“I have been so upset,” said Lystia. “For a while, I had the support and solace of Court Sorcerer Zatarra. Then, he left and I had no one to lean on.”
“Mother, I hate to be the one to tell you this,” said Berlina. “Zatarra was one of the traitors. He will bother you no more—that is certain. I personally put a sword through his heart.”
“Berlina!” Lystia shrieked. “A sword? You? Not the proper action of a lady—a royal lady at that. How many times have I told you not to fool around with things like swords and other weapons?”
One of the servants carrying the queen’s chair had a fancy hairdo, which stuck up from his head like the horn of a unicorn. Berlina pulled out her sword and slashed across the top of the servant’s head. The fancied up hair went flying, and the skin on the top of the man’s head was visible. The skin, but not a drop of blood. The queen gasped.
“Were it not for me and my sword,” said Berlina, “you would not have Darvid back.” She sheathed her sword and continued, “Have you more to say on this, Mother?”
“No, perhaps not. I suppose things have changed a bit since I was a girl. Come, let us go in for some refreshment. You must be tired from all your travels.”
They proceeded to a comfortable drawing room. The servants sat the sedan chair down so Lystia could get out and sit in a regular chair, then took the sedan chair out of the room. “Pardon my use of that device, but my health is failing faster than I had originally thought. I can walk, but not far, nor fast, so if I have to get somewhere in a hurry—such as to meet you at the gate—I ride.”
Berlina and Darvid had also taken seats, but the other two were still standing. The queen looked at them and said, “Who are these other…Oh, Felistia, of course. We are being informal right now. Take a seat, my dear.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Felistia, and she sat.
“This other…you look like you are wearing the uniform of our palace guards?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I am Lathan, and I serve as a palace guard. At least I did, until Her Highness, Princess Berlina, recruited me to aid her on her quest to rescue her brother.”
“Lathan? You can’t be Lathan. You are talking quite well, and Lathan was hardly able to put three words together. Quite useless, but he was always a favorite of my late husband, so we kept him on. You can’t be Lathan. Who are you?”
“Your Majesty, I assure you I am Lathan. Your daughter led me to a place far off in the eastern mountains, where the wizards cured me.”
“This is getting to be a bit much for me, I am afraid,” said Lystia. “All right, Lathan. For the moment, I also grant you permission to sit.”
As Lathan sat, servants entered bearing trays of sumptuous food, and the four, who had been subsisting on trail rations for several days, dug in.
“While you eat,” said Lystia, “we must go over the plans for Darvid’s birthday celebration and coronation.”
* * * *
“Damn!” said Berlina, as she read the letter just handed to her by a messenger.
“What’s the matter?” asked Felistia.
“It’s another alleged invitation to a pre-coronation ball. With a ‘suitable escort’ provided, of course.”
“Why do you say ‘alleged’?”
“Because it is really a royal command from Mother to attend, and to spend the evening in the company of some boring noble, the Duke of Bilgewater or whatever. I thought I had that evening free and planned to take a ‘nature hike’ with Lathan.”
“Do you think your mother has heard about you and Lathan, and this is a subtle ploy to break that up?”
“No, I’ve never known Mother to be subtle about anything. She’s just blatantly fixing me up with as many unmarried nobles as she can, in the hopes I’ll like one and get serious. I think she’d like to see me married, or at least engaged, before she dies. Not to a commoner like Lathan. She’d have a real fit about that. I’m just hoping things will be less of a problem once Darvid is crowned.”
“Bee, do you really think it will make much difference if Momma’s boy Darvid is king, as long as she’s alive?”
“Not so much, no, but she’s really ill. I’ll miss her when she’s gone. I just hope she doesn’t have some way for her ghost to continue running things from the grave.”
