Chapter One
 

The wind whispered words of doom in my ears as I came closer to shore. I could feel the suspicious looks of everyone aboard the ship. It had now been six years since I last saw this country. The change of temperature, the smell of pine trees and especially the gazes of others- I had forgotten them. As we came nearer to shore, the wind gradually ceased blowing, as if trying to give us one last warning before we finally arrived. Why was I so suspicious? I do not know. My fingers were itching with expectation; I hadn’t seen this land for more than 6 years. What might have changed? If I trust people, I guess nothing… Everything must have remained as it was always for the last eight hundred years. There are nobles, to control the [maybe: to own lands] lands- and the peasants to serve them.

All these thoughts were running through my head in no particular order, until a shout brought me back to the present. “Your Eminence, we have arrived. Your carriage is waiting for you”. As the voice kept echoing, I could feel the thrust of the anchor going down, as the ship came to a halt.

“Merci capitaine, vous ont fait bien,” I said smiling. The journey had been long, kept even longer by the slow wind and the English war ships. After more than 6 months at sea, I was now finally at home. I placed my first foot on the paved path, my walking stick moving first, making sure I do not slip. I tried to guess what had changed in the last six years. My household remained as it always was. The great fortress up the top of the hill was still surrounded by a pit, only one bridge allowing the entrance into it, and that was surrounded by towers of stone, reaching high above it. The harbor still remained small in comparison to the size of the merchant fleet. The last convoys of ships that I just came disembarked off were nearly enough to block all passage home. Apart from some flowers that were missing, and the grass that grew out of shape, everything was exactly the same. Not surprising at all…

“La majestי, viennent avec nous,” a man dressed in colorful clothing driving an even more colorful carriage said.

“Merci”, I replied, the door opened from the inside. A face was glaring at me from the shadows. I hopped into the carriage, holding tight to the strong hand offered to me by the same figure in the carriage itself, which had opened the door.

“Alferon, it has been a long time, since our last meeting”, he spoke excellent English, good and without an accent.

“Excuse me?” I replied, my English was quite good. So were my Spanish, German, Russian, Italian and Arabic. A trader must know many languages to be successful.

“Perhaps you do not recognize the voice, but the face… The face you shall remember!” the figure drew up the curtains. Light came in. And then I saw his face, a scarred and burnt visage. Much had happened to the face of this man.

“John? John Stonebrick?” I could not believe it. He was my henchmen, my right hand. Something had obviously happened to him while I was away, but his deep blue eyes. I would remember them anywhere.

“Yes, it has been a long time. So much has changed, so much is changing. You do not even know, the world is not a safe place anymore. It would be better for you never to have returned my old friend.”

Changed? Everything? What had happened to this man? Did insanity take over him at last? Everything remained just as it was. Nothing had changed! Only the growth of the grass and the shape of the flowers. And that changed only a bit too.

“Alferon” he said, he was the only one to call me my name since I had arrived. Not “His Eminence” or any other title of nobility.

“There is nothing I can say to make you even think of what terrible things are going on. You can’t even imagine what has happened to the country; France is no longer a safe place, not at all…” The carriage stopped. We were now on top of the wooden bridge that connected the Fortress to the rest of the land I owned.

“What are you talking about John?” I couldn’t keep on from laughing. Insanity had attacked this poor man. The door was once again opened, this time from the outside. I took my walking stick and started making my way down the carriage.

“John, my friend, I am going to take a milk bath, I advise you do so yourself” I didn’t bother closing the door. That’s what servants are for.

I was standing beneath the great stone gates that were the entrance to my fortress. The fortress was the place where I’d stay when times were unsafe. I did not know exactly what it was, but the conversation with John and the itchiness that I felt since we came closer to the shores of Provenc’e did not disappear. I knocked my stick twice at the stone gates and a shout from the head of my private guards came in reply.

 “Open the gates! His Eminence had arrived!”.

The two great stone walls started moving, pushed by an unknown force from the other side. At some point ,it seemed that the gates were so big they could not open into the small wooden bridge. But the gates fit , they fit exactly.

The sight met at me once the gates opened was unbelievable. When I left France, this fortress was still being built. As I gazed at this marvel of engineering I could not believe how someone could carry these stones up the top of the towers and keeps. After the first line of the brick wall came another line of even bigger bricks. Keeps kept towering from above. And after the first three lines of walls came the fortress itself. It was more than three hundred and fifty high, and two hundred feet wide. This was the biggest fortress in the whole of Provence, maybe even in France. The huge tower of stone had outposts coming off the tower. Every fifty feet or so would be another of these outposts. I could see men up the top of the lookouts, their guns glittering in the sun .Their colorful red and blue uniforms declaring their presence up the top. Once every now and then a couple of armed horsemen would finish patrol around the fortified castle, the head of the patrol forces gave me a quick salute as he continued riding. 

“Sir, do you wish me to accompany you to your private quarters?” Asked the man who opened the door of the carriage a few moments before.

