Birth of an emperor

Narrated by Captain Lona Pryde

Owin and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. In fact, I don't think even my father could remember how or when we met. We just know we were always close, and that's fine by us. We practically grew up together, even though our parents did not always like that...probably because we took on our respective lessons to spend time together.

I was already calling him a girl back then, and he already did not like it. He never was found of fighting, which was a bit disappointing. I tried a lot of things to get him to move his ass, but he kept saying he preferred "diplomacy", whatever that meant in the context of two friends happily roasting each other.

Despite my opinion of him, I enjoyed his company. We used to play in the castle, the stables, the court...pretty much everywhere we could sneak in. We would hide and play pranks on the poor unfortunate souls who passed by, or just lay down and take a moment to breathe and laugh. No responsibilities, no worries, nothing mattered during those times. And we were happy. He was happy.

Unfortunately, our duties were inescapable, and eventually caught up to us. As we grew up, it became increasingly difficult to spend time together as friends. I could tell that was bugging him. I was his only friend, and he felt like we were drifting apart.

One night, after weeks of almost not seeing each other, he came to wake me up. Said he had a fun plan. Obviously, we were about maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, in the middle of the night, my night gown barely holding up, I thought he wanted us to have sex. Told him to get his ass out of my room before I kicked his shit right back up inside it. But I was wrong.

Owin had never gotten out of the palace, he never met any of the people he was supposed to rule over someday, and he wanted me to come discover it with him. He had planned on stealing some servants clothes so we could dress like commoners for the day, and simply walking in again the following night.

Now I did not want to get involved in such a shitty plan, but he seemed so resolute I thought he might go without me anyways. I guess I let him talk me into it. I was still uncomfortable with the idea of having him in the city since he did not know anything of it. And I must admit, there was not that much more I knew myself.

So we snuck out of the palace. I brought a dagger despite Owin's protests, and a bit of money. Never a bad idea to be prepared for anything. Those clothes though, even worse looking and smelling than my training gear. Owin was not yet emperor back then, but I still forced him to cover his head. By the time the sun rose and people went out, we were already at the center of the city. Thus begun the longest day of my life yet.

The day started slowly, only a few people in the streets, enough room to watch Owin and our surroundings. The more time passed however, the more people we met. He seemed to like it, I did not. All those people could recognize him, and God's will be ours if that happened. But something worse happened. Before I even started thinking about another catastrophic scenario, Owin had vanished.

No matter where I looked, I was not able to find him. Already images of him being gone forever, lost in the crowd, maybe dead on one somber alley, crossed my mind. I had just lost him, maybe forever, and there I was, completely lost, no idea what I should do, my heart seemingly wanted to rush out of my chest and explode. I grabbed my dagger almost by reflex, but I using it would definitely make things worse, however impossible that seemed. And obviously, calling him was a no-go, I could not risk anyone recognizing him.

Before my panick attack killed me though, I heard his voice. On a market stand not far, he wanted to taste some fruit, but of course he did not know commoners had to buy their food before eating it, and the merchant was starting to get annoyed. At least I knew what to do now. First thing I heard when I approached was Owin, completely lost.

"Why are you acting so weird, those fruits are for people to eat, are they not?"
"They are, if you got the money for it."
"But I do, as I told you before."
"Still haven't seen it, so either give it to me or get lost."
"There you are!" I interveined, "Excuse my friend, he does like his fruits...how much are they?"
"Right. You're lucky I'm a patient guy, I should've called the guards the moment he tried to steal from me. They're usually 2 coppers each, but since you made me lose my time, you'll have to make it double. That's 5, in case you can't count." that shit stain told me.
"Double of 2 is 4 you crook." I said while handing him his 5 coppers, and making sure everybody around his shitty shop heard. "I'll take this, but be happy that's all I'm doing to you."

While I walked away, holding Owin by the arm, I could still hear that shitty merchant vociferate, but I was so pissed I could not even understand a word he said. We disappeared from an alley and before I could think about what to say, I punched Owin in the arm.

"What was that for?"
"Are you out of your mind? Maybe trying to get killed? Seriously, what were you thinking disappearing like that?"
"I apologize to have startled you Lona, I-"
"That is the least of my concerns! You are the future of our nation, if something happened to you, I...this has been a failure. We're going back."
"No, wait! Please...I admit going to this merchant alone was a mistake, but I need to see who they are. These people. My people. How could I lead them without knowing what their lives are like? I mean, this altercation at least proved educational. At the palace, everything is handed to me whenever I ask for it, but clearly things work differently here."
"That's because you need money outside! I'm surprised this shit head didn't call the guards on us!"
"But I have money!"
"No, you don't. Your family has money, but you don't. And anyway, money does not get you things just because you happen to have it, you need to spend it, it's an exchange. Did none of your lessons teach you that?"
"I was taught about country economics, but I never thought people had to do the same for their everyday lives..."
"Well, they do. They may not have armies and diplomats and servants and whatever, but they have far less money to help them too."

