Sentria: The War for Askeran (Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Lonely Lord

The horses pulled us along as we tended to our wounds. I wasn't so concerned for mine, they were mild and insignificant, but Eldwyn had suffered lacerations by those damnable daemon marauders. I thanked Princess Ilya over again for her light that cast them away and she refused to accept it. She was modest that way.

I applied the white stone elixir to Eldwyn's cuts and he drank from the bottle. The wounds started to close, but this was powerful magic and it would take some time.

"I've urged you before that you should wear armor, Eldwyn," I told him.

"And I've refused you," said Eldwyn. "It makes me less nimble."

"But now you're covered in cuts."

"I will recover. I always do."

Princess Ilya looked out of the carriage window. "We're nearing the castle," she said.

Eldwyn straightened himself up and looked in his burlap bag. "Will I need my hat?"

"No," I grabbed his hand and stopped him. "You've done enough for this realm. It's time that they acknowledged you for who you are."

Eldwyn smiled and so did the princess.

Once we reached the Spiral Road, the road that would lead us directly to Fox Hall Castle, I reminded them of Lord Galdry's nature to prepare them. He was a lonely man and we needed to make this request delicately. When one lived in grief for so long it becomes your home.

As we approached the gates, the horses came to a rolling stop.

"Wait here," I told my friends and stepped out of the carriage.

"Who goes there!" yelled the massive guard atop of the gate.

"And why is your carriage without a driver?" said the other guard, noticeably smaller. He almost looked like a child playing dress-up.

"I am your High Prince Daren Colress of Sentria, third of his name. As for your second question, I do not have to answer that. I must speak with Lord Galdry at once."

The two guards looked at each other, confused.

"I said, at once," I repeated myself authoritatively.

I sat in the driver's seat and we rode through Fox Hall. Many of the houses were rickety and the roads were narrow and dirty—an embarrassment for Sentria. My father told me that it had let itself go when Lord Galdry had given into madness but I hadn't any idea that it had gotten this bad.

The castle up ahead was looming and light gray with a bluish-green roof. It was stately, as all Sentrian castles were, but in need of a new coat of paint and the bushes wanted for trimming. The castle had three towers and the center tower had a clock on its face and most unsettling was that it felt empty. In my court, royals and servicemen were always scurrying about from one conversation or scandal to another. It felt dead here, as if there was nothing at all of great import.

We rode up to the castle steps and exited the carriage. I told the two guards on the marble steps of my request and they allowed us through, giving concerned glances to both Princess Ilya, the daughter of King Solice, and Eldwyn, the wind relic, but they wouldn't dare utter a word to me.

"Hello," said a voice to us just as we were entering the castle.

We turned and behind us stood Lord Galdry standing in light brown robes with black buttons. He was thin with wisps of facial hair without a crown atop his graying head, but I knew him from the paintings I had seen of him—though he was considerably better fed in the recreations I remembered.