At War in Love. The Shadow over Rhudaur Part IV

Chapter 14. Eviction from the Palace

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Callon & Caelen's room in the servants' quarters of the Palace. Morning of November 7, 1347.
Written by Rian
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Caelen put the finishing touches on the little room that she shared with her brother. She looked around and smiled; everything looked neat and clean, ready for Hendegil's visit, and the fresh greenery in the little bottle added some much-needed softness. She touched the leaves gently; they reminded her of her mother, and all the little touches that she used to add around the house that added beauty and softness. Caelen decided that she would keep fresh greenery in the room every day from now on.

A crisp knock on the door made Caelen break out into a smile that made the room much more pleasant than any amount of greenery, and she eagerly stepped over to the door and opened it. But it was not Hendegil; it was Thillas, the head housekeeper - the one that kept both the palace and its servants in ship-shape.

"May I come in?" she asked curtly after a few seconds, as Caelen stood there blinking at her in confusion, forgetting to ask her in. Caelen had been expecting Hendegil's friendly face, and this was a bit of a shock.

"Of course, Thillas! I'm so sorry; I was expecting someone else and you surprised me!" said Caelen apologetically, ushering the housekeeper into the room and indicating the one chair that was available, as she sat on the bed.

Thillas pursed her lips together and cleared her throat. This was not going to be pleasant, but she was never one to avoid unpleasantness. Good housekeepers never avoided messes; they tackled them head-on. She raised her left eyebrow slightly in the way that made the lower housemaids panic as they remembered the obscure corners that they hadn't dusted.

"I've always prided myself on running things here in the palace efficiently and ... properly," she started off, putting stress on the last word and raising both eyebrows for emphasis. "But something has come to my attention recently that I am VERY displeased about."

"Yes, Ma'am?" said Caelen a trifle guiltily, hoping she wasn't blushing. Had she heard some of those dreadful rumors about her that had been flying around?

"We at the palace took on you and your ... husband ... in good faith," she continued, noticing how Caelen's large eyes grew larger at the meaningful pause. "I have not heard of any complaints about him - his work AND his behavior has been exemplery - but I'm sorry to say that I can't say the same about you."

Caelen bit her lip nervously. Thillas' eyebrows lowered ominously, and her eyes narrowed.

"I have been hearing the most shocking rumors about you ever since your ... husband left, and if even one of them is true, I would be seriously displeased - SERIOUSLY displeased!" She leaned in towards Caelen to emphasize her point, making Caelen pull back despite her effort to remain calm.

"What exactly have you heard, Ma'am?" asked Caelen in a small voice, pulling Callon's shirt from under its daytime resting place under her pillow and nervously playing with the hem. It never even occurred to her to try to bluff it out; she had faults, but dishonesty wasn't one of them, and maintaining her brother's ruse had been extremely difficult for her.

"I have heard," said Thillas regally, sitting up straight again and crossing her hands across her ample breast, "that you schemed to get your husband to go on this trip so that you would have a free hand to try to better your position in life; that you feigned your pregnancy to play on your husband's and our good will so that you wouldn't have to work so you could chase after other men; or that if you WERE pregnant, that you took steps to end it so that you would be free to pursue your own schemes; that you played on the generous heart of our prince Daurendil, extorting an invitation to ride with the young royals, which was ENTIRELY inappropriate for a person in your position; that you encouraged the Prince Daurendil in ways that no modest lady in your position would even consider, such that he, in his innocence, was moved to give you a gift of riding clothes, which you TOOK! most inappropriate! and then FLAUNTED around town in the most brazen manner; that you are currently chasing after one of the King's new young advisors in case your schemes with the Prince come to naught - need I say more?" She turned her head slightly to the right, and her left eyebrow reached new heights as she fixed Caelen with an inquiring look - a look that clearly expected to hear no good ...

"No," said Caelen softly, her face white. She sighed and looked down at Callon's shirt, and then held it up to her face, closing her eyes at its touch. "I'm sorry, brother, I cannot keep this up anymore," she said, then took a deep breath and put the shirt back in her lap, although she kept a tight grip on it. She looked at Thillas steadily. The housekeeper was surprised; she had expected furious denials or bribing tears. Perhaps she HAD misjudged the girl ...

"Callon is my brother, not my husband," she said simply. Thillas' right eyebrow joined its sister near the top of the housekeeper's hairline.

"We were orphaned in a terrible fire, and I was cruelly harassed by a brute of a man that wanted to marry me and was going to force me into it. My brother and I had to flee our home. On the way, we were waylaid on the road and almost killed." She paused, a blush coming into her cheeks at the memory of what she was going to say next. "I wish I HAD been killed, though, Ma'am," she said. "It would have been better than what those men did to me."

