‘I’m a Tolnedran,’ she informed him, ‘and I know my countrymen. I think I’m going to need some bait.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ran Borune XXIII, Emperor of Tolnedra, was livid with rage. Ce’Nedra noticed with a certain pang that her father had aged considerably in the year that she had been absent and she wished that their meeting might be more cordial than this one promised to be.
The Emperor had drawn up his legions on the plains of northern Tolnedra, and they faced Ce’Nedra’s army as it emerged from the forest of Vordue. The sun was warm, and the crimson standards of the legions, rising from what seemed a vast sea of brightly burnished steel, waved imposingly in the summer breeze. The massed legions had taken up positions along the crest of a line of low hills and they looked down at Ce’Nedra’s sprawling army with the tactical advantage of terrain in their favor.
King Rhodar quietly pointed this out to the young queen as they dismounted to meet the Emperor. ‘We definitely don’t want to provoke anything here,’ he advised her. ‘Try your best to be polite at least.’
‘I know what I’m doing, your Majesty,’ she replied airily, removing her helmet and carefully smoothing her hair.
‘Ce’Nedra,’ Rhodar said bluntly, taking her arm in a firm grasp, ‘you’ve been playing this on your veins since the first day we landed on the hook of Arendia. You don’t know from one minute to the next what you’re going to do. I most definitely do not propose to attack the Tolnedran legions uphill, so be civil to your father or I’ll take you over my knee and spank you. Do you understand me?’
‘Rhodar!’ Ce’Nedra gasped. ‘What a terrible thing to say!’
‘I mean every word,’ he told her. ‘You mind your manners, young lady.’
‘Of course I will,’ she promised. She gave him a shy, little-girl look through fluttering eyelashes. ‘Do you still love me, Rhodar?’ she asked in a tiny voice.
He gave her a helpless look, and then she patted his broad cheek. ‘Everything will be just fine, then,’ she assured him. ‘Here comes my father.’
‘Ce’Nedra,’ Ran Borune demanded angrily, striding to meet them, ‘just exactly what do you think you’re doing?’ The Emperor was dressed in gold-embossed armor, and Ce’Nedra thought he looked rather silly in it.
‘Just passing through, father,’ she replied as inoffensively as possible. ‘You’ve been well, I trust?’
‘I was until you violated my borders. Where did you get the army?’
‘Here and there, father.’ She shrugged. ‘We really ought to talk, you know – someplace private.’
‘I don’t have anything to say to you,’ the bald-headed little man declared. ‘I refuse to talk to you until you get this army off Tolnedran soil.’
‘Oh, father,’ she reprimanded him, ‘stop being so childish.’
‘Childish?’ The Emperor exploded. ‘Childish!’
‘Her Majesty perhaps chose the wrong word,’ King Rhodar interposed, giving Ce’Nedra a hard look. ‘As we all know, she tends at times to be a trifle undiplomatic.’
‘What are you doing here, Rhodar?’ Ran Borune demanded. He looked around quickly at the other kings. ‘Why have the Alorns invaded Tolnedra?’
‘We haven’t invaded you, Ran Borune,’ Anheg told him. ‘If we had, the smoke from burning towns and villages would be rising behind us. You know how we make war.’
‘What are you doing here, then?’
King Cho-Hag answered in a calm voice. ‘As her Majesty advised you, we’re only passing through on our way to the East.’
‘And exactly what do you plan to do in the East?’
‘That’s our business,’ Anheg told him bluntly.
‘Try to be civil,’ Lady Polgara said to the Cherek king. She turned to the Emperor. ‘My father and I explained to you what was happening last summer, Ran Borune. Weren’t you listening?’
‘That was before you stole my daughter,’ he retorted. ‘What have you done to her? She was difficult before, but now she’s absolutely impossible.’
‘Children grow up, your Majesty,’ Polgara replied philosophically. ‘The queen’s point was well-taken, however. We do need to talk – preferably in private.’
‘What queen are we talking about?’ the Emperor asked bitingly. ‘I don’t see any queen here.’
Ce’Nedra’s eyes hardened. ‘Father,’ she snapped, ‘you know what’s been happening. Now stop playing games and talk sense. This is very important.’
‘Your Highness knows me well enough to know that I don’t play games,’ he told her in an icy tone.
