Crown of Smoke

Chapter 5

            Thanks to the help of Blaine who used his power of persuasion (and knowing whose doors to knock on), there was a sizable crowd gathered in the village square, all with nervous and curious looks on their faces. It was a chilly late summer night, the kind that told you the real cold was just around the corner, but Gwen could not seem to stop sweating. Hayden had scribbled something which resembled a speech along with some extra notes for her with questions. He was there, along with her parents who had dressed up a little themselves for the occasion. Her mother had her hair down in dark waves around her face whilst her father had attempted to comb his to one side a little. They were all crowded near the fountain in the center of the square which had been turned off for the evening, leaving just a pool of water sitting at the bottom along with the shiny coppers children had thrown in to ask it to grant their wishes.

            Blaine came over to them, a smile plastered on his face and his presence like a breath of fresh air. Gwen looked at her mother who was fiddling with the baby blanket between her hands. Her father looked just as uncomfortable, repeatedly pulling at his collar and glancing at the clock. Gwen now felt truly sick because it meant that it was time for her to talk.

            “What did you tell them to get them to all come out like this?” Hayden asked, the only one apart from Blaine with a huge grin.

            “That there was a way to get out of the war, a new hope and to come to the square to find out,” he said, clearly very pleased with himself. “Naturally I knocked on Mrs. Turner’s door first, and she told the other half of the village I couldn’t get to.”

            Hayden nodded with approval. Gwen looked around the crowds as Hayden and Blaine began to talk. There were faces she recognized and some that she didn’t. She knew Jill from the butcher shop and her daughter Maisie from school. She saw the ridiculously handsome Tristan whom she had admired for a long time when she was younger but had become engaged to the florist’s daughter, Amber. She knew his brother, Zachary, as well, who had been friends with Blaine at school until they had some sort of falling out over a sports game and never forgiven one another. Other faces she knew began to stand out, Mrs. Barrington who had been her teacher once upon a time and her old dance teacher Mr Loughlin. She cringed away, still embarrassed all these years later that she dropped out after just a few months when most girls in the village carried on, especially considering the circumstances. She dreaded to think what Hayden would say when he heard that she had missed out on an opportunity to learn some grace and elegance.

            She began to feel eyes burning into her skin and suddenly her dress felt very itchy. He wanted to run away, to hide, but her duty kept her in place.

            “Gwen?” A voice that Gwen would have recognized anywhere and her shoulders lost all of their tension. Madeline had been her friend since the pair of them had started school together and the sound of her ever soothing voice and the sight of her kind blue eyes always managed to calm Gwen in a way she couldn’t describe. “Are you alright? You look… different. A good different, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not like you to be quite so dressed up!” She grinned as Gwen turned to face her.

            Gwen blushed. “I’m fine, and thanks.”

            “I went to the bakery yesterday but it was closed and I was worried but I’m glad to see you.” She smiled, ever kind and understanding. “How’s your family taking the announcement?”

            Gwen shrugged. “Worried but more about the uncertainty that it will bring than anything else. How’s yours?”

            Madeline shook her head, her face falling. “Father is fretting about what will happen to Samuel and Bailey and then worries about the fact that I will be the only one working so how we will afford anything, it’s just a giant kind of panic going on right now.” She became quiet, staring down at her feet as the toe of her shoe moved through the dust to create shapes in the dirt.

            “It will get better,” Gwen said, gently touching her friend’s arm.

            “Blaine certainly seems to think so. You should have heard him shouting in the streets,” Madeline said. “And I’m assuming he has something to do with it.” She gestured to Hayden who was on his tiptoes, looking over the heads of the crowd, trying to figure out how many people were there. Gwen could see past his eyes to the thousands of strategies being formed in his head. He caught her eye and raised his eyebrows, a glint of hope there that gave Gwen a sudden surge of confidence.

            “That,” she said, turning back to Madeline, “is Hayden.”

            Madeline didn’t say anything else but she was watching him suspiciously. Not many people passed through Eldun, so any stranger that came tended to be the source of much speculation. She looked around and spotted a few figures whispering, their eyes flitting to Hayden as they made their hushed comments about the man whom they did not know.

            “What’s he like, besides good-looking?” Madeline asked.

            “A pain in my ass. He’s the son of someone who used to work with my parents who’s staying with us, but he’s not a particularly gracious guest.” Gwen smiled to herself, glad to know that she wasn’t technically lying to her friend.

