“Worry not on that account, my dear friend,” Karine assured. “Onnika’s happiness is every bit as important to me as assuring strong alliances to our lands. I am just relieved that Onnika admires both men and women in equal measure, and so can find happiness in the arms of a future husband one day.”
Jess nodded knowingly. "Boys can be sweet and passionate, but are as happy to relegate the night before to the glory of wine and release, as opposed to admit that love, not brandy, had compelled them. Girls, at least, can admit they love you, even if you are a thorny rose that can trounce them in the training rings." She shook her head. "Yet before, seeing a girl's camaraderie turn to love terrified me as much as any charge ever had, knowing I had no armor to ward the blow, should they grow tired of me, mock my eccentric ways, or otherwise break my heart. And so I ended up playing the villain, breaking their hearts before they could break mine, as much the cad as any boy had been to me."
“Speaking from experience, I take it?” Karine’s gaze was sympathetic.
"More than I will ever admit to Mother, for all that she thinks she understands," Jess conceded. "I was a Squire of War, Onnika, with all that such entails. There is so much I'm sworn to secrecy regarding, even now, but my father was a tactician for the king during the Border Wars, strategizing besides General Eloquin himself, a tactician so ruthless our former enemies still wish to try him for war crimes, so my father probably knows far more about what I've been through than I admit, even to myself.” Jess managed a rueful laugh, her chest suddenly squeezing tight.
Jess felt her cheeks flush as she smiled into Karine's sympathetic eyes, fearing her treacherous tongue had already revealed too much. "I'm sure you can imagine the mischief we got up to, acts no one ever dared judge us for, for all that our parents expect us to return effortlessly to the roles of proper sons and daughters once more, perfectly innocent and naive. Until the king's cry calls us all to battle, and our families are forced to accept that the terrible band of hellions leading the king's levies, wreaking such havoc upon their enemies, killing with such savagery, guilty of every crime and horror of war you can imagine, are none other than their precious sons and daughters, who had lost their innocence, so very long ago."
Wordlessly, Karine held Jess in a tender embrace, even as Jess bitterly shook free crystalline tears she had thought cried out, long, long ago.
“It's all right, Jess. You have told me a secret, so I shall tell you one in turn. I am not quite the innocent my mother hopes I am, either. I took a lover once, when still at academy. He was a beautiful man, with the gentlest smile, strong and sure, who had such dreams for us, such hopes.” She squeezed Jess's hand. “He was a Squire, Jess, and I had consoled him more than once, when he would wake up, screaming, only to turn and sob in my arms, begging forgiveness for sins he could never name.”
Jess shivered to hear those words. “What happened to him?” she heard herself ask, flushing at the temerity of her question, to see the pain in Karine's eyes.
“He died, Jess. And I beg of you, ask me no details. For even though our love had never been formally declared to either of our parents, his band of brothers knew.” Karine's breath hitched, her slender hand gripping Jess's with a trembling strength. “They knew that we were heart-sworn, and they swore to me, as I lay sobbing in the field outside my school with but a single friend as chaperon, that his death would not go unavenged.”
Jess felt her heart start to race, a sudden hot rage bubbling within her. “And did they avenge your lover, their brother?”
Trembling, Karine nodded, her voice falling to a whisper. "It was exactly seven days later. They, they woke me in the middle of the night. Three of them. I knew not how they entered my quarters so stealthily, their eyes cold and hard, like assassins in truth. Grimly they opened three silken sacks, and by the gods I wanted to scream, but their eyes, so cold, froze me to silence."
“What did they say?”
“We have struck off the heads of the serpent that dared to strike one of our own. Rest well, little sister, for our brother has been avenged.” Karine swallowed. “Those were the exact words, I remember it all so vividly, gazing at the head of the chief Velheim diplomat to Erovering, and two souls of far darker complexion. Apparently, their representative was also a spy, and my betrothed, slated to become a Crown Agent, had uncovered a plot against the Royal Family itself, or so the Squires told me, and I didn't dare ask how they came about that knowledge.
