Ardent

by Florian Armas

  My arm wrapped around her waist, and I pulled her to me.

  “No, Codrin,” she whispered, and tried to free herself. I just embraced her tighter, and after a while, her head leaned against my shoulder.

  “There is something I wished I could tell you last year, but the time was never right. I am telling you now just to let you understand. I fought for you. No one knows, not even Jara, that I started the war between Mehadin and Mohor, a year before Orban planed it, when he was not fully prepared. It was the only way to win you back; it was the only way to help Jara and Mohor keep Severin.”

  “And I spoiled everything,” Saliné breathed, and turned her head aside.

  “A wicked man drugged and took advantage of a young, desperate girl afraid of losing her mother. Nothing else. And it was Bucur who poisoned Jara, when he returned in Severin.” I turned her head back to me. How I wish to kiss you. “Even without that, they would have played the same game against us, as we could not marry last year, you were too young. Not that I was much older,” I smiled. “I will play my own game again.”

  “No Codrin, it is too dangerous. Grandfather snubbed the Circle, and I lost my father because of that. Please...” Her voice was weak and a lonely tear rolled down her face. “I don’t want you…”

  With a finger, I traced her tear. “It was dangerous last year too.” I embraced her again, and all I could hear was her uneven breathing. It took a while until she disengaged. “Let’s go back now.”

  “Maybe you should tell Mother about...”

  “Yes, it may be the right time.”

  “The war between Mehadia and Severin started with the killing of an embassy, and Mehadin’s son.”

  I nodded back to her.

  “I am not sure how Mother would have reacted to this last year,” Saliné stared at me. “but, this year she may be more comfortable with your decision.”

  In the low light of the twilight, we sat close to Jara, and I lent her the water skin.

  “I was so thirsty. I think I’ve lost too much blood.”

  My hand touched the bandage over the wound on her thigh: it was still soaked in blood, but not much, and I shook my head.

  “Today it is fine,” Jara said.

  “Saliné told that she will punish me, if I don’t tell you the truth about last year,” I grinned.

  “What thing last year? So many things happened, enough for five normal years.”

  “This year will be no different. Orban planned the war on Severin for this year. He and Mehadin were set to attack you at the end of this spring. Your alliance with Devan was dead even before it started. You were alone.”

  “What changed their plans?”

  “It’s, hmm…”

  “Codrin started the war, to derail Orban’s plans,” Saliné said, touching my hand, and I grabbed her fingers. “He killed Mehadin’s son.”

  “And Jorn,” I grinned, raising my eyebrows.

  “I knew that something was wrong from the day we sent you with the contract to Deva.” Jara’s fingers caught my chin, and she shook my head slightly. “The risk was high,” she sighed, but she did not scold me for hiding everything from them.

  “War is never without risk,” I shrugged. “And the riskiest time was after I lost the command of the army.”

  Yes, she nodded. “What about this year?”

  “I don’t have plans, but the war will start without my approval,” I laughed. “We will learn more in a month or two.”

  “Saliné,” Jara said with a nod, and she left us alone, Jara and me.

  “Are you upset?” I asked.

  “A bit uncomfortable,” she whispered. “I hate to say this, and I know I pushed you back to her, but taking into account this thing with the new King and Queen, you must leave Saliné alone. You are only hurting her.”

  “I have heard the same thing before. We disagreed, and it happened that I was right.”

  “It doesn’t matter how much I abhor that idea, she will marry Bucur. We don’t have the means to fight against the Circle again.”

  “That will be my task.”

  “Your task is to regain your throne, and the marriage with the Silvanian King’s daughter. That is what the Wanderers are doing right now in your name, so don’t give Saliné unrealistic expectations.”

  “You are wrong, Jara. I never mandated the Wanderers to negotiate anything in my name. Why do you put so much faith in Drusila?”

  “So, it’s not true?”

  “Would I give Saliné false expectations, waiting for news from Silvania?”

  “No,” Jara bit her lip. “Yet Dochia is in Silvania. What will you decide if she brings the Princess’s dowry to you?”

