“An’ now she’s all astutter. Out with what you want, tart.”
Arianwyn scowled at Sigurd and Wymond. “You must both be mad. I’m looking for a guard for Lady Alyssa, not some court jester.”
“Ha! Do ya have some fire after all, wench?”
Arianwyn looked at him. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time. I was looking for a guard for Lady Alyssa.” She turned to leave.
“Now, wait just a minute, lass.” She turned back to look at him. “I didn’ say I wasn’ interested in what you had to say, did I?”
Arianwyn raised an eyebrow. “Lady Alyssa is in need of a guard. If you’re interested, these two highly recommended you. I would appreciate if you’d find a second man that you trust to assist you.”
Kerr straightened slowly, gazing at her thoughtfully. “If Cap’n Alberich’ll release me from my duties as a Keep Guard, I’d be honored to protect the li’l lass. I’m sure I could muster up another lad to help.” He looked at Sigurd and Wymond. “The same as had the father in need a stripin’, I assume.” They nodded. “Well then, wait here an’ I’ll check with the cap.” He spit again and strode away, whistling some tune that Arianwyn recognized from her days as an inn maid.
She shook her head, looking at Sigurd and Wymond. “You could have warned me,” she snapped.
Although their faces did not change, she thought she saw them smile. “He would never have taken you seriously, lady. He’s the kind you have to prove your mettle to if you want his help.” Arianwyn sighed and waited, stepping to the side when Sigurd touched her arm, drawing attention to the young men waiting to practice sparring.
“What are you doing here?”
Sigurd and Wymond straightened as one. Arianwyn glanced up at Rael and curtsied. He was holding the helmet under his arm. His hair was plastered to his head. Sweat ran down the side of his face and stained the practice jerkin he was wearing. “We’re seeking guards for Lady Alyssa, Your Majesty.”
He grunted, eyes flicking at Sigurd and Wymond. “When your duties are ended today, you will practice with James and Rynert.” They did not reply, although Arianwyn thought they stiffened more.
Arianwyn frowned. “Do you disapprove, Your Majesty?”
“Of the guards? No. They should have been assigned sooner,” he sighed. He nodded to them and strode across the grounds, tossing his helmet, shield, and sword toward the racks for someone else to care for. Arianwyn frowned, watching him go.
A few moments later, Captain Alberich returned with Kerr and a second man. “You didn’t tell me she’d be taking two of my best men!” he complained. Kerr grinned, exposing a few missing and rotting teeth. The second man shifted, glancing between them.
Arianwyn winced. “I’m sorry, Captain. They wouldn’t let me choose anyone else,” she said, gesturing toward Wymond and Sigurd. They snorted in response. “They were worried they’d get distracted if I chose a better looking guard.”
Kerr threw his head back and guffawed loudly. He clapped Captain Alberich on the shoulder, causing the captain to stagger slightly. “I suppose he is an ugly devil. Of course you have my consent to take him and Erich, too…I just wanted you to know that they’re the best I’ve got and you’re depriving me of their service.”
Arianwyn smiled at him. “Thank you, Captain. We’ll be sure to take care of them.” Kerr shook his head at her. “Let’s introduce them to Lady Alyssa, shall we?” As they exited the yard, Arianwyn thought she saw a tall, thin figure at the other end. She frowned and continued onward, certain she was imagining things.
Rael
Rael kept his gaze focused on James until the other man surrendered. He moved his foot from James's wrist and removed the sword from James's throat. Then he turned his attention across the arena, scowling. “What's she doing in here?”
Rynert sat with elbows on knees and looked across the way at the peasant girl. “I don't know. Didn't Sigurd give you an outline of her day?”
Rael scowled, yanking his helmet from his head. “This was not part of the schedule,” he snapped. He stalked across the yard, the other guards scrambling to keep up. Rael glared at the girl. He reviewed the lecture in his mind. The arena was for fighting and training not socializing. Women had no business here. They could be hurt. They definitely shouldn't be looking over his men as if they were appetizers.
:You're over-reacting,: Charon remarked.
