“ I am ravenous! Thank you, Conrad,” Magnes replied. He sat down and began to eat, stopping only briefly to allow the servant to pour him a mug of hot cider.
“ Welcome home, sir,” Conrad said with affection. “We all missed ye.”
“ It’s good to be back,” Magnes answered around a mouthful of bread and apple butter. I think.
The servant departed with a promise to send a maid up later to clean and air out Magnes’s rooms. Taking a hunk of butter-slathered bread and his mug of cider with him, Magnes moved to sit in one of the sunny, eastward facing window enclosures. He pushed open the pane and drew in a deep breath. The smells of home were wonderfully intoxicating.
From his vantage point, he could look out over a part of the kitchen yard and observe the servants going about their chores. A familiar, stout figure sallied forth from the kitchen, wisps of gray hair straggling down around her ears from underneath her white cap-Claudia, on her way to the laundry. Magnes almost called out to her but then decided against it. He would wait to speak to her in private. She, of all people, deserved to know how Jelena fared.
Magnes licked the last crumbs of bread from his fingers and tossed off the rest of the cider in a single gulp. He ran his hand across the three day old stubble on his chin and grimaced. Now that he was back home, he would be able to shave with a proper razor. Elf males grew no beards, and so, back at Kerala, when he had requested a shaving kit, he had been met with blank stares. Ashinji had finally provided him with a small knife with which to do the job, but it just hadn’t been the same.
A knock at the door heralded the arrival of the maid. Magnes opened the door to reveal a young woman in an apron, rags and broom in hand.
“ Mornin’, sir. Come to clean yer chambers, sir,” the maid said with a quick curtsy.
“ Um, yes. Well, there’s something I need before you can start, and that is a bath,” Magnes replied.
The maid looked puzzled. “A bath, sir?” she repeated. Magnes nodded.
“ But, it’s not ev’n a holiday, sir, leastways, not any I know of. Beggin’ yer pardon, sir.”
“ Yes, right you are, but nevertheless, I want and need a bath. As a matter of fact, from now on, I plan to bathe every day. What d’you think of that?” The maid shook her head, jaw hanging open in complete bewilderment. Magnes burst out laughing at the expression on the young woman’s face, convinced that she now believed that he had gone mad while away. “Go and tell Conrad that I need a tub, some hot water, and soap.” The maid gulped and nodded, then scurried off.
Some time later, after considerable effort on the part of Conrad and several other servants, Magnes sat in a laundry basin half full of tepid water, scrubbing three days worth of dirt from his body. He sincerely missed the bath house at Kerala, with its deep soaking tub full of hot, herb-scented water. The harsh laundry soap he had to make do with stung and reddened his skin, and even after he had dumped two pitchers of clean water over his head, he still felt a little grimy.
After finishing his less than satisfactory wash, he dressed in clean clothes and left his chambers to the servants. He could delay no longer.
The time had come to face his father.
Chapter 21
The Price Of Love
Magnes found the duke in the exercise paddock behind the stables, hacking around the circular enclosure on a magnificent gray stallion. He leaned on the wooden railing and watched with silent admiration the skill and artistry of his father’s horsemanship.
“ Lord Magnes! Yer back!” a familiar, high-pitched voice shouted.
Dari, the young ginger-haired groom skidded to a stop a few paces from Magnes, freckled face alight with excitement. Magnes blinked, doubting the accuracy of his eyes. It seemed to him as if Dari had grown several inches over the last two months.
“ How’d you get so big so fast, Dari? I haven’t been gone that long, have I?”
“ Aye, long enough, sir. Dunno how it happens. I just wake up ev’ry mornin’ an’ I’m bigger.”
Magnes smiled, touched by the boy’s simple cheerfulness. “The stallion my father is riding…I’ve never seen him before.”
“ Oh, that’s his Grace’s new warhorse. Arrived just last week, all the way from Kalu…Kalun…”
“ Kalundwe?” Magnes prompted.
“ Aye, that’s it! He’s a beauty, he is, sir. I’m not allowed near ‘im, though. None of us lads are, only Master Nolus and Lian. They look after ‘im.”
