Harald
Stonehill Hold was as full as Harald had ever seen it. All the kids had been gathered and pushed into one of the secondary halls to make way for the many guests.
Harald had never been so happy to be able to sit at the High Table with his father, and mother, and other important guests.
He and his friends had been looking forward to the feast for weeks. It wasn’t like the other feast days. If it were they would have relished in the thought of being locked in their own hall without their parents.
Harald had had to barter with his father’s Retinue for a seat at the table. Sixteen hours he had promised them. Eight hours he had already completed doing small tasks and chores for the members of his father’s retinue.
His friends had had to do likewise. Some with the table of a mother, or father, or cousin.
Harald couldn’t remember a time when there had been a a representative of King Oswald more welcome on Isca. It seemed as though the whole planet had gathered.
Captain Grip was a member of the famous King’s Guard of Drala. One of the youngest to ever serve, and Harald had been waiting to meet her ever since his father told him.
Harald and his friends had often played with sticks dreaming of serving in the great King’s Guard of Osgar the Great.
Harald had dressed in some of his finest clothes. The hall was abuzz, and laughter and shouting often drown out conversation.
Captain Grip sat next to his father as she chatted and ate among his father’s closest advisers and friends.
The Captain was pleasant enough, and Harald enjoyed some small talk with her between the food. She made several jokes about their customs on Isca compared to Bastion and the core worlds of the Commonwealth.
Throughout the night Harald would look to one of his friends as they waved to get his attention. He would give anything to trade seat with them for a moment. But Harald knew he couldn’t.
He was proud of himself for getting the captain to agree to meet them after the feasting. She didn’t say when, but that had been enough for him.
For most the dinner Harald kept quite and listened. He answered questions from around the table when called upon, but mostly he sat and tried to listen to his father speak with Captain Grip.
As the food finished and the talk around the table began to bore Harald, he excused himself and made his way through the hall lined with rows of tables and chairs.
Harald forced himself to walk when all he wanted to do was run down the hall. He nodded his head to Gwen, and watched as she scrambled out of her seat and joined him at the same time Jae caught sight of him.
“Well?” Gwen asked them as he kept his pace towards Winnifred near the end of the hall.
Harald smirked and shrugged. “Did you know she fought in the Furmen war?” Harald asked as he continued forward.
“The Furmen War?” Gwen asked with a little shock. “The Furmen War was an complete failure,” she continued.
“Yes,” Harald replied. “But without the war Furse raiders would still be using Furmen starports. Not to mention the new alliance and coming wedding between King Oswald and the is Lord Tusk’s sister.”
They neared the table as Jae reached them. “Commonwealth Forces still proved that they could project their power into Furmen space if they continued to help our enemies, and even their king wouldn’t help them.”
“I guess,” Gwen said as they took some of the now empty chairs at Winnifred’s table at the back of the hall.
Harald told them of the stories the Captain had shared through the night. Not just the Furmen war, but she had also fought against King Ryan before he was king and raided the worlds of southern Drala.
Harald and the others who had gathered around the table quickly began to draw those in the room their own age. Quincey kept the table full of fresh sweets, and had even put down a bottle of drink with they had gladly hidden and shared.
Harald stood on the table as he told another story to the laugher of those around him. He could feel the booze kicking in. The heat on his face.
His mother and father would let him have a sip on special events, but the bottle had given each of them more then a few sips.
The sounds of an explosion forced Harald to shrink in place as the noise in the hall died down.
The room lights of the room dimmed as the main lights cut out. Everyone came to silence for a moment.
“Now” Harald heard followed by a blast of rail gun fire that almost made him drop to his chest.
Harald forced himself to look to the high table for his father and mother.
His mother’s chair sat empty as Captain Grip stood over his father arm out stretched with pistol in hand. He couldn’t even yell before the flash of the gun when into his father.
Harald cried out, and jumped off the table into the chaos of the crowd as people ran, and bodies fell to the sounds of small arm fire.
He rushed forward, and fell and over something. He gathered himself together as people rushed around him, and then looked up towards the high table.
His mother lay on the floor. Her eyes open and unmoving, and Harald felt himself yell.
Harald pushed himself up off the ground only to feel the air go out of his lungs as someone slammed into him.
He could feel himself being pulled. He fought back against his attacker but couldn’t get free as he was pulled further away.
“They are gone,” Harald finally heard Nena’s voice as she lifted onto her shoulder and ran.
“No,” Harald cried as tears fell down as his face.
Through his tears Harald spotted Gwen in the crowd. He reached his hand out and grabbed her arms. Nena continued to rush forward, and Harald held onto Gwen so hard that he thought her arm was going to be pulled off as she stumbled after him.
He thought for sure that Gwen would lose her balacne but refused and dragged her only for her to catch her balance .
In a moment the chaos of the great hall disappeared as Nena made it through the door to the nearby kitchen.
