I cannot believe he put his filthy hands on me. How dare that animal? And he looks down on the Histoman. I thought he loved me? He only cares about one thing, himself. Maybe I need to only look out for myself now?
Emilia left the tent and went over to an open fire with Pariah, Princess and Krys Colbert sitting around it. The chilly fall air breezed through her short hair and rippled the orange flames of the fire. Emilia didn’t have a chance to sit down before Sir Ralph came running up.
He said, “Kryth, your suppothed friendth from Mattingly have arrived. I will take you down to the port to meet them on the Ruthdy Rudder.”
Sir Ralph had twenty armored guards prepared to escort them, but Krys looked uncomfortable even with all the protection.
He turned to Emilia and asked, “Will you come with me?”
She answered, “Of course, I would be honored.” The former queen hooked her elbow into Krys’ arm and could feel the young man shaking. She could easily understand why he would be nervous. Sir Ralph led them toward the Rusty Rudder as the mid-sized ship bobbed up and down in the water. Emilia could see about six men on deck as they approached. Two of the men jumped down onto the wooden dock and walked toward her. They looked like knights, plated in armor, and wearing black surcoats emblazoned with a golden bull. Both men smiled as they gazed at Krys, who wore his golden dragon mask and loose robes.
“Do you know who we are?” the taller man asked.
“I do. You are Sir Richard Rosebud, and you, Sir Antery Blackburn,” Krys said, pointing to each man as he said his name.
Sir Antery asked bluntly, “Is it true that your brother, Ryno…is gone?”
Krys didn’t speak; he slowly nodded confirmation as his mask reflected the sun’s golden rays out onto the dancing emerald waters.
Sir Richard hinted, “That dragon attack looks pretty vicious.”
Krys stared out at the sea and said, “Quite vicious. Nearly burnt me to death.”
Sir Antery asked, “What about your back? Did your back get burned by the dragon?”
Krys smiled through the mask. “I cannot see behind me, but I don’t think my back has been burned.”
Both men grinned as Richard Rosebud remarked, “Good. We need to check a birthmark on your lower back. You father told us what to look for. You don’t look or sound anything like the last time I saw you, but I know birthmarks don’t wash away.”
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Krys responded.
Sir Ralph stepped in and said, “Yeth, well, take a few thepth back. Guardth, if either of thothe men make a move toward Kryth Colbert, kill them. You may protheed.”
The guards positioned themselves to protect Krys as Emilia helped to lift the loose burgundy linens. She tried to cover Krys’ bottom but also expose his red, but not blistered back.
“There it is,” exclaimed Sir Antery as he pointed at a giant freckle on the small of Krys’ back.
Emilia dropped the robes again and Krys turned to face the men.
Sir Richard said, “Prince Krys Colbert, I swore an oath to your family. The Knights of Mattingly apologize for letting you fall into this situation. We will return directly to your father to work on your release.”
The men were about to leave when Krys asked, “How is my father?”
The men slowly turned back and Sir Richard said, “He is as well as a man can be who’s had his family ripped apart. He has been reunited with your mother, sister and Ruxin but he yearns to have his entire family home, well the new home in the King’s Castle. Your entire family prays for your safety at every chance. We all do. We can’t wait to see the safe reunion of the Colberts.”
The men waved farewell and got on the Rusty Rudder. One of their crew mates untied the ship and jumped on as the boat drifted slowly back out to sea.
Emilia started to cry. She wanted to release Krys right then and there. He belonged with his family, not being used as a prisoner in war games. She understood that they had to receive some sort of compensation for Krys. She had never been directly involved in war, but she knew the way it worked. None of the stories or songs ever talked about kind gestures of good will and faith. Normally, the most ruthless side won the war. Emilia assumed Krys was crying as the anchor came aboard the Rusty Rudder and the ship really started to sail away. She couldn’t see inside Krys’ radiant mask, but tears liberally streamed down her rosy cheeks. The former queen wanted to take the Colbert boy straight to the King’s Castle by herself.
