by R. J. Price
“When I see Anue as stronger than Aren…?” Av asked hesitantly.
“That's my point. I want you to fully understand me when I say that girl eclipses your mother,” his father hissed at him, “and Aren, and she's well educated in her magic, kind, gentle, happy.”
“Exactly what you'd want in the one who sat the throne,” Av muttered, sitting back as he studied his father. A thought nagged at him. “Why Aren?”
“That seems to be the question,” Ervam grumbled. “Why choose Aren over Anue? The throne wanted Aren to sit it, not her younger sister. Why choose the damaged, broken toy over the bright, colourful, new one without a scratch on it? If that girl was any more perfect I'd suspect her of being one of the unranked ones.”
“Unranked ones?” Av asked.
His father shrugged. “It's too early in the growth period for them to reveal themselves. They've always existed, they just go into hiding. In the darker periods these ones are the ones whom the witch stories are based on. Most of your rank will burn them if found. It's a gut reaction.”
“Why?” Av asked. “I did not have that reaction to Anue. I want to feed her, not burn her.”
“Good, thank goodness,” was the gruff response as knuckles rapped on the table top. “If you do have that reaction to anyone, question just long enough to see if you're wanting to do it because of their rank or because they actually did something wrong. Having one of them on our side would be a grand thing.”
“What do we do?” Av asked. “About her, I mean? She's admitted to using magic on her mother to get her way.”
“Self-preservation. We need to make it clear that doing that to others is wrong,” his father said. “Besides that we have a strong young woman and a strong boy in need of training. They are both untrained and untried. With Anue we have a chance to show the palace what a queen could be, we have a chance to show her rank what they should be. Not this whimpering mutt of a creature the lords have reduced them to, but a creature not to be trifled with.”
“And what about my rank?” Av asked.
“This works? Your rank is going to have to step up. If nothing more than to test Anue when she comes of age.” Ervam stood suddenly. “I think that's about long enough. Time to go separate them.”
Chapter Four
Mie raced around the yard, pulling to a stop a foot away from Anue. She was older than he was and she seemed to like hiding the same way Aren hid, but he was pretty certain she was a queen. He sniffed the air, certain that if he could pinpoint what she smelled like he'd be able to find any of her rank, no matter how well they tried to hide themselves.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her nose wrinkling.
He walked around her, sniffing the air. From the back of her neck, he was certain. He stood on tiptoe and sniffed the back of her neck. The racing tingle down his spine made him giggle as she spun on him, eyes wide. The girl was livid as the temperature rose to the heat of summer, then swung back to the coldest point of winter before returning to normal.
“The back of your neck, it smells funny. You're a queen aren't you?”
“Yes.” Anue's nose went into the air.
“Aren isn't snide about it,” he responded to the nose being turned up. “She's very nice to me.”
“She's always nice to children,” Anue said. “Thinks they're stupid. She was only nice to you because you're stupid.”
“You're being silly.”
“Don't sniff my neck!” she shouted at him.
Mie made a face. “Why are you upset? You can sniff my neck, if that'll make it better.”
“It won't make it better. I'm a queen. You're a warrior.”
“Good,” he said, stepping up to Anue. “Why does that make you angry?”
“Because adults pair queens with young warriors for one reason and one reason only,” she said with a huff, folding her arms. “I never would have agreed to this if I knew you were going to be here. No one told me there'd be a youth coming with us.”
“Why?” Mie frowned. “What's the reason that I'd be here?”
Anue struggled. She glared at him as if he were playing a trick on her. “To… produce a relationship with me the likes of which they can use to their advantage in the years to come in order to keep me in line and eventually breed me with a male that they find suitable in order to have access to my children.”
“My father wouldn't do that!”
“All men do that!” Anue shouted, shoving Mie backwards when he tried to stand toe-to-toe with her.
He was a warrior. He would stand toe-to-toe with whomever he pleased. He stepped back up to Anue and gave her a shove, a hard one. She stumbled back and was up in an instant, shoving him again. He fell backwards but grabbed Anue and dragged her with him. They rolled across the snow-covered ground. Anue tried to hit him and Mie tried to get the upper hand.
She was larger than he was, but he had tangled with twelve-year-old boys before and they were a lot bigger than Anue. He didn't try to hit back, just rolled until he was on top and then tried to capture her hands. Each time she rolled, he would move with her, then try to get the upper hand once more.
Finally, he pinned her to the ground. Triumphant he let out a loud breath.
Only to spot two pairs of legs standing nearby.
Mie looked up the legs slowly and made eye contact with his father, who stood there, arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. Av stood beside him, an eyebrow arched as he took in the scene before him.
“He started it!” Anue said, struggling to get away from Mie, who kept her pinned despite her struggling.
“Mie, let her up,” his father said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It is inappropriate for you to be atop her like that.”
“Why?” he asked as he scrambled off of Anue.
Av wiped at his lips with the back of his hand. “Because she's single, unclaimed, with no one to stand in for her. It's inappropriate because you might take advantage of her magic.” Av turned to their father. “I told you, it is far beyond time that he is trained. He should have started training years ago. None of this, running around, being a child nonsense.”
