Lyonesse II - The Green Pear and Madouc

by Jack Vance

  Lady Desdea turned on her heel and marched to the queen's parlour, where she found Sollace relaxing among her cushions while Father Umphred read psalms in sonorous Latin from a scroll. Sollace understood none of the sense, but she found Father Umphred's voice soothing, and meanwhile she refreshed herself with curds and honey from a bowl.

  Lady Desdea stood impatiently to the side until Father Umphred completed his reading; then, in response to Sollace's inquiring nod, she told of Madouc's latest delinquency.

  Sollace listened without emotion, supping all the while from her bowl.

  Lady Desdea warmed to her subject. "I am bewildered! Rather than acting in accordance with my instructions, she chose to saunter here and there with Prince Cassander, heedless of the arrangements. Were her rank less exalted, one could almost think her controlled by a cacodaemon, or an esper or some other malignant entity! Such is the perversity of the child."

  Queen Sollace failed to become exercised. "She is a trifle wayward; no doubt as to that."

  Lady Desdea's voice rose in pitch. "I am at my wit's end! She does not even trouble to defy me; she simply pays me no heed. I might as well be talking out the window!"

  "I will reprimand the child later this afternoon," said Queen Sollace. "Or perhaps tomorrow, if I decide to beat her. At the moment, I have a dozen other matters on my mind."

  Father Umphred cleared his throat. "Perhaps Your Highness will allow me a suggestion."

  "Of course! I value your counsel!"

  Father Umphred placed the tips of his fingers together. "Lady Desdea alluded to the possibility of an alien influence. All taken with all, I think this unlikely-but not beyond the realm of imagination, and the Holy Church recognizes such afflictions. As a precaution I would suggest that the Princess Madouc be baptized into the Christian faith and thereupon be instructed in the tenets of orthodoxy. The routines of devotion, meditation and prayer will gently but surely persuade her to those virtues of obedience and humility which we so long to inculcate in her."

  Queen Sollace put aside the empty bowl. "The idea has merit, but I wonder if the Princess Madouc would find such a program appealing."

  Father Umphred smiled. "A child is the last to appreciate what is pure and good. If Princess Madouc finds the environment of Haidion too stimulating, we can send her to the convent at Bulmer Skeme. The Mother Superior is both thorough and rigorous when the need exists."

  Queen Sollace sank back into the cushions of the couch. "I will discuss the matter with the king."

  Sollace waited until King Casmir had taken his supper, and had become somewhat mellow with wine; then, as if casually, she brought Madouc's name into the conversation. "Have you heard the latest? Madouc is not behaving as I might hope."

  "Ah bah," growled King Casmir. "It is no great matter. I am bored with this constant recital."

  "It is a subject not to be dismissed lightly. With full and insolent purpose she defied the instructions of Lady Desdea! Father Umphred is convinced that Madouc should be baptized and trained in Christian doctrine."

  "Eh? What nonsense is this?"

  "It is scarcely nonsense," said Sollace. "Lady Desdea is beside herself with anxiety; she suspects that Madouc is moonstruck or possibly possessed by a familiar."

  "Absurd! The girl is full of nervous energy." For a variety of reasons, Casmir had never informed Sollace of Madouc's provenance, nor the fact of her fairy blood. He said gruffly: "She is a bit odd, perhaps, but no doubt she will grow out of it."

  "Father Umphred believes that Madouc is definitely in need of religious guidance and I agree."

  Casmir's voice took on an edge: "You are far too amiable with that fat priest! I will send him away if he does not keep his opinions to himself!"

  Sollace said stiffly: "We are concerned only for the salvation of Madouc’s eternal soul!"

  "She is a clever little creature; let her worry about her own soul."

  "Hmf," said Sollace. "Whoever marries Madouc will be getting far more than he bargained for."

  King Casmir gave a frosty chuckle. "You are correct on this account, for more reasons than one! In any event we will be off to Sarris in a week's time and everything will be changed."

  "Lady Desdea will have more difficulty than ever," said Sollace with a sniff. "Madouc will run wild as a hare."

  "Lady Desdea must then give chase, if she is truly in earnest.''

