‘If there’s to be lasting peace, Audra and her children will have to die,’ he thought, though the idea repulsed him. He shook his head hard as if trying to drive away the demons from his mind.
“And if I refuse,” Gwaynn heard himself say, as if from a dark and lonely tunnel. Suddenly the thought of just ruling Massi held great appeal.
“Of course you can refuse,” High Tarina Nystrom said standing, the others followed suit with a loud rustling of feet. “Our decision then would be more difficult but would likely fall upon the babe Prince Aiden. His mother would rule until he came of age.”
Gwaynn considered this news thoughtfully for a moment. Leaving a Deutzani to rule over the lands was not very desirable…not if he wished to honor the deaths of his family…not if he wished to honor the death of Gwynn. He sighed then. What would Gwynn make of his ascension to High King? He thought a long moment and panicked. He had little idea what she would have thought. He could no longer hear her in his thoughts and could only vaguely make out her face. She was dying to him and for that he was sad, but somehow her dying changed him, made him strong. He squared his shoulders.
“If you will have me, I will be High King,” Gwaynn said and in that moment felt ready to make all the hard decision that were before him, including the one that continued to plague his mind.
Everyone clapped and there were smiles all around as each congratulated him in turn. When the hall was finally silent, Gwaynn turned not to Tar Nev, not to Tar Kostek, but instead to the High Tarina Nystrom.
“Beware…the first act I plan as High King is to ask the assistance of Noble Island in a task that is long overdue,” Gwaynn said.
Tarina Nystrom raised her eyebrows, intrigued. “But of course, Noble Island is at your service. What is it you wish?”
Gwaynn looked down at the powerful woman then glanced out at the others before returning his gaze to the High Tarina. “The utter destruction of Sinis and all associated.”
To Gwaynn’s surprise the Tarina smiled. “That should not be a problem. We’ve word that Sinis moved on the King’s Island yesterday. Tar Nacht has now set himself up as Weapons Master to the young Queen. He’s pulled his Executioners from across the lands to help him consolidate his power, but he is spread thin…Sinis, Light and the King’s Island, all held without an army.”
“We would never support him,” Hothgaard growled. “The man’s a fool.”
“No,” Tar Nev countered, “ambitious, but no fool.”
“Fool or not,” Gwaynn said. “It’s time to end the terror of Sinis.”
The meeting slowly broke up with the unspoken promise that the crowning of Gwaynn as the High King would be kept secret for two days when the ceremony would be performed. It was opportunistic that both King Marc and Queen Ramona Toranado would be guests at the upcoming nuptials and therefore would be present for the crowning as well. Of course, King Weldon Palmerrio would also be on hand and that only left the Rhondono and the Deutzani without a presence.
‘It will be enough,’ Gwaynn thought as he made his way back to his room in a daze. He felt slightly manipulated and wondered ruefully if Tar Nev had planned this from the very beginning. Gwaynn shook his head with wonder. He wouldn’t put it past his old master. The room was shuttered and dark, and he entered quietly. He needed to be alone to think and a dark room suited him at the moment.
“You’re back already?” Samantha asked a little groggily.
“Yes…I woke you. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”
“No stay…I can’t sleep anyway,” she insisted and struggled to a sitting position on the bed. “I need to be up and around or the people of Massi will think their queen a laggard.”
“Their High Queen,” Gwaynn corrected her.
“Open the shutters will you,” she replied. “Light would be…what did you say?” She stopped talking and was looking at him as he pulled open one shutter and let in the light of the morning sky. Her red hair was tousled but her eyes were now alert with no sign of sleepiness. He went to her and nuzzled her neck.
“You will make a glorious High Queen,” he said and placed a hand on her naked thigh then ran it up under her nightdress and caressed her stomach.
“High Queen?” she asked.
Gwaynn nodded. “High Queen.”
“Oh my.”
