King Edward, Part IVAnonymousèÒ) 0©’I z vÀYO"´%ü)ï,î/é2u6ˆ9ùýKing Edward, Part IVùýýChap 4: Storiesý Edward faced his mother defiantly. "I'm not sick and I'm not ababy. I can stay here by myself. I don't need Mith." Therewas a dangerous glint in Moraelyn's eyes. Aliera's lips thinned."You will mind him, Edward." "Yes, madam," Edward said sulkily. "Come on, wife. Mith knows how to deal with princes who don'twant his company." The three adults laughed a bit in theirirritating way at a joke he didn't understand. The weather was drizzly and Edward had the sniffles. Hismother had decided that he shouldn't go out, even though theywere only going visiting. Moraelyn had taken his side, but threw out his hands and raised his brows atEdward in a helpless gesture when Aliera insisted that he stay behind. Mith, whom Edward liked the least of theCompanions, had volunteered to stay with him. Even Ssa'asswould have been better. Mith was -- scruffy looking. Like astableboy. And cheeky, even for a Companion. Edward sulkedsilently for awhile longer. Mith had fetched a broom andwas sweeping the house out, brushing dirt from the roomöabove into the room Edward was in. What on earth was the use of staying in when therewasn't really any 'in' to stay in? Edward got tired ofsulking, fetched a broom and went up to help sweep. "Mith", Edward said. "have you ever been to the Crystal Tower?" "I have. It's an unchancy place at first, but you'll growused to it." Mith was applying his broom with energy andwhistling. Sweeping was kind of fun here. There weren't anysides to the platforms so all you had to do was brush thedirt and leaves over the side. You started at the top and worked your way down. "You're quick with the broom, Mith. I haven't half finishedmy side yet. Will there be others there like me?" "Oh, some children, I'd think. Most'll be somewhat older. Ishould be quick with a broom. My father had me sweeping outthe king's stables when I was your age. I used to dream andtalk too much like you; he beat me for it. So I learned to bequick."ö Edward swept faster, stirring up dust. "Not like that,boy. Watch me. Anyway, there's no hurry; it's just habit withme. Moraelyn'd serve me my head on a platter if I touchedyou. My father, heh, he was always....well, he was a hardman to please. He was a Nord." "Your father?" Edward stared at Mith, but Mith looked muchlike the other Dark Elves he'd seen. Not many. Dark elves didn't come to Daggerfall; Gerald had banned them. Buthe'd seen some on his rare trips to other courts. And therewere some in Firsthold besides Moraelyn and Mith. "Did he have red hair?" Mith's hair was a dark red.Gerald had red hair. "He tended the stables for Moraelyn?" No wonder Mith looked like astableboy. But Edward kept his tone polite. Mith had a sharptongue....and Edward knew that neither of his parents wouldbe sympathetic if he complained that Mith had beenimpertinent. "He did have red hair. Maybe I got mine from him...butmostly mixed elf and human children come out dark elf. No,Moraelyn wasn't a king then or expecting to be....'sides this was inöBlacklight, where I was born. Moraelyn's brother was king inEbonheart in those days. He came up to visit our King andbrought Moraelyn along. To keep him out of trouble, he said." Mith grinned. "I grinned when I heard him say that,and I saw the boy looking at me out of the tail of his eye,but he wouldn't take notice. Like I was the dirt or somethingworse. His brother tossed him a pouch and told him to go intotown and get his knife mended. Jerked his thumb at me and toldme to show him the way. "Moraelyn said he didn't need an escort to find a store andstalked off like princes do." Mith grinned knowingly atEdward. But the grin wasn't unfriendly. Edward smiled backa bit, and Mith went on. "Our king eyeballed me, so I tookoff after him. Moraelyn didn't spare me so much as aglance. Went four blocks out of his way, down by the wharfs,and when I tried to tell him where the store was he shoved meright off the pier. I could Levitate, of course, but hecaught me by surprise and I went in with a bigsplash....and everyone laughing like jackasses. I got myselfout and went straight to the store and waited for him...butnot so he could see me....and when he finally showed up, Ilifted the pouch right off him. He didn't even know it wasögone. So in he goes and tosses the knife on the counter andtells the smith to fix it right off. Which he does. Only then Moraelyn can't pay him....tells the smith he's the King ofEbonheart's brother...the smith just laughs and says, "And I'm the Archmagister"....then thesmith calls the guard and three of them show up. Well,Moraelyn wasn't what he is now--three guards wouldn't evenwarm him up nowadays--but he was even faster then. He was outof there so fast he nearly knocked me over at the door. Helost the guards pretty quick; all that armor slows 'em down.I found him crouching