Song of Corruption Chapter 1 Edit

Thunder echoed in the distance, a warning of the approaching storm to the sailors in the port city of Risv. The light patter of rain against ceramic tile echoed down the empty marble halls of the castle. James sighed as he watched the rain start pouring down from the heavens. It was another fast and hard rain, just like all the other summer seaside storms had been.

He slid out of the window sill and shut the wood panes tightly to keep the cold of the storm out of his room. He hated being in the port city. It was just a fledgling orc colony, which meant there was absolutely nothing to do outside of the castle walls. Right now the city only housed sailors and military personnel. They were always focused on their duties during their shifts and their pleasure when they were off work. He was not one for getting drunk or spending the night with a random wench in his bed though.

They wouldn’t have tolerated his company anyway. Most of the occupants of this port were orcs; a sea faring people who were on the burly side and towered almost a foot over the average sized human. They had dark skin, hair, and eyes from centuries of sailing the open oceans, giving them protection from the sun and an intimidating look.

Few of the sailors were of other races, mostly half orcs and humans. The full blooded orcs tended to have a problem with the other sailors. He assumed it was from previous wars and hardships between the races. Even as a prince he suffered their scrutiny and ridicule. They mostly had no care for any human it seemed.

The prince sighed again and scanned his room, looking for something to hold his attention for a while. He had all the comforts a crown prince could ask for, but no desire to utilize them. The few servants of his court that had been brought along were boring and focused on their duties. They would rush or half heartedly indulge in the prince’s requests whenever he asked for company. He didn’t blame them though. They were in unfamiliar territory with orcish servants to intimidate them at every turn. Then there was the meeting between the various kingdoms and territories. The servants of every court were busy preparing for it.

It was barely mid day and the meeting time was fast approaching. He had little interest in this meeting, but his father insisted upon him being there. It was his duty as the crown prince after all. It was a way to kill time at least. He crossed the room to his dresser and pulled out a white cotton tunic and blue velvet pants. He tossed his night shirt off into the corner of the room for the servants to deal with later. He took his time slipping his pants and shirt on. He was in no rush to get ready. He pulled on a pair of socks then his boots and pulled open the top drawer of the dresser.

Nestled under a layer of silk cloth rested a gold pendant with a large ruby laid in the center and several small inlays of sapphire. He carefully grasped the gold chain and pulled it from the dresser. He fumbled with the clasp for several minutes before getting it open. He usually had help putting the pendant on, but the servants were busy with preparations.

After several more minutes of fumbling with the pendant he managed to hook the clasp and gently lay the pendant against his chest. He moved to the full body mirror and straightened out his shirt. He stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. He wasn’t what he would call a handsome lad, more along the lines of looking average. If it weren’t for that pendant around his neck no one could tell him apart from any other teenage boy his age. He wasn’t very muscular, but he could handle a sword and armor with little problem. He stared into his own emerald eyes for a moment before glancing to the scar on his cheek that he had received from a spar gone wrong. After a few moments of appraising himself, he pulled his shoulder length brown hair back and tied it into a pony tail with a black string. He had been able to do so for years with the encouragement of the court bard.

He looked himself over one last time to center the pendant on his chest. He stared at the reflection of the emblem carved into the back of the gold, a large eagle diving down with its talons extended, ready to capture its prey, the royal seal of Tordar. He hated that pendant. It was tradition for the crowned prince to wear the pendant in public. He even had to wear it during training.

Personally he preferred his bloodline to be kept hidden from those around him. People acted nicer to him once they knew he was the crowned prince. He hated it when people acted polite just because of his heritage. He would rather be respected for being himself rather than respected out of fear of retribution. That was why his best friend was the court bard, Erwon. The half elf was never afraid to stand up to the prince for any reason. Erwon was seven years his elder and practically raised him.

James sat down on his bed and stared at the closed window, listening to the silence broken by the hard patter of rain on the wood and stone. He couldn’t remember a day without Erwon being present. The half elf was always watching over him, even when he thought he was getting away with something. Somehow, Erwon always knew. Every time he caused mischief or accidentally broke something, Erwon either caught him in the act or punished him for it.

