After the abuse by Conner, Mott helped Sage/Jaron get ready and clothed for the night. The clothes were more complicated and fancier than the ones that Sage/Jaron had had to wear at Conner's house. After this, Conner came in with two bundles for Sage/Jaron to prove to the regents who he was. The first was the emerald box that Sage/Jaron had had to hide in the passages; it contained drawings of Jaron by the queen. The second package contained Jaron's old crown. Conner's plan was to have Cregan drive them to the castle. It quickly became apparent that the palace's guards were turning most people away. They passed a carriage, and when Conner asked what was happening, the occupant replied that he did not know, but he was offended as he had "Prince Jaron" with him, his son. When they reached the gate, they realized that everyone but the regents were turned away. Sage/Jaron told Conner that he knew a back way into the castle and to follow him. Sage led them to a kitchen entrance, were Tobias, Roden, and Imogen met them. When they were farther down the passage, Cregan and Roden stopped them. They told them that if Sage did not turn over the Crown and let them continue, they would kill them. It was found that they were at a stale-mate and the only solution was to have the boys duel. Roden had the upper hand until Sage tripped him and won. Cregan, angered, rushed at them, but Mott stabbed him using his own knife. This caused Cregan to fall into the river. Sage told Roden to run and never come back, and he ran. The rest of the group proceeded to the castle.
Partially through the meeting with the regents, a commotion was started outside near the public. Sage/ Jaron was in front of the crowd. Lord Kerwyn examined Sage/ Jaron with sceptical eyes. Sage/ Jaron told him of his many mischievous activities when he was at the palace. Finally he gave the Lord the "gold" and told him it was real. Kerwyn looked in shock as he had been told by the king that the boy who came forward and gave him the "humblest of rocks" and told him it was gold would be the real prince. Jaron immediately demoted Lord Veldergrath and replaced him with a still surprised Conner, who had not known of Sage's true identity. Conner conducted Jaron's coronation and made him king, telling him that he could put him in whatever posision he chose. Jaron replied by having him arrested for killing Latamer, attempting to kill Jaron, and for killing the royal family using a poison called dervanis oil. Conner attempted to kill Jaron using a knife, but Jaron had already stolen it from him. Conner was taken away, and Jaron was finally the King of Carthya. Prince Jaron was more the son of his mother than his father. His mother loved him more as he was allowed more freedom than Darius. The queen had never felt comfortable as such. She was originally a barmaid. While traveling, King Eckbert saw her and came back during the week. After this, he brought her to the capital, Drylliad, and made her his queen. They were happy as spouses, but they disagreed on politics. The king wished to see allies in enemies, but the queen saw them as they were. Jaron was a wild kid. He set fire to the throne room on a bet that tapestries couldn't burn. Jaron never meant harm and only meant to burn a corner. This is like when Jaron challenged the king of Mendewal to a duel. No one knew that he did this as he had heard the king accuse the queen of not being a royal. Because of the embarrassment that Jaron caused, King Eckbert decided to have him sent to a school in Bymar. Rather than doing this, Jaron ran away before the ship departed, leaving his crown behind. The ship was attacked by pirates later that afternoon. When searching for survivors, it was found that they were all dead. Because the body of the prince was never found, they searched through the country and the surrounding ones for any sign of him, but he was never found. Jaron found he had skills that allowed him to blend in with Avenians. He could move among them because of his cultural education and he could pickpocket and work odd jobs when he found them. However, the young boy was hungry most days trying to be unnoticed by those street thugs who walked the roads. Darius found Jaron first. He had dropped a coin at the church offering dish, and the priest recognized him and sent word to Darius. When Darius arrived, he described the suffering of the parents having lost him. Darius left and had the priest keep watch over the prince for a week. When the king returned, he attempted to connect with Jaron by telling him that he had wanted to be a musician at his age. The king then proceeded to tell him that he would have to stay on the streets as he would have to declare war on Avenia if he had Jaron as proof of the attack. The king continued to tell the young boy about enemies withing the castle, regents who wanted the throne for themselves. Because of these dangers, Jaron started to use his left hand, lightened his hair color, and learned to speak with an Avenian accent. Lastly, the king gave Jaron a satchel with a gift in it, for which Jaron did not care.