‘Your Majesty,’ she corrected him.
‘Your Highness,’ he insisted.
‘Your Majesty,’ she repeated, her voice going up an octave.
‘Your Highness,’ he snarled from between clenched teeth.
‘Do we really need to squabble like bad-tempered children right in front of the armies?’ Polgara asked calmly.
‘She’s right, you know,’ Rhodar said to Ran Borune. ‘We’re all beginning to look a bit foolish out here. We ought to try to maintain the fiction of dignity at least.’
The Emperor glanced involuntarily over one shoulder at the glittering ranks of his legions drawn up on the hilltops not far away. ‘Very well,’ he conceded grudgingly, ‘but I want it clearly understood that the only thing we’re going to talk about is your withdrawal from Tolnedran soil. If you’ll follow me, we’ll go to my pavilion.’
‘Which stands right in the middle of your legions,’ King Anheg added. ‘Forgive me, Ran Borune, but we’re not that stupid. Why don’t we go to my pavilion instead?’
‘I’m no stupider than you are, Anheg,’ the Emperor retorted.
‘If I may,’ King Fulrach said mildly. ‘In the interests of expediency, might we not assume that this spot is more or less neutral?’ He turned to Brendig. ‘Colonel, would you be so good as to have a large tent erected here?’
‘At once, your Majesty,’ the sober-faced Brendig replied.
King Rhodar grinned. ‘As you can see, the legendary practicality of the Sendars is not a myth.’
The Emperor looked a bit sour, but finally seemed to remember his manners. ‘I haven’t seen you in a long time, Fulrach,’ he said. ‘I hope Layla’s well.’
‘She sends her regards,’ the King of Sendaria replied politely.
‘You’ve got good sense, Fulrach,’ the Emperor burst out. ‘Why have you lent yourself to this insane adventure?’
‘I think that might be one of the things we ought to discuss in private, don’t you?’ Polgara suggested smoothly.
‘How’s the squabble over the succession going?’ Rhodar asked in the tone of a man making small talk.
‘It’s still up in the air,’ Ran Borune responded, also in a neutral manner. ‘The Honeths seem to be joining forces, though.’
‘That’s unfortunate,’ Rhodar murmured. ‘The Honeths have a bad reputation.’
Under Colonel Brendig’s direction, a squad of Sendarian soldiers were quickly erecting a large, bright-colored pavilion on the green turf not far away.
‘Did you deal with Duke Kador, father?’ Ce’Nedra inquired.
‘His Grace found his life burdensome,’ Ran Borune replied with a short laugh. ‘Someone rather carelessly left some poison lying about in his prison cell, and he sampled it extensively. We gave him a splendid funeral.’
Ce’Nedra smiled. ‘I’m so sorry I missed it.’
‘The pavilion is ready now,’ King Fulrach told them. ‘Shall we go inside?’
They all entered and sat at the table the soldiers had placed inside. Lord Morin, the Emperor’s chamberlain, held Ce’Nedra’s chair for her.
‘How has he been?’ Ce’Nedra whispered to the brown-mantled official.
‘Not well, Princess,’ Morin replied. ‘Your absence grieved him more than he cared to admit.’
‘Is he eating well – and getting his rest?’
‘We try, Highness.’ Morin shrugged. ‘But your father’s not
the easiest person in the world to get along with.’
‘Do you have his medicine?’
‘Naturally, Highness. I never go anywhere without it.’
‘Suppose we get down to business,’ Rhodar was saying. ‘Taur Urgas has sealed his western border, and the southern Murgos have moved into position around Rak Goska. ’Zakath, the Mallorean Emperor, has set up a staging area on the plains outside Thull Zelik to receive his troops as he ferries them in. We’re running out of time, Ran Borune.’
‘I’m negotiating with Taur Urgas,’ the Emperor replied, ‘and I’ll dispatch a plenipotentiary to ’Zakath immediately. I’m certain this can be settled without a war.’
‘You can talk to Taur Urgas until your tongue falls out,’ Anheg snorted, ‘and ’Zakath probably doesn’t even know or care who you are. As soon as they’ve gathered their forces, they’ll march. The war can’t be avoided, and I for one am just as happy about that. Let’s exterminate the Angaraks once and for all.’
‘Isn’t that just a bit uncivilized, Anheg?’ Ran Borune asked him.
