by Guy Antibes
“Plus, you all know how to use weapons, which the Duterians don’t,” Ricky said.
Kened nodded. “I am hoping if the worst happens, that you can come to our aid.”
“Paranty comes first,” Ricky said, “but I will fight to preserve a free Rings second.”
“That is all I can ask,” Kened nodded. Pira put out her hand to Kened and squeezed his. “You are a charmer, Princess.”
Pira lifted her chin. “When I want to be.”
“We are not quite done,” Tobia said. “Minnie and I have talked this over. If we leave Duteria, we will travel all the way to Samira. We came here in the first place to support you.”
Ricky felt a lump in his chest. “You don’t have to do that. You are free of any obligations to me.”
Minnie chuckled. “We will never be free of you, Ricky. You are nearly as much a part of the family as Pirie.”
“And you don’t have to change my diapers.” The laughter ended the awkwardness that Ricky felt. They were family to him. He missed his Tossa family and his Duterian ones.
“You are welcome to Samira, even you, Kened. I’ll set up a token, so we can be sure to link. I have access to about two-hundred Parantian battle sorcerers who are definitely not afraid to fight alongside the Gruntalians and whoever remains in opposition to the Suns in Duteria.”
Healer Kokorak joined them midway through dinner. “I think there are other healers compelled, who now refuse to talk to me or anyone who hasn’t publically turned away from the Green faction,” she said to Kened and Ricky in the Dastoya’s sitting room.
Ricky taught her both spells. “If you forget them, I can remind you during a linked session.”
“I may take you up on your offer if this persists.”
Kened looked grim. “This is a distressing development. I don’t know what offer Ricky gave you, but I am afraid for the Rings.”
Kokorak left the house, and Ricky spent the time after dinner teaching Kened, Minnie, and Tobia to fly. Tobia would be slower than the other two, but if they had to flee Duteria, flying represented a fast way out of Duteria, since the townhouse was right in the middle of the city.
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Four
~
R icky looked on as Mattia’s forces drilled on an expanded field. Wooden barracks had already been started. He estimated that Samira had trained a force of over two thousand men.
“We aren’t taking all these soldiers from off their farms. It will be a poor harvest if there is no one to work the fields.”
“Most will return if needed,” Mattia said. “When the call goes out, our numbers will swell. I’ve already sent hundreds back to their homes, but more keep showing up.”
“I came to return the sword that I borrowed. Tobia Dastoya, my former servant, gifted this one to me.”
“It almost looks like your old sword.” Mattia took the proffered sword and tested the balance. “A little light for my preference, but I imagine it works for you.”
Ricky nodded. “Have there been any changes to our plans? Duke Noacci seems to have strong opinions.”
Mattia shook his head. “He is more apt to ask me for my views than to give me his own. I think he is ready to return to Applia as soon as Mirano lets him. Bocca and his two sorcerers have been hanging about waiting for the day. They have been working with Hemo.”
“My next stop,” Ricky said.
He strolled through the village on his way to the castle, wondering what would happen if he had a chance to create a sorcerer’s college as he intended. Ricky entered the castle and found the bare ground level room that he used for experimentation.
Hemo, Greda, Wedo, and the Applian performance sorcerers sat at a long table with benches along the sides. A collection of kitchen and garden implements was arrayed on the table.
“Ricky, just the person who can help us,” Hemo said.
“I was hoping you would be demonstrating how to eliminate my magic.”
Hemo smiled. “Theoretically, we can create the sound, but the lingering effect that the sorcerer had in his spell has eluded us.”
“Do the sounds stop resonance?”
Bocca nodded. “They definitely disrupt. I would have never thought, but it is a matter of concentration, or perhaps better put, the discordant sounds result in a reduction of focused will.”
“It was worse than that. There is some other kind of disruption going on,” Hemo said.
Ricky thanked them for their progress and went back up to his rooms in the lower ducal quarters. He found his bags and retrieved the notes and transcriptions he had made at Doubli Academy years ago. Ricky would re-read them again, hoping to find some mention of the spells.
No sooner had he started, than Duke Noacci gingerly walked in. He sat down across from Ricky.
“Mirano Bespa has released me. I am free to return to Applia, as long as I don’t overdo it. I want to stop at Firali, first. I thought it would be good for you to see your birthplace.”
Ricky nodded. “I sort of thought I was born here.”
“You were born in the fall. Your parents stayed here during midsummers. I never really took this place as my own. I never needed the slow pace of Samira to calm me like two exhausted performance sorcerers, especially a pregnant one.” Duke Noacci leaned over to look at the papers on Ricky’s desk. “Notes from the Ring?”
“Not at all. These are all I have left from the books that we recovered from the Applia Juvenile Home.”
“Ah, the treasure trove, Nania Sarini called it. Leon has probably burned it all by now.”
Ricky pursed his lips. “I don’t think so. I think the magic-killing spell came from that library. I’m looking to see if I can find any reference to it. Hemo says he can duplicate the effect with sounds, but not with a spell.”
