by S R Ahuja
The King thought for a moment, and then said, “Continue.”
“Well, I found her, and was bringing her back to the palace, but she must have been over excited as she allowed her horse to speed ahead of mine.”
The King was quiet for a long moment. “That is the whole story?”
“Yes, sir,” Sir Jack said.
“Arrest him,” the King said to the guard next to him who quickly swung off his horse and went for Sir Jack.
“Sir?” Sir Jack looked at the King bewildered.
“For kidnapping the Princess,” the King finished.
“Your majesty, please,” Sir Jack protested even as the guard bound his wrists.
“King, Father,” Jade said quietly so the other knights did not hear. “He did not kidnap me. It was just like he said. I wanted to go to Lyonés myself.”
The King looked at her gently, “It does not matter, Amalthea.” Then he turned his head to Sir Jack and spoke louder so the entire company would hear. “This is clearly not the whole story. You are lying to your King. On top of that, the moment you found the Princess missing, you should have alerted me or your commanding officer. Princess Amalthea was in danger. Do you understand that?” the King finished in a fury.
“Yes, sir,” Sir Jack said, staring straight ahead but not looking at the King.
“This is not your first offense, is it, Jack Ernest?” the King asked, reclaiming his calm composure.
“No, sir, but…” Sir Jack could not finish because the King continued over him.
“This is not even your first offense of sneaking into the forbidden land of Lyonés, is it not?”
“No, sir.”
“The last time this happened, you swore to me you would never set foot in that kingdom, nor have any contact with any of its inhabitants ever again, is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
The King stood up straight, even while holding Jade. “Jack Ernest Bradley, you are here by stripped of your title as Knight of the Round Table and banished from this kingdom. You may not return to the castle or any other place here. You will be escorted to the portal immediately, and you are forbidden from entering this kingdom from now until your dying day.”
“But Father…” Jade tried to reason with the King, tugging lightly on his shirt to get his attention.
“Amalthea,” he spoke quietly again, just to her, “You cannot save your friend. I’m sorry, but we have these rules for a reason and they can be broken only so many times. That is the end of it.” He set her on her feet and turned to the knight on his right. His name was Sir Galeron, Jade thought.
“Please take the Princess back to the castle. Make sure she finds Menelwen before you leave her,” the King told him.
Jade looked over her shoulder at Sir Jack as Sir Galeron put her on top of his horse. She realized suddenly that this might be the last time in her life that she saw him.
“Sir Jack!” she called out suddenly. She slid off of the horse and ran to him. He kneeled so that she could throw her arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed into his shoulder.
“It’s not your fault, Jade,” he whispered back. “I am the one who got myself into this mess.”
Sir Galeron was at her shoulder again, and when she wouldn’t allow him to pull her away from Sir Jack, he picked her up and carried her back to the horse. She didn’t take her eyes off of Sir Jack until the knight kicked the horse into motion. That was the last time she ever saw Sir Jack.
Chapter XII
Visitors
___________________________________
The castle seemed empty without Sir Jack. As soon as she and Sir Galeron arrived at the castle, she stood her ground in the snow in front of the castle and refused to move. He had to pick her up and carry her to the kitchen were Menelwen was. She was silent as Sir Galeron explained to Menelwen what had happened.
Menelwen knelt down in front of Jade and cradled her face in her hands. “Princess, I’m so sorry. I know he was your friend, but you cannot go against the King. What he says is the law. If he says that Sir Jack is a bad man, then he is.”
“No,” Jade said stubbornly. “The King is wrong.”
Menelwen smiled sadly. “What can I do for you, my child?”
“Nothing.”
Menelwen nodded and rose. “Well, stay in the castle. It won’t help anyone if you go running off again.”
Jade turned and ran out of the kitchen door. She heard Menelwen talking to the knight as she left, but she ignored them. She ran right to the enormous entry. Pushing on the giant oak doors, she could open one just enough to squeeze out. She didn’t run away though. She just went to the steps and sat down. She was determined to wait for the King. Within moments, Sir Galeron stepped outside. He didn’t say a word to her, just stood by her side and waited.
That was what the King came home to: Jade sitting on the castle steps in her nightgown and velvet cloak, wet from the snow, with the knight guarding her. He waved Sir Galeron into the castle with him but ignored Jade completely. That was when she ran upstairs, threw open her window, and waited for Peter to return. He didn’t.
The weeks went by and Jade did not see Peter, Cadwr, Hugh, or Channing again. She was not allowed out of the castle for any reason, even to go to school. She didn’t dare sneak out at night again, and Peter had stopped coming to her window.
When it first happened, all anyone in the castle could talk about was Sir Jack, but as time passed, the whole castle seemed to forget him. Even Jade slowly thought about him less and less.
Nothing she said to the King would convince him that he was wrong. He was never angry at Jade, but after a few days of her begging him at every chance to bring Sir Jack back, the King grew irritated and told her not to bring the former knight up again.
Even though she was furious with the King and knew without a doubt he was wrong, Jade couldn’t disobey the direct order from her father.