James was a brat when he was younger. He smiled as he remembered the day he wanted to get back at Erwon for making him clean the horse stalls with the stable hands for making fun of them. He had snuck into the kitchen while the cooks had time off. The kitchen was dark and empty; the only light came from the small lantern the young prince had stolen from the stables.

He reached the pantry just in time. When he stood still in front of the massive wooden door he could hear the heavy foot falls of his angry teen guardian. James held his breath and quickly slipped into the pantry, shutting the creaking door behind him. He dimmed the flame of the lantern and stood still. His breath was caught in his chest as he listened to the echoes of the footsteps draw closer.  The echoes stopped just outside the pantry, he could see the light of Erwon’s lantern through the crack under the door.

James hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until the light of the torch dimmed and the footsteps started up again, slowly growing softer as Erwon continued on in search of James. He finally exhaled silently and began to breathe regularly again. He waited a few moments, listening to the silence and staring at the darkness until he felt safe enough to turn the light back up.

He sat the lantern down on one of the racks and dug through the jars of honey until he found one of the worst smelling ones. He dumped handful after handful of oats and rice into the honey and stirred it with a wooden spoon he had smuggled away from lunch. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he put the cap over the honey and picked up the lantern.

The door to the pantry slowly creaked open again as the mischievous prince peeked out from the crack. The coast was clear and he could move undetected again. He retraced his steps back out of the kitchen and up the back stairs. He took the most round about path he could in the old castle up to Erwon’s room. Thankfully no one questioned him or stopped him.

He opened the door to his care taker’s room and sat the lantern on the stand, turning the dial to shut off the flow of fuel to the flame and extinguish it. With a cackle he pulled the blankets back and popped the lid off the jar of honey, stirring it once more to make sure the concoction was well mixed. Just before he could pull the wooden spoon from the jar, he was yanked back. The honey jar hit the stone floor and shattered, spilling its sticky amber contents.

Before he could even register what happened, James found himself dangling several feet from the floor. He squirmed and kicked as he tried to free himself from an iron grip. His struggles were useless and he quickly found himself hanging from a coat hook on the wall, faced with the smiling face of Erwon. The half elf was tall with short blonde hair and a tan that had several young women after him. As always, he was dressed in purple cotton pants and a tunic of the same shade. The cuffs of his pants and sleeves were laced with a gold hued fabric.

“Now now, you don’t want to give the maids a hard time, do you?” Erwon’s voice was soft and sweet. With his smile and voice he could charm a mother out of her own child. On more than one occasion he had calmed spooked horses and turned away wild animals without a scratch. He wasn’t always fortunate but he was one of the most convincing people in the court. James was rarely taken in by his charms though.

“Let me down you knife eared f-.” James was cut off by Erwon stuffing a scarf into his mouth. “Quiet now.” Erwon gave James a pat on the head in a condescending manner. “You’ll be cleaning that up when I let you down, and you will be telling your parents what you did so the cooks don’t get in trouble for the missing inventory.”

Just like that, Erwon had defused James’ attempts at revenge. He was still mad at Erwon for always foiling him back then, but he learned to behave or he would face consequences after several attempts. A loud knock on the door startled James out of his memories and made him jump. He turned to face the door, fighting back the lingering feeling knot in his chest.

The door opened slowly as a young woman peeked in, holding the door half shut while leaning on it. James recognized her as one of his father’s personal servants. “My prince, the summit will be starting soon… Your father wishes for you to attend.”

He could see the look of fear on her face. He knew she would face his father’s wrath if he didn’t show up to the summit. He nodded and stood. “I will be down in a few moments. Please inform my father that I will be down.” He picked up his night shirt and examined it for a moment before setting it on the night stand, intending to wear it again.

