In the meantime, she now needed to locate some of those courtiers who’d been present at Paltyrrha when the Hereditary Prince and his father and family had at last returned home, thereby setting in motion the end game of the war—well, the end, at least, of that particular game and that particular war.
For ’twas a known truth—and one well appreciated by her—that the universe was filled with malicious spirits who were always playing games of chance or intrigue with their human inferiors; and the best that the player sitting on the hard obsidian throne could ever hope for was a stalement—and never a victory.
But this was today, and not tomorrow, and she would take such troubles as might appear on the horizon when they poked their ugly heads above the rim of the world.
In the meantime, what to do about the puzzlement of her marriage? That was all that her counselors regarded as worth any consideration. None of them, after all, were students of history.
She laughed out loud at the idea.
“Something has amused Your Majesty?” Svyet asked.
Grigorÿna giggled like a little girl.
“Indeed,” she said.
AFTERWORD
“HISTORY TELLS US OTHERWISE”
When I wrote The Dark-Haired Man, of which this novel was once the middle section, I constructed the book to revolve around the great battle of Killingford.
Many writers of medieval fantasy either glorify battle or sanitize it—or imply that every such conflict had a quick and rather clean-cut conclusion.
History tells us otherwise.
Indeed, there were battles—and wars—that ended swiftly, when one side overwhelmed the other. But there were also conflicts between and among states and their allies that continued for decades, devasting the countrysides of the nations in which they were fought, and leaving no real victors to stagger away from the battlefields.
The losers were always the commonfolk.
I wanted to depict a disagreement between states based on religious and cultural differences, the real motivating factors behind so many disputes, both personal and societal. I wanted to show a war that had no clear winners or losers, but would obviously be refought again in the future of this world, perhaps to the same conclusion.
I hope I’ve succeeded.
The Old King has been driven near to madness by...something or someone hovering in the background. We discover a bit more about this individual in the third novel in the sequence, ’Ware the Dark-Haired Man. But as to why some folks willingly pursue the dark side of existence, and others follow the light, there are no good answers—either in Nova Europa or on Earth. It happens, although most of us meander somewhere in the middle of the woad.
Prince Arkády is my exemplar of the noble individual who consistently tries to do the right thing—by his father, by his state, by his church, by his family—some of these being at various times one and the same entities. But this is not always possible in a real or even in a make-believe world, because no one’s vision is clear enough to determine the right path in every instance. The best that one can sometimes do is try—and then hope for the best.
As for the Prince’s father, the King, he too becomes a prisoner of his past and present, of sins contemplated and committed—by him and by others in his family. These books are, essentially, moral tales about family life and family tensions, when that family absolutely controls the destiny of the state. The political mirror in which their actions are reflected magnifies both their errors and their sometime righteousness.
As for the Princess (later Queen) Grigorÿna, we know from other passages in these fables that her character was essentially established at a young age through the influence of potent mages and manipulators. To what extent she has been affected in later life by these early experiences, we have no idea. She was a strange little girl, and she has become, in some sense, a strange middle-aged woman. But that fact is not especially strange in the overall context of her family history.
So I hope you enjoy my little excursions into worldplay as much as I did when I created Nova Europa. This three-novel sequence, originally consisting of one very large fantasy, reflects the best writing experience that I’ve ever had. The book just “flowed”—it poured out of me in one large gush of creativity—and I remain today in awe of what happened during those months, while knowing full well that the same event is unlikely to repeat itself, for many different reasons (including the fact that I’m a different person than I was back then).
If you like my work, you can find me through my website...
www.robertreginald.com
—Robert Reginald
San Bernardino, California
28 November 2012
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROBERT REGINALD was born in Japan, and lived in Turkey as a youth, plus a half dozen different U.S. states. He starting writing as a child, and penned his first book during his senior year at Gonzaga University. He settled in Southern California in 1969, where he served as an academic librarian for forty years. He currently edits the Borgo Press imprint for Wildside Press, having turned in some 1,200 volumes in seven years, and has also penned more than 137 books and 13,000 short pieces.
His fiction titles include: twelve Nova Europa historical fantasies in four trilogies (2004-13): Melanthrix the Mage, Killingford, ’Ware the Dark-Haired Man, The Righteous Regicide, The Virgin Queens, The Prince of Exiles, Brother Theo’s God, Questions and Questings, Whither Goest Thou?, The Cracks in the Æther, The Pachyderms’ Lament, and The Fourth Elephant’s Egg; The War of Two Worlds science fiction trilogy: Invasion!, Operation: Crimson Storm, and The Martians Strike Back! (2007/2011); a science fiction novel in The Human-Knacker War series: Knack’ Attack (2010); a future dystopia, Academentia (2011); two Phantom Detective period mysteries: The Phantom’s Phantom (2007) and The Nasty Gnomes (2008); a comic mystery, The Paperback Show Murders (2011); and three short story collections: Katydid & Other Critters: Tales of Fantasy and Mystery (2001), The Elder of Days: Tales of the Elders (2010), The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History (2011).
He’s also edited several anthologies: Choice Words: The Borgo Press Book of Writers Writing on Writing (2010), Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fcition Stories (2011), To the Stars—and Beyond: The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fcition Stories (2011), Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fcition Stories (2011), Whodunit?: The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories (2011); More Whodunits: The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories (2011), The Christmas Megapack: Yuletide Stories (2012), and The Second Christmas Megapack: Yuletide Stories (2012).
You can find him at:
www.robertreginald.com
BORGO PRESS FICTION BY ROBERT REGINALD
THE NOVA EUROPA FANTASY SAGA
THE HIEROMONK’S TALE
1. Melanthrix the Mage
2. Killingford
3. ’Ware the Dark-Haired Man
THE ARCHQUISITOR’S TALE
4. The Righteous Regicide
5. The Virgin Queens
6. The Prince of Exiles
THE PROTOPRESBYTER’S TALE
7. Brother Theo’s God
8. Questions and Questings
9. “Whither Goest Thou?”
THE HYPATOMANCER’S TALE
10. The Cracks in the Æther
11. The Pachyderms’ Lament
12. The Fourth Elephant’s Egg
Plus: Academentia: A Future Dystopia * The Attempted Assassination of John F. Kennedy * Dead Librarians and Other Shades of Academe * The Elder of Days: Tales of the Elders * If J.F.K. Had Lived * Invasion! (War of Two Worlds #1) * The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History * Knack’ Attack (Human-Knacker War #2) * The Martians Strike Back! (War of Two Worlds #3) * The Nasty Gnomes (Phantom Detective #2) * Operation Crimson Storm (War of Two Worlds #2) * The Paperback Show Murders * The Phantom’s Phantom (Phantom Detective #1)
Robert Reginald, Killingford: The Hieromonk's Tale, Book Two
Killingford: The Hieromonk's Tale, Book Two Page 18