:I am not,: Rael growled. :You know what happened between my parents.:
:Yes, I do. But neither she nor you are your parents. You should find out why she's here before lecturing her.:
Rael tried to crush the helmet in his arm in response. She was smiling at the other men. He felt the metal buckle in his grip and grunted, loosening his grip. “Sigurd will let you know what she's doing here tonight,” Rynert said.
“I will find out now,” Rael snapped. He approached the woman. His scowl darkened when neither Sigurd nor Wymond reacted to his approach. That was never a good sign. “What are you doing here?” he asked. It was only because of Charon's warning growl in the back of his head that he kept his temper in check. Barely.
Sigurd and Wymond both jumped, eyes swiveling to his. Rael let them see his displeasure before turning his gaze to the girl. Instead of looking guilty or frightened, she smiled and curtsied. “We're seeking guards for Lady Alyssa, Your Majesty” she replied.
Rael grunted, glancing again at Sigurd and Wymond. His temper fizzled. It no longer had a target and he was at a loss for what to do next. “When your duties are ended today, you will practice with James and Rynert,” he said. They did not reply. They knew they were in trouble for not reacting at his approach.
The girl surprised him again, stiffening and frowning up at him. “Do you disapprove, Your Majesty?” she asked.
There was no way around it. He was going to have to acknowledge she was here in innocence and not seeking a bedmate. “Of the guards? No. They should have been assigned sooner,” he sighed. He nodded to them and strode across the grounds, tossing his helmet, shield, and sword towards the racks for someone else to care for. He didn't dare glance back at the girl again. In the short time she had been elevated to nobility, she had figured out how to turn his mind into knots.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bernie exiting the Barracks. “James, make sure that boy is kept on the walls, out of the Keep.” James nodded and split from the group to give the message to Captain Alberich. Rael continued into the Keep to wash and change before meeting with the thanes again. He sighed. At least they would be leaving soon.
17-Politics
Dinner that night was uneventful. Arianwyn couldn’t have been happier with that. The seating arrangement had changed to reflect the king’s choice of bride. She was seated next to him with Ethelinda on the other side of the king. Ethelinda made a point of pretending Arianwyn did not exist during dinner. That suited Arianwyn just fine, except the flirting was slowly grating on her nerves.
Thane Julius was present for the dinner, although it appeared he would rather be elsewhere. He was sitting gingerly in the seat, back held straight. He was very careful not to touch anything behind him. Thane Malcom was seated next to Ethelinda. He spent most of the night trying to convince the king that he had made the wrong choice, going on and on about trade agreements and leadership capabilities. When he was not speaking to the king, he was speaking to Ethelinda, just loud enough that anyone nearby could hear the gist of their conversation. Most of the trade talk went right over Arianywn’s head. The allusions to filth and ignorance did not.
When her father spoke to Rael, Lady Ethelinda sat back so that her father could more easily speak around her. She had smiled slightly, a bare uplift of the corners of her mouth, when she saw Arianwyn at the beginning of dinner. She glanced at Arianwyn’s hands and her eyes sparkled maliciously. She held herself carefully aloof from everyone at the dinner, except for the king and her father.
“Lady Arianwyn, you haven’t told me what happened to your hands,” King Rael said, tu
rning away from Malcom as soon as a pause presented itself.
Arianwyn flushed and tucked her hands under the table. “It’s nothing, Your Majesty. Simply an accident during riding lessons.” He raised his eyebrows. Arianwyn sighed. “Master Eachann wanted me to get to know the horse better. I was walking her around the paddock when something spooked her.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ethelinda scowling at her. She wrinkled her nose slightly. “I didn’t let go of the rope fast enough,” she admitted.
Rael nodded slightly. “At least you didn’t lose your hand, then.” Arianwyn looked at him in surprise. Before he could respond, Thane Malcom interrupted.
“Your Majesty, there are certain concerns with our borders to consider, as well.” King Rael sighed and looked back to Malcom. They continued their conversation about border incursions and the possibility of war coming. It made Arianwyn nervous, so she turned to Alyssa.
“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly, continuing to eat her dinner.
