An agitated murmur rippled through the crowd at the open doors of the hall.
The King’s eyes, hard as obsidian, turned to Lord Etin, the overlord of Iserport. “Davad? Would you care to respond? I was under the impression that improvements had been made and legitimate business was thriving again in Iserport.”
“Bah!” spit the petitioner.
Lord Etin met her father’s eyes squarely. “Your Grace, I assure you…”
The man spit again. “Bah, I say. Speaking my mind is gonna cost me my head, I realize that, but it is worth the price if I can leave a better life for my wife and children!”
Lord Etin snorted out a laugh and held out his hands in question. “Your Grace, how long are you going to let this farce continue?”
Her father raised his eyebrows. “Farce? This is neither the first nor the fifth complaint I have heard of the conditions in Iserport. Sources tell me that your lands are poised for civil war. What say you, Lord Etin?”
Kiernan smiled slyly. So, her father was not so unaware after all.
The devious Lord lifted one corner of his mouth. “I planned to have this conversation at Court, Your Grace. Are you sure you wish to have it now in front of so many…witnesses?”
“I have nothing to hide,” her father replied at once. “Answer the question.”
Lord Etin rose from his seat and walked down the dais steps to the petitioner who was still mangling his hat. Placing a hand conspiratorially on the man’s shoulder, Lord Etin turned back to the Court, but said loud enough so that the citizens waiting their turn at the hall doors could hear. “This man is correct. Life is deplorable in Iserport. I have made countless claims to the Crown for support and my requests have all gone unheeded!”
Kiernan stood. “Lies!”
Lord Etin shook his head. “No! Not lies, Princess Kiernan, and that is why I have called this a farce. The King is very well aware of the conditions in Iserport, because I have requested aid on several occasions and he has denied me.” He turned back to the petitioner and put his arm around his shoulders. “If this brave man can risk all to tell of the situation in Iserport, I can do no less!”
“Lord Etin…,” Kiernan warned.
“No, Princess! Let everyone hear how the King has forsaken Iserport. How he refuses to provide succor to the people who need it most—the women and the children!”
The whispers from the crowd grew tinged with anger.
“Father!” she whispered urgently. “Do something!”
The King did not turn his gaze from the belligerent Lord as he stood from his throne and all eyes in the room turned toward him. He was not a very tall man, but the compact, muscular body exuded power. He wore his black hair shoulder length with long sideburns, and his black eyes gave the impression that they could penetrate stone. “Bring him in,” he said softly to Captain Morel. The lithe Scarlet Saber moved down the stairs to a side door and a moment later escorted a young man into the hall.
She heard Lord Etin’s sharp intake of breath. “What is this?” he demanded. “What are you doing here, Kenith?”
The young man’s face, almost a mirror image of Lord Etin’s, was pale and tormented. “It is all over, Davad.”
Kiernan recognized him as Davad Etin’s younger brother.
Unattractive red blotches appeared on Lord Etin’s face as he tried to approach Kenith.
Captain Nash came off the dais and blocked his way.
“Kenith, whatever you are about, shut your mouth and do not say another word! You do not know what you are saying!”
Kenith hung his head. “I overheard you, Davad. I know all about your plans.”
“I am warning you!”
“I have already confessed all to the King.” The younger Etin paused. “Even your plans to overthrow his regime.”
A roar of surprise erupted from the gathered citizens and echoed throughout the room.
“Shut up!” Lord Etin screamed furiously and unsheathed his sword, lunging at Kenith. Captain Morel stepped forward and slashed his saber down, deflecting the blade and knocking it from Etin’s hand before it could complete its deadly thrust. “You are my brother! What have you done?”
“I spoke the truth, Davad. I could not let you ruin Iserport any further. Nor could I allow your coup d’état to succeed.”
Kiernan looked over at her father’s passive face, but it did not fool her. He had carefully orchestrated the event playing out, of that she was certain.
“Take him to a cell,” Maximus said softly.
