The Kingmaker Prophecy

by Gemma Perfect

  The air is full of cheer, people laughing and calling out to each other – there’s an easy sense of familiarity and routine here.

  She spots the teacher threading his way towards her, full of amiable chatter with everyone he passes. He has such confidence.

  “Good morning, I trust you slept well?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Are you ready?”

  Her stomach lurches, not completely unpleasantly. Is she ready? What a loaded question. How can she be ready, when she has no idea what is to come? What challenges await her?

  She nods though, so as not to worry him and follows him dutifully along.

  Inside the castle he introduces her to her work space. “These rooms are for you – to make potions, call up a future fire, conjure spirits, whatever it is you need to do.”

  “What do I need to do? What’s my actual job, day to day?”

  “Right, starting at the most basic level you are in charge of the health of the castle. You’ll need a stock of lotions and potions – sleeping draughts, headache cures – any and all natural ingredients you can forage from the woods and keep in plentiful supply. Then there’s the protections – ongoing protection spells, or whatever works for you. The castle should be a safe place for the King and his family. You need to look for enemies, root out trouble – before it arrives.”

  Halfreda is nodding along, hoping she remembers everything.

  “You will have a wonderful life here, and you can choose how your days and weeks unfold. You might want to get into a routine according to the moon, with making things, gathering things, scheduling spells. The defining principle of it all is that the King, first and foremost, and then the royal family must be kept safe and as healthy as possible. After that, the freedom is yours to work how you see fit. You will also be in charge of important ceremonies for the royal family – any birthdays, wedding, funerals. There is a big book somewhere – I will locate it – with all the ceremonies laid out in it. I think Marby’s predecessor arranged for it to be written and collated.”

  The air is heavy with tension. “And the Kingmakers?”

  “Yes, Halfreda. The Kingmakers are yours to kill.”

  “Soon?”

  “Yes, Isla will be seventeen soon. Listen, it’s something that will undoubtedly be difficult, but we will do it together. I will walk you through the feats and ceremonies that take place beforehand and your role in the whole thing. You will be sick to your stomach I am sure, and yet, you will get through it.”

  She nods. It is the only thing she is unhappy about with her new role.

  “Walk with me.”

  They stroll in silence, Halfreda’s senses overloaded with new sights, smells, sounds and spirits. They arrive at an island, and the teacher pulls a small boat out of the rushes. They climb in carefully and he rows them across the small set of water and onto the land.

  “This is so lovely,” Halfreda feels a sense of peace here, a strange echo of the past too.

  “There have been countless ceremonies here – it’s where the dead are pushed out to sea, it’s where the King and Queen were blessed on their wedding day and it’s where all the royal children have been announced to the Realm and the gods. You can feel the history of it all, can’t you?”

  “I can, it’s wonderful.”

  “You will learn the chants and incantations, the routine of each ceremony easily enough. From the books, from your instinct, and from me. The last time I saw Marby, I took as much as she was able to give to me – I placed my hand on her head and so much knowledge came through to me. I will give it to you and you will build on it. One day you will pass it on to your replacement.”

  “Will you find my replacement for me? Will you still be around?”

  “I will. My life is infinite, and yours will be very long. Well beyond the normal life span of a woman. You will see many Kings crowned, unfortunately you will also sacrifice many Kingmakers.”

  Halfreda closes her eyes – she can see the blood of all the Kingmakers past pass across her vision. “They are sacrificed here?”

  “No – they are sacrificed outside the castle – a dais is set up, with seating for all the guests.”

  “Guests?”

  “It is a well attended event, very important to the whole Realm. People enjoy it.”

  Halfreda shakes her head.

  “Do not judge.”

  “I cannot help it.”

  “You must. Your job is to make the Kingmaker feel at ease. Support her. And...” His voice trails off and a strange look passes over his face.

  “What?”

  “There is a prophecy and it is my belief that you will stay alive until that prophecy comes to pass. You will be the keeper of this knowledge – only you – and you will stay here until then.”

  “What sort of prophecy?”

  “A prophecy about the Kingmakers. It has been said-”

  “By who?”

  “It matters not who said it, only that it has been said. One of the Kingmakers will live.”

  “Live? What for?”

  “To rule as Queen.”

  “Queen of the Realm?”

  The teacher nods. “From Isla onwards, you will test each Kingmaker to see if she is the chosen one.”

  “And if she’s not?”

  “Then you sacrifice her.”

  “How do I test her. Must I tell her of this?”

  The teacher nods.

  “So raise her hopes and then kill her anyway.”

  The teacher nods again.

  Halfreda is shaking her head.

  “Ah Halfreda! Must you always question everything and make my life more difficult. Can’t you just be obedient and amenable?” Suddenly the teacher is laughing, hysterically almost, and wiping tears off his face. He claps her back. “Of course, you are not obedient or amenable – it’s why you are here. Strong and stubborn, with ideas of your own – one day that is how every woman in the Realm will be, not just those filled with the confidence of magic. And make no mistake every woman is filled with magic, if only she knew.”

