of their father.
A shout from the dock stole Ethan’s attention, and he looked that way just in time to see a cyclopian smash an islander fisherman to the wharf. Two other cyclopians joined their comrade, and the three punched and kicked the man repeatedly, until he finally managed to scramble away. Laughing, the three went back to their duties tying up the cursed craft.
Ethan had seen enough. He spun away from the balcony and nearly crashed into two of his father’s own one-eyed soldiers as they walked past.
“Heir of Bedwyr,” one of the cyclopians greeted through smiling, pointy yellow teeth.
Ethan did not miss the condescension in the brute’s tone. He was the heir of Bedwyr, true enough, but the title rang hollow to the cyclopians, who ultimately served only the king of Avon and his wizard dukes. These guards, these “gifts” from the duke of Montfort, were no more than spies, Ethan knew as everybody knew. Not a soul on Bedwyr mentioned that little fact openly though.
“Do your appointed rounds normally take you to the private quarters of the ruling family?” Ethan snapped.
“We have only come to inform the nobles that the cousin of the duke of Montfort has arrived,” the other guard replied.
Ethan stared at the ugly creature for a long while. Cyclopians were not quite as tall as most men, but were much thicker, with even the smallest of the burly race weighing nearly two hundred pounds and the heavier brutes often passing three hundred. Their foreheads, slipping out of a tight patch of stringy hair, were typically sloped down to the bushy brow of the single, always bloodshot, eye. Their noses were flat and wide, their lips almost nonexistent, offering a perpetual view of those animal-like yellow teeth. And no cyclopian had ever been accused of possessing a chin.
“Gahris knows of the arrival,” Ethan replied, his voice grim, almost threatening. The two cyclopians looked at each other and smirked, but their smiles disappeared when they looked back at the fiery Ethan, whose hand had gone to the hilt of his sword. Two young boys, human servants of the noble family, had come into the hall and were watching the encounter with more than a passing interest.
“Strange to wear a sword in one’s own private quarters,” one of the cyclopians remarked.
“Always a wise precaution when smelly one-eyes are about,” Ethan answered loudly, taking strength in the appearance of the two human witnesses. He more than matched the ensuing scowls of the guards.
“And not another word from your mouth,” Ethan commanded. “Your breath does so offend me.”
The scowls increased, but Ethan had called their bluff. He was the son of the eorl, after all, an eorl the cyclopians had to at least maintain the pretense of serving. The two soldiers turned about and stomped off.
Ethan glanced at the boys, who were running off, but undeniably smiling. They were the youth of Bedwydrin, the eldest son thought. The youth of a proud race. Ethan took some solace and some hope in their obvious approval of the way he had stood down the ugly cyclopians. Perhaps the future would be a better time.
But despite the fleeting hope, Ethan knew that he had given his father yet another reason to berate him.
CHAPTER 2
TWO NOBLES AND THEIR LADIES
A CYCLOPIAN SOLDIER, shield emblazoned with the bent arm and pick design of Montfort, entered the audience hall of Gahris Bedwyr’s home a short while later. It was a large rectangular room, set with several comfortable chairs and graced by a tremendous hearth.
“Viscount Aubrey,” the one-eyed herald began, “cousin of Duke Morkney of Montfort, sixth of eight, fourth in line to . . .” And so it went on for several minutes, the cyclopian rambling through unimportant, even minuscule details of this viscount’s heritage and lineage, feats of valor (always exaggerated, and still seeming not so tremendous to Gahris, who had lived in the tough land of Bedwydrin for more than sixty years) and deeds of generosity and heroism.
A viscount, the island eorl mused, thinking that practically every fourth man in Eriador seemed to hold claim to that title, or to one of baron.
“And his fellow, Baron Wilmon,” the cyclopian went on, and Gahris sighed deeply at the not-unexpected proclamation, his thoughts proven all too true. Mercifully, Wilmon’s introductory was not nearly as long as Aubrey’s, and as for their female escorts, the cyclopian merely referred to them as “the ladies, Elenia and Avonese.”
“Ellen and Avon,” Gahris muttered under his breath, for he understood the level