* * * *
The day of Darvid’s twenty-first birthday—and King Darvid’s coronation—dawned bright and clear. The palace was decked out in ribbons and bunting, and a pair of special thrones had been set up in the courtyard so far more people could watch than would have fit in the throne room. The earlier part of the day was mostly the birthday party, and it was a carnival, a festival. Darvid received many gifts, far more than he had time to open and look at. Most were just piled at one end of the courtyard, with a dozen scribes keeping track of who gave which package.
Finally, as the sun started to set, Darvid got up to speak to the crowd. “I want to thank all of those who have given me gifts, and all of those who could not afford a gift but have given me their best wishes. I do want to acknowledge the best gift of all—that given to me by my sister, Princess Berlina.”
Felistia turned to Berlina and whispered, “What did you give him that was so great?”
“I don’t know. I gave him an ermine cloak, but that hardly seems worth such praise.”
“What my sister gave me…” Darvid continued, “is my freedom and my chance to be here in front of you today. Berlina, come up here on the platform with me.”
She walked forward and climbed up next to her brother.
“When I was kidnapped by the traitors, she was the one who found where I was. She enlisted the aid of a friendly prince and rescued me. I’m still not sure how she did all the things she did, but she managed it somehow. Let’s have a round of applause for Princess Berlina.”
The applause and cheering went on for ten minutes. When it finally faded, Berlina curtseyed to the crowd and said, “Thank you.” She jumped down off the platform and went back over to where she had been standing with Felistia.
“Gah!” she said. “I hate that sort of thing…but I guess I’m stuck with it on occasion.”
“Just think how much more you’d have to do it if you were the queen,” said Felistia.
Berlina shuddered and said, “Please! Don’t even suggest such a thing. It doesn’t matter. It will never happen.”
Up on the platform, Darvid was going on about the coronation. It was getting dark, and servants lit torches. Finally, the Queen Regent came out on the platform, bearing the crown that her late husband, King Samsor, once wore and the scepter he carried. Darvid sat on the larger of the two thrones, and his mother handed him the scepter. She placed the crown on his head and said, “I crown thee King Darvid of Jylyria.” As she did so, a fantastic display of fireworks was touched off, and every color of the rainbow rocketed into the sky. Lystia, now Queen Mother, took her seat on the smaller of the two thrones.
This time, the cheering and applause went on for twenty minutes. When it finally quieted down, Darvid stood and said, “Thank you, my people. I am proud to be here, and to take this honored position. I promise to be a just and fair ruler.”
He sat down, and there was another ten minutes of applause. This time, when it was again quiet, he rose and took the arm of Queen Mother Lystia. The two walked around behind the thrones and into the palace proper.
The crowd sensed that the ceremonies were over and began to disperse, most exiting the palace grounds. A few, like Berlina and Felistia, went inside. “Thank goodness that’s over,” said Berlina.
“Do you think this will make any difference with regard to you and Lathan?”
“I don’t know. I hope so, but I don’t know.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
King Darvid
Six weeks after Darvid’s coronation, Queen Mother Lystia passed away. There was a state funeral, and they laid her to rest next to King Samsor. A month of mourning was declared, and most of the citizens of Jylyria wore black, if they had it,
or at least black armbands. Even Berlina, who often objected to such observances, wore mostly black during the mourning period.
True to his word, Darvid appointed Berlina an official adviser, and he made sure she did not forget the regular meetings of the advisory council. Darvid had quickly built up a corps of “special messengers” who he could send out to search the palace and bring in members of the council who were not there at least ten minutes early for the meetings. From the way they would pry into everyone’s business to deliver messages or fetch in people for meetings, they quickly earned the nickname of “Snoops.”
Berlina and Felistia were sitting and talking when a snoop entered and said, “Princess Berlina, His Majesty would like to see you in his study as soon as possible.”
“What?” asked Berlina. “There’s no council meeting set for today.”
“Nonetheless, His Majesty wishes to speak with you. I can escort you, if you wish.”
“No, no. Run along and tell my brother I’ll be there. I just have to…er…uh, brush my hair.”