            Gwen’s mother came up behind her as Madeline chuckled quietly, protectively placing her arm over Gwen’s shoulder. She smiled at Madeline, but she did not quite manage to hide the worry in her eyes. Madeline returned the smiles, making small talk with Rose before returning back to her father and brothers. Gwen’s heart began to quicken as she realized that the time for her to be seen by the whole town was fast approaching. Her hands became clammy and she frantically wiped them on her dress, ruining any illusion she had created of being graceful. Her mother pulled her back to the place where her father, Blaine, and Hayden were all gathered. Her father looked worried, but both Blaine and Hayden had a fiercely determined look on both of their faces. It consoled Gwen a little that the pair seemed to have teamed up, but everyone knew that it was dire circumstances that bought the two very different boys to this place of agreement.

            “I still think you should talk first.” Hayden said to Blaine. “They know you, they trust you. No one has any idea who I am and as persuasive as I can be, I highly doubt that a group with a small-town mind-set will believe some big-city rich boy.”

Gwen smirked. At least Hayden was self-aware.

“I think that mother and father should do it,” Blaine replied. “They’re the ones who bought Gwen here, they are the ones who know the full story.”

Gwen turned to see her father shaking his head, but Blaine had a point. Her parents were the oldest and they were respected by much of the community thanks to the bakery and her father’s farm work. Coming out of Blaine’s or Hayden’s or her mouth it would sound like fantasy, like something which was too good to be true, but coming from a respected adult… It would sound like a miracle that had reared its head at the time when it was needed most.

            “Blaine’s right,” she said. Her mother’s mouth gaped open a little in shock and her hands tightened over the baby blanket she was clutching. “You two have a reputation none of us have and people are most likely to believe you.” She stared at her mother in the eyes, forcing her to see reason. She exchanged a look with her father and the pair took each other’s hands. It was a united front.

            “It’s settled then.” He said. “Now all we need is get people’s attention.”

            The town fountain proved to be an ideal stage, thanks to the wide ledges people would usually sit on in the hot summer air and bask in the sprays of water. Gwen had many childhood memories playing around the fountain, with its rusted bronze statue of the royal phoenix in the center, looming over her as they drew games on the ground in chalk. She had her first kiss sitting on the ledge of it with a boy called Peter Wells. It had not really been a very good kiss, but the setting of the fountain in the starlight had been the most perfect part of the evening.

            Her father climbed up to stand on the ledge before reaching down and helping her mother up. People began to quieten down expectedly, taking notice of them as they clambered up together. Gwen took a deep breath, holding it in, waiting for them to speak.

            “People of Eldun,” her father began. His voice boomed over the crowd, silencing anyone who had been talking. Suddenly Gwen could see the side of him which had been a royal guard. He was commanding and bold. Her mother stood next to him, smaller in stature but just as large in her presence. She had her arm laced through his, her shoulders back and the parts of her hair that were lose blew in the wind.

            “We understand that today had bought us the tragic news of war and I am sure that you are all fearing for your sons in the way that we care for our own,” her mother continued, her eyes involuntarily meeting Blaine’s. Gwen heard him gulp next to her and she silently squeezed his arm. “But I think we have all been aware that our kingdom has not been fit for a long time. There has been an economic crisis as well as the constant marginalization of those of us in the workforce and suffer the consequences of this. This war will only bring more of that.”

            A murmur went up from people, nodding in agreement. Gwen looked over to Hayden who had a small smile playing on his lips.

            “This is going to work,” he mouthed to her just as her mother began to speak again.

            “For so long we have thought that there is nothing we can do but to serve King Kaleb to combat this, that things will get better as they progress. Today’s announcement told me that this is not the case.”

            “There is, however, another option,” her father cut in. He reached his hand down to where Gwen stood. Her eyes went wide and she could not move. Eyes were on her. Hayden pushed her, making her trip a little on her silk skirts before taking her father’s hand and stepping up onto the ledge of the fountain. There was no crowd to shield her from the wind up there and the cold breeze now sent a line of goosebumps down her spine. She began to shake but she wasn’t sure if it was from the sudden surge of cold or the eyes that all lingered on her. She tried to put her shoulders back but out of the corner of her eye, she could see a small group of farmhand boys laughing behind their hands. She felt tears prick the back of her eyes but pushed them down.