  “That would be a hard call,” I sighed, “with the Circle and the Wanderers pulling all the strings.”

  “Please leave Saliné alone. I know you love her, and don’t want to hurt her. She knew from the first month of the year about Bucur’s nomination, and she sacrificed herself for the family again. You can defend yourself. She can’t. She can only accept the burden the Circle put on her, for the sake of her family. And I can’t protect her either.”

  “We had the same discussion with the Devans, and we did it your way. It ended badly. Let me do it my way.”

  “And which is your way? Saliné or the Silvanian Princess?”

  “Saliné. My future is in Frankis. Arenia is both a pleasant dream and a nightmare from the past, nothing more. Thanks to you, I am a Knight now…”

  “You are a Knight because you deserved it,” she interrupted me.

  “Still, you need someone to recognize you as a Knight. If everything goes well, I may be a Seigneur by the end of the year.”

  Frowning slightly, Jara stared at me, trying to read my face. “Codrin,” she said gently. “With the war looming over us, you may acquire more land, but there is something else you need to know. You don’t become a Seigneur just because you have the land and a castle. There may be some Knights forced to accept you as their Seigneur, but what use would they be to you if they left you alone at the first threat? Allegiances are built over time. Look at us; we are still struggling with some of our Knights, not to speak of Aron. Please be careful, and please be careful with Saliné.”

  “I will be careful.”

  Her mouth opened, then closed, and I saw tears at the corners of her eyes. “Don’t hurt her even more.”

  “I won’t.” Slowly, I lowered my head until our temples touched, and remained silent for a while. “I won’t. She will play that bloody Queen role. I will fight in the shadows.”

  “And if you don’t win?”

  “I will kill Bucur.”

  “And what should we do in that case?”

  “We will run together, Jara. Listen to me,” I said, when she tried to interrupt me. “Bucur needs Severin and Saliné as a springboard to power. Once he gets power, he will look for a Queen with a large army. There is no rule in the Circle’s books about keeping the same Queen for ten years. Only the candidate King’s place is fixed, and there are several girls in the south who have passed the test. So it’s either we fight and win or we leave Frankis. All of us. Don’t tell Saliné yet, her life is hard enough, even without knowing this.”

  That night brought a swift rain, reminding us that half of the spring was now past. It made our lives miserable, but deleted our tracks. We left early in the morning, and at noon, when the sky cleared, I could see the pen that had kept us alive through my spyglass, far away to the left, on the hill towering over the large valley. I thought that I saw some horses around the pen, but I was not sure.

  When the long range of hills merged with the high mountains, we took the road to Leyona, and rode fast. At the first fork, we went north again, and no one disturbed us until we reached Severin, three days later. One week of hard life for what was in general just a four-day journey. At the border, Cernat was waiting for us with twenty riders.

  “It took you a while, and I am sure there are stories to tell, but they can wait u
ntil we are home,” he smiled. “Mohor is waiting for you on the other road. I will send a courier.”

  “Yes, there are stories to tell,” Jara whispered, to be heard only by Cernat and me. “And we have to discuss them sooner rather than later.”

  “Martin?” Cernat asked, and Jara just shook her head.

  “The Circle has changed a Grand Seigneur into a barbarian. Bad as it was until now, Frankis is morphing into a monster,” Jara said bitterly. “Let’s go, we are still not safe. There are more than thirty thugs after us. I can’t say soldiers.”

  “You look indeed like you are returning from war,” Cernat frowned. “If Leyonan failed the Circle we may have a real war soon.”

  “With more actors than last year,” I said. “Leyonan will try now to prove his worth to the Circle.”

  Chapter 14 – Dochia

  “Dochia, what a pleasure to see you again. I haven’t seen you for the last... Seven months?” Duke Stefan’s baritone voice conveyed a whole range of implications. He stood up, towering over me. What was burning him was not my absence. He stared at me, passing a hand through his sparse white hair that was once a thick blond mane. He was a tall, thickset man, with a broad face and large mouth. From his size, he could have been a Mountain Man. Many women had found him attractive in his youth. At over seventy-five (no one knew his age for sure) his mind was still quick. I could not say the same about his memory.