Magnes turned his attention back to the arena where horse and rider were executing a series of flying lead changes. Dari leaned on the railing beside him, totally spellbound. The stallion moved with effortless grace, powerful muscles sliding beneath shimmering hide like ripples on water. A pair of blackbirds, who just moments before had been squabbling atop a pile of dung, took flight and blew past the stallion’s nose, but the horse ignored them, so attuned was he to his rider. As the duke cantered past their position on the fence, the beast snorted, spattering Magnes and Dari with a spray of fine moisture.
Duke Teodorus cantered the stallion in ever tightening circles until he had the horse spinning on his haunches. He then brought the stallion to a complete stop, fully collected and ready to take off in any direction at the touch of a heel. The duke held him thus for several heartbeats, then released him. The horse visibly relaxed and stretched out his neck for a vigorous shake. His ears, which only a moment ago had stood erect with alertness, now flopped lazily.
The duke dismounted and led the horse toward the gate. Magnes slowly walked over to meet him. He lifted the latch and held the gate open as his father and the stallion passed through, then followed behind as Duke Teodorus led his new mount back into the stables.
Lian, the head groom under Master Nolus, waited at the stable entrance to take the stallion from the duke, who handed over the reins with a word of thanks. Dari scurried past with a quick wave to Magnes and disappeared into the dim interior of the barn.
“ How was he today, your Grace?” Lian asked as he slipped a halter over the stallion’s head. The big horse whickered softly.
“ He’s settled down nicely,” the duke replied. “He’s a little stiff on the left hand, but that’ll soon sort itself out. The important thing is that he’s got a cool head. He listens well, unlike a lot of stallions. That’s vital in the heat of battle. He’ll not panic and bolt. I think I’ll start him on some sparring exercises next week.”
“ He’s magnificent, Father. He must have cost a small fortune,” Magnes said, taking care to keep his voice neutral. The duke stared coldly at his son for a heartbeat, then began walking briskly back towards the keep.
Magnes took a deep breath and fell in beside him. “Father, I…” he began, but Teodorus cut him off.
“ Be quiet, boy.” Magnes gulped and shut his mouth. Father and son walked on in chilly silence. Magnes shot a quick glance at the duke’s face but saw only stony impassivity. They crossed the yard quickly and entered the keep. As Magnes followed his father up the stairs to the second floor, he felt like an errant child about to receive a whipping for an especially heinous act of disobedience, which, in a way, was accurate.
After slamming the door to his study behind them, Duke Teodorus crossed the room to sit in a large, padded armchair. He pointed wordlessly to the footstool beside it. Magnes needed no further instructions. He positioned the stool in front of the chair and down he sat, like a penitent before a judge.
“ Start talking,” the duke ordered. Magnes folded his hands in his lap to keep them from shaking, lest they betray his anxiety.
At first, his mouth could not seem to form the right words. His mind and heart knew what they wished to say, but his tongue turned traitor and refused to cooperate. With an enormous effort of will, he finally broke through the barrier, and the words flowed out in a great rush, like water over a shattered dam.
He told his father all of it. He first spoke of Jelena’s despair and desperation. He then confessed his love for Livie and his desire to
step aside in favor of Thessalina so that he could marry the woman he loved and live in peace with her, farming the land. He wanted to make his father understand why both he and Jelena had felt compelled to flee Amsara. Neither one of them could face what had been decreed by others for them. He finished by relating, briefly, all that had befallen Jelena and him in Alasiri and his reasons for returning.
Duke Teodorus listened in silence, his face a still-life rendered in cold granite. When Magnes finished, he waited, eyes lowered, for his father to speak.
Several heartbeats slipped by, and still, the duke remained silent. It was torturous, and, Magnes felt certain, quite deliberate.
Just as Magnes decided he could not stand it any longer, his father spoke.
“ So. The elf lord let you leave, did he? Stupid of him. If it’d been the other way round, I would’ve kept his son hostage…in irons.”
Magnes looked up sharply. “Father…”
“ I am your liege lord and your father,” the duke stated slowly, cutting him off. “And as both, I have absolute authority over you in all things. Is this not so?”
