(Author’s commentary): Yes, you can read the whole story… so far… by clicking the button on my top bar, and thereby avoid these commentaries…

Well, I have a pretty good start on the beginnings of the army of resistance. My cast of characters is starting to grow on me, and each is developing a real personality. But here is where I surprised myself. Originally, when I mapped out the whole storyline for this novel, which is something I have never done before, because I was afraid I would get hooked into feeling like I was just putting up the walls and adding paint to a house that was already built, and that it would seem like a chore and I would get bored… but as I moved along, I could feel the story growing, I could see more clearly that, while I still intend to reach the ending in the same place in the same way, that the journey was going to have quite a few more branches to it. (See, this is why I say that writing a novel is like taking a bunch of long strings that are all tied together at one end, and giving the other ends to a bunch of crack squirrels and setting them loose in a forest, and then all you, as the author, has to do is follow all those strings through the branches to their other ends, gather them up, and tie them in a neat knot on the other side of the woods)…

Pay close attention to this chapter… the 2 or 3 of you that are actually reading it… because you might see a hint of what I am now planning to do. I introduced the Black Robes. They are a secret military/security unit of the evil empire. Who do they remind you of? Why, you are correct, dear person, the SS and the Gestapo of Nazi Germany. I began to see parallels between my fictitious world and our real one. And I decided to pounce on that. So, besides the Black Robes,  we are going to see my princess use piracy as a weapon or war, like the commerce raiders and submarines of World War Two. We will have invasions, and island-hopping, like the war in the South Pacific, and the landings in Africa, Italy and finally D-Day. There are going to be spies and resistance movements in occupied territory. We even have the beginnings of women’s lib, almost like Rosy the Riveter and the female contingents of the military in our own history. Although, once again, the men of their world are adapting to that particular change better than we are… uh… I mean did…

So the story is growing in scope exponentially, and I could be more excited… because I do so love to surprise myself.

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The Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 17

Hildy was almost at the stairs going down to the galley when Nudge cut her off. In his wake was the young boy from his home town. “Princess Hildy, I would like to introduce Farn Reaper, the young fellow who was, as you may recall, willing to join us voluntarily, at no small risk.” Nudge gestured at the lad, who bowed clumsily, but with true respect. “He has been telling me about home, and in particular, about my father’s preparations for war. It seems my father is taking the threat you represent very seriously.”

“Let’s all go get something to eat, and you can tell me about it,” she said, smiling at the boy. They sat down at one of the long benches at the long table with some bread, cheese and fish. The boy was painfully shy, but warmed to his subject quickly.

“My Lady,” he began, gathering speed as he went, “the kingdom is going mad. It is like a nest of cutter-bugs. Every man and boy who is strong and able enough is being put in the army, or sent to man the fleets of ships that are being built. The very young boys and the old men are all building more ships, or making weapons and armor. With all the men gone or busy, the women and girls are working the farms, although most of the food they grow goes to the army or the ships too. Anyone seen to not be working hard enough is taken away and never seen again.”

Hildy interrupted him. “What is happening in the kingdoms that have fallen?” She had been so busy that she hadn’t been thinking about her parents or her own people, she realized, feeling ashamed.

“I have no way of knowing, princess,” said the boy sadly. “But if the Black Robes can come and take anyone away and make them disappear in our own homeland, you can imagine that it is worse in other places.”

“Black Robes?” Hildy asked.

“The name is misleading,” explained the young Skull sailor. “They are the secret security forces of the king. They wear long, black robes with silver runes on them for regular duties. They wear them when they go out to make arrests, when someone is suspected of not being quite enthusiastic enough, or when someone denounces them. But they also dress in the tunics of peasants and workers and sailors, or the uniforms of regular soldiers. They join the workers building the ships, or making the weapons, or go to sea on the ships, or pose as soldiers in the army. You never know, unless the person working beside you is someone you knew from before, whether the man beside you is a black robe or not.”

Hildy was horrified. “That sounds like a horrible way to live.”

“That isn’t the worst,” Farn assured her. “People are turning in their neighbors or even their own family members. Sometimes it is out of a true sense of duty, but more often than not, they want to get rid of an old enemy, or repay some slight, or just to get the extra food that is offered for turning traitors in. Will a father punish a child for wickedness if that child can have his revenge with a word? Even the very meaning of wickedness has become lost to us, as long as it is done in the name of patriotism.”

“This means that there is most likely a Black Robe spy among the men from your ship,” Hildy considered aloud. The boy agreed that this was true, but said that he had no idea who this man might be. She thanked him, then told him that he was going to begin training as a full-fledged member of the resistance army. He thanked her for her time, her kindness, and the delicious food, and went back up on deck. Hildy and Nudge sat in silence for a while.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know about most of this, or I could have given you more warning,” Nudge said at last. “We princes in our royal households led a rather sheltered and secluded life. I knew things were bad, and getting worse, but that was all.”

I’m not sure how knowing this now is going to help us,” Hildy replied heavily. “Hopefully queen Shylar will believe us, and her reaction will be more helpful than that of the king of Flame.”

“Do you know queen Shylar well?” Nudge asked.

“I knew her when I was little,” Hildy answered. “She used to come and visit us, and I have been to Smilingman. But she was old, even back then, and a little strange, to be honest.” Nudge had no response to that.

