all, every one. Was Aydrian to assume responsibility for those who died in his ascent to the throne and to immortality? Was he to bask in guilt because he, above all others, had come to understand the truth and futility of the human condition, and had figured out a way to circumvent that seeming inevitability? The young king's breathing came faster, and he closed his eyes tight against the onslaught of terrible images as he absorbed it all, as he considered those who had died and those many more who surely would be slain along his road. He was robbing from them.
Days? Weeks? Months? Even years? the shadow in his mind asked him. How much was he truly taking from the pitiful mortals? And would they, to a man and woman, not take the same from him if ever they came to understand the truth of eternity and immortality, as did he? Aydrian opened his eyes and looked at the mirror, to see that only one shadow remained there, in the lower right-hand corner.
King Danube played in the arena of glory, he heard again in his thoughts.
He desired the same as you, but was not as strong as you. The reasoning seemed sound to Aydrian. What hubris Danube possessed to claim himself king of Honce-the-Bear! And if he did not have the strength to survive a challenge, then his overblown pride was certainly misplaced. Aydrian was possessed of more pride, perhaps, but he knew in his heart that he had the strength to back it.
Sometime later, the shaken young man stepped out of his coach and headed back to the procured house. He felt somewhat better; the demons of guilt had been put aside for a while.
He was surprised, when he opened the door to his sleeping chamber, to find Sadye sitting within. A single candle burned on the small table before her, illuminating her with its soft glow, the light seeming to flow right into her yellow-brown locks. She wore a simple nightshirt that only reached down to the midpoint of her shapely thighs, and her hair was unkempt.
Somehow that only made her more alluring.
"Where did you go?" she asked immediately, true concern evident in her voice.
Aydrian put one hand to his chest, his expression skeptical. "Me?"
"You are the only one here, Aydrian."
"I went out into the night air," he explained, walking past her to take a seat on the edge of his bed. "To be alone. To think."
"To think?"
Aydrian shrugged.
"Planning the strategy sessions?"
"No," he answered simply, staring off to the side, and when he looked back at Sadye a moment later, he saw true concern on her face, and true curiosity.
Again, he merely shrugged.
"We will enter the village of Pomfreth tomorrow," Sadye said to him, politely changing what was obviously an uncomfortable subject. "By all reports, the townsfolk are preparing a celebration in honor of their new king."
Aydrian managed a little smile at the news, and it was one of honest relief. "I am glad that they accept what has happened without opposing me," he explained. "It would not do my heart good to lay waste to a simple village."
"Marcalo believes that we must have one sizable fight at least before we reach Palmaris," Sadye said. "To show the rest of the common folk of the kingdom the futility of opposing the rule of Aydrian."
"Sometimes I believe that Marcalo De'Unnero just likes to fight," Aydrian replied. He took a good long look at Sadye to measure her reaction to that statement, then he just gave a helpless chuckle, and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I learned that you had wandered out. I was concerned," said the woman.
Aydrian started to ask about Marcalo, but then the former monk appeared suddenly at the open door, hardly dressed and looking none-too-pleased.
He stared at Aydrian, then even harder at Sadye, studying her intently.
Obviously uncomfortable, Sadye got up and straightened and lengthened her nightshirt modestly. "Aydrian left the building," she explained to the monk. "You should instruct him that such unexpected and unannounced forays into the night could bode evil for us all. He is the king, yet I fear that he has not yet come to understand what that means, or what he means, to the kingdom he rules."
Marcalo looked from Sadye to Aydrian as she gave her little speech, and he nodded and grunted a bit in agreement. But he wasn't being deflected that easily, Aydrian recognized. His concern at that time had less to do with Aydrian leaving to go outside