The Fall of Taridawil (A Knightess of the Realm Story Collection): Knightess of the Realm

By Kerridwen Mangala McNamara and Mangala McNamara

Before Karana won her shield…

Before she spent a year alone in the forest…

The Evil Wizard Henig destroyed Taridawil…

…and the younger child of Duke Randall was sent – all unwilling – to Tallspire to become a page and earn his shield.

Meet Kefen and Ivan as children…

Discover the story behind how Ivan fought half their class…

Watch how they figure out what friendship means…

And learn what really happened to bond them so closely together in this touching tale of friendship, resilience, and caring.

******************

The Fall of Taridawil Story Collection includes:

- Turns of a Page – how Kefen and Ivan met, how Ivan fought half their class (and why), and how they ended up becoming so close.

- In A Masterful View, we peek into Master Felerico's viewpoint on the boys

- Of Pride & Princes takes a look at Henig's original threat to King Theolore

- We get into Queen Marlerite's head in Sorrows of a Queen

- And the collection finishes up with an 'outside' view of the whole situation from… Rufous in All on the Same Page

******************

Teaser:

The small, dark-haired boy – no, ducal-prince, dammit, and that was how Kefen was going to keep his chin up – swallowed hard and began to turn back into the stall for a last measure of privacy before he had to go out there and show the world how a Saralath handled things.

But a movement to his left caught his eye.

Another boy was standing in the aisle of the stables, watching him silently. The boy was tall and golden-haired, with eyes that were almost too blue to be real. Eyes that were puzzled as he met Kefen's own dark ones.

After a moment of looking at each other, Kefen realized the other boy was dressed as he himself was. So. Another page. And tall as he was, something about the other child nevertheless suggested to Kefen that he was also new here.

He waited, but the other boy said nothing. And when Kefen lifted an arm to rub his tears off on his sleeve and it broke their gaze, the other boy turned and began walking away.

Curious, and drawn for reasons he couldn't have explained, Kefen followed him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rising Dragon Books
• Release date: May 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9781960160348

Book preview

A straight sword

The small, dark-haired boy – no, ducal-prince, dammit, and that was how Kefen was going to keep his chin up – swallowed hard and began to turn back into the stall for a last measure of privacy before he had to go out there and show the world how a Saralath handled things.

But a movement to his left caught his eye.

Another boy was standing in the aisle of the stables, watching him silently. The boy was tall and golden-haired, with eyes that were almost too blue to be real. Eyes that were puzzled as he met Kefen’s own dark ones.

After a moment of looking at each other, Kefen realized the other boy was dressed as he himself was. So. Another page. And tall as he was, something about the other child nevertheless suggested to Kefen that he was also new here.

He waited, but the other boy said nothing. And when Kefen lifted an arm to rub his tears off on his sleeve and it broke their gaze, the other boy turned and began walking away.

Curious, and drawn for reasons he couldn’t have explained, Kefen followed him.

RIsing Dragon logo

The Fall of Taridawil

A Knightess of the Realm Story Collection

MANGALA MCNAMARA

Rising Dragon Books

Rising Dragon Books logo

Turns of a Page

A Knightess of the Realm Prequel Novella

MANGALA MC NAMARA

Rising Dragon Books logoRising Dragon Books logo

Eight years before present, two weeks after the Vernal Equinox...

"BUT WHY, FATHER? WHY DO I have to stay here and learn to be a knight?"

The slender, bookish boy struggled to keep both tears and whining out of his voice.

"Because the king refused to let me have a go at it," his athletic older sister tossed her head.

Yelena... their father sighed. Thou knowest that is not the whole tale.

I’d do a better job of it, Father.

Thou art mine Heir, Yelena, and Heirs do not seek their shields. And that is the end of it. Nor dost thou thy brother a kindness to say such things.

Yelena pouted, but went over to give her little brother a tight, fierce hug.

I would, though, she whispered in his ear.

I know, he whispered back. Would that we could switch places.

I’ll talk Father around, she promised. "And then I’ll come out here and we will switch. Thou wilt be happier in the Keep and the Keep happier with thee in it."

And thou here... The boy sighed. Father always listens to thee, Yelena. Come back soon.