The servant girl took the hint that he still needed some space before coming down the stairs and quietly shut the door behind her. Despite her light steps, James could hear her dainty footsteps echo down the hall for several seconds. He didn’t know what was worse, a king who punished his servants for what others did or a king who forced his servants to be seen and not heard. The poor girl was likely to receive some lashings for making so little noise.

His father was an odd king anyway. He kept several personal attendants, all of them young elven girls. The queen absolutely hated that he kept these elven attendants around, but there was nothing she could do. He was headstrong and gave into no one. His headstrong nature and habits almost lead to war with a neighboring elven nation before James was even born. It took several years to resolve and was mostly unknown to the public.

The incident was so covered up that James had no idea how it was even resolved. Only his parents and the elven diplomats knew how it was resolved. Everyone else involved in Tordar who knew had died mysteriously several months after the resolution. He suspected that his father had something to do with the deaths of the men and women involved, but had no way to confirm it. It didn’t matter much anyway, it was in the past.

He considered his father a cruel man who preferred to raise the flag of war rather than negotiate with other nations. To Tordar though, the king was a kind and gentle ruler who tried to be fair. His father fought for the prosperity of Tordar even at the expense of others. He even seemed to have a horrible liking for torturing or crushing smaller, weaker nations.

James stood in front of the mirror and straightened his clothes again. He needed to look his best at the summit after all. He was representing his father, as all the other heirs were that would be in attendance. He looked his best without his usual military adornments. Weapons were forbidden from the summit though, to promote the idea of it being peaceful.

He took a shaky deep breath and turned to leave the room. He yanked on the door and swung it open fully, leaving it to slam shut behind him. The echo of the door rang down the halls. He cringed at the sound. He really hadn’t meant for it to slam like that, he just didn’t care to shut it carefully. His cheeks flushed red for a moment as he stood in place, waiting to see if someone would come inspect the noise. When no one did he exhaled slowly and started down the hall toward the stairs.

The palace was eerily silent and devoid of life. The dead silence made him very uncomfortable as a knot of fear began to well in his stomach again. Only his footsteps broke the silence, accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder. The sound of rain drumming against the glass of the windows as the rain came down harder only made the empty castle creepier.

The windows were all shut up tight, the wooden shutters blocking out the light outside. The halls had been lit with oil lamps to keep the residents comfortable. He descended the flight of stairs and turned the corner, following the bright red rug down to the antechamber that the meeting was being held in. The closer he got to the large oak doors, the better he felt. The knot in his stomach grew none the less as waves of anxiety and nausea began to wash over him once he realized that he was about to step into a meeting between the nations, something he hadn’t even been trained for yet. He wasn’t ready for this.

He stopped and stood in front of the door, hesitant to enter. He lifted his hand to grab the brass ring, but slowly drew back as he bit his lip. He thought of going back up to his room, away from this meeting and to the safety of his books. He didn’t want to risk blowing it for his nation. What if all the others decided to murder him and his father to put an end to Tordar’s reign and throw the nation into confusion?

He slowly drew his hand back and took a deep breath. He knew he had to try to go in there, no matter what would happen. And there would be allies to his nation in the room. Surely they wouldn’t let anything happen. He reached out to grab the brass ring again, but before he could even get close to it the door swung open and knocked him onto his back side. A large man peeked out the door, looking around before looking down at him.

“Oi, what’re ya doin down there wee one?” The orc gave him a quizzical look before offering a hand out to help James to his feet.

James’ face burned hot and red with embarrassment. He pushed the orc’s hand away and angrily stated “Nothing, you hit me with the door and I fell back.”

The orc’s laugh echoed down the halls as he ignored the prince’s refusal for help. He grabbed the prince by the arm and hoisted him to his feet, letting go once James was stable and standing on his own. “Sorry wee one. Didn’ know ye were there.” The orc chuckled again and pushed the door open and stood aside. “Yer the last one missin. I was about to go get ya.”

James snorted in anger and looked away from the orc, focusing on walking forward and getting into the room. Like it or not, he was there now. There was no running.