This is a work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story are fictional and not representative of anyone living or dead. (c) 2011 by robertx5sf@yahoo.com, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form without the author's consent, with exception of license granted to Nifty.org per Nifty's terms of use.
Author's Note: Catching back up after the holidays, will trying to be getting at least two chapters out each week for a while. All always comments are appreciated. Thank you, Robert - robertx5sf@yahoo.com
Squires of Telisan Keep -- 8
Rynil
Rynil stood patiently, watching as the Chamberlain busied himself reviewing numbers in a ledger. The Squire had been summoned to the Chamberlain's Office as he was headed to begin his morning of service cleaning the several latrines strategically strewn about the keep and castle grounds. Upon arriving, the Chamberlain, Sir Balren, had motioned for Rynil to wait. So wait he did, standing silently until the Chamberlain should indicated otherwise. As the minutes passed Rynil started trying to think how he could cut corners and try to make up for all the time he was wasting just standing there waiting. It was already tough enough to complete the task in the allotted time since he was doing the work of two people.
Eventually the monotony of waiting was interrupted by a knock on the door. Without even looking up, the Chamberlain barked out, "Enter". The door opened and Squire Mikel hesitantly entered the office. "It's about time," said Sir Balren. "You have missed two days of service already, I was starting to think you were going to miss a third. Squire Rynil will instruct you on your current duties. In the future you will meet him at the Quartermaster's on your service mornings. You WILL be making up for your two missed days eventually as soon as I find a suitable task for you. Now you two are dismissed."
Rynil gave a slight bow in acknowledgement of the orders and headed for the door. He saw Squire Mikel imitate the gesture and then fall into place behind him as he exited the Chamberlain's Office. Rynil led the way to the Quartermaster's. As they made their way through the keep, Rynil briefly explained their task, "Not much to the job. Most of the hard work is carrying water from the moat to the latrines in the old keep. Once that's done it's a quick splash, scrub the outside and the lip of the waste hole, use the remaining water to rinse it all off, then give it a wipe with some towels to get most of the water up. It stinks of course but you do sort of get used to it after awhile."
"Can't be any worse then back on the farm," replied Mikel.
"Oh right, I'm sure you're used to worse," said Rynil, feeling foolish. The two Squires went about getting their buckets, brushes, and towels from the Quartermaster's storage and then headed out to get water from the moat. They carried the water back into the keep and begun giving the first latrine a cleaning. The silence was awkward as Mikel struggled to maintain any conversation beyond the basics required of their work.
Eventually Rynil mustered up the courage to say what had been on his mind since Mikel entered the Chamberlain's Office. As they scrubbed away Rynil spoke without looking over at the boy next to him, "Mikel, about what happened at the Squire's Tournament, I'm sorry."
Mikel stopped and looked over at Rynil who continued to work, avoiding eye contact. "Why? You didn't do anything wrong. You're the better fighter, you should've won. Why'd you offer me a draw? You had the fight won."
"Because I...I just couldn't keep hitting you. It wasn't right. The Lord's Champion should have stopped the fight but I think he was enjoying seeing me beat you. And it was more then just the fight. I was wrong to call you a coward. I was the one that was being a coward," said Rynil.
"Huh? How were you being a coward?" asked Mikel confused.
"I don't know, just, I'm sorry about it all," lied Rynil, not wanting to explain to Mikel about The Dream and how he had been trying to prevent Mikel from becoming a Squire. Now he was trying to not like the peasant boy turned Squire because he knew in his dream he had strong feelings for him and perhaps if he never got to like him then that would prevent The Dream from coming true.
"Well, uh, I forgive you then. After all I think it all worked out okay. I like being Sir Valen's Squire. Magic isn't as bad as all the stories say," said Mikel.
Rynil gave Mikel a dubious look, "Thanks." Rynil tried to go back to working in silence but Mikel had other plans. Mikel told the story of growing up in a peasant farming family that worked the Lord's land under the protection of a local Knight. He gave the edited version of his family being killed, then talked about spending the last couple of years at the Temple of the Harvest and finally about deciding to travel to Telisan to join the Squire Games in the hopes of becoming a Knight to try to avenge his family. After hearing Mikel's history, Rynil was feeling even guiltier for calling him a coward.
Having finished the first set of latrines, the boys returned to the moat and refilled their buckets. As they carried the buckets full of water up a flight of stairs towards the second set of latrines they heard the sound of someone rushing down the stairs. They both moved to the side to clear the center of the stairwell just as Squire Mekrin came running down. At the last second he seemed to veer towards Mikel and his shoulder struck him square in the chest. The force of the impact knocked Mikel back into the wall, his head smacked hard against it, and he fell to the ground while the bucket full of water crashed down the stairs.
Rynil dropped his bucket and jumped between Mekrin and Mikel, who was lying on the stairs dazed. "Leave him alone Mekrin!" shouted Rynil as he gave Mekrin a shove.
