Sentria: The Age of Adventure (Book 2)

Chapter Seventeen: The Puppet Master

The Wind Riders hastily made two tents for Prince Lucas and me to sleep in. Eldwyn would spend the night with Talyn and I tried not to think about it. I just wanted him to have a swift recovery.

I woke up at first light and immediately upon stepping out of my tent, I saw my Sentrian sword with its spiral hilt and my shield with a griffin emblazoned in the middle there waiting for me on the ground. I looked up to the skies and said, "Thank you," and picked them up.

"How did those get here?" asked Prince Lucas, rubbing his eyes as he got out of his tent.

"Brown hawks," I replied. "I sent two for my things last night and they succeeded. I will need them for the war ahead."

"You, Prince Darren, are full of wonders."

I thanked all the relics for their hospitality and told them that I hoped to meet them again.

"Thank you, Talyn," I said to him with a handshake. "For all that you've done."

Talyn embraced me in a hug and I was caught off-guard. I had forgotten how sentimental relics could be.

"There's no need to thank me," Talyn said. "It was our pleasure to accommodate the Griffin Prince."

"Are you sure that you can't come with us?" I asked and he released me.

"I asked the winds," Talyn said, then closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose. "We are to remain here, protecting people from the marauders who're taking this opportunity of fear and preying upon them. But don't worry. When you need us most, we will be there for you."

I shook his hand and we boarded the wagon and traveled southward on the Feather Road toward Loria. I took the reins in the driver's seat; I could have commanded the animals to go on their own, but I wanted to feel the connection. It would take half a day to get there if no other interruptions prevented us from doing so.

"I can't wait to see the Rose Castle," said Eldwyn, staring at a wildflower that he held in his hands. "Talyn saw it once and said that it was a gorgeous sight. Waves crash on its cliffs and it makes the music of the ocean."

"Don't be fooled by its beauty, Eldwyn," I reminded him, holding onto the reins and looking over my shoulder at him. "Things that are beautiful are oftentimes the most dangerous. They are in command of the bank of the southern realm and they are tight with their money and affiliations."

"I thought that the south was united," said Eldwyn.

"We are for the most part," said I, "but Loria is protective over their own. They marry within the other kingdoms and in their lands to secure their power. Only their second and third cousins are permitted to marry outside of their realm."

"But...isn't your mother from Loria?" asked Eldwyn, sounding more confused.

"Yes, she is," I said turning the horses to walk around a giant log. "My mother Vala was a princess here and Kudrow and Malorie are her sisters. They are from the Dalos Kingdom in the southernmost point of Loria. Malorie was matched with Parilla Garner from the Rose Castle of Loria. Against the will of their father, Kudrow went off and married Finwin Hecks from the Summerlands and my mother married my father, Artem Colress from Sentria. Both of them were excommunicated after their decision and they've hardly spoken to Malorie since."

"That's very sad," said Eldwyn, "no one should be judged for who they love."

As we got closer to the castle, we started seeing more people along the road from the nearby villages. They were pleasant and courteously waved at us as we walked by, as if they hadn't the slightest idea that a war was on its way.

A man with a bald spot at the top of his head and long gray hair jumped in front of our wagon and I pulled the horses back so we didn't run him over. "Whoa!" I said gripping the reins. "What do you think you're doing?!" I asked him, unable to hold back my anger.

"Come!" He said, waving his hand in the air. "One and all to my puppet show!" He pointed to his stand next to the road that looked like a small stage with red drapes and next to it a small tower.

"We haven't the time." I waved him away. "We're on our way to the Rose Castle. I can offer you a gold piece but we cannot stay."

"It's not for the money!" He shook his head profusely. "It's for the enjoyment of the artist!"

"I would like to see this show," said Eldwyn. "I've never seen a puppet show before."

"Eldwyn, I—"

"It will only be a brief moment," said the puppet master.

"Let's just watch," said Prince Lucas. "The quicker we do the quicker we can get back on the road."

I pulled off to the side and we stood in front of the stand. The puppet master went behind his stand and grabbed the wood bars for the puppets. One puppet was a young man in bright blue royal garb, and the other was a lowly vagrant dressed in browns.

"And now," he said, "for an original tale told by, Rian the Puppet Master. I call it, 'The Vagrant and the Royal'."

Rian put the royal at the top of the tower and had him cover his face with his hands in sadness as he told the story in a songlike fashion:

"There once lived a boy at the top of a tower,
who had upon his head a crown of flowers,
His heart was pure and essence demure,
but his lonely heart had not a cure."

He then brought the vagrant boy over to the tower and looked up at the royal boy at the top, and Rian sung:

"Then came a vagrant boy with nothing to his name,
No money, no love, no lands to claim,
and called to the boy to come down from his tower,
Then they could turn their love into power."

Rian made the boy leap from the tower and slowly descend and continued: 

"The royal saw the vagrant child,
and from then on his heart ran wild,
He jumped over the edge from high above,
In hopes of meeting his one true love."

The royal landed on the ground and embraced the vagrant:

"When the royal landed they held each other,
They knew that they'd be forever lovers,
and they walked away into the setting sun,
Knowing they were their only ones."

I stared at the two puppets walking off-stage and I suddenly no longer wanted to be there. I tossed Rian a gold coin and he dropped the wood bars to catch them, subsequently dropping the puppets.

"...Thank you, good sir," I heard Lucas tell Rian from behind me.

As we traveled down the road, I heard Prince Lucas and Eldwyn speak behind me about the show, but I chose to stay out of it. 

"That story didn't make any sense at all," said Prince Lucas. "After seeing the dirty vagrant one time he was willing to throw himself off of a tower to meet him? What if he died?"

"When it's true love, you just know," said Eldwyn with the utmost conviction. "Their love saved him."

"That's rubbish," replied Lucas.

"What's rubbish?"

"That story. I appreciated his skill, but his storytelling needs work. It was unconvincing."

"You're supposed to use your imagination when you hear a story. Let your heart decide what's true."

As we rode along I focused on the sounds of nature, drowning out their conversation. The story wounded me and I didn't wish to understand why.