“When you have a child, you can decide when he will start training,” was the curt response.
“You're a trainer, for crying out loud!” Av said.
“It's not the same for all of you,” their father snapped back, raising his voice. “Mie, go get the shovels.”
“Why?” Mie asked, hesitating. “There's snow on the ground, but not enough to shovel.”
“Do as I say, boy.”
He went off around back, into the storage shed at the back of the lawn. Inside he searched around until he found the snow shovels, guessing that those were the ones his father meant. There were also the digging shovels, but if those were the ones his father meant, surely he would have said as much.
Returning to the front with a shovel in each hand, Mie stood and waited expectantly. His father motioned to Anue. Mie turned to the girl and offered her the second shovel. Frowning at it, she accepted slowly.
“Shovel a square,” his father said, motioning to where the pair of them had been struggling a few moments before. “Make it twice the length you are tall, Mie. Anue, you help him. It is time for you to start training and I plan to take full advantage of a winter alone with a queen.”
“Meaning what?” Anue asked quietly, hesitant.
Mie turned to Anue and saw the caution in her eyes. He gripped his shovel tightly and glared at Av, who met his eyes and gave the barest shake of his head in response. Anue hadn't seen the motion. She was focused entirely on his father.
“Meaning I'm going to train you to defend yourself,” his father responded. “A fact that I would rather we not share with your mother, once you return to court. Let's save revealing your training until you need to kill someone to protect yourself. And I will expect you to defend, Anue. I am not training you only to have you allow yourself to be stabbed by a man above you.”
“Like Aren did
,” Mie muttered to Anue.
“Probably because she was trying to hide,” Anue snapped back at Mie.
Her tone made the adults stiffen and shift away. Mie watched Av turn slightly to the side, watched how his brother presented only his side to Anue, giving her a smaller target. He shifted his own body towards Av, imitating his brother’s stance. It felt strange, standing like that, perhaps because Av wasn't a threat to him. Mie relaxed and looked down at his own feet, struggling to understand.
“Why are you moving away from her?” he asked his feet, then forced himself to look up at the adults. He had to remember that his rank wouldn't look away, wouldn't back down.
“We're surprised,” Av said quietly. “Anue didn't seem the type to be quick to anger, yet here you've managed to upset her.”
“She thinks I was only brought along to the end of you two making us be in a relationship so that you can control her later on, or breed her as you see fit,” Mie growled.
“Oh, it's stubborn-angry,” Av said quickly, relaxing slowly. “That I understand. No, Anue, absolutely nothing of that sort.”
“Though,” their father said quietly, drawing everyone's eyes to him, “your uncle, Av and Mie, came to me offering me a good deal if I could talk Anue into looking to the younger sons of the barons, or even the heir of the west, before she looked to any other. I didn't agree to it, I'm just mentioning it, as Mie seems to insist on complete transparency.”
“It's honourable to be…” Mie's mind stumbled, forgetting the word for a long moment, “…honest. And you can't be honest if you're being fluffy.”
“When did you talk to Uncle Er?” Av asked.
“I didn't, I talked to Cousin Url,” Mie responded. “I told him what I thought and he told me the words that adults use to describe the things that I thought.”
“What would be the advantage of mating a baron's son?” Anue asked. “Aren was supposed to. She chose not to, and chose Av instead.”
Av nodded slowly. “Yes, but she was arranged to mate a commoner who happened to be a baron's son. These barons would not saddle you with a moron. Though, Laeder wasn't a moron, just competition for me. The barons would be interested in presenting you one of their younger sons, for you to have the pick.”
Their father growled. “The wording was, if Aren breeds true, Anue could have the pick of all their sons and any warrior rank within their lands that she might find attractive, should their sons be lacking what she desires.”
“If my sister breeds true?” Anue asked.
“The barons like the fact that the throne chose Aren, it wanted her to sit it,” Av said to Anue. “Which says nothing for the blood of this generation. They're overreacting.”
Their father sighed loudly. “They fought over your mother, when it came time to make her arranged mating in the hopes that Er would take after her. They offered her land, freedom, choice, and several even said they'd do whatever and however she liked, if only she bore them one child. What do you think they'll do when they meet Anue?”
Mie turned to Anue and shook his head. “Maybe you were right. Adults are weird.”
“No, they're saying I have options,” Anue said. “Instead of my mother just mating me off to whomever she's planning on mating me off to. I can tell she has a plan, but she won't tell me.”
“You should have your choice of the whole world, not just warriors,” Mie said. “If you want to mate a scribe, what's wrong with that?”
“Would you want to mate a scribe?” Anue asked Mie.
“Scribes are all male,” Mie responded. “I like girls.”
“All right, what would you prefer?” Anue said. “A girl who acts proper and has nice dresses? Or the one who rolls in the mud with the boys?”
“Why did you say the second part like it was an insult?” Mie asked, setting the edge of his shovel into the snow.
He looked around as Anue sputtered for an answer. She had thought he would choose the lady all done up nice and proper.