‘Your Imperial Majesty,’ King Korodullin said formally ‘the King of Cherek speaks hastily perhaps, but there is wisdom in his words. Must we live forever under the threat of invasion from the East? Might it not be best forever to quell them?’
‘All of this is very interesting,’ Ce’Nedra interrupted them coolly, ‘but it’s really beside the point. The actual point at issue here is that the Rivan King has returned, and Tolnedra is required by the provisions of the Accords of Vo Mimbre to submit to his leadership.’
‘Perhaps,’ her father replied. ‘But young Belgarion seems to be absent. Have you misplaced him somewhere? Or is it perhaps that he still had pots to scrub in the scullery at Riva so that you had to leave him behind?’
‘That’s beneath you, father,’ Ce’Nedra said scornfully. ‘The Overlord of the West requires your service. Are you going to shame the Borunes and Tolnedra by abrogating the Accords?’
‘Oh, no, daughter,’ he said, holding up one hand. ‘Tolnedra always meticulously observes every clause of every treaty she’s ever signed. The Accords require me to submit to Belgarion, and I’ll do precisely that – just as soon as he comes here and tells me what he wants.’
‘I am acting in his stead,’ Ce’Nedra announced.
‘I don’t seem to recall anything that states that the authority is transferable.’
‘I am the Rivan Queen,’ Ce’Nedra retorted hotly, ‘and I’ve been invested with co-rulership by Belgarion himself.’
‘The wedding must have been very private. I’m a little hurt that I wasn’t invited.’
‘The wedding will take place in due time, father. In the meantime, I speak for Belgarion and for Riva.’
‘Speak all you want, girl.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m not obliged to listen, however. At the moment, you’re only the betrothed of the Rivan King. You are not his wife and therefore not his queen. If we want to be strictly legal about it, until such time as you do marry, you’re still under my authority. Perhaps if you apologize and get out of that stupid-looking armor and put on proper clothing, I’ll forgive you. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to punish you.’
‘Punish? Punish!’
‘Don’t scream at me, Ce’Nedra,’ the Emperor said hotly.
‘Things seem to be deteriorating rapidly,’ Barak observed dryly to Anheg.
‘I noticed that,’ Anheg agreed.
‘I am the Rivan Queen!’ Ce’Nedra shouted at her father.
‘You’re a silly girl!’ he shot back.
‘That does it, father,’ she declared, leaping to her feet. ‘You will deliver command of your legions to me at once, and then you’ll return to Tol Honeth where your servants can wrap you in shawls and feed you gruel, since you’re obviously too senile to be of any further use to me.’
‘Senile?’ the Emperor roared, also jumping up. ‘Get out of my sight! Take your stinking Alorn army out of Tolnedra at once, or I’ll order my legions to throw you out.’
Ce’Nedra, however, was already storming toward the door of the tent.
‘You come back here!’ he raged at her. ‘I haven’t finished talking to you yet.’
‘Yes you have, father,’ she shouted back. ‘Now I’m going to talk. Barak, I need that sack you have tied to your saddle.’ She rushed from the tent and climbed onto her horse, spluttering with apparent fury.
‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ Barak asked her as he tied the sack of Angarak coins to her saddle.
‘Perfectly,’ she replied in a calm voice.
Barak’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. ‘You seem to have regained your temper in a remarkably short time.’
‘I never lost it, Barak.’
‘You were acting in there?’
‘Obviously. Well, at least partially. It will take my father an hour or so to regain his composure, and by then it will be too late. Tell Rhodar and the others to prepare the army to march. The legions will be joining us.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘I’m going to go fetch them right now.’ She turned to Mandorallen, who had just emerged from the tent. ‘Where have you been?’ she asked. ‘Come along. I need an escort.’
‘Where are we going, pray?’ the knight asked.
‘You’ll see,’ she told him, and she turned her mount and rode at a trot up the hillside toward the massed legions. Mandorallen exchanged a helpless look with Barak and then clanged into his saddle to follow.
Ce’Nedra, riding ahead, carefully put her fingertips to her amulet. ‘Lady Polgara,’ she whispered, ‘can you hear me?’ She wasn’t certain that the amulet would work that way, but she had to try. ‘Lady Polgara,’ she whispered again, a bit more urgently.
