AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 4
The royal castle ofCamelot was a sprawling series of buildings, spanning hundreds of years of construction, which had been plunked onto the top of the second highest hill in the city. I am sure it annoyed Arthur to no end that the temple's elevation was slightly higher than the keep.
The castle was made of gray stone, with towers and crenellations dotting the tops of its walls. The main keep rose out of the center. My rooms were on the third floor of one of the keep’s four highest towers.
I pushed open the door to my room. A fire was already burning in the large fireplace. A tray had been set for me on the desk by the window. I spotted a dish of bread, cheese, and fruit, and on the other side of the tray a large mug that I knew would be filled with a dark murky liquid. I grimaced. The servants who tended to my rooms–and to me–knew by now that the medicine left me with little appetite and so there was no need for a heavier meal.
I closed the door behind me. My rooms were a pleasant place where I was usually able to find respite, no matter what might have been happening elsewhere in my world. Years ago, Enid helped me move my things from the nursery. With her help, I selected furniture and decorations. Little had changed since then.
As in the Grey Hall, the walls were hung with rich vibrant tapestries but rather than depicting scenes of battle and conquest, I had chosen displays of lush landscapes, exotic animals, and fantastical creatures. Places and creatures I had no hope of ever seeing but which filled my dreams when I lay alone in bed.
Two full walls were lined with bookshelves, filled with leather-bound tomes on every subject and piles of parchment I couldn’t bear to throw away. On the ornately carved desk by the window lay an old hourglass that did a dismal job of keeping time, a brass telescope for stargazing, and a quill pen and ink set. In one corner of the room, there was a large, plush cushioned reading chair with a warm woolen blanket draped over it.
In the far corner by the bed, sat a beautifully carved wooden harp with strings made of silver, and a set of hand-carved wooden flutes. They were more for show than anything. I was a terrible musician, although Enid had high hopes for me. A bow or a blade were more suited to my hands than a harp, though I was still not as skilled with either as I wanted to be.
The furniture was all a dark polished ashwood. Each piece had been carved with vines and flowers. Enid had everything ordered specially for me from a famed furniture-maker in a village a few days' journey from the city. My bed was the masterpiece of the room–a true work of art, a large four-poster construction with carvings so detailed that they seemed to come alive in the flickering firelight. Roses and vines wound their way up each post, their delicate leaves and tendrils intertwining with small buds and even tinier thorns. A large moon and hundreds of stars decorated the headboard, hand-painted to shine against the dark wood.
I sank down onto the bed and pulled off my leather boots, then rose and walked over to the tray on the desk.
As I did so, the painting of my mother that hung over the desk to the left of the window caught my eye. A small miniature in an oval gold frame that I wished was much larger. But it was a detailed, faithful rendition of her and the only one I had.
Ygraine Pendragon, former Queen of Pendrath, watched me serenely from the frame as I lifted the mug and began to sip, wrinkling my nose.
The taste never improved. But at least I knew what to expect.
I stared back into my mother’s eyes.
She, too, drank this same concoction I am told. Every second night as I do now.
I looked out the window as I took a large sip. Through the diamond panes I could see the gardens and courtyards scattered below. The formal garden with its neatly trimmed hedges and colorful flowers opened onto a series of orchards where fruit trees grew, and a vineyard, where grapes were harvested and turned into wine for the king’s table.
I could have chosen to join the others in the dining hall. There, the nobles who were privileged enough to reside in the castle would be eating together. The room would be full of raucous laughter, the music of minstrels, and the scents of roasting meat.
I thought back to the man hulking against the wall in the Great Hall, of the look of outrage on his face, and I felt a pang of shame.
Sir Ector had said he was a new recruit. Well, today that new recruit had gained some insight into his king. Probably more than he wanted.
Did the people in the towns and villages and outlying areas of the kingdom realize what went on here in the capital?
I still felt the outrage I had seen on the man’s face today. But not long into Arthur’s reign, I had been forced to learn to conceal it. For my sake and for Kaye’s.
And the recruit had better learn to do the same or he was not going to last long in Camelot. He would certainly never make the Royal Guard.