in one of those hedge mazes in the park. He was doubled over out of breath but still I stood a good ways off while I asked him real nasty if he needed an escortback to the Palace. Not that I was planning to go back! Iwas gonna take the money and run and never look back, I tell you! But I had to have the last word. Iwasn't born high but I was born proud. "He glared at me for a minute or so, catching his breath, then he just rolled over and started to laugh that laugh of his. Princeöor no, I started to like him then. When we'd finishedlaughing, more or less, we started talking. I told him I didn't want to go back. Nor dared to. "Princes don't get blamed, Prince," I said, "Stableboys do." He said that wasn't entirely the case,but he saw my point. Then he said that as I was his escort thenhe must obey his brother and come with me. And that his namewas Moraelyn, not Prince. We've been together eversince....more or less." Edward smiled politely. He could see why Mith had run away,but not why Moraelyn had gone with him. Unless he was afraid to face his brother about the stolen money. Edwardtried to imagine Moraelyn being afraid to face anyone andfailed. "I wish I was brave. Like you and Moraelyn." "Why, you are brave. And your courage will grow with therest of you." "Are there only High Elf boys at the Tower?" "There'll be other sorts, too, most likely. A few DarköElves, for sure. D'ye miss your own kind?" Edward shook his head. "Human boys don't like me much anyway.Nor High Elf boys..." His eyes filled suddenly and he turnedhis head away. But Mith's voice was unexpectedly gentle. "Ithought you wanted to go to the Tower." "I do. But--" "You'll be lonely." Edward nodded. "That's a hard thing to face." "Did you go there alone, Mith?" "No. Moraelyn did, but he was older than you, by a goodbit. A grown man, in fact. They didn't take any but High Elfstudents in those days, you know. But Moraelyn heard of themand said he wanted to go there. We were together already, theseven of us, save for Aliera, and a handy bunch in a fight.Moraelyn had already gotten that Dragon's Blade he wears,öand the Dragon's Tooth to go with it....remind me to tellyou about that sometime....and he was a famous fighteralready. And the rest of us aren't slackers. But he thoughtwe could be better at the spellcasting and the Tower wasthe place to learn that. Well, no one goes near the Tower without an invitation. No one! No one would even tell youwhere it was. But they'd tell you where NOT to go. So he went there. Alone. One morning hewas gone and there a note saying for us to wait for him. Sowe did, here in Firsthold. He was gone two weeks, then he cameback one night, rowing across with the tide. He just said they'd accepted him, but he couldn't say anything moreabout it. But he asked me to come back with him. "'They want me?' 'Well, they've accepted one Dark Elf,' he said. 'Onemore shouldn't bother them too much.' So we go there, andbless me if the Archmagister himself didn't meet us at thedoor and demand to know the meaning of this. I wanted toturn myself into a rock! I was wishing hard that I _was_stable dung! And figured I was like to get my wish soon. But Moraelyn speaks up real polite that this is the friend he'dmentioned and the Archmagister had expressed an interest inöhis abilities, and naturally he'd want to see for himself.... "But the Archmagister was real interested. See, they don't wear armor or carry anything but a staff and a dagger. They think it interferes with their spellcasting, all that metal. But Moraelyn couldcast pretty well even with chain and with any one-hand weapon at all. And I could cast wearing leather and as much as a saber, though it's anunwieldy weapon; I like my short sword better. Truth, theydidn't think that much of me, but Moraelyn....he'd campedoutside their door. And when they tried to move him he just sat there! They threwall the spells they had at him, the troll guards...everything.Nothing. He laid the trolls out flat and left 'em toregenerate. If they tried to beat him with their staffs he'dward them off with his blade...and the spells didn't turnhim a hair." Edward's mouth gaped open. "How'd he do that!?! He said--"ö "Well, it was a trick, in a way. He'd picked up somethingthat came natural to Willow. See, Willow is different." "I didn't know Willow could cast!" "Well, she doesn't have any mana, ordinarily....but shecan absorb it if you cast a spell AT her, see. O'course itwasn't much use to her, since she'd never been able to learnwhat t'do with it once she got it. Couldn't get it back onceit was gone, so she couldn't practice. Until Morelyn got hold of her and trained her. Well, Moraelyn had figured outpretty much how Willow did what she did....though it costMoraelyn mana to do what came natural to Willow. SoMoraelyn sat there absorbing everything they threw at himand burning it off into a big shield. Drove 'em wild." "He said the Archmagister could best him, though." Edwardsuspected that Mith was making up the whole story. "Well, so he did, when he finally came. But all the rest of'em together couldn't do it. And all Moraelyn wanted wasto study with them. We were a sight, the two of us dark elvesin our battle gear among all that white and gold. I feltlike a fish out of water, but Moraelyn was interested in what they had to say....andyou can bet they hung on every word he said. Not too manywords at first. After a fortnight or so, he told me onenight to tell the Archmagister that he'd be back in a coupleof days. And he shows up with Silk! 