Time flew by, with Hildy having none to spare. When she wasn’t sleeping, which she did seldom and never for long enough, her life was a whirlwind. At one point she broke up an argument between king Aluff and the triplets. Hildy was working on her fighting moves. One good thing to have come up was the fact that one of the Skull soldiers taken from the black ship, an older man, was something of an expert when it came to fighting with a spear. Hildy had sparred with him a few times, after he had bested captain Tar. The man was good. He could beat her as often as not. His name was Arch Storm. He had been in the Skull army since before the troubles started. They were taking a breather, discussing the finer points of their last bout.

“Princess,” Arch told her, “I only beat you that last time because you still think of your spear mostly as a staff. Your instincts and training tell you to swing it, to try to hit me with it, instead of trying to poke me. But this is not all bad. You also use your staff to block many of my thrusts. Skull soldiers have forgotten that a spear can still be used as a staff too. We need to combine these methods into one fighting style.”

Hildy smiled at the older man. “I want you to help captain Tar train the men. Forget your other duties. You are too valuable to scrub decks. I will talk to captain Tar and captain Reef and set it up.”

Even as he was thanking her, Hildy became aware of voices raised in an altercation. She turned to see king Aluff and the triplets, who had been making slings together, engaged in a loud and heated argument.

“You take that back!” screamed Tam Tam.

“I won’t,” king Aluff yelled back.

As Hildy began walking towards the angry group of youngsters, all three triplets stood up and surrounded Aluff, who suddenly looked more than a little nervous.

“He might be right, you know,” Andita said, though her fists were balled up at her sides, and she looked as though she might very well be considering using them on the young king.

“No he isn’t, you know he isn’t,” wailed Tam Tam, bursting into tears.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong, he can’t talk about him that way,” snarled Miri.

“What’s this all about?” Hildy demanded.

“He called our father a coward,” Andita said through clenched teeth.

Hildy turned on the boy. “Is that true? Did you say that to them?”

“I didn’t just say it for no reason,” Aluff tried to explain. “We were talking about how we are all fighting back against the Skulls. I just meant that king Tamin didn’t even try. I never called him a coward.”

Hildy looked into his eyes and spoke very quietly. “The last time someone made me this angry, I kicked him between the legs.” She left unsaid that she had later killed him.

Aluff turned pale, but he felt he had to say something. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.”

Hildy took a page from Sanara’s book on how to deal with obnoxious young kings. “Shut up, Aluff,” she told him, adding the pointing finger that Sanara put to such good use. But she couldn’t leave it at that. “My father fought back. He is the bravest warrior and the best man with a staff in the seven kingdoms. His soldiers were the best trained soldiers anywhere. He, and all our people, are now ruled by the Skulls. The king of Evergreen fought back. I was at that battle. We lost. Your own father stood up to them, and he was killed. Your kingdom is now another part of the Skull empire. Before this, there hasn’t been a war or even a battle fought in five hundred years. The Skulls changed all the rules. We weren’t ready for that. We weren’t ready for them. King Tamin did what he thought was right for his people.”

Aluff was silent for a moment. Then, he put down the piece of hide he was cutting strips from and stood to face the triplets. He bowed deeply. “My Ladies, I apologize for my cruel words. I am truly sorry.”

The triplets exchanged glances but didn’t say anything.

Hildy put a hand on the young king’s shoulder. “That was well said and heartfelt. Now go and introduce yourself to Arch Storm. Tell him I said that he should tutor you in the spear. It is time you took your place in the army of the resistance.”

Aluff bowed to her, and went to obey her command. Hildy turned to the three girls. The girls smiled at her and sat back down to make more slings.

“You know, we are getting pretty good at that spear fighting, Hildy,” Tam Tam said.

“I think I’m the best,” claimed Andita.

“I’m the best with the sling, even though, since we are moving, we have no targets to aim at except the waves, and they keep moving too,” Miri chimed in.

Hildy just smiled, shook her head, and went to the cabin. She washed the sweat off her face. She took a long drink of cool water. She looked at the map of the seven kingdoms that was stuck to the wall. They should be getting almost close enough to see Smilingman rising out of the waves, she considered.

She studied the map more closely. It struck her how silly it was that sometime, far in the past, men had looked at a map like this one and imagined that the shapes of some of the seven kingdoms looked like things they recognized. Yes, Halfmoon was roughly shaped like a moon, although not half a moon. Flame was pointy and ragged on top, and might look like flames to some people. Smilingman did indeed look just a little like the face of a smiling man turned to the side. She had never been able to figure out how anyone saw Dancer as a person dancing. Most of all, she had never understood how the names of the kingdoms had come to reflect these shapes. They must have all had names before anyone had ever made a map, before people in each kingdom even knew that the other kingdoms were there.

She looked closely at the kingdom of Skull. It did look like a skull, but not a human skull. The skull of some evil beast, perhaps, with the drip of Venom Island falling from one of its fangs. It looked sinister and malevolent, sitting there in the blue sea, and the very name sounded evil. And now, true evil had come into being there. This seemed, somehow, to be a sort of destiny, a cruel trick of fate that was meant to be. Hildy found herself hoping that fate also had a plan to do away with this evil, and she was going to do everything in her power to help fate in any way she could.