Stalks of Gold: Sandor’s Scene
Hey everyone! I’m taking a quick break from the character pages to post a short story! Well, a bonus scene from Sandor’s point of view.
I like to write things like this when I’m in the drafting and revision processes to warm up and work out some of the point of view aspects like character voices and history. So, keep that in mind this is just a fun warm-up turned bonus scene and has not gone through my rigorous editing process or gotten a professional edit like my books have, but it should still be enjoyable. Or at least a peek behind the curtain!
This scene takes place about two years before the events of Stalks of Gold. Enjoy!
Most days were good days, well, good being a relative term. Sandor still had a job and a place to stay, and he was still alive despite his brother’s blustering threats to the contrary. So, he was prone to thinking even those days were good anyway. It took a lot for a day to be bad by his standards.
Unfortunately, it was a bad day.
Rather than stick inside the castle where he wasn’t wanted, he made his way to the market square with a book in hand. He’d ditched his guardsman uniform, hoping he’d be able to blend into the crowd better. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with people coming to him with problems. Last time he made the mistake of forgetting to take off his uniform, he had ended up losing his book in the fountain while chasing down a thief by himself despite the numerous other guards in the square.
He knew the reason why no one stepped in to help him. They were all on his brother’s payroll, and one of the unspoken rules was not to do anything that would make Sandor’s life easier. Sandor could no sooner change the way he was treated than move a mountain, and he certainly wasn’t going to try to take on such a task. It was much simpler and better for his sanity for him to keep his head down and accept it.
The sun was bright, the air was warm, and the fountain was full. There were countless stalls lined up around the square and leading down the main streets. Snatches of conversations hit his ears as people haggled over wares or laughed with their friends. Hard working men in well-worn, simple clothes, hauled crates and bushels off of carts. Women with a child on one hip used their free hands to carry heavier loads with the other or dealing with customers. Young men and women snuck around the crowd, holding hands and flirting when they were well out of their parents’ sight.
Sandor took a seat on the fountain’s edge and opened his book. It was an old favorite of his. One of the books his sister used to teach him how to read. It also helped one of the stories had a character with the same name as his mother.
Novah.
And that was why it was a bad day. It had little to do with his brother and the many ways he strived to make Sandor’s life more difficult. It was the anniversary of his mother’s death; it was hard to believe it had been five years.
He looked up from his book as the weight of that realization pressed in on him. He’d been in Lathe for five years.
The crowd in the square ebbed and flowed. When he was first brought to Lathe, he’d been so overwhelmed, and everything was so loud. The last thing he’d wanted was to be there, meeting whoever his father was. All he wanted was to turn around and go back home, but home was gone. His village wasn’t home without his mother. Even if he’d been able to work up the courage, the royal guards who had been escorting him would have stopped him before he even took a step backwards.
Discovering he was the king’s illegitimate son wasn’t what he had expected to happen when he walked through Lathe’s gates, but it had happened regardless. His life changed from that moment on, and he had yet to decide whether it was for better or for worse.
Some days, especially days when he thought about his mother, he thought about leaving Lathe, but he never did.
His sister was one reason. She took him in, and he was grateful to have her, but they were so different. Loraine was royalty, and it didn’t matter how much she taught him about politics and economics, he would never truly be part of his father’s family.
Sandor had long since come to terms with that. He didn’t want to be royalty, and if he left Lathe, he didn’t have to keep living in the strange in between state he currently did.
He daydreamed about it a lot, thinking of the places he might go, but he never seriously considered leaving.
“Sandor!”
And that was the other reason, or rather she was the main reason he stayed.
Aurelia.
He closed his book as a whirlwind of skirts and a blonde braid rushed through the crowd towards him. He couldn’t stop the grin forming on his face when he caught the light in her hazel eyes. His breath caught in his throat.
She was beautiful when he first met her years ago, and she had only gotten more beautiful as the years went by.
She slowed to a stop in front of him, holding her empty basket in front of her. Her eyes gleamed as she said, “Fancy running into you here.”
“Who would have thought I’d be here, sitting at the fountain we always meet at?” Sandor rose to his feet with a teasing lilt to his question.
