He stealthily walked back through the short course of city streets he had followed, and five minutes later he silently entered the palace grounds, undetected by the guards who stood with their backs to the public as they closely monitored the suspicious hesitation of Prince Holco and his group of followers, who all stood still in the plaza in front of the palace.
Chapter 12
“I’m here,” Theus spoke breathlessly as he trotted up to the side of Holco’s horse.
“Theus, is that you?” the prince asked hoarsely.
“I left my horse at a stable in the city. You go wherever you need to go, and I’ll be close by,” Theus explained. “I like using the energy in sunlight, but I can go inside the palace when we need to,” he added.
Holco shrugged, then flicked his reins, and his horse began to lead the others around the palace grounds. The stables would be in the back, Theus was sure; it seemed to be the layout that every palace used, as he had discovered in his journeys among the kingdoms of the land.
Minutes later, the horses were in stalls and the travelers were carrying their bags of clothes and supplies into the palace. Theus followed as Holco led the way to the office of the steward.
“Maynid, I’d like to have my usual suite in the palace, and suites for my friends, plus one other guest who will join us,” Holco explained politely. “Of course, my lord,” the steward replied, and minutes later several servants were providing direction to the guests, while Holco led Theus to the prince’s own permanent suite in the palace.
“I don’t stay here often, but it’s one of the advantages of being in the royal family, and it comes in handy on the nights they hold balls,” he grinned, as Theus released his invisibility and became apparent once again.
Within minutes, the others from the traveling group knocked on the door and arrived at the prince’s suite, pleased to see that Theus was visible, proof that he had traveled into the palace with them.
“We’ll go to the court and let King Leonade know that we’ve returned to express our support and condolences,” Holco said.
The group walked together through the palace corridors as a knot, with Theus as their invisible companion. The reactions Holco generated were much the same in the palace as they had been in the city, Theus thought. Many people expressed support and friendship, but some showed scorn or discomfort with his presence.
Holco was announced by heralds when he entered the room where the king held court, but the king seemed to take no notice at first. He sat upon a throne in view of the large room, while Holco led his friends to take seats at a table near the front of the audience room.
“The king’s advisors can clearly see who is here,” Holco told the others in a low voice, as activities on the stage plodded along.
“The king can see us too,” Arnel pointed out.
“He could if his eyesight was decent, but he’s nearly as blind as a bat now,” Holco explained. “Wait to see if an advisor comes to whisper in his ear.”
“What’s going on up there?” Theus asked about the activity on the stage, in front of the throne, as the group waited.
Holco listened for a moment. “The family from the Westlands,” he nodded towards Grille, who governed the province, “is asking permission for their daughter to be married to a merchant from the city here. She’s two months underage for marriage, but they say there are circumstances that prove the two are compatible.”
“What does that mean?” Theus asked.
“She’s already with child,” Arnel clarified.
“The king is turned to for all sorts of family matters among the nobility,” Holco explained. “Most marriages among those who have titles have to actually have an approval from the king. Of course, he never says ‘no’,” the prince explained. “It takes a lot of time for the throne to listen to all the requests,” he added.
A man slipped from the back of the stage up to the throne, and cupped his hand around the king’s ear as he whispered a message. The king’s visage turned startled, and he twisted his neck to look at the man as he asked something. The man nodded, and the king waved him away with a flip of his hand. He stared out at the audience as if searching, then sat patiently until the presentation before him by a trio of earnest young people was finished. He nodded his head in assent to the request of the petitioners, who were promptly escorted off the stage.
“The crown calls forth Holco, Prince of Stoke, to approach the throne,” the king’s attendant called out to the crowd, setting off a wave of murmurs through the hall.
“Stay here,” he told his friends, as they all started to rise. “I’ll go up alone to hear his words.”
Theus silently and invisibly followed Holco through a side door and behind curtains, to approach the stage. As they stepped up onto the stage and came into view, Theus heard the buzz among the crowd die down as Holco moved across the stage.
“Holco, prince of Stoke, you are aware of the calamities that have befallen our nation in recent months, and you are reported to be a witness to the worst of these atrocities. I ask that you return to the court the day after next to give a full account of all that you saw and heard,” the king spoke with great emotion.
“I will be at your service as requested, your majesty,” Holco gave a low, formal bow. He stood hesitantly for a moment. “I regret the pain I know you must feel from the loss of Prince Eudie,” he added in a softer voice, then immediately exited the stage.
Holco returned to his table, with Theus unseen in his wake.
“What do you expect the return appointment will be about?” Arnel asked when Holco was reseated.
“It can’t be good,” Maier speculated.
“It might be; the king didn’t condemn or sentence him immediately,” Grille pointed out.
“We’ll come back and find out in two days. In the meantime, we can enjoy the city’s charms,” Holco said.
“Can we leave the palace?” Theus asked in a low voice. “I’d like to regain my visibility.”
“By all means,” Holco grinned. “It turns out we don’t necessarily have to stay here after all.” He and the others stood and left the audience hall, and returned to the stables to get their horses. They left the palace grounds, and Theus was soon visible again, mounted on his horse with them.
