The Porfian Princess: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 4

by L J Dalton Jr.

  The day of the wedding dawned bright and calm. The temperature was pleasant, not too cool, and not yet hot and humid. Rolf was out of the palace before breakfast. He grabbed a roll, some meat, and cheese and headed off to the temple square. He and Colonel Petronas would be setting up the sharpshooters and the ‘honor guard.’ That consisted of three squads of eight men from Duke Harlold’s Irregulars. They were armed with rifles and long knives. There were a similar number of Guards, all local men. They had muskets, pistols, and swords. They would be arranged in two rows at the entrance to the square. It would alternate Guard, Irregular, Guard, and so on. Lieutenant Sorbor would be in charge of them. Rolf would station himself right behind the Lieutenant.

  The plan was simple. If needed, the two lines would form two ranks facing either the street or towards the temple. The regular Guards would be in front, and the Irregulars would be stationed right behind them. The Irregulars were chosen because they were among the best shots. The absolute best were the sharpshooters. The Irregulars were going to be the ones who would pick off any armed men attempting to get to the wedding party. The Guards would be there as a bulwark. This played to the strengths of each group.

  While Rolf and Colonel Petronas were positioning people, Darvin was putting the finishing touches on his preparations as well. He’d secretly stashed uniforms and arms for the Porfians in the Guard who would attack the wedding in a building right near the temple. The men were arriving in twos and threes and not a group. No one noticed them going into the building as the city was getting ready for a party.

  The merchants aligned with Darvin, and the others who would rush the wedding party were also getting ready. They would be wearing their swords and knives, and a few had pistols secreted under their clothing. The merchants were bolstered by some toughs that Darvin had paid. The weather made hiding pistols a bit difficult as everyone was wearing light clothing. Cloaks would stand out.

  The plan was simple. The Porfian Guards would assemble in the building, and then after the wedding party arrived, they would attack up the street directly towards the temple square. That would draw any defenders. As the wedding party moved towards the temple and safety, Darvin and his merchants would attack. They felt that even if the nobles among the wedding party resisted, there were enough attackers to overwhelm them.

  The breakfast before the wedding went well. The brides were too nervous to eat. Harlold barely ate anything. Prince Arken and Elizabeth were both in good moods and ate well. King Menounos was about as excited as his daughter Alla about the marriage. All of the men were wearing cuirasses. Prince Brandt and his friends were calm but expecting trouble. Christiana had started to agree with her brother and told Roddrick, Mathias, and Petor to be ready for potential trouble. Aldon picked up on the vibe that the rest of the Nordians were giving off and was also alert.

  The Nordians would be the first to go. Brandt’s friends got into the first carriage and headed towards the temple. Then it was the turn of Marta and her family. Then Brandt, his sister, and brother-in-law got in their carriage. Prince Mathias, Annette, Petor, and Sharon, left. Then it was the turn of Duchess Morina and her family. Dedessus, his wife, along with Harlold’s mother and step-father, left. Then King Menounos’ family left in two carriages. Finally, the two wedding parties left.

  When they arrived, James and the other three young men took up positions halfway to the temple. They looked around and didn’t see anything suspicious. That didn’t surprise them, though they were still on guard. Then Marta and her family joined them. Aldon was prepared as well. Brandt and the other Nordian Royals joined them.

  In just a few minutes, everyone was there, and they were waiting for the wedding parties. The first to arrive was Duke Harlold and Noria. Then Prince Arken, Elizabeth, and Alla arrived. With that, they started to head towards the temple. That was what the conspirators were waiting for.

  The Porfian Guard moved out of the building that they’d been assembling in and started up the street towards the temple square. Lieutenant Sorbor saw them. He was momentarily shocked. Young Rolf was right; he thanked the Gods that they were prepared. The Guards and Irregulars quickly formed up to block the entrance to the square.

