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Meet Decellus

via Pinterest
 
     Here is another of my characters from my secret project.  His name is Decellus.  He fought beside the king in the Seven Year War and has become the person whom the king trusts most.
     Decellus is not originally from Leramay but from a country called Ricge.  As a boy, he was raised as the son of a gentleman.  As a youth, preparing for his future career, he wavered between a political and a military career.  Then civil war broke out, making the decision for him as all semblance of oratory government was swallowed up in the war.  There was no time for training -- there was a battle on his doorstep.  With the typical eagerness of an active young man, Decellus joined his family and neighbors in fighting against the rebels.
      But the rebels were stronger than anyone thought.  In barely three years time, they swept over the country, crushing the current powers.  Decellus found himself in a country that did not want him.  His family was gone, his home was gone, his friends were gone.  In an effort to fully stamp out any remnants from the previous reign, the rebels were hunting down everyone who took sides against them.  Decellus was a fugitive in his own country.
     There was no option but to flee.  The next several years saw Decellus moving from country to country, trying to find a way to live.  But he was surviving on next to nothing and could find nowhere to land.  People were reluctant to take in the foreigner who seemed to be on the run.  Things got very hard for Decellus, and he nearly died.
     The king of Leramay found him and trusted him.  He brought the vagabond to his own country and gave him a position working in the king's fields near the castle.  And there Decellus served him from a distance for many years.
      When the King of Leramay announced his intention to fight in the war (later known as the Seven Year War), Decellus requested permission to join him.  There was something in his eyes that spoke to the king, and the king took him as his own personal sword-bearer.
     On the battlefield, Decellus proved to be an able soldier as well as a faithful servant.  He often had valuable insights into battle plans and was soon a welcome councilor at the table of the generals.
     The king found Decellus to be quiet and reserved, more likely to hold his tongue than to speak.  But when he did speak, it soon became apparent that the humble servant-and-soldier was a learned man.  By the end of the war, the king hardly thought of Decellus as a servant as much as he thought of him as a friend.
      So it was only natural, when the king needed someone to look out for the one person he loved most in this world, that he would turn to Decellus.  Who else could he trust at a time like this?

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