Tales of Terrepikos Part 3!

The Tale of Sir Tinley Ded

The Tale of Sir Tinley Ded

Today is the day. In a few hours I will be made an official Knight of this Kingdom I love. As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to protect the innocent and go on adventures far and wide in the name of Plebes! I still remember years ago when Father brought me to see my first Knighting Ceremony. It had my entire attention; which was rare!!

All of the castle (and a large part of the kingdom!) came together to watch. I remember thinking that I had never seen that many people in one place before. So it must be important right? I was standing mere feet away from Big Grumpus-

- sorry King Delius. He appeared to be in a good mood; which my younger self found quite odd.

Usually whenever I saw him he looked like he had intense stomach pain or something. But during the ceremony he was positively beaming. My father would explain why. Keeping his voice lowered so the King couldn’t hear.

“When a knight is sworn in, as is tradition, the King gets to issue a ‘Task of Proving’ to the Knight.” I remember hanging on every word he said “The completion of this task is what officially makes a knight, a knight.”

“So the ceremony doesn’t?” I asked.

“It certainly is an important step to the whole thing but a Knight cannot truly call themselves one without a completed Task of Proving! Most people come out to see what the Task will be!”

“What have they been?” I asked him.

“Well…” what my father famously says whenever he tries to word something that is… difficult. “...the main reason the King gets so giddy, as you’ve noticed, is he tends to have a little…fun, with these tasks.”

“Fun?”

“What HE calls fun is probably a better way to put it. King Delius’ tasks are all very different because sometimes he is in a creative mood and will cook up some glorious quest for them to embark on…” this caused my eyes to widen and my heart to grow in my chest. I remember thinking that this was the kind of Task of Proving I wanted but my father saw this and swiftly continued “But son, the King is not always in such spirits…every time.”

This would prove true time and time again as more and more Knights would be sworn in since this memory occurred. The Tasks would range from “slaying” the minor goblin infestation in the back fields to helping the King find a button he must’ve lost in the past month or so. Each time I went to watch the ceremony to see a guard or blacksmith that I knew become a knight, I would always be sorely disappointed by their Task not being anything close to the heroic exploits my Father mentioned. Just once I would have liked to see a Knight get sent out on a journey into the wilds and come back with a legendary story to tell. Then that story would go on to become a famous tale that everyone in Terrepikos tells and when they do I could go “Hey that’s Charlie! I know him!!”

But no such luck.

However, today is the day. My day.

The day I get to look Big…uh- King Delius in the face and accept my challenge and give it everything I got. I do my best to ignore the…well call them what they are; warnings I have been given by various friends and loved ones across the Kingdom.

“Don’t be surprised if it isn’t what you expect!”

“The King has a weird sense of humor.”

“Remember; knight or not, WE still like you!”

Look. I am fully aware that I am not the King’s favorite person. I would have to be incredibly ignorant not to. After a while you piece it together and get the impression that he is allergic to my very existence. For many years my father avoided this question the same way he dodged another pressing question of mine;

“Are you my real father?”

“I am the one who matters.” The answer I always used to resent for being vague but have come to see its wisdom with age. But whenever I asked why the King seems to openly hate the basic concept of me he would answer… not directly.

“The King fears many things. Especially those he doesn’t understand.”

I never questioned it at the time because, as a child, it made sense. It just meant that the King simply didn’t care for un-serious people. Something I proudly identify as and even as a kid I knew Kings had to be quite serious. But as you get older and your understanding of life’s nuances grow, you start to realize that the King isn’t really fond of most things and I shouldn’t take it so personally. One night I found out that wasn’t true either… it just sadly came with a lot more questions.

Years ago I silently crept out of my bedchambers in the middle of the night because I knew, like the whole castle did, that a group of players were performing for the King tomorrow…but were arriving very late that night. Okay maybe not everybody knew but I overheard a guard complain about how late he had to stay because “some stupid actors got lost mid-journey.”

I, of course, knew all about the performance. A troupe recreating the legendary adventures I had only read about in Father’s library?? I’m sure we all remember the first time we found a perfectly shaped stick and pretended to be a mighty hero carving out tales with their sword, pretending bushes were monsters and clouds were dragons!

This was the event of the season with Plebes never having any visitors ever! Well, that’s not fair, we get some traders and the occasional bandit group that thinks our walls are climbable only to find out very violently that they are not. I simply wasn’t going to wait till the morning to meet them! Not with the inside scoop that the cast was arriving under the cover of night! I remember my adolescent self was positively thrilled by every intense detail.

Leaving my room after dark was surprisingly easy. I would find out later it was because my father was busy elsewhere. I picked a secluded rampart with an amazing view to plop myself on as I wait for the arrival.

While I flicked stones off the stories high vantage point, a guard who for the record should not have been patrolling that night, came ambling by.

“Is that little Tinny??” his breath hit me before his voice. “What are you doing up here???”

