Chapter 4

The prince found himself lying on his back in a dark room.

He felt the soreness on his - well, everywhere. He tried to get up, but instead he lifted his head enough for it to fall back into the headboard of the bed.

A man chortled, “I thought you were a goner.”

Taliesin searched for the owner of the voice. The pain in his neck limited his view.

“I found you out there in the cold while coming back to Dunmouth.” The owner appeared near the doorframe, wiping his hands with a rag. “We just finished making dinner, are you hungry?”

The prince just stared at the man. He was twice older than Taliesin, and possibly twice his age. His age showed through his grayed beard. Despite that, the man stood with confidence - as if he’s ready to take on all of Taeleer’a. The prince barely ate since the cave - mostly he gnawed on some deerling jerky - but never felt hungry enough to finish it.

“Well anyways, I’ll bring some to you.” The man disappeared for a moment, and reappeared with a wooden bowl - it was filled with vegetables submerged in a golden broth. “My daughter is getting better, but definitely not as good as her teacher.” The man chuckled a little bit.

The prince slightly shook his head. “Not hungry,” he managed to say.

“Well, I suppose Borus will finish it.” The man took back the bowl and disappeared, while showing signs of disappointment. “At least, drink the broth.” He said, as he reappeared with a cup.

Taliesin made an effort to sit up, he accepted the fate of not being strong enough to make it completely upright. Before he gave up, the man assisted him by cradling his back with his arms until he sat up. The prince took the cup and took a sip.

It was perfectly warm, it gave him the sensation of drinking pure gold. Somehow, it felt like it warmed his soul. His soreness relieved a little.

“You put Aetherleaf in it.”

“I didn’t, it was Seren’s idea. Didn’t want you to suffer in bed all week.”

“Shouldn’t have bothered.”

“Don’t worry - the bed’s been vacant for sometime.” The man had a solemn undertone, as if he were wishing it weren’t.

“I mean, in the woods.”

“Ah, Seren told me about your friends.”

Taliesin immediately undid his covers, they had him dressed in an old tunic - the bottom of it hung past his knees and the sleeves drooped farther than his elbows. “Who is Seren? Where is she? She’s the one who outed us!” He tried to get up, but his ankle wasn’t prepared to take his weight. He almost stumbled onto the floor until the man picked him up, and placed him back on the bed. Taliesin pushed him away, or at least attempted to. “She’s dead.” The prince threatened.

“I’m sorry.” A familiar voice walked into the room. Her hair was washed, as it didn’t have any leaves or feathers in it anymore. He was slightly unsure if the dark patches in her short blonde hair were just stains or a part of her natural color. The bangs that once covered her eyes were pulled behind her ears revealing her eyes. They were a dark shade of blue and purple, with white specs, it almost looked like she had a portion of the night sky in her eyes. The constellations themselves formed into some sort of bird.

Taliesin eased back into the bed. “Hamsarian… " He muttered.

“One of my friends near the cave told me what happened. I had the gryfalconer find you.” Her face displayed an honest look of condolences.

“Lucky I was coming back that way anyways, I didn’t know which body to grab.” The man confessed.

The Hamsarian walked closer to the prince, and tried to hand him the papers that he took from Gak. Immediately, he snatched them. “Shouldn’t have gone through my stuff.” He grumbled. He couldn’t bear opening the papers, so he shoved them under his covers.

Seren took a moment to let the prince grieve. “A lot’s happened since you went off a few nights ago. People have started to go missing. I need your help.”

“First of all Seren, I’m nearly dead - so I don’t know how I’ll be of any use. Secondly, I’m done with this adventuring crap. I’m heading home the chance I get, if my father allows it.”

“I can take you home.” The gryfalconer said. “I need you to help first. I’m too old and broken now to do anything other than walk around.” The man gently nudged his knee with his fist. “Got hit with an arrow back in the day.”

“I’ll take my chances walking back.”

“Is that how you repay our kindness?”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

The man stood, hinting at aggression.

“Bryndall, please.” Seren tried diffusing the situation.

The man sat back down and pointed at the papers that were hidden underneath the covers. “I can just tell the guardsmen here about the abundance of Taelmarks waiting to be turned in.”

“I’m not an outlaw!”

Bryndall turned towards the door. “I’m sure the guards will understand.”

“Okay!” The fugitive said. “I’ll do it. I’m dead the second I find any trouble though. I’m useless for the next few weeks, at least. That Aetherleaf can’t heal my shoulder, you’ll need at least ten whole flowers for that.”

Bryndall glanced over to Seren. She nodded in reply.

She walked closer to the prince until she was almost on top of him. The air around the prince felt colder.

“What’re you doing?” The prince tried to inch away from Seren. “No, I don’t want any of that. I’ll just brave it myself. I’ll still do what you want. Please!” The prince cried out.

“Don’t be stubborn.” Bryndall said.

She raised her right arm - it almost looked like the air was being gathered near her palm. He looked around frantically. He noticed the broth filled cup no longer had steam coming off the top of it. He continued to try to inch away. He felt a chill and then his shoulder started to feel warm, the pain was starting to fade. The surrounding area around his skin still felt cold, as if someone put snow against his body, but the skin itself was warm. He closed his eyes to brace the cold, but when he did, thoughts flooded his mind. “You’re not strong enough to help them,” his inner voice said. “You weren’t even strong enough to save them.” He couldn’t hold back his tears anymore. The voice continued, “do you even deserve to be here?”