  Halfreda is shaking her head, impatient at the teacher’s laughter and blathering.

  “So, one of the Kingmakers will live and it is my job to kill the rest? Raise each one’s hopes then dash them with my dagger?”

  “Oh, Halfreda, you are almost poetic in your fury.”

  She humphs and walks to the water’s edge. “How will I know this Queen when I meet her? From the moment she is born?”

  “No. I have spoken with Ofia about this. We don’t really know – this is new. It’s not something Marby had to worry about.”

  “It’s a new prophecy? Since when?”

  The teacher beckons her closer, not wishing to answer her question but hoping to distract her.

  “Halfreda. This is serious. If this prophecy is correct; if it comes to pass, it will be the greatest development the Realm has ever seen, as well as the biggest shock. This cannot be about you or how much more difficult it might make your life. It has to be about the Kingmakers and it has to be about the Realm.”

  Halfreda nods. She hates having a telling off from the teacher. She wants his approval so desperately.

  “I’m sorry. I’m being selfish. Since you told me I would work for the King, I have dreaded killing the Kingmakers and yet it’s also hard to give my life up, to give my choices up and to follow a life of servitude. It’s not what I ever thought I’d be doing.”

  “Final chance. Are you happy to be here? To give up your freedom?”

  “I am.” And she is. There are parts of her that are panicking, wanting to run away from this life and yet she knows the peace she felt when she saw the castle for the first time – the joy she felt when the King was pleased with her. She wants to do it and make a good life for herself, but this prophecy is a new twist. A new setback.

  “How will I test them?”

  “You will bring them here. Kings can command mother nature and we believe the Kingmaker who live
s will be the same; a true leader, able to tell the Realm around her what to do. You will tell them to ask the river to rise and it will. If she is to live it will rise.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yes. There is a ceremony in the castle a week before the sacrifice – the Kingmaker feast – with the King and the princes, however many there are, and then you will ask the Kingmaker to meet you here at sunrise. The test is quick and easy. Those who fail will be upset and disappointed, at which point you will need to step in with emotional support. It will not be easy.”

  “Nothing worth doing ever is.”

  The teacher laughs. “You know you are growing up when you deliver my very platitudes back to me. It’s true though. I had the strongest feeling since I met you that you would be the new wise woman. The greatest wise woman. When this prophecy came to light I knew the reason why. You will be instrumental in bringing the first Queen to the Realm. It might be this Kingmaker, it might be thirty Kingmakers away but it will come and it will come with your help.”

  “Thirty Kingmakers? I will be dead by then.”

  “No, Halfreda.” He takes a tiny vial out of his pocket, pale blue in colour. “You will drink this. It will keep you alive until your task is done.”

  “What? For hundreds of years?”

  “Or thousands.”

  “Really? Who would want to live that long?”

  He gives her a strange look and takes a deep breath. Before he can answer, she does. “You? You have drunk this? Because you’re a keeper?”

  He nods. “Amongst other reasons. But yes – thirty years ago I drank that potion. I was already thirty years old. I age still but much slower. I will live until I am no longer needed. If you drink this, you will be the same.”

  She takes the vial and peers at the liquid. She can see tiny bubbles inside. “Do I have a choice?”

  “Always.”

  He is quiet; allowing her time to think. She unscrews the lid and sniffs it. “It smells lovely.”

  “What is your choice, Halfreda?”

  She answers him by drinking down the potion in one gulp.

  21

  And so begins Halfreda’s new life. The teacher is still at the castle and plans to stay until after her first sacrifice or unveiling of a new Queen, whichever it is to be.

  She finds herself watching Isla, wondering how both parts of her new role will feel. Giving her the hope that she might live and then, if she will not, pushing the dagger into her soft flesh. She shudders every time she thinks of it.

  Her life has settled quickly into a new rhythm, and she’s not as lonely as she feared she might be.

  She wakes when her body tells her to – no breakfast gong or chores to rush awake for. She finds she is quite the early bird – finding it easy to climb from the warm bed and soft covers, to her warm sitting room. She has instructed her little maids – there are a few who tend to her, but she is starting to learn their names – to start her fire around five in the morning and to place fresh ale and bread on her table so they are ready when she wakes. She finds that mostly everyone refers to them as little maids, just as the stable boys are always called so, whichever one it is you speak to – they are interchangeable – but she likes to call them by their names. Identity is important.

  And so, from a warm bed to a warm room for a fresh breakfast, and then a walk. She is familiarising herself with the castle and the routines performed within it. There are many servants, a pecking order of servants, and she is surprised to find herself near the top. No task is too big or small, no time of the day awkward. She can ask anyone for any old thing and she will get it. It’s quite a heady feeling initially and she plays little games where she asks for something hard to come by, but then she catches herself.