Alyssa smiled quickly at her. “I’m fine, Lady Arianwyn, thank you. You should talk to Lady Blythe and Thane Cael, though.”
“Isn’t it rude to talk around someone?” Thane Cael was sitting on the other side of Lady Alyssa.
She smiled. “Only if you’re trying to ignore me. But I know you’re not ignoring me, so it isn’t rude this time.”
Arianwyn peered nervously over Alyssa at Thane Cael and Lady Blythe. “How is your food, Thane Cael?”
He glanced over at her and chuckled. “The food is excellent, as usual. Come now, child, isn’t there something more political you can ask me about?”
Alyssa piped in. “How are the marble exports going?”
Arianwyn paled. She set her hands on the table to still their shaking. “You’re thaneship exports marble?”
He nodded, continuing to eat. He did not seem to notice Arianwyn’s reaction. “My thaneship actually contains the majority of the mining industry. Marble, gold, silver, gems. The mountains my daughter and I live in are rich with minerals and precious ores in the North. Thane Julius’s thaneship includes a small portion of sea, the only harbor in King Rael’s kingdom, which makes him central to trade. He will travel West tomorrow morning. Thane Malcom is located to the South, perhaps the richest thaneship of the kingdom. He has timber and arable farmland in abundance. Thane Merari’s thaneship would include the capital if his Majesty didn’t reside here,” he chuckled. “Otherwise, his land is mostly desert. He gains income through taxes.”
“He also has access to sand and some of the best glassmakers in the kingdom,” Blythe added, sipping her wine.
Arianwyn sat thinking, mentally drawing a map of the land surrounding her. She had never known who the thane over her was. Being a peasant, it had not really mattered before. One master was as evil as another. Now she had an entire political structure to understand. “What will happen now? I mean, the king has chosen a bride, what will happen to the other daughters?”
Lady Blythe chimed in again. “Oh, we’ll be bartered and traded like so much cattle.” Thane Cael rolled his eyes. Lady Blythe’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “The highest bidder, isn’t that right, father?”
“I never said the highest bidder! Just the first.” Lady Blythe laughed softly. “In a way, she is right. We will form alliances that will benefit us and the kingdom. Unfortunately, Lady Blythe has had too much common influence in her life. She mistakenly believes that there should be other options in life.”
Arianwyn glanced at the plate, filled with food and looked up and down the table. “There are other options. They don’t feed you nearly so well, though.”
Lady Blythe frowned, glancing at her from the corner of her eye as she finished a bite of food. “What do you mean?”
“Even among the poor, the fathers attempt to arrange marriages to the best advantage of their families. Only the poorest of the poor contemplate marrying for love. And that’s only because they haven’t anything else to offer.” Arianwyn’s reply momentarily robbed Blythe of her usual banter. Everyone ate in silence, occupied with their own thoughts. Arianwyn felt awkward, knowing she had caused this silence. “So, um, are you both returning for the wedding?”
Blythe snatched the comment, sighing in relief at the lifting of the heavy silence. “Of course. That is why His Majesty declared the wedding would take place in the spring.”
Cael continued explaining, “Each thane will be able to return home in time to finalize the year’s business. Only a fool would attempt travel in the winter. That will allow us to organize our affairs with our stewards so that the beginning of the year will run smoothly. We will travel here for the wedding and return home after a month or two.”
Arianwyn shook her head. “So much traveling! Is it always this way?”
Cael shrugged. “About every other year, usually. We travel to counsel with His Majesty one year, the next year he travels to each thane for an eye view of how we conduct business.”
“What about me?”
Blythe chuckled. “You’re a lady! Your job is to provide a lovely backdrop for conversation.”
Cael rolled his eyes. “His Majesty will primarily be reviewing defenses and our accounting books. You will be expected to assess the general welfare of the people. It has been a long time since there has been a queen to decide if the thanes are actually caring for their people or not.”
Arianwyn leaned back, staring across the dining hall. “And how am I supposed to do that? Most of the commoners do not even know who their thane is. They curse him for the extra burden given in caring for him and his family.”
