FIERCE: Sixteen Authors of Fantasy

by Mercedes Lackey

  “Impossible,” the general said. “The royal family does not partner with commoners.”

  “I can do as I choose,” the boy shot back. “And I say that Thorgrin will be my partner.”

  “Even if we sanctioned it,” the general said, “it does not matter. He has no knight to sponsor him.”

  “I shall sponsor him,” came a voice.

  Everyone turned in the other direction, and there came a muffled gasp amongst the others.

  Thor turned to see a knight mounted on a horse, bedecked in the beautiful, gleaming armor and wearing all manner of weaponry on his belt. He positively shined—it was like looking at the sun. Thor could tell by his demeanor, his bearing, and by the markings on his helmet, that he was different from the others. He was a champion.

  Thor recognized this knight. He had seen paintings of him, and had heard of his legend. Erec. He couldn’t believe it. He was the greatest knight in the Ring.

  “But my lord, you already have a squire,” the general protested.

  “Then I shall have two,” Erec answered, in a deep, confident voice.

  A stunned silence pervaded the group.

  “Then there is nothing left to say,” Kendrick said. “Thorgrin has a sponsor and a partner. The matter is resolved. He is now a member of the Legion.”

  “But you have forgotten about me!” the King’s guard screamed, stepping forward. “None of this excuses the fact that the boy has struck a member of the King’s guard, and that he must be punished. Justice must be done!”

  “Justice will be done.” Kendrick’s voice could have cut steel. “But it will be at my discretion. Not yours.”

  “But my liege, he must be put in the stocks! An example must be made of him!”

  “If you keep up your talk, then you shall be the one going to the stocks,” Kendrick said to the guard, glaring him down.

  Finally, the guard backed down; reluctantly, he turned and walked away, red-faced, glaring at Thor.

  “Then it is official,” Kendrick called out in a loud voice. “Welcome, Thorgrin, to the King’s Legion!”

  The crowd of knights and boys let out a cheer and then turned away, back to their training.

  Thor felt numb with shock. He could hardly believe it. He was now a member of the King’s Legion. It was like a dream.

  Thor turned to Kendrick, more grateful to him than he could ever say. He had never had anyone in his life before who cared about him, who went out of his way to look out for him, to protect him. It was a funny feeling. He already felt closer to this man than to his own father.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” Thor said. “I am deeply indebted to you.”

  Kendrick smiled down. “Kendrick is my name. You shall get to know it well. I am the King’s eldest son. I admire your courage. You shall be a fine addition to this lot.”

  Kendrick turned and hurried off, and as he did, Elden, the huge boy Thor had fought, shuffled by.

  “Watch your back,” the boy said. “We sleep in the same barracks, you know. And don’t think for a moment you’re safe.”

  The boy turned and stormed off before Thor could respond; he had already made an enemy.

  He was beginning to wonder what was in store for him here, when the King’s youngest son hurried over to him.

  “Don’t mind him,” he said to Thor. “He’s always picking fights. I’m Reece.”

  “Thank you,” Thor said, reaching out his hand, “for choosing me as your partner. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”

  “I’m happy to choose anyone who stands up to that brute,” Reece said happily. “That was a nice fight.”

  “Are you kidding?” Thor asked, wiping dried blood from his face and feeling his welt swell up. “He killed me.”

  “But you didn’t give up,” Reece said. “Impressive. Any of the others of us would have just stayed down. And that was one hell of a spear throw. How did you learn to throw like that? We shall be partners for life!” He looked at Thor meaningfully as he shook his hand. “And friends, too. I can sense it.”

  As Thor shook his hand, he couldn’t help but feel that he was making a lifelong friend.

  Suddenly, he was poked from the side.

  He spun and saw an older boy standing there, with pockmarked skin and a long and narrow face.

  “I am Feithgold. Erec’s squire. You are now his second squire. Which means you answer to me. And we have a tournament in minutes. Are you going to just stand there when you’ve been made squire to the most famous knight in the kingdom? Follow me! Quickly!”

