“You’re very popular in this city,” Amelia spoke to him when they finished their cake and prepared to depart.
“Probably not for much longer,” Theus assessed. “Once everyone knows that I’m not engaged to Coriae, they’ll forget all about me,” he said in a well of self-pity. “Let’s go visit Duchess Holstem.” He took her arm, and led her around the corner of the building and into an alley, then tried for the first time to intentionally reduce the amount of his own energy that he applied to his white magic movement. The Duchess’s estate was not so far out of town that he needed to take a long step.
The pair disappeared from the city alley, and found themselves out in the countryside north of Stoke, just off the road that ran to Great Forks. He didn’t know precisely where the estate was, but he felt confident he knew the road after riding up and down it so many times in recent weeks.
“We need to go a little further north,” he recommended. His knees were weak, but he felt only a fraction of the exhaustion that a full step took from his stamina when he exercised the white magic mode of traveling.
“I can’t walk very far in my new outfit; it will get dusty and dirty,” Amelia protested.
Theus acceded to her wishes, and carefully used his energy to transport the pair just another mile up the road. They were in front of the estate of the duchess, so the walk up the drive was all that was needed to arrive at the front door and ask to see Duchess Holstem.
“We wish to call upon the Duchess,” Theus advised the servant who stood at the door observing them walk up the drive from the road. “Please tell her that Theus who prepared her allergy medicine is visiting to ask a favor.”
The visitors were led to a small parlor near the front door and asked to wait. They sat in the room for five minutes before the door opened, and a servant entered.
“Can you tell me about the allergy medicine you fixed for the duchess?” the young lad asked.
Theus sat, puzzled for a moment about the meaning of the question. “Well,” he slowly began, “it had crushed blue sunflower seeds, and baking soda, and olive oil, and saffron in it. Is that what you meant?”
“Just a moment; let me go check,” the servant didn’t seem sure, and left the doorway.
Two minutes later, the duchess herself entered the room.
“It really is you!” she exclaimed. “I couldn’t decipher the identity of my visitor; they said a man and a young lass, but the description didn’t sound to be Coriae, so I doubted it was you,” she explained as she glided across the parlor to give Theus a hug and to take Amelia’s hand.
“Let us go to the large parlor, since you really are friends,” the older lady suggested warmly, and she led them out of the room and down the hall to a room where she asked for refreshments to be delivered.
“So, tell me what brings me the honor of this visit, and who is your beautiful young friend? Where are Coriae and Forgon? And finally, will you provide more of your remedy for allergies?” their hostess asked with a laugh after her last question.
“I would be happy to make more of the allergy remedy for you,” Theus assured his hostess, as a maid hurriedly entered and deposited a tray of tea and cakes on the table.
“I’ll have to visit your kitchen of course,” he smiled, making the duchess laugh.
“You should have seen us at the dinner in Holco’s home – we got up from the table to go to the kitchen right then and there,” she told Amelia as she laughed. “I thought to myself, ‘this isn’t your typical young nobleman – he’s worth keeping an eye on!’”
“Oh he is,” Amelia agreed. “He jumped out of a boat to save me from drowning, then found food for us to eat in the wilderness for a week!”
“You rescued this beautiful creature, Theus?” Holstem asked. “What will Coriae say about that?”
It was another moment of truth – another opportunity for Theus to admit that he and the spirited girl from Great Forks were no longer together. It was another time when he decided he was not going to force the words from his mouth, the words that said that he and Coriae had severed their relationship.
“I only saved Amelia, and then became her friend – nothing more,” Theus explained. “Coriae won’t mind that.
“The reason we’re here is that Amelia is homeless for a while. This is Amelia, the princess of Steep Rise,” Theus finally introduced his companion. “Her home was overthrown by an invasion from Southsand. She needs a safe place to live for a while, and I thought of you.”
“Gracious! A princess!” the Duchess was impressed, even though her own nephew was a prince. “Of course Princess Amelia is welcome to stay with me! This big old house is so lonely. And I’ve got extra rooms in my place in the city too, of course.
“We’ll have to go to the city often so that you can charm the boys!” she spoke in a mock conspiratorial whisper to Amelia.
“Ugh, boys!” Amelia replied, screwing her face in an expression of disgust.
