My Crown for Your Heart

Chapter Four

EDIN

As usual, the first thing I do when I wake up is to train with my men. Every person has something they were born to do and I am no different. The closest times I have gotten any close to that feeling is when I have a weapon in my hand and I am fighting an enemy, whether real or imaginary. In fighting, I have no equal and there is no weapon in the world that I cannot wield effectively.

At the end of the training, my men breathe laboriously around me. They could have taken the day off, especially the ones that just returned from war but they did not. It is more than emulating me. I have trained them so well that the discipline is now a part of their lives.

"Do you know the reason why we won the battle?" I ask and the hundreds of men quieten to listen to me.

Sweat slides down the sculpted lines of my body and blood pumps hot in my veins, making the early morning more vivid than normal.

"Do you know the reason why we won this battle, the last one, and each and every one of them before it?" My voice thunders down the field, reaching every last soldier.

"It is not because of me, or the Emperor, and it is not because the opposition wanted you to have it easy. It is because of you." I say, leisurely strolling down the gathered line.

"It is because of each and every one of you. The victory is thanks to each and every man and woman standing on this field, as well as our brothers and sisters that have fought those battles with us. So go, prepare for today's celebration, for it is you that has brought honour and victory to our lands!" I yell.

The gathered men roar, pumping their fists in the air with wide grins on their faces.

When I leave the training field, I head back straight to my manor where I freshen up. I rarely ever bathe with hot water and the cold of the water is like fresh air to my rigid muscles. I wipe myself down when I am done and approach the clothes that Hilda has had set up on my bed.

I am pulling the shirt over my shoulder when I hear a light tap on my door.

"Come in." I call out and the door is pushed in slowly.

I turn around to find Elentiya beneath the door frame, looking at me hesitantly. Red stains her cheeks at finding me not completely decent.

"Come in, Elentiya." I say, turning around to finish buttoning up my shirt and she quietly shuts the door behind her and stands there on the threshold.

I turn around finally and observe her. She is glowing with health, the colour back to her cheeks. Everything about her seems much more vivid. Her hair is a vivid red and her skin looks positively radiant. Her large green eyes stare at me from her position, reminding me of a startled doe.

Since day one when she was introduced to me, something about me has always scared her, not to the point of being terrified of me but enough for her to always be wary in my presence. As much as I did not care for having a fiancee, her continued wariness made me wonder what it is she feared so much. Is it my size or my status that intimidated her so? Did she fear that I would use my superior strength against her? But as time went on, I lost interest and concluded that it is just her personality to be extremely delicate.

"You look good." I say, not referring to the obvious effort she has put into her attire but the health radiating from her in stark contrast to how pale and sickly she looked yesterday.

Bright red stains her cheeks and she ducks her head, her red hair falling to partially cover her eyes.

"Thank you." She says. "It is all thanks to you."

I observe her for a second more before I turn around to continue fitting myself, done with the conversation.

"I... I also wanted to congratulate you on your victory." She says, her voice small.

"Thank you." I say, not turning around.

I feel her still lingering and I glance back with a questioning gaze.

"Do you have anything more to say?" I ask. She straightens and shakes her head, smiling brilliantly.

"No, I do not. See you at the celebrations." She says and quickly makes her way out.

I will get Hilda to check in on her later, in case there is something she needs that she is not getting.

When I am finally done, I step out only for Hilda, my housekeeper who is also my cook to ambush me with a tray of food.

"I have told you, you do not have to stress yourself on the day of any festival." I tell her.

She manouvers the tray between us and uses it to push me towards the center table in the living room.

"The most important thing is food and you have me to take care of that. You cannot do anything without a full belly." She says, setting the food on the table. I sit down behind it to appease her. When she gets so into her duties, there is no force which is capable of stopping her.

"And thus why I told you not to bother. The celebrations will have enough food to feed an entire village." I say. Because I am fond of her, I will eat. Hilda is one of the women I respect the most. Other than not taking her duties lightly, she is similar to an unstoppable force. She cares deeply and truly and she never lets anything stand between her and doing what she thinks is right. She is also not even a little intimidated by me, often assuming a vague motherly role due to the nature of her job.