When Jade stopped bringing up the incident, she slowly gained back some of her freedom. She now had to have a knight and guard with her at all times whenever she left the castle, but the King did allow her to go to school again and to help with preparations for the Winter Solstice.
“It’s a celebration of light,” Menelwen explained when Jade asked her about it. “The Solstice marks the first day that the length of day starts getting longer. Every day, we will have a little more sunlight until the Summer Solstice.”
It was very similar, as Jade had first suspected, to the Christmas festivities at home. The family gathered together, they ate together, and they sat around the fire together and opened presents. The King even asked Jade in the weeks leading up to the event what she wanted for her gift.
“Can it be anything I want?” Jade asked. They were sitting at the dinner table on one of the rare nights when the King had the time to sit down and eat with her.
“Anything your heart desires,” the King said and then paused. “Of course, that doesn’t include anything that might be dangerous to a young princess.”
Jade thought for a moment. “Earlier today, when I was coming back from school, I saw some of the boys playing in the yard. They were fighting with swords.”
The King frowned. “They weren’t playing, Amalthea. Those are the knights’ boys. The ones old enough to be out of school. They were training for their role as guards one day. I believe they all hope to become knights, like their fathers.”
Jade nodded, digesting the new information. “Do they ever train girls to use swords?”
“Amalthea Gwendolyn, why on Avalon’s green land would you want to learn how to wield a sword?” the King asked incredulously.
Jade shrank down in her chair. “I just…” she trailed off. After a moment, she began again. “It just looks like it would be fun. It would be an adventure, to learn how to swordfight.”
“Swords are not for fun. They are for protection, and you will never need to protect yourself. You will always have someone there to protect you. I believe swo
rds would fall into the category of dangerous for a young princess, anyhow.”
“It wouldn’t have to be sharp,” Jade insisted. “I’ve seen the boys play – practice,” she amended quickly with a look from her father. “They hit each other and don’t get hurt.”
The King was quiet for several seconds. “I will consider it.”
That was the last word on the subject. Neither the King nor Jade brought up the topic of presents again.
Still, Jade was excited for the winter festivities. It wasn’t just Avalon that was going to be celebrating the holiday either, at least not this year. The King had invited another royal family to visit for the celebrations. King Vidar, his wife, and their children were coming to stay at the castle. Jade didn’t like the idea of having another prince and princess in the castle. She got along very well with the other children in the Hamlet and even the children of knights who lived in the castle, but she wasn’t sure what royal children would be like. She wasn’t sure if they would want to go out and play in the snow or if they would want to sit by the fire and talk about boring stuff like the King always wanted to do. She’d be expected to stay with them all the time they were there, and because they were the guests, she would have to do whatever they wanted.
The day before the Solstice was when they were supposed to arrive. The King had to ride out to greet them, and the portal had to be opened specially for them. Jade waited in the fancy sitting room for them to arrive at the castle.
Menelwen had made her a special dress for the occasion, and she had another new one for tomorrow night as well. The dress she wore now was a very pale shade of yellow. There was nothing incredibly fancy about it, but the gold shoes she had to wear with it pinched her feet terribly. Menelwen had to keep telling her to put them back on.
At first, she wondered around the room idly looking at all the things in there. She was not usually allowed in this room because there were so many breakable treasures. Finally, she stopped in front of the small bookshelf. It could not even compare to the number of books in the library, but they were different books. Sir Erec, who was there to watch her, pulled down a dark green book with golden pages for her, and she sat on the floor by the fire, flipping the pages and pouring over the words.
She had actually completely forgotten about the visitors by the time the doors to the room opened. Immediately she looked up and closed the book. She stood up quickly, knowing that a princess probably shouldn’t be sitting on the floor by the fire, even to read a book, and secretly hoped she didn’t have any ash on her dress or face. She slipped the golden shoes back on her feet as inconspicuously as she could.
She looked at the people who had just entered. The King led the way. Following him was a beautiful woman with long golden blonde hair that reached past her waist. She was dressed in a dull yellow dress that reminded Jade of the color of the old gold plates in the armory that needed a good shining. Still, the woman, who had to be Queen Liselotte, was striking, tall and blonde with piercing blue eyes.
King Vidar followed her into the room. He was dressed in grey pants and shirt with yellow trimmings the same color as the Queen’s dress. He had brown hair and eyes, but he was also very handsome.
“Amalthea,” her father said. His eyes narrowed she he saw her sitting by the fire, but he didn’t say anything about it. “I want to introduce you to King and Queen Vidar Odinson. Your majesties, this is my daughter, Princess Amalthea Gwendolyn Pendragon.”
Jade bent her knees, bowed her head, and curtsied just like she had practiced with Menelwen.
The Queen examined her closely, her face pinched, but then it broke into a smile. “Why, Henry, she is even more beautiful than you described.”
“Yes,” King Vidar said as he looked at Jade. “And reading a book, that is a very good sign. Tell me, Princess, do you like to read?”
Jade looked to her father, who nodded. “Yes, I love to read, but I like it much better to hear stories from other people.”
“Amalthea, this is Prince Freyr Odinson,” her father continued.
