A month flew by.
The life in Castle of Calamis was peaceful.
Einar had taken River to meet Kaizer after their tour to the armory and informed that he had taken him as a deciple.
Kaizer had nodded solemnly. After Einar left the room ,saying that he had overexerted himself for the day, the West King approached him and rested a cold hand on his shoulder.
"Be diligent and dont dissapoint him"
He had then stormed out the door like a human blizzard.
Is that that an encouragement or a threat?
Since then he would wake up everyday at dawn , when the giant bell in Calamis clock tower chimed five times. River would bathe , dress and then walk straight to the armory where he spent the rest of the morning before breakfast ,polishing and shining the blades or tidying up the workroom.
Before breakfast he would go to check on Einar. Somedays he would be up and bright, saying he was hungry enough to swallow a whole cow alive while others River would find him crouched over a pail, throwing his guts up.
He was not the only person. Kaizer Schulz started everyday after making sure Einar is up. So River would run in to his miserable looking face every morning.
Kaizer would still be in his night gown and messy bed hair as he stop at Einar's chamber and peek inside. If Einar is up and ok he would mutter few words of greetings and walk away. If it is one of Einar's sick days he would leave silently. He would wake up Wolfram on his way and send him down the hall to check on Einer.
One particular morning River found him standing before Einer 's closed doors. Usually ,Einar would open his doors the first thing after he wakes up.
When River aporoached, Kaizer looked up ,his face paler than usual , eyes wide .
"It's still locked " he had said,sounding like a very scared,helpless child .
River had softly knocked on the doors and few minutes later a very grumpy Einar opened them. It so happened that he had slept in a couple minutes.
After breakfast the master -deciple pair would retreat in to the armory and dissapear for rest of the day.
River helped Einar draw his blue prints when his hands got shaky. He moved heavy things around because Einar could not. Einar would guide him and River quickly got hang of things.
Einar Ashford,in short ,was a sweet heart. He was kind and never lost his temper. If River could not understand something ,he would repeatedly explain it to him until he got it. He was full of warm smiles even on his most ill days.
Sir, how did you became friends with Lord Schulz ,who look like even air offends him?
Einar was full of stories. He had been the first general of Schulz armies before he had to retire early due to his poor health. He talked fondly of his soldiers and the time they spend together at North- West camps. He would talk a lot about Wolfram and Emby, stories from their childhoods. But he never mentioned his best friend, the West king.
River would accompany Einar for afternoon tea and Wolfram would join them. Somedays Emby would join his uncles too.
River could hardly believe how someone like Kaizer sired a child like Emby. Emby was very polite and well behaved for a kid his age. The child was full of toothless gummy grins and adorable babbles.
Even after a spending month with the Western royal family River could not find out what illness Einar Ashford suffered from. Everyone ,including Einer himself , avoided the topic like the plague. River felt it was out of line to ask.
River hardly interacted with the Queen ,Narin , during his stay.
Kaizer spent almost all of his time,holed up in his office ,burried behind a mountain of parchments. He would have all of his meals and tea in his office, save dinner, where he would sit with his family .
On Sudays , after evening prayers to the West god , Einar and River would also sit with the Royal family for dinner. This was the only time River saw Kaizer and Narin during a meal time.
Narin would sit next to Kaizer, often dressed extravagantly and adorned in her most precious jewelry. She would try to engage Kaizer in small talk while they dined, muttering and giggling .
Kaizer would push the food around his plate for a little while , absent mindedly nodding to whatever Narin is saying. He would eat few mouthfulls, his face looking like he was eating ash and sand. Then he would excuse himself early and crawl back to his office ,without sparing another look at his family.
"His social warmth is on par with a lukewarm cup of coffee that had been sitting out all day" Wolfram sighed and shook his head dissapointedly.
During his stay ,surprisingly ,there was no news of the Southern King or the remaining scrap metals.
The news of Solina's usurpation spread through the nation like a wild fire. Wolfram had said that people in East were not happy about what happened.
" They are not willing to accept a kingslayer as their ruler" Wolfram had said over tea. "Solina will have to deal with riots and rebels first before she goes in to war"
The whole scrap metal , beheading ,war business was kept a secret from Einar.
"He doesnt need to know" Kaizer had said flatly.
"Yes, because he will push you off those 999 stairs if he finds out that you threatened East with war" Wolfram scoffed.
"He needs rest " Kaizer frowned . " Dont bother him"
River often found himself wandering what on earth happened to Raven Alistair.
He felt that they would never meet again, and the thought pained him. There was a small child in his heart, crying ,kicking and scratching ,demanding to know why he was abandoned ,again. He knew why he was abandoned ,but it was hard to explain it to the weeping child. He had toiled, injured himself and left his whole life behind to help Raven Alistair in his course and he was not even granted a decent goodbye.
One night the child got extremely upset and River found himself unable to sleep. He sat on his bed stroking the dark sigil on his finger. River had grown a habit of stroking it whenever his mind ran back to the man with an eye patch and absymal table manners.
Should he lift it? Would Aithan come ? Then what ?
River felt his heart galloping in his chest. He had came awfully close to summoning Aithan multiple times during his stay but didnt go through with it. He was too prideful for that. And he did not want to drag Aithan Alistair in to this.
He finally steeled his will. River could not continue to live this way,losing his sleep over a man who had possibly forgotten he existed.
He screwed his eyes shut, and lifted the seal.
Except it did not lift.
River stared down at his finger, feeling profoundly confused.
He tried again.
But the serpant sigil did not move.
The realization struck him like a thumderclap,a deafening revelation that echoed through the core of his being.
The room seemed to close in around him as he confronted the harsh reality.
His divine essence ...was gone.
Author has something to day
Three chapters ! In one day ! Author is on a roll.
Anotherrrr chapter another mystery. What happened to our boy River!
Vote and comment your ideas!!

River verlice

Alistair brothers

Raven Alistair