  The Porfian Guards were shouldering their way through the crowd. When the people realized what was going on, they scattered. Sorbor and Rolf had forty-eight men, and they were facing a bit more than forty men. It was going to be a close thing. As the people parted, Rolf signaled the Irregulars to pick their targets and fire. They did. At almost the same time, the advancing Porfians fired as well. Their fire wasn’t as accurate as of the Irregulars, but it was more concentrated. Almost half of each group fell. The Guards under Sorbor fired, and a few more of the Porfians fell.

  Then it was hand to hand fighting with sword and pistol. The Irregulars used their rifles to club people as well as their long knives. Sorbor and Rolf stood in the back and did their best to take on anyone of the Porfians who broke through. It was a melee, and men grappled together and fell. One of the Porfians managed to get his pistol out and wound Lieutenant Sorbor. As he staggered, Rolf ran his assailant through. He then turned to face another Porfian.

  While this was going on, the notables and the wedding party moved up towards the temple. Brandt and his friends set up their defense on the left side of the group. Mathias, Petor, Roddrick, Duchess Morvinia’s husband Oswald, and Aldon took the other side. Prince Arken and Duke Harlold took the rear, and Dedessus along with Arturos took the front. The women pulled the derringers out of the various places they had them hidden. The group then headed towards the temple.

  That’s when Darvin’s group struck. They easily outnumbered the men defending the wedding party. Colonel Petronas and one of his officers were nearby. The Colonel and the officer rushed to add their swords to the defense of the wedding party. They joined Duke Harlold and Prince Arken. The sharpshooters took down some attackers, but there were too many. This included the merchants, hired toughs, and the few Porfian Guards who had managed to breakthrough. There were just so many of them, and soon they were so mixed in with friendlies that the sharpshooters couldn’t do anything except fume and worry.

  One of the merchants and two of his fellows headed directly towards Arturo and Dedessus. He felt that those two were the cause of most of his troubles. When he got close, he took out a pistol; he was one of the few that had brought one, stopped, and shot Arturo. The ball struck Arturo in the chest, and he fell dead. Amora screamed; she’d taken her derringer out and wasn’t sure what to do. But in that instance, she rushed the merchant and put the derringer right on his chest and pulled the trigger. He was so shocked that he didn’t react to the attack, and he fell to the ground dead.

  Her action stunned the two men with the merchant, and they were unsure. That was all Dedessus needed. He drove his sword through the gut of one of them and hit the other one with his fist knocking him back. Then he withdrew his sword from the first and finished the other one off. He grabbed Amora and pulled her back into the crowd. Another assailant tried to follow them, but Tina, tears streaming down her face, killed him with her derringer.

  The merchants attacking Mathias and the others ran into a group of expert swordsmen. They had the numbers to overwhelm them. What they hadn’t counted on were the women and their derringers. The merchants planned to engage each of the swordsmen with more than one person and have them get up on their side and kill them. That didn’t work too well as their wives all had derringers, and they’d faced fiercer killers than these. So, anyone trying to get around the guard of one of their men usually got two musket balls fired from the derringers for their trouble.

  That didn’t mean that the defenders escaped unscathed. They all had minor wounds. There were just too many for that to happen.

  Darvin led the charge on the side that Brandt and his friends were holding. He assumed that they would be easier to overwhelm than their older counterparts. Darvin’s group also had pistols to try and kill their primary targets, the King, Prince
Arken, and Duke Harlold.

  Darvin pulled out his pistol and aimed at the King. He hit him, luckily Darvin wasn’t an expert shot, and he was in the middle of a fight. None the less the King went down with a severe wound in his side. Another ball caught Harlold in the left leg, and Arken got a flesh wound in his arm. Some of the merchants took that as a sign to attack them. Elizabeth and Alla both had their derringers out. Elizabeth didn’t hesitate, and she shot one attacker dead. She then took Alla’s derringer and used it to kill another. Then she had a knife out and was ready to kill anyone who came near them. Arken recovered and stood by his wife. With Colonel Petronas and his lieutenant there, the attackers realized that they wouldn’t have a chance and tried to run.