  Reece had already turned away. Thor turned and hurried after the squire as he ran across the field. He had no idea where they were going—but he didn’t care. He was singing inside.

  He had made it.

  Chapter VII

  GARETH HURRIED ACROSS KING’S COURT, dressed in his royal fineries, pushing his way amongst the masses who poured in from all directions for his sister’s wedding, and he fumed. He was still reeling from his encounter with his father. How was it possible that he was skipped over? That his father would not choose him as king? It made no sense. He was the firstborn legitimate son. That was the way it had always worked. He had always, from the time he was born, assumed he would reign—he had no reason to think otherwise.

  It was unconscionable. Passing him over for a younger sibling—and a girl, no less. When word spread, he would be the laughingstock of the kingdom. As he walked, he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him and he did not know how to catch his breath.

  He stumbled his way with the masses toward the wedding ceremony of his elder sister. He looked about, saw the multitude of colored robes, the endless streams of people, all the different folk from all the different provinces. He hated being this close to commoners. This was the one time when the poor could mingle with the rich, the one time those savages from the Eastern Kingdom, from the far side of the Highlands, had been allowed in, too. Gareth still could hardly conceive his sister was being married off to one of them. It was merely a political move by his father, a pathetic attempt to make peace between the kingdoms.

  Even stranger, somehow, his sister actually seemed to like this creature. Gareth could hardly conceive why. Knowing her, it was not the man she liked, but the title, the chance to be Queen of her own province. She would get what she deserved; they were all savages, those on the other side of the Highlands. In Gareth’s mind, they lacked his civility, his refinery, his sophistication. It was not his problem. If his sister was happy, let her be married off. It was just one less sibling to have around that might stand in his way to the throne. In fact, the farther away she was, the better.

  Not that any of this was his concern anymore. After today, he would never be king. Now, he would be relegated to being just another anonymous prince in his father’s kingdom. Now, he had no path to power; now, he was doomed to a life of mediocrity.

  His father had underestimated him—he always had. His father considered himself politically shrewd—but Gareth was much shrewder and always had been. For instance: for marrying Luanda to a McCloud, his father thought himself a master politician. But Gareth was more far-sighted than his father, was able to consider more of the ramifications, and was already looking one step farther. He knew where this would lead. Ultimately, this marriage would not appease the McClouds but embolden them. They were brutes, so they would see this peace offering not as a sign of strength, but of weakness. They would not care for a bond between the families, and as soon as his sister was taken away, Gareth felt certain they would plan an attack. It was all a ruse. He had tried to tell his father, but he would not listen.

  Not that any of this was his concern anymore. After all, now he was just another prince, just another cog in the kingdom. Gareth positively burned at the thought of it, and hated his father at that moment with a hatred he never knew was possible. As he crammed in, shoulder to shoulder with the masses, he imagined ways he could take revenge, ways he could get the kingship after all. He c
ould not just sit idly by, that was for certain. He could not let the kingship go to his younger sister.

  “There you are,” came a voice.

  It was Firth, walking up beside him, wearing a jolly smile and revealing his perfect teeth. Eighteen, tall, thin, with a high voice and smooth skin and ruddy cheeks, Firth was his lover of the moment. Gareth was usually happy to see him, but was in no mood for him now.

  “I think you have been avoiding me all day,” Firth added, linking one arm around his as they walked.

  Gareth immediately shook off his arm, checking to make sure no one had seen.

  “Are you stupid?” Gareth chastised. “Don’t you ever link arms with me in public again. Ever.”

  Firth look down, red-faced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think.”

  “That’s right, you didn’t. Do it again, and I shall never see you again,” Gareth scolded.

  Firth turned redder, and looked truly apologetic. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.

  Gareth checked again, felt confident no one had seen, and felt a little bit better.

