Esther shook herself mentally. Now where had that all come from? she wondered, a bit astonished by the intensity of her own bitterness. Esther knew that this was not what Asserius had originally planned to happen. She knew that Asserius hadn’t married Yasmin to replace her, and she trusted Asserius when he said that she was a good person. What must it be like for Yasmin, to be asked to give up a future in order to be a second wife, to have to share a bed and the love of a man with another woman, to have her wedding day limited so as not to offend the honor and dignity of the first wife, and to know that her children would always come second to the children of the first wife. Knowing how caustic jealousy could be, and how badly it had affected Adeline, Esther thrust the burning feelings aside. No, she thought, looking at her surroundings that seemed beautifully majestic and welcoming once more, leaving the warm luxury of the Hadiqan palace to come here wasn’t the real sacrifice. Yasmin had made the real sacrifice here. She hoped she could make herself believe that.
Marigold interrupted her thoughts as she stepped up to the railing next to her. She wore thick mittens on her hands and a large, furry coat open down the center to reveal a turtleneck sweater underneath.
“These mountains really are beautiful,” muttered her friend, “but it’s just too damned cold for my tastes.”
Esther laughed.
“Sail ho!” a lookout shouted from above.
Off in the distance, two ships approached from the direction of one of the fjord’s. Still too distant to identify, Esther guessed that they were Northern Kingdom picket ships sent to escort the Retribution and her companions into Valsgärd. It didn’t take long for the distances to close and signals to be traded, confirming their identity as Cielian ships, and they were indeed here to escort her.
As the two ships drew closer, Esther noted quite a few peculiar differences to traditional Ardmorran built vessels. In fact, these ships had more in common with Madrausan ships than Ardmorran or Hadiqan designs, though the rigging for the single large mainmast appeared to be more advanced than any Madrausan design. There were many short propeller stanchions along the sides of each ship, offset slightly from each other with the first set higher up on the hull than the other. There wouldn’t be room for more than two men to an oar, but she could see why this configuration would be an advantage in the northern climate with its ill-favored winds, even now causing the Retribution’s crew to struggle. Long hauls might be a problem though, as she doubted even the propellers and advanced rigging of the Northern Kingdom mainmasts could match the speed of a multi-sailed Ardmorran design.
The keel structure of these ships differed greatly from any previous design she’d seen. Instead of a keel mast extending below the ship, these Northern Kingdom vessels had a long beam hanging three feet below them and extending almost the full length of the hull. If that beam wasn’t treated with Saug oil at all, Esther could see how that could give the ship greater stability and maneuverability, not to mention it wouldn’t be as vulnerable to damage as traditional keel masts.
These must be new designs and Esther suspected that Ciel had sent out their most advanced warships to escort the Retribution and her companions in. Perhaps as an attempt to intimidate them, or maybe to just show off prior negotiating the terms of any alliance.
There would be some drawbacks to those designs, however. One being that cargo would have to be loaded from the top instead of having a hatch in the bottom of the ship, and the second having to do with an idea that Esther had come up with regarding adding rigging and sails to the keel mast to increase the amount of wind that a ship could harness. She hadn’t done anything with the idea yet—life had been too busy for that—and there would be some unique challenges to overcome—particularly the psychology of getting crewman to go below the hull and work the sails—but she planned to set Ms. Graves and Gregory to fleshing out the idea in the near future.
Thirty minutes later, Esther could see fishing boats dotting the sea-filled fjord below as the Retribution, her companions the Achaemenes and the Piruz, and the Northern Kingdom escorts descended towards Ciel’s capital city of Valsgärd. The city itself was a sight to behold, its gray stone buildings and thatched roofs surrounded by snow covered mountains and the fjord itself. The palace sat against one of the mountain cliffs. In fact, it almost looked like it had been hewn from the mountain itself, its sheer walls the same gray color of the mountain, and it was tall, extending above the cliff it sat against as it tried to reach the majesty of the mountain peaks above.
The palace consisted of trapezoidal shaped tiers—isosceles trapezoids to be exact—and she wondered if that shape held some sort of significance within Cielian culture. The bottommost tier had to have been hewn from the mountain, for it was massive, extending some five hundred feet high with an added structure near its base which appeared to be some sort of courtyard. Its top had been planed flat and the large second tier sat upon it, almost half again the height of the bottom tier. Esther guessed that the center core of the second tier was likely solid rock given its size, but all around the trapezoid-shaped exterior, there were windows and rounded archways. The top most tier was almost three quarters the height of the second, and was also adorned with trapezoid-shaped windows, but only around the top floor of the tier. The rest of it was smooth and windowless. The sheer scale of the stone structure was amazing. She couldn’t help but feel excited to be here and view such grand majesty that seamlessly fused nature and man-made architecture together.
