Tangled Engagements (The Memory Stones Series Book 4)

by Jeffrey Quyle

  He smiled, and was soon circling the dance floor arm-in-arm with her.

  “You've made your sister mad, I'll wager,” Autumn offered.

  “I didn't speak very well, but she didn't warn me,” Theus lamented.

  “Even so, you didn't have to try to order her boyfriend to leave the city,” Autumn made her point. “She and Prince Holco are rumored to be quite compatible.”

  “I wasn't trying to order him to leave,” Theus protested. “I just thought we might leave the city together,” he explained.

  After the dance, Autumn said farewell. “I hope I'll see you when you return,” she said as she gently pecked him on the cheek.

  “I hope so too,” he smiled, then watched her walk away.

  “Theus, what were you thinking?” Thera asked as they met at the steps up to the stage. “Holco doesn't want to leave yet! There's a lot for him to learn about our city. Why are you making him leave?”

  “He doesn't have to go,” Theus protested. “I can leave on my own. I just thought that the people from Great Forks and Stoke might be ready to return home, and we could all travel together. “

  In the end, all the travelers did decide to depart two days later, and Theus delayed his departure so that he could travel with them.

  The next morning, after his practice in the armory, Theus went to find his mother.

  “I didn't know Autumn's family moved to Limber,” he observed casually as they ate breakfast.

  “They surprised me by moving away from the Jewel Hills,” Allise observed. “Autumn’s father listened to Graters and Poinbee,” Allise named two of the first migrants who had returned to the Jewel Hills after observing Limber first hand.

  “She's always been a pleasant girl,” his mother said politely. “Perhaps we can invite her family to visit the palace after you return from your journey.

  “Now dear,” she said as she folded her napkin, “go bathe and make yourself presentable. I'm your mother, so I’ll tolerate this fragrance of yours, but I don't think anyone else will.”

  Theus excused himself with a smile, and went to his quarters to bathe.

  That afternoon, he spoke with Vanline about supplies for the travelers who were joining him on the journey away from Limber.

  “I'll miss having the quality sparring partners you and Forgon in particular have provided these past few mornings, but those lads you brought from Southsand are promising,” Vanline said.

  “Be careful out there Theus,” the steward clapped a hand affectionately on the boy's shoulder. “All these outsiders give you credit for accomplishing remarkable things, but this Donal still scares the pants off the Southsanders.”

  Theus was touched by the genuine concern his friend expressed. “Be sure to say a prayer for me to Limber when you think to,” he suggested. “And pray to Currense as well, from time to time,” he added without knowing exactly why, other than the concern the goddess had shown for his activities.

  His last official action in Limber was to visit the Southsand army that was transforming into the Limber army.

  “You should talk to Vanline about establishing bodyguards for the queen,” he suggested. The advice was greeted with enthusiasm.

  That night, as he readied for bed, Theus answered a knock at his door and found his sister wanting to talk.

  “Mother stays so busy, but it's the only way she keeps from mourning father,” Thera observed as they comfortably sprawled on Theus's bed. “If she lost you too, I don't think there would be enough work in the world to keep her heart from breaking.

  “I might even miss you too,” she added with a smile. “You be careful and don't get distracted, or try to be a hero. Just come back safely, so that we can invite Autumn's family to the palace a time or two.

  “Good night, big brother,” she said as she rose, blew him a kiss, and left his room.

  Chapter 11

  “I'd like to accompany you,” Crystal informed him the next morning, when he was packing his small pack for his long journey. He still carried the horn that Limber had entrusted to him, though his adventures hadn't given him the chance to use the horn to destroy Ind'Petro's temple up to that point.

  “Crystal!” He exclaimed, genuinely touched by the proposal. “That is kind and generous and thoughtful,” he said as he knelt down next to his companion. “But I am going far away from Limber, farther than the granitines journey.”

  “Who told you that?” Crystal asked.

  “I just know it is a very long journey,” he explained. “I've made the trip twice.”