“And even as I lay in my bed, paralyzed and shaking, the blood of my betrothed's killers dripping on the tiles of my quarters, each of them bowed before me, leaving piles of silver as if I were a poor waif they would not see starve for losing her lover, leaving as quietly as they had come.”
And now it was Jess holding Karine close as she shook free quiet sobs, soothing her as best she could. "Karine? If it's worth anything… I truly am sorry for your loss."
Karine shook her head gently. “No, Jess. You owe me no apology. It was the loyalty and love of your brethren that had avenged my fiancé. And today, it was your courage alone that saved my family. You braved horrors straight out of the darkest of fables in striving to rescue my dear sister, to say nothing of saving these lands entire from an unimaginably horrid fate.”
Karine shook her head. "I have already lost the one man I have ever loved, young as I was when he claimed my rose and filled my heart. It pains me more than words can say, losing my mother to some necromancer's vile manipulations as well. A monster I only know from my sister's accounts, the very memory of him torn free of our souls. But the damage he did? I fear it shall never heal. Mother won’t even speak to us, you know. She feels too ashamed. Wearing the most threadbare of robes as the humblest of sisters at the monastery. I only hope, that with time, she can find the courage to face us, to face her youngest, and perhaps, with time, we can be a family once more.” Her sigh was heavy and Jess, ever ready to do away with formality, wrapped the young queen up in a gentle hug.
"It's okay," Jess soothed. "Your sister lives, your realm is safe, and finally, it is blessed with a new queen who is linked to the lands via that most sacred magic of Primacy. For all the struggles of our past, the future we can make for ourselves is indeed sweet and worthy of savoring, my queen."
Karine pulled away, gazing at Jess with amused eyes full of gratitude. “And I am the one supposed to be congratulating you, dear Jess. Come. There are secrets to these estates, long forgotten, renewed only with my newfound connection to the land, and I feel that no one is more worthy of sharing them with than you.”
With that Karine went to the back of her study, gazing at the stone fireplace carefully, rather large and ornate but not out of place in the luxuriously appointed room, and with a single displaced stone uncovered a thin panel in the rear of the fireplace, revealing a slender marble staircase behind it. "Come, my paladin. The joy of discovery awaits us."
Bemused, Jess followed the young queen down the spiraling staircase, far deeper than even a wine cellar would justify, until it opened up into a perfectly smooth passageway of the same material. Jess gasped as Karine stroked a silver globe at the passageway entrance, the magical construct giving off a soft blue light that gently illuminated the bass reliefs carved in exquisite detail along the hallway.
“By the gods. Such artwork! I’ve never seen the like. And buried here, far from any admiring eye,” Jess admired softly.
Karine nodded. “Indeed. I felt the presence of this chamber under our manor only recently. As if it were calling to me. Yet I knew that for all I am tolerated here, it wasn’t myself that it strove to welcome.” Solemn eyes gazed intently into Jess's own. “It was you. You are the one with a true connection to these ancient chambers, Jess, though I can only imagine why that would be.” She smiled at Jess before turning back to study the exquisite reliefs. “When one studies them, it appears to tell a story of sorts, wouldn’t you agree?”
Jess blinked in surprise, nodding solemnly as she studied the carvings. It did indeed seem to tell a tale of sorts
. One of swordplay, armies, noble battles, and a crowned queen, raising a sword up high. There could be no doubt it was a female, nor that all the etched people before her bowed low. A story of humble origins leading to conquest and a great throne. Bemused, Jess noted how some of the battles seemed to involve inhuman beasts of writhing tentacles or with the heads of boars and the bodies of men. It occurred to Jess that perhaps some of the struggles took place in the realm of dreams as well as the realm of men. A Delver and a queen as well? Fascinating. The final motif was of a solemn funeral, the noble queen resting, with all her knights and courtiers bowing low at her pyre. Jess sighed, feeling a curious ache, deep inside.
She at last turned away from the saga etched upon the wall, feeling oddly solemn as they approached a massive door of bronze. Jess almost had to blink against the glaring brightness of a complex web of shimmering chords of power. The warding magics protecting the entrance were fierce and potent indeed. She shuddered to think what would happen to the uninvited who touched that door.
