Mariah questioned the motives of the Gods and her soul was lost without Torvald. When all else had crumbled and disappeared, Torvald was everything to her. He saved my life and I brought him here to be killed. We should have just stayed in Riverfront. We would still be together if my father hadn’t got so greedy. He had to be king.
Her desperate mind kept swirling around with incomplete thoughts jumping in and out. Mariah opened her eyes to see the other crying women looking at her.
“Should we get back to the Princess Hall now?” Haley asked, sobbing.
Mariah nodded and remembered the phrase that time healed all wounds, but the shared pain among the ladies seemed to intensify as the days passed. The news that the men weren’t dead only momentarily buoyed their spirits before they went back to worrying. They had received news of Queen Leimur’s overthrow, which muddied the once-clean waters. The only constant that remained was crying and blaming her father for everything.
The ladies got up and moved into the warmer Princess Hall with most of the Colbert family filling the seats and benches. The somber tone in the room matched the mood of the arriving ladies who sat at a round table. The women could sit in silence for hours. All words of encouragement or hope had already been exhausted and they mostly tended to pray in silence. Dinner would be served soon and Mariah’s stomach told her that she wouldn’t be eating again today. Ever since she had gone with Orian to bless the men on the battlefield, food had become vile to her. Every bite made her flash back to the gruesome bodies and turning over dead men in fear that one might be Torvald or Ruxin. The White Raven had warned her that she might want to stay away, but Mariah had insisted she attend. The sights and smells made her resent her father even more and blame him further for everything. She hadn’t spoken to him since she had yelled at him after the battle.
Mariah tended to lash out at others when she felt hurt and angry and right now her father bore the brunt of the abuse. Mariah saw Deydranna get up and scurry out of the room. About a minute later, the hand maid came rushing back across the hall toward the Princess.
She approached the ladies and could barely contain herself as she said, “Princess Mariah, your highness and ladies, follow me, please.”
Mariah didn’t know what to expect as she followed the pregnant servant up two floors and down a hall to a huge window. She pointed to two people near the front entrance of the main castle. One man pushed another along the frost-tipped green grass. She looked closer and saw her husband and brother, bruised and battered. The ladies hustled down to the main gate to greet the men. Her heart bounced up and down in her chest as they descended another stairwell. Her mind couldn’t focus on a single thought and excitement coursed through her entire body. She looked over at Lucille, who sported a wide grin, and tried to keep up with the determined pace of the Duchess. The men stumbled through the rising portcullis and Mariah ran up and wrapped her arms around her husband. She lost herself in his body and looked over at Ruxin.
Her brother’s head looked misshapen and lumpy with clotted, dried blood clumping his hair together and staining his ears. His face was filthy with having been ground in dirt and his wide-open eyes stared blankly at the chandelier.
The look scared Mariah, and Torvald whispered in her ear, “There is a problem with your brother.”
She pulled back and saw Haley try to hug Ruxin but he just stood there with his arms at his sides, emotionless. The Colbert boy was being barraged with questions from Camelle and Haley, but he just looked around the room in a daze. He looked completely lost inside his own home. He acted as if he couldn’t hear anyone’s words.
Count Sproul moved in and said, “Perhaps Count Silzeus and I should take a look at the boy.”
Camelle responded, “Thank you, yes. Please bring back my son.”
Camelle and Haley followed the counts and Ruxin as Mariah turned to Torvald and asked, “What happened?”
Torvald took a deep breath and said, “It was bad. We almost didn’t make it out alive. I thought she’d killed your brother.”
Mariah interjected, “She?”
He continued, “Yes, the Queen of Goldenfield. I thought she had bashed his skull straight in with those war axes of hers. She did kill J. Everson, Sir Bastion and perhaps, Chopkins.”
Mariah shook her head quickly and said, “No. Chopkins returned soon after the fight.”
A look of slight relief came over her husband’s face, and he said, “Good for him. He should have never been in the middle of that mess. I told him to stay behind the wall. After almost being crushed to death, we were captured by a unit of Goldenfield soldiers. They marched us back to their camp and locked us in a wooden pen. They were going to take us back to Goldenfield to ransom us back to you until that one day.”
Mariah cut in again, “What day?”
Torvald smiled and continued, “Just a day that seemed like any other. Sun in the sky with the clouds, but this day started to feel different around mid-morning. The commotion broke out sometime in the afternoon. I saw the Queen of Goldenfield running from her guards. She was coming straight toward our pen.”
Mariah burst in again, “Oh, I wish you had killed her.” It was unlike Mariah to be so vengeful.
Torvald went on with the story. “She is actually the one who busted open the lock on the wooden pen. After every last guard chased after her, the rest of us prisoners ran out of the open door and scattered in different directions. I grabbed your brother and dragged him back here. He didn’t say a single word the entire time.”
Mariah hugged her husband again and whispered in his ear, “Thank you so much for saving my brother and bringing him back. I hope he will be alright. Oh Gods, I love you so much.”
She got up on her toes and kissed his dirty lips that still felt perfect to her. She smiled for the first time in weeks and said, “We should probably get you cleaned up.”