Thillas furrowed her brows, bringing them closer for a hirusitic conference. Was this a ruse to gain her sympathy, or was this true? Her eyebrows suspended judgement for the moment and waited to hear more.

"But we were rescued by some of the King's men, lead by one Eryndil of Ostinand - who I think is the man you referred to in one of those rumors that you heard."

Thillas nodded curtly. The eyebrows increased their vigilence ever so slightly.

"We spent several weeks at Ostinand with Eryndil and his family, and I came to love his sister as the sister that I never had - and by the way, it was his sister that I went to visit yesterday - he merely walked me home out of courtesy. Then when we came to Cameth Brin, to our horror, we found that some of the very men that attacked us on the road were in the group of Hillmen camping around the Road. My brother was naturally very concerned for me. And when we got to the stables, there were some rough men around that ... that looked at me in ways that alarmed him, and so in his concern, he grasped at the only thing that he could think of to give me some protection - he said that I was his wife, and that I was with child."

The housekeeper's eyes were now almost as large as Caelen's. The story was wild ... WILD! ... but yet ... she gave names of people and places that could be checked. And she spoke plainly and with a certain simple pride that, in Thillas' extensive experience, spoke of an honest heart. The eyebrows relented slightly.

"I know it sounds ... " Caelen paused and shook her head, at a loss for words to describe the recent tumultous events of her life - "crazy, but it's true - and when my brother returns, he will confirm what I say. Oh, and Eryndil can confirm it, too - my brother wrote him asking him to support the ruse, since he knew that we were NOT husband and wife. Oh, and Arinya knows, and the Prince Daurendil - oh, and you are right, I should NOT have accepted the riding outfit - but I love riding so much! - but I was terribly wrong, and I have returned it - where was I? Oh yes, Arinya and the Prince know, and Eryndil, and his sister and family. They can confirm it, too. And I'm so, so terribly sorry for all of the trouble I've caused - I was trying so hard to honor my brother's wishes and his attempt to protect me, but it was so hard - I HATE lying!" she closed vehemently.

Thillas sat back in the chair, absolutely speechless. Of all the messes she had been called to deal with, this one took the cake. Her eyebrows sagged; there was simply no expression that they could conceive of that was appropriate to this situation. But wait - one thing was clear: this was the married servants' quarters, and this young lady was NOT married. Her eyebrows rallied; THIS they could handle.

***

As Hendegil reached out to knock on the door of the room pointed out to her as Callon and Caelen's room, the door was suddenly opened, and a stern-looking lady walked out in a huff. Hendegil peered into the room, and her curiosity turned into concern as she saw her friend's face.

"What is it, Caelen? What happened?" she asked urgently.

Caelen looked at her friend. "I have to leave," she said in a dreamlike voice.

"Leave? Where? Why?"

Caelen took a deep breath. "Remember those awful rumors about me that I told you about? Well, that was the head of the palace servants, and she came to ask me about them."

"Oh, no," said Hendegil, a worried expression on her face as she took the chair that Caelen indicated. Caelen sat down wearily on the bed and took up her brother's shirt again, mindlessly playing with the hem, which was now starting to fray under her nervous fingers.

"It's a long story, but I ended up telling her the truth about Callon and me," continued Caelen. "I just couldn't keep it in anymore! And then since we weren't 'married servants' anymore, we can't stay in the married servants' quarters." She shrugged her shoulders - she was used to the world being difficult now. "So I have to leave and find somewhere else to stay, although Callon can stay in the men's quarters. I can't even stay here and work because she says there's no openings - although I think that she just doesn't want me around. I guess I've upset things around here too much."

She turned to Hendegil. "Do you know which inn is ... would be safest for me to stay in? I don't know much about these things ..." she finished in an uncertain voice.

Hendegil assumed a stern expression that rivalled Thillis'. "I know of an EXCELLENT place for you to stay," she said firmly. "Eryndil's inn!"

Caelen looked at her, a confused expression on her face. "How odd - there's an inn in town with your brother's name on it?" she asked, incredulous. "Callon always said that I never notice anything, but ..." she shook her head.

Hendegil looked at her friend and shook her head. Caelen was a warm-hearted, generous, honest, loving person - but not always too quick on the uptake. But she had been though a lot lately, Hendegil reflected, trying not to think of what it had been like for Caelen on the road ... and now her brother, her only remaining family, was gone, and she had just been evicted from the small room that was her only home, merely because she told the truth.

"No, silly!" she said, taking Caelen's face between her hands and shaking her head at her with a smile on her face. "You're staying with me, at my brother's house!" And she laughed with pleasure as she watched Caelen's expression change from confusion and sorrow to elation and relief.