  "You minimize the difficulties," said Sollace. "As for me, I find Sarris tiresome enough, without added exasperation."

  "The country air will do you a benefit," said Casmir. "We shall all enjoy Sarris."

  CHAPTER THREE

  I

  Each summer King Casmir moved with household and court to Sarris, a rambling old mansion about forty miles northeast of Lyonesse Town. The site, beside the River Glame, in a region of gently rolling parldand, was most pleasant. Sarris itself made no pretensions either to elegance or grandeur. Queen Sollace, for one, found the amenities at Sarris much inferior to those at Haidion, and described Sarris as 'a great overgrown barn of a farmhouse'. She also decried the rustic informality which, despite her best efforts, pervaded life at Sarris and which, in her opinion, diminished the dignity of the court and, further, infected the servants with slackness.

  There was little society at Sarris, other than an occasional banquet at which King Casmir entertained certain of the local gentry, most of whom Queen Sollace found tedious. She often spoke to King Casmir of her boredom: "In essence, I do not enjoy living like a peasant, with animals braying through the windows of my bedchamber and every cock of the fowl-run crying out alarums each morning before dawn."

  King Casmir turned a deaf ear to the complaints. Sarris was sufficiently convenient for the conduct of state business; for sport he played his falcons and hunted his parldands, or at times, when the chase was hot, he ranged far beyond, sometimes into the fringes of Forest Tantrevalles, only a few miles to the north.

  The rest of the royal household also found Sarris to their taste. Prince Cassander was attended by convivial comrades; daily they amused themselves riding abroad, or boating on the river, or practicing the sport of jousting, which recently had become fashionable. During the evening they fancied sport of another kind, in association with certain merry girls of the locality, using an abandoned gamekeeper's cottage for their venue.

  Princess Madouc also took pleasure in the move, which, if nothing else, delivered her from the attendance of her six maids-in-waiting. Her pony Tyfer was ready at hand; every day she rode happily out on the meadows, with Pymfyd for her groom. Not all circumstances were halcyon; she was expected to comport herself in a style befitting her place. Madouc, however, paid little heed to the circumscriptions imposed by Lady Desdea, and followed her own inclinations.

  Lady Desdea at last took Madouc aside for an earnest discus sion. "My dear, it is time and past time that reality enters your life! You must accept the fact that you are the Princess Madouc of Lyonesse, not some vulgar little ruffian girl, with neither rank nor responsibility!"

  "Very well, Lady Desdea; I will remember this. Can I go now?"

  "Not yet; in fact, I am barely started. I am trying to point out that each of your acts redounds to the credit, or discredit, not only of yourself and the royal family, but of the entire kingdom! It is awesome to think about! Are you quite clear on this?"

  "Yes, Lady Desdea. And yet-"

  "And yet-what?"

  "No one seems to notice my conduct but you. So it makes little difference after all, and the kingdom is not in danger."

  "It makes a great deal of difference!" snapped Lady Desdea. "Bad habits are easy to learn and hard to forget! You must learn the gracious good habits that will make you admired and respected!"

  Madouc gave a doubtful assent. "I do not think anyone will ever admire my needlework or respect my dancing."

  "Nevertheless, these are skills and graces which you must learn, and learn well! Time is advancing; the days go by; the months become years while you are not even n
oticing. Before long there will be talk of betrothals, and then you and your conduct will be the subject of the most minute scrutiny and the most careful analysis."

  Madouc gave a disdainful grimace. "If anyone scrutinizes me, they will need no analysis to discover what I think of them."

  "My dear, that is not the proper attitude."

  "No matter; I want nothing to do with such things. They must look elsewhere for their betrothals."

  Lady Desdea chuckled grimly. "Do not be too positive too soon, since surely you will change your mind. In any case, I expect you to start practicing genteel conduct."

  "It would be a waste of time."

  "Indeed? Consider this case. A noble prince comes to Lyonesse, hoping to meet a princess modest and pure, of charm and delicacy. He asks: 'And where is Princess Madouc, who, so I expect, is beautiful, kind and good?' For answer they point out the window and say: 'There she goes now!' He looks out the window and sees you running past, helter-skelter, hair like red rope, with all the charm and grace of a banshee from hell! What then?"

