by D. H. Aire
Juels was beginning to writhe. “Climb on my back, little lady. Let’s hope there’s enough of me to go around.”
#
“Ander…”
“Ruke, are you crazy?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. I know you married Aaprin. It’s all my fault… I said awful things to you. But I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t tell you the truth.”
Ander smiled, “I figured that when you came out of the bathroom like that.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve made a mess of it, haven’t I?”
She bit down on her lip. “Get your shirt off.”
“What?”
“It’s either you or Aaprin and he’s busy at the moment.”
“Huh?”
She began helping him off with his jerkin.
“But you’re married to him.”
“Under the circumstances, I don’t think he’s going to mind. Hurry!”
#
The guards heard a chorus of muffled, “It itches!”
“Just be glad High Elvin weddings don’t happen too often,” the veteran sergeant said.
“Yes, Sergeant Grigg… but why do you want so many of us guarding Revit’s room.”
“Just being cautious,” he replied. “He’s quite a reputation for getting himself into trouble, you know.”
“Uh, huh,” the Legionnaire replied, not certain he understood at all.
Chapter 14 - Keeper of the Keys
The sunset sparkled in the windows. Servants came up from kitchen and Tristan Y Tane watched from the shadows. “If at first you don’t succeed, as humans say, try again. Enjoy your dessert, Lord Je’orj, it will certainly enjoy you.”
#
“Milord,” the servant said. “These are the records of the orders.”
Thomi swallowed, reading Imperial elvin was not exactly something he had been trained for.
Then it’s good I’m watching you, isn’t it?
“Yes, dear.”
The servant stared, glancing around to see who the odd lordling was talking to. The soft growl from the ogre, dissuaded further thought.
“Thomi, what trouble are you getting yourself into?”
“Uh, hi, Lee.”
The servant paled, “Lord… Lady Lyai.”
Esperanza took the scroll from Thomi, “Any more where these came from?”
“This is the one he requested.”
“I want to see all the orders from the same period,” Esperanza ordered. The servant ran. “Good thought, Thomi, never leave a herald to do, what you can do better.”
“Uh, Amira asked you to help me, didn’t she?”
“Of course,” she replied, “it’s not like she cares that I’m Mistress of Scryers and have such important things to do.”
Lee cleared his throat, “Which is why we dragged me to the kitchen to help the moment she saw the first gleam of water in a reflecting pool in the garden… Lovely wedding, wasn’t it?”
“Um, yeah.”
“I’m certain Amira didn’t see you staring too much.”
Thomi swallowed. “Staring… of course not.”
#
Raven flew down and settled upon the palace roof and glanced down the skylight into the Empress’s suite. Staff was flaring.
:Well, you have the right to hear this.:
“You will live here,” the Empress stated, “in the palace with me.”
“He is going to live in our House in the Seventh Tier,” Se’and replied.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” George rasped.
“NO!” they all yelled back.
“Fine, I’ll just sit here and watch.”
“There’s hope for him yet,” Cle’or said.
Fri’il said, “Your Majesty, he’s responsibilities.”
“On that I fervently agree,” the Empress said, “which is why he must live here.”
“We’re all married to him… more or less,” Se’and said, glancing at Lonny, who nodded.
“It’s the less with Raven and Lonny that matters most to me,” George replied.
“Shut up, Je’orj,” Fri’il said, “Make yourself useful. Hold Ri’ori.”
“All right… All right. Shh, little one, nothing for you to worry about.”
That earned him a glare from the ladies around him.
“I suppose you could all live here in the palace,” the Empress offered.
“We all know that’s not going to work… the ceremony was tough enough for your people to swallow,” Se’and said. “Us moving in? You’ve enough to deal with.”
“So, you’ll visit and Je’orj will live here,” the Empress said.
“He lives both here and with us, there,” Se’and replied.
“Here, and visits you there,” the Empress countered.