“The carvings are beautiful, Karine. A remarkable bit of history, lost within the Turnsby Estates. Thank you for showing it to me. It appears that the Turnsby lands were once ruled by a warrior queen.”
Karine smiled warmly. “Far greater a domain was claimed than simply my family’s lands. The entirety of the Calenbry Barony, at the very least, if not all of Erovering, or the continent entire. I can feel those ancient connections to lands far beyond my own, faintly, as if a flickering memory, a lost dream.” She gave Jess a reassuring smile. “Fear not, my paladin. I know it need not ever be said, but I would never seek Claimance beyond the lands you have seen fit to grant me. I would never seek to extend the rule of my land beyond these estates, blessed as I am by the connection I now have to my tiny kingdom, one that has allowed these lands to truly know and be nurtured by its queen once more.”
Jess nodded. “I know that, Karine. Your heart is gentle and pure. I sense not a shred of malice in you. Merely the heavy weight of a duty you never expected, but one you have come to love.”
Karine smiled. “Of course. It's foolish of me to even feel the need to reassure. Who would better judge the weight of another’s soul than a paladin?”
Jess turned away, suddenly embarrassed. “Perhaps I claimed too much. Or, perhaps my rare moments of noble grace are best suited to the realm of dreams and times of peril. For in truth, as my mother would be quick to assure you, I am far more a headstrong girl, wild and uncouth, as poor in manners and tact as I am at winning the fights my very lack of finesse causes.” She gave a deprecating chuckle. “Just think of poor ratface. A foolish man, easily goaded in a moment of pique, and for all that I gloried in the fight, had I lost the upper hand for even a moment, I might have killed him. Can I really claim to have the honor and poise, the compassion and grace of a paladin? I think not. Wayward adventurer that will nevertheless do all she can to save those she loves? That is a far better definition of the girl you see before you, my queen.”
Jess felt strangely vulnerable under the weight of Karine’s suddenly very serious gaze. “Headstrong you might well be, dear Jess. But you possess a fierce sense of justice and love so reminiscent of those ancient queens that had once ruled over all of Erovering and beyond, long ago. I sense that as well. Your spirit is pure, my dear friend. Noble and true. You don’t feel you’ve truly earned the title of paladin? You who saved my very Domain from sinking into the lands of Shadow, to be ravaged by the terrible creatures that resided within? You, who charged fearlessly into a demon infested maze of treachery and horror with no one save your noble shieldbrother and loyal familiar at your side? Taking on endless hordes of foul beings, dueling even a prince of Hell to save the soul of my beloved sister?”
Queen Karine gazed at a blushing Jess solemnly. "No, dear Jess. You may doubt yourself all you like, but to my eyes, you will always be the noblest of warriors ever to stride these lands. My family will always be at your service, and I will always be in your debt." She solemnly kissed both of Jess's cheeks and bowed low and deep before a stunned and humbled Jess.
“Come, sister of my heart. I have something to show you. Something I think you will like.” Karine raised Jess’s hand to the bronze door before them throbbing with power and enchantment. With that gentlest of touches, Jess felt a wave of sparkling familiarity, even welcome from the throbbing webs of power resonating within the bronze door before her. It was, in some unfathomable way, welcoming her return to this chamber she had never seen before in the entirety of her life. With a soft click, the great door slowly opened.
Jess walked in, Karine by her side, and couldn’t help but gasp in awe at the wonder and splendor of the chamber. Filled with chests brimming with ancient coinage of silver and gold, strands of ebony pearls, rubies, and sapphires among a myriad of sparkling gems were artfully arranged in an unbelievable display of wealth and extravagance.
Portraits of noble battles and a glorious crimson haired queen raising a mighty shimmering sword lined the walls, and Jess stopped, stunned. She felt even Karine pause. Karine gazed solemnly at the massive portraits preserved perfectly for centuries, before staring back at Jess. The crowned warrior in those portraits possessed hair the color of living flame, eyes that sparkled like rubies, and her features... Jess knew without a word being said what Karine was thinking.
For all that Jess was gazing at an ancient portrait that had been buried for centuries, she was gazing into the eyes of her own reflection.