The wind let up a bit as they walked back to the base. Emilia spotted her two female friends shivering by a fire and invited them into her tent. They sat down on the bed and Emilia noticed a defeated look on Pariah’s face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Pariah answered, “It’s, no. It is not a thing.”
Emilia tilted her head and lowered her eyebrows. “You can tell me.”
Pariah took a deep breath as Princess jumped up and said, “ET TOM EET AU TU.”
The little girl scampered out of the large tent and closed the cover behind her. “What did she say?” Emilia asked.
“She want to play outside by mountain, she say,” Pariah informed her.
“Alright, now you can tell me what is the matter,” Emilia insisted.
The young woman said, “When before we know that Cobra fight a man to win, nobody happy. Histoman, for first time, they question Ali-Steven. I get scared. I am Histoman but Ali-Steven is husband.”
Emilia casually commented, “Well, you will always have a place with me, if need should be.”
She had uttered the words as if she was still the Queen of Donegal. She suddenly realized that she truly had nothing anymore. As queen, Emilia always had supporters who would have helped her out of duty to the kingdom. Now she needed to stay with the Wamhoffs to survive. She had come full circle from her days as a child on the horse farm. She had basically nothing then and she truly had nothing now. The realization irked her as the conversation continued.
Pariah said, “I thanks. Histoman, we want go back to home. Most say no Rolog live here.”
Of course, a barbaric foreign god isn’t lurking over Donegal. We have proper Gods here. The true Seven. I can’t believe they would question Ali-Steven though. That could present a huge problem. Cobra better win this duel because if not, we might lose our army too.
“Do you know whom you would choose? Would it be Ali-Steven or the Histoman?” Emilia asked because she needed to know whether to prepare for a full-fledged mutiny.
“I no know. Make me sad to have to choose,” the young woman responded.
Emilia made a statement in the form of a question, “But I thought you and the others looked at Ali-Steven as a demi-god.”
Pariah bounced her head back and forth as she answered, “Is son of Rolog and live on here, not heaven. Some Histoman now are think Ali-Steven is not son of our god. Say he is not true to brings us to a bad land. He take us over water that kill most of our family. Histoman is angry.”
Emilia thought for a moment and asked, “But you said they were excited about the Cobra fight?”
Pariah nodded in agreement before saying, “Yes, now is better for Histoman. They say Cobra is win again.”
Emilia snorted out a half laugh and said, “We all better hope he wins. Let’s go find Princess. She must be freezing out in that swirling wind.”
The two women found the tiny girl near the mountain base. Her white, rough linen coverings and body were covered in sand and mud. Princess said, “EP VAR SA LOH PO RIN.”
Pariah turned to Emilia and translated, “She say there is something…uhh…uhh, shiny inside the ground.”
Princess pointed to a small crack in the mountain and crawled in. Pariah tried to follow her but couldn’t quite fit. The petite former queen squeezed into the tight opening. The path became wider and higher as she pushed farther into the mountain. She took short breaths to avoid the foul taste of the dusty, stale air. Total darkness prevailed as she kept pressing forward. She ran into
Princess who had stopped. Several small cracks in the tunnel walls allowed some precious sunlight to trickle through and illuminate a great treasure. Princess handed her a gold bust of the God, Cleon. Emilia’s hands dropped under the extreme weight of the solid gold object. The shelter contained more gold than she had ever seen in the royal treasury. Princess kept handing her objects until it became difficult to breathe and they pushed back through the tunnel to the outside world. The sharp daylight shocked Emilia and it took her vision a moment to adjust to the brightness. Her vision came back into focus as she stared at her hands, which were holding the two biggest gold nuggets she had ever seen. The Histoman quickly crowded around and Ali-Samuel sauntered up to inquire about the gathering.
Over the next few days, a group of experienced diggers widened the tunnel to extract the treasure. They discovered an assorted cache of gold in every shape, size, form or fashion including outrageous party jewelry. They purchased food from neighboring towns and had a small feast on the blustery beach. They didn’t spend much to improve the living conditions because they planned to stay in the castle after the duel. She went back to her tent after the feast and found Ali-Samuel reading on the bed. He closed the book and smiled at Emilia.
