Skip to main content

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?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Hard Goodbye

     "You're more poet than anything." I folded my arms and glared at Ian.  He sat perched on the edge of the roof, dressed like an adventurer.  I coveted every part of his outfit -- the breezy shirt made of course cloth, the sturdy breeches, the leather boots that laced up to his calves, the dagger on his hip.  Tomorrow he would set sail to a life I craved more than anything.  But did he appreciate his opportunities?  No. And I hated him for it.      "Do you despise poets, Ingrid?"  His voice was sad, but a grin twisted at the corners of his mouth as he finished his question.  Those blue eyes of his cut in my direction with a teasing flash.       "They don't DO anything."  My thoughts and emotions ran in torrents, but I could see his flowing smoothly and quietly.  Even in his uneasiness about the morrow, his face was a peaceful as a child falling asleep in his own bed.     ...

The Countdown: Eight Days

Eight days.  Do you know what that means?  Barely over a week.  Tomorrow will be one week from the announcement date. Are you excited? I am. So, today, I want to talk to those who wrote something for the contest, whether or not you entered it in the end. What made you start writing your story?  What was the first inkling of an idea that tickled your brain?  What was it that you liked about your premise?  As you wrote, did you have a favorite character or a favorite scene?  And are you glad you wrote it down?  Do you feel like you learned and grew in your ability as a writer as you tried out things for this contest? And, if your story isn't included in this year's Rooglewood anthology (either because you didn't submit it or because it didn't fit with the other four stories selected), what will you do with it?  Will you market it elsewhere?  Or will you lock it away in a drawer?

Goodbye and God Be With You

It's rather fitting that some things come to a close on this day -- the last day of the year. I submitted my last entry into the Rooglewood contest this morning.  I can hardly believe it took me until the day of the deadline to send it in because I'm usually earlier than that.  And, even with the extra time I took, I still felt a little bit like maybe I could have done better if I had more time. But there was no feeling of regret when I hit "send."  Mostly it was just a prayer that Rooglewood would hear the heart of the message when they read it and that maybe, if I win, they could help me bring the full potential out of my little story.  And there was also a feeling, after working on these stories for more than six months, that it felt good to close that chapter and move on to the next one. I did it.  I wrote them.  And I'm really proud of them. Last year, the act of hitting "send" on my contest entry catapulted me into an anticipatory state....