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On the King’s Road from Cameth Brin to Tanoth Brin. Mid-morning of November 7, 1347.
Written by Valandil
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As he walked down the switchbacks and steep inclines, Eryndil’s mind turned over the discussion from last night’s meeting. The King had actually met with them, which was rare – and the meeting had gone rather late. Each detail of the day’s earlier Council Meeting was gone over time after time, but most often, the talk had come back to Broggha.

Lastorion and Rondaran had commended the King on his wisdom – for he should certainly be rid either of the Orcs at Dol Hithaer or else of Broggha, or at the least, Broggha’s reputation would be diminished. Naurlith had mostly been silent. Only Eryndil had suggested that Broggha might be up to something. When pressed, he couldn’t come up with a plausible theory – even he dismissed after brief consideration whether Broggha might be in league with the Orcs (although it was not without precedent – for King Valandur of old Arnor was slain in an engagement in this very land, against a force of Hillmen supplemented by Orcs, and even a Troll or two – but that was 700 years ago!).

At last they had ended, and with Eryndil’s request to accompany his father to Tanoth Brin the next day, the King had told them all he would next summon them the day after Broggha left town. Lastorion had shown interest at Eryndil’s request, and after told him that he wouldn’t mind a visit to the lower city himself, if he might accompany them. He had met Eryndil and Camglas at the gate to the inner city this morning, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, while they also dropped Hendegil off to go visit her friend at the palace. So the three men walked along, passing now the Loud Waterfall and the camp of the Hillmen, leading two horses to pull the wagon back up.

On they came to the bridge over the Tanoth River and through the open gates into Tanoth Brin proper. Eryndil had only come down here twice since his arrival in town, but some from the upper city never ventured down at all. They passed along Market Street and stopped at the Market Street Inn, where they hitched their horses and went in. Eryndil had never been inside the place before. It was larger and more prosperous than most of the other establishments around – kept a good reputation too. It was nicely located, just off the Tanoth Brin Market itself, on the main thoroughfare.

Lastorion engaged Eryndil in small talk while Camglas settled up with the innkeeper for the repair of his wagon. But about this time, a tall, older looking fellow in a grey cloak came from the back of the place and shuffled past them to take a seat by the fire. Camglas had watched him closely as he walked past. Eryndil made way for the man to pass between himself and Lastorion, when he noticed Lastorion’s face.

Lastorion looked as if he had seen a ghost!

His father’s voice took Eryndil’s attention away from his companion, “That man smelled of the forge. Is he the smith who wrighted my wheel?”

“Aye, the very same,” answered the innkeeper.

“Well, here’s your asking price for the fix,” replied Camglas, reaching under his cloak and drawing out a couple silver coins from the bag at his waist. “A bit high, by my reckoning, but “this is the city”, they say!”

“Don’t you even want to see it first?” asked the innkeeper.

“Not necessary – I trust you. Besides, if it isn’t fixed right, I’ll know right where to come, won’t I? Just have someone ready to lead my son here around to where he can hitch it up, awright?”

Eryndil turned back to Lastorion, who had recovered himself, but now had a look of remiss on his face, “Eryndil my friend, I cannot believe that I had forgotten this, but I had already arranged to meet with another friend at the palace before noon. I may be late as it is, but I should certainly be getting right back.”

“Well, wouldn’t you want to ride with me in the wagon?” asked Eryndil.

“Oh – certainly not. Wouldn’t want to trouble you. Besides… the time it would take to hitch it up, and the rate a wagon would have to go up that hill. No… I’d best just be leaving.” But Eryndil noticed that Lastorion gave a quick, furtive glance over toward the old man seated by the fire. Then Lastorion turned abruptly and was gone.

“What’s eating your friend?” asked Camglas, just coming up behind Eryndil’s shoulder.

“Oh – I guess he had some place to be…”

“Well, never mind that. Look, when the innkeeper sends his boy, take the horses around back, hitch them up to the wagon, and take it on back home – to your home that is. I just mean to have a drink or two with yon blacksmith… to sort of treat him for fixing up my wagon. I’ll be back presently. Get along now.”

“But father – can you get back alright?” Eryndil wasn’t thinking just of him finding the place – but wondered if the King’s Road might be unfriendly toward an older Thane traveling alone.

“I’ll be alright son – and I’ll be home long afore dark. You just get the wagon up there. Be careful how you handle those curves…” and then his father’s wry smile returned and he winked, “but keep your eyes off the serving girls around here as you go – alright now?”

Eryndil was puzzled, but watched as his father turned and made his way to the old blacksmith and began to engage him in conversation, taking a seat beside him just as the stable boy came to bring Eryndil around back.