He covered his mouth and said seriously, “I have to apologize.”
Emilia said sarcastically, “Really? Now is when you want to apologize? Coincidentally, a few days after I helped discover the gold that might save our entire effort. Odd timing to apologize, I must say.”
Ali-Samuel took a deep breath through his nose before answering, “It is pure coincidence. Come now, we’ve argued and fought before and I always realize the errors I’ve made and apologized.”
Emilia looked away and said, “Alright then, get on with it. Go ahead and apologize.”
A confused look came over Ali-Samuel. “I already have.”
Emilia shook her head and countered, “No. You said you have to apologize, but you never actually did it, so go ahead.”
Emilia enjoyed watching Ali-Samuel squirm before he said, “I’m sorry, alright? Are you happy now? This should be no different than our other arguments.”
Emilia started to get angry as she said sternly, “No, this is very different. You’ve never choked me until I thought I would die until this last time.”
Ali-Samuel argued, “I said I was wrong and I meant it. Nothing I do will prevent what has already happened. All I can do is to promise by our Seven Gods that it will never happen again. You have my word as a Knight of Donegal.”
That didn’t make Emilia believe him. She had known many venerated knights that performed the most despicable activities known to mankind. She just stared into his blue eyes. What good is your word anymore? The more I hear about this decorated hero, the more I find out he prefers to stab someone in the back. A man without honor should never call himself a man. What have I gotten myself into?
ELISA
Elisa waited inside the stopped coach with the Ellsworths. The horses needed to rest on an unusually hot autumn afternoon. Lady Victoriah sat next to Lord Ichibod, who insisted his injuries were too severe to return to the front of the pack. The queen didn’t believe the lord and had a feeling he was faking to avoid being near the action. Darryg sat next to Elisa. The young Ellsworth still hadn’t recovered from his brief stint in battle. His crazy-looking, staring eyes, frequent crying episodes and inability to maintain a normal conversation concerned Elisa. Darryg was supposed to be her king. He looked like a king in appearance only, while Sir Anderley demonstrated the actions of a king. The knight had left a few days ago to head one last search for the treasonous Lord Nanbert. His previous efforts had proved fruitless, but the dutiful Anderley had promised Elisa he would bring the traitor to her. The only normal passenger missing was Telly Burke. She had become friends with Brehan and had been riding in the old wagon with him. Elisa wasn’t very keen about her younger sister being friends with her secret lover.
She didn’t know what to do about Brehan. Part of her still loved him, but she knew the dream to rule together that they had shared and believed in only months ago was a fool’s wish. The notion seemed almost silly now. The number of people Elisa trusted dwindled on a daily basis, so she planned to keep Brehan around in some capacity. She knew he would always protect and never betray her. Unfortunately, Elisa didn’t know if she could say the same for herself. She still couldn’t get over his ugly appearance. Elisa had never considered herself a shallow person, but Brehan’s transformation was monstrous.
The coach began moving again on the dirt path, flanked by green plains, as they headed through Cloverfoot. Only a few clouds were out and the sun attacked the earth from high above in the sea blue sky. The passengers sat in a rare silence. Elisa thought about the conspiracy Telly had alluded to in connection with Lord Ichibod. She guarded every word she uttered around the lord and lady. Ichibod became angrier with each passing day because a constant stream of messages were filled with news of increased security around the Capitol and King’s Castle. She didn’t know what the man with a cruel reputation could be capable of and she remained constantly on edge. The daily messages also made her realize that her path to the throne would be a strong uphill battle. She knew thousands of men would have to sacrifice their lives for her to even have a chance to get anywhere close to King Colbert. The slow moving coach came to a stop and Elisa got a bit worried about another ambush.
“We found him. We found that son of a bitch.” She recognized Anderley’s voice and everyone rushed to exit the coach.