Prince Freyr, Jade knew, was one year older than her, but he was at least a head taller. His face looked just like his father’s, but he had his mother’s golden hair and blue eyes.
“Hello, Prince Freyr,” Jade said, curtsying to him too.
“Princess Amalthea,” he said and bowed to her as well.
“And this is Princess Sylvi,” the King motioned to a small girl half hiding behind Queen Liselotte.
Princess Sylvi was a perfect replica of her mother except the color of her long braid, which was her father’s. She was several years younger than Jade, but she was incredibly beautiful. Dressed in a white dress, she looked like a little angel.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Sylvi,” Jade curtsied yet again to the little princess.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Princess Amalthea,” Sylvi curtsied too. “I like to read too. Maybe you can show me your library?”
Jade smiled widely. “Oh, yes! I’d love to!”
The King cleared his throat. “Maybe another time, Amalthea. I’m sure our guests are tired and hungry. If you’ll follow our maid,” he said, motioning to Menelwen, “she will lead you to the dining room. Our chef has a wonderful meal planned for your arrival.”
Menelwen didn’t say a word. She curtsied to the royal family, and then led the way through a door into the formal dining room. The King put a hand on Jade’s shoulder to stop her from going first. They let the other royal family go first into the dining room and followed after them. The King sat at the head of the table. King Vidar sat to his right and the Queen to his left. Jade sat in between Queen Liselotte and Princess Sylvi, and Prince Freyr sat next to King Vidar.
“I hope your staff didn’t go to too much trouble, especially with the holiday tomorrow. I’m sure they will have plenty of cooking to do,” the Queen said.
No, they won’t, Jade thought, but she kept her mouth shut, letting the King answer since he was really the one Queen Liselotte talking to.
“Actually,” the King said, “it is part of our Solstice tradition that the royal family does the cooking on the day of celebration. Amalthea and I will be having some help from the staff tomorrow since it is just the two of us, and of course we will not serve the meal, but servants who normally cook will have a good amount of time off to enjoy the sunlight.”
“Really?” King Vidar asked incredulously. “What an odd tradition.”
“What other things do you do?” Prince Freyr piped in. His father glared at him, but Jade thought it was a good question.
“Amalthea, why don’t you tell them a little bit about the Winter Solstice? This is Amalthea’s first year being here for the winter holiday too.” The King looked at her with meaning.
Jade swallowed her mouthful of food and tried to recall everything Menelwen had told her about the holiday.
“Well, the royal family prepares the meal, and all the children spend the day in the sun, playing in the snow and skating on the frozen pond. Then, in the evening, after dinner, the family and their guests gather around the fire. Everyone stays up until the fire has completely burned itself out. Then, everyone collects their own little bottle of ashes from the fire because the ashes will have magical protective charms for the whole next year until the next Winter Solstice.” She looked to the King again. “And, that’s it, I think.”
He smiled kindly at her. “Yes, I think you covered it all. Thank you, Amalthea.”
“Yes, thank you Princess,” the Queen said, “very helpful.”
King Vidar turned to the King. “Now, why is this your Princess’s first Winter Solstice here? Did she not grow up here?”
Jade didn’t like how he was asking about her, but he wasn’t talking to her; he was asking the King. Still, she knew she would be punished for speaking out of turn in front of the guests, so she stayed quiet and let the King answer again.
“Amalthea was fostered by her aunt in Northmanni, the Middle World, for her first eig
ht years,” the King explained. “It has given her a unique perspective on our customs and traditions.”
“Really?” Queen Liselotte said, turning to Jade this time instead of the King. “Why, that is absolutely fascinating. Tell me, Princess, what was it like living with the humans?”
Jade looked to the King first to verify she would not get in trouble by responding.
Then she said, “I loved it, but I hated it too. I loved my Aunt Anna, and I really miss her sometimes, and I loved my grandma and grandpa and my old house. Aunt Anna used to tell me the most wonderful stories. I hated the other kids though. They didn’t like me like the kids do here. They laughed at me and made fun of me because I believed in magic. I hated that I was right and they were wrong, but I couldn’t prove it to them. It was awful.”
“Ah,” King Vidar said knowingly. “’It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.’ Amalthea, are you familiar with this writer? He is one from the Middle World.”
“No sir,” Jade said quietly.
“Freyr?” King Vidar turned to his son.
“It is Charles Dickens.” Prince Freyr said confidently.
“Correct, and Sylvi, what was the marvelous novel, written by Mr. Charles Dickens, from which this quote comes?” King Vidar said, turning to his daughter.
Princess Sylvi was quiet for a moment, and then she looked down at her empty plate and mumbled quietly, “I’m sorry, Father. I don’t know.”
“That’s quite all right, Sylvi,” King Vidar said kindly. “I know you prefer your fairy tales and love stories to the classics, even the Middle World classics. I’m sure Princess Amalthea is quite the same.”
“Actually, I don’t really like love stories. They’re always so predictable,” Jade said without thinking. The King gave her a stern look from the head of the table, and she didn’t say another word until the food came.
After that, most of the conversation was about the festivities planned for the next day and how the journey was and what’s going on in the other kingdoms and stuff like that.