"And you also most never have time for even a bite, do not think I have not noticed." She says, setting down a jug of freshly squeezed oranges and a cup beside it.

"Hardly. Nothing gets past your ever-seeing eyes." I say.

"You have been gone for six long months, my Lord. Allow me to do this little to welcome you back." She says.

"You never listen to me." I say, digging into the food but a smile chases my lips. Knowing that this will probably be my only meal in the entire day depending on how busy the celebrations get, she has managed to fit every nutrition she can into the meal. Braised ribs, sauced eggs, sausages and baked vegetables. As usual, her food is as sumptuous and delicious as ever.

"Does Elentiya have everything she needs?" I ask, remembering her flighty behavior of the morning.

"She does." Hilda affirms.

"Ask her again to be sure." I say.

"I will, my Lord." Hilda says and leaves to take care of her duties.

The rest of my household has already risen and everyone's duties have been taken care of. There is quiet as I have my meal and think on the heavy duty I must take care of today.

Every war has casualties and even though we won, we were no different. The men that died were acutely aware of the risk they took in choosing to fight and bring honour to the kingdom but for the ones that have to bear the loss, a loss is still a loss. Families of the deceased take the news differently and each time, I personally take responsibility for each of the losses. There are thousands of lives weighing me down, watching me from above. I try my best to honour them every day.

...

Vinel and some of my other men are waiting for me outside my house. They hold their fists to their heart in respect as I step out.

"Good morn to you, Commander." Vinel says. "You cleaned up well." He says in his gruff voice.

"So did you." I say. "Has it started?"

"Since, sir." Vinel says. "The celebrations are in full swing."

"Good." I say.

The reins of my horse are handed to me. It is my stallion war horse, rested and refreshed.

"Fighter." I say, running a hand over his mane and strong neck, stroking forward and over his strong muzzle. He neighs and rears in welcome and I slide way from his kicking hoof.

I have had the horse for close to five years now and it has remained my loyal companion till date. He has followed me to many battles and brought me back, and he comes closest to being the creature in whom my trust is complete.

The horse is also aptly named. I got him from his former owner who used to maltreat horses, and just in time too, before Fighter's spirit could be broken. He was wounded in several places, malnourished, and the leash that was tied around his leg was close to biting his entire leg off. Fighter hung on and survived the treatment solely because of his strong fighting spirit. The owner does not dare to maltreat even a housefly now, and since then, Fighter became mine. It took a long time to get him to trust me, and even longer to nurse him back to health enough for him to be ridden but despite the countless times that he nearly bit my face off from his hot-temperedness, I did not give up on him for even a second. When I set my mind on something, I do not stop until I have achieved my goal.

I climb onto my horse's back and my men do the same beside me, and then we are on our way.

The festival is truly in full swing. The open field is decorated colourfully with the banners of our empire and those of noble families. Ribbons hang decoratively, denoting the battle and our victory. When I make my way onto the field, cheers ring out and are carried so that soon, the entire field is cheering for their Commander.

"Commander Edin! Commander Edin! Commander Edin!" Their chant goes, rising to the sky.

I drop down from my horse and hand the reins over to the waiting help before striding forward to meet them on foot. Over the course of the years, the people's opinions about me has changed drastically. They once sneered to see a Commander much younger than thirty, that was more than a decade ago. The majority of them concluded that I must have been gotten the position by some shady means and eagerly waited for me to bite more than I can chew and return home in disgrace. That did not come close to happening and even better, I have returned home successful each time since I became commander and masterminded several battles in the Emperor's name. Their opinion about me has long changed.

"My Lord! The very first sprout of moon-flowers!" A woman offers a bunch of flowers, all fresh and colourfully tied together. The moon-flower is one that glows iridescently in the dark. It sprouts much later than the other more common flowers and is quite favoured and expensive among the gentry.

I take them with a smile. "I am honored." I say and Vinel immediately steps up to collect the flowers from me. I will find them in my chambers when the celebrations are over.

I look over the heads of the people, looking for the familiar blond tussle of the king. I find him on his dais, being attended by several court members. He raises a glass in a toast to me and I bow my head in respect to him. He must have already given his speech at the beginning of the celebration.

"My Lord! Please accept my last daughter! She is fresher than any fresh roses." A man says and the maiden beside him blushes demurely.