Before thou knowest it, little brother.

She stepped away and went out to mount her own horse.

Duke Randall waited till she was gone, then turned to his son. Kefen...

The horse – the only full-sized horse that Kefen wasn’t completely terrified of because it was so perfectly trained – stayed stock still as the man embraced his young son, who had flung himself into his father’s arms.

Duke Randall was quite nearly as distraught. Wouldst not leave thee an ’twere not of greatest importance to Taridawil.

Which might make sense, but all of a sudden this was real and the tears were rolling down Kefen’s cheeks.

I... I know... he made himself say.

Though he didn’t. Not really. Father had said it was. And Yelena had said it was. But they hadn’t told him why Kefen becoming a knight was suddenly so important. Even though they knew he needed the whys to make sense of the world. But Father never told him to do things that didn’t make sense… so he just had to trust…

If only trusting didn’t mean getting left here in Tallspire all by himself.

We’ll be back, his father promised. For holidays and... and we’ll send to bring thee home as often as will not interfere with thy studies.

Kefen nodded as his father let him go and began to lead his horse out of the stall. They’d chosen to have their goodbyes in the privacy of the royal stables rather than have the horses brought out to them in the Grand Courtyard at the front of the Crystal Castle as the privilege and dignity of the Second Peer of the Realm really demanded. Not that crying over each other would add much to that dignity.

Kefen trailed his father out, stopping in the door of the stall and putting a hand on the upright post that served as a doorframe. He needed to hold on to something real to keep himself from grabbing hold of his father’s stirrup and begging to be taken home. Which would be beneath the dignity of a ducal-prince of Taridawil, even if he was only eleven years old, and might tempt his father to scoop him up onto his saddle and take him home despite the oaths that had been sworn to make Kefen a Page to the King. And that would be a mess.

No, Yelena’s idea was the only way to get him out of this. If she could trade herself for Kefen, the king would still have his page and Taridawil would still have its knight-in-training. And if Father agreed to it, there was little chance the king would object. Father was the king’s friend and chief advisor, his rank second only to His Majesty himself.

Well, and that of the queen, of course, and someday, in the far future, the little princess. But no one really paid a great deal of attention to the foreign-born queen, pretty as she was, and the little princess was only six – almost a decade away from her Heir’s Journey to the island of Kalapula to seek the Great Goddess’ Blessing on her Confirmation as Heir to the Throne. Until then, little Karivas wasn’t even officially Crown Princess, but only Crown Princess-Presumptive.

And the Heir’s Journey was a long and dangerous trip. Kefen was grateful that Taridawil had no such strictures that Yelena had to meet. She had been their father’s Heir since she was born; Named and Confirmed once she could toddle and make her curtsy to – well, then it had been old Queen Emmerine, King Theolore’s mother.

No, the Heir to Taridawil didn’t have to meet a Goddess’ approval, just that of the Keep of Taridawil itself, and the Keep had loved Yelena from the day she was born. And It had told Duke Randall so immediately, he had said.

But the Keep had loved Kefen from before he was born, It had told him. And It had told Father so as well. And Yelena, which had caused no end of trouble for awhile. The Keep wanted Kefen to stay there, within Its walls, though It didn’t seem to care why he stayed in Taridawil.

The problem was that – as the younger brother – Kefen was marriage-bait, as Yelena so often told him. He’d be wedded off to the benefit of the province as soon as he was old enough, and likely never get to come home again except for visits. Yelena had promised that if Kefen did everything she told him to do, she’d see to it that Father picked him a bride that let him visit frequently.

She’d first explained all this when he was three years old, and Kefen had fervently promised to be her loyal vassal forever.

And so he had. Even when Yelena’s ideas of fun got them in trouble... though he balked if it was things he knew they’d been expressly forbidden. Yelena was good at finding ways around whatever strictures their parents tried to setup – clever as a little lawyer, Father would praise her, after giving them some mild consequence for untoward behavior.

When he’d gotten older, Kefen had wondered why he couldn’t at least stay close by, as their Uncle Tomas did. Uncle Tomas and his family – Father’s older brother, because Uncle Tomas hadn’t been acceptable to the Keep – lived down in the city outside the Keep.