At this point, he was almost crying. He looked at me with big, round, moist eyes, and a frown like a child's, and looked away almost as soon as he crossed my gaze. He really looked like a toddler with his double chin, so I joked with him about it to make him feel better. I never knew why, but it was like he tought I would abandon him on the spot for that.

He begged me to stay, to give him another shot, and other of more or less the same thing, so we did stay in town for the day. He did not do anything stupid like this the whole day, lucky me, but then something I was not expecting happened.

The day was actually quite nice, even though I was stressed out the whole time. We did talk to some people, carefully, and they were not that terrible. But still, they didn't feel listened, they live in misery while we live in a palace, those are two different worlds.

Alright, I guess I could have seen it coming. After we snuck up inside the palace, Owin told me he would do it again. Not as a suggestion, but as an affirmation. He would definitely do it again.

When he was around, I never could understand, but now that I think back about everything that happened, it seems just...right. They were his people, our people, our species, and he had to rule them. If he didn't understand them, then he could never be just. And if he couldn't do that, then it's my greatest fears which would come true, they would revolt and perhaps kill him.

All our lives, I had been raised to fear the people and their restricted vision of the world, because how could you take a step back if you are stuck to the wall? But I've come to realize that if you spend all your time looking from afar, you will never notice all the small cracks in the wall that could make it collapse. It's important to know how to do both, and Owin understood that.

Obviously we got severely reprimanded, but neither of us told anyone where we went. And from time to time, we kept doing some escapades in the city getting everyone worried. Eventually, our parents just gave up and said that as long as we were together, there was no problem, so we never stopped going.

The older we got, the more often we went, in fact. Until Owin's parents died. After that, things changed so fast. In a week's notice, he was crowned and got so busy we could not go anywhere anymore. Meanwhile, my training got more intense.

My father started feeling like he was alone in the world to protect the new emperor, and only trusted me to train. Things only got worse as days passed, I couldn't see my friend except on rare occasions, but even then I was not allowed to address him if not absolutely necessary, yet I could feel his sadness increasing every time I saw him.

And one day, everything my father and I feared, happened. We never saw it coming, especially given how small it started. Owin missed a meeting. Not too bad in itself, except someone made sure the news got out. And it turns out, the people had been fed numerous rumors about how little the emperor cared for them. Someone raised their taxes unofficially, but since they kept the difference for themselves, none of the officials knew. Similarly, one man per family was forced to join the army, on no official order, and were presented as voluntaries.

In this climate, knowing the emperor didn't show to an official meeting was just the spark that lit the fire. There were riots all over the city, and we were in panic. Luckily, before the word got to the city, I had time to find Owin.

It was the calm before the storm, I exceptionally went to check on him and realized he was not in his room. At first I was scared, but I knew he was near. Found him in the palace gardens a few minutes later.

I had trouble recognizing him, to be honest. When we were young, he had a bit of weight on him, but now it seemed like he had nothing to eat in weeks. He was frail, and staring into the void, like he was absent from the situation.

I barely had time to open my mouth, that we heard the palace bells. Everyone was rushing in all directions, yet Owin did not move. I grabbed him by the arm, and that's when I really felt it. I was grabbing bones, more than anything else.

He was not resisting, but he was not putting in any effort either. Something was wrong with him, but there was no time for that now. I had to get him to safety. It was killing me, seeing him like this and being so powerless for him. I had to chase several times the thought that, had I been there for him, he wouldn't be in this situation.

In his state, it's not surprising he ended up tripping and falling. We couldn't go on if he didn't snap out of it.

"Your Highness, we have to go!"
"Why have you come Lona?"
"You went missing, I had to find you. And now something is happening, we need to get back inside, come on."
"I forgot how important your duties are to you. I apologize. Where do you wish I would go?"
"Inside. Don't worry, I won't leave you."
"The palace is gigantic, every room feels so big, and it has so much floors, you are not being precise."
"This is not the time nor the place to argue. We need to get back inside, and we will figure out where to go from there. The captain will help us."
"Do you know of his location?"
"Doesn't matter until I got you safely back inside, please, we really have to move!"
"Do you remember the last time we were here?"
"What?"
"It feels like such a long time ago."
"Your Highness, we really don't have time for this right now..."
"Back then, you referred to me by name."

Of course I was right about him. Why did I have to be right about it now, and why did he have to bring it up out there, while we were in danger? He wasn't even crying, so why?

I stared at him for way too long, nobody had passed by us for a while now, meanwhile the bells kept ringing. I had to get him to safety, one way or another. Once again, I felt powerless. He was just there, sat on the ground, head inside his arms, probably waiting for an answer. And I couldn't even think of one.

The whole situation was getting me more nervous by the second. I realized at that moment that I did not have any weapon on me, so if anything happened we would be in real danger. I could see the training grounds from here, so the armory was close, and there would definitely be someone inside right now, but Owin still was not reacting.

