Crown of Smoke

Chapter 11

            “I’m coming with you!”

            “No you’re not, Harry, we have been through this!”

            “You need me!”

            “No, I don’t!”

            “But it’s not fair! We both had this idea, Hayden!” Harrison’s voice carried up the stairs. Gwen’s eyes opened to the pale light of dawn coming through her guest bedroom curtains. She squinted and stretched as the boys’ voices grew louder and louder in anger.

“We all had this idea, Harrison! I’m just the one who had the guts to do it.” Hayden’s voice was frustrated and tired. Gwen climbed out of bed and changed into her travelling dress once again.

The wool was scratchy against her skin and she hated herself for missing the feeling of the grand silk dresses of the last two days. She gazed wistfully toward the violet dress that still lay hung over the grand armchair in the corner and shook her head, grinding her teeth together. She was not going to be made into a snotty noble girl. Especially when the shoes pinched so much that her travelling boots now felt like they were caressing her feet in comparison. She made her way down the stairs and into the dining room where there was bread with a selection of jam spread out in the centre of the table.

Hayden and Harrison were standing at the head of the table, each one glaring at the other with storm clouds in their eyes. They didn’t notice as Gwen came into the room, taking a seat and smothering a thick piece of bread with butter and strawberry jam, munching slowly as she watched them with amusement.

“Harrison, I’ve told you if we travel with more than just Gwen and me I then we’ll attract attention.” Hayden sighed. His face was worn, the dark circles under his eyes telling Gwen that he had gotten as little sleep as she did after she told him about how her chat with Dorothy had gone.

Harrison didn’t look much better. His hair was matted and his eyes were red. The colour had drained from his face and his skin now had a green tinge. She imagined with the amount he had drunk that he had probably been ill most of that morning. She couldn’t help but smile, thinking of the way that when everyone else had left he had spun her around the dance floor with no cares or any graces until Hayden had to force him to go to bed with brute force. He was much less high spirited now.

“I have horses that we can use, it would be so much faster and we needn’t look suspicious in the slightest.” Harrison retorted. “We could be at Briar’s by this afternoon and have a wonderful dinner, you know she always has the best food, if we could just take the horses and go together!”

“No.”

“One person will not make a difference,” Harrison told him, placing one hand on his hip whilst the other grabbed a piece of buttered toast from the table, sparing Gwen a glance that said I’m impressed you’ve put up with him from this long.

“I’ve told everyone that we’re staying with that there’s only Gwen and I.” Hayden put his head in his hands. Harrison began to pout, slumping down in the seat right next to Gwen. It was probably overly familiar, the way he tilted his head back to look at Gwen with big eyes that begged her to be on his side. She ruffled his hair and laughed.

“Well you and Harry could share a bed,” Gwen said, looking up to see Hayden’s face reddening in anger. She stifled her laugh as Harry grinned, jumping back up and his eyes brightening. He threw his hand, still holding toast, over Hayden’s shoulder who nudged him half-heartedly off. “I think Harry should come.”

“You don’t get a say.” Hayden snipped.

“She should.” Harrison winked at her, the colour now coming back to his face thanks to the toast. “I think Gwen is smarter than you give her credit for.”

“Only because she’s supporting you!”

“Hey!”

“Gwen, look.” Hayden took his seat at the head of the table and looked at her, his eyes steady and calm. “I don’t think this is a good idea.” Gwen stared back at him, holding his gaze, her eyes narrowing and a sly smirk playing on her lips. Hayden’s eyes flashed, the green of his irises glinting, his face remaining neutral. They could feel Harrison watching them, judging them, but they kept up the childish competition until Hayden’s eyes watered, until he blinked and Gwen squealed in glee.

“Harry is coming, and we get to ride horses!”

They met at the stables an hour later, Harrison in a travelling set, waiting for Gwen next to a still seething Hayden with his arms crossed. The three horses lined up for them were all stunning.

The one closest to Hayden was tall and black, matching his dark hair. Even the horse’s eyes were dark and stormy. Hayden’s hand rested on the horse’s nose, stroking it softly as Harrison’s stable boys placed the saddle on the horses back. Harry’s horse, next to him, was a dark copper colour with a single white stripe running down his nose. He was a little less docile than Hayden’s horse, moving around as the poor boys awkwardly tried to force the saddle over the horse’s back until he eventually decided to lie down on the ground giving up with the whole process as Harrison began to laugh uncontrollably, bending over and tickling the horse’s chin.