Yelena had explained that their Aunt Laurifa – who had been Grandfather Duke Samiel’s first Heir – had disappeared when Uncle Tomas was still a boy and Grandfather had hoped to persuade the Keep to accept Uncle Tomas anyways. But the Keep had stayed firm and Grandfather had married a third time, at the behest of his own mother, the Duchess Xerena, finally producing their father.

Uncle Tomas had been given more freedom because of that history – though he had been sent to Tallspire to earn his shield and had done so, despite having no desire for it himself.

Kefen had wondered… but he hadn’t dared ask Yelena.

And asking Father – or Mother – seemed likely to bring to their notice that they needed to find him a bride and hasten that dread day all the more. Mother already had made lists of potential brides for Kefen, so not stirring that idea up any further was imperative.

Not long ago, it had occurred to Kefen that he might ask Uncle Jon, who always took him seriously and never betrayed a confidence… but he hadn’t managed to work himself up to it before this trip…

Don’t cause too much trouble, imp, Yelena called down from the tall, tall horse that she’d been riding since she was ten. She loved riding and fencing and racing and fighting. Father and Uncle Jon – who was actually Uncle Tomas’ oldest son, but he was only a few months younger than Father – had been teaching her all those things since she started begging them practically as soon as she could walk and talk. Kefen had been scared of all those things – and watching Yelena beat up their friend Berd every time Mother took them to visit Goldenglades hadn’t helped.

Kefen was still somewhat scared of the pony he’d been riding since he was six. And they were taking Stubby back home to Taridawil anyways... Yelena said the other boys would laugh at him if he had a pony, when they were all going to be training on warhorses that were even larger than Father’s or Yelena’s steeds.

Of course, he won’t. Duke Randall dashed a hand across his eyes before swinging up into his own saddle. ’Tis ne’er Kefen who starts the trouble.

Well. At least Father was willing to admit that. Though Yelena looked rather put out.

Kefen exchanged a quiet nod with his mother. Duchess Leone’s horse was a much more delicate palfrey... but it was a nervous creature and he had no desire to come close to its shifting hooves. Mother had given him a kiss before she mounted and that would have to do. Oddly, with all the things Mother was afraid of, horses weren’t one of them. She wasn’t a terribly skilled horsewoman, though that might have been due to how little time she spent riding, at least since Kefen had been born.

Duke Randall gave his son another long, sad look, then turned and flicked his reins. The royal stables had been built to allow men to mount up indoors; the ones at home had lower roofs and one had to lead the horses outside first.

Kefen decided he preferred the privacy this offered, as he tried to pretend that he was just resting his hand on that post and not clinging to it. As he tried to pretend that he wasn’t about to fall apart and go cry in the hay at the back of the stall as soon as they were out of sight and he didn’t need to be brave for Father.

It wasn’t more than seconds.

The small, dark-haired boy – no, ducal-prince, dammit, and that was how he was going to keep his chin up – swallowed hard and began to turn back into the stall for a last measure of that precious privacy before he had to go out there and show the world how a Saralath handled things.

But a movement to his left caught his eye.

Another boy was standing in the aisle of the stables, watching him silently. The boy was tall and golden-haired, with eyes that were almost too blue to be real. Eyes that were puzzled, as he met Kefen’s own dark ones.

After a moment of looking at each other, Kefen realized the other boy was dressed as he himself was. So. Another page. And tall as he was, something about the other child nevertheless suggested to Kefen that he was also new here.

He waited, but the other boy said nothing. And when Kefen lifted an arm to rub his tears off on his sleeve and it broke their gaze, the other boy turned and began walking away.

Curious, and drawn for reasons he couldn’t have explained, Kefen followed him.

Rising Dragon Books logo

About two months later... shortly before Midsummer...

"THINK YOU'RE SO SMART, DON'T you, Kefen?"

Last names weren’t exactly forbidden in the academy, but they were discouraged. The boys were all supposed to be on an even footing, be they the sons of country squires or of Great Lords of the Realm. Not that there was anyone who didn’t know who Kefen was.

And certainly not the mass of giant blonde bullies blocking him from