Chapter 2: A Wolf Walks Among Us
The years passed...
Urvan of Tamacia, in reality the orphaned Urvan Kron, became a familiar face on the grounds of the Palace and among the servants of House Lexagenol.
Although he attended to his duties, mostly in service to the Knights of the House, there were a few factors that held him apart from the other Pages and Squires.
The first and most obvious was his physicality. Although only fourteen years of age the boy possessed a hulking build. He was larger than some of the smaller Knights, and outweighed some of the other pages by fifty pounds or more. The other boys would sometimes lie awake at night as Urvan tossed and turned and groaned in pain, his growth almost unnatural and the associated growing pains agonizing at times. He had pronounced and unsightly stretch marks along his inner thighs, under his arms and down his back where his pale flesh strained at his growing bulk.
Those who shared quarters with him had always noted his out of proportion ribcage, the way his latissimus muscles had been creeping up his neck to an almost ludicrous degree, and the way he ate voraciously, easily consuming an entire chicken every evening if he was given the chance.
Most chalked it up to his supposed Spartan heritage, but some privately wondered, and some avoided training with him at all.
Another obvious trait that set him apart was Boreas, the Apollo Hound gifted to him by the Queen some years back.
Boreas was a somewhat clumsy and enthusiastic dog, ridiculous in proportion, social and affectionate in most settings, but fiercely loyal. Urvan has his side of the quarters and Boreas would brook no approach while the two were in for the night. Even an errant step by a Page getting up late for a drink of water, or to relieve himself, would be met by the hefty brute madly scrambling to his feet in order to investigate the "unusual" disturbance, and some of the boys cursed the animal openly for its overbearing vigilance.
It moped whenever it was apart from Urvan, and had once lept from a second story window, badly spraining a leg, in order to join him.
Overall, day to day, Urvan was not especially well liked, but it could be said that he was respected. He did not chase girls like the other boys (although he admired them from afar), and he did not enjoy drinking. His laconic personality was somewhat dull at parties and his sense of humor, when it rarely presented itself, was too dry for some. It was also not fun to train with him, as although he was not overly brutal in practice, he did not let the other pages win either, which was as frustrating as it was predictable.
The Knights too whispered about him at times. The story of what had happened with Caiaphas had made the rounds and it was enough to puzzle some of the experienced men, it just didn't add up that a boy, barely twelve, would stand any chance at all against a full grown man, armored and fairly fit, very drunk though he was.
He didn't boast like the other pages, he did not bandy insults or show up to training hung over. At the same time Urvan, as a page, was not especially talented at many of the Knightly skills. He was mediocre in the saddle, a very basic swordsman, unimpressive with a lance and not especially brilliant with his tactics. The boys feared him, but they did not look up to him, so his leadership abilities were not very promising.
"If you make a fortune at all, it will be in ransoms" one of the older knights had joked one day. Even at 14 Urvan could bodily pull an armored man from his horse, rip a helmet off right through the straps or break an arm, but that would be of limited utility on a real battlefield. Privately some of the Knights avoided training with him. Nobody wanted to be knocked down and pinned by a boy in view of the others after all, even if it was Urvan.
The boy was a character, a quiet, odd sort of character. He had something about him, his pale and pronounced musculature, the way he moved, that look in his eyes. It gave some pause, almost seemed to fascinate others, and set him apart from his peers, much to the chagrin of some who had his best interests in mind.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:55, Sun 31 July 2022.