The Forgotten Hero

Hey,

This is a work in the same fictional world as The Fallen King but take place in the past to the events of The Fallen King.  This is not a stand alone story, and I'll be adding on it as much as I can. I've also added a legend at the end to answer any query that might arise, and feel free to drop a comment or a question!

Thanks.

Chapter I

First Blood

The cut across his palm burned. The blood dripped from his hand, forming a small puddle in the sand below. The mighty River Valth flowed calmly, and stood witness as two men committed the act of treason. Aaron flinched as he stemmed the flow of blood with a cloth. He drowned his dagger in the River, and his blood dissolved into the cold water.

The largest treason was his.I betray and declare the rule of my brother as against the good of Valin. Was this right? Swearing Loyalty to each other? Aaron looked at the two people who swore brotherhood. Rickard Bayel, the heir to Isne, and Arun Anbhav, the heir to Conton.  These men I could trust with my life.

“What now, Aaron?” asked Rickard, as he tied cloth around his palm, where they swore loyalty in blood.

“We raise the troops of Isne and Conton for the time being. “ Aaron replied, tightening the cloth over his palm.

“Which of the Cabel houses will come to our aid?” Arun questioned the young Lord of Arone.

“I believe the Tamlins and the Ollens will come.” Aaron sighed.

“What about the Viteris?”

“I do not know Gio Viteri. And I do not believe he will raise his troops for a man that is rebelling against the king. More than Viteris, we need Uncle Albaer on our side. He controls the banners of Edinwon.”

“The problem is not whether he knows you or not, but whether your brothers policies have harmed him enough” Rickard cut in.

“He is still our king, Rickard.”

“No longer Aaron. He may call himself king. A million men may call him king, but he is not my king. Not any longer.” Rickard walked along the sand banks, Aaron and Arun followed him. The Red moon shined brightly in the sky.The Night was still young. Their squires had taken their horses on to Burford, the River fort of Rickard’s uncle. The newly sworn brothers were old friends, they had all been fostered at Calberone, the Capital of Valin when Aaron’s father, Baelon was king.

How good a king was he. My brother is barely half the king father was.

“Then who is your king?” Aaron seemed amused.

“You.” Arun replied.

“Me? I do not desire to be king nor do I seek to be. I plan to crown Amanda if it ever comes to that.” Aaron tried to hide his smile. The three young men continued to walk along the sand banks of the great river.  The river flowed calmly, and the breadth and magnificence of the river was not apparent.

How loyal they were. A much as I would like myself to be a king, I do not have the right to do so. And it is beneath my honour to claim such as long as my sister lives. By fleeing the city, they have declared themselves against the king. The only way to end this will now be Avon’s death.

“Very well, Aaron, if you ride for your sister, so shall we. But you do know she is in Calberone, do you not? If we declare for her, Avon might as well hang her too. As he has mercilessly done before. “   Rickard clenched his fist.

“Without a doubt, he will. He hanged my Father and mother because they questioned his policies.”

Arun was furious.

Righteous Anger. They have all the rights to fail in such a way. Who in their right mind will hang their banner lords? What is Avon thinking? Does he not know this will spark rebellion? Or does he believe these young, unproven Lords will fall? If they fall, I will fall along with them.

Aaron stopped, and the others followed suit. The gates of Burford were close by, were the young men were awaited.

“Sadly, both of you are right. The more we wait, the more everyone grows restless. Let us wait for a month for the troops. Let them gather at Ruskin, and then we shall march southwest, through the Yellow Forest, to the plains and onto the city. The forces of Edinwon depend on Uncle Albaer.” Aaron Said.

If we are to cross the yellow forest, The Viteris have to come to our side. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to attack Cablerone directly. But Firstly, We need Uncle Albaer on our side-He holds all Cabel Banners. I hope Avon has not called them.

Arun sighed. “That will take at least three months. Avon can call up his banner men and organise his men. A wonder if he has not already. “

“More than the problem of the Crown calling its strength up, what are the Remulians and Pavons planning?” Rickard asked.

“From what I know, they are planning to stay neutral. They have no real reason to join our rebellion. You have been hurt by your father’s death” Aaron said, as he gestured to Rickard.  “And you by the death of your parents. Both of you have been wronged, and all your anger has cause. I have no choice but to join you, as it is my duty as a Cabel to fight for the righteous.”  Aaron finished, and he started walking to the town. The Young Lords joined their prince.