  “No,” Crystal corrected him, “who told you granitines don't go far from Limber?”

  “Well,” Theus temporized, “I just haven't seen any of you far away.”

  “Just because you don't know what you haven't seen, it doesn't mean what you know is right,” Crystal stated matter-of-factly, as Theus scratched his head over the comment.

  “Are you saying that you could go far from Limber?” He wanted clarity.

  “I can and I have,” the sturdy creature asserted. “Someday I'll tell you my story, and you'll be amazed.”

  “I can't let you go,” Theus decided to be firm. “This will be a dangerous trip.”

  “More dangerous for you than for me,” she replied. “You may need help, or you may just need a companion, or you may need someone who can give you advice and guidance,” Crystal argued stoutly.

  “It just doesn't make any sense. The answer is 'no',” Theus replied decisively. “It's too dangerous, and there are plenty of things for you to do here in the city.”

  “Well, I'll accompany you to the end of the Limber mountain route,” Crystal casually invited herself along for the beginning of the journey.

  “That will be fine,” Theus conceded. He didn't want to argue with his friend any longer, and he did think of the small stone being as a friend, he realized.

  By mid-morning, everything was ready. The travelers sat atop their horses outside the palace, while Thera told them all to have a safe and comfortable journey, and to come back to Limber soon, when the city would be better provisioned, better furnished, and better populated.

  Holco's parting from Thera was seemingly a formal farewell, although each clearly left words unsaid.

  “You'll bring your sister out to meet the other leaders of the cities soon, won't you, Theus?” Holco elicited a promise from the marshal of Limber.

  And then they departed, after a week's visit to a city they all had believed was a myth only a month before. Theus rode up and down the column of more than two score travelers, visiting with many who he hadn't spoken to very much during the Limber visit. Though they felt they were leaving Limber too soon, they appreciated the opportunity to return home to Stoke, which they hadn't seen in weeks, since they had ridden hellbent with Forgon from Stoke to Great Forks, expecting to fight against the Southsand invasion.

  Though they wouldn't have war stories to tell, their stories of Greenfalls and Limber would surely excite any audiences they spoke to.

  Theus left unspoken his faint sense of uneasiness about how the court in Stoke would react to word of Theus's destruction of much of the Stoke army at Greenfalls, especially his hand having wielded the dark magic power that had killed the heir to the throne. He suspected that Holco had similar concerns, though the pair had not discussed the topic yet.

  They rode along the smooth road from the city, and made good time. Before nightfall they selected a spot to spend the night, and set up camp.

  “Someday you’ll have to have inns and hostels built along this road to take care of the travelers,” Forgon advised Theus. “But it can wait a little while; I think you have other things on your mind,” he laughed. The next two days were rainy ones, dampening the spirits of the travelers as they made their way along the valley road, and finally reached the junction with the trading road to Waterspot.

  “Thank you for joining us, Crystal,” Theus climbed down off his horse to say farewell to the granitine who had accompanied him al
ong the way.

  “I hope you have a good journey,” she said calmly, and with that they parted ways, leaving Theus slightly puzzled. He had expected more resistance to his separation from his companion. But the discomfort of the drizzling rain soon occupied his mind, and he rode on with the others in silence.

  They arrived in Greenfalls the following day, and were warmly greeted by Eiren and Alsman, who found rooms for them all in the palace. Many rooms had become available as the new pair of rulers had cleared away more of the sycophants and corrupt followers of the previous governor.

  “How long will Alsman continue to rule?” Theus asked Eiren one night, as the two of them sat on the roof of the palace and looked at the stars.

  “It may be quite a while. The city has grown used to him, and the people like him. The nobles like him. The common folks like him. He’s making the services run better, and he’s not wasting money like the old governor did,” she explained.

  “Have you heard of more trouble from Stoke?” Theus asked.

  “No, have you?” Eiren earnestly asked.

