Both Mirren and my mother followed me up the wide, winding stairs, and we passed narrow windows made of coloured glass blocks that threw long, coloured patches of light across the worn, stone steps. There was a wide, glass block window at the very top of the stairs and I turned into a wide passageway before heading up another flight of narrower stairs to my left. When I reached the top of these stairs, my mother turned in the opposite direction to Mirren and myself, but not before she reminded me to remain in my rooms until her servant arrived to make sure I’d be presentable in time for the ceremony. I didn’t reply, but I nodded wearily, and I followed the passageway gratefully away from my mother as I hurried with Mirren in the opposite direction.
Mirren and I passed more coloured, glass block windows, and we passed mosaic art set into the stones on the walls too, and beneath our feet, woods of different colours were laid together to make patterns on the polished floors. There were stitched, wall hangings on the walls, and gold ornaments sat in alcoves, and we walked past glossy, broad leaved plants which grew in heavy, earthenware pots. When I reached my rooms, I stopped at the adjoining door and showed Mirren the entrance to the tutor’s room. She looked as grateful to be entering her room as I was to be entering mine, and we both closed our doors behind us at almost exactly the same time.
I walked into my rooms slowly and placed my travelling bag on my bed before wandering over to my window. The clear, glass blocks were angled to catch the warmth of the afternoon sun, but the promise of a cool night had already crept into the air. I gazed down at the community square below my rooms. The people of Aldiris were packing up their street stalls and heading home to prepare their evening meals. The streets were quieter, and the sun was preparing to make its way towards the horizon. It would sink behind the rolling hills I could see in the distance. The closely packed city buildings gave way to a patchwork pattern of fields dotted with trees, and I knew our lands stretched far beyond the hills I could see.
A child laughed suddenly in the square below me and his voice carried up to where I stood. I turned around, and my beautiful rooms mocked me with their silence and their emptiness. I sat on my bed and took Josh’s music cartridge from the bottom of my bag; and I slipped it carefully beneath the corner of the wool packed mattress on my bed before I reached down and pulled off my leather boots. A thin mural was painted on my walls and it depicted brightly coloured, painted fish swimming through a sparkling blue ribbon of water. It was painted at head height around the room. The scales on the fish glistened with sparkling minerals which were inlaid into the paint, and the fish had brightly coloured fins and flickering tails. I’d always loved this mural.
My furniture was simple. There was fine, wooden bed frame with the sun rising above the hills carved into the bed head. This dominated the room, and a plain, wooden robe stood against the wall beside the window. A carved wooden chest sat at the end of my bed and a golden edged mirror leant against the opposite wall. A light cylinder was mounted on the wall above my bed too, and when night fell, it would light my room with the softest of lights. I smoothed my hand across the woven blanket which was folded neatly across the bed.
Not surprisingly, I was feeling restless already and I stood up and wandered aimlessly into my other rooms. My bare feet trod upon woven mats. There was a study adjoining my bedroom and an archway in the wall beside my mirror led me through to it. This room had originally been my playroom, but now, the toys were gone and it held just a fine, wooden desk set and a cushioned wicker chair for reading. The same mural continued on the walls in here, but the window in this room was filled with coloured glass blocks which had always delighted me. As the afternoon sun sunk lower in the sky, it bathed the room with colourful light, but today, the beautiful pattern didn’t calm my spirits, or my restless legs. I turned around and walked into my bathroom. It was a small room patterned with tiny green and blue tiles. The sunken bath was small as well and soon servants would fill it with water carried from the well, and a heating rod would heat the water until it was very warm.
“Pardon, your Highness, but I was sent to prepare you.”
I jumped and put my hand over my heart.
“So…so sorry…..your Highness. I had thought you heard me arrive,” stammered the girl. I smiled quickly and assured her it was of no consequence that she’d startled me.
The girl looked to be only a few turns older than myself. She had light brown hair braided loosely down her back and plump, rosy cheeks. Her wide, blue eyes were fringed by long lashes and her apron was tied loosely over her dark blue servant’s dress.
“Are you a quester?” I asked her straight away. She was certainly good at sneaking up on people, and all those who lived or worked in the Royal house were either questers or wed to one.
“No your Highness. My Aaron is the quester. He works in the Palace stables when he’s not on the Quest……..I’m called Harmony, your Highness,” she stammered nervously. I nodded. This girl must be from the Community and she would have joined the Royal House when she’d been wed to a quester. Questers were required to take partners from the Community and Royalty was no exception in this as my mother had so recently reminded me.
“May the gifts of the River Zahar remain among us through time, Harmony,” I said to the girl, and she looked surprised when I greeted her in the manner of our people.
“And may time never be lost between us Princess Livia,” she said, when she recovered her composure. “I’m to make sure you’re ready by set seven,” she added carefully, and I smiled.
“Well Harmony, I guess you should tell me what you’d like me to do first,” I said resignedly. I had no desire to put this girl in any danger of suffering my mother’s verbal wrath. My cooperation would ensure she’d finish her working day safely and it would also ensure that she was able to retire unscathed.