"Thank you, Lord Ashel." I say. "I am honored by your thoughtful offer."

Before he can ask further about whether his proposition is welcome or not, impatient people displace him and gifts after gifts are shoved in my face. Everyone is in a race to give the most thoughtful gifts and at a point, I feel uncomfortable with receiving so much but it would be bad form to return their gifts after how much time and effort they have put into choosing it.

Finally however, the number of gift bearers thin and I am able to excuse myself to do my most important duty of the day.

The families of the deceased wear all-white as is customary to pay respects for the dead. It is not hard at all to spot them. Their frozen smiles and the varying degrees of pain in their eyes as they watch the alive comrades being celebrated also gives them away.

I make my way through throngs of people to where a group of people each wearing all white are having a quiet conversation. I recognize Countess Adelin immediately. Her first son is obviously being groomed to take over his father's post but the second son had the choice to become anything he wanted and he chose to become a soldier. Noble folks are famous for their distant relations with their kids but there is real pain in the Countess' eyes that she tries hard to conceal. She curtsies deeply and the rest of the people follow suit.

"Commander Edin." She says. "You look well."

"Thank you." I say. "As do you." She smiles at that, knowing that she is not looking her best. I ensure that she sees the seriousness in my eyes as I continue.

"I cannot thoroughly express my condolences at Perrin's passing." I say. "But no matter what you think, know that he fought bravely for the Emperor and it was an honour to fight beside him."

Her throat bobs as she nods, her eyes softening with the first traces of tears.

"Thank you." She says and her voice comes out in a whisper. She clears her throat and tries again. "Thank you. I did not know how much I needed to hear those words. That was what Perrin always wanted you know, to be brave until the end."

I bow deeply to her.

"His death was not in vain." I tell her.

When I leave them, I move on to the next bereaved family, and the next, and then the next. It is hard for me to bear responsibility for so many deaths but it is harder still for the families to realise that their sons and daughters would not be coming back.

Mid-day passes and the day tips into the cool evening when I am finally done speaking to the families. I have walked so much that my feet feel like a raw mass of pain but I feel much better, lighter after speaking to all of the families.

Vinel appears, silent despite his size and stands beside me.

"Perhaps sir, you could have something to eat now?" He asks.

I glance sideways at him and he ducks his head slightly. Hilda definitely put him up to it.

"Why does everyone worry about whether I am eating or not? Are you implying that without food, your Commander would be functioning at anything below his best?" I ask.

He shakes his head enthusiastically. "Not at all sir, food is for mere mortals."

"Vinel, are you implying that I am a monster?" I ask with a smile.

"Not at all sir." He says, shaking his head again. "Perhaps a cross between a mortal and a monster is more like it."

I punch his shoulder, holding back my strength a little but the little giant still winces.

"There is that monstrous strength.."

I shake my head as I make my way away from him. Now that he mentioned it, I am quite famished. He falls in beside me as we make our way to the buffet table. I remember something that has been troubling my mind.

"Vinel."

"Yes sir." He says.

"Have somebody stationed on Prince Caerl." I say.

"Has he become a threat?" He asks.

"Not really." I say. The prince lacks enough support and substance to actually become a threat but- "He concerns me." I say.

"I will have someone put on him to report everything he does and everyone he meets." Vinel says and I nod.

We arrive at the buffet table where many of my men are already seated on huge circular tables. They make space for us and Vinel and I seat while two of my men stack a tray with all sorts of delicious food that have been prepared specially for today.

"What were you talking about?" I ask. They looked like they were in deep conversation before I sat here.

"We were talking about the battle, my Lord. Something about it was strange." Qiva, one of my men says.

"What was strange?" I ask and he enthusiastically dives into it. My tray of food is set down before me and I dig into the tender roasted chicken.

"The animals." He says and a chill races down my spine. I do not pause in my eating as I raise a brow at him.

"What about them?" I ask, wondering how much was noticed.

"Of course, you must have been too busy to take notice, Sir." Qiva says and shifts closer, lowering his voice. I continue shoving food into my mouth. "Close to the end of the siege my Lord, the animals started behaving strangely. At first we thought it was normal but as time went on, it became much more obvious that their behaviors were too strange to be termed normal."