“I could ask you the same thing Reginald.” I turned away from the view to face him in the pathway he was planning to drink alone in. I forgot about the complaining guard my intel came from, an amateur mistake looking back on it.

“Why did you have to be HERE of all places!” he slurred into the stale night air. “I just wanted to have a little fun while I wait for these stupid-”

I cut him off because I was young and full of gusto.

“They are NOT stupid! They are the tellers of amazing tales and for YOUR information I am here to see their arrival! Something I only know about because SOMEONE couldn’t stop bellyaching about it in the corridor!” he stood there stunned by the admittedly out of character response. When he found his words, he chose mean ones.

“You believe those little tales?” he bellowed back. In hindsight I can see it was his drink playing a part but in the moment he just felt cruel and confident.

“Of course I do!” I snapped back. “Goglag’s Trek to Glory! Temporio’s defeat of the Fire Hydra! All spectacles I can’t WAIT to see tomorrow!”

“It’s a play!” he croaked.

“I know that! It’s what the play is about! Don’t you see?? Someday I want to go out and…” I looked out to the abyss of the night because the torches didn’t venture far into the evening landscape “...to go out and see ALL of Terrepikos! Every corner. From here to the Mountains of Toc to the Shattered Island States of Zylock! Make friends in all the Kingdoms in ALL the lands! Heck, maybe even some enemies while I’m at it.” I chuckled to myself before turning back to Reginald. Who is moments away from bursting into hysterics in response.

“You want to laugh at-” his thunderous guffaw probably reached every empty corner of the castle.

“Listen here Tinny. I know you have a reputation for rabbiting yourself out of trouble. But luck ain’t gonna protect you from-” he points with his bottle hand to the west “- Inkblot Spiders tearing you to shreds!” he sloshes to the north “- or a plant with teeth bigger than a bison digesting you for a few weeks” he physically faces me east before mouth breathing to me “-the east isn’t so bad, probably your best bet if I’m being honest…” but then he shakes his head “...no…NO! There are a bunch of raiders that prey on that route, that’s right. I knew I forgot something. Yeah murderous, rapist raiders just waiting for some idiot who wants to ‘see the world’ and make sure that they don’t.”

“I don’t like it when you drink Reginald.” I said after his shattering bit of disillusionment.

“All I am saying is you’re a good kid. From a good family… and I’d hate it if the last thing people remembered about you was… that you were headed toward… something.” It was his turn to gaze into the inky void but instead of the ambition I felt… he was full of sadness and what I’d later find out; regret. “I want people to remember you for your kindness Tin. How there isn’t a person in this castle, hell this kingdom, that has anything bad to say about you…sides the one ruling it; sorry I’m drunk.” He turned to leave but I stopped him.

“Wait.” I remember my heart stopped as I asked. Terrified that his drunken state would give me an answer I’ve been yearning for years to hear.

“Why-?” my little voice croaked.

“W’sat Tinny?” he turned.

“Why… Why does he hate me?” I can still recall how my cracking voice echoed. The look I am given is the same one I had received countless times before and that fueled something in me. “I have asked so many times and I have NEVER received an answer. Just a look. Like the one you just gave. The face of someone who has knowledge they cannot give. WHY?!” I shouted into the night creating echoes that must’ve gone miles. “What terrible thing!? What horrible thing could I have done that I don’t remember! My earliest memories are haunted by the way our King looks at me! My own father won’t even…” I stopped myself because I wanted to cry but I wanted to scream more. “A father who I call by name but not by blood refuses to say! A riddle no one will let me solve!” At this point I had cornered Reginald into a rampart.

The look of sadness on Reginald’s face was something I never thought him capable of. He slid down the rampart to sit with his back to it. Took a swig of his bottle; and told me a story.

“...after all that your father took you in. Raised you right. But to this day nobody has any clue on how you ended up on that balcony.” The words hit me like cold rain. Stinging but refreshing in a weird kind of way. To have an answer was great but the questions it spawned were less than ideal.

“Are you listening to me, Tinny?” he asked, waving the bottle.

“Who knows about this?” I asked.

“I only know because I was one of the Knights that had to stand watch in the King’s bed.” he told me.

“I did think that part was odd.” I said before he hastily moved on.

“The knights all swear an oath to keep the King’s secrets. But in truth I haven’t even heard rumors about you. And trust me that whole oath thing is mostly shit. Here watch. The King sings in the shower but only the girl parts. Sorry I’m drunk. But that one, about you; I guess out of respect for your father, nobody never said anything to anyone.”

“Nobody questioned the royal advisor suddenly having a child?”

He laughed and swigged and said “You drastically underestimate how much we respect your father.” he stood up “...and how adorable you were when he brought you around.” He broke his eye contact because he saw something in the distant abyss. A line of torches. They’ve arrived.

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know if you’d prefer longer chapters or if I am hitting the sweet spot in terms of length. These posts will go from daily to weekly soon I promise I just wanted there to be a hearty base for people to dive into!