'Course he'd been telling'em about the Khajiits...and they'd been asking questions. "The Archmagister's no fool. He just stared at Silk, and she purred real loud andrubbed up against him and asked "How ya doin', Archmagister,baby?" The Archmagister kinda pushes Silk away and says in awhisper, "How--many--more?" "Just two, sir." "What are they?" "Wood elves, sir." "Just wood elves. Plain ordinary wood elves. No horns,hooves or tails."ö "Yes sir. Ah, one of them has an extraordinary Absorbability with some very unusual features. The other's just aBard." "Very well. You may bring the one with the Absorb. We don'twant a Bard! They are not true mages." "Well, that's most generous of you, sir, but the Bard's herbrother, sir and I swore to their parents that I wouldn't separate them. So it'll just be the three of us." "Her brother." "Aye, a pair of twins." "You may bring them both." So three days later he's back with the twins AND Ssa'ass ANDSlave. The Archmagister looks at them and sort of bobs upand down, but he speaks real quiet. "Dark Elf, by pair oftwins, did you mean TWO SETS of twins? Are you going totell me that these--these are twins???" Well, I could see öthat Moraelyn was kinda sorry he hadn't thought of tryingthat, but he said, "No sir, the twins are Beech and Willow.The Argonian and the Nord are not prospective initiates.They are specimens. For your collection. You don't haveany like them so I thought--" "You thought. I do not have a dragon either! Are you goingto think to bring me that next?" "Oh, aye, I could. Would you like one?" "Tell me you are not serious." "Well, I couldn't promise. And it would take quite a longtime, a year maybe, but--" The Archmagister's eyes rolled up toward heaven. "Thankyou, All-Mother, I have at least a year to prepare." hewhispered. "I don't think Mats and Ssa'ass should have been madespecimens. They're people. Even if they aren't elves."ö "Oh, they made Ssa'ass an initiate when they found out thathe had some interesting Heal spells." "But Mats?" "Mats never minds anything. He hasn't a bit of magic; hecouldn't be an initiate. Anyway he'd have hated it. He spent his time gaming with the guards.When he wasn't being studied. Seems he has some interestingmagic resistances. Anyway, since then, the initiates aren'tjust High Elves. And they don't all follow the Mage way." "I shall. I shall be just like the Archmagister." "Oh, aye, exactly," Moraelyn's voice sounded lightlybehind him. "I'll cut the ears off a donkey for thee and dyethy skin with saffron. Bleach thy hair white and stretch thee afoot--" Moraelyn swung him high. "Art well, son? I toldthee so, Aliera. He's not ill at all. Good, because the Archmagister's returned. We go to the Tower tomorrow." 'We' was just Moraelyn and Edward. Aliera had caughtöEdward's cold and they took some pleasure in insisting sheremain in bed. Moraelyn rowed them across the river in asmall boat and they walked for most of the day, resting alittle at midday. It was evening when they reached the towerand the setting sun was glinting off it. Even the sea farbelow looked red. There was a hush over the countryside. "It's tall, isn't it?" Edward paused to look. "Towers generally are." "Did you really--" Edward broke off. Questions starting inthat fashion did not draw satisfactory answers from theelf. "Has Mith been telling thee tales? He's had ten years topolish that one. I doubt not it glistens like the Tower." "He told me how you met, too." "I thought he would." "I didn't understand why you went off with him? He was aöthief and a stableboy and you were a prince." "You have just named three excellent reasons, Prince." "You never give me serious answers." "A serious charge. Very well, then. I saw myself throughMith's eyes and misliked what I saw: a callous bully and acoward, fit to be neither boy nor man nor prince. Why didyou run off, Prince?" Edward hung his head mutely. "Nay, _I_ do not requireanswers. Come, it grows late." Moraelyn reached his handfor Edward's, but Edward shook him off. If Moraelyn was acoward what did that make Edward? He looked at the Tower doorwhere Moraelyn had demanded and won entrance, though allwould shut him out. Edward could never do anything likethat, but at least he could walk in on his own as an invitedguest. ö