Portals of Infinity: Book Three: Of Temples and Trials

by John Van Stry

  Thirteen

  (Saladin – Highland City)

  It was cold in Hiland city, and there was snow, quite a bit of it, being up in the hills probably had a lot to do with that.

  Rachel looked rather sexy, felinoids did get winter coats and I liked the way she looked in hers, and as long as I was willing to brush it out for her, she didn’t complain.

  Baron was a cute little ball of fluff running around the room and that gave us both ideas about increasing the size of the family.

  Also, the council hadn’t been too shy with the hints they were dropping now that I was back for a while.

  “So, has Diament been behaving himself?” I asked after I’d been home a few nights.

  “For the most part, yes,” Rachel said and snuggled against me as we lay on the floor by the fire.

  “What do you mean by ‘for the most part’?” I inquired.

  “Oh, occasionally he’ll act up a little in the council and give me a little grief, but nothing serious. I’m sure he knows I’m keeping an eye on him. Sometimes I think he just does it to prove that he’s still able to, that he’s behaving because he wants to, not because he’s afraid of me or you.”

  “Oh? What do you think?”

  Rachel shrugged a little, “I think he’s starting to regret what he tried to do. I just grew the kingdom by thirty percent this last summer without a single war. And now King Charles of Holden wants to talk about a Royal wedding between Baron and his daughter Leiss.”

  I nodded and gave a little grunt of acknowledgement. Baron was turning three and Holden’s King Charles had a daughter that had just turned two. Rachel had spent the fall and the winter sending missives back and forth to King Charles discussing the possibilities of a royal wedding.

  King Charles was fairly old, well past his prime, and his two sons had died fighting the Mulanders. He’d been able to sire one last child, and had a daughter. I don’t know if he was unhappy that he didn’t have a son, or just happy that he had a child. In either case Rachel was fairly sure he’d go for the idea of his Kingdom joining hers, as it would be his grandchildren as well as ours, ruling a much larger Kingdom.

  Barassa was starting to look to the west according to Rachel’s spies, they’d never come up here before, but their army was big enough that it would be a very tough fight for the small kingdom of Holden.

  The only thing I wasn’t happy about was that we would have to travel there to start the process.

  “So when do you want to go?” I asked.

  “The end of next month should be a good time.”

  I converted that in my head, that would make it around May back home.

  “Why then?” I asked.

  “The worst of the rains should be over by then, but they won’t lessening in the lowlands for several weeks after that. By the time they do, if Barassa decides to try anything, like launch an attack to try and catch me in Holden’s Capitol, they’ll be fighting vicious waters on the rivers, and heavy mud on the trails.”

  I nodded, I wasn’t sure that they’d try anything, yet, but I couldn’t fault Rachel for her caution. She would be outside her Kingdom, and away from the safety of the hills that offered the Hilanders so much protection.

  “I’ll talk to Holse about the troops we’ll take with us.”

  “How many are you going to take?” She asked curious.

  “Oh, I don’t know, at least ten thousand.”

  Rachel coughed and turned and looked up at me.

  “What? Not enough?” I grinned.

  “I was thinking a thousand. That many and Charles will think we’re going to invade!”

  “We’ll leave most of them at the border; it’ll be a good exercise for them.”

  Rachel nodded and smiled, “Okay.”

  The next day I attended council with her; I hadn’t been to any yet since I’d been back, my duties to Fel had dictated that I had to put in several appearances at the main temple, as well as a few day trips out to the environs with the High Priestess who was looking very pregnant at this point.

  Plus general decency, as well as my own feelings, dictated that I spend some quality time with her and my daughter by her as well.

  Council seemed different, and it took me quite a while to put my finger on what had changed. It was Wreth; he was no longer following everything that Diament said and did, but was at times doing something different, he even disagreed with Diament once! Oh, it was nothing major, just a minor point, but it surprised me and I suspect it annoyed Diament quite a bit that Wreth was finally coming out of Diament’s shadow and becoming his own man.

  He also didn’t seem quite as afraid of me as he had in the past, but then if he was finally going to act like an adult male, I supposed it was only natural that he’d get some control over his fears.

  When council was over, I went and cornered Holse.

  “General!” I said and we touched hands and then clasped each other’s right forearm, which was the military version of the handshake here. Regular handshakes didn’t work because you’d jab each other with your claws that would come out when you squeezed each other’s hands during a regular shake, no matter how light the pressure.

  “Ah Will! What can I do for you?”

  “I was wondering how the training of the new Cavalry was coming along?”

  Holse smiled, “Fairly well overall, most of them can’t fight from their mounts yet, but they all can ride very well. Those tribesmen you hired were most effective teachers; their punishments for poor performance were quite ingenious.”

  I laughed at that, I could just imagine.

  “Good, I want to take all of them with us when we go to Holden for the Royal meeting.”

  “I’m not sure how well they’ll do Will,” he warned.

  “It’ll be good experience for them,” I said, “Plus if we need to return in a hurry, the Queen would make a lot better time on the back of one, then in the royal wagon.”