As they turned in the foyer of the castle, Lucille appeared a few feet in front of the couple. Torvald stepped away from his bride to give his mother an emotional hug.
Mariah overheard him ask about his father and Lucille replied, “He is still out east. He couldn’t accept that you were gone and now he doesn’t have to.”
The two held the embrace as they slowly spun around. Mariah saw the relief in Lucille’s smile; her sparkling eyes were filled with tears of joy and as they spun around again, a strange sight caught her vision. She saw liquid coming from her husband’s eyes. She had never seen him cry before and even after they stopped rotating, Torvald held his mother tight for several minutes and told her that he loved her several times. Mariah could easily overhear him and her tears started to flow again. After they separated, Torvald quickly wiped off his cheeks and looked at Mariah with a genuine smile. Lucille and Mariah escorted Torvald back to his quarters so he could be scrubbed clean. As the ladies left, one of his room servants passed by with the soap and Mariah smelled orange blossoms.
Lucille lightly patted her on the back as they walked and exclaimed, “What a wonderful day this is turning into.”
Mariah replied, “I couldn’t agree more but it would be much better if the counts could help Ruxin. Should we go check on my brother now?”
Lucille answered, “Of course. I hope they are able to fix the young man.”
Mariah said, “I only know what I saw earlier was very scary and that wasn’t my real brother.”
They entered Count Silzeus’ room and saw Ruxin, Camelle, Haley and the two counts.
Count Sproul asked, “Can you write your name, Ruxin?”
The count dipped a quill in some ink and extended it to Ruxin who sat at a small table with parchment laid down in front of him. Ruxin grabbed the quill and kept licking the tip before Haley could wrestle the pheasant feather from his strong hand.
Count Silzeus looked at his contemporary and said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s almost as if he’s a deaf mute.”
Count Sproul added, “I’ve seen some cases that have had a sim
ilarity or two but never all these factors at one time.”
A distraught Camelle asked, “So that’s it? There’s nothing you can do?”
Count Silzeus looked at the Queen and said, “Your highness, this is just an assessment. We will need to convene for several days to decide what course of treatment is best for the lad.”
Camelle needed to know, “How can you decide upon treatment if you both just agreed that you’ve never seen anything like this?”
Count Sproul interjected, “My Queen, I’ve cured ailments that had never been seen before several times during my tenure in your castle. Have faith in the Seven and put your son in all your prayers.”
Camelle scoffed, “That’s it, huh? Put my faith and hopes into more empty prayers. Look where all the prayers have gotten me.”
Mariah rushed over to her mother as Camelle went on, “My family has been destroyed and yet I pray and pray and pray. For what, more destruction?”
Mariah squeezed her mother from behind and softly spoke into her ear, “These men are going to do everything they can to help Ruxin return to normal. Many matters concerning our family could have gone much, much worse. The Gods returned me back to you. They will bring Ruxin back eventually.”
Count Sproul recommended, “Let’s get the boy cleaned up and into some of his clothes. Perhaps that will spur some memories and trigger some words to flow from his mouth.”
Everyone went their separate ways and Mariah went back to her quarters. She passed Torvald’s room servant again as he was leaving. She went inside and shut the door behind her. She looked across the expansive room at her husband in a long linen robe with wet hair. He was hugging a sobbing Chopkins Haddock and neither man noticed Mariah entered the room.
The portly young man spoke through his tears, “I’m so sorry. I should have come back instead of running away. I’m such a coward.”
Torvald slapped him on the back as he spoke, “Are you kidding me? Chopkins, look at me.” The shorter man used his long sleeve to wipe away the moisture from around his eyes as he peered up at Torvald. Her husband said, “You saved Ruxin’s life. He’d be dead and probably so would I if you hadn’t hit the Queen with that pike. You are a hero and you would have died if you had stayed and tried to fight her, just like J. Everson and Sir Bastion. You were extremely brave on the field of battle and you should be proud of yourself. We are all proud of you and your actions.” He stepped back and patted Chopkins’ moist, chubby cheek with his right hand and Mariah started to get emotional. I have the perfect husband.
Two days later, Ruxin’s condition still hadn’t improved and Mariah went to see the High Holy Leader. She left the castle and crossed the bridge to get to the Walk of Kings. She continued down the cobbled path and to her left, men standing on platforms were whitewashing the outside of the House of Eternal Light. They had almost completely covered the elaborate paintings of the Gods. Mariah walked inside and noticed most of the interior decorations had been stripped. Only a simple oak altar remained in the humbly furnished open room. The dimly lit area needed more torches to increase visibility in Mariah’s opinion. She found the White Raven sitting on the floor with poor citizens all around him. He noticed Mariah and excused himself from the parishioners.
She went and helped pull Orian to his feet as he said, “I thank you greatly. I just don’t have the same jump as I did twenty years ago.” The old man laughed. This was the first time she had heard him even chuckle.
Mariah said, “I think it is I who needs to thank you. I appreciate how understanding you were in my time of need.”
