Chapter 18 – The Solin Family

“Did you just take a bath?” Salandra asked.
The question caught Cobal off guard as they made their way up the stairs in the main hall of the slums. “I did, how did you know?”
She smiled. “Your hair is still wet.”
Cobal reached for his hair. It reached well past his shoulders now, he hadn’t found the time to get a haircut in a little while. “Perhaps I should have it cut,” he said.
“I think it looks nice like this,” Salandra countered.
“Then we’ll see. It’s easier to cut it off later than to grow it back quickly, after all.” They reached the first floor and made their way into the library proper.
“I’m going to continue where I left off yesterday, what are your plans for today?”
Cobal thought for a second. “I think I want to look into the Solin family and their history for a bit.”
“What does that have to do with your paralyzed friend?” Salandra was a bit surprised.
“Nothing, admittedly, but after our chat with Zegred yesterday it’s gotten me more and more curious about the place. And it’s not like I’ve been a particularly big help with your research. You’ve been giving me easy tasks just to keep me busy, haven’t you?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Salandra said with a cheeky smile.
“Regardless, I think I’ll get started on that today, good luck on your end.” They split up only moments after meeting up, but since they had very different topics to look into there was no point sticking together. Cobal went onto the library floor and started looking around for the history section. He didn’t take long to reach the right part of the floor, but going from there to actually finding a book that would help him out in any meaningful way was a different story. He spent what felt like hours, but was probably closer to thirty or so minutes looking around, going past spined of books looking for a title that might catch his eye, but eventually he had to admit defeat and ask a scribe that was working nearby.
“Excuse me, do you know if there are any books here about the history for the Solin family?”
The middle aged man with a very well kept beard thought for a moment before nodding. “It depends on what exactly you want to know, but I can certainly tell you where you can get started.”
“That would be much appreciated, I have no idea where to begin as of now.”
“Follow me then.” He put down the book he was writing in and led Cobal to a section of the library where he hadn’t looked much yet. “This section is kept separate as it pertains to the history of Marsolin and the surrounding area.”
“That explains why I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the other sections.”
The man smiled. “Yeah, people regularly get confused by that. If you ask me, it’s not an ideal way of organizing things, but the benefit is that once you know that you need to be in this particular section, it’s a lot less hassle to find the specific information you’re looking for.”
“Well thank you so much.”
The man nodded and went back to his own work, leaving Cobal to browse the shelves. There were many different books in this part, but all of them pertained to Marsolin, the surrounding forest or the people who lived here in some way. Finally, Cobal found what he was looking for, a book that focused on the history of the Solin family. Letting out a sigh of relief, he made his way back to the stone alcove that they spent the previous day in. Salandra wasn’t there yet, but there were some books about medicinal herbs on the table so he assumed she went back to collect some more things. He sat down and opened up the book.

Before Marsolin became as big and prosperous as it was, it was just a small village hidden away in the forest, free from strife and visitors. Bordering the forest were three small kingdoms. The Maridan kingdom to the north, the Sildarin kingdom to the south and the Solin kingdom to the west. These three were mostly kingdoms in name and only consisted of a few small towns at most. All three of them eventually laid their eyes upon the small unnamed village that lay in the center of the forest that split up their three countries. Each of them claimed that the village belonged to their kingdom and strife quickly broke out. The villagers weren’t used to having to defend themselves and quickly had to submit to the Sildarin king, who was the first to reach the village successfully with his force. That’s when the remaining two kingdoms, Maridan and Solin, made a deal to work together and take out Sildarin and then govern the village together. With joined forces, they were much stronger and after a short war, the Sildarin king was killed and his family exiled. The villages that belonged to Sildarin were then taken over by the other two kingdoms and a brittle peace was formed. Although many people were worried that the fighting would return, the kings of both nations had different plans. The son of the Solin family and the daughter of the Maridan family married each other and became the rulers of the village now called Marsolin. Although things were still tense, the peace was more stable than before. Eventually the Rilodar kingdom expanded further east and with its enormous size was too much of a force for the two smaller kingdoms to even consider fighting back. In exchange for their loyalty to the crown, they were given the forest as well as Marsolin to rule together. A handful of generations later, the two families had all but assimilated into the village, which had become a large town and built several libraries. The Maridan name ended up vanishing over time leaving the Solin family – which was part Maridan at this point – to rule the region for a long time.