  "If the prince is wise, he will order up his horse and leave at once." Madouc jumped to her feet. "Are you finished? If so, I will be happy to leave."

  "Go."

  Lady Desdea sat still and stiff for ten minutes. Then, abruptly, she rose to her feet and marched to the queen's boudoir. She found Sollace sitting with her hands in a slurry of powdered chalk and milk of milkweed, by which she hoped to mitigate the effects of the country water.

  Queen Sollace looked up from the basin of slurry. "So then, Ottile! What a face you show me! Is it despair, or grief, or simple intestinal cramp?"

  "You misread my mood, Your Highness! I have just spoken with Princess Madouc and now I must make a discouraging report."

  Sollace sighed. "Again? I am becoming apathetic when her name is mentioned! She is in your hands. Teach her the proprieties and a few graces, together with dancing and needlework; that is enough. In a few years we will marry her off. Until then, we must bear with her oddities."

  "If she were only 'odd', as you put it, I could deal with her. Instead she has become a full-fledged tomboy, and is intractable to boot. She swims the river where I can not venture; she climbs the trees and hides from my call in the foliage. Her favorite resort is the stables; always she stinks of horse. I know not how to control her."

  Sollace pulled her hand from the slurry and decided that the treatment had worked its best effect. Her maid started to wipe away the paste, prompting an outcry from Sollace: "Take care, Nelda! You are flaying me alive with your strenuous work! Do you think I am made of leather?"

  "I am sorry, Your Highness. I will be more careful. Your hands are now truly beautiful!"

  Queen Sollace gave a grudging nod. "That is why I endure such hardships. What were you saying, Ottile?"

  "What shall be done with Princess Madouc?"

  Sollace looked up blankly, eyes large and bovine. "I am not quite clear on her fault."

  "She is undisciplined, free as a lark and not always tidy. There are smuts on her face and straws in her hair, if that flying red tousle deserves the word. She is careless, impudent, willful and wild."

  Queen Sollace sighed once again and selected a grape from the bowl at her elbow. "Convey my displeasure to the princess and explain that I will be satisfied only with her proper deportment."

  "I have already done so ten times. I might as well be talking to the wind."

  "Hmf. She is no doubt as bored as I. This rusticity is maddening. Where are the little maids who attend her so nicely at Haidion? They are so dainty and sweet and nice; Madouc would surely profit from their example."

  "So one might imagine, in the ordinary case."

  Queen Sollace chose another grape. "Send off for two or three of these maidens. Indicate that they are to guide Madouc in a gentle and discreet fashion. Time rushes on, and already we must look to the future!"

  "Just so, Your Highness!"

  "Who is that little blond maiden, so winsome and full of pretty wiles? She is like myself at her age."

  "That would be Devonet, daughter to Duke Malnoyard Odo of Castle Folize."

  "Let us have her here at Sarris, and another as well. Who shall it be?"

  "Either Ydraint or Chlodys; I think Chlodys, who is some what more durable. I will make arrangements at once. Still, you must expect no miracles."

  A week later Devonet and Chlodys arrived at Sarris and were instructed by Lady Desdea. She spoke dryly: "The country air has affected Princess Madouc strangely, as if it were a vital tonic, perhaps to her excessive invigoration. She has become careless of decorum, and is also somewhat flighty. We hope that she will profit by the example you set for her, and possibly your carefully phrased advice."

  Devonet and Chlodys went to join Madouc. After long search they found her perched high in a cherry tree, plucking and eating plump red cherries.

  Madouc saw the two without pleasure. "I thought that you had gone to your homes for the summer. Are they tired of you so soon?"

  "Not at all," said Devonet with dignity. "We are here by royal invitation."

  Chlodys said: "Her Highness feels that you need proper companionship."

  "Ha," said Madouc. "No one asked me what I wanted."

  "We are supposed to set you a good example," said Devonet. "As a start, I will point out that a lady of refinement would not wish to be found so high in a tree."

  "Then I am a lady of refinement well and truly," said Madouc, "since I did not wish to be found."

  Chlodys looked speculatively up into the branches. "Are the cherries ripe?"