No time to hesitate, I forced Owin on my back, and ran for it. He was surprisingly light, the last time I did that, I almost collapsed on the ground. Granted, it was a long time ago and I did take some muscle since that time, but I could tell my speculations were true, he was underweight, and a lot.

I was wrong on something else though, nobody was at the armory. I had to break the door down, and think fast. I could not take all my weapons if I were to carry Owin too. Halberd was out of question, no way I could be agile and strong enough with it. Dagger, yes, always useful. Swords? Shield? Both? Instinctively, I chose the shield. Not the most practical to kill an assaillant, but definitely the most efficient way to cover someone.

Shield on the arm, dagger at the belt, we were ready to go. At least I was. Owin was still standing still, lamenting.

"You should just go. I am only slowing you down."
"You know I can't do that. You're..."
"The emperor, yes, I am aware. There is not a single second going by where I am not reminded of that fact."

That's when I almost burst into tears. My friend was broken, he drowned in his responsabilities, could not do anything for himself. It was never easy for him to be happy, and his friend, his time outside, were all that kept him going. Now, it was all gone.

I took him in my arms and squeezed as hard as I could. He probably suffocated a bit, but I was unable to stop myself.

"I'm sorry, Owin. I should have been there for you." I told him in a trembling voice, before quickly regaining conscience of our situation. "Come now, if we don't get you to safety, there's no way we'll ever do shit together again. Which, I promise you, we will."

My smile and my little joke took me a few years back, and I think it worked for him too, because he looked at me and hugged me back. He wanted to cry, I could tell, but didn't want to keep us here any longer.

We got out, and started heading towards one of the service doors. I thought we could get in easily, but it was completely locked down, and nobody inside wanted to let us in. They thought it was too risky.

If none of the service doors would let us in, that meant we had to go through the only door behind which there would be guards, and who would recognize us. The front door.

We started running. The bells had been ringing for so long, I feared we would not be able to reach it in time. I was not exactly wrong. We got caught off guard by a couple commonners. We could see the front door, and the stairs were still clear for now, so I told Owin to run as fast as he could.

I rushed towards the first guy on our path, shield before me. As I got to him, I opened my arm. He got impressed and started loosing his balance, so I exploited this opening and, following the movement of my shield, punched him in the torso. That cut his breath for a brief moment, and had him fall on the ground.

The other one had taken a step back during this, but I charged him shoulder first as soon as I was done with the first one. Owin managed to slip through while the two were knocked down, and we kept moving. Since more people were coming from behind though, I decided to stop and fight, delaying them the most I could.

After beating some more of them, it appeared I would not be delaying much people if I stayed in one place and let more enemies reach me. So I ran a bit more, before stopping to fight again. I had to do it several times, each injuring me more and more, until I reached the stairs.

Owin had arrived before me, but he was still outside. I could see more people coming from behind me, and others were crossing the front wall. It looked like the end. Owin and I would die here, now, and I could not keep my promise. He would surely feel let down.

If that was to be my end, I wanted to make sure he would not meet his. I started running, saw him get down some steps, probably to join me. It was like a race. I had to reach him from the lateral stairs before the people on the front stairs did. I ran all I could, and made him get back on top.

I heard the front door move. I thought we were saved, I was about to reach him, and suddenly a rock started to fly through the air. Owin was climbing up so fast, he tripped again. He could have gotten badly hurt, had I not reached him that very moment. I threw myself before him, and raised my shield.

The rock hit while it was mid height. Just a bit too slow. It bounced off, but I could not resist much, and the shield came back on my face. I was under so much pressure and pain already, it was only the blood on my shield which indicated it had also wounded me pretty badly.

My strength was leaving me. I could see in a blur, people getting out of the palace on one side, people heading towards it on the other. And then I heard him. We all did.

"Enough!" It was Owin, I knew his voice, but never had I heard him so confident before. I saw him walk past me, a halo of light surrounding him, and unfortunately this is as far as my memory goes.

I woke up a few days later while some mages were taking care of my wounds. I panicked, at first, but Owin was by my side, sleeping. I was relieved he was alive and well, and almost shed a tear when I realized I was too.

Apparently he managed to calm the crowd somehow, and I was conscious enough to beat the shit head who had plotted the revolution, his own imperial hand. Of course, I would have loved to remember that, but I still have the next best thing.

While I was being tended to, and my scars got erased by the healers, I decided to keep the one I got from that rock. It was the first time I officially saved his life, and I was proud of it.

He told me this simple gesture is what really helped him get his shit together, in his own fancy words, and that he could not bear anyone dying over him. Maybe he is not aware of this, but it looked to me he used a bit of magic too.

I am no arcanist of any sort, but everybody else saw that light. The priests think it was a divine intervention, the mages said it was his will to protect others that caused it. Not that I care, I am just glad he is alive, and even more so I was the reason he stepped up to that mob.

Soon after, I renewed my vows to keep him safe, and promised him we would spend more time together. I like to think I saw him smile then. He had just granted me the greatest honor he could, after all. I was now really the person closest to him, his personal bodygard, and I was proud of it.