Cle’or saw that this was not going to get them anywhere. “Je’orj, I think… ow, I’ve still got a patch of silk I need you to… help me dislodge. Lonny, can you hold Ri’ori?”
The Empress and Se’and looked at each other. “Je’orj…”
“Oh, now I have an opinion in this, uh, family?”
“Yes,” they said.
“How about I officially have no home? Where you are, my dear ladies, is where my heart is.”
“Works for me,” Fri’il said.
“Fine by me,” Cle’or replied, “since he’s not going anywhere unprotected, in any case.”
Se’and and the Empress glared at each other.
“I will continue to watch over Her Majesty… especially now,” Lonny said.
George frowned, “Especially now?”
The Empress smiled, “Nothing gets by you, Lonny.”
“Nothing, Your Majesty.”
“Je’orj, I’m with child.”
“Lorraina, hell of thing to tell me on the wedding night.”
The Empress smiled.
Se’and did not.
“Is this settled then?” George asked.
“No,” the Empress and Se’and chorused.
He groaned. “Please, just don’t flip a coin.”
Se’and glanced at Cle’or, then looked at the Empress, “Care to play a game of cards?”
“Cards?”
“Ever hear of poker?” Se’and asked.
George moaned.
Raven turned her beak and looked back over the grounds as the orchestra began another set as the festivities would extend throughout this night through the next. Falcs mated for life as did wolfenbeasts. She wondered when she would be in season, knowing that even now she could smell his scent.
She leaped, spread her wings and went on the hunt. She wanted to kill something rather badly.
#
BAM.
“Car!” Balfour shouted as Me’oh, Rachiel in her arms, chose the bathroom as the safest place.
Her eyes were unfocused, she looked feverish, the Elvinsilk had turned to fumes.
“Car, think… when did you last go into season!”
“Season?” she rasped, her fingers arched into claws. “I have never… been in season.”
“What?” His eyes widened. “Car, you should have been in season long before now. Years ago.”
“You weren’t here,” she said in a half strangled voice.
“Well, I am now and we’re married.”
“Yes,” she said and leaped toward him.
He met her charge, hoping no one else was dealing with a vicious season deprived elflady. She raked him and he shoved her with all his might. She felt against the bed half stunned and grinned at him.
“You all right, Bal?”
“Don’t come out until I…” she charged. He ducked, “until I tell you it’s safe!”
#
Juels knocked on the bathroom door, “Sorry, but… I’ve got to go.”
“Uh, come on then,” Ander said.
She opened the door and winced, “Uh, Ander, I brought you a robe.”
“Thanks,” she chuckled, putting it on.
“It’s all right,” Ruke
said, face a bit flushed. “I won’t bite.”
“You, at least,” Ander said, grinning.
“Excuse me,” Juels said, embarrassed, hurrying to the privy.
“Juels, Ander and I are bound,” Ruke said, “no matter the marriage to Aaprin.”
“She and I are bound in Aaprin’s service,” Juels muttered, trying not to think about the extent of her predicament as she closed the privy’s door.
“Without a doubt, but…” Ander said, “though, I haven’t spoken to Aaprin…”
“I think he’s busy at the, uh, moment,” Juels said, “but he told me that he… cherishes us and respects our wishes.”
Ruke sighed, “No one can know about Ander and me. If they did, I fear harm would come to Ander. So promise me, never speak of this.”
“Believe me, I won’t. Really. Never. Now, if, uh, you’ll excuse me,” she said, awkwardly on the privy, her eyes growing heavy. She closed her eyes and knew her luck was offering them what peace it may and realized how incredibly tired she was.
#
The warder left the reception and the prelate rose and sauntered after. He followed the warder into the palace through a side corridor of the Great Hall. The warder turned around. “Prelate.”
The old man canted his head. “As I live and breathe, you must be Terus, isn’t it?”
“Who are you?”