They all decided that the two days’ window of grace allowed them to go to their separate homes. Grille, Arnel, and Maier went their individual ways, leaving Theus with Holco.
“Would you like to stay in my palace, or are you going to return to the Warrells’ home?” Holco asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. I never saw you stay any place in Stoke except there, and I just spoke without considering. It just seemed like a natural home for you,” the prince immediately apologized. Like everyone else, he had learned the story of Theus and Coriae being on and off and on and off in their relationship, and on the trip out of Limber he had heard the tale that Theus claimed to have no memories of the girl any longer.
“I don’t remember the Warrell home,” Theus replied.
“We’ll ride right past it, but don’t worry. I have plenty of space in my home for you. I remember,” Holco immediately launched back into recollections of Theus at the Warrell town house with Coriae and Forgon, then immediately corrected his own behavior once again.
Two minutes later they did indeed ride past the front of the Warrell house.
“There it is,” Holco said as they rode along the wide boulevard the house sat upon. “There’s your Warrell home.”
Theus pulled on his horse’s reins and stopped to look at the large structure. He had no recollection of the home.
“You’re sure I stayed there?” he asked skeptically. “I would surely remember.” He doubted that the alleged memories of the girl named Coriae could be so strong that they could carry away memories of a home, especially such a nice home. He had clear memories of practicing sword work with Forgon at the Warrell home in Great Forks
“Go up
to the front door and knock. They’ll invite you right in, the servants are that used to seeing you as a part of the family. I’m sure you could stay there.”
Theus shook his head in mock disdain, then dismounted and approached the door, climbing the short flight of steps that placed the first floor above the street level. He knocked on the door, then waited. Footsteps audibly fell upon the floor within, and then the door swung inward, and a man appeared.
“Bless my soul, if it isn’t our young hero, master Theus!” the portly man exclaimed with a wide smile. “We’re so happy to see you, my lord. Would you like to come in? None of the family are at home, as you know, no doubt, but we would welcome you fondly.”
The man was chatting with Theus with bright amiability, as though their acquaintance was long and firmly established.
“Shall I have your room prepared? We would certainly welcome serving you as the guest of the house. How long will you be staying?” the servant asked warmly.
“Everyone, Master Theus is here to spend a night or two with us,” the man called loudly. “Freshen his room, and put a pot of tea on for him – a fresh pot, mind you, not that pot you’ve been nursing warm all afternoon.”
“Jens, what are you prattling about?” a woman’s voice called down the hall.
“Martha, master Theus is here,” Jens the butler at the door called loudly in response.
“I just got into town with Prince Holco,” Theus spoke weakly, finding an opportunity to insert a word at last.
“And we’re not far from the prince’s own home, so you’ll be able to see him frequently! Capital, capital idea; you sound just like master Forgon – he’d think the same way, though of course he’d know he was going to stay here, seeing as how it’s his own home and all,” Jens extrapolated.
“You bring your horse around to the stables in the back and I’ll make sure those windows are opened to freshen up the air in your room,” Jens instructed Theus.
“I’ll be around in just a moment or two,” Theus was completely cowed by the confident and friendly assertiveness of the staff.
“And master Theus,” Jens lowered his voice to a very confidential tone, “if I may say so, I am most sorry for any misunderstanding between you and our young lady Coriae. I love the girl dearly – I practically had a hand in raising her as a youth, it sometimes feels – but I can’t help but feel that somethings could have and should have been better handled,” the servant said with diplomatic sympathy.
“I,” Theus stuttered, at a loss for words, “thank you, Jens. I appreciate that.”
He fled from the door, and arrived back at his horse to the accompaniment of laughter from Holco.
“You’ll be staying here; we know that Coriae is in Thuros and Forgon is on his way home to Great Forks, and the staff is going to treat you as if you are the heir to the family fortune in their absence,” the prince predicted with a smile.
“You go in and enjoy yourself. I’m going home to clean up, eat, and go to bed early to sleep and sleep and sleep in my own bed for the first time in forever. Shall I see you at the armory tomorrow morning?” he suggested.
Theus felt on firmer ground in a conversation for the first time since Jens had opened the door. He nodded his assent, said good bye, and the two traveling companions parted ways.
Theus found himself coddled and comforted by the staff of the Warrell family home in Stoke. From the moment he stabled his horse, then walked into the house, the staff treated him as if they considered him a full-fledged member of the younger generation of the family.
He was fed, allowed to bathe in peaceful luxury, and then he fell asleep in a soft and fragrant bed that Jens told him had been his own on the many nights Theus had spent in the home. Theus didn’t remember any of those nights, but he quickly persuaded himself to believe that it all happened, and he enjoyed wallowing in the lifestyle of a pampered young nobleman.
The next morning, Theus ate an early breakfast, then followed the puzzled staff’s directions to the armory, and was greeted by numerous young men. Strangely, he found that he knew and recognized most of them, and he enjoyed the pleasure of strenuous physical exercise as he worked himself into a lather before Holco arrived at the armory that morning. The two sparred and talked.
