RECOVERY

TREASON

    Cloud stood supported by a wooden railing and watched as his children Raven and Limp discarded unwanted pieces of the tree right in front of their house they had successfully cut down after two days of hard labour at it. Watching them gave him much joy and returned happy memories to him.

    Raven and Limp are a rare case of male/female twins and they seldom stopped joking with themselves in the sense that Raven who is the younger of the twin would say “You took my brother’s place” and Limp would return the favour with “my sisters place.” Although she was a girl, Limp never accepted that she was weaker in any sense in comparison to her brother. Raven was slightly taller than Limp and was well built but what Limp lacked in every other thing that Raven had, she more than made up for in beauty – she was exceptionally beautiful.

    “Come on Iron lady” Raven mocked Limp as she attempted to lift up a bunch of wood he had packed together. When it was clear that she could not, she gave up and looked at her father but the face she saw was strange. “What is it? Father” She asked him and Raven looked at him as well and they walked towards him. He was gazing far up the hills at horsemen who wore the armour of the palace guards as they rode towards them, Limp and Raven saw the soldiers as well and wondered what they were looking for this far away from the palace.

    Pavalon the captain of the palace guards and a good friend of the Clouds’ rode in front with the full conviction that Raven would have escaped with his sister and their father but as he approached the house, he became troubled for he could clearly see that Raven and his family were very much still around.

    After the king related to Pavalon the description of the house in which he was to raid and make arrests, he (Pavalon) plotted the graph in his head and arrived at the conclusion that it was his friend Raven’s house against all his hopes and wishes. Pavalon and Raven were good friends and it is hard to pick who the better swordsman was among the two of them. After his promotion to being captain of the palace guards, Pavalon had tried several times to recruit Raven into the king’s army to serve as a palace guard like himself but Raven consistently declined the offer.

    “I don’t see myself serving under a man who would kill to become king. Seriously how does he sleep?” Raven would say to his friend and they would laugh over it. Pavalon had been to Raven’s house countless times and he was a good friend of the family but now the king had ordered him to “bring them to the palace for questioning” but he knew the king too well to take his words literally.

    Immediately he left the throne room where the king had given him the order of arrest, he instructed a palace guard to rally a dozen other palace guards and wait for him. He then ran off discretely to the palace kitchen and found his girlfriend Grey who was a maidservant at the palace. She had caught the attention of the gallant captain of the palace guards the day he and some other guards raided the kitchen and arrested one of the poor maidservant for treason.

    She was executed that same day only to be proved innocent afterwards. The king however did not show any remorse or gave any apology when the girl’s innocence was proved. Pavalon told Grey to hurry down to the north gate and warn his friend Raven to take his sister and his father and leave the kingdom anyway they could and immediately or look for somewhere else to hide away from their house.

    “Tell them to leave. The king just gave an order for their arrest.” Pavalon told her but as usual the human person loves to enquire and know so she asked. “What have they done?” She was concerned for her friend Limp and her family for she knew as did everyone that to come under the king’s radar was no small deal of trouble. “I’ll explain it to you later but you have to hurry, their lives are in danger.”

    She nodded and was about to start heading for the north gate when Pavalon added. “You can’t tell anyone about this you know that right?” “Of course I do.” He kissed her briefly after which she ran off then Pavalon hurried back to the open space inside the palace where the guards usually assemble from time to time either to receive a query from the king or to be briefed on a mission like the one that was about to be launched.

    Pavalon was greatly pleased when he got to the space and saw that the guards that were to join him in the raid were yet to be put together, he started pacing and hoped the delay would give Grey enough time to warn Raven. What he did not know was that a palace guard had overheard everything he had told Grey.

    Not quite long after Pavalon got to the space, the guards trooped in all mounted on their horses with an extra for their captain and he addressed them still standing on the ground. “The king has ordered that we ride to the north gate and bring in for questioning, a man and his family who are suspected to have committed treason by maintaining communication with outsiders, any questions?”

    “Are we to expect any resistance?” One of the guards asked. “I don’t think so.” Pavalon answered him. “What if they try to escape?” Another guard asked. “Our orders are to bring them in by any means so the use of force is authorised.” Pavalon answered yet again, with the conviction that they would not meet anyone at home. All right let’s ride he said as he mounted his horse when no other questions were raised and led the way.

    He was convinced that Grey would have warned Raven and they would be riding to meet an empty house but when they rode and got closer to the house, he became confused as he could clearly see the entire Cloud family outside watching them as they approached. One of the guards sensed the captain’s distress and asked him. “Is everything alright captain?” “Yes” Pavalon answered rudely without looking at him.

    When they got to the house, the guards jumped down from their horses in military style and circled Cloud and his children. Pavalon remained on his horse and tried his best to avoid eye contact with Cloud and Limp but especially with Raven. Raven on his own end, picked up flashes of surprise and confusion on his friend (the captain of the palace guard’s) face but could only wonder why.

    The guards awaited their captain to give the order for them to arrest the suspects and when it was not forth coming, they all turned and looked at him as he sat on his horse motionless. Cloud and his children were equally looking at him and he felt like asking Raven whether they received his message or not and what they were still doing at home but he obviously could not do that.

    Then one of the guards asked him “what do we do captain?” It was the same guard that had asked if “everything was alright” with the captain and Pavalon immediately developed hatred for him and felt like throwing a dagger at his forehead but he kept all these feelings to himself, knowing full well that if his treason had been discovered, he just got Grey and himself into the same trouble the Cloud’s were in. He climbed down from his horse and walked towards Raven.