A Touch of Poison

by Aaron Kite

  Rhosyn turned to Gwen, looking perplexed. “She won’t though, will She? How can She possibly give her blessing to something like this?”

  “I’ve checked a little. The wedding couple kneels, each holding their crystal. The priest recites a prayer, and She gives her blessing to the arrangement if there’s no malice in either of their hearts. So long as the crystal I’m holding glows, it’s a done deal,” said Gwen. “Father’s already figured out how this is all going to work, and he doesn’t seem worried about that part, so I don’t think Eirene’s going to withhold Her blessing in this case. I don’t think I have malice in my heart or whatever, but—”

  “We can’t let this happen, Gwen.”

  “I know we can’t! I’ve accidentally burned people before, but nobody’s ever died from touching me! If someone were actually killed because of what I was, I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself. What kind of person could live with something like that? As it is, just thinking about what I ended up doing to Rolf, I—” Gwen’s voice wavered, and she swallowed hard. “We’ve got to find some way to warn this prince, try to save him somehow.”

  “We’re not just talking about saving some stupid prince’s life, Gwen. This is your immortal soul we’re talking about! You haven’t done anything wrong, but if something like this is viewed as a sin by the Goddess and your crystal in the temple goes dark—”

  “Damnation, banishment. Possibly even worse things. And I totally agree with you,” said Gwen. “We’ve got to stop this.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  “I have an idea.”

  “What?”

  “Simple, really. We tell people. Tell everyone!”

  Rhosyn looked at her skeptically. “About your father’s plan?”

  “Well, that too. But more importantly, we tell people about my condition.” Gwen held her gloved and sleeve-covered arms out to either side for emphasis. “Think about it for a second. The only time I’m seen in public is for official ceremonies where it can’t be avoided, and I’m never introduced to anyone. The people don’t know me, or anything about me. Father replaced everyone who used to work in the castle, and the new servants aren’t supposed to find out about my condition. And you can bet your knickers this prince doesn’t know about me. This whole plan hinges on keeping it a secret, right? So, let’s make sure everyone finds out about me. Staff, townspeople, everyone!”

  “We just go around telling people? That is a pretty simple solution.” Rhosyn frowned. “Your father isn’t stupid though, so he’s probably already thought of that. He’ll try to stop you.”

  “For the next five days he can bully me, threaten me, lock me in my tower, whatever he likes. Maybe he makes it so I’m alone and can’t talk to anyone, but that won’t matter. Even if I’m locked up, you won’t be, right?”

  “Will that be enough? I mean, I’m trying to imagine a situation where I just walk up to some strangers and say, Oh hi, guys! Hey, did you know the daughter of the king is poisonous? I doubt I’ll be able to convince many people. Besides, what if your father locks me up as well?”

  “Even if he does, eventually he’ll have to parade me in front of this prince who’s come all the way down here to meet me, right? What’s stopping me from just blurting out the secret right then and there? And if the prince doesn’t believe me, I’ll provide a convincing demonstration. Father is humiliated, and the prince runs away screaming.”

  “And your father flies into a rage.”

  “Maybe he’ll beat me to death. That would solve everything.”

  “Gwen!”

  “I don’t want to hurt anybody, Rosie! I don’t want to be an assassin! If he flies into a rage and kills me, where’s the down side? His crystal in the temple goes dark; he’s forced to abdicate. He’s no longer king! Forcing him off the throne like that might even be considered my duty!”

  “Don’t get like this on me, Gwen,” Rhosyn said, grabbing Gwen’s sleeve and turning to face her fully. “Don’t even talk like that!”

  “How else can we stop it though? What else can I do?”

  “We’ll find a way, Gwen. Somehow we’ll find a way to stop this horrible thing from happening, and—”

  Gwen saw her friend’s gaze focus on something behind her, and heard the faint clip-clopping of horse hooves. She spun around to see what had caught Rhosyn’s attention.

  “Well,” Gwen said, feeling weary beyond measure, “speaking of horrible things.”