  “Duke,” I bowed.

  “Spare me the formalities.” He gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. “Leave us,” he ordered his secretary.

  “I apologize for my delay, but what were you expecting from a Wanderer? We wander.”

  “And where did you wander in those seven bloody months? Autumn, winter, even the spring is no longer young; the Summer Solstice will arrive in less than a month.”

  “Litvonia, among other places.” I gave him the short answer, just to boil him a bit more.

  “So, did you talk with the Litvonian Chancellor? Come on, Dochia, you did not come here to brag about your marvelous travels?”

  “I can recommend some places, if you want to travel.”

  “Muniker, did you go to Muniker?”

  “Yes, of course. Is that not what you asked the Wanderers?”

  “I did not ask the Wanderers; I asked you,” he said, pointing at me. “So, the Chancellor, Denhart. Or is it Volcker? No, Volcker died last year, and he was younger than me. What a pity; he was a nice fellow. I knew him since... Since he was only a young secretary. What did Denhart say about my proposal?”

  “He rejected it.”

  “Of course he rejected it. Why do you think I asked him to lend me some soldiers against that vulgar neighbor, the other Duke?” In all our talks, I never heard Duke Stefan pronounce his name. His enemy, Mann, the Duke of Loxburg was just the ‘other Duke’. “Our common neighbor. Do you know that he never uses a fork to eat? Only a knife. Of course, you know, but it always feels good to remind you, or anyone else.”

  “Maybe he is just afraid of his own people,” I offered. “And he needs a weapon ready all the time. A knife is convenient. You can’t eat with your sword.”

  “Hah,” Duke Stefan laughed. “I never thought him stupid. Would a stupid man keep me busy for so many years?”

  “Was that him or the Circle?” I asked.

  “You have a grudge against the Circle. I know, and I have one too. Only one? No. A full plate of them, I can say. They made me start that useless war. Three years of fighting to let Orban free in the south. So...” he pressed me again.

  “Litvonia will remain neutral.”

  “Good,” the Duke clapped.

  “The Circle may still push for a war.”

  “Ah, that grudge. I doubt it.”

  “Until the Circle chooses another candidate King...”

  “Oh, my dear Dochia. You don’t know. You really don’t know.” There was a humorous gleam in his old eyes, as he stared at me. “How long were you...? I know, seven months. They have selected the new candidate King of Frankis; a better choice than the last one. Fate, bless the King,” he laughed.

  “A little bit earlier than usual,” I said prudently. “It should have been done at the Summer Solstice.”

  “Five months earlier. The High Council met in a Conclave the second week of the year. Don’t ask me what the urgency was, but I am pleased with their choice.” His eyes gleamed again at me, and I forced my mouth shut. “A young man,” Duke Stefan continued to tease me. “Good fighter; he won several battles against Orban last year.”

  Codrin? It can’t be.

  “You should know already,” he smiled, and I shook my head in silence. “My grandson, Bucur, dear Dochia, is the new candidate King. The son of that bastard of mine, Aron. What do they call him? Big Mouth, I think. It’s not so bad to have something big. I sired him in that war against my friend Leon, the Duke of Tolosa. What a woman his mother was. Lisa was her name. Or Laura. What a woman, Dochia. I wanted to separate Lisa from her worthless husband and take her with me. Or Laura... I refrained because... Why did I refrain..?” He scratched his head. “It was forty something years ago,” he shrugged.

  Bucur is his grandson. How could we miss such thing? I remained mute, astonished at how many strange things had happened in my absence. Bucur is the new candidate King. A bastard indeed. What surprises are waiting for me in Alba?

  “He defeated Orban and saved Severin, and that ungrateful Mohor tried to sideline both Bucur and Aron. My army got there just in time.”

  Bucur defeated no one. I can’t argue with the Duke about this, but I will spread the news. It will come to him slowly.