‘What are you doing, Ce’Nedra?’ Polgara’s voice sounded quite clearly in the little queen’s ears.
‘I’m going to talk to the legions,’ Ce’Nedra answered. ‘Can you fix it so they’ll hear me?’
‘Yes, but the legions won’t be much interested in a speech about patriotism.’
‘I’ve got a different one,’ Ce’Nedra assured her.
‘Your father’s having a fit in here. He’s actually foaming at the mouth.’
Ce’Nedra sighed regretfully. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘It happens fairly often. Lord Morin has the medicine with him. Please try to keep him from biting his tongue.’
‘You goaded him into this deliberately, didn’t you, Ce’Nedra?’
‘I needed time to talk to the legions,’ the princess replied. ‘The fit won’t really hurt him very much. He’s had fits all his life. He’ll have a nosebleed and a terrible headache when it’s over. Please take care of him, Lady Polgara. I do love him, you know.’
‘I’ll see what I can do, but you and I are going to have a long talk about this, young lady. There are some things you just don’t do.’
‘I didn’t have any choice, Lady Polgara. This is for Garion. Please do what you have to do so that the legions can hear me. It’s awfully important.’
‘All right, Ce’Nedra, but don’t do anything foolish.’ Then the voice was gone.
Ce’Nedra quickly scanned the standards drawn up before her, selected the familiar emblem of the Eighty-Third Legion, and rode toward it. It was necessary that she place herself in front of men who would recognize her and confirm her identity to the rest of her father’s army. The Eighty-Third was primarily a ceremonial unit, and by tradition its barracks were inside the Imperial compound at Tol Honeth. It was a select group, still limited to the traditional thousand men, and it served primarily as a palace guard. Ce’Nedra knew every man in the Eighty-Third by sight, and most of them by name. Confidently, she approached them.
‘Colonel Albor,’ she courteously greeted the commander of the Eighty-Third, a stout man with a florid face and a touch of grey at his temples.
‘Your Highness,’ the colonel replied with a respectful inclination of his head. ‘We’ve missed you at the palace.’
Ce’Nedra knew that to be a lie. The duty of guarding her person had been one of the common stakes in barracks dice games, with the honor always going to the loser. ‘I need a small favor, colonel,’ she said to him as winsomely as she could.
‘If it’s in my power, Highness,’ he answered, hedging a bit.
‘I wish to address my father’s legions,’ she explained, ‘and I want them to know who I am.’ She smiled at him – warmly, insincerely. Albor was a Horbite, and Ce’Nedra privately detested him. ‘Since the Eighty-Third practically raised me,’ she continued, ‘you of all people should recognize me and be able to identify me.’
‘That’s true, your Highness,’ Albor admitted.
‘Do you suppose you could send runners to the other legions to inform them just who I am?’
‘At once, your Highness,’ Albor agreed. He obviously saw nothing dangerous in her request. For a moment Ce’Nedra almost felt sorry for him.
The runners – trotters actually, since members of the Eighty-Third were not very athletic – began to circulate through the massed legions. Ce’Nedra chatted the while with Colonel Albor and his officers, though she kept a watchful eye on the tent where her father was recuperating from his seizure and also on the gold-colored canopy beneath which the Tolnedran general staff was assembled. She definitely did not want some curious officer riding over to ask what she was doing.
Finally, when she judged that any further delay might be dangerous, she politely excused herself. She turned her horse and, with Mandorallen close behind her, she rode back out to a spot where she was certain she could be seen.
‘Sound your horn, Mandorallen,’ she told her knight.
‘We are some distance from our own forces, your Majesty,’ he reminded her. ‘I pray thee, be moderate in thine address. Even I might experience some difficulty in facing the massed legions of all Tolnedra.’
She smiled at him. ‘You know you can trust me, Mandorallen.’
‘With my life, your Majesty,’ he replied and lifted his horn to his lips.
As his last ringing notes faded, Ce’Nedra, her stomach churning with the now-familiar nausea, rose in her stirrups to speak. ‘Legionnaires,’ she called to them. ‘I am Princess Ce’Nedra, the daughter of your Emperor.’ It wasn’t perhaps the best beginning in the world, but she had to start somewhere, and this was going to be something in the nature of a performance, rather than an oration, so a bit of awkwardness in places wouldn’t hurt anything.
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