According to Cielian tradition, no airship was allowed within a mile of the palace—not even for Cielian royalty—so the Retribution and her companions would set down at the airfield that existed equidistance between the palace and the city itself. Esther could see the marketplace on the airfield side of the city—a massive conglomeration of huts and canvas covered stands. The airfield itself was impressive both in size and organization. Airships—mostly merchantman with their balloon sails—came and went with regularity as the Retribution approached. At its center stood a large, stone tower, topped with an inverted trapezoid structure. Signalmen stood on all sides of the inverted trapezoid, using their massively complex signaling stations to direct the airfield traffic, protected somewhat from the wind and blowing snow by the roof of the inverted trapezoid over them.
Mr. Najafi stepped up next to Esther. “We’ve received a message from Ambassador Rashad. He says that he is waiting with carriages. He also said that King Hávarđr and Queen Rúna of Ciel are awaiting your arrival at the palace, as is King Randolf of Rodheim. The King and Queen of Lothaekin are expected to arrive soon as well.”
King Randolf of Rodheim was older and a recent widower. He was also a friend of Ardmorr, which Esther hoped would help her negotiate this treaty. She didn’t know much about the Kings or Queens of Ciel or Lothaekin. “Any word on the King of Riaseth?” she asked.
“No, Your Majesty.”
Esther nodded to Mr. Najafi, then turned to her Chief of Staff. “Alright Marigold, are we all loaded up and ready to go?”
“Yes,” Marigold replied. “Although that palace looks cold. Why you would want to shift your residence from the Retribution to the palace, I’ll never understand.”
Esther smiled at her friend. “Having to constantly travel from the airfield to the palace every day in this weather would be time consuming and difficult,” she said, holding up her hands to catch the snowflakes that had begun blowing around, “but if the weather turns bad—which it will—that would make it near impossible. I’d rather stay aboard the Retribution as well, but we don’t know how long it will take to hammer out a treaty and it just isn’t practical.”
Marigold nodded and slumped her shoulders resignedly.
- - -
It had taken them a little while to load everything up onto the carriages. Esther had been amazed at how many trunks full of stuff she had to take. Before she’d left Tewksbury after the Madrausan raid, she could have fit everything she owned into one trunk with plenty of room to spare. Now, with all
of the clothing that Marigold had made or acquired for her, plus all of the accouterments that a Queen needed—crowns for various occasions, jewelry, her decorative and functional weaponry—the list went on and on, and it filled trunk after trunk.
And then there was Ms. Graves and Gregory. They had filled a carriage full of equipment and supplies just themselves! Ms. Graves must have been pulling heavily from the ship’s supply stores in order to accumulate so much—Esther would have to make sure Mr. Najafi knew to take a complete inventory and restock while here in Valsgärd. How Ann-Marie had been able to fashion all of the instrumentation and equipment Esther had seen them loading up from such limited resources only attested to her resourcefulness. Esther had only assigned Gregory to start working with Ms. Graves two days ago and already he seemed to be blossoming under her tutelage. He still worked part-time with various officers and crew aboard ship to teach him ship-handling skills, but as Esther had thought, his real area of talent was his ingenuity and he had really come out of his shell these last couple of days working with Ann-Marie.
The trek from the airfield to the palace wasn’t as bad as Esther had feared. The carriages were very large and had massive wheels that extended half the height of the carriage, with comfortable suspension to ease the bumps. Each carriage was pulled by teams of beautiful, equally massive horses—similar in appearance to the Clydesdale breed with their bay coloring, arched neck, and high withers, but even larger in size. They even moved like Clydesdales, clearly lifting their hooves when they walked. Esther had seen pictures drawn in books, but had never seen one in person before and the sheer size of each horse was astounding. She’d asked the carriage driver and he had said that on average, each one stood nineteen to twenty hands high. Those sizes were unheard of in Ardmorr, or anywhere outside the continental Northern Kingdoms. She had told Marigold that bad weather would make travel between the airfield and the palace impossible, but now she doubted anything but the absolute worst weather would keep one of these carriages pulled by these massive horses from completing the trek.
Esther looked across the carriage at the Hadiqan Ambassador assigned to the Northern Kingdoms. Today was the first time she’d ever met him. He hadn’t been able to make it to her wedding, given the tight timeframe and the fact that he’d been in Northern Riaseth at the time that the news of her imminent wedding had arrived in the Cielian capital of Valsgärd. He was a very tall man, for a Hadiqan, and seemed very cordial. Next to him sat the Ardmorran Ambassador— Stainton was his name—a very large gruff looking man, and across from him, next to Esther, sat Lady Adeline.
The carriage wound its way up a long, broad, windy road and through a massive gate into an equally massive courtyard. A full fanfare of trumpets greeted her as she stepped out of the carriage and armored Cielian soldiers formed a broad path both fore and aft of the line of carriages that led up to where the King and Queen of Ciel stood at the top of a wide set of stairs. Several of her own marines stood just outside the carriage and helped her down. As she always did when meeting people so much her senior, she felt a little nervous and inadequate.
A broad roll of red carpet had been rolled down the steps leading up to the Cielian monarchs and Esther, Adeline, Ambassador Rashad, and Ambassador Stainton slowly climbed the stairs, followed closely by Oluchi, Mac, Marigold, Nkiru, Adeline, her midwife Mrs. Stolman, and all of the others that made up her retinue. Esther noticed for the first time that Joel, her Bosun, and Airman Baird had somehow attached themselves to her retinue as well. Joel had rank he could pull to be included, but how Baird had been able to get out of working his shift to be attached to those accompanying her to the palace, Esther didn’t know. And of course, if Joel was there, then Dani was too, dressed in her typical pants and loose tunic.