  Holse nodded, “Too bad we can’t use the wolats to pull the wagons or the carts, they’re so much faster than the oxen we use.”

  I blinked, “Why can’t you use them?”

  “The wooden yokes do a number on them, damn near had one strangle itself.”

  “Huh,” I thought about that, I remembered then that I had meant to talk to someone up here about fixing that last fall. “Tell them to try making the yokes out of leather, put some wood or metal inside to stiffen it up, but make them wider and well padded.”

  “If you have an idea that might work, stop by the leatherworker’s shop and tell him. It’s not really something I know anything about Will.”

  I nodded and added that to the list of things I needed to do.

  “Also I’m going to want to take about ten companies with us on the trip.”

  Holse looked surprised, “You expecting trouble?”

  “I’m expecting to discourage the idea,” I said with a grim smile. “We’ll only take one company into Holden with us. But if we need them, well it’s only a day’s march to the Capitol from the border.”

  Holse nodded, “I’ll see to it Will.”

  I smiled and we clasped arms again and I went off to talk to the leatherworker.

  The next month and a half until we left wasn’t remarkable really. Wreth continued to become more independent, actually arguing with Diament once on something leaving Diament looking rather surprised. There were some of the usual issues, someone pilfered a bunch of clothing from the castle laundry, leaving a few of the servants and the guards rather annoyed.

  Next, some of the food stores and wine were pilfered, which left the kitchen staff annoyed and at that point and the captain of the guard doubled the number of guards on duty, and put a few extra around in a few places as well.

  I got the impression from him that he was taking it as a personal insult that these things had happened under his nose. At least the thefts stopped.

  When the time came to leave, Rachel installed her aunt Reese in the castle to watch over
our son and we headed out for the nearly two-week trip to Holden’s Capitol city, Erlis.

  It rained the entire way there, which led to a lot of complaints from the troops of course. The Wolats didn’t really seem to care, and I took them off on a few exercises during the trip, more because I wanted an idea of what they could do, and what I might be able to do with them.

  We dropped the troops off in a number of spots on the day before we crossed the border, then we took one company, as we had all decided, as well as our small cavalry into Holden and to their city.

  King Charles’ seneschal didn’t even blink when we rode up to his castle; he just told us where to bivouac the troops, and then showed us inside to our rooms.

  It took a while for us to get settled; we had a dozen guards, six servants, and the luggage of a traveling Queen. There were even some nice outfits for me in there somewhere as well.

  Several hours later, we were escorted down to the great hall for dinner.

  When we got to the entrance, I could see that all of the guests were standing by their seats at the table. The steward announced Rachel first.

  “Queen Rachel of the Hilands!” He called out, and everyone politely clapped their hands.

  “The Royal Consort: William the Godslayer!” He called out next, making me wince as I heard the name yet again. But the sound of the applause was shocking. Even the King stood up and clapped his hands.

  “Gods this is embarrassing,” I whispered to Rachel who looked surprised as well.

  “And to think, I married you only because you have such a nice ass under that tail.” She whispered back making me almost miss a step as we walked down the stairs. I looked at her and she was smirking at me.

  “You gave me a city as a wedding present,” she giggled, “what woman could say no to that?”

  When we reached the main table, Rachel and the King sat and I bowed to the King, then sat.

  “You are too kind, your Highness,” I said to the King.

  “Hardly, you did everyone a service. Even the King of Marland breaths easier and sleeps better at night now.”

  “Well in all fairness,” I said, “my God Feliogustus should be thanked as well, he did make me his champion after all, and put me in the place so that I could right those many wrongs.”

  The King nodded, “That is also true, and I have decreed that the priests and priestess of Feliogustus shall be welcomed into our land, and our house.”

  I could tell from that spot in my mind that Fel was rather pleased, so I nodded to the King again, “Thank you your highness.”

  Dinner started then, and Rachel and King Charles began to talk at that point, so I mostly sat back and just watched and listened. The woman seated on my right tried to strike up a conversation a few times, but I wasn’t all that interested in small talk.

  As the dinner progressed, their conversation got more involved in the business of their respective kingdoms. King Charles knew an impressive amount about Hilands, but Rachel also knew an equally impressive amount about Holden.

  Over the next several days Charles and Rachel met several times, Charles was basically telling Rachel his vision for the lands he ruled, and Rachel was telling him her plans for Hiland, and her hopes for what Baron and his daughter would do once they ruled together.

  I think it was mostly Charles feeling Rachel out, to make sure that this was the alliance he did want.

  It was the fifth night of our stay; we’d be leaving in a two days when King Charles came up to me alone. It was late at night and I was standing outside along one of the walls looking out over the city.

  “King Charles,” I said and gave a small bow.

  “Ah William, at last I get you alone.”

  I looked at him, “I had no idea you wanted to speak with me your highness.”

  He smiled, “You can knock off the honors, it’s just you and me son.”

  I nodded, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

  “Is it true Champions are immortal?” He asked looking out over his city.

