Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 50

The woodlands of the Southern Kingdom always had a slightly desolate feel. However, this did mean they were a good place to find a degree of sanctuary. It also meant they were an ideal location for private conversation. Away from prying eyes, court gossips and anyone else that may be watching or listening. The coldness and the drizzle only amplifying this sense of isolation.

Seaspell, who understood only too well that he was set to be given important information of some kind, was ushered into a small clearing by his mother. She sat him down on a small tree stump in its centre.

"I'll be heading to the Western Isles tomorrow."

Seaspell already knew this. His position, constantly at his mother's side, meant he always had a front row seat to whatever she was involved with. However, up until this point he hadn't been sure if he himself would be accompanying her. Now he realised that he would be staying.

His mother looked around again to see if anyone was near. Though, secreted away so deeply in the wet forest, it was highly unlikely anyone would be.

"I need you to hold the fort while I'm gone, my little one. But, before I go, I think it's time you learnt the things you need to know to do that fully. Just in case I don't return. You know Prince Aralak is heading to the Upper Desert very soon. Well, when he gets there he will be the victim of a great deception. An important deception. He will be taken down into a great tunnel beneath the desert. After a long journey in darkness through it, he will then be shown what he believes to be the Maiden Lands."

Maleeva then took out a neatly folded piece of paper from the breast of her blouse. Unfolding it to reveal a map showing the great circle of the world, with a long line running through it, bisecting both the Upper Desert and the Maiden Lands.

"He will believe he has travelled in a straight line from the Upper Desert to the poppy fields of the Maiden Lands. As if, by going off the one side of the world, he will simply arrive at the other." She then gave a small laugh, looking around once more to again make sure of their seclusion.

"It's by this deception that all the order in the world is kept - and all the peace - at least as much peace as is possible. By keeping the rulers of this world in this fantasy, we keep them disorientated and docile. The sense of status the arcane knowledge gives them keeping them content in their privilege. Bonded in a brotherhood of secret truth. Prince Aralak will be travelling back the way he came too. As neither him, nor his father, nor any of the other princes and kings, ever had the sense to insist upon travelling the full circle round. We tell them it must be this way. That if he was seen travelling from the Maiden Lands and back to Keneeshka it would risk giving away such a precious secret."

Maleeva laughed with disbelief as she finished relaying all this. Seaspell looked up and simply nodded as he listened. He then looked down at the map that he now held in his hands, before giving it back to his mother. As he did this a loud rush of wind rattled through the trees, rustling the paper. The long black cloak Maleeva wore billowing in the gale.

"You can tell no one these things."

She then reeled off a list of other treasurers - nearly all near or distant family members - who were likewise in possession of this secret she was now sharing. A roll call of people Seaspell was already well familiar with.

"What I'm telling you now is very serious," she intoned, "If you tell anyone outside of this circle of people you will be killed. I weep to say this to my only boy, but it's the simple truth. A truth I know you understand. The King of Tunid may seem a pleasant man, but forget not, he, like all his forebears, murdered his own brother just to take the throne. No heart is shown when affairs of state are at hand. Good rulers are ruthless when they have to be, and such acts of violence have a purpose: to keep secrets such as these - to keep peace upon the world."

As Seaspell soaked in all this he noticed a red fox slinking through the woodland. Its muddy paws silently gliding over the wet grass. As Maleeva turned around to see what he was looking at it became aware of their presence and sped off into the undergrowth; spooked to find it was being watched in this lonely location. Maleeva folded the map and placed it back inside her clothing.

"Keep a watchful eye on things while I'm gone."

She then hugged Seaspell tightly, before they returned to the bustle of the kingdom.