Bird of a Flock (Bow 2) - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Eyeri and Ryraso had barely been in the library an hour when the priests descended. Ryraso had actually been in the stacks looking for something, while Eyeri had been looking over some basic words. Eyeri looked up warily as the priest he recognised as the High Priest stopped in front of him. The man greeted him in k'nairi and had an almost pleased look when Eyeri answered back. The man looked at his paper and nodded before saying something Eyeri was almost familiar with.
Calmly Eyeri gestured at the phrase to check. The High Priest smiled pleased and nodded. "Where is Ryraso?" Eyeri looked over at the books shelves and gestured, not sure where exactly Ryraso had gone too.
The High Priest nodded with a look of triumph in his eyes before the men around him started moving towards the books. The High Priest ruffled Eyeri's hair in a similar way that the Royal Triad often did. The familiar touch felt wrong somehow but Eyeri didn't complain. The man wasn't hurting him and he was clearly important in some way.
"I am Ton'enth," the man greeted in k'nairi.
"I am Eyeri. Nice to meet you," Eyeri smiled slightly.
Ton'enth nodded and gently look Eyeri's pen from him. "I am," the next word Eyeri didn't know but Ton'enth sounded it out carefully as he wrote it.   Gnu-seog Ton'enth. Eyeri looked at the word and slowly repeated it. The man nodded with a smile.
"Inai... Is Inai 'Gnu-seog Inai'?" Eyeri wondered out loud. Did Gnu-seog mean High Priest or was it a title that just Ton'enth had?
Ton'enth nodded with a grin, clearly impressed that Eyeri had made that jump. He asked something but frowned as he realised that Eyeri couldn't understand yet. Instead, he wrote several other words on the paper. He sounded them out for Eyeri as he wrote them and quickly came to the realisation that Ton'eath was teaching him the titles of the Royals. Both Dyn'ad and Nel'os had the same title and Tai'ray had his own. Then he came to Ryraso. Ton'eath wrote two titles. He also wrote two for Eyeri. Eyeri listened carefully and quickly worked out the difference. One was in relation to their jobs and other to status.
"Adchiog?" Eyeri said underlining the word and pointed to the healer crest on his shoulder as he tried to repeat the word. Ton'enth made an agreeing sound before gesturing for Eyeri to run through the list. Eyeri slowly worked his way down the words. Ton'enth corrected a few but seemed happy with how Eyeri said them.
"Ton'enth," Ryraso's voice snapped as he was frogmarched from the shelves before practically yelling a ton of stuff in k'nairi. Eyeri listened not understanding the conversation but he could see clearly that Ryraso was unhappy with the man's presence. Though, Eyeri wasn't concerned. Ryraso had said he was going to be dodging the priests, it made sense he wasn't going to happy now they had him quite literally in hand. Ton'enth said something calmly and Ryraso scowled. "Eyeri, are you ok?" Ryraso finally asked gruffly.
"I'm fine. High Priest Ton'enth was just teaching me Royal's titles," Eyeri smiled reassuringly at his father. Ryraso pulled out of the priests' hands to look over Eyeri's shoulder and see the new words written on his piece of paper. He rolled his eyes and patted Eyeri's shoulder, hugging him slightly.
"Of course, he did," Ryraso growled and kissed Eyeri's forehead, smoothing Eyeri's hair back. "Only he would consider that to be more important than knowing how to talk to people," he grumbled.
Ton'enth made a comment that had Ryraso glaring at the man again. The High Priest seemed mostly unaffected by this. "I'm not leaving him alone," Ryraso said firmly. "And he can't come with us so you will have to wait!" He barked in human tongue. Ton'enth just glared at him painfully.
There was a stand-off for a few moments before someone else interrupted. Eyeri recognised the man as being the one who had done the ceremony when they had arrived. He was looking slightly disappointed but was speaking calmly. Ryraso visibly forced himself to be civil, a strange look on a man who Eyeri knew rarely held back. Even with Inai and Loror, Ryraso more often than not spoke his mind. Eyeri twiddled his thumbs as the three men spoke before Ryraso's shoulders fell in defeat.
The High Priest looked very pleased, almost smug but the newcomer said something sharp. The man made a noise and clicked in the back of his throat, looking the happy look. The priests who had pulled Ryraso out of the books grabbed his arms again in a clear 'you're coming with us' gesture.
"Eyeri, this is Regent Unt'at. He's going to teach you some more k'nairi tongue while I have a chat with the priests," Ryraso said tensely, his jaw stiff. He tugged out of the grip again to give Eyeri a brief hug again. "Don't forget, there are guards just outside the door if you need them," Ryraso murmured.
