Tale of Four

”Bastard.” Stepping out of the throne room, Tristan cursed under his breath. A few council members looked at him, hearing his words, but brushed them off, understanding what Elias was really wishing to do and the reason for Tristan’s anger. Walking off, Tristan didn’t go straight to his room, but rather walked around the palace halls, wishing to calm himself down. The thought of being thrown into the war didn’t scare him as much as leaving the palace itself.

Even if he hated the palace, it had become his safety net for his entire life. To be thrown out and into one of the most contested forts in Veston was too much of a leap. ”Tristan,” Annabell called out in worry, and Tristan sighed, petting the dove on his shoulder, her soft feathers their own form of relaxation.

”Don’t worry too much. Even if Elias is wishing to kill me with this, Anton is smart enough to know he needs to leave someone there. I’m likely to be going there just to ensure morale is high. Someone else will likely be leading anything tactical; all I’ll need to do is sign off on anything.”

”But Tristan, it will be dangerous.” Annabell couldn’t help but say with a scared tone, ”I will protect you, but people go hungry, and always get surprised and...”

”Annabell.” Tristan cut her off with a smile. ”You’re making me more scared.” His hand shook, rubbing her fetters. ”Please just let me think about it.” Nuzzling into his hand, she stayed silent, her actions another form of an apology. Silently walking, Tristan blankly walked around, not truly paying attention to where he was going until he arrived in the garden.

With a smile, he made his way to the training yard into the shaded corner he had first met Mabel in and chuckled to himself, remembering how he got his ass kicked in their mock duel. ”I do wonder how Mabel is doing,” Tristan said, making Annabell flap her wings.

”It was unfair how she was sent off. She didn’t want to.”

”I can probably expect the same fate if I refuse to go to the Waterway myself, you know.” Although her face didn’t change, Tristan could tell Annabell was frowning.

”She will be fine. She is a strong girl.” Annabell said. Tristan looked ahead and nodded in agreement. Even if she was beaten and forced to go initially, he was sure she would find a way to get out of it. Moving on, he continued to walk without a destination in mind, arriving at the Rose Maze. Walking through, he felt Annabell stir on his shoulder, almost uncomfortable. Despite her reaction, he continued moving, knowing that he wasn’t in danger; otherwise, she would have warned him.

Taking turn after turn, he arrived in the centre and realised what had caused Annabell to be so restless. Sitting at the table in the middle of the maze, underneath the umbrella, he saw Matthew, looking at him in horror, holding a small pipe, burning at the end. Sniffing the air, Tristan instantly covered his nose, knowing it was a drug that Hank occasionally used.

With a twitching lip, he rested a hand on his chest and bowed towards Matthew, ”Prince Matthew.” Fixing his smile, he met his gaze and saw the deep bags underneath. Unlike when he had to be in public or met with Anton, his appearance was much more filthy. His short golden hair was scruffy, his clothes dirty and different sizes, some parts too big, others too small. His skin was more grey than pale, and his face was sunken and tired. If Tristan didn’t know he was a prince, he would have assumed him to be a beggar suffering from an illness.

”Cous....” His voice started loud but trailed off until it became a silent whisper. Looking between the pipe and Tristan, he turned away and took a deep smoke of the pipe before blowing it out. Annabell flew off his shoulder and towards Matthew. Landing on the table, she stared at him before looking around.

Tristn quickly walked over and took a seat. Looking Matthew up and down, he did his best to hide it but failed; Matthew oddly perked up at his gaze, resulting in him slouching in on himself to appear small. Finally getting closer, as Matthew lifted the pipe to take another smoke, the sleeve that was too long slid down. Tristan couldn’t help but pause for a moment, seeing his wrist, numerous deep scars running up and down it, cut in numerous directions.

The boy quickly lifted it up to hide the cuts, but it was too late. For a moment, Tristan assumed they were inflicted upon him by someone, but after looking at Matthew, he knew the truth.

’He hurts himself. How unstable is he to hurt himself to such an extent?’ If it had been one or two, he may have concluded that they were accidents that Matthew had suffered during training, but with so many, it was clear that either it was self-inflicted or someone was doing it to him, and with how Matthew was and who his family was, there was only one right answer.

’I knew he had problems, but this is worse than I thought. Do Mabel and Elias even know this? Surely they don’t; otherwise, how could they leave him be? Some of those scars are far too deep. They could have easily killed him if left untreated.’

Taking a sharp breath, Tristan sat down opposite him and smiled, ”How have you been?” Pretending not to have seen the cuts, he politely asked. Matthew stared at him with an unfocused gaze, lowering his head.

”fine...” His voice trailed once more until it became a whisper; whatever was siad after the first word was lost to Tristan. For a moment, Tristan could only smile, but internally he groaned, looking at the young man. Not only was he originally a quiet person, but added to that, he was smoking whatever he was, and it had become impossible to even hold a conversation.

Tristan stared and couldn’t help but feel curious about soemthing, ”Did you know your sister left?” Matthew’s eyes seemed to focus for a moment before returning to where they previously were. Shaking his head, he lowered it deeper.

”no.....mother.....sa.....” Taking a deep bretah tristan shook his head and gave up, understanding a little about why Elias and Mabel didn’t do much for Matthew. In his state, it was nearly impossible, and the effort required was soemthing he knew they couldn’t be bothered to put in anymore. It also made him realise how good Karina was as a mother. It was an open secret in the Palace that Karina was highly protective of Matthew but more importantly, that the Queen spent nearly every night calming her son until he fell asleep.

When she first did it, people tried to make up rumours to slander her, but now, it had gotten to the point where anyone who saw her could only have respect for how dutiful a mother she was in her duties as a queen.

Getting up, he shook his head, leaving Matthew alone, knowing there wasn’t any reason to try and stay. Annabell quickly flew and landed upon his shoulder, and once more was restless, more so than when they first entered the maze. Tristan wondered why she was so anxious and found out the moment he turned the corner.

Along the top of the hedges on both sides, Crows perched themselves and stared at Annabell, each one of their deep black eyes unblinking. ”Dove.” Each one spoke with the voice of a charming middle-aged man simultaneously, ”I warned you to stop.” The Crow said with slight anger, ”Why do you continue to pester me?”

”I didn’t do it on purpose.” Annabell snapped back, ”How was I meant to know you were here? Tristan wanted to go on a walk.” Every Crow turned to face Tristan at once. Stepping back, he heard the flapping of wings behind him and turned to see Crows sat on the path he had just taken, appearing out of nowhere.

”Accident or not, you pester and pester and pester.” The Crows all said, ”It is tiresome; I wonder what I should do to make you learn.”

”Stop it. It was an accident.”

”Tristan.” The Crows’ voices spoke with a strange, almost excited tone, ”Have you ever wondered what your ance...”

”STOP! STOP! STOP!” Annabell screamed over and over. Tristan didn’t understand, but her power washed over him, especially covering his ears. At first he thought it was to protect him, but suddenly everything went silent. He had to stop himself from panicking the moment he went deaf, completely unused to the state.

The crows chuckled, looking back at Annabell. ”Do you understand? Should you continue to annoy me, I will tell him the truth hidden about the founder. You may protect him now, but you cannot always.” The crows all flapped their wings and flew around Tristan and Annabell, creating a dark black wall that couldn’t be seen through. After a few seconds, they vanished, leaving the two alone.