“You mean besides Keeper of the Keys and Prelate of the Temple of Knowledge? Once upon a time, I was also called Captain. Hmm,” he said, fingering the sleeve of the robe. “My, my, it’s been a long time. Code Six One Alpha, execute.”
The robe stiffened, split open and unceremoniously dumped the naked Ri and Terus on the floor before folding shut and vanishing from reality.
Terus stared up as he struggled to disentangle himself from Ri. “How… how did you do that?”
“Oh, those tricky elves modified the pressure suits. I wondered where they went. Hmm, I haven’t seen them in, well, millennia. I had dozens cached away once.” At Terus’s puzzled look, the old man smiled. “I just used the override. It’s in the manual… I take it the port-a-potty functions still works? Otherwise, well, it could get a might messy in there.”
“Huh?” He glanced back down, “Oh, um…”
Ri muttered, “Get off me, you, idiot.”
The prelate chuckled, “I now pronounce you man and wife.”
They stopped struggling, “What?”
“You two were at the wedding ceremony and touching. Most definitely touching… so, I thought it best to make it official,” he said with a chuckle.
“I can’t marry him!” Ri shouted, quietly muttering to illusion clothing and failed.
Terus frowned, helping Ri to rise. “That’s right… We can’t just marry on your whim.”
“Oh, it’s done… can’t undo it, though, perhaps, you really are only engaged, being so young and all. Though, it can be difficult to just elvin ages. Well, in any case, fate’s playing with you and you think you have a choice? How grand. A master of human magery like Lord George and his protégé… or do I have it backwards?”
Ri frowned, trying again to create an illusion and failing. “Why isn’t this working?”
“Uh, Ri,” Terus half-whispered, “um, hold my hand and try again.”
She reached out and grasped his hand and spoke the spell again. Both she and Terus instantly appeared in robes.
“I see… you, young lady, are his protégé. Well, I wish you well on your marriage.”
“We’re not married!” Ri said.
“Fine, too young. I’ll take your word for it. You’re only engaged, then.”
“Uh, the warder robe…” Terus muttered. “We’ve lost it.”
The old man smiled, “No… it’s still here. It’ll go where you go. You just can’t see it since like many a good piece of technology, the elves have bound it Underhill. In this case—”
Terus and Ri glanced at each other, “We know.”
“I thought you might… If I may, one piece of advice?”
They looked at him.
“Do stay out of trouble. I’ve a feeling the Empire has plans for you both.” He went back outside as fiddlers began to play.
Ri looked at Terus and hit him in the arm, “Why do I have a feeling you believed every word he said.”
“Um, because I do?”
“Let’s find Aliana and Revit now that we’re, um, normal again.”
#
Ander and Ruke came out of the bathroom wearing only towels and looked at Gallen and Aaprin sitting up in bed. Juels sat staring, pulling her robe tight, sitting on a plush chair in the corner.
“Well, what are we going to do now?” Ruke asked.
“She loves you,” Gallen replied.
“That I do,” Ander asserted.
“So, we’re left keeping this a secret, aren’t we?” Aaprin said. “Why?”
“Can Juels truly keep this a secret?” Ruke asked.
“You know I can!” she bristled.
“She’s proved her loyalty,” Gallen said. “So, just answer the question.”
“He’s trying to protect me,” Ander said.
Ruke nodded, “My work for Terhun and the Empress means there are those who would use those I love to suborn me. Or worse… And they’d succeed,” he hated admitting.
“You’ve your own private Cathartan bodyguards.”
“Who expect to put me out to stud… use me to survive.”
“They are our allies.”
“In everything? That’s what Terhun wants to know… and I’ve other assignments as well.”
“But you don’t have to do any of that,” Gallen said.
“Can anyone else, Boss? Look, Mahr likes me… they all like me. De’ohr sees me in her visions. So, I’m going to have to live a double life— and I can’t make Ander a target.”