It wasn’t long before I was wrapped in a soft cloth and, although I was a reluctant subject, I could see Harmony was, indeed, very good at her job. Although she’d only recently been employed by the House, I wasn’t surprised she’d already been promoted to my mother’s private staff. She asked me to lie still while she smoothed a sweet smelling salve beneath my eyes and I even managed to relax a little as she massaged my neck and shoulders with scented oils. I closed my eyes…….but I couldn’t relax completely, even under Harmony’s expert hands. In an effort to tame the remains of my restlessness, and because I was always interested in news from the Quest, I asked Harmony to tell me about herself before I asked her about her husband and his recent quests.
Harmony told me her parents were fruit growers and herd owners, and she told me their farm was just over the hills we could see on the horizon. She said, a turn ago, she’d been selling fruit in the streets outside the Tournament arena when Aaron had walked a Tournament horse past her stall. She told me he’d stopped at her stall on the way back from the Tournament and he’d persuaded her to join him at the Tournament celebration. It seemed their romance had progressed very swiftly from there.
Aaron’s father was head groom in the Palace stables, so tradition had required him to spend his teenage years training for the Quest, but Harmony said his true passion was for the horses. Once he’d finished his quest training, he’d been able to return to the Palace stables and was employed as a groom now himself. As a quester though, he was called upon often to make quests into the past and he’d recently returned from the Nomadic Era. He’d joined a team who’d been required to challenge the warriors of a roaming desert tribe in order to acquire from them a breeding mare of a particularly rare and much sought after variety. Harmony told me the mare had been brought back to Aldiris successfully and her beloved Aaron, to her relief, had also returned unscathed.
“Before that, he’d made three short quests into the ancient past to gather textile seeds to be sewn in the spring,” said Harmony conversationally. Unlike me, she’d relaxed completely now. “And, at the beginning of last winter, he was part of a discovery quest. He was sent to a marker which had just
moved out of the Black Era and was scheduled to be explored,” she added. I sat up a little straighter as my interest peaked. Now that, was my kind of quest. I hoped to be included in as many discovery quests as possible once my finals were complete.
“What did they find?” I asked her eagerly.
“Thick jungle,” she said, as she took the braids out of my hair. “And illness,” she added quietly, as she shuddered slightly. “My Aaron returned with a dreadful fever, as did the rest of the team. They were so ill when they arrived at the city marker, we were surprised they had so many vegetation samples with them in their packs. It had only been a four day quest. The healers tried for three full days to break their fevers, but to no avail, and a quester from the group was lost to the illness on the third night. The healers were trying everything, but all our usual fever remedies seemed only to make it worse. The fever was so severe, Aaron was not himself in its grip and, through the worst of it, he called out to names unknown in a voice not his own,” she said quietly, and she shuddered again. “It was as a last resort that the healers warmed them. It went against all known wisdom in treating a fever, but it worked almost immediately. Despite the fever, the illness had to be poured out through the skin and recovery was swift once a simple heating remedy was applied. After Aaron returned to himself, he and the others told the healers they’d not felt the effects of the illness at all until they’d made the drop to come home. Aaron thinks the time travel itself was what activated the affliction,” said Harmony, and she shuddered once more. “I don’t know how you do it your Highness. Aaron has told me of the darkness, and of the pain. You must be very brave to time travel as you do,” she said, as she spread a freshly ground paste through my hair to cleanse it.
“I would imagine the courage required to be in personal service to the Queen of Aldiris would be far greater than that required to travel through time,” I said dryly, and Harmony was careful not to respond to this at all, proving to me she was as intelligent as she was talented. I smiled at her. “I love time travel, Harmony. I don’t think of it as something I have to do, but as something I want to do. I’m very much looking forward to joining as many quests as I’m able to once I’ve finished my finals,” I said, and Harmony smiled too before she motioned to some servants who appeared in my doorway with earthenware jugs of water from the well. The servants used the water to fill my bath and one jug was left to the side to be used as a final rinse.
When my bath water had heated to a temperature Harmony decided was perfect for my complexion, she removed the heating rod. She then allowed me to bath and wash out my hair myself while she saw to the delivery of my evening meal. Aldirites, and Denborites too, considered cleanliness and a satisfying meal to be the cornerstones of good health. A hot bath and good food ended the working day for every member of every household in Aldiris, and no one, no matter their station, would attend the celebration tonight unless these two of our most basic needs had first been met.
The warm water was blissful, but I was still restless and I stood up and removed the stopper from the bottom of the bath. The water drained slowly, and beneath the floors, it flowed along a network of drainage pipes that ended somewhere within the gardens that grew around the Palace walls. I poured the cold water from the jug over my hair to rinse it, and when it drained away too, I wrapped myself in another soft cloth. Right on cue, as was expected of her, Harmony reappeared…….