Duchess Holstem looked puzzled.
“Amelia is, younger than she appears,” Theus said awkwardly. “She’s not had beaus or romance yet. You’ll want to,” he paused wondering what to explain.
“Be a chaperone?” Holstem asked helpfully.
“Yes, that’s it,” Theus agreed.
“A chaperone to protect them, not me. I’ll hit them if they try to kiss me!” Amelia said passionately.
“We’ll protect them from you,” Holstem said affectionately, with a wink at Amelia. “But as pretty as you are, and as stupid as young men tend to be around pretty women, there’s going to be a great deal of opportunity for protection.”
“I’d appreciate the opportunity to stay here with you this evening as well,” Theus spoke up. “I need to leave tomorrow to,” he paused again.
“To run an errand?” Holstem offered words.
“Yes, it really is an errand, an assignment,” Theus agreed. “I’ve got to go east.” He wasn’t sure where he’d find Limber, but he knew it was somewhere in the mountains to the east.
“Gracious! You’re going to Greenfalls?” the duchess asked.
“That’s it,” he agreed.
“Well,” Duchess Holstem stood up. “Let me tell the servants to prepare. We’re delighted to have guests for dinner, we need to have rooms shaken clean for guests, and,” she stopped to look at Amelia. “Did you bring any other clothes with you?”
“No, this is all I have. Theus just bought this for me today in a shop,” Amelia answered as she stood up.
“It’s a lovely outfit; it looks darling on you. We need to find some other suitable clothes for you as well. I’ll have Terese go with you to look through our closets and see if we can give you a proper wardrobe. Would that be acceptable?” the duchess asked.
“I’d love it!” Amelia squealed. “Wouldn’t that be fun, Theus?” she turned to look at her protector.
“For you,” he agreed noncommittally.
“What do men know about such things?” Holstem said dismissively. “Let’s be off.”
They met servants in the hallway, and the duchess soon had her household scurrying to carry out their assignments. Theus followed a maid to his room, then followed her down to the kitchen, where he began mixing together the materials needed to recreate the allergy remedy the duchess had requested.
When he finished, he left the mixture on the counter, and returned to his room. He bathed and relaxed, feeling greater physical comfort than he’d known since he’d left the Warrell mansion in Great Forks so many days prior.
Chapter 11
Theus heard a knock on his door, and a servant informed him that supper was ready. He rose from where he’d been drowsily relaxing on his bed, and followed the man down to the dining room. The duchess entered the room soon after, then turned to Theus.
“Tell me what you think of your traveling companion,” she said.
Amelia entered the room, dressed in a formal gown that exposed her shoulders and upper chest, a dazzling deep blue dress that somehow see
med to sparkle and shimmer. It made her appear even taller than Theus knew she was, after days of travel together, and it endowed her with a sense of regality that Theus had never considered, though he’d called her a princess numerous times.
“She’s gorgeous,” Theus stammered.
“She certainly is,” Holstem agreed. “She reminds me of the balls we used to have here, when I was younger, and the Duke was still alive, and our son and daughter were eligible members of the nobility. Such parties!” she sighed.
“I have a memory stone with memories of how our ball room looked when it was filled with candles and music and dancing couples. It was elegance beyond belief!” the older woman was lost for a moment in the rapture of the memories of days gone by, as the two young guests smiled at one another.
“Have a seat, have a seat,” she directed them. “And after dinner, if you’ll indulge me, I’ll show you the memory stone and you’ll see how happy we were here in those golden days.
“You’ll have golden days of your own someday, someday soon, I’m sure,” she told them.
The three of them sat at the dinner table and ate an elaborate meal, then went to a parlor. Within a few minutes, the Duchess had a memory stone jewel delivered to the parlor.
“Here, let me find the best memories,” she offered, as she placed the stone to her forehead. Seconds later she handed it to Amelia, who was sitting near her. Amelia raised the jewel to her own forehead and closed her eyes for nearly a minute, before handing the stone back to Holstem.
“It reminds me of my parents’ balls at the palace,” she said softly. “It’s a very lovely scene.”
Theus took the stone, and watched the memory that immediately entered his view, a large room where food was piled on tables along one wall, and people sat at tables at one end, while a large open floor space was filled with two lines of people in rich clothes. The lines of men on one side and women on the other approached one another as music played, then withdrew, then closed upon each other and moved in unison. Candelabras filled with candles glowed warmly, and laughter was common.