The carriage ride to the castle was dull, with Sage/Jaron pretending to sleep. The lessons with Conner had been helpful as they helped him remember the names of some court officials and relatives that the prince would know. Some of the other lessons had been a waste of time as he had to fake his lack of knowledge so as not to show his true identity. It was only after Conner had told of the royal family's death that Sage/Jaron finally started to realize why his father had kept him away. Indeed, he had kept him away so that he could live. The king had predicted that the family might be killed, so it was necessary to have some royal to finally take their place. They stopped at a place simply known as the "Traveler's Inn". Because of the rumor of the royal family's death, the Inn was booked. Conner had to use much money to bribe the innkeeper to give them a room. Conner, Sage/Jaron, and Imogen were going to stay in the room with the others in the carriage. When morning came, Sage/Jaron had barely slept. Conner went through the schedule for the day. Conner told about how the regents would declare Jaron dead. When Sage/Jaron asked how he could be certain that Jaron was dead, Conner replied by asking him who he thought had hired the pirates, thus implying Conner himself did. The rest of the day was spent drilling last minute information about the prince. When they were done, Conner invited Mott in, who tied Sage/Jaron up. Conner hit Sage/Jaron and made him promise that he would demote Veldergrath and replace him with Conner. Conner abused Sage/Jaron until he accepted, then he left. Sage led Tobias and Roden to the deepest area of the tunnels that he knew of. As they watched the approaching group, they noticed a man in the center dressed in fine clothes: it had to be Veldergrath. Conner lead Veldergrath and a few of his men inside. The orphans went up to Conner's office to await the arrival of the two men. Veldergarth immediately addressed the fact that Conner had told the princess that Prince Jaron could be alive. Veldergrath seemed to be distressed at the possibility. Veldergrath then continued to ask about Conner taking orphan boys. Conner told him that they were to work in his fields and that they had run away. Lastly, Veldergrath asked if Conner knew that a small emerald box had disappeared from the royal castle, the box that Sage was holding. At the end of the conversation, Veldergrath told Conner that he was going to have the estate searched. The orphans went through the tunnels avoiding those that led to rooms being searched. They had reached the top floor when suddenly Tobias remembered that he had hidden papers in their room. Sage crept down the stairs, pulled up one of the planks to take the imitation of Prince Jaron's sword, and went to their room. Sage was almost at the papers when he heard someone say that they heard footsteps in the walls. The man then cried out in pain, as Imogen had hit him with a fire poker. Sage seeing the danger to Imogen crept up and stabbed the man, killing him. Sage grabbed the papers as Mott ran in, then Mott grabbed the dead man's knife and stabbed himself to look as if he had been attacked. Sage brought Imogen into the passages, and they watched Mott lie and tell Veldergrath's men that the dead man had attacked him and he had acted in self defense. They remained in the passages until Conner retrieved them. Sage was numb, having envisioned himself as Cregan killing Latamer when he killed the man. Conner looked at Tobias's papers, which Sage had retrieved, and told him that he was more fit to be a scribe than a king. Conner then turned to Sage and asked if he was willing to lie for the rest of his life. Sage told him that he was tired of lies. Then Conner turned to Roden and told him that he was to be the Prince. The next day, Tobias and Sage were ignored as all the servants tended to Roden. When called down to say farewell to Conner and Roden, Sage started to roll a coin across his knuckles, a nervous habit. Conner looked up in shock and brought Sage to his office. Conner told Sage that he had to be the Prince as the Prince knew how to roll the coin, a trick that not many others could do. Sage replied that he would only go with Conner if he brought the other two boys and Imogen. Conner finally accepted and told the others that there would be a delay as the traveling party had swelled in size. Sage went to ride a horse around Farthenwood to take his mind of the events. When Sage stopped, Mott arrived, having followed him. Mott pulled out a bundle, the imitation of Jaron's sword, and gave it to Sage. Sage, without hesitation, threw the sword into the nearby river, and told Mott that the Prince of Carthya would never carry an imitation. Mott kneeled and finally told Sage that he had been blind and was not looking at an orphan but rather at the living Prince of Carthya.