Night had fallen, and my room was lit dimly now by the wall cylinder above my bed. It was almost set seven and I stood in front of my golden edged mirror and stared at myself in surprise. I was dressed in a jade green dress, the colour of which exactly matched the colour of my eyes. The dress was draped over one shoulder and it was edged with tiny green stones. It was fitted above my waist and it hugged my hips before falling softy to the floor. Harmony had persuaded me to retie the thin leather band around my wrist with jade green leather to match the dress, and I’d done this quickly when Harmony had left the room to ask a maid to remove my meal tray. When it had come to my hair, Harmony had braided it away from my face, starting at my temples, before pinning it and letting the lengths fall loosely down my back. I wore leather sandals tied around my ankles and my pendant lay against my dress in all its splendour. Here, it didn’t have to be hidden, and I touched my fingers to its shiny, brass dials.
“You look beautiful your Highness if you’ll allow me to say so,” said Harmony, and she folded her arms and surveyed her work with a satisfied smile.
“You are a worker of miracles,” I said sincerely, as I smiled at Harmony in the mirror.
“There was no need for any miracles, and I suspect the Queen won’t be pleased,” said Harmony, so quietly that I wondered whether she’d spoken at all. I glanced at her as she gathered her jars and hair combs together hastily, and I smiled again when she wished me ‘good set’.
“Good set Harmony, and I wish your husband well in his quests,” I said, and when Harmony was gone, there was a tap on my door almost immediately. I was surprised when it was Mirren who entered my rooms.
“You have a weapons class scheduled tomorrow………”
Mirren stopped mid-sentence when she turned to face me after closing the door. I glanced down at my dress and fidgeted self-consciously while Mirren looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“…….morning at rise eight and the Queen has organised for us to ride beyond the city at rise ten,” she continued quickly. “And we will be leaving Aldiris for the +2013 marker after the midday meal. We’re scheduled to depart the Palace at set two,” she added, and she hesitated for a moment. “I trust you’ll enjoy the Tournament arising celebration, your Highness,” she said formally.
“Will you be joining me Mirren?” I asked her hopefully. I was encouraged by her last words. They were almost friendly, despite their formal delivery.
“No, I have family to visit and reading to catch up on,” said my tutor firmly, and she didn’t look disappointed, so I didn’t beg her to come with me tonight……..but I would have liked to. It would have been nice to have someone there with me. I barely knew anyone in Aldiris. Children of the Royal House spent their teenage years in quest training and, even those in group training, were moved around often to discourage close friendships. Questers were encouraged to mix with the Community during their home visits, and those visits were deliberately scheduled so that it was almost impossible for questers to mix with each other. I came home so rarely though, that I knew next to no one from the Community either and, although I was no stranger to it, it was always a slightly daunting task for me to be thrown amongst people I didn’t know. I watched Mirren turn and retreat gladly from my presence and her disappearance was followed, almost immediately, by the arrival of a sour faced Palace guard. He accompanied me in silence as we made our way back through the dimly lit passageways towards the Great Hall.
My mother and father were speaking earnestly together as they waited for me at the east entrance to the Hall. My mother wore an elegant blue dress and a delicate diamond and sapphire encrusted crown. Her pendant rested against her dress and the blue crystal needle in the centre of her pendant exactly matched the colour of her dress. My father wore the black clothing of a Tournament Champion, but he wore a blue robe over the top of this and a thick gold crown on his head. It was almost as surreal for all three of us to be together as it was for me to be presenting shields at a Royal House ceremony, and when my parents turned on hearing my approach, the King of Aldiris gazed at me in open mouthed surprise.
“By the circle of time,” said my father slowly. “Livia, I would hardly have known it was you. How time has turned,” he said in astonishment, while he looked at me and shook his head.
“Father,” I said shyly. I was surprised myself. My father’s beard was streaked with grey now and there were many more age lines across his brow than when I’d seen him last.
“Our Champions will be honoured that such beauty presents them with their shields tonight,” said my Father, and he s
ounded pleased as he glanced at my mother and offered her his arm. He was obviously eager to begin the presentations, but my mother paused and frowned slightly as she looked me up and down.
“It’s unfortunate, the colour of your hair Livia, but there’s not much we can do to change the way we’re born now, is there?” she asked me pityingly, as she let her gaze drop to the piece of thin leather bound numerous times around my wrist.
“Come Katerin, the girl looks lovely,” said my father impatiently, as he took a step towards the hall and peered out at the waiting crowd. I could hear the voices of many. They crowded into the hall to watch their sons and daughters, nieces, nephews and friends who would all be arising as Tournament Champions tonight.
“You may enter and wait by the shields when we’re seated,” my mother said to me briskly, and she took my father’s arm lightly before they walked together through the open doors.
Cheers rose from the crowded hall and I stepped into the open doorway and watched my parents as they raised their hands in regal salutes. The hall was bathed in the soft light from many tiny metal cylinders. The tiny, pale yellow glows were concentrated just above these cylinders and it was like hundreds of tiny stars shone among the greenery. Giant banners waved slightly in the cool night breeze which flowed through the open Palace doors. Guards stood watchfully around the edges of the palatial room, and more guards patrolled high above me on catwalks built within and around the heavy rafters. The Hall was filled with people and the atmosphere was magical, and I found myself glancing guiltily at the arising Champions who waited to one side of the thrones. This was their night. It was the culmination of seven turns of hard training and physical challenge, and it wasn’t their fault that I’d rather be anywhere else on the time circle, but here.
TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy) Page 5