"Hmm." I say, acting disinterested. There is no one else that noticed the strange animal behaviors more than I did.

Another of my men, a woman named Tatiana continues. "There were double the birds that were normally around at first, hanging on the trees and watching us with huge dark eyes. But soon they tripled, hanging on the branches and bowing the trees with their weight. And not just the birds, the large animals too."

I raise my head from my food. "That was reported. There were large animals at the outskirts of our camp." I provide.

"Yes!" Tatiana says. "It was extremely strange and worrying at first but as we kept an eye on them, we discovered that they had no intention of attacking. They were restless and they circled our camp back and forth but they never took a step further."

"It was so strange." A third man, Derik says, brows lowering over his eyes. "The smaller animals were also in abundance, crawling over our camp so that we did not even have to go hunting to have abundant meals." He looks up at me, hesitant to speak his mind.

"Speak." I command. I need to know the extent to which they know, or at least suspect.

His voice lowers and he leans in as he utters his next words.

"Some of us believe it was the work of a witch." He says and another chill races down my spine.

I look up at him and he winces and lowers his eyes.

"Are you implying there is a witch lurking among my men? The emperor’s army?" I ask, my voice lower and deadlier than I intended.

Derik winces again. "It is rather far-fetched, isn't it? Pardon me for uttering such nonsense, Sir." He says hurriedly.

"We have enough enemies without, so how about withholding on creating enemies within?" I say, my appetite gone.

"Yes sir!" They shout unanimously, casting accusing glances at each other for starting the rumour.

I force myself to finish my plate and the talk around the table shifts to other topics.

My time is running out and I am losing control because of it. I need to take action before that happens or my head will be mounted on a pike soon, regardless of the victories I have brought upon our empire.

In this part of the world, magic is outlawed and being a witch is an automatic death sentence.

I rise when I am done eating, Vinel right beside me as I take a stroll through the grounds to see the several entertainments laid out.

The king has pulled no stop at all today and each stall is more entertaining than the last but I barely take notice of them. My mind is busy ruminating over the observations my men made. During the last part of the siege, my mind was preoccupied with worry about Elentiya. I could feel the time working against me because I was gone for way too long. With each day that passed, the worry tightened around my belly even more and my magic spiraled out of the tight control I usually have on it. I did not intentionally call the animals but they came anyway, attracted to the magic leaking out of my body. I will need to be more careful from here on out.

A hand grabs at my arm and I turn back to find the woman in question.

She is very old, bent at the waist and resting heavily on a stick. Her fragile frame is lost in her hood which partially covers her face. Something about her causes the hair on my arm to rise.

"Commander." She breathes, her voice no higher than a whisper. Her grip on my arm is surprisingly strong for someone of her stature.

"Can I help you?" I ask.

"No, it is you who needs help." She says.

Vine steps forward with a frown, looking disapprovingly at where the old woman's hand still clutches my arm.

"Ma'am, I would ask you to unhand the Commander this instance." He says and I hold up a hand. The woman's gaze does not look away from mine. There is a deep bizarre meaning to them that combined with her words, makes me interested in what she has to say.

"Leave us, Vinel." I say.

He nods, and even though he still does not approve, he leaves immediately.

"What do you mean?" I ask the woman.

She raises her head and the light falls on the rest of her face. She is very old and each deep line on her face tells a tale of the life she has lived.

Her voice lowers further so I have to bend to hear her.

"Your time is running out, Commander." She says and it feels like a cloud of foreboding falls on my mind. "Her time is running out too. You must hurry, if you must save her and yourself."

Chills race down my spine and Elentiya's glowing face fills up my mind. What does the woman mean that her time is running out?

"What do you mean?" I ask urgently, taking a step closer. "Tell me." I command.

She releases my arm and straightens.

"Find me." She says, looking around at the crowds of people and the worry is evident in the tensing of her shoulders beneath her cloak. "At the place where the moon hangs lowest, find me and I shall tell you all."

And then she turns around and disappears into the throng of people. I take a step after her but there are too many people around and too many watching. Her dark cloak appears in the distance, sliding between two people and then she is gone. I straighten and turn away from her and make my way back towards my men.