  “What gossip from the masses?” Gareth asked, wanting to change the subject, to shake his dark thoughts.

  Firth immediately perked up and regained his smile.

  “Everyone waits in expectation. They all wait for the announcement that you have been named successor.”

  Gareth’s face dropped. Firth examined him.

  “Haven’t you?” Firth asked, skeptical.

  Gareth reddened as he walked, not meeting Firth’s eyes.

  “No.”

  Firth gasped.

  “He passed me over. Can you imagine? For my sister. My younger sister.”

  Now Firth’s face fell. He looked astonished.

  “That is impossible,” he said. “You are firstborn. She is a woman. It’s not possible,” he repeated.

  Gareth looked at him, stone cold. “I do not lie.”

  The two of them walked for some time in silence, and as it grew even more crowded, Gareth looked around, starting to realize where he was and really take it all in. King’s Court was absolutely jammed—there must have been thousands of people swarming in from every possible entrance. They all shuffled their way toward the elaborate wedding stage, around which were set at least a thousand of the nicest chairs, with thick cushions covered in red velvet, and golden frames. An army of servants strode up and down the aisles, seating people, carrying drinks.

  On either side of the endlessly long wedding aisle, strewn with flowers, sat the two families—the MacGils and McClouds—the line sharply demarcated. There were hundreds on either side, each dressed in their finest, the MacGils in the deep purple of their clan, and the McClouds in their burnt-orange. To Gareth’s eye, the two clans could not look more different: though they were each richly adorned, he felt as if the McClouds were merely dressing up, pretending. They were brutes beneath their clothes—he could see it in their facial expressions, in the way they moved, jostled each other, the way they laughed too loudly. There was something beneath their surface that royal clothing could not hide. He resented having them within their gates. He resented this entire wedding. It was yet another foolish decision by his father.

  If Gareth were king, he would have executed a different plan. He would have called this wedding, too. But then he would have waited until late in the night, when the McClouds were steeped in drink, barred the doors to the hall, and burned them all in a great fire, killing them all in one clean swoop.

  “Brutes,” Firth said, as he examined the other side of the wedding aisle. “I can hardly imagine why your father let them in.”

  “It should make for interesting games afterwards,” Gareth said. “He invites our enemy into our gates, then arranges wedding-day competitions. Is that not a recipe for skirmish?”

  “Do you think?” Firth asked. “A battle? Here? With all these soldiers? On her wedding day?”

  Gareth shrugged. He put nothing past the McClouds.

  “The honor of a wedding day means nothing to them.”

  “But we have thousands of soldiers here.”

  “As do they.”

  Gareth turned and saw a long line of soldiers—MacGils and McClouds—lined up on either side of the battlements. They would not have brought so many soldiers, he knew, unless they were expecting a skirmish. Despite the occasion, despite the fine dress, despite the lavishness of the setting, the endless banquets of food, the summer solstice in full bloom, the flowers—despite everything, there still hung a heavy tension in the air. Everyone was on edge—Gareth could see it by the way they bunched up their shoulders, held out their elbows. They didn’t trusted each other.

  Maybe he would get lucky, Gareth thought, and one of them would stab his father in his heart. Then maybe he could become king after all.

  “I suppose we can’t sit together,” Firth said, disappointment in his voice, as they approached the seating area.

  Gareth shot him a look of contempt. “How stupid are you?” he spat, venom in his voice.

  He was seriously beginning to wonder whether he had made a good idea to choose this stable boy as his lover. If he didn’t get him over his sappy ways quick, he might just out them both.

  Firth looked down in shame.

  “I will see you afterwards, in the stables. Now be gone with you,” he said, and gave him a small shove. Firth disappeared into the crowd.

  Suddenly, Gareth felt an icy grip on his arm. For a moment his heart stopped, as he wondered if he was discovered; but then he felt the long nails, the thin fingers, plunge into his skin, and he knew it right away to be the grasp of his wife. Helena.

