The King's bastard cokrk-1

by Rowena Cory Daniells

  'Arrgh!' Garzik gasped. 'It's me, only me.'

  'Garza?' He released him. 'What are you doing here?'

  The boy brushed off snow and crouched on his heels, warming his hands over the coals in the brazier. 'Looking for dinner. I had to run off without food or cook would have told father.'

  'Garza?' Orrade surfaced, turning towards their voices. 'You ran away from Dovecote?'

  'Don't sound so disapproving. Father disowned you.'

  'Why are you here?' Byren tried again.

  'I've come to serve on the king's honour guard,' Garzik announced.

  Byren snorted. 'You have to earn the right to serve on the honour guard. A boy of fourteen is no — '

  'Nearly fifteen. Besides, I've killed a wyvern — '

  'Freshwater,' Orrade qualified.

  'True,' Garzik admitted. 'But I saved you both from the ulfr pack, killed two — '

  'It's not all about killing,' Orrade told him.

  Garzik silently appealed to Byren.

  'Well, you're here now,' he said, replacing the pot on the brazier. 'Let's get you fed. We can decide tomorrow if you go back.'

  'I'm not going back.'

  'Father will disown you,' Orrade warned. 'He'll make Elina his heir.' He grinned ruefully. 'He should. She'd do a better job than either of us.'

  Garzik rolled his eyes.

  'Don't roll your eyes at me,' Orrade snapped.

  Byren dropped the ladle in the pot. 'What did you say?'

  Orrade gestured to Garzik. 'I might be disowned but I am still his older brother and I — '

  'By Halcyon, you can see!' Byren fumbled in his pack for the lamp and lit it.

  Orrade winced at the light, turning away, then realised what he had done. 'I can see and my head's stopped hurting.' He sat up, blinking slowly as though testing his sight. 'There's some grey spots floating across my vision but I swear, I can see!'

  Garzik threw himself on Orrade, hugging him fiercely. Byren watched, his own joy tempered because he feared Orrade's sight wasn't permanently restored. He didn't like the sound of grey patches moving over his vision.

  'Now everything's all right.' Garzik sat back on his heels. 'We can both swear loyalty to King Rolen and next time you teach spar raiders a lesson, I'll come too!'

  Byren grimaced. If only life were that simple. He was going home with the threat of his supposed association with the Servants of Palos hanging over him. All it would take was a slip of Garzik's tongue to land him in trouble. How would his father react? He wasn't called King Rolen the Implacable for nothing.

  He should send Garzik back to Dovecote estate.

  Garzik grinned at Orrade. 'Now that you can see, you can perform some deed of bravery and win a title and estate of your own!'

  'Don't you care that I'm like Palos?' Orrade demanded.

  Garzik laughed. 'You're still my brother.'

  Orrade smiled, and shook his head in wonder, making Byren realise he couldn't send the lad back, even if he would go.

  Garzik glanced his way. 'And Byren is still the finest warrior I have ever seen.'

  Orrade snorted. 'And you've seen so many. But Garza, it's not true. Byren only claimed to own the pendant to try and save me from father's wrath.'

  Garzik turned awed eyes to Byren. 'You did that for Orrie?'

  He shrugged this aside. 'Come and eat. Truth be told, I didn't even think, just reacted.' No, if he'd given it any thought he would never have put himself in this position. Shouldn't have had to. Orrade and his stupid pendant.

  Byren summoned a smile as he passed the boy a bowl of reheated dinner. 'Here, have this. We should be at the castle by lunchtime tomorrow.'

  'Good.' Garzik accepted the bowl. 'Piro will get such a surprise.'

  'No more picking on her,' Orrade told him, watching his brother fondly as he gulped down the strew. 'Piro Kingsdaughter is nearly a woman now, and won't want to play silly childish games.'

  'Since when?' Garzik challenged.

  'Speaking of my family.' Byren cleared his throat. Time to deal with unpleasant truths. 'I'll have to tell mother and father that you've been disinherited, Orrie. It would be wrong to let you eat at their table without letting them know.'

  Orrade nodded. 'I've been thinking. They don't need to know the details. I'll tell them it's between father and I. That's true enough. I'll offer King Rolen my sword. I've always liked Captain Temor.'