That night Sage mocked Tobias. Sage started to read Tobias's books and talked about his potential "plans" for the future. Finally, when the other two boys had gone to bed, Sage snuck into the secret passages. Sage was becoming gradually more adept at navigating the passages. As he traveled, he found the heavily guarded room that housed the Princess. While looking at the secret entrance to the room, a hand stopped Sage and put a knife to his back. The person cutting into his back was Tobias. The boy said he was trying to stop Sage from being considered. As Tobias left, Sage turned and hit him on the head with the knife that he had stolen from the kitchens. Tobias crumpled, unconscious. The next morning Tobias was in bed when Sage awoke. Roden was the first to notice the bleeding cut on his back. They made enough commotion that Errol came in to dress Sage. Errol quickly left to get supplies to tend the wound. Once Errol left, Roden tackled Tobias, having assumed he was the cause of the cut. Roden searched Tobias's items and found the blood stained knife. Sage seized the opportunity to tell Tobias that Conner knew of the notes he had made about overthrowing him. With Tobias scared, Sage made him promise to become less than he was. Tobias, realizing it was his only choice, agreed. Sage promised in return to allow Tobias to survive if he won the contest. During the day the lessons took place in the room so as not to alert the Princess of the activity. During the lessons Tobias faigned sleep. That night the orphans served the princess at dinner in the great hall. When she walked in, she stopped and asked Sage why he looked at her, and Sage told her she had dirt on her face, which she did. Over dinner the conversation was steered toward a "rumor" of the royal family's death. The princess claimed to have a headache and went to her room, with Sage to escort her. After escorting her to her rooms, Sage went to his as his back was hurting him. The princess left the next morning. During the day Mott took Sage out of lessons to practice sword fighting. While doing this, Mott explained that he drew the line at killing for Conner. Later before dinner Mott told Sage that he had not known that Latamer was going to be killed. At dinner Conner spoke of the prime regent Veldergrath. Conner told them that the rumor of the royal family's death was spreading, as was the one of Prince Jaron's possible survival. The next day Conner had a new idea for what they were to do. Conner wanted the orphans to transform into what Jaron had looked like. Errol dyed Sage's hair and clothed him. Out of the three boys Sage looked the most like the prince. While Conner was examining the boys, Cregan ran in and told Conner that Veldergrath was approaching with armed soldiers. Conner gave Sage an emerald encrusted box and told him to hide in the secret passages with the other orphans.
Sage claimed the dungeon smelled of "urine" and wondered who had previously been there. Mott and Cregan chained him to the ceiling and whipped him with a broad leather strap. Eventually the strap cut into his back, leaving a deep cut. Mott had to quickly disinfect it and bandage it. They left for a while, then Cregan returned with food to taunt Sage and attempt to find the location of the "gold". During the night Imogen came down with stolen food and water, which she gave to Sage. It turned out the mute servant girl was only mute for her own protection, and that the servants had hope as they wanted to see someone stand up to Conner. Finally after two days, Mott released Sage from the chains. A tired and weak Sage asked Mott to forgive him and claimed that he would be Conner's prince. Cregan and Mott brought Sage to Conner, where Conner asked him about papers he had found, and they all realized that Tobias had been planning to overthrow Conner. When Sage was sent to his room, Imogen took care of his wounds. When the other two boys arrived, they said that Sage had no hope of catching up to them. During lessons Sage paid a semblance of attention. Mott forced Sage to watch sword-fighting and horse back riding. After the morning lessons Mott led the boys to dancing lessons. During the lessons Conner asked Sage to play an instrument and he did. Later, as the lessons came to an end, Conner asked Sage about his Carthyan accent, and Sage replied that he had been working on it in that accent. After lessons Conner had the orphans go to the kitchen to get ready for when Princess Amarinda arrived. They were then sent to their rooms to wait while the princess was in the house.
The orphans also began to learn history, for which Roden and Sage had no chance at shining as Tobias knew all the answers already. Mott then came to bring them to the stable where they would be taught horse back riding by Cregan. When they arrived, Sage challenged that he could ride any horse Cregan could ride. Cregan gave Sage an untrained horse who took off with Sage in tow.