The other members of the Court had been silent up to this point, but the oldest of her father’s vassals—close to ninety years and once a good friend—now stood. “Your Grace, I am sure there is a misunderstanding here. You cannot send a Lord to the cells.”
“I can and I will, Lord Winslow,” her father snapped, his feelings now etched clearly onto his features. He was hurt. In the recent division of power in the Court, Lord Winslow sided with Lord Etin, and her father could not understand how the levelheaded and intelligent Lord had abandoned all of his principles, and their friendship, to align himself with someone like Davad Etin. “Unless there is more you know about this situation, Abram, that you would like to share?”
The older man’s eyes were filled with remorse, and he sat down again. “No, no.”
“You will regret this, King Maximus!” screamed Davad Etin as the Saber Captains wrestled him toward the door. “You have no idea what I am capable of! You stand on that throne so pompous next to your filthy shifter daughter. It will not last! Your reign is done, Maximus! Mark my words!”
Kiernan felt a tremor in the floor and put a restraining hand on Beck’s arm.
“Enough!” roared the King. “Get him out of my sight!” He sat and turned back to his Court. “Now, where were we? Next!”
CHAPTER 2
Bardot
Beck entered the vast interior of the royal stables and was disappointed to find his black stallion, Chasin, and Kiernan’s blue roan mare, Milan, already saddled and waiting. After six years, it was still difficult for him to get used to people seeing to his every need. Was it really so hard for the servants to understand that he preferred to saddle his own horse? And, draw his own bath? And, fluff his own pillows! He was a man, for Highworld’s sake, not a child.
Despite her own actions to the contrary earlier, Kiernan reminded him often that the servants were simply performing their duties and he offended them when he turned them away. Clearly, his modest upbringing in a small community had not—and could not—have prepared him for the life of a Prince. Four houses from his home city of Parsis could have fit easily in the stables where he now stood.
Fortunately, he only had to deal with the excessive pampering when in the city of Nysa. The first decree he issued as Prince in his new home of Bardot was the abolishment of all acts of deference. Although, in truth the decree was probably not necessary. Not when one hundred of Bardot’s citizenry was made up of former sorceresses. Former, because once the use of magic was sanctioned by the three Kings of Massa, many of the sorceresses in Elloree abandoned their craft to hone their shifting abilities. Since shifting was innate and sorcery learned, it should not have been surprising, but Beck knew that Gemini Starr, the High Priestess of the coven, was saddened by the change. It had been her life calling for many years to care for and train female magic users in the art of witchcraft and now the need for her services was diminishing.
To accommodate the influx of magic users, Beck founded the
Bardot Academy where, in addition to the sorceresses, another five hundred shifters of all races were enrolled. A school similar to the
Parsis Academy where he studied as a youth, the students studied the four metamagics of shifting. He corrected himself. Five metamagics. Watershifting was now being taught in Aquataine, although less than a handful of Massans had come forward with a propensity for that particular magic.
When Beck’s parents died, he was uncertain if he would ever feel rooted
again, but his unpretentious life in Bardot gave him exactly that, and he was grateful. Nysa, on the other hand, had the opposite effect. The political maneuverings and intrigue were enough to make his head spin. King Maximus and Kiernan were experts in the dance, but he favored his simpler life in Bardot, teaching at the Academy and spending time with Kenley. With black hair like him and luminescent green eyes like her mother, she was a perfect blend of the two of them. She was also a remarkably bright and inquisitive child and the light of his world.
He accepted Chasin’s reins from the royal groom and nodded his thanks.
Despite the spectacle of Court that morning, they were due back in Bardot that evening to travel to Kondor for Rogan’s wedding to Janin Stonedge. The two Dwarves met when Janin helped Rogan escape imprisonment during the war and they were to be wed in three days time. Their two young children, Reilly and Jala, were at home with Janin awaiting Rogan’s return.