They soon reached the gates of Burford, the fort-town of Burtons, one of the high banner men of Bayels. The Burfords was an old and proud family in Isne, and their rivalry with The Bullons were stuff of legend. Although both were Bannermen of the Lords of Isne,The Bayels.

There will be friction between the Burtons and Bullons, thought Aaron,as he looked at the Burton banner, showing the Great swamp crocodile in a red background.

The funny thing was that there were no crocodiles at all in The Mighty Valth. Only the swamps and tributaries to Valth had them. So were the River crocodiles, the symbol of the Bullons.

The Lords walked through the gates of Burford. Lord Charles Burton along with his son Leon and a troop of spearmen was awaiting the arrival of the Young Lords. As they walked in, the troops raised their spears and the Lord Burton and his son knelt. Aaron received the honour by nodding his head, and gestured for Lord Charles to get up. He looked tensed, thought Aaron. It is his nephew that is the new Bayel Lord after all.

“My Prince and Milords, you should not have come without any convoy! Who knows what will happen to you on the roads to here!” said the Lord Charles, the grey streaks in his hair making him look older than he was. The Young Burton was a spry lad, though only 12.

“We had no time to leave Cablerone after the Incident. The supplies we need for some weeks have been sent ahead with our squires. “ said Rickard, as he embraced his uncle.

“Yes milord, the squires came some time before you, and have been sent to their rooms your rooms are also ready” said Charles.

“Stop with the ‘milord ‘, Uncle. “said Rickard  in a low voice, and Arun smiled, and so did Charles.

 Aaron patted Leon’s shoulder, and the young lad smiled at the prince. Charles pulled his son close, and asked his son, Do you know who this is?” Pointing to Aaron.

Leon shook his head sideways. All the men laughed, while Leon seemed amused. Aaron seemed bemused. He could not

Who am I now? The brother he betrayed? The traitor? What purpose do I serve?  I have lost my purpose in the sea of what has happened. He thought of what happened: My brother, hangs his banner lords, for 'treason’ when there was none committed, nor was there a trial. He had already mismanaged the war Against the Illens and lost crops year after year. This was the final straw. But the question was, who was he to support their cause? What good could come of him? Then he understood; he was the prince. He was the Noble young prince standing up for the right. After all, he was sworn to protect the righteous, as a Cabel. Dharma, it was called, the spirit that all men and women must uphold. The spirit you should defend with all.

“Let us talk tomorrow” Aaron said, as they were walking toward the Burtons Castle.

“I am tired after riding for a week “He completed.

“So am I. A good Night’s rest is what I want the most now. “ Arun said after the prince.

 “I know you would want to know our plans first hand Uncle, but we are damn tired. We shall speak tomorrow on what is to be done” Rickard told his Uncle, and he nodded.

“As you desire, Milords and Prince.” He Said.

All the men exchanged their salutations again, and the party split to their rooms, for a sound rest. Or so they hoped, for a rebellion had never succeeded against the Cabel Kings.

LEGEND

Aaron Cabel: Prince of Arone, Member of House Cabel of Cablerone. Second son of Baelon the Good.

Rickard Bayel: Lord of Isne, Member of House Bayel. First born son of Lord Reginald Bayel and Lady Catherine Burton.

Arun Anbhav: Lord of Conton, Only child of Lord Aswin Anbhav.

Charles Burton: Lord of Burford, “Defender of the Valth”, Elder Brother of Catherine Burton.

Amanda Cabel: Eldest Child of Baelon the Good, Princess of Cablerone,Lady of Edinwon.

Avon Cabel (“The Vicious”): The Eldest son of Baelon the Good,currently “ King of Valin”.

Valin: The Stage of the story, A kingdom ruled by the dynasty called the ‘Cabels’.

Edinwon: Territory of the Cabels, currently held by Lady Amanda.

Cablerone: Capital of Valin, Second Largest city in Valin.

Arone: Largest City in Valin, was held by Aaron Cabel.

Isne: One of the 5 primary divisions of territory in Valin, Held by ‘Bayels’.

Conton: One of the 5 primary divisions of territory in Valin, Held by ‘Anbhavs’.