“Your Majesty, Lady Adeline,” said the Cielian King as they approached the top of the stairs. “Welcome to Valsgärd, the pride of the North. We hope that your stay here will be a pleasant one.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Esther nodded to the King, and then to the Queen. “I appreciate your willingness to host these discussions, and hope that they will be fruitful.”
“As do we, Your Majesty,” said the King. “Come,” he continued, taking his wife’s hand in his arm and gesturing for Esther to follow. “We have prepared rooms for you and all those who will be staying at the palace. We will give you some time to get settled in, and then we’d be honored if you would join us for a dinner held in your honor. King Randolf will be sad that he missed your arrival—he is out hunting at the moment—and will want to meet you at dinner. Rodheim and Ardmorr have always been close and he is very excited to meet you again.”
“That is most kind, thank you Your Majesties, and I look forward to seeing King Randolf again as well. Growing up in Ardmorr, we often heard about ‘Good King Randolf’, even in the countryside. Weddings are such hectic affairs, I was only able to speak with him very little when he attended mine.”
Esther followed the older couple through a massive set of doors and into the base of the palace. Already, teams of Cielian cargo handlers were unloading the carriages onto large cargo sleds, assisted by Joel, Baird, Dani, and a few other members of the Retributions crew, including Gregory, and overseen by Mac, her steward, and Ms. Graves. The remaining members of her retinue followed her through the massive doors.
This section of the palace was indeed hewn directly out of the mountain. The walls and ceiling high above had a certain roughness to them, although the craftsmanship that had been used to create this space was amazing, and the floors had been tiled with beautifully polished grey anorthosite tiles creating a more refined look than one would have expected. The area in which they stood was massive, with high ceilings, enormous pillars, and on either end of the room, big double doors that led down long hallways. Directly ahead, three wooden platforms sat in large alcoves. The center one of which was quite broad and very similar in appearance to the platform on the underside of the Retribution. Flanking each of the alcoves were sets of stairs carved directly into the stone. Pairs of guards stood protecting each stairwell and platform.
It was a busy area and the din of noise reverberated off the walls, dulled somewhat by the great tapestries that hung there. Two rows of guards created a path through the crowded area, to the platform straight ahead, their pike heads gleaming from the light provided by great chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and sunlight streaming in from trapezoid-shaped windows set high in the wall they had just entered through. Although not as refined as Hadiqan architecture, what Esther had seen of the palace thus far was every bit as impressive as her palace in Al Farnaka, just in a different way. She never would have imagined that such a large space could be carved out of a mountain. Of course, it looked like a significant portion of the bottom tier of the palace was still solid rock with only the outer perimeter of rooms and hallways carved out for use, but it was still very impressive.
As the Cielian King and Queen led them forward towards the platform, the guardsmen on each side of the path saluted, pulling their pikes back against their shoulders with a clanking of metal. The noise from the crowd diminished as they respectfully watched their monarchs lead Esther and her party onto the platform. Once they were all aboard, the King nodded to one of the guards, who pulled on a signal rope and the platform began to rise.
The rooms that had been prepared for them were on the top floor of the uppermost tier of the palace and they’d had to transfer to different platforms twice—once on each tier of the palace as they went up. Finally, they reached a long, brightly lit hallway where the rooms were located. The Cielian’s had built 6-inch square skylights of thick glass into the ceiling of the hallway and there were sconces of candles along the wall with golden reflective shields which diffused the candlelight and mixed it with the sunlight to create a bright, golden glow. The effect was quite magnificent and brought out the slight green hew from the marble flooring.
“All of the rooms along the west side of the hall are yours to use, Yo
ur Majesty,” said the King. “We’ll leave you to get settled now. Your Ambassador Rashad is very familiar with the palace and will be a good resource if you have any questions. Also, the palace staff or any guardsmen will be available as well.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Esther, bowing her head slightly.
After the Cielian King and Queen left, Ambassador Rashad led her and her retinue down the hall to a pair of double doors on the right. “Your things will be brought up shortly, Your Majesty,” said the Ambassador, opening the double doors for her. “This is your suite.”
He led her inside into a luxurious foyer. The flooring was beautifully stained wood, dominated in the center of the room by an elegant area rug. She felt tears suddenly spring into her eyes as she looked at the rug. It reminded her of Alborz, the down-to-earth merchant who had helped her save King Asserius. He had died in the process. She hadn’t known him that long, but she missed the big oaf and his irritating sense of humor—like when he’d made her think they’d have to break into the rug shop in Al Farnaka when he already had a key. Esther was about to wipe the tear away when she remembered that she had a generous amount of eye makeup on and Marigold would kill her for smearing it—not to mention how embarrassing it would be to have makeup smeared across her face in front of the Ambassador. Instead, she turned away from the others and examined the rest of the room.
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