“There are some ancient books at Firali. I could never read the old Parantian script. You are welcome to look through the library annex that contains them. I’m afraid they aren’t in very good condition.”
“Neither were the others. I would be happy to evaluate your collection.”
“Our collection. Someday the books will be yours,” Duke Noacci said. “Bring Pira with you. She doesn’t need to be here, although you shouldn’t linger long at Firali before returning.”
Ricky shook his head. “Everyone survived my absence.”
“Only because I was here. We have leaders in all three of our major locations. Mattia looks up to you because you listen to him. He told me that before I had a chance to become too overbearing. I learned a lesson from you. Even though you are very young, you have some admirable qualities. Those may disappear as you get older, but others will enjoy working with you for now.”
“I’m just doing the best I can.”
“Then keep doing it. I’ll leave you to your studies. We will leave tomorrow morning.”
Ricky stood. “I’ll look forward to it.”
The duke nodded and left the room.
Ricky sat back, wondering what he had done to deserve such praise. He was honest in doing the best he could. Perhaps he might get some perspective from Pira. She might not be the best person to ask, but he didn’t feel comfortable asking anyone else.
He found the princess looking through her single trunk in the bedroom she used while the Duke was recuperating in her own.
“Find anything interesting?” Ricky said.
“The only thing I have found is that I don’t have much in the way of clothing. When we retrieved the duke, I should have emptied my closets.”
“You had more than one closet?”
Pira just smiled.
“Duke Noacci has invited us to accompany him to Firali tomorrow morning. Will that be acceptable?”
“To see your other palace? I’d be happy to go.”
Ricky told Pira what the duke had revealed about his opinion of Ricky’s leadership skills. “His compliment is generous. How much of it can I believe and how much of it is Duke Noacci making me feel good for whate
ver nefarious reason he has, is anyone’s guess.”
Pira sat on her bed with a bounce. “Sit down in that chair.”
Ricky obeyed.
“What do you think?” she said.
“I don’t care what I think. I’ve just done my best and reacted to events as they have come along.”
“Our trips to the southern and eastern countries of Kerrothia weren’t reactions, were they?”
Ricky thought a bit about that. “No. We planned to go to all three countries.”
“We went with something to do, and you figured out a way to get what needed to be done, done.”
“Not at Cralt,” Ricky said.
“King Wako is a special case. You would have succeeded with me or without me.”
“So what are you getting at?”
“You can plan, and you can execute. Dimani reclaimed southern Dimani because you brought Nemo Mattia to use the Dimani armies. It was you who thought to bring the locals into the fight. You make decisions, and you delegate to trusted subordinates. That’s what leaders do. You lead by example, and you ask questions of the leaders below you. That’s what the leaders I have observed do. Is there something wrong with that?”
Ricky shook his head. “No.” Pira was right. He did all those things. “What would happen if what I asked people to do was wrong?”
“Has it been?”
“No, but there is always a first time.”
“Then face whatever you have to face when it happens. You aren’t perfect, right?”
“Right.”
“Good. I think what the duke meant when he said that time could very well spoil you is that you might lose your humility. That happens when you begin to dictate solutions.”
“I don’t do that.”
“But Duke Noacci does,” Pira said. “Even I do that,” she looked sheepishly at Ricky, “sometimes. You have a better sense of what and what not to do than you think. The best thing to do is not to think about it.”
“Continue as I’ve been going?”
Pira grinned. “Exactly. Now for the puppy’s rewards.” She patted the bed beside her. “Sit here.”
Ricky smiled and sat next to her. She put her hand on his face and pulled it to hers, kissing Ricky on the lips. “There. Now get ready for a trip to Firali. I always love traipsing through a new palace.”
He headed back to his rooms and shook his head. He really didn’t know if Pira had given him any perspective that he wouldn’t have figured out for himself. Ricky smiled. At least he got a kiss out of it.
~
“We have secured the area around Firali, but King Leon could have agents in the town. We control a day’s ride north of the city and west to Amarine,” Mattia said to Ricky and the duke.
“I have my own men in the palace. Leon hasn’t had any of his own people on the staff, that I know of,” Duke Noacci said.
“There is always compulsion,” Ricky said.
“I have a few battle sorcerers on my Firali staff. You can teach them the counterspells.”
“Or Bocca can,” Pira said.
The duke nodded to Pira. “Or Bocca can teach them the counterspells. I have to remember the resources that I have available to me.”
“Hemo can contact me anywhere and at any time,” Ricky said to Mattia just before they took off for Firali.
They flew over lands that began to take on the look of early summer. Green-tinged fields below them soaked up the sun shining through a clear sky. After flying over villages and the single market town between Samira and Firali, the capital of the Naparran duchy showed up as a gray smudge on the horizon. As they drew closer, the gray resolved into buildings made from white and gray stone topped with red, blue, and green-tiled roofs.
The center of the city was dominated by a large three-storied building that had a green park extending to the east all the way through Firali. Roads, like bridges over a river, broke through the park.
“That is Cistia Palace,” Noacci said, clinging to Ricky. “Take us down into the central courtyard.”