  “I’ve been farther from Stoke than you have,” Theus dismissed the question. “I haven’t heard anything from anyone anywhere, except in Limber.”

  “So you haven’t heard anything from your former girlfriend, Coriae?” Eiren asked.

  “No, I haven’t heard a word about her or from her,” Theus shrugged. During the trip from Limber, a few early comments had led to an understanding of the memories torn from his heart; there had been no further discussions with him, as the rest of the traveling court had discovered and reacted to Theus’s extraordinary tale of his purging by Limber.

  “It must be awkward traveling with her brother,” Eiren probed gently.

  “It doesn’t bother me, and it doesn’t seem to bother him,” Theus replied. “Forgon’s a good friend.”

  “He doesn’t want you to turn him into a toad with your magic!” Eiren laughed. “He’s not going to be bothered by anything you say, not to your face anyway.”

  “So where do you plan to go from here? Back to Limber?” she wanted to know.

  “I think,” Theus said carefully, “that Holco and a few others and I are going to go to Stoke. Forgon and the rest are going to go to Great Forks.”

  Eiren looked at him with raised eyebrows.

  “And what do you expect to happen in Stoke?” she asked. “Will you use your magical powers to make the king become a nice old man?”

  “I don’t have the power to do things like that,” he said dismissively. “Oh, you were joking,” he realized as he saw her roll her eyes.

  “I want to make sure Holco is treated fairly, and then I’m going to keep on going to Southsand, to fight the next battle,” he trailed off.

  “So, how long are you going to stay here helping Alsman?” Theus asked his own question. “Or is there something more here than just helping Alsman?” he asked.

  “I know what you’re asking; my friends are starting to ask the same thing, and I tell them there’s nothing here to talk about,” Eiren sighed. “He is older than me, but we seem to get along so well, and he seems to genuinely like me.

  “I’m not in a hurry to mess this up. We get to see each other and work with each other every day. If I said or did the wrong thing, I’d have to go back to running caravans up and down the river again,” she reflected, “and that wouldn’t be so bad, but I may like something else instead,” she avoided giving a direct answer, but gave Theus enough of an answer to confirm his suspicions about the gently budding romance between the two.

  After three days in Greenfalls, Forgon told Theus that he and others from Great Forks were ready to return to their home.

  “We’ve seen something that no one else in Great Forks has seen!” he exclaimed. “When we tell the city that Limber is alive again, you’ll have any number of people flocking to see if it’s true.”

  Theus and Holco accompanied their friends to the palace stables, and watched them climb in their saddles.

  “When will I see you again, Theus?” Amelia asked. “You know you don’t have to come rescue me anymore, but I would like a visit from my favorite hero and protector from time to time!

  “I’m going to stay with Forgon’s family for a time, while we wait to receive word on whether Stoke is a safe city or not,” she explained. “Holco and Forgon are worried about what might be happening there.”

  Theus hugged the girl tightly. “You be good. Forgon’s family is wonderful. Make him give you lessons in swordsmanship in the armory; he and I used to practice there every day,” he advised. “I’ll miss you,” he told her, then helped her mount her horse.

  Afterwards, Holco spoke to Theus. “We should prepare to head to Stoke next; at least I plan to go soon, if you’re still considering traveling there as well.”

  “It is my plan to go through Stoke,” Theus reaffirmed. He had traveled from Limber to Greenfalls by conventional means rather than using his white magic, in part so that he could remain with his companions, and in part so that he could delay the day he would confront Donal and Ind’Petro. “I’ll travel with you.”

  “We haven’t heard a thing out of Stoke since their army returned,” Alsman said when Holco and Theus joined him and Eiren for dinner the night before their departure. “We have guards keeping watch on the borders, but there are no messages, no threats, no attacks, no requests for peace. We don’t know what’s happening there.”

