by Raven Oak
“As the saying goes, flee before that which makes Amaskans fear,” Adelei muttered.
“What brought that up?”
“I was thinking about the price on my head is all. I feel like I’m walking into a death trap.”
“Look at it this way,” Ida said as she chewed on a piece of apple, “They’re of such small numbers; they probably won’t be a huge threat once we reach the city.”
“I’ve heard there’s fewer than twenty members, but if they all came here, this could get ugly.”
Ida waved her hand in the air. For all her carefree action, her thighs clenched against her mare’s side. She was as nervous as Adelei.
They passed by more travelers along the path, and Adelei lost herself in thought. The thoughts, worrisome though they were, held a distraction from their approach to the capital. Alesta’s outer walls and smaller dwellings on the outskirts blended in so well with those they’d been passing for a candlemark, that she didn’t realize they stood before the city until Ida’s mare stopped and Adelei took a good look at the city sprawl.
The capital city spread across Adelei’s view like a swarm of bees; houses and people scattered across the horizon in their busy lives. I had no idea the city was this huge.
While the capital city of Sadai was a large city, Alesta was three times its size, stretching across a spread of land easily five miles in diameter. The castle lay off in the distance, tucked safely behind several sets of city walls.
Each wall must have been built as the city expanded with the populace. Or after each war. She searched the castle for any indication of its size but couldn’t see much more than spires and the occasional tower poking above the brick and stone. As they approached the outer ring of walls, Ida removed the royal coin from her bag and held it in her hand.
Their horses pressed up against the throngs of people seeking entrance at the gate. Midnight whinnied and pranced beneath Adelei, and she patted his neck. While trained for the noises and confinement of battle, this group was a different setting all together. So many people. The good news was she’d be difficult to find in such a mess. Of course, if she were hard to identify, so were the Tribor.
The guard at the first gate stopped them without so much as looking up from a piece of parchment. “Names?”
Ida spoke as they’d decided last night in Menoir. “Captain Ida Warhammer, returnin’ from duty, and guest.”
The guard glanced up from his parchment and tried to peer under Adelei’s hood. He studied her a moment longer before giving Ida a pained expression. “Sorry, Captain, but I need her name.”
“No, ya don’t.”
He stared again at Adelei and waved a hand in front of her. “Hey—you have a name, honey?” A slight smirk played across his face. When she didn’t respond and instead stared over his head, he laughed. His hand moved to slap her thigh, though it made it only halfway as she caught his wrist in her grip and squeezed his fingers. He winced and tried to wriggle out of her grasp.
“I believe she told you it wasn’t necessary.”
Adelei released his fingers, which he rubbed before jotting something down on his paper. “My apologies, Captain. My lady,” he mumbled and bowed in Adelei’s direction.
As they passed through the gate, Adelei whispered to Ida, “Please make note of him. If I was given entrance so easily, who else might ride through the gates with a royal escort?”
“Indeed. You’re certainly goin’ to chafe a lot a highborns with security changes.”
“Just part of the job,” Adelei said.
The road, if it could be called such, was dirt covered and littered with yet more dust and grime. What few people were out, bustled quickly about their business, gathering baskets or livestock or both. The business oozed out into the street, and she steered Midnight around many bodies too preoccupied to notice the massive beast alongside them.
She kept her eyes forward and while she studied her new home, she tried not to think about how many people lived in a city this large.
Another pass through the second set of city walls saw a shift in both decoration and poverty level. People lined the dirt road, selling anything from food and clothing, to sex and herbs that would send the mind away from the body. Here the people noticed their passage. They had little choice in the narrow, overcrowded streets.
But even here, the people fought over every notch and penny spent on goods. Fierce bargainers crowded near every booth, and Adelei had to fight Midnight’s nerves as they passed. It wasn’t until after they passed the third and final inner city walls that she relaxed her grip on the reins and allowed herself to take notice of the change in the city.
