Edmund's backstory

I was never what my father wanted. Not like my older brother, Percy. Perfect Percy. Of course he should have some favour from my father as he would be the one to inherit the title, but it seemed my father didn’t want me at all.

I’m not sure I could blame him. I was small and brutish in appearance, which meant I had few friends. To protect myself I built up a wall and soon became known for my taciturn nature as well.

Of course I was still required to study the lordly disciplines, but where Percy studied swordsmanship with Chad the Champion, I studied with Armless Armand. Sure, he had seen plenty of fighting but you had to wonder at the skill of someone who had lost both his arms in battle.

Statesmanship, heraldry, and similar studies bored me to tears as well while Percy, of course, excelled in reciting all these tedious and unimportant snippets.

Nobody seemed to mind when I started skipping out on these classes. Well, that’s not strictly true. Percy would snipe at me whenever we were alone about how I was shirking my responsibilities, and at dinner he would deliberately raise topics that related to our studies in an attempt to cause some retribution for my lack of attendance. Of course, in my father’s eyes I may as well have not existed so all he did was converse with Percy on the topic. The attention served to fuel Percy’s ego, but it was equally obvious that he was annoyed that I had escaped my richly deserved punishment. I would laugh at first but then Percy started to beat me. He was bigger and stronger than I, and of course had been better trained in fighting. He had no trouble asserting his “superiority” and I learned that it was wiser not to provoke him.

So it was that I spent more and more time away from the keep, and I decided it would be wise to avoid the sight of anyone that might drag me back to my lessons... and Percy’s company. I would disappear into the forests, a large portion of which was reserved for my father’s private hunting ground. That made it more hazardous than it might have been so I sought out the groundskeeper Simon the Sure-footed.

Simon was like a shining beacon to me. No second-class training from him, and the things he knew about creatures of all kinds thrilled and excited me. He taught me to use a bow and even crafted one for me that took advantage of my strength. He taught me about the animals that prowled our forests and those that populated the shores around our island.

While I was handy with a bow I felt most alive when challenging the beasts hand-to-hand. I was so frequently hurt that the healers in town started to joke that i was “constantly in their prayers”.

One day Simon and I found the remains of a deer with some tracks which I had not seen before. I could see Simon blanch—something I had never seen before—as he told me it was a dire bear. “Fetch your father, boy. I’ll try to track it and leave a trail, but it will take a squad to bring it down safely.” I rushed back to the keep, and the first person I saw was Percy, who was training with the lance. I told him what was happening and asked him to collect a squad of pikemen while I went looking for father.

I helped my father into his armour and we returned to the courtyard. Instead of Percy and a squad of pikemen we discovered that Percy had taken off by himself. With a look usually reserved for me my father headed after him, commanding me to follow with the pikemen.

I had a knot in my stomach as I rounded up the pikemen and we found Simon’s trail. We followed for half an hour before we heard sounds of battle. Simon and Percy were down and my father was battling the dire bear. He was covered in blood and as we entered the clearing he drove his sword into its brain through the roof of its mouth. Rather than dying instantly the dire bear convulsed hideously, clamping its jaws on his arm and jerking his body around like a rag doll as it died.

The priests could do nothing for my father or Simon—they were so mangled they could not be restored. Percy, however, survived and took his rightful position as lord of our island. He immediately set about creating a land of oppression.

Yesterday I was returning from the forest when I man ran up to me. “Help me, please, the guards are chasing me. I know stealing food is wrong but my children are starving.” I hurried the man onward and as the guards approached I tipped over a cart in their path. By the time the chaos had subsided the man was long gone.

Out of frustration more than any expectation that I would really be punished the guards took me to the cells and locked me up overnight before taking me before the magistrate, where I was charged with theft and resisting arrest. There we waited while a messenger was sent to the keep to inform my brother that he would need to intercede. While we waited I was witness to the other “hardened criminals” on trial for trying to eke out a miserable existence beneath Percy’s boot-heel.

Eventually the messenger returned and handed a scroll to the magistrate. He read it carefully, drew a deep breath, then read “By order of Lord Percy, Edmund of Fallenoak will be sent by prison boat to Mota, where he will be imprisoned for his crimes of sedition.”

I wonder if he would have been as bold had there not been a prison ship already moored at our harbour. The guards that led me through the streets seemed embarrassed and tried to look like they were accompanying me somewhere rather than escorting me under arms. I was led down to the harbour and aboard the Blessed Wind were I was chained below-decks.