  Byren nodded. Temor had served his father since the Merofynian war and trained them all when they were boys. He would probably accept Orrade, but it would be a big drop from Dovecote heir to one of the king's honour guard.

  Piro shifted from foot to foot, trying to contain her impatience. She was terribly disappointed, and the scent of glues and stiffeners used to create the milliner's elaborate head-dresses made her feel dizzy. Maybe, if she inhaled deeply several times in a row, she'd look sickly enough for her mother to cut the shopping short. Could she manage a believable faint?

  She thought she could fool the milliner but not her mother. Queen Myrella knew how good she was at play acting. If only the milliner had sent a message to say that the hercinia feathers hadn't arrived yet, then she wouldn't have come shopping. She hated being polite and having to mind her manners. But it had seemed worth it to see feathers that glowed in the dark.

  Because the hercinia birds were so rare they had almost died out and her father had banned the use of their feathers for all but royalty. Not that Piro wanted a head-dress adorned with hercinia feathers, no, she just wanted to see them for herself to discover if they were as brilliant as the feathers of her own pet foenix. Privately she doubted that any bird, Affinity or otherwise, could be as handsome.

  While the milliner fitted her mother's new head-dress for the midwinter ceremony, Piro gazed out the window into Rolenton Square. She could just see the base of the shop's sign.

  A familiar profile, carried on broad shoulders, strode by.

  Piro gasped. 'Byren!'

  'Byren?' her mother echoed. 'Surely he hasn't brought the Royal Ingeniator back already?'

  'It is Byren!' Piro dashed towards the door, throwing it wide open. Sure enough. There he was, unmistakable because he was so much taller than everyone else. And he was with Garzik as well as Orrade, so he must have gone on to Dovecote estate. They all wore packs on their backs, slung with skates.

  'Byren!' With a yell she set off after him. Heads turned.

  He spun around, saw her racing across the cobbles and gave that crooked grin that made one dimple appear in his cheek.

  She laughed, throwing herself at him. He caught her around the waist, lifting her into the air and swinging her around. She loved it.

  Effortlessly, he set her down. 'Uh. You're getting too big for this, Piro!'

  'I don't even come up to your shoulder!' She laughed.

  'I meant too old.'

  She ignored that. The longer she could put off growing up, the better. Being a grown woman meant always behaving with decorum and a thousand restrictions that would drive her mad. No, she'd fight every step of the way. Why limit herself, when she'd rather be out riding with Byren than sitting in her mother's solarium balancing the castle's books or cross-checking the kingdom's laws? 'What are you doing back already, Byren?' She nodded to Orrade and grinned at Garzik. 'So your father finally let you out without a nursemaid, Garza? Where's Elina? What happened to your head, Orrie?'

  The three of them exchanged looks and Orrade fingered the bandage.

  'A branch fell on me,' Orrade said. 'Elina's not well. She may not come to the midwinter ceremony.'

  'Oh, no.' Piro didn't try to hide her disappointment. 'What's wrong with her?'

  Orrade opened his mouth but nothing came out.

  'Piro?' Byren frowned at her. 'What are you doing running around Rolenton like a seamstress's apprentice on half-day? Mother wouldn't approve. Where is she by the way? Have you snuck away again?'

  'Not this time,' Piro admitted then saw his expression. 'Oh, don't be angry with me, Byr
en. It's such a pain being expected to behave like a — '

  He looked past her. 'Tell that to Mother. Here she comes!'

  Piro winced but the queen only had eyes for her son, as she swept towards them.

  'Byren, it is you!' Queen Myrella grabbed his vest and pulled his face down to hers, planting a kiss on each cheek. Then she stepped back beaming. Only a single stray curl revealed how she must have thrown off her head-dress to dart after Piro. She smiled at the two Dovecote brothers. 'Orrade. And Garzik, how you've grown! I trust your father is well.'

  'Well enough,' Orrade answered stiffly.

  The queen touched his bandage briefly. 'What happened to you, Orrie? Are you all right?'

  'A small head wound. It's nothing.'

  'That must have given your father a fright. Where is he?'

  'What are you doing, Mother, strolling around Rolenton without the honour guard?' Byren chided. 'You're setting a bad example for Piro. No wonder she's half-wild!'

  The townspeople, who watched them at a respectful distance, smiled as the queen laughed like a carefree girl. It wasn't as if they needed a guard in their own home town.

