Supper over, I retired to my own chambers and summoned the
Lord of Fer and his sons. I had changed
my mind about how to rid the palace of them.
The lord and
his sons entered hesitantly, but I waved them closer and said some trivial nice
words to them.
“Your
Highness, may I say again, that is, I have never, er, it is such a pleasure . .
.” the Lord of Fer stuttered.
I flicked my
hand at him to silence him, and he snapped his mouth shut most
satisfactorily. “Perhaps you have
wondered why you have been summoned,” I said.
“I wish to question you concerning your motives in coming to the royal
palace.”
“Why, we, we
only meant to pay our respects to the king,” said the lord with a nervous look
at his sons.
“I might as
well tell you now that your wife and daughter are lying in a drug-induced sleep
in their guest chamber. I myself have
bestowed the drug that caused the sleep, although I seek no quarrel with
you.” I leaned back in my fine chair and
enjoyed the uneasy and nervous expressions that sped across their faces.
“I repeat, I
seek no quarrel with you. I am merely
trying to protect my brother, King Calius.
He is young, and your daughter was a bit distracting to him. I want you to leave the court tomorrow
morning, as the drug will not be fully worn away until then. Also, I will bestow upon you, my Lord of Fer,
fifty golden flens if you will keep your daughter out of my brother’s way until
he is wed.”
The Lord of
Fer looked as if he would fall over in surprise. At that moment I realized that his motive in
coming to the palace was perfectly innocent.
I knew that I still had to rid myself of the whole family. Calius was still at the palace, and I could
not get him far enough away from Ezelan to please me.
I had Calla
measure out fifty gold flens to the lord, who gave them into the hand of
Alfieri, the older son. Alfieri gave me
such a look of hatred that I was hard put to keep from having him beheaded on
the spot. That I should cast such a slur
on his sister was unthinkable to him, I suspect. Well, he was not accustomed to the rather
tiring business of protecting a younger brother from annoying females, so I
tried to ignore the look.
~ Alicia
Although he was not the king, Uncle Mieras had the best
chambers in the castle. The finest set
of doors, which Father had ordered expressly for the castle, were at the
entrance to the rooms. I loved those
doors, for they were carved all over with fine hunting scenes featuring members
of our family as the hunters. Even
Calius and I were represented as small children on that door.
Bruno opened
them with a flourish and I took a deep breath and strode through them. Uncle Mieras was seated at his breakfast, and
he beckoned me to the table as I entered.
“Little Impertinence,” he laughed.
“I want you to apologize to Rachelle today. Oho,” he added, thinking that I was going to
deny having done anything to Rachelle, which I was not. “I know exactly what
you did. Always the clever one, are you
not?”
“More clever
than some,” I said with a shrug, annoyed that he had called me there merely to
make sport.
“Rachelle is
a nasty little beast,” he said gracelessly.
“She is my granddaughter, though, and I wish you would not but her to
sleep. It cannot possibly be good for
her health.”
“No, Uncle,
but it is good for mine. My peace of
mind is somewhat limited when I am around her, as she is such a . . . an
incorrigible child.”
“Yes, that
she is,” said Uncle Mieras, with a raspy, throaty chuckle that made me want to
flee the room. “Well, well, but if you
do try any more of your tricks, I will make you pay, and that is a promise. I always keep my word. Now, be off with you.”
~ Alicia
“Quickly,” I gasped to the guard that grabbed my mount’s
bridle. “Carry Calla inside.”
They
scurried about helplessly, helping the ladies of our party off the horses,
leading us around, and tripping over several ladies who had not accompanied us
but came out to see what the ruckus meant.
Lady Katarina, a sharp-faced woman of forty or so softened when she saw
Calla and Elgaro, for she was their aunt.
She helped Elgaro as he struggled to carry the raving Calla all by
himself.
Such pain
and suffering flourished all around us.
I finally snapped beneath the weight of what I was seeing and began
sobbing heartily. Bruno wriggled under
my arms and clasped his own arms around my waist.
“Don’t cry,
your Highness,” he whispered up to me.
“Lady Calla is going to heal, I know it!”
“Bruno!
Bruno!” I wailed. “If Calla dies what
shall I do?” No one should have been
surprised to hear my lament. Everyone
knew that Calla was my best friend.
Nevertheless,
a snort of annoyance reached my ear, and the words, “No decorum,” stabbed my
very heart. Siladra stood behind Bruno,
her face wrinkled in disgust at my outburst.
I wanted to have her strung up by her fingers at that moment until she
wailed for mercy. No decorum! Our knights had been slain, our ladies taken,
my friend was raving with fever, and I was criticized for not displaying enough
decorum.
~ Alicia
Thanks for reading, and God bless,
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