Times of Narcissism

(Edit:This post is meant as satire. I don't mean that taking a selfie is a flaw. Everything is written in jest. )

I've been noticing this for quite some time, and I've been thinking about this "trend". The spark was when I noticed the wallpaper of one of my friends phone is him smiling broadly. Kinda weird, I thought since most people put some loved one's photo. I myself keep my sister's photo as my lock screen. I don't keep my photo as my background in any device. I feel it's kinda self-centered to do that. Okay, I'm drifting away here. Back to topic. So it suddenly struck me how people are self centered to the point of narcissism. We are living in times of the "selfie" when everyone from Barack Obama to the homeless guy on the street is part of the "trend". I myself have been a victim of the Selfie-monster.
        
                                                          We have dinner selfies, skydiving selfies and most weirdly, a selfie "stick". We're being promoted to take selfies more than ever. From Snapchat to Instagram, selfies dominate our Social network feeds. And yesterday, Apple iPhone 6S, recently introduced an "Emergency" Selfie. Oh just c'mon people ,were are we going with this? Sexy time selfie? New Friends Selfie? We're more self centered than ever. Narcissistic, in fact. Obsessed with how we look, what we eat, Oh , I could go on and on. In Greek Mythology, Narcissus looked into a pool of water too fall in love with himself. Today, millions and millions of people look into their electronically lit screens to fall in love with themselves.  I'm not bashing anyone or anything. It's just an unhealthy truth.
                                                           I wonder whether Joseph Niepice, the creator of the first permanent photograph or George Eastman of Kodak ever expected people to point their  phones  at themselves to take a self portrait. Sorry, Selfie. I see where the compulsion comes from though; I feel so good when I take a selfie. It's addictive. I hope I don't fall in the trap. Oh well, time for a #Bloggingselfie. 

A Connection

It was a warm summer morning. Birds were flying around chirping, and flowers were in their full bloom. The streets were filled with the movement of people all in a hurry to get somewhere. A puppy, tail wagging and energetic, stood looking at the morning sun.

As he looked around, he saw a lot of different kinds of people. Some had lots of things , and others had less. But what it did not understand was that sometimes the ones who had more had a sense of trouble in their faces while those who had less had a sense of satisfaction and content in their faces. It could relate a persons happiness to the feeling it got on finding a bone. Thinking about the bone made him hungry. Just as he was about to look around for something to eat he caught a beautiful whiff of chicken.  Somehow unlike usual he wanted to follow the smell. Slowly trotting along the footpath he tried to find the source from which his mouth started watering. Eventually he found himself hot on trail of the smell. Walking past many streets, and the smell getting stronger and stronger he eventually reached a really beautiful and posh part of the city and in front of him was a large box of food in front of a huge house. The box was broken and it's contents had spilled out. The puppy felt like he was in heaven. He feasted as he never had and by the time he was finished he could barely move. He decided to take a nap under the shade of a tree in front of the house which had filled his stomach.  The puppy slept through most of the day. Then as the sun calmed down , the puppy was startled awake by the sound of a car. He woke up and watched as a red convertible  towards the house. A man in a suit got out ,he noticed that the man was very different from the people he had previously observed, he seemed like someone who seemed to be confused about his surrounding.  As the man in the suit slammed the door of the car shut, the puppy ran and hid behind a tree.  The puppy was curious about who this man was so he decided to wait.

The sun had started to set when the man in the suit came out of the house. This time wearing a simple pant and shirt, he seemed more comfortable. The puppy slowly walked behind him as he walked past the different shops and streets. Then all of a sudden the man came to a stop in front of a cafe. The puppy stopped and waited. Through the clear glass window he saw the man go into the cafe and shake hands with some people of his same age. He then took a seat and ordered a coffee. As he waited for the coffee he talked to his friends and they all seemed to be having a great time. The puppy decided to keep observing this curious man.

The man and his friends kept conversing for about 5 minutes. Then each of them slowly pulled out their smartphones and began poking and prodding it. It was a common sight  for the puppy, to see people lost in their phones. But what he did not except was that the man in the suit did not pull out his phone he did not say anything about what the others were doing . It was apparent that he did not  like the reality but it was one he had to accept. The fact that people preferred to spend time in a virtual, non-existent world than actually spend time bonding with people and making connections. As he sipped his coffee taking in the aroma and enjoying every little moment, he glanced out the window as the sun slowly began to set casting upon the surroundings an soft orange glow, he saw a small white creature with huge watery eyes observing him. Some how he felt a connection with the creature, a touch of destiny. Sitting in his chair all of a sudden he took a deep breath and smiled. At that moment he felt at peace with himself.