The snoop bowed and left.
“What’s the matter, Bee?” asked Felistia.
“I don’t know, exactly, but my witch-sense is tingling. I think there is trouble of some sort racing toward us. Go find Lathan and tell him to get out of the palace. Tell him to go someplace where he’ll be inconspicuous…the Pink Wyvern, maybe.”
“You want him to go to that dump? Okay, I’ll tell him.”
Berlina said, “Just have him tell the innkeeper that I sent him. I have some special arrangements still set up from earlier.” She left the room and strolled slowly down the corridor toward the king’s study. Felistia exited a moment later and headed for the quarters of the palace guards.
When Berlina got to the study, she gave a slight bow and said, “Good day, Your Majesty.”
Darvid looked up and said, “Don’t worry about the formalities, Berlina. Just have a seat, and tell me where you were yesterday evening when you were supposed to be at the ball.”
“Yesterday evening?” Berlina screwed up her face like she was trying hard to remember. “Oh, I know. I went to see Forsythia. I had some questions about the material we covered in class the day before.”
“Do you have any idea how upset Count Strados was when you didn’t show up? He was positively livid. How do you expect to find a husband if you keep insulting the men we ask to escort you to balls and state functions? How do you expect me to retain peaceful, diplomatic relations with their countries?”
“Darvid, will you please stop all this matchmaking? I don’t much like balls and would often prefer to skip them. If I do go, I’m capable of either going alone or finding my own escort.”
“You are not capable. That’s the problem. One time, you showed up on the arm of a palace guardsman. A commoner. Totally inappropriate. I told Mother, before she died, that I would make sure to find you a suitable husband, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Tell me, the events before the coronation, you never failed to show up for those. What has changed?”
“Obviously, Darvid, our mother never told you about the palace guard ‘Ladies from Hades’. They are for situations where it would be quite out of the question for male guardsmen to deal with female prisoners. I was going to skip one of Mother’s events, when six of these amazons showed up in my room. They stripped me and dressed me in a ball gown, then half-carried, half-dragged me down to where I was to meet my escort. After that, I got dressed on my own, thank you.”
“You’re kidding, aren’t you? Mother wouldn’t go to such lengths.”
“Wrong. She did, and if I hadn’t gotten the message the first time, she would have done it again.”
“Well, I hope I don’t have to find those ‘Ladies from Hades’ and use them. When you receive word there is a ball or other social event, and that you will have an escort for it, I expect you to show up and spend the evening with him. Understand?”
“Yes, Darvid. I understand. You are the king, and I must comply with your orders.” She stood up, made a deep curtsy, and sat down again.
“Now, Berlina, no need to get sarcastic. There is another matter. There are rumors floating around that you are…well…messing around with some man. You must realize that such behavior is unseemly, inappropriate for a member of the royal family, and it must cease. Especially since the rumors seem to say the man involved is a commoner. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out who it is, or he’d be in the dungeon before you could blink. What do you say to that?”
“If there were such a man, I suppose I could stop fooling around with him. I could just marry him and get it over with.”
“Berlina! Don’t say things like that! The idea of a princess—the king’s sister—marrying a commoner is outrageous. Can you imagine what Mother would have said?”
“Darvid, you’re sounding more like Mother every day. If and when I marry, it will be someone of my own choosing. Not some Count of Bignutz with whom you want to make a political alliance.”
“I can see I’m going to have to take more drastic steps, have my special messengers keep a closer eye on you. Perhaps make sure you have an escort any time you leave your quarters. I’m going to have to arrest and question anyone I think might be your ‘special interest’. Starting with a couple of servants who are assigned to your quarters. Oh, yes…and that guardsman. I forget his name. The one who was with you when you rescued me.”
“Brother, you are the king, and your word is law. Do your best…or more accurately, your worst. Is that all? May I go, now?”
