Dinner with the Darkness

"Well, where is he? Where is my nephew?" Envano Nordosh screeched, her banshee calls echoing off the stone walls in the empty chasm that was her dining room.

"Here I am Aunt," her nephew Rinomve replied, striding into the chamber. He never completely understood why Envano, his aunt, liked having dinner with him. Was it because I am all the family she has left? He pondered, taking his usual place at the opposite end of the dining table. "You seem anxious today, Aunt, is everything okay?"

"Yes, quite alright," Envano replied, fidgeting in her chair. Rinomve eyed her suspiciously as if he could tell that she was lying. The truth was he never could tell whether or not his aunt was lying or not, for she was pretty much always fidgeting. "Have I ever told you how you and I came here, to Asharia?" Envano broke the uncomfortable silence as the first course of dinner was set before them. Rinomve looked at her doubtfully.

"I don't believe you have." Rinomve noticed that his aunt's tone was more anxious than was normal for her. Am I going to learn some dark family secret? He contemplated, trying to make sense of the question that Envano had laid out in front of him. Do I even want to know? He asked. Rinomve was sure that the answer was no, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell her so. "Please, do tell."

Those words sealed his fate. He wanted so badly to retract them. However, he knew that if he did, the consequences would be dire. I don't want to end up on the stretching mat, he thought, trying to bite back the urge to repeal his pledge to know about how he and his aunt had arrived in Asharia and more specifically, the castle of Everhelm. Envano took a deep breath.

"Very well. Many years ago, we lived in a kingdom called Thoasia." Rinomve could swear that his aunt's eyes shone at the thought of her homeland. "I was a princess," Envano continued, " and you were only a baby. Son of my oldest sister. Oh, how tiny you were," Envano smiled, remembering just how tiny Rinomve was. "Everything was perfect, or at least it would have been, had the Oblivion Kappa not wanted to have our Aublandite." Rinomve looked at his aunt with an immense amount of curiosity. He had heard of the Oblivion Kappa and their love for all things shiny, but this is the first time he had heard of them obtaining something as valuable as Aublandite. Envano looked at her nephew.

"At first, relations between Asharia and Thoasia were great. Asharia would supply the food and grain, and Thoasia would fulfil the thirst to show the copious amounts of wealth suffered by the nobles of Asharia. That was, however, until Thoasia needed the arms that only the wealthy of Asharia could afford. The selfish, misborn bastards that are the nobles of Asharia couldn't be bothered to look out from behind the walls of their wastes of lumber and stone that is their castles and see that the people who are making them wealthy require their help. And when they did help, they were too cheap to give two pennies towards the cause." Envano took a deep breath, trying to calm the fire growing inside her.

"So, Thoasia was overrun with Oblivion Kappa," Envano deflated as if she had lost what little energy she still had left. "Our beautiful civilization. Thousands of years of history, culture, art and knowledge, gone! And all because some fat cats were too lazy and cheap to send soldiers. Thankfully, I was able to whisk you away from that carnage before you, my dear nephew, were killed too." Rinomve looked at his aunt. Shit, he thought. She has been through the wars, hasn't she?

"So, what happened next?" Rinomve asked, with more control in his voice than he imagined that he could muster.

"I was able to obtain the help of Uzohr Tovius."

"The wizard? How were you able to afford his help?" Rinomve interrogated, straightening up.

"I still had a few valuable pieces from my life as a princess. Plus with my natural charms, how could someone refuse me?" With that question, Rinomve just about spits out the mouthful of roast beef he had been chewing. Envano just glared at him. "Between the two of us," she continued "We were unstoppable. We, Uzohr and I, influenced all of those cowards that refused to protect Thoasia to turn against the king that refused to do anything about his nobles cowardice. Then one night as if by pure magic, the hatred that the nobles had harbored, which had been planted by Uzohr and myself, exploded into a murderous rampage. By the end of the night, there was no King Elmar, No Queen Rosaniya, No Crown Prince Ellisar, No Princess Neia." A hint of madness came over Envano's eyes.

"But wasn't there a third child?" Rinomve already knew the answer to this question. He had known Falael since they were children. At that time, Falael had been little more than a village kid which he would often escape the palace to play with, often sharing treats and toys. But as they had grown up and become more than friends, they became brothers. Rinomve knew that his aunt sat on his best friends, no his brothers, throne.

"Unfortunately yes, and I have set up traps to flush that vermin out." Rinomve knew that if he said a word more about the family, he would put Falael in more danger than he already was.

"When you do find him, what will you do to him?" Rinomve knew that asking this question was risky. His aunt just stared at him in dumbfounded amazement at the perceived idiocy displayed by her nephew. What does he think I am going to do, keep him alive? Come on, Rinomve! You know how dangerous keeping an opponent alive is! It would mean the death of us! Making no noise, Envano took a sip of the vintage red wine from her silver goblet.

"I will do what I did to the rest of his family." Rinomve's heart sank. In the end, his aunt always killed her opponents, and he had no idea why he hoped Falael would be any different. All he knew was that Falael couldn't continue hiding for long.

"If you will excuse me," He stated, placing his knife and fork on his plate and getting up from the table. Envano tried calling after him, but Rinomve left the table, eventually leaving that dark room and entering a much darker corridor. Falael needs to know that there is a trap set for him, he thought, walking as quickly as he could without it being suspicious. After many minutes of walking, Rinomve arrived at the door that he had sought out.

It wasn't a particularly remarkable door, in that it didn't have any special defining features. Opening it, Rinomve stepped into an amazingly well-lit bedroom, decorated with furs and many piles of books. Quickly, he set about packing. Winter clothes, shoes, a book, a few disguise potions and coins were packed into a small bag. That would need to be enough. He didn't have time to waste if Falael was to survive. Hurriedly, he drank another of the disguise potions, grabbed his sword and bow and arrows and went to the window. If he was careless, everything would have all been for nought. Rinomve waited until he was sure that there weren't any guards outside.

After making sure that the coast was clear, he slung his bag over his shoulder and leapt out of the window. Gripping on to the window ledge, Rinomve slowly crept over to the ivy growing on the side of the castle. He reached out, grabbed on to the ivy, and slowly but surely climbed down the two stories from the window down to the ground. Landing on the powdery snow, Rinomve crept as silently as possible towards the large iron gate that separated the castle from the rest of the world. If he slipped up now, he was done for.

Peaking around a turret, Rinomve spotted two soldiers standing guard at the gate, with two more in the guard towers. Now how do I get around this obstacle? He questioned, scanning the area for anything that could help. He spied a nearby barrel. Perfect, he thought noticing its proximity to a nearby torch. If I can get over to that barrel, I can set it alight and roll it across the path of the guards, distracting them enough to let me pass. Rinomve crept over to the barrel, laid it on its side and angled it so that the barrel would cross the path of the guards at the perfect time. Using the torch to set the barrel aflame, he then used a simple spell to get the barrel rolling.

The guards took the bait. Both the soldiers on the ground and the guards in the guard towers descended on the fire. Rinomve took advantage of the chaos and confusion and ran to the gate. He opened the small gate typically used for the guards doing perimeter sweeps beyond the walls of the palace and stepped out of the palace compound.

Reaching the forest, Rinomve felt both relieved and free. No longer was his aunt breathing down his neck. No, now his only task was to find Falael and warn him about his impending doom.

*****Authors Note******

So, chapter three is out! What do you guys think? Did you enjoy getting to know the antagonists? Thankyou for reading thus far, and I cannot wait to see where the rest of the story goes.

Abi