Secrets of a War God

11.

Tarnon

Uther had been waiting for his daughter to return from her little surveillance trip, when he was joined by Theon. Being his eldest they did have a connection, but it was nothing compared to Uther and Calissa. He knew this as well, knew he would always be second to his first sister. 

"How are you son?" They had both sat down on one of the benches in the garden, not wanting to move to far in fear of missing Calissas return. With a sigh, Theon turned to face his father. 

"In all honesty, I'm not well." This response had gained his fathers attention, but without a noise Theon continued. "There is no doubt a war forming, and you do not trust anyone but Calissa with anything to do with it. I am your eldest son, and you do not have faith in me." His voice and been becoming louder the more he admitted. "People are talking, and honestly, they wonder whether or not I will end up being their King."

At this Uther let out a chuckle, oblivious to Theons hard stare. The King had been hearing the servants around the castle talking about this, wondering which of the children would be the next ruler if not for Theon.

"You do not have the rights to question anything that I may do. Whether or not you will be King is something you may wonder, but you will not have the answer until I deem it to be the right time." Turning to face his eldest, he saw the waver in his anger with slight understanding. "You may be my eldest, and that may be how other rulers did this. But I will base it on what you can bring to the kingdom, not how old you are. A ruler must be out for their people, not for themselves."

With this, he turned back towards the sky, waiting for the shadow of his daughter. Theon remained by his side, taking in what his father had said. Trying to understand why that was the fairest decision. As he was deep in thought, Calissa and Nayas shadow could be seen in the sky, gradually getting bigger. Lyla came bounding from the palace steps, and started to walk in circles, obviously excited that they had returned. It was still weird for her family to witness her and the dragon, but obviously the people to come around to the idea first were her mother and father. 

Naya landed on the ground and as Calissa slid off her back she slunk her way towards her favourite tree. With the arrival, Uther stood and hugged his daughter tightly. He could never quite get over the fact that she would be riding a dragon, after all, he was taught to kill them.

Once he released his daughter they made their way inside the palace, leaving Theon to his thoughts on the bench.

"So, I assume it was a successful trip?" 

"You are correct father, it turns out the soldiers had brought in a reinforcement. The Arelyan Prince decided to grace the camp with his presence." At this statement Calissa saw her father tense, but confused as to why she continued her report. "Apparently the soldiers had been getting scared that there was a 'monster' in the shadows. So they sent the prince to reassure everyone that there was nothing to fear."

They had made it halfway to her mothers chambers when the king pulled her aside, into a corner of the hallway.

"You must promise me that you tell no one about this, you cannot trust anyone with this information. Not even your mother." With the statement, Calissa furrowed her eyebrows. As she was about to ask why Uther interrupted her. "I cannot tell you yet why this must be kept in the dark, but under no circumstances are you to return to the camp, or tell anyone of this. Promise me Calissa."

It had been a while since her father had used her first name, he preferred nicknames. Not only for her, but for everyone in his family. The use of her full name could only mean trouble. With a nod of her head, Uther let his daughter go and continued walking down the corridor, but this time he was aiming for his chambers.

Calissa was left in the corner thinking about what just happened. Her father had never reacted in that way for as long as she can remember, no matter how bad the situation became. Picking her thoughts together, she continued to make her way to her mother. She realised on her way that she didn't mention what prince it was, Uther could be worrying about the entirely wrong prince. With that in mind she changed direction and headed towards her father.

The closer she got to his chambers, the clearer she could hear voices yelling. Obviously there was some sort of disagreement going on, and that peaked Calissas interest even more.

"No! This is not what we agreed upon." It was unmistakably Uther who had spoken, but the reply was in a hushed voice so she couldn't tell who it was. With her ear pressed against the door she didn't notice Faris come up behind her.

"What are we doing?" With a jump Calissa moved away from the door and dragged her brother around the corner.

"What the f**k are you doing here? You shouldn't get back for another two days." Calissas response was met with a light chuckle.

"We had to leave early. It was actually father that had asked us to come back early, and to see him as soon as I made it home." Faris made to move towards the door, but Calissa pulled him back immediately. Obviously her brother hadn't been paying attention to the fact that she was trying to listen to a conversation. 