XIX
When Tar Nacht finally landed on the shores of the King’s Island it was with a sense of triumph and expectation, but now two days later he was beginning to wonder if perhaps the move was premature. King Caiman Mastoc was indeed dead; the rumors were confirmed by his spies in Parma, the Cassinni Capital. It was ironic that the spies Cassinni tried so hard to keep from its lands were the very people responsible for saving the life of their King. Nacht smiled. Life was full of little ironies, like the fact that good High Queen Audra, though young, was far from easy to control. It didn’t help that she was in a rage over the death of her husband. She was grief stricken about Caiman, whose death followed so closely on the heels of her father’s and brother’s.
‘And let’s not even mention the untimely deaths of Nigel and Anya.’ Nacht thought with a grin. He suspected, but could not prove that the diminutive Queen was behind the pair of accidents to Caiman’s older brood.
Nacht was impressed. Audra, it seemed was a young woman after his own heart, ruthless and deadly. But Audra was also proving to be very strong minded, and in her grief she demanded revenge against all her enemies. The list was long and included the Cassinni, the Toranado but most of all the Massi and Prince Gwaynn.
Of course, he counseled patience. The lands of the Massi had become a very dark, very black hole. Nacht had heard nothing from his Executioners in Massi and there were nearly a half dozen of them fighting with the Palmerrio army. To make matters worse, there’d been no news from the Temple Knights for over three weeks, a fact that helped embolden Nacht to move on the King’s Island and push for the position of Weapons Master to the Queen. That she accepted so readily surprised him and demonstrated her own growing alarm at the lack of news coming out of Massi, that she allowed him to bring a large support force revealed the full extent of her fear.
The risk was immense, but the chance to occupy the King’s Island without resistance was too great an opportunity to pass up. There were now over a dozen Tars of Sinis on the King’s Island plus over thirty high ranking acolytes, plus nearly three hundred heavy support troops. The Isle of Light was all but abandoned, with only one minor Tar and a few hundred support personnel. Nacht no longer had any real desire for the island, if they held it so much the better, but it no longer was of much importance. The Travelers were severely weakened and might not survive the coming years. If Queen Audra had her way they would quickly be eradicated, but Nacht would rather the Travelers be under his control. He would think of a way…if he had time to consolidate his hold on power.
At the moment, standing on the large balcony that led from his rooms, Nacht looked out over the great city of the High King and then to the sea beyond. It was very late, but he could not sleep. He was risking everything and knew it, but he did so with a large amount of satisfaction. He was growing old and his skills as Tar were diminishing. It was only a matter of time before he, as High Tar, would be challenged by some young, talented upstart. He thought it might have been the Tarina de Baard but she’d proven weaker than expected. But it was coming; he knew it. Everyone on Sinis knew it. His days of power were growing short, so why not risk everything; after all it would soon not be his in any case. Nacht smiled inwardly as a strong gust of wind pushed through the night and ruffled his thin shirt. If he could no longer control Sinis, then perhaps he could command the entire Inland Sea, the possible rewards were worth the gamble. And if he lost, well then let the young bastards go about building a new kingdom of Executioners. That would not be his problem. Allies were his problem, at the moment he and Queen Audra needed them desperately. King Donnis of the Rhondono continued to pledge his support but as yet no army had sailed from the land. This
morning, Nacht urged the Queen to contact Prince Keel Palmerrio and inquire about any additional troops he could give the High King and his father.
Keel had been reticent at first but in the end he agreed to place two thousand more troops at their disposal to aid the Knights and his father. Both Nacht and Audra were elated by the news, but were also ignorant to the fact that the Palmerrio army occupying Toranado was on the march, returning home on Weldon’s orders. The commanding General of the disgraced army had the misfortune to tell Prince Keel that his father was captured and would be ransomed…the first demand being that all Palmerrio troops must leave Toranado, and so they were trudging across enemy land and coming home.
Keel was loyal to his father and would do anything to help secure his release. He would make no major move that might endanger his father…like sending an army against the enemy that now held him. Thus he gave Audra and Nacht two thousand troops even though he would soon have over twenty thousand at his disposal.