  The ability of Brandt and his friends to use swords surprised the attackers. The dry goods store owner that had been rude to the boys in the days before the wedding found himself facing Starl. Starl recognized the man. He quickly parried the man’s thrusts and then slipped under his guard to gut him. He looked around for more enemies.

  James was just finishing off his opponent when one of the attackers shot him with his pistol. It struck the cuirass and was deflected. It went through the edge of the cuirass and struck a rib near the surface, breaking it. James slumped and struggled back to his feet, trying to shrug off the pain. His attacker followed up, expecting to kill the young man before he could recover. He didn’t think about Marta, who was right behind James, and stepped up and emptied her derringer into the attacker, killing him.

  James got up and was able to defend himself. Kelvin noticed his friend's wound and stepped closer to offer support. The attack was quick; it was over in about five minutes. Most of the attackers were dead. Many of the Irregulars and Guards were dead or wounded. Most of the defenders had some sort of wound. King Menounos was badly wounded; his senior wife Aledina was dead, as was Arturo.

  Brandt noticed Darvin trying to get away and ran after him. The crowd held him up, and Brandt shouted. “He’s mine; send him back!”

  With that, the crowd pushed Darvin back into the square. He saw the Prince coming towards him. He did the only thing he could do, which was to attack the young man. Brandt ended him in a matter of seconds. He then kicked his sword away. After making sure that he was dead, he headed back to the group.

  The abbot came running out of the temple, shocked. Wilhelm had been positioned in an aid wagon right near the temple by Rolf. He had his wife and two healers with him. He rushed out with bandages to tend to the wounded. The first one he went to was the King. He had a severe wound in his side that was bleeding heavily. Mike’s Israeli Bandages had been copied, and they had their own version. He used that to bind up the wound. He wanted to get the King in surgery as soon as possible.

  The King objected strenuously. He shouted out. “The wedding must go on. It is imperative for the future of Tantulus. Abbot, please make it quick.”

  Bandages were quickly put on Harlold and Arken’s wounds. Noria helped Harlold stand up for the ceremony. They would later joke that she had to hold him up during the wedding. Luckily Landian wedding vows were simple and quickly completed.

  Marta was standing over James, who had sat down and was a bit out of it. He was bleeding and was in pain. Once she got Wilhelm’s attention, he bandaged it up and gave James a pain potion. It made him a bit loppy, and he smiled up at Marta and said, “I’m an excellent dancer. You look lovely.”

  Rolf, who had a few cuts and was covered in blood, mostly other people’s, came up and found his friends in similar straights. He looked at James and got a bit worried. Kelvin told him, “He’ll be fine. He just told Marta that he’s an excellent dancer and that she looks lovely. He’s thinking about girls, so he’s good.”

  The boys all smiled. Brandt said. “All I can say is that weddings are dangerous.”

  Books In This Series

  Chronicals of Cornu

  Michale Mulvaney after leaving the Marines takes a multi-day hike in the Adriondaks and steps through Portal to another world. This world is populated by hunans and is about the 1700s in terms of technology. There are some major differences, longer lives, fewer men than women, low fertility.

  Mike steps into the middle of a plot to kidnap and kill the crown prince of one of the more advanced and progressive realms on the planet. The Crown Prince's whole family was the target including his wives, two daughters and son.

  Through the Gate

  Cornu was an earthlike planet hundreds of thousands of light years from earth. Someone or something had decided to make it into ark for humanity. For millions of years earth plants and animals had been transported to the planet. Humans started to come through hidden gates tens of thousands of years ago. The last big migration was more than 5,000 years in the past.

  There were subtle changes to humans on the planet. Longer lifespans, reduced fertility resulting in smaller populations and less rapid advancement. More women than men, with interesting societal consequences. Some societies kept women in subservient roles, others made them more equal. Necessity to carry on the species resulted in some marriages being between one man and more than one woman.