  “My dear Dochia, both the Circle and the Wanderers,” his finger pointed several times at me, “agreed with him.” Impetuously, Stefan stood up again, staring at me. His legs went weak and he sat back with a sigh. “I never wanted to be King, Dochia, you know that. I could have been, but I did not want to, yet it pleases me, this choice. Well, I would have preferred my other grandson who is not a bastard, but...” he gestured vaguely – we both knew that his only nephew had not passed the Circle’s test, and the Duke had survived all his sons.

  Are we under the Alban Empire’s curse again? All the Dukes and most Grand Seigneurs had worthless children at best, and idiots at worst. Why did the last Empress create the Circle to take care of blood issues? It was the Wanderers’ task, in the beginning. Too much power stirs us the wrong way, she wrote in our Rulebook. She may be right. The Circle was at best a nuisance and at worse useless. I almost smiled at my repetition. “Did the Circle choose a candidate Queen too?”

  “I am not pleased with the ... Queen,” he grimaced. “Saliné, a woman with no character. She got pregnant before marriage. To run after men at sixteen...”

  Yes, your grand-son drugged her. Poor Saliné, more trouble for her. How will Codrin react?

  “Bucur deserved something better.”

  Saliné deserved something better.

  “Her grandfather, Cernat is a man of character, but...”

  “Saliné was drugged by Bucur.” I could no longer restraint myself.

  “Dochia,” he stood up. “What game are you playing on me? My grandson would never do such an ignoble thing. My grandson,” the Duke patted his chest.

  “The truth game.”

  “I have always trusted you.”

  “Then trust me once more.”

  “What was done was done.” The Duke brushed off the ‘ignoble thing’, but I knew that he will not forget it. “It’s more important to have a king. Bucur will succeed.”

  “How?” I asked abruptly.

  “Leon, the Duke of Tolosa and I are making an alliance to help Bucur. All the Seigneuries south of Peyris, and north of Tolosa will be restructured. Well, better said, destroyed, to make place for a new Duke, Bucur. I hope it will work. Your First Light wrote to me. She named the next three years ‘the phase of constructive chaos’. We will spread chaos,” he smiled, “and from chaos a new Kingdom will be
born, with a king from my flesh.”

  “What’s the interest of Duke Leon in all this?”

  “The Kingdom of Frankis, of course. There are some other small arrangements,” he rubbed his hands. “I am sure you will learn them in time.”

  “No trust between us?” I asked.

  “Of course I trust you, my dear Dochia. In ten years Frankis will have a new King, that I can tell you. Would you join me for lunch?” he asked, avoiding my eyes.

  You are getting old. Five years ago they would have not been able to trick you. “I apologize, but I have to leave now,” I smiled.

  “Safe travels!” Duke Stefan clapped me on the shoulder. There was a strange relief in his voice.

  The old horse is still strong, I mused, fighting to keep my pace steady and my lips smiling. “Thank you, Duke.” I bowed slightly before leaving the room.

  It flattered you that your bastard grandson was chosen by the Circle. This was what got you into the game. What did the Circle promise to Duke Leon? His son, Baldovin is married to Drusila’s niece. That’s why she confirmed Aron’s lies? For her niece? Saliné is just a temporary bait...

  Out of the city, from the hill, I glanced once more at Peyris: behind it, Saune river was glinting in the sun. I can’t say the same about the future of Frankis...

  Three days after leaving Peyris, we entered the Poisoned Forest covering the large plain north of Arad County. It was a strange forest with contorted trees, and few animals – a grim, uninhabited place, even worse than the Cursed Forest separating Frankis and Litvonia. We rode quickly through the shortest pass I knew, just twenty miles long. There was something strange in the forest, sickening people who were staying too much, but we could not avoid passing through it. From what Valera has told me, this was the latest place to heal in Frankis after the White Salt invasion who some call the Talant Wars. With that stroke of luck that happens when you are not expecting it, we met a Triangle of sisters going toward Peyris. They were searching for me.

  “We were worried about you.” Sybille, the Fifth Light of Frankis, embraced me. “Why are you so late?”

  “Snow and some other things.” I gave her only a brief story about my strange sickness and the fight we had with the Assassins.