            “You all know my wife and I as Rose and Eli, but these are not the names given to us when we were born. Our full names are Elliot and Rosaline and we fled to this town from the palace after the fire that killed King Emilian and Queen Juliette. The night we fled, we bought with us the child who was their daughter, the princess, raising her as her own. You know her as Gwen Gould, but her true identity is Princess Guinevere Cavenair.” Her father finished his final statement a declaration.

Gwen could feel the weight of his revelation like a blanket over the whole village as they stood, still silent and transfixed. The only noise she could hear was her own deep and frantic breaths, desperately waiting for any kind of reaction. Her eyes scanned the crowd. She saw Madeline, with her mouth agape. She met Gwen’s eyes for a moment but looked away quickly.

A hand shot into the air. It was that of Mrs. Barrington, her old teacher. Gwen almost laughed at the absurdity of having the teacher raise her hand to her for once.

“Why does this help us?” She shouted through the crowd. Her voice was not aggressive, but it held a hint of accusation.

Her mother opened her mouth to speak but it was Hayden who budged his way onto the platform. He stood next to Gwen, pushing her back into the shadows. Gwen would have been annoyed if she had not have been so relieved that she no longer had to even pretend to try and speak.

“Don’t you see?” He asked the crowd. His voice was desperate, passionate. “This is how we defeat the king! We bring him the rightful ruler to this kingdom and we begin to fix the issues that he has created the last sixteen years. Guinevere is the key.”

She looked at him and he looked down at her, his hair flopping in his eyes as he grinned. She looked back down at her feet, scared by the intensity of his gaze, how much he depended on her in this scheme of his. She gulped before taking a minute step forward, taking her place.

“Won’t we still have to fight though?” A male voice asked. Gwen identified him as Lucas Bennet, a childhood friend of Blaine’s.

“But what would you rather fight for?” Hayden asked him. “A king who uses you for his own petty gain and will continue to force you to fight, or for a girl who can stop the fighting altogether?”

A murmur went up from the crowd as people broke off into their own musings on the situation. Gwen looked to her parents who were exchanging a series of nervous whispers which she could not make out. She looked for Blaine, his auburn hair eventually catching her eye as he made a million hand gestures, obviously trying to explain the situation to some of the older ladies of the village.

“Even if people don’t all believe us, some will and the word will spread for itself,” Hayden said, leaning in to talk to Gwen. “There are still many loyal to your parents and the war means people need this more than ever.” He paused, a smile crossing his face. “I’m telling you, this is going to work.”

“So you’ve said,” Gwen muttered back, her hand going to reach the back of her head. Her hair had begun to itch, the few pins that Hayden had put in were now poking her in the head. She wrestled with them, pulling them out despite the disapproving look Hayden was giving her. She shook it out, letting the edges fall into her eyes, feeling more like herself.

She noticed Madeline in the crowd watching her. Gwen waved at her nervously. Madeline looked to her brothers, who were both staring at Gwen dumbfounded, and she looked back up at Gwen before shouting over the crowd.

“I believe them! And I think it’s the best chance we have at surviving all of this.”

Gwen’s face broke out into a relieved grin. She wanted to jump off of the ledge of the fountain and give her old friend a hug but Hayden’s arm brushing against hers reminded her to stay put. A few people nodded in agreement, a few others were shaking their heads.

“Do you expect us to go storming up to the palace then?” A male voice Gwen didn’t recognize shouted.

“Right now we just need the word to be spread to the other villages so that we know that we have the support of the people. Obviously, we can’t broadcast this the way we would normal news, so it has to be down to word of mouth.” Gwen’s father spoke up, repeating the words which Hayden had been drilling into them. Gwen looked over to see him, his chest pushed out with pride.

More people nodded, seemingly appeased. Gwen knew that this had been too easy and that they had gotten ridiculously lucky. She had the fact that her parents were there and that people were quick to trust their word but the closer that she would travel to the capital the more difficult it would be to try and convince people to follow her. Even in the neighboring villages, people would be more suspicious of them than in Eldun. Her chest filled with warmth as she watched the people she had grown up with a look at her with hope in their eyes, but she couldn’t help feel the pressure of their expectations.

She hoped that with more lessons from Hayden and the more the word got out that she would become more queenly but looking down at the town which she had grown up loving she still felt like the baker’s daughter.