Stories Thread

[Braden]

“How many years have we been here Andreas?” Prince Henri sat casually at the table and leaned back whilst examining his erstwhile tutor and now confidant.

“Only 18 months my Lord, not so long.”

Andreas also sat at the table in the main hall, hunched over uninterestingly picking at a plate of cheese and grapes.

Henri continued “Well it seems like an age! I grow tired here, I am not even consulted in governance any longer” Henri stood and slowly paced to the fireplace, lit as always, and stared into the low flames.

It was mid-morning in the residency given over to the Prince and his entourage, whilst it was not cold outside the building itself was constructed mainly of stone so held the evening cold….the hearths were constantly lit as a result.

“What has become of me now?” Henri was barely audible to Andreas now, clearly talking as much to himself as to his long standing tutor “I am a Prince, 2nd in line to the throne and yet I remain here as if under house arrest, to do nothing of worth, of valour. I know I am still young but am I to stagnate here until all chance of adventure or chivalry has been pushed aside with increasing age?”

Henri, still only 17, had been in Andreas’ care for the last 7 years nearly. Half Italian and Frank, Andreas was well versed in sword-play and the machinations of court life, he himself had been a minor noble in the North of Italy until those very same “machinations” had forced his family into poverty once the Germans had started their political games against the Italian states of Milan and Rome. Using the name of his Frankish mother he had managed to steer what remained of his family to a comfortable living under Phillips nation and once his mother had died, he found employ in the Kings household and then into Henri’s circle as a general tutor of arms and protocol. He liked the boy he’d known since before his 12th birthday, studious but kind, naturally chivalrous but woefully overshadowed by his older, boisterous and frankly unappealing brother Louis.

“Take heart Lord, your stay here will not be that much longer. Your father himself only instructed you remain here until you had completed your further training.”

Henri turned again to look at Andreas “I know, but have I? Will I ever complete my training?”

Andreas shrugged “That is not for me to deem my Lord but know this, the skills of sword and honour cannot ever be learned fully…you will continue to learn long after I have joined God, all you can do is achieve a level of dignity that you, yourself, can be proud of.”

Henri chuckled to himself “Heh…there is not much comfort in such words for a hot-headed young man such as myself Andreas. Perhaps you would be more at home speaking with the embalmed at the cemetery with such morose lines.”

The statement was no threat, as usual, just a jest in poor taste…the Prince had developed quite a black sense of humour as he turned the journey into adulthood. Andreas mused that it might just hold him in good stead when the blood and the screaming of battle started.