If going through the second walls had been a change, this was a complete metamorphosis. Two-story homes of brick rather than wood lined the now cobbled street, and the people moved about with upper-class airs, gloved hands pointing as servants manhandled the merchandise sold by street corner vendors. Handsomely dressed men or mothers escorted young women who carried finely woven baskets or bags as they shopped.
Here among the rich, Ida was noticed and as quickly dismissed. “Could you imagine, Cordelia? Riding such an ugly beast as that and like a man no less.” one elderly woman muttered, a scowl marring her face.
The young woman ignored her mother and reached out a hand to touch Adelei’s leg. “Look at the white of it, Mother. It’s so bright and soft. Like kittens.”
The mother guided her charge away by the shoulders, and Adelei chuckled at the woman’s chagrin. “Is white so rare in Alexander?”
“The minerals used to lighten the fabric aren’t easily available in these parts. ’Course, you’ll see it with nobility, but not so much among the commoners. I’m a bit surprised she treated ya as such. To them, ya appear of noble birth so to be rude and risk your displeasure could have dire consequences for them.”
The clicking of Midnight’s hooves as they trotted through the city bore a certain rhythmic lull, and Adelei relaxed in the saddle. The castle loomed overhead, a quarter of a mile away at the most, and from this distance the castle wore its age with less grace. The six-hundred-year-old bricks bore pocks and nicks from countless battles over the centuries. High up, windows scattered across the grey walls, but no matter how much Adelei searched, no one stood looking down on her. She doubted she’d be able to see anyone anyway from this distance.
The calm held until the castle walls were close enough to touch, and as they rode through the fifteen-foot-high archway that led to the castle grounds proper, Adelei’s stomach clenched and churned, making the apple she’d had around noon sour in her belly.
Ida smiled gently at her, but there was little she could do to prepare Adelei for the reunion with her family. Another stop to identify themselves to more guards, and they passed on. “It’s good to see the guards asking even you to identify yourself. Most city guards would look at your coin and wave you on through, never mind that you could have stolen it.”
“Anyone who snatched this would’ve had to kill me. If that was the case, I’d say they earned it.” The women led their horses across an open courtyard and toward the massive stables to their right. “After the war, security was much greater a concern. We could tighten it up, or open ourselves up for attack all over again.”
Over a dozen people ran in some form of mild panic as items and decorations were carried to and from various parts of the castle. Adelei imaged the chaos inside was something to behold, though she’d rather not encounter it. It would only get worse as the wedding approached.
Sweat trickled down the small of her back beneath the white silk. Despite their distance from the desert, the heat outside left Adelei sweltering beneath her cloak. In the forest’s cool shade, she’d needed the warmth, but here the direct sun tried to melt the skin from her bones. Adelei tugged at the corner of her hood and wished she could remove it.
A stablehand awaited their approach, eyes wide at the sight of Midnight. Even calm as the boy was with Adelei by his side, the horse towered
over him. Ida handed her mare to the lad, but Midnight stayed firmly in Adelei’s control as she followed the stablehand into the stables. He indicated with a shaking finger which stall she should take.
While large enough for maybe a small pony, the stall was too small for a horse, and it was dwarfed in comparison to Midnight. He’d spend the entire time bumping his shoulders against the sides. He’d be unable to turn around to drink or eat. Every stall was occupied as wedding guests arrived well in advance of the wedding. One of the larger stalls further down held a pony of only twelve hands. Adelei leaned across the stall’s door and spied his saddle slung across a shelf in the stall’s rear. A well-polished, clean saddle embellished with purple ribbon. That was a royal horse if ever she saw one.
“Stay,” she told Midnight, who settled into a guard-like position. Adelei approached the pony, and he sniffed her outstretched fingers that reached over the gate. His breath tickled her fingertips, and she smiled. When she opened the gate, he nuzzled her shoulder as she hoisted his saddle up with both hands.