Mott found Sage near a river bank battered and bruised and brought him back to Farthenwood. On the way Mott asked Sage about Immogen, as she had passed a note asking Sage to not look at her. Mott explained that servants who seemed to be liked better were abused by the other servants. The following lessons with Cregan were uninteresting as Cregan had been blamed for the loss of the horse. Cregan decided that to make sure that another horse was not lost, he should give all the orphans the least excitable horses he had. Sage and Cregan were still on bad terms. After lessons the boys went to sword fighting with Mott where they realized that Prince Jaron's replica sword was missing. When they continued sword fighting, it was found that Roden was by far the best followed by Sage with Tobias being the worst at sword fighting. At dinner Conner taught more etiquette and knowledge of castle life. Conner then proceeded to tell the boys about how the prince was already engaged to a princess. That night Sage snuck out of his room through his window. When Sage came back, the window had been locked by Tobias. Sage's only option was to go through Conner's room. Sage found a secret passage from Conner's room through the house, even to Sage's bedroom. When Sage woke up that morning, his servant Errol brought his old clothes, which Sage had requested. Sage realized that the piece of "gold" he kept in his pocket was gone. Sage did not go to lessons that day and instead stole the "gold" back. Mott and Cregan arrived and took Sage to the dungeons. Late in the day, their wagon pulled up to Conner's large estate, Farthenwood. There, Conner and the orphans are greeted by servants who escort them to take baths. On the way they see Conner's riches and enormous house. Errol, the servant assigned to Sage, explains that the house, which was built by Conner's father, was designed to impress visitors and show the family's wealth. Errol showed Sage to a bath, telling him that Conner would be having dinner with them shortly. Rather than take a bath, Sage climbs out the window and looks at the estate. By the time Sage comes back, Errol is calling. Sage quickly washes, but Errol insists he is not clean enough.
Sage, Roden, and Tobias have dinner with Conner, who corrects their etiquette the entire time. Sage sees a serving girl who seems scared, Imogen. After dinner Conner orders the servants to leave so that he can tell the boys about his plan. Conner tells the boys that members of the court, primarily the prime regent Veldergrath, plan to take the throne for themselves. This could result in a civil war, which Carthya's neighboring country, Avenia, could take advantage of. Conner then proceeds to talk about the royals, mostly about the younger of the princes, Jaron, who was killed in a pirate attack. There is a possibility, though minute, that Jaron is alive because a body was never found. Then Conner tells the boys that the royals of Carthya are dead, murdered through poison. Conner states that he also has proof of Jaron's death, but wants to pass one of the orphans off as the prince of Carthya. In a rage because of this idea, Sage storms out of the dining room, only to encounter Mott who brought him to the sword yard and begins to teach him sword fighting. Mott first made him choose a sword, then taught the basic positions. At the end Mott confides that he wants Sage to be the orphan who is chosen. Sage replies that he does not want to be the prince. Mott then tells Sage that the sword he picked was a replica of Jaron's. The next morning Sage and Roden discuss what will happen to the boys who are not chosen. They are then sent to learn reading and writing with a somber and negative teacher, Mr. Graves. There is still a chance of making the orphans into gentlemen. Sage, an orphaned Avenian boy in Carthya, ran through the streets for his life, a stolen roast in his arms and an angry butcher at his heels. When he arrives at the orphanage, a stranger trips him and pays the butcher in excess for the roast. The stranger decides to take him from the orphanage. Sage, not wanting to go, runs but is stopped by the stranger's vigils.
When Sage wakes up, he is in a a wagon with three other orphan boys. The man who took him from the orphanage introduces himself as Bevin Conner, Carthyan noble. Conner has collected several orphans who are in the carriage as well, Roden and Latamer. When they stop in a town so that Conner can get another orphan, Tobias, Sage puts a noose around Latamer's neck using the rope that tied him in an attempt to escape. Cregan, one of the vigils, threatens Sage, and the party is on their way. When they stop in the woods for the night, the vigils, Mott and Cregan, hide their trail. Conner tells the orphans he will tell them about why he took them, but first allows any boy who does not want to stay to leave. Latamer decides to leave, and, as he walks away, is shot in the back by Cregan, and killed. The boys are shocked by the lengths Conner will go to for his plan, willing to kill. Conner and Mott eat, but the orphans, Roden, Tobias, and Sage, are too shocked to eat. Conner ask questions about their personality and quizzes them on their knowledge of Carthya. Conner tells them about imposing civil war because of the regents in court. Conner wants, for some reason, to make these orphans into gentlemen in two weeks. Whatever Conner's plan is, he would only pick one boy, and the rest would most likely share Latamer's fate. |
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