Magnes stared at the duke, taken off-guard by the question.
“ Is this not so?” the duke raised his voice a notch, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
“ Yes, Father,” Magnes conceded.
“ Your disobedience cost me a great deal of money, but what is worse, you shamed me and brought disgrace upon our family. You stole another man’s property. Do you know what that makes you? Veii and I had already signed a contract. Money had exchanged hands. The girl was bought and paid for.”
A flash flood of anger surged through Magnes. The words escaped his mouth before he had time to think of stopping them. “Stop talking about her as if she were a thing! Her name is Jelena! She is your only sister’s daughter, for the gods’ sake! Why could you never accept her as part of our family?”
“ You keep silent while I’m speaking to you!” the duke hissed. Furiously, he sprang from his chair and began to pace. Reflexively, Magnes ducked, expecting a blow. Instead, the duke folded his arms tightly behind his back and continued to rant.
“ You are going to pay back Veii out of your own purse, d’you hear? And what’s more, there’ll be no more talk of you stepping aside. You are the Heir, and that’ll never change, so live with it! The marriage contract can be renewed. I happen to know that Orveta has yet to find another prospect for his daughter. This alliance between our two houses is far too profitable to abandon over the foolish whim of a lovesick puppy!”
“ Is that what you think I am, a lovesick puppy ?” Magnes could barely speak through teeth clenched as tight as the jaws of a wolf trap.
“ I think that you are the future Duke of Amsara, and it’s high time you started acting like it. Now, get out! When I summon you again, you’d better be ready to tell me everything you know about that tink castle and its defenses. And I suggest you spend some time meditating on the error of your ways!” The duke turned his back on his son and went to stand by the open window. Magnes opened his mouth to protest, but the futility of it froze his tongue. Instead, he retreated as ordered. He left his father’s study and fled to the heights of Amsara’s outer wall where he could calm his mind and think.
If only I’d had been able to make Father understand. Gods know I tried, but he wouldn’t listen.
Magnes began to regret coming back to Amsara.
Perhaps it would have been better if I’d never returned. I could have gone south to Darguinia or west to the seacoast and gotten passage on a freighter outbound to the Shilluk Islands, he thought. I still could. After enough time has passed, Father will be forced to declare Thessalina his Heir.
Magnes truly believed that his sister would make a far better ruler than he ever could be. It was she who had inherited the necessary qualities that made a good leader, not he.
Magnes also believed that, deep down, Duke Teodorus knew the truth of the matter but refused to acknowledge it. The duke was a man who defined his life by tradition, and he would stubbornly cling to it, no matter the consequences, and by tradition, the first-born inherited all titles, lands, responsibilities, and obligations.
All of which Magnes would gladly hand over to Thessalina, without a moment’s hesitation.
The sun stood directly overhead now, and the land below lay prostrate under shimmering waves of heat. Magnes wiped his profusely sweating brow on his arm and retreated back down off of the wall and into the relative cool of the partially shaded yard. As he splashed water from a horse trough onto the back of his neck, he spied Claudia crossing the yard, headed towards the kitchen.
“ Claudia, wait!” he called out.
The old nurse stopped in her tracks and whirled around at the sound of her name. Magnes watched her mouth form an O of surprise just before her hands flew up to cover it.
As he approached, smiling, she rocked back and forth on her heels. “Ye’ve come back to us, oh, gods be praised!” she cried, stretching out her hands and laying them on either side of his face when he drew close enough to touch. Of all the servants at Amsara, only she could take such liberties.
He folded her plump fingers into his and squeezed them affectionately. “Claudia, I have news,” he said, and her eyes, sparkling with tears, grew wide. “Jelena is safe. She lives now in a place called Kerala, in the service of an elf lord named Sakehera.”
“ She’s found them, then? Her father’s kin? Oh, Lord Magnes, this be good news, indeed!” Claudia clasped her hands together and looked heavenward, as if offering a prayer of thanksgiving to the gods.
“ No, she hasn’t found her father yet, but Lord Sakehera has pledged to help her in her search. In the meantime, he has allowed her to stay and earn her keep as his messenger.”