  "Quite ripe."

  "Are they good?"

  "Very good indeed."

  "Since they are handy, you might pick a few for us."

  Madouc selected two cherries and dropped them into Chlodys' hands. "Here are some the birds have pecked."

  Chlodys looked at the cherries with a wrinkled nose. "Are there none better?"

  "Certainly. If you climb the tree you can pick them."

  Devonet tossed her head. "I don't care to soil my clothes."

  "As you like."

  Devonet and Chlodys moved to the side, where they settled themselves carefully in the grass and spoke in low voices. Occasionally they glanced up toward Madouc and giggled as if at some ludicrous consideration.

  Madouc presently climbed down through the branches and jumped to the ground. "How long will you stay at Sarris?"

  "We are here at the queen's pleasure," said Devonet. She looked Madouc up and down, and laughed incredulously. "You are wearing a boy's breeches!"

  Madouc said coldly: "If you found me in the tree without, you might have more cause for criticism."

  Devonet gave a scornful sniff. "Now that you are on the ground, you should instantly go change. A pretty frock would be ever so much nicer."

  "Not if I should decide to go out with Tyfer for an hour or two."

  Devonet blinked. "Oh? Where would you go?"

  "Most anywhere. Perhaps along the riverbank."

  Chiodys asked with delicate emphasis: "Who is 'Tyfer'?"

  Madouc gave her a wondering blue-eyed stare. "What odd things must go on in your mind! Tyfer is my horse. What else could he be?"

  Chiodys giggled. "I was a bit confused."

  Without comment, Madouc turned away.

  Devonet called out: "Where are you going?"

  "To the stables."

  Devonet screwed up her pretty face. "I don't want to go to the stables. Let us do something else."

  Chiodys suggested: "We can sit in the garden and play 'Tit tiewit' or 'Cockalorum'!"

  "That sounds like fine sport!" said Madouc. "You two start the game. I will join you presently."

  Chlodys said doubtfully: "It's no fun with just two!"

  "Besides," said Devonet, "Lady Desdea wants us to attend you."

  "It's so that you may learn proper manners," said Chiodys.

  "That, in fact, is the way of it," said Devonet. "Without pedigree you can't b
e expected to come by such things naturally as we do."

  "I have a fine pedigree somewhere," said Madouc bravely. "I am certain of it, and one day I will make a search-perhaps sooner than later."

  Devonet gave a choked gurgle of laughter. "Do you go now to search the stables?"

  Madouc turned her back and walked away. Devonet and Chlodys looked after her with vexation. Chlodys called: "Wait for us! We will come with you, but you must behave properly!"

  Later in the day Devonet and Chlodys reported to Lady Desdea. Both were thoroughly annoyed with Madouc, who had acceded to none of their wishes. "She kept us there forever while she groomed her Tyfer horse and braided its mane!"

  But worse was to come. Madouc finished with Tyfer and led him away, but failed to return. The two girls went to find her. As they picked their way fastidiously around the stable, an exit gate swung open without warning, thrusting them from the stone coping into the drainage sump, so that both stumbled and fell. At this point Madouc appeared in the opening and asked why they were playing in the manure. "This is not what I consider ladylike behavior," Madouc told them haughtily. "Have you no regard for decency?"

  Lady Desdea could only deplore the misfortune. "You should be more careful. Still, Madouc need not lavish so much time on that horse. Tomorrow I shall see to it! We shall sit to our needlework, with honeycakes and sangaree for us all to enjoy."

  At twilight the three girls supped on cold fowl and onion pudding in a pleasant little room overlooking the park. Prince Cassander came to sit with them. At his order, the steward brought a flask of pale sweet wine. Cassander sat back in his chair, sipping from the goblet and talking largely of his theories and exploits. On the morrow he and his comrades intended to ride north to Flauhamet, a town on Old Street, where a great fair was in progress. "There will be jousting,"7 said Cassander. "Perhaps I will take up a gage or two, if the competition is fair; we do not wish to compete against yokels and ploughboys; that goes without saying."

  Even at her relatively early age, Devonet was always ready to test her skills. "You must be very brave, to take such risks!"