Truth of the Nightingale
Part 7 of the Nightingale Saga
If you’ve read the rest of the Saga, you know the drill. These stories are my interpretations of the possible lore surrounding the characters of the Royal Thieves in the Top Games game “Evony; The King’s Return.”
Yes, it’s that game that has all the ads for pull-the-pin puzzle solving but it’s so much more. It’s got world building and strategy along with the puzzles that are, actually, a part of it but not quite as impossible as the ads make it appear.
So, go, play. No, Top Games didn’t pay me to make that plug, but they did help start this Saga.
Nightingale sat down on her cot, still not quite believing she was holding this. It seemed like it was forever ago, although it was only 300 years, and it was a century since the kingdoms of the world of Evony fell.
It started earlier that day, as she was preparing to board a boat to a new land. They’d made legends of themselves, cementing their status as the Royal Thieves. Almost nobody had caught on that the girl they were torturing for theft had actually enjoyed it before she mysteriously disappeared, along with a treasure trove in many castles.
All except for one. Nell and Duke hadn’t asked why they hadn’t gone back to the Kingdom of the Eagle. The king, himself, had said they were welcome, but Nightingale gave them the same reasons all over again.
They had a mission to perform, righting the wrongs and fixing injustices in other kingdoms. She didn’t want to intrude on what was likely to be a very happy marriage and family with Eagle’s new queen. There was still too much to do.
Then, a century ago, the system of the kingdoms collapsed, mostly under the weight of overwhelming injustice and peasant uprising. The Royal Thieves faded into legend, three immortal thieves that couldn’t die, even when they were killed.
So they decided to try out their talents in this new lands, all three of them going in different ways in order to allay suspicion.
But, as Nightingale was headed aboard her boat, the last thing she thought she’d ever hear reached her ears. “Night?”
Only one person had ever called her that, but she moved forward another step. “Wait. Night?”
She turned to see a man, a boy really, with a scruffy beard, wild hair and shocking blue eyes. The eyes seemed so familiar to her. “Do I know you?”
He smiled a ready smile. “No, not personally, but you’re kind of a legend in my family. My great-great grandfather was the king you knew as Eagle.”
That explained the eyes. She directed him to a side table, and they took a seat as she asked all about his family. Turned out Eagle and his wife had five children, all of whom went on to become great states-people. But that’s when this boy presented her with a piece of folded up parchment with a seal on it. “Grandpa Eagle made 30 of these, all the same, with the instruction that if any of his descendants ever met you, we were to give you this.”
Nightingale reached for the parchment tentatively. It was something from the only man she ever loved. She reached out and touched the boy’s arm. “Thank you.”
With the look on his face, she knew he would not forget her. Over the nearly 2000 years she lived, she doubted there were few men who crossed her path that would forget her.
But now she sat, in her bunk, on her cot, not sure what she wanted to do with this letter. What would Eagle have said to her? What if he was trying to tell her something horrible? What if he didn’t want her anywhere around his family?
But that was ridiculous. The instructions were to give a copy of this letter to her. It had to be something important.
She slid a finger into the fold and cracked the seal. Tentatively opening it, she marveled at the obvious care the parchment had gone though before it reached her, 300 years later.
Nightingale had no idea why she was stalling. This letter was meant for her. She started to read.
“My Dearest Night…”
Dearest? She shook off the thought, not wanting to get distracted.
“My Dearest Night,
As I sit here, surrounded by my family, I keep wondering what you and your two compatriots are up to. I hear rumors here all the time, of the Royal Thieves looting treasuries of kingdoms that aren’t exactly just, but I keep asking myself what happened to you.
You might recall my mentioning Countess Bathory and the insanity that overtook her. You may wonder why I brought her up out of the blue, and I was planning on telling you why the next time you visited but you never came back.
I knew how you felt from the start. My beloved wife does say I’m fairly intuitive…for a man…but I also knew that you might, sooner or later, be tempted to try and use your blood to make me like you, immortal. I realized that could never happen, so I wanted you to know that….”