Cobal put the book away and looked through the other ones he had grabbed. He had never learned such specific history about their northern neighbors and it fascinated him. But it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for either. He wanted more detailed information about the Solin family, especially in the last two or three generations and during the fall of the family, which ended up with the librarians in charge after the Solin family fell. Most of the books he’d found didn’t seem like they would have the answers to his questions though. He spent the next two hours thumbing through different tomes and finding out very little until he suddenly had an idea. When they first arrived here, he asked Kayzel what the books in the hallways were, and Kayzel explained to him that these were yet to be accepted works. According to the scribe, most of these books were probably pretty decent since it took a lot of time to write and bind a book, and although anyone could technically do it, most of the time the really bad ones were weeded out quickly. So Cobal started the arduous task of sorting through walls of unreviewed books looking for a more modern book on the Solin family. After an hour of browsing, he finally found something that caught his attention. The book caught his attention because it was a lighter color than most of the other books. Instead of a brown, black or dark blue, it was a light green. Etched into the spine were the title and the author. A Solin Soliloquy by Dergez Nilos. Cobal thought it strange, since the title hinted at it being a fictional story yet the book was in the Slums, so it wasn’t trying to be accepted as fiction. Either way, it caught his interest, so he removed it from the shelf and took it with him.

Although this book is neither fully fictional in nature nor is it spoken word, it rings true to me and I often find myself reliving it when I spend my evening alone. The Solin family, my family, was once a mighty family that prospered as the caretakers of Marsolin, the most beautiful city in the kingdom. But as all good things must come to an end, our family was too greedy and wanted too much, resulting in their downfall. This is the story of Darius Solin, the last leader of the Solin family.

Cobal turned the page. He had his suspicions when he saw the author’s name and it looked somewhat familiar. This introduction confirmed to him that the person writing this was a member of the Solin family, Zegred Solin to be more specific. He wondered why he used a fake name on the cover and he also wondered if the author of this book was the same person as the older gentleman they met in the Phantom Homestead last night. Despite the many questions bubbling up in his head, Cobal continued reading.

I grew up in Solin manor, where my family spent many generations. Although the head of the family had a work office in town where most everything related to the goings-on of the town was handled, the manor was our home. My room was in the top right by the way, seen from the front. It was a small room, as I was the youngest child, but it was mine and it was very comfortable. I even had a secret stash of riches there. I digress. When I was sixteen years of age, my father showed me the basement. This is where our family was buried once they passed away, but there was more than just that. After walking past many sarcophaguses we eventually reached a small chamber that looked different. The way it was sculpted out of the ground and the design of the runic language covering the walls gave it an eerie feeling. “This is where our ancestor once rested,” my father told me. When I asked him what he meant by that he shook his head. “That’s all you have to know for now, more will come when the time is near.”
My father had been a strange man for as long as I’d known him and as I got older I realized he would spend more and more time underground, inviting strange people into our home. Eventually this is what ended our family’s long and prosperous reign in the region. My father, far too deeply indebted to these strangers, had to sell more and more of our property until eventually even the manor I grew up in was now the property of someone else. Finally, after things had gone too far, my father was confronted by several members of town who had banded together to solve the growing problems. My father was desperate at this point and he convinced them that he was onto something. He was joining an expedition that would prove that all of his effort had not been naught. A day later he packed up his belongings and left the town, traveling eastward. He was never seen again. With the patriarch of our family gone and our wealth vanished, we had no choice but to hand over the city to the people here, which was quickly taken over by the local library. My mother died not long after from a strange illness and my siblings each went their own way. I stayed here in Marsolin as a scribe for much of my life, hoping to one day be able to buy back our family home. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and when tragedy befell the weavers guild and the burning turned into a dangerous pile of rubble and broken dreams, so did I leave that dream of mine behind. I am writing this story, as well as the others about my family, so that one day someone may find them and realize that even the most prosperous of people can fall prey to the evil voices of outsiders enticing them with even more wealth. But I do not wish that my family’s only legacy is its downfall so dear reader, you may find many more stories about our prosperous history if you keep on reading and I highly advise you to do so.

That’s where the chapter ended and although Cobal was sure that the author had many great stories to tell, this was really all he wanted to know. With a satisfied smile on his face he put the book away. The basement of Solin Manor held a secret and that was most likely the reason why the cultists had set up their camp on the premises. Now all they needed was to scout out the place and figure out the easiest way in. Things were coming together quickly and Cobal figured it’d be time to meet up with Eliana later today. After finishing up for the day, Cobal went over to where Salandra was studying. “How are things going?”
“Pretty well, actually.” She looked up from her notes. “I have some pretty solid evidence that there’s a concoction you could use on your friend and I know where to get most of the ingredients. I was actually thinking of calling it for the day and then going out into town to prepare it tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news. I’ll probably take a break as well tomorrow, so what do you say we see how well you did the day after tomorrow?”
Salandra nodded. “Sounds good, I’ll see you in two days then.” Cobal smiled and made his way to the inn to grab some food before finding Eliana on the outskirts of town.