“ The elves were acceptin’ of her, then? I was so afraid they’d be as cruel to my little lamb as folk was here. It tore my heart thinkin’ on it, it did.”
“ They have accepted her, some more than others, but as a whole, she is treated well. And there’s more. When I left, our Jelena and the lord’s younger son were becoming close. I know for a fact that she’s very much in love with him, and I strongly suspect that he returns her feelings.”
“ My prayers have been answered! My baby has found a place amongst people who’ll love her an’ treat her well, even if she be not their kin an’ of mixed blood, besides. If the gods’re merciful, she’ll find her own family afore long.”
“ There is so much I want to tell you, Claudia, but for now, it must wait. I know you have work to do, and there is someone I must go and see. I just pray that I’m not too late.”
“ Gods bless ye, Lord Magnes. Ye’ve brought joy to this old woman. I thank ye!” Claudia took Magnes’s hand and fervently pressed her lips to it. She then turned and shuffled off toward the laundry, dabbing at her eyes with the hem of her apron. Magnes stood a moment, watching until the old nurse disappeared from view. A surge of affection for Claudia flooded his chest with warmth. He had very little memory of his own mother, who had died when he was just a baby. Claudia’s was the only face he could conjure up when he thought about the idea of a mother’s love.
Love of a different sort now occupied his mind as Magnes headed back toward the stables. Dari sat in a patch of shade by the barn door, cleaning tack. The instant he spotted Magnes, the boy put aside the bridle he’d been scrubbing and scrambled to his feet.
“ I need a horse, Dari,” Magnes called out.
“ Aye, sir, right away.” Dari turned, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted into the shadowy doorway. “Oi! Pip! C’mere, now!” He looked over his shoulder at Magnes and grinned. A few heartbeats later, a younger lad of no more than ten summers scrambled out of the barn, bright purple juice smearing his face and hands. Dari cuffed him across his tow head.
“ Ow! Wha’ was that for!” the child yelled in protest, his face a comic mask of indignation.
Dari looked smug as he shot a knowing glance at Magnes. “That was fer not both
erin’ t’ clean up before you came out here.” He slapped the boy again, eliciting another yelp. “And that one’s fer sassin’ me in front of Lord Magnes. Go and get the chestnut mare out o’ the far paddock, and be quick about it.” The boy scampered off.
“ Since when do you get to boss the other lads around, Dari?” Magnes inquired.
“ Since Lian give me permission to, sir. I’m the oldest now. Of the lads, that is. Lian says I’m t’ be head groom one day, soon as he’s Master. I’ve got the touch, he says.” Dari’s voice swelled with pride.
“ Yes, you do have a definite way with horses, Dari, but take care that you treat the people under you with kindness. You’ll not get the loyalty and respect of the other lads by bullying them. If you show them that you care about them, they will want to give you their best. Believe me, it works.”
As Dari listened to Magnes’s words of advice, he slowly deflated like a punctured wineskin. Crestfallen, he nodded in understanding. Just then, the boy Pip returned with the mare.
Dari took the halter rope from the child’s hand and gave his little shoulder a pat. “Good boy, Pip. Now, go an’ get the brushes and picks an’ I’ll let you help with th’ groomin’.” The child’s face lit up like a candle, and he ran to obey.
Magnes waited in the shade while the two boys groomed and tacked up the mare. After they had finished, he thanked the boys and mounted, turning the horse’s head towards the main gate. The boys waved as he left the stable yard, and he raised his hand in acknowledgement.
The guardsmen turned at the sound of approaching hoof beats. Magnes hailed them, and they snapped off a crisp salute as he rode past and out onto the switchbacks leading down off Amsara’s rocky eyrie. At the base of the hill, he turned and rode along the outskirts of Amsara village until he came to the road that led south.
Amsara’s chief game warden lived with his family on a small homestead about half a mile outside of the village, within spitting distance of the verge of Duke Teodorus’s private woodland hunting grounds. When they were children, he and Livie would spend hours exploring every bower and thicket beneath the lush, green canopy. The woods became their own special, magical playground. Later, when they had grown from playmates into lovers, the woods served as their trysting place, enfolding their passion within its protective embrace.
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