The last horse must have been hers. It was white with grey speckles trailing up from the legs until they pattered out just where the saddle would lay, leaving the horse’s face pure. It’s mane and tail were also grey, but washed so clean it was almost silver in the sunlight poking through the clouds. Gwen wandered over to it, her fingers slipping through the thick, coarse hair. She hadn’t ever been much of a horse girl growing up, but she knew that this one was special somehow. It was hers.

The stable boy saddled the horse up with little effort, three small carts ready with luggage to attach to each one. Gwen realised with annoyance that a lot of the luggage seemed to be hers now that she suddenly owned a bounty of dresses thanks to Harrison’s new additions. Potter was aiding Harrison into his horse gear until Hayden cut in, telling him to stop looking like such a “posh twit” and that he would have to live without his extra comfort velvet helmet if he was going to tag along.

Gwen smiled to herself, patting down her own dress before jumping over the top of the horse, trying the saddle for herself. With a little wiggling, it wasn’t too uncomfortable for her, although perhaps not the most elegant. Hayden looked over at her.

“Queens are meant to ride side-saddle.” He shot.

“Well, thankfully I’m not a queen yet and we’re not meant to be attracting attention.” She shot back. To her shock and delight, he looked away and grinned as he mounted his own horse, shaking his head in pretend frustration.

“Now, now children don’t fight.” Harrison teased, poised and ready on his own horse, his expression changing from kind to stern in a heartbeat. “But really, please don’t fight it’ll be very tense and it will make this much less enjoyable.”

Harry looked like he had been born to sit there, his back straight and proud with his hood pulled up so it covered his golden hair but Gwen could still see him smiling beneath, clearly pleased at the freedom he had been granted. He seemed lighter, now that the farm was no longer under his watch. Her gaze went to Potter who was standing with a long list of responsibilities which he must oversee along with Dominic, the head farmer of the estate whom Gwen had been introduced to briefly at the ball the evening before.

She caught the eye of Hayden. In the morning light, she could see that shadow of stubble underneath his cheekbones and trailing along his jawline. With that and the commoner travelling set, he almost looked like one of the many boys Gwen had fancied in school. He nodded to her as the horses were attached to the carts which were now laden with trunks and some food for the journey.

Harrison led the way, his horse trailing in front with the familiar clip-clop sound of hooves and the dragging of the cart and its wooden wheels crackling against the gravel path. Gwen followed closely behind him, with Hayden leaving last in order to make sure that the pair in front of him behaved.

Now that they were getting closer to the capital, there were more and more houses along the road. It was no wonder that her parents had taken her so far away when only a few hours inland things became all the busier. She also began to realise why Hayden had been so opposed to having more of them travel together, especially with the horses. Any passers-by would turn their heads in awe at the three perfectly groomed horses and their mysterious riders, all sheltering underneath their hoods in some attempt to remain anonymous despite the warmth of the air around them.

It was a relief when the time for lunch came and they could all finally dismount, take off their hoods and bask in the sunshine of what seemed to be a long-forgotten meadow. Harry pulled out of his satchel a series of sandwiches and fruits made by his cook. Gwen grinned, never one to object to free and delicious food, and sat in the shade of the tree.

“Look at this stick,” Hayden said, coming back from his wandering in the long grass.

“For an intellectual, you do surprise me,” Gwen smirked.

Harrison laughed, earning himself another glare from Hayden as he began to prance around with the stick, poking the air in front of him. “This is the closest he gets to defeating fencing an opponent.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Of course the pair of you fence.”

“Harry was never any good at it, so really it’s only me who fences.” Hayden grinned, brandishing the stick so that it pointed to Gwen, resting just underneath her chin. She batted it away with her hand, taking it from him and trying to echo his movements.

She swirled the stick, whipping the air with her movements, delighting in the whoosh it made as it swiftly cut through the open space. Blaine had been through a phase when he was young where he was obsessed with pirate stories that their mother would tell. She had bought him a wooden sword and Gwen had occasionally stolen it from his bedroom to play with it herself, much to the disgust of Blaine. She knew her movements in her scratchy dress were probably much less fluid than those of Hayden who had the advantage of trousers, but she continued to stab at nothing and let herself enjoy the moment until she was breathless and fell down to the grass in an inelegant heap.