‘But what of the Temple Knights?’ Nacht wondered, his eyes drawn to a bright flash of lighting in the distance. A storm was coming but in the darkness he could not see it. The Knights were the key to everything. When they were finally victorious over the pesky Massi, would they accept the Tars of Sinis on the King’s Island? That was the real question…the real key. But it was one that Nacht himself could not answer…at least not at the moment.
ǂ
The ceremony to crown Gwaynn High King took nearly everyone by surprise, including Lonogan Bock who stood openmouthed as together the High Tarina Nystrom and Captain Hothgaard placed the crown on Gwaynn Massi’s head. The ceremony was filled with enough pomp to compensate for the lack of any real grandeur and was held fittingly on the Plateau between the two wooden bailey forts. Already General Bock had builders working on the plans for a new stone castle, but its completion was many, many years in the future. For Gwaynn, as well as for most of the Massi people, the day went by in a blur of excitement and wonder. The questions for Massi were many, the most prevalent being, who would now rule over the country. The High King ruled over the entirety of the Inland Sea and thus it would be a severe conflict of interest for the same man to rule over any of the Families lands. For a thousand years the High King ruled over all, but the King’s Island was the only real land under his direct control.
Gwaynn was not old enough to have any heirs of ruling age, nor were there any direct cousins. Arnot, Gwaynn’s father, was actually the youngest of three boys, and the lone male survivor; his eldest brother died of a rotting disease almost a decade ago and the second in childhood. Arnot did have an older sister still alive, Anitra. She was the eldest of the brood and in Gwaynn’s mind, nearly ancient. She was married, but barren, with no children, and she’d never shown any desire for courtly life. She was currently living out her life peacefully up on the finger outside the city of Heron. Her husband operated a prosperous fishing fleet in his younger days but he’d since sold that off and they were both living comfortably off the profits. Gwaynn had happy memories of visiting his Aunt, but few of them actually involved her, instead they were of Gwynn and the excitement of seeing the rough seas that continuously pounded the beaches up near the tip of the finger; no Anitra, at her age, would not be a good candidate to rule Massi even if she wanted such a thing.
But it was up to Gwaynn to decide, and as High King he could give whatever decision he made, legitimacy. All through the evening the people of Massi celebrated with vast quantities of food and drink and though many posed the question of who would rule over the land to the new High King, Gwaynn always declined any comment. Tar Nev, who surprisingly joined in the revelry, watched the new King with a constant smile, knowing that he’d chosen his student well.
Underneath the open sky, the people of Massi danced, drank and rejoiced in their freedom and good fortune. The air was very crisp but the celebration was ringed by a half dozen large bonfires that threw off a surprisingly large amount of light and heat, so most were very comfortable. Gwaynn, as High King, had little time for rest and was hauled out to dance by many a young maid. Samantha too, took a few turns, but being so far along with child she tired quickly and had to take many breaks. But surprisingly, Samantha did not feel any jealousy towards the other ladies who quickly jumped in to take her place, not even when Vio Valencia held Gwaynn a bit too close. It helped to know that on the morrow she would be Gwaynn’s bride…his Queen…the High Queen. She could be gracious and share her man…just a little. She suddenly ached for her father, wondering what he would make of her wedding…of her soon to be husband. But deep inside she knew her father would approve. How could he not?
“He has chosen his queen well,” said a voice to her right and Samantha looked over just as Tar Nev dropped into a chair at her side. Samantha colored slightly at the compliment, awed by the presence of the infamous Tar.
“My thoughts exactly,” she answered with a grin and Nev laughed loud and easy.
“I was thinking of my father,” she explained. “Of how I’m sure he would have approved of the match.”
Nev nodded. “Wise man, your father and a good husband. It was easy to see he adored Beth…your mother. And he was a master brewer.”
“You…you knew my father and mother?” Samantha asked, believing he was playing with her.
“Oh yes…Jon, my brother, always talked highly of Master Thomas Fultan but cursed him when he won the brewing contests, but then Jon was always a bit of a sore loser.”