  'Lence took the guard to get an ale while we did our shopping,' the queen explained.

  'Oh, I'm so glad to see you, Byren,' Piro announced. 'You can take me down to the wharfs to watch the sled ships.'

  'You're just glad to see me because you hate shopping,' he teased, then grew serious. 'Mother, have you heard from Winterfall or the Royal Ingeniator?'

  'No. Is something wrong?'

  'We found a new seep, but don't worry. They're sending for sorbt stones and the Affinity warders will control it.'

  'Queen Myrella,' Orrade began. 'There's something you should know. I've — '

  'Queen Myrella!' An old woman threw off her hood, shuffling out of the crowd to confront them. Even though her voice was little more than a rasp, it carried on the cold, still air. 'Queen Myrella, true heir to Merofynia, heed my words!'

  Byren swore under his breath. Piro glanced to him. Why was he worried? An old woman couldn't hurt them, could she?

  'Be off with you!' He went to drive her away.

  'Byren,' the queen protested. Piro knew their mother always listened to the poorest of their kingdom. That's why the people of Rolencia loved her, even though she was the daughter of a Merofynian king.

  But when the queen took a good look at the old woman, her face went slack with shock. Was this someone from her mother's past, Piro wondered, a Merofynian palace servant, who had come down in the world?

  Byren gestured. 'Be off with you, old — '

  The woman silenced him with a single piercing look.

  The laughter died on Piro's lips as the woman dropped her staff and stiffened, her eyes rolling back in her head.

  Since Piro became a woman at autumn cusp unwanted Affinity had been growing in her, so she had no trouble recognising it at work now. Tension made the very air taste strange and Piro's vision blurred. She blinked repeatedly until she realised she was seeing the shift caused by Unseen power acting on the Seen world.

  Piro went very still, like a deer startled by a predator. A seer with renegade Affinity — her secret would be revealed and she would be sent away like Fyn!

  'You live a lie, Queen Myrella, queen of lies!' The old woman shrieked.

  Discovering she was not the object of the old seer's prediction, Piro relaxed fractionally. Her mother took a step back, colliding with Byren who steadied her.

  'Your lies will be the downfall of Rolencia and the death of those you love. You think you're safe but one rotten apple turns the rest!' Blind-to-the-seen-world eyes turned to Piro. She felt sure this seer would recognise her growing Affinity and denounce her.

  'Like mother, like daughter!' the old woman wheezed. 'Do not make the same mistake — '

  'Filthy untamed Affinity!' Lence swore, thrusting through the crowd. A dozen young honour guards wearing the symbol of the royal house of Rolencia followed him. Rich red foenixes, their scales picked out in gold thread, gleamed against the black background of the surcoats.

  'Be silent, Utland Power-worker!' Lence ordered.

  The old woman's trance left her and she cast him one swift glance before fixing Piro with urgent jet-black eyes, stumbling towards her. 'Piro Myrella Queensdaughter, don't deny your — '

  Piro smelt death on the old woman. It turned her stomach and she pulled back instinctively.

  'Here, leave m'sister alone!' With one shove Lence sent the Power-worker flying across the swept cobbles.

  She hit the wall of the Three Swans Inn and collapsed in a snowdrift, her head at an odd angle.

  Piro stared, stunned. The old seer was dead.

  Now she could never reveal Piro's secret. A surge of relief filled her, followed swiftly by guilt as she turned on Lence. 'You killed her!'

  He lifted his large hands, looking down at them as if surprised by what he had done. Like Byren he was a head taller than most men, but he had a deep barrel chest and the arms of a blacksmith.

  Lence grimaced and wiped his hand on his thigh. Revulsion twisted his handsome lips. 'She shouldn't have brought her filthy untamed Affinity into Rolencia!'

  Dismay swamped Piro. Would Lence dismiss her as quickly if he knew about her Affinity? 'But she was just an old woman. She wasn't even a very good seer!'

  It was true. Piro was nothing like her mother.

  'Hush, Piro,' the queen whispered. She looked ill. 'Lence did the right thing. We cannot have — '

  'But she should have been arrested and given the choice of banishment or death,' Piro insisted. 'That's the law. You're always making me memorise the law.'