She caught The Raven of Light staring at two women in light, nearly see-through robes. He broke the concentrated look by shaking his head and whipping his left shoulder.
He said, “Sin needs purged.” He looked at her again and told her, “I help people who are in need. I generally focus on the poor and desolate, this is known. However, I seek out anyone who may require my efforts. I was just about to go to the cells and pray for our prisoners if you would like to join?”
Mariah replied, “Certainly.”
She helped the older man as he struggled to get down the stairs and he squeezed her forearm harder with each descending step. They got to the bottom and he released his death grip as they walked slowly down the narrow hall toward the prisoner cells. Mariah recognized a young man in the cell to her left.
She pointed at the man in the cell and said to Orian, “What is Neron Wamhoff doing here? He was cleared of his charges in agreement that he would leave the kingdom.”
The White Raven calmly retorted, “It appears he had no intention of leaving the kingdom. We detained him right here in our Capitol.”
Neron apparently overheard the conversation and screamed in a hoarse voice, “I didn’t have a chance to leave. They apprehended me the day I was released from the dungeons. I told you I needed some guards to help me get out of the realm.”
Orian spoke softly, “Unfortunately, this one has a long reputation of willful sin repetition. Accused by one or two, we raise our brow. Accused by more, that’s a field to plough. He is set to stand trial unless he first admits to his crimes against the Gods. The Seven will save him if he is innocent.”
Mariah demanded to know, “Who is overseeing the trial?”
Orian Vangor licked his lips with a white-spotted tongue and said, “The brothers and sisters of the Faith will carry out the will of the Gods.”
Mariah argued, “So the same people that have accused him, will now decide his guilt? Hasn’t the verdict already been decided?”
The White Raven responded, “I’m not sure you understand the wide range of accusations levied against this devious young man. Several dozen eyewitness accounts are no coincidence. He always reserves the option to carry out the truth and admit to his plethora of sins.”
Mariah asked, “And what happens if he does admit to those accusations?”
The new leader of the Faith casually answered, “He will be put to death with a clean soul and conscience to enter the tests of heaven.”
Mariah posed the question, “And if he is found guilty in a trial?”
The High Holy Leader informed her, “He will die with a dirty soul and likely plunge down into the depths of the hells.”
Mariah was flabbergasted and wondered, “Well then why don’t you just kill him right here? Do you even hear how ridiculous you sound right now? He’s already paid for his sins and wrongdoings. He’s been pardoned by the King.”
Orian’s dull eyes lit up in the swaying torchlight as he said, “That is terrific for him, but the King has granted me supreme authority to punish those who denounce the Words of the Gods and knowingly commit sin time and again when we know it to be wrong. He has a long record of charges and he must come to understand that the Gods see everything. Everything.”
Mariah shook her head in disgust and disbelief. She said, “I believe I need to talk to my father about this. Why should I grant people mercy if you are going to punish them cruelly for the same crimes?”
The old man looked at her with a wry smile and spoke in almost a laugh, “I hope you aren’t trying to threaten me with your father. I answer to a higher calling than our King. If I am to be struck down as we stand here now, I will die with a clean soul, so death doesn’t scare me in the least. Now a princess is viewed as the highest station in the eyes of the citizens of the realm. But she will always be of lower status than a sworn brother or sister in the eyes of the Gods. Only they have the true authority to excuse sin in our people.”
Mariah thought for a few moments before she said, “Then maybe I need to be sworn in as a Sister of the Faith.”
Orian warned her with a smile, “You would first have to denounce your title of Princess of Donegal as all of the Gods’ creatures are equal. A sister of the Faith also carries the responsibility to travel and spread the word of the Gods.”
She gave a sharp grin back and replied, “Yes, well, perhaps we can revisit the conversation of touring Fox Chapel t
o lift the spirit of our realm.”
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN SWORD
The Man sat at his oak table and struggled to flip the page of a book with the back of his hand. He had lost two fingers and his palms had been shredded by Cobra during the duel.
Gamelda sat across from him and counseled, “We need to leave now.”
The Man looked embarrassed as he spoke, “I can’t hold the reins of a horse to ride. I’m a king. I can’t ride in a coach or wagon. A true leader rides with his men. Why don’t you have your spirit friends heal my hands?”
She looked at him with sympathy. “I don’t have any friends that do that, I’m afraid. You could walk for the first few days, if you must, until your hands heal. You cannot stay here or it’s the end of days for you.”
He gave her a sharp look and asked, “For us, don’t you mean?”
Gamelda shook her head and said, “It can only be us if you take my advice. I don’t warn someone endlessly only to walk directly into a fire with them. My advice has been given. Use it, ignore it, do what you wish.”
He responded, “I can’t even walk among my men now, thanks to you. The men know their leader couldn’t even beat a barbarian in single combat. Everyone knows what you did back there.”
Gamelda told him, “I didn’t do anything. That man was smitten by the Gods.”
The Man looked down and shook his head, “Even I know that’s a lie. I couldn’t beat a barbarian in battle. How can I be a king?”
Six Heads One Crown (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 3) Page 33
