wanted to destroy my vocal chords but Anchael thought I was trying to die. He was as furious as he was worried. As soon as I was well, I worked more on torture and hand to hand. He wouldn't let me touch a weapon for months. At thirteen, I was 'promoted' to assassin. I could do nothing despite my desire to join the knighthood. I have killed ninety-four people on missions by poison, knives, or duels. I was allowed to choose someone to kill after two years of service. I chose Loholt. Then the battle happened and I killed thirteen more in self defense. In two years, I have killed one hundred and seven people. I remember all of them"

"Thank you, Myerdden." Emalin's voice was soft and calming. Myerdden had been working up a storm in his head and her voiced helped to settle his mind.

"Well, I grew up a prince. Not much to it." Anchael's voice was light but the could sense the underlying concern.

+=+=+=+=+

Emalin was picking up books and putting them back onto the shelves. Caradan was with her and Myerdden was attempting, and failing, to talk comfortably. He wasn't relaxing.

"Myerdden."

"Yes?"

"You're tense."

"No, I'm not."

"Don't lie. I can tell you're nervous."

"Maybe a little." She hummed in response. He was more than nervous.

"You don't have to be afraid. We won't hurt you."

"You never know." Those words broke her heart. Myerdden wasn't free of Jonathan's control yet.

"Remember my promise? My oath?"

"Yeah..." he trailed off, lost in memory.

"Do you need me to repeat it?"

"No, it's fine. I remember."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Emalin."

+=+=+=+=+

Loholt was giving Anchael a tour of the castle. They would tour the town tomorrow. They were still awkward and Anchael was still wary of Loholt. He had been taught by Jonathan to not trust him. Twenty years of habit is a hard thing to forget in a day. Loholt seemed nice enough though.

+=+=One Year Later=+=+

Myerdden was helping Caradan and Emalin shelve books. The did it often as the frequently took books down and shelved them incorrectly. When they later tried to find a book, they had to search every shelf.

Myerdden was chatting comfortably with Emalin and Caradan. It made her heart swell with pride and joy, seeing Myerdden's improvements. He still did have times where his nerves would render him unable to do anything, and he still had nightmares an flashbacks of the things he had seen but those days were few and far between. 

She was glad.

AN: And that's it! This is over. I do have other sections to the epilogue but I didn't add them because it ties into the next book and I really don't have many ideas for this story. I also have a new story in the brainstorming stage that is similar to this but I think I can develop the characters and plot a bit better. I just wanted to get this story over with.

Thank you so so sooooo much for reading! Hope you enjoyed!