  “Not really,” I said, “I’ve been told that eventually I’ll tire of the job, that I’ll miss the company of my wife, my family, my friends, and that I’ll retire.”

  “But you will live a long time, won’t you?”

  I wondered where he was going with all of this. “Yes, for the most part I’ll live as long as I want to.”

  “That’s what I wanted to know,” he said turning towards me.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m holding you responsible for the welfare of my people, my kingdom. I know you love your wife; I can see it in your eyes. I know you have faith in your God; I can hear it in your words when you speak of him.

  “You’ve heard me talk of my hopes and my dreams, and I’m sure you know of your Queen’s as well. Well the truth is, we are mortal, we shall pass. Our children are mortal as well, they too shall pass. But you William, you will be here long after we are all gone. Who better to be a steward to all of this,” he waved his arm out at the town lying outside the walls, “than you?”

  I nodded and sighed, “As soon as I held my son for the first time I felt it. You want your children to have more, to be more, to do more. I will always be there for him; I will be there for his children, and his children’s children. It’s a strange and scary thing Charles.”

  “Perhaps to you William, but to me it is a wonderful thing. You can tell Rachel I will sign the Marriage Banns with her in the morning. I know she wishes to leave soon, you may depart as soon we’ve concluded.”

  I nodded, “Thank you, I do appreciate it.”

  “Just do an old man one favor if you could.”

  “What would that be?”

  “Punch King Stivik in the nose for me.”

  I laughed, King Stivik was the King of Barassa.

  “I will do my best.”

  “I believe that will be more than enough. Good night William.”

  “Good night King Charles.”

  I watched as he walked away, and then turning to walk back to our rooms I felt something, something strange. It seemed like Fel had just increased somehow. I couldn’t explain it at all, and it was followed by a feeling from him that I needed to sleep.

  I hurried up and getting into bed with Rachel, I pulled her sleeping form close and quickly closed my eyes.

  “Yes Fel?” I asked looking around the bar. I noticed it immediately, there was a stage in the bar now, and there were instruments upon that stage.

  “Will, I have good news, bad news, and good news.” Fel said, looking a little serious, but he did not seem upset.

  “What’s the bad news?” I said looking around.

  “I must tell this in order, so you understand it.”

  I nodded, rules stuff I guessed.

  “Partially. Now, I have joined with Fordessa, she is now a member of my Pantheon.”

  He held up a hand to forestall any congratulations. “Her position will be that of the faithful friend and lover, who brings light and joy to the people by the way of her songs and her music. So you could think of her as a junior partner.

  “Now I gained some power, because of her followers, but she just gained a lot of power because of mine. And that’s important.”

  “Why?” I asked curious as to where all of this is going.

  “Because she immediately qualified for a Champion, which she now has.”

  I cocked my head, “She got a Champion immediately?”

  Fel nodded, “A series of events were coming, Aryanna saw them, not unlike she saw when I would need you. Fordessa and I agreed on the Pantheon months ago, we just held off to give our priests and priestesses time to lay the groundwork. When the time was right, we joined together, she took on her Champion, and we acted.”

  I shivered. “What happened Fel?” I growled.

  “The main temple was attacked by one of those suicide groups we’ve come to know and hate,” he said. “However, because we suddenly had Fordessa’s Champion in the midst of t
he temple, they failed immediately.”

  I stopped a moment and thought about Fel’s temple, “Why would they attack the main temple? You can strike down anyone inside it!”

  “With opposing priests and champions it’s a bit harder, but yes I can. They were sent there purely as a diversion.”

  “A diversion for what?”

  “First of all, your son Baron is safe. He’s with your wife Darlene.”

  When Fel mentioned Baron I almost lost it, but I calmed down immediately once he told me Baron was safe.

  “What happened Fel?” I growled it out, I was livid.

  “Tantrus’ Champion launched an attack on the Castle in an attempt to kidnap or kill your son. They had a force of sixty fighters and priests with them. They even had some outside help...”

  “Diament?” I growled interrupting him.

  “No, Diament is dead actually. He attacked Tantrus’ Champion himself, personally leading a group of guards when they assaulted the living quarters. He actually sacrificed himself to save your son Will.”

  I looked at Fel shocked.

  “While that was happening, Aryanna’s new Champion, along with Dezba led the rest of the Castle’s forces in a counter attack and wiped them all out while Joseph took your son to your inn for safekeeping.”

  “If they killed them all, why does he need to be with Darlene?”

  “They had inside help William.”

  I stopped and thought about that. “From whom?” I growled.

  “I can not say.”

  “Can not, or will not?” I said still growling.

  “Rules William, rules.”

  “Damnit Fel! This isn’t anytime for fucking rules!”

  Fel put a finger on my nose and I froze. My anger froze with it. “I know you’re upset William, so I won’t punish you for that. I can’t break the rules Will, even if I want to, I cannot. You however can.”

  That stopped me. When he took his finger off my nose, I prostrated myself before him, “I apologize Feliogustus, I am sorry I doubted you.”

  Fel smiled, “I appreciate the gesture, especially as I know the thought is sincere. Now, what can I do for you?”