The queen didn’t see Lord Nanbert, only the former knight of the King’s Guard. Four horses appeared on the hill, hooves flinging chunks of dark brown soil from the torn up path. Elisa identified the four riders and noticed a pig slung over the back of Sir Alwell Jater’s black war horse. The animal approached the Ellsworths and snorted at them. The pig turned out to be the one and only, Lord Jerion Nanbert. Sir Alwell jumped down and pulled the rotund lord to the ground. He squirmed around in a black hooded cloak with his hands and feet bound.
He stood up with the help of Sir Alwell and looked just as disgusting as she remembered.
Lord Ichibod hobbled his way through the gathering crowd and screamed, “I’m going to kill him.” Ichibod approached the traitor, who fell to the ground in apparent fear. Sir Alwell kicked him a few times and yelled at the lord to get up. Lord Nanbert wiggled around for several moments before gaining traction and getting to his knees. This made Elisa smile.
Sir Alwell kicked him again and said, “Let’s go, you porknell, up to your feet.”
“We had a signed deal,” Lord Ichibod said with venom latching to his words.
The bound lord looked up with his ugly face and responded, “I had no deal with you. I had a deal with the girl. The whore queen, as she has become known as.”
Elisa’s blood started to boil. Whore queen? I never slept with you or anyone other than Brehan. How dare that pig?
“Excuse me?” Elisa said as she moved to her left to stand in front of the captured man.
He looked up at her and spoke, “Little piece of advice for you. When you best someone in negotiation, the correct practice is not to brag about it, girl. I only signed our agreement based off an implied basis of trust; you never held up your end of that.”
Elisa yelled, “We had a deal. You signed the parchment.”
The dirty man peered at her for a moment before speaking, “Deals are voided when one of the person’s involved brags widely about how they lied to gain signature.”
Elisa mocked the lord, “Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Now I am going to kill you myself. Sir Anderley.”
He immediately answered, “Yes, my queen.”
Elisa ordered, “Bring me my sword.”
I never bragged about anything. Did the lord and lady spread the word around Lightview? It would of course spread further and reach Power’s Run eventually. Did they brag about tricking him? It had to be them. They are the only ones who knew about it.
>
Lord Nanbert started laughing as Ichibod jumped in and asked, “You are going to behead a man in that frilly dress? Now, now, I need to carry out this punishment. I was there when the men died. I need to exact their revenge.”
Elisa disagreed, “And the men died defending their queen. What kind of monarch am I if I don’t carry out justice for my men?”
Lady Victoriah whispered something into Lord Ichibod’s ear and he didn’t seem to like the words.
He tightened his lips and unenthusiastically said, “Alright then, you can carry out the queen’s justice. Good luck getting all the way through that fat neck with that tiny sword of yours.”
The smug man said, “You have no reason to kill me. I pledged my fealty to a strong king. If you were to become Queen of Donegal, not some upstart claim with barbarians fighting on your side, I would do the same for you. Tersen Wamhoff was king when I made the deal with you, remember that.”
Elisa stopped him by saying, “Enough empty talk for now. You ambushed our forces. There is no defense for that. On with the proceedings.” Elisa’s heart thumped along with her whole body as she waited for Sir Anderley to return with her sword.
Can I cut through his gigantic neck? I think I can, but this blade has never seen human flesh yet. Anderley would tell me if the blade couldn’t handle this. I surely don’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone.
A huge crowd had now gathered to witness the execution of a High Lord of Fox Chapel. She noticed Brehan and Telly up front and rugged-looking men in every other direction. Anderley slowly walked up to the queen. He held her sword with two upturned hands and knelt to present her the weapon. She grabbed the grip and carefully pulled the blade away, trying not to cut Sir Anderley.
Elisa’s head started to spin as she got caught up in all the hollering for death. She thought she might pass out until words navigated around the lump in her throat and started to come from her mouth, “Lord Jerion Nanbert, High Lord of Cloverfoot, you’ve been found guilty of treason at the highest level and you are set to die today in the name of Queen Elisa Burke. Do you have any last words?”
Six Heads One Crown (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 3) Page 25