The sound of easy laughter drifted through the open stable doors, and he turned to see Rogan, Airron and Kirby Nash enter. The Scarlet Saber would accompany them on the ride to Bardot, but much to the Captain’s chagrin, his charges would be taking the waterways of Aquataine to Kondor where he could not travel. To this day, the elders of Aquataine refused to allow any non-shifter access to their world, and the grates could only be opened by magic users. A troop of Sabers left more than a week ago on horseback to meet them at the grate in Kondor, but the royals would not have protection for two days while traveling underground.
Beck had to smile at Kirby’s doggedness. He and Kiernan, Rogan and Airron were the most powerful shifters alive, but Kirby Nash had his duty, and he planned to see to it for all he was worth.
The Saber was mostly concerned with Kiernan’s temporary inability to shift. While with child, female shifters lost the ability to perform magic but regained their powers once the baby was born. Still, Kirby should know that Kiernan was a blademaster of incredible skill. She would be no easy meat for a person with ill intentions.
“Looks like we are all set! Is my horse saddled yet?” asked Airron. The Elf was smiling as usual, his violet eyes alive with vitality. He had no qualms at all of accepting the life of a royal and adapted as if he were born to it when he discovered that he was third in line to the Haventhal Crown. Grabbing Rogan by the shoulders, he said, “We have to get fireball to his little flame before his feet get cold.”
Rogan snorted. “No cold feet here, my Elven friend. Besides, Janin would douse my flame permanently if I failed to show up.”
Airron barked out a laugh. “You will never find me in that trap.”
“Maybe you have not met the right one yet?” Beck suggested.
“Oh, I have met several right ones, and I would like to keep it that way.”
Kirby Nash jerked a thumb at Airron and asked, “Is he always this charming?”
“Always,” Beck and Rogan said together.
“Daddy!” Kenley ran into the stables and he caught her as she threw herself into his arms and tossed her into the air.
“Beck! You spoil her so,” admonished Kiernan from the open doorway.
He smiled. “Of course, I do. That is my job.”
Kenley’s snow white Draca Cat, Baya, slunk in and rubbed up against his legs. The same age as Kenley, the cat was still young as far as Dracas go and would not reach maturity until around fifteen years. By that time, Baya’s head would be up to his chest. The half cat, half dragon swished her spiked tail, eager to leave Nysa where she would be allowed to run and hunt in the Grayan Forest.
Beck helped Kiernan mount Milan and then lifted Kenley into the saddle on Chasin and swung up behind her.
A nervous hush fell over the working grooms.
King Maximus walked into the stables with Gemini Starr on his arm. A fierce combatant in the Demon War, the sorceress had been like a second mother to both him and Kiernan over the years and a loyal companion and advisor to Maximus. Beck dismounted and embraced her. “What are you doing here? I would have visited had I known you were in the city.”
“I arrived only this morning to give this old sourpuss,” she said with a sidelong glance at Maximus, “my counsel. We hear the rumors in Elloree the same as you, Beck.”
Beck smiled. The six-hundred-year old sorceress loved every bit of that old sourpuss.
“Bah!” said the King. “Another counselor, just what I need.”
Gemini ignored him. “I am also here to visit Diamond, so I will ride with you to Bardot if you do not mind.”
“Of course not,” replied Kiernan and quickly called for a horse to be saddled.
Beck remounted and the King approached and looked up at him. “Take good care of my girls, son,” he said and then stared brazenly at Gemini. “All three of them.”
The sorceress sniffed loudly.
Beck leaned down to put his hand on the King’s shoulder and whisper in his ear. “You may have lopped the head off the serpent today, but I would not count the snake dead yet.”
He nodded. “That is why I decided to cancel my trip to Kondor. I must remain here in the city in the event that a new head emerges.”
“Take care, Maximus. We will be back in less than a week.”
“I will be waiting.”
Amid several more goodbyes and promises to be careful, Beck prodded Chasin forward and led the party of eight out of the stables. A profusion of cheers and genuflecting greeted them as soon as they turned onto Dannery Row, the road that cut through the heart of Nysa and would take them to the outer gates.