Cael blinked in surprise. “Surely it is common knowledge. The peasants have grown up with the same family of thanes for…” He trailed off as Arianywn shook her head.
“Thane Cael, I just learned tonight that you were my thane. I cannot even tell you the name of the village I grew up in, only that it was in the mountains. I could not read or write until King Rael assigned me tutors. I was focused more on my next meal and avoiding the next beating than I was on who was in charge.”
Cael looked down at his food, frowning. “I can’t…” he shook his head and set his fork down. “I can’t believe it.” He was silent a moment, looking troubled. “And did you often curse your thane?”
Arianwyn winced, mentally berating herself for not guarding her tongue. “No, Thane Cael. I had other masters who were of more pressing concern. I didn’t need to go higher up the chain to find trouble.” She sighed dramatically, lifting her hands. “Trouble usually finds me.” He smiled briefly at the remark, though his eyes remained doubtful. The end of the meal and the beginning of the dancing finished the conversation for them. Arianwyn was relieved to be done.
Thane Cael escorted Blythe to the floor, a slight frown still on his face. Alyssa sighed. “You probably shouldn’t have sprung that on them so quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Thane Cael is a good man who works hard for his people. Knowing how it truly is for them frustrates him, especially when he doesn’t know what can be done.”
Arianwyn winced, guilt welling up inside. “Lady Arianwyn,” Rael interrupted, “let us dance.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” He led her to the floor where the other dancers swirled in time with the music. “You look disturbed. What were you speaking so intently with Thane Cael about?”
Arianwyn flushed and attempted avoiding the conversation. “Oh, it was nothing. We started off speaking about the wonderful meal.” Rael turned his full attention to her, then, frowning. She groaned inwardly. It was pleasant having him not angry at her, something she wanted to continue. So she recapped her conversation, ending with Lady Alyssa’s comment. “What should I have said?”
King Rael was silent, finishing the dance with her and leading her to the side. “Until you learn more of politics, you only have two weapons. Your honesty and your silence. Perhaps the difficult task is learning when to use them.” He smiled wryly, kissed her hand, and left to dance with
another lady.
18-Riding Lessons
The departure of the thanes was a relief to Arianwyn. It allowed her to focus on her studies and on becoming queen. The weeks slipped by, the monotony broken only by the slowly changing season. The weather had transitioned from late summer to early fall, bringing freezing temperatures during the night and sweltering heat during the day.
It was early in the morning when a polite knock sounded on the door. Arianwyn looked up in surprise. She was sitting at her desk, reading. She had been unable to shake the habit of waking up early and quickly found that it would be better to keep it. The pile of work she was assigned to learn required all of her waking hours and often robbed her of sleep. The mornings were the best time, when she was usually guaranteed no interruptions. She hurried back to her room, slipping on a dressing gown over her nightclothes before returning to the room. A second, less patient knock rapped on her door. “Come in.”
King Rael stepped inside followed by Marie. He carried what looked like a pair of heavy coats in his arms. Arianwyn curtsied. Despite the time she had spent in the Keep, she had seen very little of the king. He intimidated her and she could not quite shake the memory of his fury. Rael tossed one of the coats at her. “Change into riding clothes and put the coat on. Meet me in the courtyard.” He turned on his heel and left.
Arianwyn lifted up the coat, inspecting it. It was plain, but heavy, reminding her of the coats some of the mountain men would wear in deep winter. She shrugged and went to her room, changing into riding skirts and slipping on the coat. Marie frowned. The coat was too big. The sleeves hung well past her hands and the coat nearly reached her knees. Arianwyn held her arms out, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
Marie wasn't so kind, holding her middle as she laughed at the look. “Mayhap the king plans on a scarecrow for the gardens,” she teased. Arianwyn stuck her tongue out at Marie.
Looking around the room, Marie found a belt to tighten the coat around Arianwyn’s waist and rolled the sleeves up. Arianwyn quickly became too warm for the room. She sighed and headed out the door toward the courtyard. Kerr was already standing outside with Sigurd and Wymond, although he was rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn. Sigurd and Wymond fell into step behind her.
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