Av chuckled. Mie turned to his brother and glared at him. Nothing was funny. Then was not the time to laugh, just because he had voiced his opinion. The chuckle turned to a laugh.
“Can you believe that?” Av said to their father, slapping him on the shoulder.
“What?” their father asked. “What's so funny?”
Av shook his head and walked off. Mie frowned as his brother walked away. There was no way he was going to clear an area for someone who was laughing at him.
He dropped the shovel and followed Av down to the lake side, where the man was still chuckling to himself. Trying to look stern, Mie set his hands on his hips and looked up to his brother, expecting an answer.
Av wiped tears out of his eyes. “Sorry. I've spent the morning wondering. Why Aren?”
“And you found it funny when I told Anue she was insulting tomboys?” Mie asked.
“No, because I was being silly.” Av sighed. “If I wanted a lady in a dress, the palace had plenty of them. If I wanted a queen in a dress, Em was there, all those years ago.”
“Aren doesn't seem the type to roll in the mud with the boys,” Mie said.
Av shrugged. “Maybe that's not what I wanted either.”
Mie shook his head, not understanding. “Then what did you want?”
“Apparently I wanted a snotty, stubborn, lippy woman who would do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Even if it meant she'd leave me.”
“She didn't leave, she just went for a walk,” Mie said.
“Throne probably made her do it,” Av growled, then sighed out. “Doesn't mean I agree with it. I have no idea where she is. How can I protect her if I don't know where she is?”
“Maybe she needs time to grow before she can understand,” Mie responded, because he felt like that. Like Av was saying things he didn't understand but in a few years, once he had grown, he would know.
“You know an awful lot for a seven-year-old.”
“I'm almost eight,” Mie said stubbornly. “And I just make up words as I go along!”
Chapter Five
Jer looked up as Van walked into his study. He had not been aware of Van being any different from the other barons, not an inkling of a possible problem. Not until Av made comment at the breakfast table as to having a conversation with Van before the western baron left for his home.
With Av leaving suddenly, Jer was left to carry out the conversation without the slightest idea what the talk was to be about. Obviously there was something off about Van, a fact which Jer now noticed. Van was friends with the eastern baron, Gamen. While Gamen felt a little off, he did not completely hide his rank the way Aren had learned to do. Van felt like neither Gamen, nor Aren.
“Have a seat,” Jer said, motioning to the chairs across from his desk.
“Are you resuming steward duties already?” Van asked, standing behind the offered chair.
“No, I called you because Av cannot have the conversation he proposed having with you,” Jer responded quietly. “Until they are mated by palace law her parents have a right to be here. While we are saying they are engaged and that there will be no others, the ceremony still needs to happen. Would you rather have this conversation with the steward instead? Have him pass judgement?”
Van flushed with red. Watching the older man for a moment, Jer decided that it was rage playing over Van's features.
“I take that as a no,” Jer said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I am a baron of another land,” Van said.
“Who is flaunting his differences to the throne.” Jer tried to remain calm as he spoke, not quite understanding why his anger was boiling up. He had control of the situation, he was a warrior, Van was a warrior. Jer was stronger than Van. Why then would Jer react instinctively as if a stronger rank were upsetting him? “While on palace land, one is asked to obey its laws. We do not ask, you do not tell. But the mate to the throne is aware of your oddities.”
Van gripped the back of the chair, jaw setting as he glowered d
own at Jer. For a moment, Jer wanted to run. Hide behind Telm. That might save him. At the very least the queen would give Van a reason to reconsider.
“He's not mated to the throne, not yet,” Van said.
“And the barons came to palace lands by Merkat's command.” Jer stood.
He was of a height with Van, meaning that the older man could no longer glare down at him. Yet even standing, he felt as if Van was out of place with his surroundings.
Coastal tricks, hiding a rank. Jer tumbled over what he knew about the other lands. The barons, besides Merkat, still adhered to the old ways.
As independent lands, they had changed tradition, altered how men and women interacted with one another. In extreme cases the barons had even changed how ranks interacted. Yet the barons remained the same. Always a warrior mated to a queen.
Jer walked around the desk and sat on the edge of it, facing Van. The only item now between them was the chair that Van had his hands on, clutching at it until his knuckles were white.
What Jer had done was meant as a peace offering. His hands were empty, sitting in his lap, and any weapon he might have was on or behind the desk. Van's possible weapon was still clutched in his hands, the chair. A warrior would see Jer come around the desk and relax.
A queen would tense, waiting for an attack.
Van did neither. He simply watched Jer, waiting just the same as he had been a moment before.
“It is by the grace of the mate that you are still alive.”
“How kind of him,” Van said through gritted teeth.
“Not really. He does so by my advice. We don't need an incident, now do we?” Jer asked, pushing off the desk. As he opened his mouth to speak, Van tensed, leaned back ever so slightly. The chair shifted back in Van's grip. “Are you living in the open in your own land?”
Queen, Van was a male queen. Rare, said to be very rare, the male version of the rank was typically killed on sight. After all, queen had once been a title. The women didn't take kindly to finding males of their rank and the warriors weren't quite certain what to do with those like Van.