  'Enough, Piro. It's for the best,' Byren urged. His attention was on their mother, who was visibly wavering as if her legs might give way. He slid an arm around her shoulder. 'Come sit down, mother.'

  Orrade took her other arm.

  'Uh, Orrie, Garza. Didn't see you there,' Lence muttered, then looked about eagerly. 'Where's Elina?'

  'She's sick,' Garzik whispered, still staring at the seer.

  Like him, Queen Myrella stared at the old woman's body, which lay abandoned like an empty husk.

  Piro shuddered. She had never seen violent death. Surely the seer knew the laws of Rolencia? What had been so important that she risked death to warn them? Piro tried to remember what had been said to her mother, something about living a lie because she was the true heir to Merofynia and this would cause Rolencia to fall and her loved ones to die.

  Impossible. Rolencia was strong, so strong that when her mother's younger brother, King Sefon, died seven summers ago, her parents had decided not to get involved in Merofynia's civil war, not because they couldn't have ridden into Merofynia and taken the throne, but because they didn't want to waste the blood of young Rolencians on foreign soil.

  Piro licked dry lips. How could avoiding war cause death?

  She shuddered, glad the old seer hadn't had a chance to betray her Affinity. Perversely, though, Piro wished she could have heard the rest of the old woman's prophecy, if only to discover how mistaken she was. Rotten fruit, what next?

  Lence turned to one of the honour guard. 'Fetch the Affinity warders and get rid of the body.'

  They would burn the old woman then scatter her ashes over water, saying the words to dispel her power. It was the only way to be sure that no taint of her untamed Affinity lingered.

  'You.' Byren beckoned another of the honour guard. He still supported their mother, who looked lost and distracted. 'I need you to borrow a carriage to take my mother and sister back to the castle.'

  A clattering of hooves made them turn. Astride his sturdy roan, King Rolen bore down on them, the crowd parting hurriedly.

  'Father!' Now Piro knew everything would be all right.

  Taking in the situation, King Rolen swung his leg over the horse and dropped to the ground with a grunt, the landing jarring all his old wounds. Piro winced for him. Her father had been growing stiffer recently. But he s
till radiated the energy that had saved their kingdom from invasion thirty years ago.

  'Myrella, are you all right?' he demanded, enfolding the queen's small frame in his arms. Byren stepped back while their mother assured the king that she was fine. Their father looked to Lence. 'What happened?'

  'Mother and Piro were assaulted by a renegade Power-worker,' Lence spoke up. 'I dealt with her.' He gestured to the body, which the honour guard had yet to remove.

  King Rolen's heavy brow gathered in a frown. Piro knew that look. Now there would be trouble. Ever since his own father and elder brother had been killed by renegade Power-workers on the battlefield, her father had set out to eradicate everyone with untamed Affinity from Rolencia.

  'Right.' King Rolen began roaring orders.

  Piro marvelled. Within a matter of moments, a carriage had been found and she and her mother were bustled into it. As they tucked the blankets around their legs and adjusted the heated bricks, she overheard her father telling Byren, 'It's just as well you're back early. We've had a complaint about a rogue leogryf that's taken to preying on the villagers up near the pass to Foenix Spar. You and Lence can handle it.'

  Piro peered out the carriage window. She had never seen a live leogryf.

  'Can I go too?' Garzik demanded. Then remembered his manners and dropped to one knee, placing a hand over his heart. 'I mean, I offer my service — '

  Her father laughed, hauling him to his feet. 'Of course you can. We need every able-bodied man, even if he is not much more than a boy!'

  Garzik looked as if he was torn between being pleased or slightly affronted.

  King Rolen turned to Orrade. 'What happened to your head, lad?'

  'Took a fall. King Rolen, I — '

  'How's the old Dove, feisty as ever?'

  Orrade nodded and went to speak, but the king turned away to deal with his honour guard and the disposal of the seer's body.

  The carriage gave a jolt and began to rattle over the cobbles so Piro saw no more.

  'It's not fair,' she muttered. There was Garzik, only a year and a bit older than her and he was allowed to go hunting with Lence and Byren, but she never would. She sighed. Right now she was heading for the safety and boredom of the castle while Byren and Lence went off on the king's business. The high point of her day was seeing a feather that glowed in the dark and even then she'd been let down. 'Why can't I go with Byren and Lence?'