§
Lady Aenëe stood next to the entrance of Ged’s command tent, waiting for me while still in stealth. I uncloaked as I approached, landed and strode confidently toward it.
The Royal Army privates standing guard crossed their spears to block the entrance instantly out of trained reflex, but then seemed to think better of actually challenging me. The older one started visibly trying to sort out what to say as his mouth twitched.
But it turned out that Sir Topas had been keeping an eye out for me from inside the tent, and he saved the two. He put his hand on the man’s shoulder and told him, “She’s permitted to enter. Come on in, My Lady.”
As they went back to their parade rest positions, I looked over at Aenëe and told her, “Why don’t you show yourself and come join us?”
While Topas and the guards blinked at the crazy woman talking to empty air, my companion became visible, causing the two soldiers to jolt again. Then they managed to compose themselves as they accepted the situation.
I asked Topas, “Is it alright with you? My Lady came here together with me.”
He nodded. “Certainly, My Lady. His Highness has already informed us of her arrival.”
He led us inside, announcing, “Lady Tiana and Lady Aenëe have arrived, Your Highness.”
Ged excused himself from the group discussion that had surrounded him until that moment. I recognized a few faces.
“Ti,” he said with his calm smile as I gave him a bow. Aenëe did likewise, as he added, “Lady Aenëe again. Thank you for watching over my camp, just now.”
“It was My Lady Tiana’s request, Your Highness,” she stated smoothly. “I naturally accepted the task.”
“I have heard that you allowed the young lord to remain in Thuriben,” he noted. “Thank you for trusting my subordinate with his safety. I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
“It wasn’t,” she agreed, her eyebrows bunching slightly. “But I could not leave your troops exposed to that demoness unaware.”
“That being said,” he continued as his smile grew slightly apologetic. “I need to take Ti aside for a private conversation. There are royal secrets involved. My Lady is…”
His eyebrows peaked as he began having trouble with the subject. “How shall I put this?”
“Technically,” Sir Topas stated stiffly, “Although the lord you serve has come to us as a refugee, he remains a nobleman from the enemy side. Your status here is ambiguous, Fair Knight.”
Aenëe frowned. “I do not recognize the army you are fighting as belonging to my lord’s king. As I have stated since my arrival, if His Majesty is even still alive, he is a puppet under demonic control, and the Hamagaaran army now fights for the demons. My Lord is not a subject of such beings.”
Ged held up his hand, nodding and patiently stating, “We have accepted your claim, My Lady. Nevertheless, there are things I must discuss with Ti… with Lady Tiana in private.”
She nodded graciously. “I quite understand, Your Highness. I only came into your tent to report my presence. If you wish, I can withdraw and wait to be summoned.”
The prince nodded and turned to signal an orderly. “Bring My Lady to a suitable waiting spot. Stay with her and see to her needs until summoned.”
The girl who had been standing to the side, probably expecting to be used as a message runner, blinked in surprise, then recovered and saluted. “Yes, Your Highness!”
With Aenëe being led away, Ged gestured for me to follow him.
Like many large Army tents, this shelter had several side chambers, and he brought me into one that appeared to be his private office. A cot to one side suggested that this place was doubling as his sleeping quarters. I honestly didn’t know whether or not Ged would insist on a full luxury tent for himself, like a proper prince, or prefer something like this as more practical. Considering Ged, I suspected the latter.
He stopped next to the cot, turned and chanted, “Inscribe the needful form / By the shapings my mind decrees / Letters of light unfold / [Inscribe Formation]!”
The previous time he had done this, it was a surprise that he could even do it, but this time, I had more or less expected it. A Light inscription spread out below our feet, writing the physical pattern required to anchor the complex spell form that was coming next.
He poured Wind into it, and intoned, “[Realm of Silence]”, and the Mortal version of the spell my Mother often uses enveloped us.
I can’t say I expected him to wrap his arms around me next, but it wasn’t the first time for that either, so at least it didn’t shock me out of my sabatons when he did it. I found myself with my cheek pressed against his chest, the difference in our heights being that great, and realized he was shaking a little. I wasn’t sure what was in his mind at the moment, but I decided not to put up any resistance until I knew what he was thinking.
Deciding it would be lame to just leave my arms hanging at my sides, I ended up returning the hug, and began patting him on the back.
His voice was rough when he finally spoke.
“Please let me offer my apologies, My Lady,” he said. “I keep seeing that scene in my dreams, of that man laying your thigh open with his blade. I’ve known you’re fine for months, but I can’t get the image out of my memory.”
I patted his back again, and told him, “Your Highness, I really am fine.”
He nodded, and finally let me go, although he caught hold of my hands.
“Rod would probably go crazy with jealousy if he knew you did that, Your Highness,” I told him primly. “Please don’t do it any more.”
It’s not like I wanted to reserve my hugs for Rod. I didn’t want him hugging me either. But I had a legitimate reason to tell Ged not to do it, so I used it.
He nodded, his lip twisting slightly. “You’re right, of course. That will be the last time.”