“Yes, you may go.” He rang a small bell, and two of his special messengers entered. He told them, “Please accompany Her Highness back to her quarters. In the future, she is to be accompanied at all times when she leaves her quarters.”
Berlina and the two snoops left the king’s study and went back to her rooms where Felistia was waiting.
When the door closed, Berlina sat down next to her companion and cast a silence spell around the two of them. “Did you get Lathan out of the palace?”
“Yes, I did. I also got him some different clothes, so he wouldn’t be immediately recognizable as a palace guard.”
“Good. Darvid has heard rumors that I am, as he put it, messing around with some man, and a commoner at that. He doesn’t know who it is, so he plans to pull in just about any man I have contact with and question him. That includes Lathan…if he can remember Lathan’s name. All he seems to know is that it was ‘that guardsman who was with you when you rescued me’. Well, the less he remembers the better.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to have to get Lathan further away from the palace. I hate to do that. It’ll make it harder for us to get together, but I have to make sure he’s safe. Darvid is going to have me escorted by snoops any time I leave my quarters. Fat lot of good that’ll do him. A stun spell and a glamour will take care of them. Take a look and see who’s outside the door, will you, Fee?”
Felistia went over to the door, then came back and said, “Just two of the snoops. No guards.”
“Good. Hey, this is just like the time Mother had us confined here.” Berlina got up and went over to the door. She let just the end of her wand protrude through the little window and muttered a spell. There were two thumps as the snoops collapsed. Another flick of the wand, and she was a sixty-year-old serving maid. “Felistia, I am going to get Lathan from the Pink Wyvern and take him to a safer place. I want you to remain here. If asked, just say you don’t know where I am. Those two snoops will awaken in twenty minutes or so, with no memory of what happened…you know nothing about that, either.”
“Will do, Bee.”
Berlina left the room and headed down toward an exit from the palace which always locked and, hence, never guarded. A quick opening spell, and she was out and heading down the road to the inn where Lathan was sequestered. When she got there, she walked up to the innkeeper.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
Berlin
a dropped the glamour from her face for a few seconds, and the innkeeper said, “Oh, it’s you, Bejanna. The man you seek is upstairs in room seventeen…your old room. There are some barmaid clothes there, if you want them. Good luck.”
Berlina went up, entered room seventeen, closed the door, and dropped the glamour.
Lathan, who had been sitting on the bed reading, looked up and said, “Ah, it’s you. No names, right?” He rose from the bed, went over to Berlina, put his arms around her, and kissed her.
When they finally broke apart, she said, “Yes, it’s probably best if you don’t use my real name. Call me Bejanna if you have to, but we need to get out of here. Darvid is beginning to wonder about things, and you’re on the list of possible suspects. Near the top of the list, I’m afraid. Let me change clothes, so I only have to glamour our faces, and we’ll get out of here.”
She peeled out of the clothes she was wearing—clothes proper for a princess. As she picked up the barmaid outfit, she said to Lathan, “You enjoy watching me get undressed, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. There isn’t anything there I haven’t already seen, but I still like watching.”
Berlina put on the other clothes, then glamoured both of their faces. “Grab your stuff, if anything, and let’s go.”
The two of them went down a back staircase and out into an alley. They walked several blocks down the alley until they came to a stable. Berlina whispered a special password to the man in charge, and he immediately brought out two horses, saddled and ready to go.
“Your steeds, and there’s some food in the saddlebags, ma’am. Not too much, but enough for a day or two.”
“Thank you,” said Berlina, as the two mounted and rode away. Turning to Lathan, she said, “I was afraid Darvid might make a big, hairy nuisance of himself, so I had some escape plans set up. After I get you to a safe place where Darvid’s snoops won’t come looking for you, I’ll just go back to the palace and claim I never left.”
“Won’t your brother give you a rough time?”
“He can probably get away with pulling in men he suspects of being my boyfriend and giving them a rough time while questioning them, but he doesn’t dare do much to me.”
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