He could not get out of there fast enough.
He needed open space away from the noise and commotion of the city. There, his elemental magic would greet him affectionately, and the power of the earth would course through his body making him whole and content.
The horses’ hooves clattered on the paving stones as they passed first the busy merchant’s district now teeming with shoppers, and then the stately homes of the nobles. Beck recognized Lady Lillian Knapp’s manor house by the immaculate hedges and profusion of flower gardens. Soldiers with the Shadow Panther emblazoned on their tunics slammed first to chest as the procession went by.
In Beck’s impatience, it seemed to take forever to pick their way through the bustling city and longer still when they had to wait at the gates to allow through a troop of Cavalry in the brown and black of House Conry.
It did not escape Beck’s notice that an unusually large number of soldiers were pouring into the city, but he was not overly concerned. He would be more so if not for the fact that Lord Davad Etin was currently spending his time in the royal dungeons. Even so, he would ask Kirby to look into it.
At last, the party made its way through the gates and out into the public marketplace, the accompanying Sabers cutting a wide swath for them through the crowds. It was even more congested here and again Beck had to swallow back his annoyance while they weaved their way through an abundance of vendors pushing carts, pedestrians, entertainers and animals. The marketplace was a suffocating cornucopia of noise, smells and colors.
When the open grassland between Nysa and Bardot finally stretched out before him, Beck sighed a breath of relief.
Kenley turned her head to look at him. “Are you happy now, Daddy?”
He could not help but smile. “I am, Princess. How could I not be with you next to me?”
She giggled, but then he detected a frown in her voice when she said, “I don’t think Maman is happy.”
“Why, Ken?”
“She doesn’t like my magic.”
“Of course, she does!” he said and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “She is just worried for you since we don’t know that much about airshifting right now.”
“I can do really fun things with it, Daddy! I want to show you all I can do.”
The excitement in her voice reminded him of the day he discovered his own magic. “After Uncle Rogan’s wedding, we are going to come back here and see what you can do. Just think, Kenley. You are the ver
y first airshifter on the island!”
She seemed happy with his words and sat up a bit straighter in the saddle.
When an unexpected drizzle began to fall from the sky, Beck pulled the hood of Kenley’s cloak over her head. He could not see from his position behind her, but his daughter’s eyes had turned black.
Baya!
I am right here, Princess.
She looked over the side of her Daddy’s horse and saw the white cat loping gracefully alongside them. Will you go into the Grayan to feed?
Yes, soon. I am enjoying the outing right now.
Even in the rain?
Yes, even in the rain.
I could get rid of it, you know. Blow all of this rain right away from us.
No! Absolutely, not. Remember what happened the last time?
What? That little funnel of air?
Little? It was a tornado of considerable size and you broke out two windows in the palace.
Kenley giggled. Miss Belle is still trying to figure out what happened.
You must be careful when you use your magic, Princess.
I know. It is hard to control sometimes.
Sometimes?
Fine, all the time. I just hope that soon I can learn how to use it properly.
For all of our sakes, I hope so, too.
Unlike the pageantry of their arrivals or departures into Nysa, a few waves and shouted greetings were all that was offered by the citizens of Bardot.
Home to approximately two hundred earthshifters to cultivate and nurture the grounds, Bardot was a city of magnificence wherever one looked. Colorful landscaped terraces surrounded a public park of comfortable wooden benches and gigantic shade trees. Stone walkways in a variety of patterns bordered a central city square and a highly wrought, three-tiered fountain of scalloped basins through which crystal blue water flowed.
Directly north of the square was the royal palace and a few blocks to the west, the most prominent building in the small city, the Bardot Academy.
Diamond, one of the Gem Sect Leaders, was the first to approach and greet them. “Welcome back.” The beautiful blonde sorceress lifted her arms to help Kenley down.
Island Shifters: Book 02 - An Oath of the Mage Page 2