The five sorcerers landed along with the duke. Servants and guards ran to them as they set down.
“Duke Noacci!” A guard in an ornate uniform bowed towards the duke. “You grace us with your presence. We have waited for you to return since we discovered you were recovering in Samira.”
“Captain Arriana. Have you set up camp on the courtyard to welcome me?”
“No,” the captain said with a faint smile. “But we have been close-by. Come in. How long will you be staying with us?”
“Two days only, and then I must move to Applia. I brought my heir. This is Lord Hendrico Valian, the heir, and his friend, the Princess Pira.”
The assembled group bowed to them both. “Welcome, Lord Valian. Welcome, Princess Pira.”
“Come with me, Arriana.” Noacci turned to the other servants. “Take care of my sorcerers. Feed them well.” The duke led Ricky, Pira, and the Captain in through the front doors of the palace.
Cistia was not a castle, Ricky thought. It seemed younger than the ducal palace in Applia and in Tossa. The stone wall around the massive building was perhaps ten feet tall with another foot-and-a-half of black iron fence tipped in gold.
The outside was more ornate than the Rings buildings, but to Ricky, the architecture was similar enough, except for stories nearly twice as high as any building in the Rings. He stepped inside the front entrance. It put Samira’s entry hall to shame. Black and white stone squares alternated to make up the floor. Ricky saw little wood and mostly stone. A huge stairway led up to a mid-level before taking winged flights to either side of the second level. Large windows overlooked the park that Ricky had seen from the air.
“I will have someone take you on a tour tomorrow, while I spend the day catching up on the affairs of the dukedom. Cistia’s affairs are much more complicated than Samira, Princess,” Noacci said.
A middle-aged man with an energetic step approached the duke. “Welcome home, Dino. We have guests, I see?”
“This is my old friend and the lord of the palace while I am away. My cousin, Puboli Bennetto. You can call him Pub. You may notice a familiar last name. Puboli’s sister is Rachael Bennetto, the housekeeper that I sent to Samira.”
Pira smiled. “She has already taken over and has demonstrated her expertise.”
“Good,” Pub said. He bowed. “I assume you are the lovely Princess Pira, and,” he turned to Ricky and bowed, “you are the heir.”
“I am.”
“You will show them to rooms in my wing. I have been instructed to rest and will do so in my ground floor study,” Noacci said. “If you two will excuse me.” The duke walked away, leaving them with Pub.
“You are a cousin?” Ricky asked.
Pub laughed. “Second cousins. Dino’s related to you by marriage, and I am related to him by marriage on a different side. My father died early, and Dino’s parents raised my sister and me. We three grew up together. Dino was always three or four steps ahead of us.”
“Your sister is three or four steps ahead of me administering Samira,” Pira said.
“Rachael is only on loan. I’m not sure Dino told you that, but I’ll snatch her back as soon as I can,” Pub said in a genial way. “Come this way, and I will show you to your rooms.”
He walked up the wide steps leading to the second level. The entryway went to the ceiling, and when Ricky looked up, he saw two tall floors above him, that meant the entryway was one of the three story towers that jutted up from place to place. They stopped at the large landing looking out at the park.
Pub let them gaze out the window. “At one time, the park was closed to the people. If a person wanted to pass from the north side to the south side, they would have to go around through the city center. The park extends for five miles past the city walls. The view is better from the third floor.”
Ricky looked around. “The palace doesn’t seem very old.”
“It isn’t. Your great-grandfather built it.
There are many modern conveniences. The old castle that stood on these grounds was a thousand years old, but the inside timbers began to rot, and there was a fire that turned much of the castle to rubble, so a palace befitting the duke of a rich province was built.”
To Ricky, it was hard enough to imagine Samira castle as his own, but this? They moved on to the second floor.
“The ducal chambers are on the side facing the park, but your rooms face the Lady’s Garden.”
“Lady?” Pira asked.
“A project of the first duchess of Cistia. She didn’t want it labeled the Duchess’s Garden, I suppose. Do you want separate suites?”
Ricky and Pira looked at each other and said “Yes!” simultaneously.
“Ah, that tells me something,” he said with a sly smile.
“You are here, Princess,” Pub opened a tall ornate door. “You may refresh yourself. There is a collection of lady’s gowns of various sizes in one of the closets. You should find something suitable for dinner. I will have a luncheon brought up.”
“No need,” Pira said. “I would like to explore the palace on my own for a bit.”
Pub frowned. “I will—”
“Duke Noacci mentioned a library that had ancient works,” Ricky said.
“Yes, it is on the other side of your suite.”
“Show us the library first. We will eat in there if that is acceptable. The duke said there were some books written in Old Parantian.”
“You can read Old Parantian?”
“I puzzle my way through it well enough.”
Pub seemed excited. “I will gladly do that. If the Princess will follow us so I can show her where to go after she is refreshed from her journey.”
The corridor was long and ended with double doors to another corridor, Ricky thought. He peeked into a large room lined with books. Samira’s library was a token compared to Cistia’s.