"Heheheh, don't get all upset," said Mekrin while laughing. "Why do you care what happens to the little peasant snot anyway?"
"Just leave him alone Mekrin. He's on duty so I could report you," threatened Rynil.
"It was an accident, I didn't see him until too late," said Mekrin smirking.
"Horseshit! You hit him on purpose," said Rynil.
"I'm okay Rynil, don't worry about," said Mikel from floor as he regained his senses.
"Yeah, listen to the peasant Rynil, you should be used to that after all," said Mekrin with a smirk as he pushed past Rynil and resumed his trip down the stairs.
Rynil helped Mikel get to his feet. "You okay?" he asked.
Mikel rubbed his chest then felt his head. "I'll be fine. Got a nice lump on my head and my chest is sore, but I`ll live."
The two Squires made their way back down to the moat to refill the now empty buckets. "That Squire, Mekrin is it? I remember him, he spit on me the day of the Squire Tournament. I'm starting to think he may not like me," said Mikel, chuckling at his understatement.
"Yeah, well you aren't the only one he doesn't like. He is an asshole. He doesn't have many friends among the other Squires but since he is Sir Galreth's, nephew a lot of the Knights and a few of the Squires treat him better then he deserves," explained Rynil as they re-filled their buckets and made their way back to the second set of latrines.
"Rynil, what did he mean about you being used to doing what a peasant says?" asked Mikel.
"He's referring to my mother. Although, she isn't a peasant, she is from one of the northern tribes," said Rynil.
"Your mother's from one of the barbarian tribes?" asked Mikel a bit surprised.
"They don't consider themselves barbarians," said Rynil sharply. When Mikel started laughing, Rynil got upset. "What's so funny?" he scowled.
"I'm sorry, I am not laughing at you. It's just this morning I had the same tone when I corrected a Page for referring to Sir Valen as `the wizard' in a kind of insulting way. I guess it's easy to talk down about someone you don't know. So let me start over. So your mother is from one of the tribes that live north of Selarn, how did that come about?" asked Mikel.
"Well my father's first wife died when she was giving birth to my older brother, or half-brother I guess. About ten years after that the King sent him as the leader of a group of Knights to try to negotiate a treaty with the northern tribes. The strongest tribe was the Wolf Tribe and after meeting with several of the tribes my father knew that if he could make a treaty with the Wolf Tribe, the rest of the tribes would follow. He spent a year living with the Wolf Tribe and as part of the treaty he married my mother who was one Chief Kalgar's daughters. To symbolize the joining of his family to the Wolf Tribe my father took the family name of Wolfe. So Mekrin likes to try to lord it over me like he is superior cause my mother isn't of "noble" blood," explained Rynil.
"Did you grow up with the Wolf Tribe then," asked Mikel.
"No, after they were married my father brought my mother back south. My siblings and I were born up near Lord Petris's holdings, which is the northernmost estate in Selarn. My father is steward over a portion of his lands near the border. So I grew up there till I was eight and was sent here and became Sir Alred's Page."
"Why did you come here to be a Page rather then at the Lord Petris's keep?" asked Mikel.
"I'm not really sure, my older brother did his service at Lord Petris's castle, but I was sent here. My father told me that Lord Velarik personally asked that I come here to serve as a Page. I'm glad I came here though, even if I do miss my family," said Rynil.
The boys worked hard to make up for the late start and the time they lost from their encounter with Mekrin. And while Rynil was content to work in silence, Mikel kept talking and asking questions, drawing reluctant conversation out of him. "Rynil, why do the Squires have to do work like this? Why don't the servants do it instead," asked Mikel.
"Well the way Sir Alred explained it to me, when Knights are out fighting bandits or on patrol along the border, they don't bring servants with `em, just their Squires and maybe some men-at-arms. So we have to be used to doing this type of work and not view it as something that is just for servants to do. Also Sir Alred said that Lord Velarik feels it makes us appreciate the hard work of the servants a little bit more if we have to experience some of it for ourselves," said Rynil.
After they finished the last of the latrines the boys returned the buckets, brushes and towels to the Quartermaster's supply room. Rynil showed Mikel the way back to Sir Valen's tower. He said goodbye to Mikel then headed to the kitchen, grabbed a little something to eat then headed down to the stables to get some riding practice in. He always found riding relaxing and after spending the morning with Mikel he needed some time alone to think. He saddled up his horse and rode out to do a circuit around the town and back.
The morning's events weighted heavily on him, he wanted to not like Mikel but the more time he spent with him, the harder it was to deny that he did like him. Then when Mekrin had pulled his stunt, Rynil had just reacted without thinking and before he knew it, he was standing over Mikel, protecting him just like in The Dream. The ride provided him no clarity and be the time it was over he was still torn between admitting he already had feelings for Mikel and resolving to do whatever he could to push the boy away in order to protect them both.