Nodding, Eyeri leant up and kissed Ryraso's cheek before watching as Ryraso was basically dragged out of the library. He looked up at Unt'at warily, as the man sat opposite him. Unt'at had a darker skin tone to Ton'enth, closer to Dyn'ads, which made for an interesting contrast with his light yellow wings and eyes. His hair was a fiery orange colour and was cut neatly around his shoulders. All in all, he was very bright and seemed nice enough but that looking nice didn't necessarily mean that a person was indeed so.
"Nice to meet you," Unt'at greeted warmly. "Well done on enduring yourself to Ton'enth. He and Ryraso do not get along as you can see so it is not the worse idea to have him fond of you."
"The Royals are not fans of the priests in general it seems," Eyeri said softly, thinking of the interaction he had watched between Ton'enth and Nel'os the previous day. Nel'os' comments about Inai too. The Royals were on Loror's side for a reason.
"Not as such," Unt'at acknowledged. "The priesthood is often difficult to work with. If they don't approve of something, it won't happen. They are one of the few barriers between the Winglord and absolute power."
"I thought the link decided things in the end," Eyeri said confused. This seemed to be different to everything he had been told. "Tai'ray said there were things he couldn't change... and those were things that the link had decided." If the priests had power, did that mean they were the ones who could stop Eyeri being branded? Eyeri wondered idly, hope sparking in his chest. Unt'at had already said Ton'enth was fond of him, he could build on that.
"The priests are more for things that affect the entire flock," Unt'at commented. "Smaller things are different. For example, they can't decide who Tai'ray mates with. They don't want him to bond Ryraso but that isn't their choice. It's Tai'ray's."
"Ryraso keeps arguing that it's his," Eyeri smiled softly, wondering about what power the priests did have. If the priests were for things that affected the entire flock, the brand just might come under that. After all, Eyeri was not going to be the only person who was connected to a caw who wasn't actually caw themselves.
Unt'at nodded thoughtfully. "From what I understand, it is. The law is that the Winglord can have who he wants but Tai'ray has always been strictly against abusing his power. It's Tai'ray's morals which give Ryraso the choice, not the law or anything else."
"He is a good man," Eyeri murmured.
"Was that in doubt?" Unt'at asked sounding almost amused.
Eyeri thought for a moment, about all the warnings he had been given over the years and the stories he had heard. "I have always been told to find either Dyn'ad, Nel'os or General Yerir'o if I got captured by the D'mar. Dyn'ad and Nel'os are known to be trustworthy. The twins, I don't know if you know of them? They always said that Nel'os would protect any child who he found in danger. Tai'ray ... In battle, he loses something of himself." Eyeri reached up to his neck. The memory of Tai'ray holding a dagger to it filling his mind, he could almost still fill the bite of metal on his skin. "He used me to get Ryraso to finally surrender," he added softly. "Since then he has not hurt me," Eyeri nodded slowly.
"But it's hard to trust a man you barely know, who has already threatened you," acknowledged Unt'at, reaching over to pat Eyeri's hands. "Was it just those twins you mentioned who told you to find the Royals?" he asked tilting his head. "I'm afraid baring the names of the main players, I know very little about the frontline of the war. I am in charge of Navat and it is rare that the outside affects it."
"Not Ryraso, if that is what you are hoping," Eyeri smiled weakly. It was almost comical looking back that Ryraso had never really spoken about the k'nairi. People knew he could heal them and speak the language but no one had really known just how tangled Ryraso actually was with the race. "High Priest Inai told me a few times," Eyeri shrugged. "Isst once said it offhand too."
"I see," Unt'at nodded almost to himself. "And General Yerir'o?" he asked, with a frown, almost like that name had suddenly occurred to him.
"My brother," Eyeri smiled innocently, a strange glint in his eyes. Eyeri was not unaware that General Yerir'o's name was a strange one to throw into the mix. He was a strong General but he had never been apart of Loror's squad.
"Can I ask his name?" Unt'at pressed, his face thoughtful.
"Fetmer Zamen. Nice to meet you," a voice by Unt'at's ear greeted before pinning him. Unt'at had no time to react, or call for help. A piece of cloth was pressed against his mouth the smell of something sharp filling his nose. Black filled his vision and he was dead to the world.
Fetmer put the noble's head down on the table gently, before reaching around the table to grab Eyeri in a rough and tight hug. Eyeri clung to him, almost about to cry. His brother was here! "Hey kiddo," Fetmer breathed into Eyeri's ear. "Let's get you out of here."