  About forty yards away, cresting the hill, rode Anifail. Behind him, also on horseback, were two guards. A fourth, riderless horse brought up the rear.

  Were she and Rhosyn going to be locked up so quickly?

  “Crap. Okay, they’re probably here for me, Rosie. If I have to go with them, I want you to start telling people about me tonight.” Gwen gave her friend a desperate look. “Right away.”

  “This is surreal. I can’t believe this is even happening!”

  They looked on grimly as Anifail, smiling, dismounted and walked up to the two of them. His stride seemed a little more jaunty than usual. He stopped little more than three feet away, and the two large horsemen jangled to a halt several yards behind him.

  Anifail regarded the two girls for a moment.

  “Oh dear,” he said. “I must have intruded on a private conversation of some sort. I feel dreadful. Curse this job! Why must I forever be interrupting the whispered conversations of vapid, empty-headed little girls?”

  “Could it be because they don’t trust you near boys?” Gwen replied.

  Anifail folded his arms, his expression one of amusement.

  “The princess tells me I shouldn’t be around young men.” He gave her a nasty smile. “Pot, may I introduce you to kettle?”

  “Captain,” Rhosyn said, “is it your job to act like an ass, or is it just one of the perks?”

  “Just tailoring my conversation to match the temperament of my audience.” He smiled, reaching with his gloved hand into the satchel slung over one shoulder. “I’ve been ordered to deliver two things on behalf of King Bryn. And as luck would have it,” he said, looking from Rhosyn to Gwen and back, “I run into both recipients at the same time.”

  “Oh, you shouldn’t have! For us? How adorable,” Gwen said, motioning to the two mounted guards behind Anifail. “What are their names?”

  Both guards bristled slightly.

  “Oh, they’re not for you, Princess.” He grinned, pulling out a small, shiny glass bauble about the size of a hen egg and holding it between thumb and forefinger. “No, this is for you.”

  Gwen eyed what he held cautiously. The bauble didn’t look particularly special; it wasn’t even reflecting the sun’s rays all that well, despite the beautiful day.

  “Oh, let me guess,” she said after a moment. “Concerned I might not cooperate with his plans, my father now offers me an awkward, clumsy bribe.” Gwen laughed. “You know, if the king wanted to send me something cheap, pretty, and useless, he didn’t need to buy some stupid gemstone. He could have just curled your hair, stuck you in a dress, and sent you.”

  She heard Rhosyn stifle a giggle.

  Anifail gave Gwen a cold smile.

  “You know, Princess, I have a theory. Would you like to hear it?” He smiled, palming the bauble and lowering his hands to his sides. “It’s about how stupid and predictable you are.”

  Gwen tried to come up with a witty retort to that, but Anifail continued before she could think of one.

  “See, I believe you were telling your friend Rhosyn here about the king’s plan. You’ve probably decided you aren’t going to stand idly by and allow His Highness to do this, and were in the process of cooking up some silly plan to stop him.” He smiled again. “Yes?”

  Gwen was silent.

  “And there was probably some drama as well, now that I think about it. Lots of bonding, a few We’ll t
hink of somethings, and some anguished wringing of hands, hmm?”

  “Our conversations aren’t anyone’s business, Captain,” Rhosyn said.

  “I’ll consider myself answered,” said Anifail, grinning, all teeth, at Rhosyn. “Like I said: stupid and predictable.”

  Maybe it was his smugness, his self-assurance that got Gwen’s hackles up, but she found she just couldn’t contain herself. “You want to talk stupid? How stupid are the two of you going to feel when I tell the visiting prince what you have planned for him? Hmm? Who’s going to be stupid and predictable then?”

  Gwen could see Rhosyn giving her a pained I wish you hadn’t said that sort of look, but she didn’t care.

  Anifail straightened, looking at Gwen in feigned astonishment.

  “Oh dear,” he said, the barest trace of mockery in his voice. “You’ve figured that out, have you?”