Aurelia laughed as she rolled her eyes. Her gaze landed on the book sitting on the fountain’s edge. “Out for an afternoon read?”
“You’ve caught me. How are you enjoying the one I lent you last week?” he asked.
“Making progress,” Aurelia said. She rocked back on her heels and ducked her gaze. “Haven’t been able to read much, lately. I have to use the daylight to get my spinning done until I can get a new candle.”
“Take your time!” Sandor glanced towards the castle behind them. “Or, I could… borrow a candle for you.”
Aurelia’s gaze darkened. “Don’t you dare. Don’t even think of stealing a candle for me. I will never speak to you again if you do.”
Oh, he was messing this up, like usual. He raised his hands up. “Alright! Forget I even mentioned it.”
“Just, give me a few days, and I’ll get your book back to you,” Aurelia said, sinking her hands into her skirt.
“Aurelia, trust me, no one will notice that book is gone, not even if you kept it for a year,” Sandor said. That much was true, and even if someone did, Sandor could count on his sister to keep him from getting into too much trouble.
Aurelia kept staring at the ground. Her gaze lifted, landing on the book at the fountain edge. “How’s your book?”
He took a seat and picked it up, clearing a space beside him. Hopefully, it would dispel the lingering awkward air. “It’s good, reminds me of simpler times.”
Aurelia took a seat beside him, dropping her basket to the ground. Her eyes softened. “You may say that, but your eyes betray you. You say simpler, but I think you really mean sadder.”
She was good. She saw right through him; it was one of the many reasons he… he… he just couldn’t leave Lathe while Aurelia was still there.
“You’ve caught me,” Sandor said, staring at the well-worn cover.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Aurelia asked.
Not only would he have to get into all his complicated feelings about his mother and the rest of his family, but he’d have to admit he’d been lying to her about who he was for years. He wasn’t ready for that conversation.
“It’s… a long story, and it’s been a long day.”
“Then don’t say anything.” Aurelia glanced out over the crowd again. “You’re allowed to keep things to yourself.”
“Really? You’re not brimming with questions you want me to answer?” Sandor asked.
“Of course I am, but I know you.” Aurelia’s eyes sparked, but she continued to watch the crowd.
It was rare for Aurelia to hold back her curiosity. He was more than a little honored she was doing so for him.
She turned to him with a grin. “Besides, if I get on your nerves, who else is going to lend me books?”
His shoulders shook as he laughed. “That would never happen, but you’re resourceful. You’d figure out something.”
She shrugged, leaning back. “Maybe, but I’d much rather get them from you.”
His heart stuttered. Did she mean what he hoped she meant? He couldn’t tell, and he didn’t dare risk the fragile peace they had by pushing it.
He held up the book. “Interested in a story to pass the time?”
She glanced over the crowd, searching. Once she was satisfied, she turned back and said, “Since my father isn’t tearing through the crowd looking for me, I figure I’ve got some time. Enthrall me, Sandor.”
He flipped the book open to the story he’d intended on reading in the first place. The one with his mother’s name.
He wasn’t ready to share the hidden details of his life with her yet, but this he could share even if she didn’t understand its significance.
Aurelia shifted, pressing her arm into his and peering over his shoulder. He shifted so she could follow along as he read. He made sure to speak clearly and carefully without going so slow that Aurelia would take it as him patronizing her. The last thing he wanted to do was wound her pride and incite her anger again.
Her cheek rested against him; a few loose strands of her golden-blonde hair brushed against his neck as the breeze wafted by. Normally he would have gotten lost in the story, but he was hyper aware of Aurelia’s presence. She didn’t seem to notice if his breath hitched, or if he paused a little too long because he was looking at her and not the book. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help but glance at her to see her furrow her brow and scrunch her nose as she mouthed the words on the page.
He’d never leave Lathe as long as Aurelia was there. No matter what he put up with back in the castle, it was worth it to get moments such as these with her.
It wasn’t such a bad day after all.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed meeting Aurelia and Sandor! You can buy Stalks on Gold on Amazon on January 28th, or you can sign up for my newsletter here for a free fairy tale novella and the first three chapters of Stalks of Gold. If you sign up, you’ll also be able to catch Stalks of Gold as soon it goes up. I’ll see you all next time!