  This is their life – the people who live here and serve here – the same as hers and they all deserve a good life. Instead she starts to help the people around her; her fellow servants. She calls the fish in the lake forward when she spots the fishermen heading down to the shore. She calls off the rain from the area the laundry girls are drying sheets. She helps everyone at the castle with protection spells and also general happiness spells. None of them would be able to say why but everyone would agree that despite a sacrifice looming, there is a feeling of goodwill and joy at the castle.

  The teacher passes her in the courtyard. “You are doing well.”

  “Thank you. I am trying.”

  “Are you finding your way?”

  He doesn’t just mean in the unfamiliar castle corridors or woods and she knows it. “I am. Thank you. Would you dine with me tonight?”

  “I’d be delighted.”

  She feels like a grown up and asks Cook for a special menu of food she knows he will enjoy. The Kingmaker’s feast is edging closer and she wants his support.

  The rest of the day she spends foraging in the woods, filling her basket with ingredients for Cook, for the stable boys to help with the horses, and for her own stocks. Sniffing at the berries she adds to her haul, she feels a deep contentment and a wave of happiness wash over her. She really is happy here. She is facing an unusual future, but she is ready for it.

  The teacher arrives just as the last of the little maids leaves a plate of food on the table and closes the door behind them. “This room is lovely, Halfreda. You’ve changed it?”

  “Yes, I asked the King if I could. I wanted it to be more like me.”

  “It is. Very comfortable and warm. I warn you now I may eat and fall asleep in that lovely looking chair.”

  Halfreda laughs. “I would be happy with that. I miss you.”

  “And I you. It’s a strange feeling when my charges spread their wings and fly from me, in whatever direction they choose to go. I have no children of my own and yet I have had hundreds. I could not be prouder of you. I am watching you, ready to step in and yet I am not needed. You are faring well. Making friends?”

  “Yes there are many people I speak to but I have no one I am especially close to. I miss my friends.”

  “And I have word that they miss you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes of course. Once their minds were clear of Ofia’s spell they were heartbroken to have missed you and yet it is fruitless to be upset. They are readying themselves for the next part of their lives. By the time I leave you, they will be ready to leave me. And on it goes.”

  They are silent for a while, eating and drinking, wonderfully comfortable in each other’s company.

  “How is the King treating you? Is he listening to your counsel?”

  “I haven’t had much to say to him. He says that he feels safe with me here, which I suppose is a good thing.”

  “It is. You have placed protections over the place? Other spells?”

  She nods, pleased that he has noticed.

  “The fact that nobody attributes the peace and contentment here to you is a good thing. You don’t get any praise, but you are doing your job. Wonderfully well.”

  She smiles, rueful that he knew exactly why she was miffed. She wants everyone to be impressed with her spells, how well she is doing her job.

  “It’s normal, Halfreda. Don’t worry – they’d know soon enough if you weren’t.”

  “So the feast is coming closer...”

  “It is. Have you looked through the books yet? You need to be familiar with the chants and the itinerary.”

  “I’ve looked. I have most of it memorised and of course everything you put into my head from Marby. Will I be alright?”

  “Of course you will. Marby felt the same as you, as did Linper before her. It’s normal. You will feel nervous every single time you do it. It’s horrible. I do know that. But it’s infinitely worse for the Kingmakers. Never forget that.”

  Halfreda nods, picking apart a small cake and eating tiny bites. She will never forget. Her life is tied to the Kingmakers now and will be until she finds the one who will live.

  “I must warn you, Halfreda. I do not know everything, and I am sometim
es wrong, but I do not believe that Isla is the one chosen to be Queen. I see a long life ahead of you and your life’s work will be to find the Kingmaker who will live. It stands to reason that it is not her.”

  Halfreda shrugs. “I thought as much. I have been dreaming about the sacrifice. I think it will happen. Oh, please, how will I do it?”

  She is crying, and the teacher is holding her, comforting her and passing as much strength as he can to her. She will need so much of it in the coming days.

  22

  With just a day before the Kingmaker feast, and therefore a week until the sacrifice, the teacher visits Halfreda again in her little suite of rooms. She looks fine from a distance, and he watches her make her way around the castle. She is coping, she is settling into her role extremely well, but he knows that she will need help as the day approaches.

  He knocks the door and it’s a while before she answers; she is wearing a thick robe and her hair is wet. She looks embarrassed and he cannot help but laugh.

  “Halfreda, you are living the life of a noble woman, bathing in the middle of the day.”

  “I cannot believe you caught me!”

  “I didn’t. You are a grown up now Halfreda, free to do as you please, unless otherwise instructed by the King. Doesn’t it feel unimaginably decadent?”

  “It does. That’s why I did it. Such luxury. I cannot believe how lucky I am.”

  “And unlucky. The time is almost upon us. I’ve brought you some things to get you through the next week. Tomorrow is the feast. I’m sure you’ve noticed the flurry of activity; the swathe of visitors?”

  Halfreda nods. Only a fool would have missed the arrangements going on at the castle. The feast is tomorrow, Saturday, then a week of entertainment before the sacrificial ceremony the following Saturday. Isla’s seventeenth birthday.