“You could run away with Ander instead… It’s not like I’m going to play the vengeful elflord in some bardic tale,” Aaprin said.
“I gave my Oath.”
Gallen sighed. “Ander, you’ll barely ever see him.”
“And one day I’ll bear his children.”
“Who won’t be elfblooded.”
Ander glanced at Ruke, “We, uh, discussed that… some will, though.”
“What?” Aaprin squeaked.
Ruke bowed, “Milord, Aaprin, I would claim you as brother. Agree to anything, just so long as Ander and I can be together at times.”
“Oh, that’s just great, how are we to explain this when it does come out one day?” Aaprin replied.
Gallen frowned, looking from one to the other, “Uh, you could, well, claim to be dopples. Dopplegangers. Everyone knows it creates… situations.”
“Him, my doppelganger?” Aaprin muttered.
Juels stared from one to the other, “You are dopples.”
“What?” the two chorused.
Gallen crossed her arms over her legs under the blankets. “She’s right. This room is ringing with it. That’s settled then. So, Juels, I suggest you leave and get us something to eat. Ruke, Ander, consider the bathroom yours for the next few minutes… then Ruke had better be on his way.”
“They’ll be searching for me,” Ruke admitted.
Ander smiled, “I’ll take what I can get. Excuse us.”
Juels stared a moment, shrugged and went to the door, “I guess I’m going to be awhile… you look awfully hungry.”
Gallen nodded, “Very.”
Aaprin gulped, “Very?”
She smiled as Juels left and with a wave of her hand, the door locked seemingly on its own. “Very…”
#
As Esperanza and Lee went over the dozens of scrolls the servant had brought showing the orders for the wedding feast, Thomi went back into the bustling kitchen. Desserts were being readied. At the sight of Walsh, the kitchen quieted noticeably.
“What’s being preparing for the Empress?”
A Legionnaire gestured, “This one, Sir.”
>
Thomi.
The Legionnaire was young, but of rank.
“Who assigned you?”
“My Sergeant, Sir.”
“And that would be?”
The Legionnaire, too young to be one of the veterans stationed in the palace pulled his dagger. Thump.
Walsh’s reach and closed fist were of advantage. The false Legionnaire dropped. “Cook, get me some real Legionnaires… and prepare a new platter for Her Majesty. Oh, and scryers are watching us now, so no one think about touching any of that stuff there. I may make you eat it just to prove none of it’s poisoned.”
A servant twitched.
That one.
“Walsh, I think I want that one to have a taste.”
“No!”
He wasn’t fast enough. Walsh held him up off the floor.
Lee and Esperanza came out. Lyai said, “That wouldn’t happen to be the fellow who stocked the shelves for the feast would it?”
A cook said, “Yes, Milord.”
Bane sword drawn, Lee looked at the unconscious fellow on the floor. “He’s not one of mine.”
“I didn’t think so,” Thomi said, proudly.
Don’t let it go to your head. You did good, though.
#
Count Tristan headed down the well guarded hallway as servants brought the newlyweds their desserts. Talik opened his door, his eye blackened. The Imperial guard muttered, “You all right?”
“Fine, but you should see—” There was a squeal of anger, “um, the other guy.” Platter in hand, Talik quickly closed the door.
Frowning, Tristan saw that the well guarded Empress’s suite entrance was not being provided for. He stopped one of the servants, “Is all well in the kitchens?”
“It is now, Milord.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Two people have been taken away planning to poison Her Majesty.”
“Taken away?” He left the servant to his duties and walked off down the side corridor.
#
“Ow.”
“Bal, is it safe to come out now?” Me’oh asked.
“Oh, Bal,” Carwina rasped, coming back to herself.
“Uh, bring some wet towels. We’re a bit of a mess. I’m almost finished healing Car.”
Carwina looked up at him. “I’m sorry about… your face.”
“That’s good, because you’re going to heal me.”
“I don’t know what came over me.”