She led the pony to the smaller stall next to Ida’s own mare, and set his gear down beside him. The stablehand rushed over, his face pale as his words ran in a fountainous rush. “You can’t touch Hero. Please, just put—put ’em back.”
He stepped too close to Midnight in his rush, and the battle steed aimed a kick backward. It missed the boy’s head by inches. Warning delivered, the boy stumbled and fell to his rump in the hay.
“Let her be, lad. It’s obvious her mount needs the bigger box.” The voice came from her rear-left, and Adelei listened for the man’s movements as she patted Midnight’s neck. Hero seemed just as happy to be in a new place, and immediately noticed the replacement of his feed. With a harrough, he dug into the food and ignored the stable boy’s commotion.
When Adelei turned to take Midnight’s reins, she found a grown man holding them, and Midnight nibbled at the collar of his brown tunic. The fact that Midnight was friendly with the man was amazing; that the horse wasn’t trying to kill him was nothing short of a miracle. A roughened hand was thrust in her direction as the voice from earlier continued. “Horse Master Will.”
She held out her own hand to the man and found his grip spoke of hard work and strength. “Master Adelei of Sadai.”
“A master of horses?”
“No, weapons work.”
“I wondered what with a horse like that. You must be like Captain Warhammer then.” At first she thought he meant Amaskan, and her body tensed. But he turned his back to her as he led Midnight to his new stall. “Sepier to the King of Sadai or some such?” he asked.
Adelei didn’t answer as he stripped her horse of tack and saddlebags. “Adelei, we’re needed elsewhere,” Ida said from behind her, and with one last glance at Midnight, she followed the warrior out of the stables.
“Why didn’t Midnight take his hand off?” she asked Ida.
“I taught Master Will how to deal with battle steeds out of Sadai.”
“Ah, that explains it.” As they stepped around the corner, they were met by a page garbed in blue and silver from head to toe.
“Captain, Master, if you’ll come with me, please,” he stuttered with a quick bow. The page led them to the castle entrance where a welcoming party of one waited, the older man dressed in a similar blue. No crown or marks of royal blood, though his finery probably meant he was ennobled in some fashion or another.
I guess I don’t rank a formal welcome. But then, no Amaskan would.
The man stepped forward and inclined his head to them both. “I am to welcome you, Master Adelei, to Alexander. Our King welcomes you as well and regrets that he could not be here himself to greet you as his daughter’s wedding soon approaches. I am Lord Dumont Darras, Grand Advisor to the King.”
Adelei stepped forward and bent at the waist. “I am Master Adelei of Sadai. I thank you for your welcome, as I thank your King as well.”
He nodded before leading them through the gate and into the castle’s interior. Adelei couldn’t help herself. Her mouth gaped at the splendor of Alexander’s wealth, clearly visible from its smooth stone walls to its decor. Hints of silver and sapphire gleamed back at her as the sun bounced off the hallway’s corners. “Magnificent, isn’t it? Though I would think it nothing compared to the capital city of Sadai.”
“No, this far surpasses it,” she replied, honest in her evaluation.
Rich tapestries hung across the walls, sewn with thread that could be made of silver and gold itself, and rugs of a similarly fine weave lay across the ground. The pale, grey stone floor gleamed like polished glass. She was tempted to drop to her hands and knees to see how the effect was done. Instead she vowed to discover the secret as soon as time allowed. Assuming she lived long enough.
As they followed several long hallways toward the castle’s center, the imagined chaos of Adelei’s mind became reality with people of all stations everywhere at once. Maids, servants, pages, and squires all dashed about in a not-quite-so-orderly fashion, every last one of them carrying something taller, wider, or heavier than themselves. Ladies and lords gathered in grand rooms and hallways to gossip, each one trying to outguess the other on whether or not the wedding would even occur.
Would the princess marry a Shadian? Would she order him killed first? Would the bride wear a royal crown from Shad or from Alexander?