“Did you have a pleasant night in your old home in the Warrell mansion?” Holco asked.
“It felt like home,” Theus admitted. “I don’t have any memory of being there, but the staff people were kind, and the furnishings were elegant. There’s nothing in Limber that can match that kind of gentility.”
“Let’s clean up, then go to the court,” Holco suggested when they broke for lunch.
“Why go to court?” Theus asked. “You’re not called back until tomorrow.”
“We’ll be able to hear what people have been saying since we showed up,” Holco explained. “The court has been gossiping about this for twenty-four hours now, and opinions are forming. We can find out what those assumptions are, and we’ll know what to say tomorrow.”
“You just tell the truth,” Theus stated matter-of-factly.
“I will,” Holco reassured him. “It’s just a matter of knowing what to emphasize, and what to say less about. The king probably already has his mind made up one way or the other,” the prince acknowledged. “But if we know what he thinks, we might be able to make the best of the situation.”
“If you say so,” Theus shrugged. He knew that Holco was right; he’d heard others say similar things. He remembered the stories of the apprentices in Great Forks, and the slaves in the Southsand palace, where people who were powerless had observed that those in power would bend the truth to suit their needs.
But he thought of Eiren, who had told him he must stand up for what was right. He didn’t want to think that justice could be negotiated.
Holco sensed Theus’s disgruntlement. “We’ll watch who talks to who, and we may figure out how to set this whole thing right with a quick explanation of the facts today,” he offered Theus with a pat on the shoulder.
“It’s like those ladies at your sister’s court, who were all watching you and plotting how to bring themselves to your attention,” Holco slyly pointed out.
“What?” Theus looked up at his friend in confusion. “What ladies?”
“You didn’t notice them because you were dancing with the other one, Autumn,” Holco said. “But the others were talking among themselves, watching you. I’ll dare say they were plotting the best way to get your attention.”
“Hhmph,” Theus grunted, as the pair went to clean up. He thought of Autumn, living in Limber. She was someone who understood where he had come from, though she had little idea of all that he had seen since leaving the Jewel Hills. But there were few women he could think of who would understand his experiences in the world, other than Amelia and Eiren, and both were in relationships he would not interfere with. Not that he was desperate to find a relationship, he reminded himself.
He ate lunch with Holco, then followed him to the palace and donned his invisibility before entering the palace gates. The prince led his unseen shadow into the audience room, where the members of the court awaited the arrival of the king and the start of the day’s proceedings.
“Holco, have you heard what the members of the Council are saying?” one man started a conversation with the prince as soon as they entered the hall. “They say that magician you traveled with is the one who killed Eudie and Glock. They tell the king to punish anyone the magician likes as a way to get back at him.
“You need to watch out,” the man warned, then slipped away from Holco’s company.
The next man though, told Holco that the king was going to declare that Holco was the new heir to the crown, and just minutes after that, a woman told Holco that he had been the hero who had saved Great Forks from invasion.
The prince accepted all the wildly divergent reports with graciousness. He took a seat in the back of the room, while Theus stood nearby in a corner where he wouldn’t be tram
pled upon. He watched Holco and the crowd, as Holco received visitors and scanned the traffic in the room himself.
When the king was finally announced on stage, the crowd rose and bowed. Visitors to Holco’s table ceased to want to be seen with him, and his corner of the hall grew empty while the king began to listen to petitioners.
“Now come the noble house of Forgos of Thuros, whose son Klermie, a genteel man of manners, wishes for a ruling by the crown,” the page cried out in explanation to the crowd, halfway through the afternoon session.
The name struck an odd memory chord for Theus, though he could not place it. He edged closer to Holco and the stage as he tried to focus on the drama unfolding at the front of the room.
“I know that name,” Holco muttered within Theus’s earshot.
A young man strode across the stage, then stopped and knelt in front of the king. The supplicant had a dark mane of curly hair, again triggering some fragment of a memory for Theus.
“Majesty,” the man’s voice was faint but audible, “as your most loyal servant on the isle of Thuros, I wish to seek your approval to set right a terrible wrong.
“A woman of reputedly noble birth had claimed to consent to give me her hand in marriage,” Klermie began.
“Oh, it’s him!” Holco quietly exclaimed.
“Theus, are you nearby?” he asked in a voice less quiet.
“Right here,” Theus replied.
“This is the one! He’s Coriae’s fiancé!” Holco bubbled the words quickly.
Theus knew that in another time, under other circumstances, he would have been filled with emotion at the discovery of the identity of the man on the stage.
“Oh, I didn’t know,” he found that he didn’t have to force himself to sound calm. He was curious, but calm. Knowing who was Coriae’s fiancé was of no interest to him.
“Great majesty, this same woman then is alleged to have caused a social disgrace in Great Forks by consorting with a commoner in a public and appalling manner. She was exiled from the city as a result of such behavior,” Klermie explained.
Tangled Engagements (The Memory Stones Series Book 4) Page 14