I somehow slipped my hands out of his grip and added a little distance between us. “You wanted to discuss something in private, Your Highness. Was that it?”
“It was the top item on the agenda,” he said, now letting his mouth curl in legitimate humor as he straightened his glasses. He grew serious and added, “There are actual things to discuss, however. You went to have a look at that creature, I take it?”
Pursing my lips, I nodded. “That, and the asura.”
He raised an eyebrow. “My colonels are insisting that the wolf is an elaborate illusion. What is your view?”
“It was real,” I stated flatly. “Probably a shape-shifting creature capable of gigantification. Although that was to an extreme scale, I admit.”
His eyebrow shot up when I said the word ‘real’. He contemplated it for a few breaths, then nodded. “Alright. You’ll probably have to detail your reasons to my officers and experts.”
I had been about to start explaining, so I was surprised. “Don’t you want to hear why?”
“I don’t need to,” he stated firmly. “You say it was real and I believe you. So what do you think we should do about it?”
Honestly, I had thought he would need convincing. I found his degree of trust in me a little off the scale. I thought about his question and admitted, “As long as we don’t know what it is capable of, we can’t do anything rash. To be honest, if I wasn’t here, I would hope you would be talking about withdrawing right now. She is obviously setting some sort of trap for you.”
Ged frowned. “Withdrawing… that would be troublesome.”
“Why?” I demanded. “We wouldn’t be surrendering a city. I’m just talking about pulling back to consolidate in a stronger position!”
He sighed. “It would look bad for Dad. He has too many critics right now. A large number of provinces are giving only lip service in the effort against Cullen. They disguise their lack of enthusiasm sending token support to our forces fighting Hamagaar.”
I had heard some hints of this before, so it wasn’t as shocking as it might have been. I didn’t understand it though.
He continued, “If it weren’t for your mother bloodying rebel noses down in Pendor and keeping Cullen from focusing on the capital and Atianus, we would probably be losing the civil war. If we look like we are losing in Hamagaar… let’s just say that failing taking Cara Ita yet is already earning Dad a lot of criticism.”
I wrinkled up my brow, trying to puzzle through the problem. Ged probably thought it looked cute, based upon the expression he made. He forced himself back to a serious attitude as I asked, “Why don’t they support him, though? I always thought he was popular.”
“He’s popular with the people,” Ged affirmed. “Not the nobles. Too many of them still consider him the upstart concubine’s kid who overthrew the legitimate crown prince.”
“Even though Cullen committed such a horrible crime?”
Ged’s expression grew sour. “We have a lot of good nobles in this country, but we have a lot of rotten ones, too. You’ve heard Dad talking about the ‘Rotten South’, right? They’re more common down there, but there’s plenty in other places. A lot of them were Cullen’s allies who weren’t caught.”
I frowned as I understood it. Cullen hadn’t been content with his Royal Stipend and had supplemented his income with a slaving ring that preyed on pretty women, especially daughters of the mercantile upper class.
And while twenty years was a long time to people our age, it wasn’t so long ago for the older generation.
Ged added, “There are also plenty of those rotten nobles who still secretly own victims. They weren’t all sold out of the country. Which side do you suppose they would take?”
“But… Cullen arranged to have his father killed…” I still protested.
“To be honest, that just made him look strong, to people who only care about strength,” Ged said. “The rebel nobles consider Dad to be weak. And considering how he failed to stop this rebellion from starting, they aren’t wrong.”
“Ged!” I scolded him, but he shook his head.
“I’m just quoting Dad, Ti. He’ll tell you the same thing.”
I continued frowning at him, and he sighed.
“Look, we knew this rebellion was coming, a long time before you learned about it. Dad and his allies did everything they could to stop it, but nothing ever worked. Your mother claims there was some large-scale magic behind it all, but I personally have a hard time believing that. There were just too many lords who were actively working against us.”
For a moment, I wanted to start educating him on the subject, but decided not to try. Instead, I asked, “Uncle Owen knew it was coming? Since how long ago?”
“About the same time that you were sent off with that hero,” he told me. “We also knew that they were engineering this war against Hamagaar to weaken him.”
“Then why did he cooperate with it?” I asked. “The troops sent north for this war could have been helping him deal with the rebels instead!”
I was also wondering why he went through with the plan to betroth me to Rod, which must have been extra fuel on the fire, but I kept that to myself.
“He was trying to help them stumble on their own plans,” he explained. “Your mother was preparing Pendor to become a nasty surprise they didn’t expect, and the best thing he could do elsewhere was let them seem to be succeeding. It worked to a certain extent. Parna and Cullen thought Pendor would fall, and instead, the Pendor Duchy is well on the way to reconquering all of Western Doria right now. But it didn’t work as well in the north as Dad hoped. He doesn’t have as many nobles coming around to support him as we expected.”
“And because of that, you don’t want to withdraw from this place?” I asked.
He was quiet for a bit, then nodded. “It would be far better if we succeeded in our goal in Cara Ita.”
After he watched me frowning for a bit, he bowed his head slightly and smiled. “That’s what I wanted you to understand in private. Let’s speak with the others, now.”