“That’s enough Seren.” The large man said.

Seren shook her head in reply. “I can’t sto-”

Bryndall jumped out of his chair to pull Seren back. “What did you do?”

The prince became even more confused. “Nothing, I swear.” He brought his hand up to reassure them. As he did, he noticed they started to turn dark. Both of his hands turned an intense indigo.

Bryndall glared at the prince for a moment. After a moment - his eyes turned from hateful to a stern realization. “Seren, go back and drink some of the soup. Make sure you get some rest.”

She struggled to keep a steady gait as she left the room. Bryndall waited a moment until it was quiet. Then he turned around to peak on Seren and then cautiously closed the door.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your daughter.” Taliesin said, slowly bringing his hand back down. “I don’t even know wh-”

“She’s not my daughter.” He said in a soft tone. “She already knows that. But she doesn’t know that she just healed the Durlesian Prince.”

Taliesin’s eyes scattered around the room, looking for something to defend himself.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I was there when you were born. Let’s just say I was… the… uh- designated baker for your family. Your mom, as you know, or maybe not, was ill the entire time she was carrying you. She was a major proponent for Hamsarian safe harbor into Durley. It looked bleak.” The man said rubbing his neck. “So, the Hamsarian’s in Durley decided to give back. Twelve of the most pure blooded Hamsarian’s committed to your mother’s care. Both Seren’s parents were a part of the twelve. Exactly what you just witnessed, is what happened. Even though Hamsarian’s have the most power over Bara’s essence, it wasn’t enough to save your mother. They all died. Only you survived. Seren was only five then. The people who knew about the incident started to disappear. Out of precaution, I fled Durley and took Seren with me.”

“I have so many questions.”

The baker sat comfortably in his chair.

“Are you implying my father killed those people?”

“Not much news comes out of Durley nowadays - so I don’t know what he’s like now. But before he married your mother he was a ruthless prince. I witnessed firsthand, he had me… bake a lot of bread.”

“I swear, Seren is younger than me.”

“That’s an easy one, the more pure blooded the Hamsarian, the longer they live. You should know this, you didn’t get any of that Royal schooling?”

Taliesin looked down. “I’m basically estranged from my father. He barely talked to me, especially when I asked about my mother. I’d easily go weeks without talking to him. I mostly avoided the schooling to pretend I was an adventurer or some type of hero from stories that I’ve read. You ever read, The Wayfarer? Eventually, when I came of age, my father sent me away and said, if you want to pretend you’re not my son, then you might as well not be.”

The baker chuckled, “that definitely sounds like him. I wonder though, who will carry on his torch. He’s a tough man - but even he can’t outrun Nosterafu.”

Taliesin shrugged, “as it is now, he doesn’t show his face often. His advisors have been taking care of everything. I doubt he’s made a decision for his own kingdom since my mother died. But it’s not like I can be the next heir.” The prince pulled his knees to his chest, and started to hug them. “I can’t feed, serve, or protect an entire kingdom - when I can’t even protect two.” He hid his face into his knees.

“Ah.” Bryndall responded. Taliesin heard his weight shift towards him. The man continued with intense gravitas, “when I was… a baker. I worked with three other bakers. You should’ve seen us back in the day. We would go off and… cater to a lot of people.” Bryndall snickered suspiciously for a bit. “But, when I had to take Seren away. I didn’t have those bakers anymore. They were all gone by that time. That poor girl, she must’ve seen the worst of me. I would wake up one day - look in the mirror and just… I wanted to hurt him… " Taliesin looked up, he noticed Bryndall’s nose was flared and his jaws were clenched. “And I did for awhile…” The man took a deep breath, “I still struggle with it now. But I didn’t realize then, what I realize now. People need me. Seren needs me. Borus needs me. Even if I don’t deserve them, they deserve my time.” His index finger pressed into the prince’s shoulder. “You deserve to be here. You have people that depend on you. You just need to find your purpose. If you don’t, then your friends will have truly died for nothing.”

The pair sat in silence.

Bryndall was the first to break it. “Well - yeah, go off now looking for purpose. My daughter’s got a good starting point.”

“I guess now would be better than later. This is the most rest I’ve gotten in a while.” Taliesin said as he got off the bed. He started to put on his boots, which were neatly set near him.

Bryndall stood as well, and opened the door. “Seren, how do you feel.” He said, calling out in the house.

Taliesin inspected his darkened hand while pulling tight his vanguards. They had a slight tingling feeling. He tried rubbing the color off with his tunic, but no color came off of it. He closed his fist as tight as he could. The tingling sensation grew stronger. When the prince focused, he noticed his hand was pulsating. While he was inspecting the phenomenon, he heard clattering coming throughout the house. Heavy footsteps sped towards the door.

Taliesin looked around for his knife. It was just behind reach. Frantically, he tried lunging towards it. The door busted open. The prince finally was able to grab his knife. However, it looked like the door barely opened. He sat confused, thinking he got up too quickly for his head, as he stared at the stagnant door. But a couple moments after - the door resumed its swift movement.

“She’s gone!”