Havenroth's Hero

“You were just the first orphan boy we found who seemed like he might have the ability to pull this off."

I could not believe this, after months of back breaking labour trying to retrieve this fabled sword of some great ancestor, and defeating the great evil of my land. I hear this. From the man who walked up to me in the middle of what had been the worst night of my life and told me I was destined to do this. I was speechless. My raw, burned hands throbbed, I had to put this stupid sword down soon. “Do you really, honestly think that the people of Havenroth will accept me as their ruler if I'm not descended from the last one?”

“My child, that country has been a small republic ever since they killed all the members of the royal family three centuries ago. There were rumours at the time of a child who had been missed, but who is going to trace the genealogy of a child that no one can even find? Especially since this genealogy would have needed to be traced over the aforementioned three centuries? Considering how many mistresses the last few kings had kept, there are probably bastard lines by the score, also undocumented. It's vaguely possible that you are related to the line, distantly.”

I look at the sword in my hand, and then around at the scores of evil-doers that I had to kill to get it. Bile rose in my gorge, I wanted one more question answered before I left to be sick.

“So what was the point of all this? I don't get to rule, the sword is certainly no prize, and there isn't even much other treasure here to set me up comfortably elsewhere. At least at the orphanage no one was trying to kill me.”

Altarn smiled, “The man who controlled all this stole my favourite toy when we were kids. Now we're even and he's dead. You got some fresh air and sunlight, a bit of exercise and a chance to see the countryside. You also received excellent instruction in swordsmanship and thievery. Either of those would lead to lucrative careers. You show more promise in swordsmanship, I suggest work as a mercenary. Good luck.”

I watched him turn around and leave, without so much as a backwards glance. I then found a corner and lost what little was left in my stomach. I am so not cut out for this job. Maybe I should become a travelling storyteller, I had seen enough to get a shiver out of anyone. And if there was some gullible kid along the way, well that old man needed a payback, he had to have some kind of worthless trinket in his possession. I hear Scrola is short a ruler at the moment.