  “Don’t embarrass me on this day,” she hissed, hatred in her voice.

  He turned and studied her. She looked beautiful, all done up, wearing a long white satin gown, her hair piled high with pins, wearing her finest diamond necklace, and her face smoothed over with makeup. Gareth could see objectively that she was beautiful, as beautiful as she was on the day he married her. But still he felt no attraction to her. It had been another idea of his father’s—to try to marry him out of his nature. But all it had done was give him a perpetually sour companion—and stir up even more court speculation about his true inclinations.

  “It is your sister’s wedding day,” she rebuked. “You can act as if we are a couple—for once.”

  She locked one arm through his and they walked to a reserved area roped off with velvet. Two royal guards let them through and they mingled with the rest of the royals at the base of the aisle.

  A trumpet was blown, and slowly, the crowd quieted. There came the gentle music of a harpsichord, more flowers were strewn along the aisle, and the royal procession began to walk down, couples arm-in-arm. Gareth was tugged by Helena, and he began marching down the aisle with her.

  Gareth felt more conspicuous, more awkward than ever, hardly knowing how to make his love seem genuine. He felt hundreds of eyes on him, and couldn’t help but feel as if they were all evaluating him, though he knew they were not. The aisle could not be short enough; he could not wait to reach the end, stand near his sister at the altar, and get this over with. He also could not stop thinking about his meeting with his father, and he wondered if all these onlookers already knew the news.

  “I received ill news today,” he whispered to Helena as they finally reached the end, and the eyes were off him.

  “Do you think I don’t know that already?” she snapped.

  He turned and looked at her, surprised.

  She looked back with contempt. “I have my spies,” she said.

  He narrowed his eyes, wanting to hurt her. How could she be so nonchalant?

  “If I am not king, then you shall never be queen,” he said.

  “I never expected to be queen,” she answered.

  That surprised him even more.

  “I never expected him to name you,” she added. “Why would he? You are not a leader. You are a lover. But not my lover.”

  Gareth felt himsel
f reddening.

  “Nor are you mine,” he said to her.

  It was her turn to redden. She was not the only one who had a secret lover. Gareth had spies of his own who told him of her exploits. He had let her get away with it so far—as long as she kept it quiet, and left him alone.

  “It’s not like you give me a choice,” she answered. “Do you expect me to remain celibate the rest of my life?”

  “You knew who I was,” he answered. “Yet you chose to marry me. You chose power, not love. Don’t act surprised.”

  “Our marriage was arranged,” she said. “I did not choose a thing.”

  “But you did not protest,” he answered.

  Gareth lacked the energy to argue with her today. She was a useful prop, a puppet wife. He could tolerate her, and she could be useful on occasion—as long as she did not annoy him too much.

  Gareth watched with supreme cynicism as everyone turned to watch his eldest sister being walked down the aisle by his father, that creature. The gall of him—he even had the nerve to feign sadness, wiping a tear as he walked her. An actor to the last. But in Gareth’s eyes, he was just a bumbling fool. He couldn’t imagine his father felt any genuine sadness for marrying off his daughter, who, after all, he was throwing to the wolves of the McCloud kingdom. Gareth felt an equal disdain for Luanda, who seemed to be enjoying the whole thing. She seemed to hardly care that she was being married off to a lesser people. She, too, was after power. Cold-blooded. Calculated. In this way, she, of all his siblings, was most like him. In some ways he could relate to her, though they never had much warmth for each other.

  Gareth shifted on his feet, impatient, waiting for it all to end.

  He suffered through the ceremony, Argon presiding over the blessings, reciting the spells, performing the rituals. It was all a charade, and it made him sick. It was just the union of two families for political reasons. Why couldn’t they just call it what it was?

  Soon enough, thank heavens, it was over. The crowd rose up in a huge cheer as the two kissed. A great horn was blown, and the perfect order of the wedding dissolved into controlled chaos. The royal family all made their way back down the aisle and over to the reception area.