Emerald Surface: Chapter 3

Lord Paul

         “Oh, will you please cut that out!” I exclaimed as Jacques continued to rumple through my closet in search of clothes suitable of today’s event. “Master Heim, I assure you that all will be fine.”

         “But Jacques, I --”
         “No buts, Master Heim,” responded Jacques, appearing from the closet with a very formal blue suit, complete with ruffles and all around the collar and such, a large blue vest, with the best black shoes money could buy in his aged, yet still retaining the strength of his younger years. “Now, I may be only your butler, yet I assure you that I simply cannot stand for you to not look as presentable as possible for this event.” I sat in the bed of my room, one of which three morbidly bloated boars could settle in. After a sigh, I retorted, “Just another reason for the commoners to grow more and more envious of my family.” I may be of the age of fourteen, but I was ever convinced to be aware of my surroundings. Jacques laid his outfit selected for me beside my body, and relieved himself from my room. I dare not observe my garments. They are remarkably clean, and have never been worn. I am but a son of the ruler of Province Cantase, whose ranking is no higher than that of the Pope, or possibly of a king’s assistant, so why parade in these uniforms that separate us from the less fortunate, and waste our money on goods, which are anything but. We should attend to the less fortunate; there must be something I can do --

         “Scott!” My father Lord Paul summoned me from downstairs. “Wouldst thine only son arise and come hither to give heed my calling!” Ugh, wouldst he stop speaking that way? What is this, the year 2978 of the Third Age? I step through the opening of my room, and enter the second floor foyer of Cantase Manor. To my near right, a staircase sloping downward in my direction of maybe fourteen or so steps lead to the first floor. My father’s lodgings include the Dunfy Suite, of which that includes accommodations for that of maybe the squire of Lord Dargase‘s highest ranking knight. The Dunfy Suite is set upon a private third floor; not the manager himself could afford to reside there. Inside my father’s suite there occupies a mechanized waterfall in the southeast corner, adjacent to the balcony outside. A waste of new-age technology, but you can’t knock it until you have feasted your eyes upon it. A chair, resembling that of the long-late king of Faugh, rests perpendicular to that of a long satin sofa a few feet from the door. The rest of my father’s suite accentuates that of the summerset island of Heloise. Accessories here and there, laden with shells of the ocean and dead fish that resemble a strange five-pointed shape the engineers of science refer to as a “star,” which resembles nothing of the balls of gas out of our reach in the sky.

         I discover my father, in front of the entrance of Cantase Manor, surrounded by two servants and -- what is this -- two rose bearers? At what hour had he obtained rose bearers? I can’t blame my father for his imperforate mind, I suppose. We had only came into money a few years ago, with Father’s induction into the Lords’ Committee, an organization started by our very own Lord Dargase, whose face is an apparent anonymity, says my father at least. My father gives the description of Lord Dargase as a man of average stature, clothed with a large, black, kingly robe, the top of his head supporting a gold crown, the inside circumference closed like a hat, and his face hidden behind a mask, a black mask as if the type one would spot in a masquerade ball. His voice is deep, rich, young, that of an army commander. Lord Dargase had come into power twenty-seven years ago, thus commencing the Third Age of the Dargase family reign. Lord Dargase and his mistress had given birth and reared two children sixteen years ago for two years, that is, until the battles, my father states.

         He speaks of the first child of Lord Dargase, who apparently was taken from his bed across from his brother‘s, (apparently there was no time to apprehend the other child) before Lord Dargase sounded the alarms. The constables attempted to chase the perpetrator down, but the criminal tossed the child off a walking bridge into the river about five minutes before constables caught the perp in an alley. No one had ever heard of Lord Dargase’s child ever again.

         When the criminal confessed to having “gotten rid of” the child on the grounds of protesting for the poverty-stricken people of the land of Kryz, the common-folk and artisans on the verge of bankruptcy because of the tax-raises to support the armies of Sforgsdam, Cantase and Ceruleam in order to repel the oncoming forces of Sardonyx, Lord Dargase sentenced the man to death by quartering before the man could expel a “Long live --”

         “Come now Scott,” my father reported as I lead myself down the stairs into the main lobby, “Why are you not donning your suit? Today is such a very special day! Come, act jubilant, the Nexus Crystals have been harvested! You know we must attend the festival at the center of This Wonderful Province Cantase!” Behind my father, the servants and rose bearers and the manager of this establishment, who had been eavesdropping from behind his reception desk at the opening of the door behind it, all applauded and gave a whoop or two at my father’s statement. I kept my hands still, and he continued, “Now then, if there is naught you wish of me my son, shall we rendezvous at the festival?” “You got it,” I told my father, and with that, he took his leave, rose bearers in front.

         I believe it was around the hour of 4, as Jacques and I proceed to the pedestal in the midst of a few hundred, maybe thousand of peasants as well as common-folk, with Cantase Knights surrounding the pedestal accompanying my father as well as Pope Julius, and in front of him -- the most beautiful stones I ever placed my eyes upon. Six crystals, each glistening with a mixture of colors reserved for jewels: topaz, aquamarine, sapphire, and the sort. The only diversion for my eyes was the sight of two people and their apparently noble steeds: one appearing to be maybe two years my age with green hair, blue vest and maroon undershirt with blue shorts and boots, and the other the same age with a sheathed sword and short black hair, some body armor and large blue pants with some medical wrapping around his shoulder. It seems these two are outsiders.