It was late evening. King Leofric lay in his bed, weary with his eyes closed, looking like death was only a moment away. Officials stood near the end of his bed, trying not to stare at the old king. Amongst them were his trusted minister Erhard, who had been doing much of the daily ruling in his stead for the past year, when he had been slowly getting more and more weak. One of the highest ranking generals was there, named Loftva, stood close to Leofrics eldest son Garrick speaking with him in a low, gravelly voice. Bishop Brimian of the church, counsellour of court Durnt and of course, a little way off from the group of important peopl
The kingdom of Aylee was a peaceful land. It wasnt a particularly large country, though its rulers had in its past for a long time been very eager to expand its borders. Each monarch had waged war on neighbouring countries, at times conquering and other times losing. But for some tens of years now the armies had been small and only on the duty of keeping peace where it was needed, guarding the borders from vengeful neighbours.
It was his 37th year of ruling and King Leofric the Courageous was concerned his reign would not reach over forty years. He stood by some window gaps, peering outside into the sunny city beneath, beyond the castl
It was an ordinary day. The land was at peace, the people were not warring (at least, not anywhere nearby the kingdom) and even normally ferocious carnivore animals seemed more mellow. It was rather strange then, that a man had set on a journey with a heavy heart. The brightly shining sun did no raise his spirits, but he looked at the land around him in a bit of a sorrow. His face showed lines of worry.
The man rode his horse on a well-travelled road, in a peaceful trot so as to take his time. Every now and then small groups of happily chatting peasants passed by him going in another direction. They only glanced at him, not recognizing his s
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 6 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 6
"Milady, you weren't at lunch. Is everything fine with you?" Mary asked, watching her mistress dubiously.
"... 'm not hungry, Mary..." Rosalie muttered. She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling with a sad look on her face.
"Have you had breakfast? You aren't falling ill, are you, milady?" Mary came and made to try Rosalie's forehead, but Rosalie frowned and lightly slapped her hand off.
"I'm not sick. I'm... I'm a bad person, Mary", Rosalie mumbled, her lower lip trembling precariously. She felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Milady! What are you talking about? You're not a bad person at all...!"
"I am!" Rosalie cried and rolled her
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 5 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 5
Rosalie spent the following week anxiously fretting over Alexander, worrying about whether Jonathan would show up or not, and being utterly bored. She spend most of her time with Seraphine either crocheting or talking about politics. Rosalie had never been all too interested in politics, so usually it was just Seraphine voicing her opinions and Rosalie nodding passively every now and then. Rosalie missed her horse. She thought she should sent a letter to her father to ask for it soon. She couldn't even go for a walk, since there were not enough guards to accompany them. It was too dangerous to go out now, this close to border.
At times Rosal
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 4 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 4
Rosalie couldn't believe how busy she'd gotten in the past week. They'd settled on getting married at the beginning of summer. The date was less than two months away and counting, but from all the things they had to get ready it seemed to Rosalie they might as well be getting married in a week's time.
Rosalie ran a hand through her hair wearily and sighed. At least she didn't have to worry about everything herself. Alexander's older sister, lady Seraphine Patience Maluard, had arrived some days ago and promptly taken over most tasks. Rosalie had been too happy to hand over her responsibilities. All she had to spend time with now was the dres
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 3 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 3
The castle seemed to be full of busy people. Mary couldn't hurry a few steps without someone calling for her, insisting she come and help them at once. She ran past everyone, quickly explaining: "No time - must go wake up mistress - sorry!" She gathered her skirts up and skipped two stairs at a time.
She stopped for a breather at the top of the stairs and walked at a quieter pace to lady Rosalie's door. She tapped the door brusquely with her knuckles and wedged it open without waiting for a reply. The room was empty. The windows were covered and it was dark in the room. Mary walked right in and started opening the windows. She banged the cov
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 2 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 2
Two women were arguing about something in loud voices; some men were carrying sacks from a cart into a store; a group of people had gathered to watch an early morning brawl between two beggars. The first impression of the town near Grathwood's castle was perhaps not the best the new recruits could have gotten. The knights comforted themselves with the reminder that guarding commoners was beneath them and so they would hardly have to spend much time inside the town itself. The rest of the men were guardsmen, retired soldiers already noting where the tavern was. The knights on their horses paid little attention to the people going about the cob
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 1 by Riibu, literature
Literature
NaNoWriMo 06 - RJ - Chapter 1
It was a sunny morning in Wrothvale and the weather was great for the tournament. There were hardly any clouds in the sky and no strong winds blew. The lords' and knights' many multicoloured flags flapped lightly in the breeze atop their poles. They showed all the people coming to enjoy the event who were the competitor's in that year's tournament. The commoners' stands were already quite crowded and loud noises carried over the field. People dressed in expensive and colourful clothes were making their way to the nobility's sheltered stand, producing their own loud chatter.
"Rosie!" someone called. A girl dressed in a modest forget-me-not bl