“Yes, I would like that”, I stopped paying attention to the endless people and armed men that kept coming in and out of the fortress. Maybe John was right, something had changed since I had left.

As we entered the fortress I was overwhelmed. Although my eyes needed to adjust to the sudden darkness, I was able to see how big this castle really was. I could recognize more than 6 flights, and that was with my eyes half closed. To all of these flights a stairway was connected that kept on going, moving up, endlessly, as it seemed from down here. Lit torches were hanging in the stairway and hallways. Voices muttering were heard echoing in the endless space of this castle.

“What am I going to do with such a lot of room?”  I couldn’t help asking.

“Well, Eminence, Come to think of that, most of the room is in use”, came a reply from someone nearby.

“Excuse me?” I didn’t expect an answer from the servant; they’d grown too rude since I came back.

“This fortress houses most of the young men of south France. Nearly all the competent men of Provence are employed here as soldiers. This has become one of the most powerful strongholds in France. Perhaps you are not aware of this, Eminence, but while you were away, your brother Fernandez De San didn’t waste time. He spent most of your family wealth building up this fortress. This fortress exceeded much beyond the starting engineering plans. He resketched all the plans. Instead of building a small keep and a set of walls, he decided to build the biggest fortress in the whole of Europe! He built an enormous set of walls that surround this fortress. Once this fortified area was built he started gathering his own army. He accommodated them here and equipped them with horses, swords and guns. Some feared he was trying to undermine the king, some said he was just trying to make the name “De San” feared everywhere in the world. But one thing is sure, your brother has built one of the biggest private armies in the world. Most of the army is concentrated here. And that’s why you actually have very little room to spare here, Eminence”, he finished the short lecture in the same manner he started it.

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. My brother gathering a huge army to undermine the king? My brother spending most of the family treasury to build this upkeep and to establish the name of our peaceful family of traders through war? Had he completely lost his mind?

“Well, I’ve listened carefully to what you have to say. Though I cannot understand one thing.. How do you, a common peasant know so much of my brother’s plans? I do not imagine he shared them with anyone but himself.” Fernandez was a man of imagination and invention. He was one of the brightest people I’d ever met, but he was very quiet. He never gave away his thoughts.

“Eminence” the man said again, he was very polite, though impudent, he knew too much, even more than me about my own family and expenses.

“I am not a mere servant as you might have sensed. I am no servant at all actually. You see, I am the head of your body guards, and as one I have access to most of this castle engineering plans and moreover, I had had the privilege to share thoughts with your brother. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must show you the way to your private quarters and get along to my work. “

What??? My brother hired a person so snotty, so full of himself and put him in such a key job? How does he allow such a man become the head of this new private army he was gathering? To men like him, allegiance to their lords, and honor were just words. They serve only themselves, and with so much power that might truly backfire.

“I see, and where is my brother if I may ask?”

“Eminence, that I do not know for sure. I have last heard that he is in the Northern parts of France, inspecting the construction of a new fort in Arotis. He wishes to build a similar army and fort in the north part of France. He should be back in two weeks time, that is, if the ways aren’t blocked”

Another fortress? Another private army? Fernandez has gone bizarre! How dare he waste the family treasury on a private army when there is no need for one? And doing so without even consulting me!

“What do you mean? Why should the road be blockaded?” I just noticed something strange in his words. Why would the road be blockaded in the first place?

“Eminence, excuse me for my disrespect, but I must bid you farewell, your room is  to your right.” I didn’t even notice we were walking and talking at  the same time. I must have  concentrated very seriously in the talk about my brother. The way he was foolishly wasting the family’s treasury must come to and end. The wealth of the De San family was immense, but even the uncountable chests of gold coins had an end.

“Merci” I whispered in return, but the head of my body guard was no longer there.

The door of my private quarters opened from the inside, a woman was holding the door, waiting for me to come inside. I grew familiar with that sight of an open door waiting for to walk through it, but yet again, as I kept on reminding myself, what are there servants for?

I entered the room, which had carpets covering most of the floor. Paintings of my father- Paolos De San, me and my brother were hanging on the walls. My father’s portrait was in the middle. He was seen in the middle of a duel. His sword plunged right into the heart of his foe. To the right was a portrait of me. I was seen there riding a horse and holding up the flag of France. And to the left was a very flattering painting of my older brother, Fernandez. He was holding a quill and paper. Drawing circles and busy in his endless mathematical calculations.

“The bath is awaiting you m’lord, we have fresh goat milk filling it. Would you like anything else?” the young woman asked me. She was the same person who opened the door.

“Non,” I answered, my body was itching after long months in which I hadn’t seen a bath or even tasted goat milk! I was going to do both things at the same time! I took off my clothing and handed them over to the young maid. I took one deep breath and entered the milk bath. As I closed my eyes and just lay there, I could feel how the last day’s stress disappeared. A six month voyage at sea became no more than a distant memory. And as I closed my eyes, I could feel how I was gradually drifting into a sweet relaxing sleep…