Page 60 of Gilded Crown

“Hmm?”

“You said your Mother was a good woman. How did someone like your Father get a hold of a woman like that?”

Jari shrugged even though Aurelius wouldn’t see it. “How did your Father do it?”

“Because Mother was the daughter of an Earl, and he was in a hurry to make sure she was married off. He was an alcoholic, but he had enough sense to know his liver was failing, and he should get his life in order. Eurig showed interest, and that was it.” His voice was still a bit ragged.

“Oh. I should have known.” Some higher-ups could marry for love, but not all were lucky if their parents meddled and forced them to be with someone. “My parents had no status, and I’m not sure what happened. Father never talked much about his youth. I guess maybe he acted nice enough to snag her, or she thought she could change him. She was certainly able to stand up to him enough. He used to threaten to beat me and Timothy, and she’d always intervene and prevent it. Once she wasn’t around anymore…”

“Some people who have a choice make sense when you see them together. Others, not so much.”

“I know. I’m sure he loved her to some extent since he could have run off and left us to fend for ourselves if he got tired of being settled. He kept in contact with a couple of outlaw buddies,and that was how he got back into it once he was sick to death of farm work.” He tried to think of something to distract the Prince since the conversation was too close to that event.

“What did you do later for work?” asked Aurelius.

“A bit of everything.”

“Tell me.”

Jari supposed Aurelius needed something to distract him.

“I’ve done farmwork before. That’s what I grew up knowing, so I was able to get fieldwork for rich farmers who couldn’t do it all themselves. One tried to skimp on wages after the first week, so every single one of us walked out.”

“Without the pay?”

“No, a few of the hands threatened to torch the fields. That stingy bastard paid up real quick, and we still left in case he tried to pull that later on. Fuck him. I’ve chopped firewood, and I even went hunting for an old lady once. Er, I didn’t bring back much, but she was glad to have fresh meat, and she cooked me dinner. I think she was lonely. I did some basic carpentry with one man, and he said I kind of have a knack for it since I picked it up pretty quickly. I slept in the backroom, and he and his wife fought just about every damn night. It was beyond awkward. That woman had a mean right hook too, and all it took was a couple of mugs of beer to get her going. He’d start trying to hit her because the beer made him just as pissy, and she laid him out flat one time. I thought he was dead.”

A faint snort came from Aurelius.

“I left because she threatened to come after me too that night, and I was done with hearing them scream at each other. I’ve made mortar and laid bricks and stones. I did a card table in a tavern. The tavern was supposed to win more than they paid out, and I’m not good at hiding cards and pulling shit like that. I lasted two days. On my own, I practiced whittling and sold some simple wooden dolls. The stiff kind that can’t move.”

“You should learn to make the ones with moveable joints,” Aurelius mumbled from his bedroll.

“Maybe one day I will. I painted simple stuff for a toymaker too, and that was kind of fun. I traveled with people too since I had a sword and could help protect a group. Clearly, not everyone is willing to pay a fair price as you know quite well.”

He mentioned a few other things, and Aurelius’s breathing evened out as he seemed to sleep. Jari paused, but the Prince didn’t ask why he cut off, and his breathing remained steady. Some might say he’d bored Aurelius to sleep, but he was pretty sure he’d soothed the Prince instead.

***

The group moved out and headed toward Nova. All was well for a few days. Scouts went ahead to ensure the road was clear. They’d barely been beyond Nova’s borders for a few hours when one scout flew back and spoke to Aurelius as he walked alongside Galahad.

“There’s a man ahead on the road, Your Majesty.” The scout tucked his wings closer to his back and frowned. “He’s…strange. I landed because he appeared harmless, and I didn’t get too close. He doesn’t have a horse or anything, and I don’t know if he’s on turf or what. He’s sobbing, and he growled at me too.”

“Aurelius?” Este had dropped back on her horse earlier to speak to a lord.

Aurelius twisted in his saddle to look at her. “It’s nothing. There’s a man ahead who must be homeless, and he’s crying by the side of the road. Jari and I are going to go ahead and speak to him.”

“You can send a soldier to fetch him.”

“I'll do it myself. He’s quite upset, and the army marching by might scare him. I’m sure he’ll be fine if I give him some money and see if he needs food or something.”

Este tilted her head. “All right.”

“Stay with the rest,” Aurelius told the scout. “Come on, Jari.” He waited until they were far enough away as the horses cantered. “It might be a man on turf, but something is too odd about this.”

They went around a bend in the road and were soon hidden from the army by a huge copse of trees. Far ahead, a man crawled alongside the road near a rocky ravine as he cried. When they drew close enough, he looked up. His face was bright red, and tears streaked it. His torn clothes were filthy, and he was gaunt like he’d been wandering for days without food.

“You! It’s your fault.” He bared his teeth at Aurelius, got to his feet, ran forward, and fell on his face. Jari caught a glimpse of his eyes, streaked with gold.

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