  “Try and stop me! Father’s going to need my cooperation on some level, or this whole thing doesn’t happen. He’s already ruined my life; I’m not letting him ruin anyone else’s. He can threaten me, beat me — I don’t care! I’ll touch the Prince’s arm to make my point, if I’m forced to. Or maybe even plant a nice, big kiss on father’s cheek right in front of him. Or kiss yours! Won’t that be fun?”

  The three of them stood there in silence.

  “My goodness. You would conspire against the King of Calderia? You would cause him grievous injury, engage in treason, all for the sake of foiling his plan?” Anifail asked mildly.

  “In a heartbeat!”

  “Well, that’s that I suppose. How dreadfully embarrassing.” Anifail heaved a dramatic sigh. “All those years of work, foiled because the king didn’t realize his excitable daughter would open her big mouth and ruin everything the first chance she got. I fear he’ll make an example of me, perhaps force me to resign my post.”

  His words were relaxed and unconcerned, bitingly ironic. The smug captain of the guard still thought he had the advantage, which made Gwen nervous. Despite her concern, she continued to meet Anifail’s gaze in a sure, steady manner.

  “Gosh you’re clever, both of you,” Anifail continued. “Nothing to be done but head back to the castle and start packing my bags, I suppose. After I’ve discharged my duties, that is.” He held up the glass sphere. “If I may though, Princess, I crave a small favour. Before I resign in disgrace, humiliated by a mere seventeen-year-old girl, would you allow me the honour of kissing your hand?”

  Any glib response Gwen might have had caught in her throat.

  Kiss her hand?

  What was he trying to do? Gwen had a feeling not unlike the one she experienced the night before — a sense she was the butt of a joke, but unable to grasp exactly how it was funny.

  She stood there, trying to puzzle it out. Anifail simply stood before her, his expression one of mock innocence.

  “Do it, Gwen,” said Rhosyn suddenly. “Let him! Just take off your glove and give him what he so desperately wants!”

  That sounded like a fine idea. Gwen flashed a quick grin at her friend.

  “Yes, by all means, Captain!” She smiled, tugging at the fingers of her glove until it was loose enough for her to pull off entirely. She held her bare hand out to him with her wrist bent slightly in invitation, arching her eyebrows and giving him a look that dared him to try.

  “Well, first things first,” he said, gently tossing her the bauble he held. Gwen snatched it out of the air with her hand before it could hit her, and—

  The small sphere was cool, but warmed almost instantly. A small shiver passed through her, though she was not cold in the slightest.

  She looked at the gem oddly for a moment. Then she held it out to one side with a look of disdain and let go, allowing it to fall to the grass. She looked for some sort of reaction from him, but got nothing. Anifail was already on one knee before her, holding his arm out as if to take a proffered hand.

  Gwen held out her hand, a wry smile on her face as she looked down on him, regally. Whatever his plan, there was no way he’d go through with this. The sight of him hastily backing out of this would be very satisfying.

  Anifail smirked up at her, took her hand in his heavy leather glove, and bowed his head as if to kiss the backs of her fingers.

  Gwen urgently yanked her hand out of his grasp.

  “No, let him! Don’t feel bad, Gwen,” said Rhosyn. “He deserves it! Don’t move your hand; let him burn himself. I want to see what he looks like with lips the size of plums.”

  Gwen just stood there, looking down at her hand.

  She hadn’t meant to move it.

  “Yes, she’s right, Princess,” Anifail said, a tiny glimmer of amusement in his eyes. “Let me kiss your hand. I’d feel just awful if I didn’t.”

  Gwen extended her hand to him once more, feeling less regal and more uncertain. Again he took it in his gloved hand, lowering his lips towards the smooth, alabaster skin of her fingers.

  Again, she wrested her hand free of his grip, pulling it away.

  “Gwen?” Rhosyn asked, sounding a bit concerned. “What are you doing?”

  Gwen looked first at her hand, and then at Rhosyn, her eyes wide.

  “Yes, what is the problem, Princess?” smiled Anifail. “Is there some reason I shouldn’t kiss your hand? Will something horrible happen?”

  She opened her mouth and drew enough breath to yell, You know what will happen, you idiot!