"You're going to remain outside with me for now and try to catch whatever it is that he is saying. Because before you so rudely interrupted, he was having a shouting match with someone and I want to know who it is." That was the simplest answer for now. Calissa had made a promise to not tell anyone, and she was going to keep it.

"Now are you going to help?"

Arelya

Tyrone had been summoned back to the palace to report what he found at the camp, but he refused.The prince knew that it was Calissa, the Tarnon War God, but there was something different about it. He couldn't help but think of her, the way she looked in the moonlight, her hair flowing in the breeze, the indescribable feeling of peace and wanting when he looked at her. His entire feelings were muddled with his need for this woman, and his need to be a perfect soldier and prince.

The men around him were continuing training, not wanting to cross the prince when there was permanent frown lines on his face. They all knew that the prince was supposed to be back in the capital, but didn't question him as to why he stayed. 

"Who's pissed in your drink this morning then?" With a clap on the back, Tyrones right hand man Blake sat next to him. Knowing each other since birth has its privileges, especially when both wanted to become warriors. He was the only one who dared speak back to him, after all, he knew Tyrone wouldn't do anything. 

"No one. What do you want?" With a curt nod to a chair, Blake sat down. Blake had been asked, or rather ordered, to persuade him to return to the capital. But he didn't want to do it, knowing his friend wouldn't go back anyway.

"I take it you've been asked to persuade me to go back. Don't waste your breath." A light chuckle left Blake.

"I was, but figured you wouldn't listen and honestly, I could't be bothered to argue with you. It normally ends with us beating each other up anyway." The friends looked at each other and exchanged a grin. They sat and watched the men train, occasionally pointing out who needed extra work and who could be up for a promotion, but Tyrones heart and head wasn't fully in it. And Blake noticed.

"Alright, enough of your half-hearted bullshit comments. What is going on with you?" Tyrone turned his head and stared at Blake, the unwavering brown eyes of his friend seemed to be staring into his soul. A sigh left his lips, and then his head hung down. It unnerved Blake, Tyrone hadn't been this distracted in a long time. 

"I don't know, something happened the other night and I can't get it out of my head." Tyrone sighed again but didn't look at his friend. "If I knew what I felt you know I'd try and explain it. Sorry man, just gonna have to deal with a distracted me for a few days." He got up from the chair and started walking towards his tent, wanting to get away from the sounds of training and his friend, who will no doubt continue to question him. 

Blake had watched his friend walk away with a frown, knowing Tyrone nothing should be able to distract him, and he just can't think of what could possibly be keeping him occupied.He wanted to follow but decided against it, instead he stayed sat down and went over all the possibilities. He was going through his childhood memories with Tyrone when he remembered something. 

He had been walking through the corridors in the palace looking for his father, when he had passed the lightly open office door to the Old King. Inside was his father, the Queen and the Old King, he was about to enter when he stopped and started to listen to their conversation.

"...shouldn't be doing this! It's absurd! No one has the control you think you do, let alone over one of your own childs future! If you keep them apart he will end up resenting you." The Queen was livid, pacing the office and refusing to look at her husband.

"We don't have a choice. Both of us have agreed to leave them to their own devices for as long as possible, but if they move together we can still try to keep them apart." The Old King stood and approached his wife, taking her into his arms. "We understand we are not in control of who is together and who isn't, but we can try and keep them apart for their own good for as long as possible." The Queen sighed and relaxed into his arms. 

Blakes father moved to the other side of the desk, "if they end up meeting on the battlefield it will be a different story, you know this don't you?" The Old King nodded his head solemnly and moved to take his wife out the room. 

Blake moved back out to the corridor and stayed hidden until his father came out. They looked at each other but didn't say a word, his father moved his hand towards his son and they both started to walk down the corridor.

He had thought about that day often in the years coming, but still had no clue who it was about. It was understood that half the story was about Tyrone from the looks the Queen gave him in the next couple of days. But Blake still didn't know who else it was about, and he wanted to figure it out.