The portrait before her could have been her own. Jess's heart pounded so fiercely her ears roared, as they did so often just before battle was joined.
Slowly, Jess unsheathed her mithril blade, pulled out of the horrors of Shadow, comparing it in trembling hands to the one the queenly figure held aloft in the life-sized painting.
There could be no doubt. From the tip of the blade to the hilt, they were the same. And the ebony cat gazing back at Jess from the figure's shoulder, eyes a pair of pristine sapphires, wore a bemused expression Jess knew all too well.
"By the angels… it's true," Karine whispered softly, in awe.
Jess found herself stumbling back, at a complete loss for words. She barely kept herself from flinching as a familiar weight landed gracefully upon her shoulder. “It has been a long time,” Twilight noted, gazing contemplatively at the exquisitely fine painting before them. Gazing back, it seemed, at his own image. Jess blinked, turning to gaze at all the portraits. In near every one she noted an ebony cat gazing intelligently out at the world, by his queen's side. Jess took a shuddering breath.
“Is that? Is that…”
“Don’t stress yourself with such minutia,” Twilight soothed. “Let us simply admire the pretty artwork for what it is, telling the tale of a warrior queen who had her good points as well as her flaws, as all your ancestors have.”
"She was an ancestor, then?" Jess said, feeling a tremendous wave of relief wash through her. "I thought, I wondered… no, it's silly. But what you say makes sense, dear Twilight. Who else but a direct ancestor would look so like myself?"
“Who else indeed?” Twilight smiled. “And she was most definitely an ancestor of yours… of a sort.”
“Great One,” Karine said, her voice near trembling as she bowed low to what Jess could only assume was her cat. “I had thought, at the dining table... but here, now, I cannot deny it.”
“You can see him?” Jess gazed wonderingly at the regal young woman before her. “So few can!”
Twilight's ears were pricked back, his eyes squinting with what Jess intuitively knew was exasperation of a sort. "Indeed. Not surprising, considering that this is her realm, after all, and even one such as I should be evident to one such as her, and let us not make a big issue out of such a small thing, shall we agree on that, Queen Karine?"
“Of course, Great One,” Karine assured, voice still trembling oddly, Jess thought.
“It's Twilight, Queen Karine. That other title is old and tiresome. Besides, my tray is completely out of g
rilled salmon. It’s a travesty. One that should be rectified with all haste, to my mind.
Karine smiled at that. "Of course, dear Twilight. Loyal and true familiar to our great and noble paladin. As soon as we return to the dining hall, I shall do my utmost to make sure your tureen is never for want of the delights of my kitchen."
Twilight turned his gaze to meet Jess’s bemused smile. “See? I knew awakening the Rites of Claimance was the perfect decision we made on that fateful day. Karine will obviously be an excellent caretaker for this realm.”
“Obviously,” a grinning Jess agreed.
Twilight looked away, vigorously scratching his neck, then purring as Jess took over, her familiar happily licking her cheek and luxuriating in Jess's gentle caresses as she scratched him in his favorite spots.
“I can't help but notice that the ancient queen’s cat is depicted with a basket of fish in a fair number of those drawings.” Jess grinned.
“She was a good queen.” Twilight sighed happily as Jess gently scratched him between his ears. “United all of Erovering, in fact, even if she was a bit more bloodthirsty than is the norm, these days.”
“I’m going to pretend I don’t know what that implies,” Jess quipped bemusedly. “Gives me a headache even thinking about it, frankly.”
Twilight looked flustered for just a moment, gently flowing to the ground after giving his mistress a final headbutt “Any queen who feeds her cat is a good queen, my mistress. Come now. Let us proceed to the true reason as to why you are here.”
“And what would that be, dear familiar?” Jess smiled as Twilight turned his gaze to Karine.
Karine nodded solemnly. "You are right, noble Twilight. It is time." She then turned to Jess, bowing her head. "Come, my paladin. Your true prize awaits you, I think." With that, she solemnly turned around and Jess, brimming with questions she intuitively knew was not the time to ask, followed her friend through a second doorway, this one made of silver, that opened with the queen’s gentle touch.
Paladin's Oath Page 26