  “Who can guess who the king will turn to for advice and guidance now that Eudie and Glock are no longer alive,” Holco speculated. “Perhaps someone with sense. Perhaps the Advisory Council will declare him incompetent and name a regent. We can only hope for a change for the better. Since the queen died a few years ago, the king has grown more unpredictable and less effective as a ruler.”

  The next day, Holco, Theus, and a dozen others who had ridden on the wide circuit from Stoke to Great Forks to Limber to Greenfalls, set out on their journey to return to Stoke, several weeks after first departing. They rode for three days, until they reached the outskirts of the capitol city in the mid-afternoon of another rainy day. They stopped within sight of the city walls to discuss how to manage any of a number of welcomes they might receive.

  “I could use my magic to create a display of power that would frighten them,” Theus suggested.

  “We’re coming in as friends and members of the court, not conquerors,” Holco pointed out. “We should go to the palace first, as friends, to express our sorrow for the loss of Prince Eudie, and let the king know that Greenfalls only wishes for peaceful and honest rule.”

  “And what if the king says ‘no’?” Theus asked.

  “Then you should use your magic to create a display of power that will frighten them,” Holco grinned. “No, we just need to let the king know that we are loyal servants, and then leave the court, so that he and his advisors can take their time to think it over.”

  “If you say so,” Theus accepted Holco’s judgement. He’d never been in the large palace of the king, and knew nothing of the customs of the court.

  The group formed into two short columns and rode into the city, drawing comments as soon as they reached the gate and entered into the city walls.

  “Traitors!” one voice yelled after the group was safely past the anonymous shouter’s position.

  “Go bring sanity to the throne, Holco!” a woman called out, as she held up a yellow rose to the prince when he rode past.

  “Thank you,” he smiled his appreciation for the gift and the words, then snapped off the stem and placed the rose in his tunic button hole as a boutonniere.

  Similar comments were shouted all along the course through the city as the group rode, though Theus thought that more were directed in favor of Holco than against him. As they rode, some of the members of the group said farewell, as they turned to follow the roads leading to their own homes.

  When the remaining handful approached the palace gates, it appeared that word of their arrival had r
aced ahead of them, for the palace walls appeared heavily manned with guards.

  “Who seeks entrance to the palace?” A man stepped in front of Holco’s horse and blocked the way from entering the grounds of the king’s home.

  “I am Holco, a member of the royal family, and these are my several companions,” Holco spoke with formality.

  “You may enter the palace grounds, Prince. Name the others who accompany you, so that their fitness to enter may be determined,” the captain of the guard spoke.

  “This is Grille, Duke of the Westlands,” Holco began, waving his friends forward and through the gate as he named them. “This is Arnel, Captain of Ice Peak; this is Maier, Protector of the River Ports,” he cited the names and titles of the youthful leaders who had accompanied him.

  “And this,” he came to the last name, “is the Marshal of Limber, Theus, the hero of the battle of Great Forks.”

  “He may not enter,” the palace officer spoke up immediately. “If he steps forward another step, I shall place him under arrest, by order of the King’s Advisory Council.”

  “That shows neither graciousness, nor hospitality, nor intelligence!” Holco spoke hotly.

  Theus cupped his hand over his mouth, then initiated his white magic powers to use ventriloquism to send his voice to Holco alone.

  It was his first use of his white magic since Limber had removed Donal’s poisonous infection, and Theus felt a chill of excitement as he felt his power flow.

  “Don’t quibble. Go inside and wait. I’ll be inside to join you in five minutes; I’ll be invisible,” he explained.

  Holco’s face first displayed surprise, then understanding, and he gave a discreet nod to acknowledge the message.

  “I’ll go now,” Theus said out loud, then turned his horse and walked it away from the gate.

  “That’s it?” the palace officer asked in perplexity as he watched Theus promptly part from his companions.

  When Theus arrived at a stable around the corner, he paid for his horse to be kept, then stepped into an alley, called upon the sunlight in the air overhead, and turned himself invisible. He was pleased, almost giddy with happiness at his resumption of magic.