“Jon?”
“Jon Baal,” Nev replied.
“Jon Baal!” Samantha repeated excitedly. “He’s your brother!” Jon Baal was a well known brewer, one her father always talked of with fondness and obvious respect.
Nev chuckled. “Mmmm yes, and is he going to be upset he missed this celebration.”
Samantha laughed then. “Father always said the greatest miracle in life was that Jon Baal could brew his ale faster than he drank it.”
Nev laughed again and then stood. “I believe you’ve rested enough,” he said and offered her his hand. “I would like to dance with our future High Queen.”
Samantha smiled and allowed herself to be taken out onto the field that served as the dance floor and was utterly surprised by the grace of the bushy haired master.
She danced a long while with Nev and entire time he smiled down at her. Surprisingly she didn’t tire and even seemed to grow stronger while in his arms. It was odd and she even felt a hint of melancholy as he finally passed her off to others, but her energy remained high and she danced with many, many partners. She danced with Tar Kostek and Endid, Lonogan Bock, Van Valencia, Jeffery Gaston, young Olney Hawser, three times with Prince Phillip and once with his Weapons Master…and of course with the ever faithful Cobb…and then there was Gwaynn. She danced with him first and she danced with him last, just as the large fires that lit the celebration were finally dying out in the early hours of the morning.
“Come let’s put you to bed,” Gwaynn whispered and led her away from a group of merrymakers. Everyone remaining extolled them to stay but they were ignored. By the time they reached their room Samantha could barely keep her eyes open. It was late and she was exhausted.
“That was fun,” she said softly as Gwaynn helped her out of her dress. She dropped on the bed and pulled up the covers, still in her slip.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Gwaynn answered as he crawled in next to her. “We get to do it all over again tomorrow.” But tomorrow they would do it as husband and wife.
ǂ
“No…there are two in Deutzani,” Nev corrected lightly, three days later. He’d let Gwaynn enjoy a few days of marital bliss, but now it was time to gain control of the land and begin his reign. Nev was eager to be off, but he could manage to at least wait until all Gwaynn’s enemies were at heel and the land was at peace…then be damned with the place!
They were out on the plains in front of the main gates of Manse, a large group of the most powerful people in the land. There were seve
n Tars of Noble, plus another four students and four Travelers of Light, plus Gwaynn, Bock and Captain Gaston.
“Where?” Tar Endid asked, ready to be at them.
“One in Malche and another up north in Naught…she’s working with Prince Avaal and causing trouble all along the Cassinni border,” Nev explained.
“So do we hit them first?” N’dori asked.
“We hit them first,” both Gwaynn and Nev said in unison.
Nev laughed. “My apologies your Highness,” he added with a slight bow of his head. “However I think it would be wise if you would sit this one out.”
Gwaynn frowned deeply. He did not want to lose out on his revenge against the Executioners. His soul demanded restitution for the crimes they committed.
Nev held up a hand, reading these very thoughts in the young King. “The bulk of the Executioners are on King’s Island, including Nacht. You’ll have your due, but those few which are scattered about in the lands do not warrant an all out attack led by the High King. Stay here. Take the time to get Massi’s affairs in order. I take it you’ve someone in mind to rule the land?”
Gwaynn nodded and struggled to keep his eyes from Lonogan’s.
“Then let the lucky soul know about your decision. It’s only fair. We can handle these few killers of Sinis without you,” Nev finished, his eyes twinkling with some unknown amusement. “And I promise you can lead the attack to take back the King’s…your island.”
Gwaynn found that he could not truly find a good reason to argue so in the end he agreed.
“We’ll need your help to get us started,” Monde said. “Laynee and Daniel will assist you in getting us all out on the tip of the finger.” Daniel was growing stronger and the day of the wedding he Traveled for the very first time. It was quite an accomplishment, especially for a male student.
Gwaynn nodded, feeling worse by the moment that he would not be off with the rest of them.
Elsewhere ti-3 Page 38