  On the continent of Landia, Nordia was one of the more progressive and successful kingdoms and Porfia one of the more regressive and corrupt. King Leonades had his eye on Nordia. There was no path to him gaining control of the kingdom without eliminating or weakening the royal family. War was almost unheard of Cornu as the cost in the lives of men was far to high. Yet assassinations, kidnappings and other plots still existed. Especially among the royalty of certain realms. Leonades set his sights on kidnapping the Crown Prince of Nordia along with his family and then eliminating them.

  He hires a freelance who intelligence agent who recruits Bart a notorious bandit to kidnap the family. His backup plan was to have the assassins guild kill them if Bart failed.

  Every hundred years or so someone from earth wanders through one of the gates. These people seem to bring needed knowledge to Cornu or come at opportune times when things hang in the balance. One of the those is Mike Mulvaney. A scientist who joined the Marines after watching the World Trade Towers Fall. The place where his father and many family friends worked. His father did escape with his life. Other family friends died, and empty coffins were buried. This profoundly changes the course of his life.

  Mike grows up and brilliant child and goes through all the growing pains of youth along with the added burden of being the youngest in many of his classes. Finally, upon getting his degree he joins the Marines.

  Follow Mike as he grows up and unwittingly gathers the skills necessary to both save the royal family and provide needed skills to Cornu. No matter saving the royal family will be a close thing when Mike finally goes through the gate. How will he cope with this strange world? Will he do the things that are needed to keep the royal family safe and stop a disruption in the development of Cornu?

  To Rescue a Princess

  Mike had come to the realization that during his hike in the Adirondacks, he’d managed to come across something that sent him from earth to this new world Cornu. He was enough of a scientist to realize it was well beyond anything he was familiar with. However, it was science, not magic. The world was called Cornu, and the technology seemed to be the early 1700’s with a few exceptions. He noticed what could only be McCormick reapers and Amish plows. Not from that time period at all.

  Then there was the merino sheep and cattle with names like Guernsey. That was simply too similar to be a coincidence. That gave him real hope that there was a way home. He just had to find it.

  He had just rescued a village from Bart’s Bandits. A beautiful young woman Alania had helped him by distracting the guards giving him a chance to set up his ambush of the bandits. After he freed the village, she’d given him a very special reward. What he didn’t know was that she was trying to get pregnant and had succeeded.

  The villagers managed to get across to him in the direction he needed to get to the nearest large city. He headed off i
n that direction. There he hoped that he could find someone who would tell him how to get back home. What he didn’t realize was that was going to take him right into the heart of the attacks on the Nordian Royal Family. It was his fate to be the difference between them living or dying. Besides having to deal with bandits and assassins, he had to deal with one beautiful Royal Princess.

  Princes Catrina was looking to get betrothed, and when she met Mike, she knew that he would do nicely. For Mike, it was a multi-pronged issue. He wanted to go home, and that was top of mind. He couldn’t honestly get involved with a lovely young girl and then leave.

  That’s not how she saw the situation. She was flirting outrageously, and he was strongly attracted to her. But she was a Princess, and he was worried that her father, the Crown Prince, and her grandfather, the King, might have something to say about it. And he was worried that wouldn’t be good for one Michael Mulvaney. For that matter, her mothers, sister, and little brother all seemed to view her obvious effect on Mike as a spectator sport.

  Mike had to navigate all that. A culture and language he didn’t understand. Bandits and assassins out to kill the royal family and him as well. A beautiful Princess who was bound and determined to have Mike as a husband. Bandits and assassins, he had a better chance of dealing with than Catrina. He knew that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. But as far as he could see, that was a very bad idea.

  To Marry a Princess

  Mike is adjusting to his life on Cornu. He’s going to marry Princess Catrina, and he hopes to contribute to the advancement of technology. He’s helping develop the technology of cloth making and planning on improving steel production.