Hayden looked at her, his head tilted to the side. He hadn’t made fun of Gwen when she was moving around like a lunatic, although he did have a faintly amused look still.

“We should probably use this time to go over some things.” He said after a moment, looking away from her and pulling out a book from his own satchel.

“You’ve been carrying that thing around?” Harrison said aghast. He tossed Gwen a green apple and she bit down on it to hide her giggle as Harry rolled his eyes.

“Yes. And you’re going to help me teach her.” Hayden replied curtly, scooting a little so he was closer to Gwen, casting a slight shadow over her face. The book he held this time was smaller than the one about the royal family he had shown her at the cottage and it was also much more plain, just a simple tan leather cover with the black letters spelling out The Modern Guide to Colvine’s Nobility on the front. Hayden flipped over a few wordy pages to find a diagram, a pyramid with all the different ranks labelled in each section.

“Well, I know that one,” Gwen remarked, pointing to the top of the pyramid where it said King and Queen of Colvine. Hayden looked at her, daring her to say more, but she pursed her lips tightly together to show him that she was now listening.

“This diagram obviously isn’t perfect, but it’ll give you the main idea of what the kingdom you’re going to rule is actually like, I hope.” Hayden began. His voice was calm but clipped like he had rehearsed it in his head beforehand, ever the perfect teacher. “The bottom is where the majority sit, the working class or what you’ve been calling ‘commoners’. They make up the majority of the population which is why I want to make you appealing to them. The next step up is the middle class. Those are the business owners and such-“

“And there’s upper and lower middle class,” Harry interrupted. “Dorothy was upper-middle-class which is why she has a lot of influence in Sillin.”

“Are you done?” Hayden sighed.

“Carry on.”

“Right, well although it was a little off track Harry was right. Then above those, we have the upper-class. Again there are different degrees of this. There’s the newer upper-class and the old families. Me and Harrison are from older families, which is why we get invited to balls and things, our families are just shy of the next tier which consists of Lord and Ladies. Those lot will be easy to win over with Milo on our side, sort of. Knights and Dames sit on the same level, and then above them are counts and countesses. That’s what Briar is.”

“Briar?” Gwen asked.

“Who we’re staying with tonight, keep up.” Hayden snapped. Gwen decided she didn’t like the teacher version of Hayden very much. “Above those, we have dukes and duchesses, and then we have the royal family.” He paused. “Well it’s really just you but…”

            Gwen sighed, lying back in the grass as she tried to digest the information.

            “Can I see that for a moment?” She asked, stretching out her hand for the book. Hayden hesitated but he handed the book over. Gwen turned over to her front and scanned the words, again and again, begging them to stay put in her mind so that she didn’t have to listen to Hayden’s explanations anymore. She could hear the two boys mumbling to one another, Hayden laughing at something Harry said, but Gwen ignored them.

            She turned over the pages of the book whilst Hayden was distracted, going through the power and the politics. The royal council was formed mainly of dukes who acted to advise the royal family in their decisions, with smaller councils run by counts. That meant that Briar, whoever she was, probably had a good insight into the way Kaleb’s operation was really run.

            She skimmed ahead. There was a chapter on Kaleb, the way he had “found” power when the Cavenair family had ceased to exist. He had been a count, or at least his father had, one that was apparently favourable to people. Each count submitted his son as a nomination for the position of the new king, and anyone whose station was a knight or above was able to vote, leaving the majority of the people of the kingdom uninvolved.

            Gwen rubbed her temples. If Kaleb had been voted in as this book said, then why was he causing so many issues? How could someone who the majority has supposedly voted in now be sparking such a rebellion that the previous royals hadn’t faced in over a century?

            “Guinevere, did you hear me?” Hayden shouted over. He was beginning to reattach the horses to their carts, signalling that their moment in the sun had ended. She snapped the book shut and dutifully stood up to give him the volume back. He gave her a quizzical look as she handed it to him, clearly unable to hide the guilty look in her eyes, but he didn’t say anything to her, instead of flipping through the volume himself.

“We’ll cover more of this later and hopefully things will become clearer.” He said, his brow arching as he scanned the pages she has been reading. His voice had softened from earlier, no longer in his teaching mode. “It’ll all make sense once we reach Briar’s.”