The gossip alone could drive Adelei into hiding until the wedding was over. It was stressful enough returning here after fifteen years without finding it full of a bunch of biddies all aflutter over some overly expensive excuse to drink themselves into oblivion. It wasn’t even their wedding, yet it was all about them. As it always was with high court.
As much as it bothered her, she took note of each person the best she could in such a massive group of people, searching for weapons or motives and listening for sounds of discontent or anger. It was challenging to do as they moved at Dumont’s brisk pace, but she filed away what little she could. I’ll think on it later when I’ve had the chance to walk the castle, alone and better disguised.
Up four flights of stairs and down another hall before they reached the royal family’s suite. The number of guards and servants in the halls doubled. As they passed one room, a flush-faced handmaiden stumbled through the door, her hands full of lace as someone on the other side shouted. The maid scuttled away, and Adelei silently counted to ten.
The shout was no doubt her royal spoiledness, throwing a royal tantrum over Gods knew what. Only a princess could screech like a banshee. Dumont waited for Adelei at the second door and ushered her inside.
The sitting room was more luxurious than any room she’d ever seen, and she whistled. Blue decorated every item in the room, right down to the rugs and paintings, and yet some blues were so light they neared white and others so dark that they more closely resembled the blacks of the Amaskan silks. The variance in color added such depth to the room that the blue wasn’t overwhelming, just richly ornate.
“This is Her Highness’s sitting room. Your room is the first door on the right. After that is Her Highness’s study and then her own bedchambers. The stairs here,” he said, pointing straight ahead, “lead to Her Highness’s bower.”
Much to Adelei’s relief, he led her to her rooms rather than those of her sister. While her new room was lavishly decorated, it paled in comparison to the room she’d just left. Baby blue. Why couldn’t it have been dark blues? Instead she got the room meant for the royal heir. The shades were the stuff of nightmares.
“Just out of curiosity, what purpose did this room serve before being prepared for me? Something about the color scheme makes me doubt it has always been for a visiting Master.”
“Um, yes, it—it used to be the room for the Princess’s sister, may the Gods bless her.”
Had she really lived in this room? She held no memory of it, and she frowned. Might have been for the best with a color scheme like that. Not that she’d be spending much time there anyway.
The single bed wedged into the corner, and a small desk stood in the opposing corner with a chair missing a leg. A few empty bookcases lined the walls. Instead of anything useful, flowers and decorative art plastered itself along the walls and shelving. It wasn’t functional. It was… pretty.
My first task is redecorating. I damned well won’t live in a flower pot like this. The lack of furniture left the feel of space, but the space was empty. And she alone in it. Another door led to her private bathroom, complete with an actual tub, but even that struggled to conquer her moodiness.
Adelei grimaced as she left her room. “Is something to your disliking, Master Adelei?” Dumont asked.
“I think the blue has made me ill.”
Dumont cleared his throat. “Very well. His Majesty has requested that you remain in your room or the sitting area if you wish until you are called for. He will see you at his earliest convenience.”
As he left, Adelei touched his arm. “Wait—can you tell me where Captain Warhammer is now? I hadn’t realized she didn’t follow us in.”
“She’s standing outside the royal suite. Do you wish to see her?”
“Yes, please.”
His clean boots squeaked on the polished floor as he walked. “Captain?” he said as he stuck his head out the door, and Ida followed him into the sitting room. “Captain, you have but a few minutes as His Majesty wishes to see you at once.”
The door closed behind him, and Adelei spun once around the room. “Overdone much? I think I might die of a case of the blues.”
Ida grinned as her fingers trailed over the back of a blue upholstered couch. “This’s goodbye for now, I’m afraid.”
Adelei shook Ida’s outstretched hand. “Are you stationed in the capital or elsewhere in Alexander? When you aren’t playing escort, that is.”
“Normally, my job’s to guard His Majesty. I watch people. Look for problems that need my handlin’. Sometimes I run errands or go places His Majesty can’t. With your bein’ here and truth about me bein’ out, I don’t know what His Majesty will do with me.”