  Nothing came out.

  Gwen remained in that position, lungs half-full of air that was practically begging to carry her words out of her half-opened mouth. Her brain said the words, loudly and clearly, sending the message to her throat just as she would any other day. Her voice didn’t cooperate.

  Again and again she tried.

  She made no sound.

  “Gwen?” Rhosyn looked very alarmed now.

  “Princess Gwenwyn, are you saying I’m in danger?” Anifail asked. “Are you saying I shouldn’t touch your bare skin? Is that what you’re saying?” Anifail laughed, taking a glove off and reaching out to take her hand.

  Unbidden, she found her hand pulling away from his.

  Grinning, Anifail reached out to touch her cheek with a bare finger. Her neck seemed to bend of its own volition, and she abruptly turned her face away. She took a half-step back as well, though she hadn’t meant to do that, either.

  Chuckling, Anifail pulled his hand away. Gwen turned to face him, her eyes wide.

  “You’ve stolen her voice!” Rhosyn cried. “You bastard!”

  “What? I’ve done no such thing,” said Anifail. “Princess Gwenwyn, what is the name of the young lady standing over there?”

  “Rhosyn!” Gwen answered, a trace of fear in her tone. She sent Anifail a confused look. “But, how—”

  “And your name, Princess?”

  “It’s Gwenwyn! Why—”

  “And is your father planning anything a young prince might want to know about?” asked Anifail. “Is there a reason he might not want to touch you? Is there anything unusual or distressing about your childhood you wish to share?”

  Gwen suddenly found she could only open her mouth, as if about to speak, every time she tried to answer his questions.

  “Is today’s weather to your liking, Your Majesty?” he inquired.

  “Why, yes!” Gwen babbled excitedly, her mouth practically tripping over the words as they rushed out of her. “Most favourable weather indeed. The past three days have been very warm, hardly a cloud in the sky! The grain farmers will think it a blessing, though they’ll need at least two or three days more for their fields to properly dry if they’re growing wheat. Less for flax, of course, because the oils—”

  Gwen bit off the last of her words and clamped her jaw shut with her hands, forcing herself to stop talking. Her eyes felt as though they were bugging out of her skull.
<
br />   The words she’d spoken had simply poured out of her mouth, like they weren’t even stopping to check with her first. It was all stuff she had known, but she hadn’t meant to say any of it!

  “Well, that appears to be working perfectly. Outstanding,” he said, beaming at the two of them. “Getting back to my theory about how stupid you are, I’m assuming neither of you have ever heard of a geis sphere. Ordinarily they contain a single compulsion, but in this case we had them include two. One compels you to shy away from the touch of any living thing, the other limits all your communication to polite chit-chat, discussions about the weather, idle stories, stuff of that nature. Honestly, I hadn’t expected that last one to inconvenience you at all, given how stupid you are, but the king felt it was important. Now, on to the other thing. His Highness has penned a request, Rhosyn, and wished me to give it to you in the presence of these two guards.”

  Anifail pulled a wax-sealed envelope from somewhere and held it out for Rhosyn to take. She did so, opened it, and scanned its contents quickly. Gwen saw her friend’s expression turn to one of dismay.

  “Because I’m familiar with the horse trails, I’ve been ordered to act as escort for these guards, bound for Fort Pike,” Rhosyn said in a small voice. “I’m to leave immediately.”

  Gwen’s heart sank. Fort Pike was a four day ride from the castle.

  “Well, I’ve already kept you from attending to the king’s business long enough, Lady Rhosyn,” he said, saluting her. “Be sure these two heavily armed men remain safe in your care, will you?”

  “Well then,” Rhosyn said after a moment’s thought, “I suppose I shall have to head back home and pack some things right away.”

  “Oh, there’s no need for that. Wouldn’t want you running off or leaving a note for someone to find,” said Anifail. He snapped his fingers at one of the burly guards, who reached behind his saddle and produced a nearly full travel bag. “No, we’ve already been to your house, taken the liberty of packing you a few things for the ride. So, see you in about a week?”