Nightingale had to wipe something away from her eye as she read that. It hadn’t occurred to her, but, yes, she knew that she would do it if she could, make the man that she loved immortal to be with her forever.
“…Speaking of which, I had my scholars dig deep into the ancient history of our world to try and find the root cause of your immortality. One thought that the character in the Bible might be a clue, but I pointed out that he still had his scars, and that, when you came back, you were scarless no matter what.
But we did find something. A little before the time you first became immortal, if I remembered right, there was a plague across the kingdoms, a plague that took many lives. In desperation, in order to keep young children alive, some parents took them to the dragons. This was before they were domesticated and became basically animals.
The dragons gathered the ones they chose together, breathing on them with healing balm, but there was a warning. The youngest would have to be extra careful, no accidents or poisonings, because that would allow them to become something remarkable. It would transform them into their ideal selves and allow them to never taste of death again, except to be returned to life a short time later…”
Dragons? Her parents never mentioned anything about knowing dragons, but that didn’t really surprise her. So, it was a dragon’s kiss that made her what she was? What about all the others in the group?
“…I’m not sure what happened to all the others as I know of only three that are still around, but, in your travels, perhaps you could discover more.
And yet I did find something you might find very interesting. At least I hope you do. For those who were blessed by the dragons, there is, in fact, a way for them to pass away permanently. I’m not sure if you’d be up to it, seeming to enjoy the experience of dying so much, but, if you were to abstain from dying for about 50 years, the immortality would ebb away, and you’d be able to join your long-deceased parents.
And also, me….”
There was a way for them to die? A way for them to pass on? She read that part again, just to make sure. It would take half a century, but it was something they’d have to really consider.
But he wanted her to join him in whatever was beyond this world?
“…I know you still love me, even now. I imagine that’s the real reason you never came back. But there’s something I never told you or my wife or anyone else.
I loved you too…”
Nightingale’s breath caught in her throat. He did love her. But could she honestly be the other woman? She read that line again and again, feeling her heartrate pick up each time before she went on.
“…Not in the way you wanted me to love you, though. I saw you as a valued ally and friend, someone I could share things with, things that I can’t even share with my beloved wife. You were family, Night. Always….”
Did it get cold in her room? She wasn’t sure, and she hated that her vision kept blurring up as she continued to wipe away tears.
Family. It wasn’t quite the romance she had hoped for, but it was the next best thing.
“…As family, I ask that you watch out for my descendants. We did name our eldest daughter Nightingale, but she doesn’t quite have your singing talent….”
Nightingale could only manage a small smile at that, thinking of this girl she’d never know.
“…As twilight draws over my life, Night, I can’t help but think of that kiss you snuck in. Not even my wife knows about that, but it’s something that has stayed with me.
All my love,
Eagle.”
As her hand traced over his name, written in a very elegant way, she thought about it. Yes, that kiss lingered for her as well, a kiss she snuck in at the last minute. But she had no idea, none at all.
Because maybe she finally found something she was afraid of. Maybe she didn’t want to have a connection to the mortal world, let alone a mortal man.
But she knew she loved him. Every man she had since him paled in comparison, even though she never really had him. All the time, whenever she closed her eyes, she’d see Eagle’s smile, hear his laughter and feel a warmth deep inside.
But why didn’t she ever go back? Was she really afraid? She folded the letter, holding it against her chest, really looking within.
Was she afraid of watching him form a genuine happiness with a woman she knew he loved? Was she afraid that watching him become a father would break her?
Or was it something deeper. Could it be that she knew that, one day, she’d have to watch as he died? Could it be that, by staying away, he’d be forever alive within her heart and mind?
But she had something of his, something she would treasure for a very long time, something that he’d touched and crafted with his own hands, something she could hold against her skin.
She had no idea how long she’d been weeping, only that she fell asleep in that state.