It was a lovely scene. Theus imagined what the scene might have been like if he and Coriae had become married someday, in the destiny that he was not going to enjoy.
He removed the stone and returned it to the duchess. “It was wonderful. May we see the ball room?” he asked.
‘Of course! What a splendid idea,” Holstem smiled. “Come along with me,” she directed, then led them to the back side of the house.
“Here it is,” she said as they opened a set of double doors. “It’s not easy to see it all in the darkness,” she apologized. There were large arched windows on the far side of the room, and the red rays from the setting sun came streaming in through them.
“I think I can help. I know a bit of magic,” Theus impetuously said. After seeing the memory of the room, he wanted to see it all. He raised his hand and focused his inner energy, then caused his fingers to blaze with brilliant light, erasing the shadows in the room and illuminating it from end to end.
“It’s a beautiful room!” Amelia gushed. “Thank you for lighting it Theus.”
“What are you doing? That’s extraordinary!” the duchess was stunned by the sudden display of light.
“I learned some secrets of white magic,” Theus said. They had seen enough of the ballroom, he decided, and he let the light in his fingers drop in brilliance, until there was no glow at all.
“May I see your hand?” the Duchess asked in a quavering voice.
Theus extended his arm and held the hand for her to see. She carefully touched it, then ran her own fingers across it.
“It’s not even warm,” she commented. “Your medicines – are they magic too?” she asked.
“No, they’re just remedies,” he answered, “and my magic isn’t black or bad. It’s something I’ve learned recently. I hope you’re not worried.”
“No, not at all. I’ve seen you do good things; you’re a good boy,” she replied, grasping his hand with her fingers to display her trust.
“Shall we go back to the residence? I’m fast approaching my bed time,” the duchess said then.
They all decided to climb the stairs to their bedrooms for the night, and parted at the second-floor hallway.
“I’ll leave early in the morning,” he told the duchess. “I want to thank you for your hospitality, and especially for opening your door to Amelia. She’s a wonderful girl, and I couldn’t think of a better place for her to be safe until I return.”
The duchess acknowledged his words with a smile, then left the other two together.
“I’m going to miss you Theus,” Amelia had moisture in her eyes. “Are you going to be safe?”
“I think so. I’m going into the mountains where there aren’t any other people, and there won’t be any black magicians to worry about,” he assured her.
The princess came to stand by him and rested her head upon his shoulder. “I’d do anything in the world for you, anything to help you be safe. I want to see you back here in one piece, soon.”
“You can say prayers for me,” Theus felt suddenly inspired to advise her. “Pray to Incand and Scurtisse and Currense. Pray to Limber,” he added.
“I’ve never heard of him before; him or her?” Amelia asked.
“Him. He’s the god of the mountains,” Theus explained.
“I’ll say prayers to all of them, every day,” Amelia promised.
Theus wrapped his arms around the girl, and felt the warmth of her body. It was comfortable and reassuring. She was a friend, one who trusted him, and would give anything for him. She would be truthful with him, which was more than Coriae had been, when it came to the matter of Monsant’s death at least.
But none of that mattered.
“Good night Amelia,” he told his friend. She raised her face, and they kissed on the lips, for a moment that lingered slightly longer than necessary.
With that they stepped apart, and walked in different directions down the halls of the mansion.
And Theus slept well, with only a single dream, in which Coriae became Amelia, while Amelia became Coriae, and Theus was at a loss as to which he loved more.
Theus awoke early the next morning. He felt awake and alert immediately. He rose, and went to the kitchen, then asked the kitchen director for food he could pack to eat on a trip to the mountains. Ten minutes later, loaded with additional breads, dried fruits, and salted meat, he softly said good bye to Amelia – who wasn’t there to hear his words – took a step to the east, and disappeared from the estate on the river.
He found himself in a cultivated field, amidst farmlands that were still in morning shadows. Low mountains not far to the east blocked the view of the rising sun. He was in the bread basket country of Stoke, a wide valley of the Westlands River that grew produce and grains for the capital.
He could recover from the strain of his first step of the day with relative ease, he found. He stood panting, but ready to go, his arrival improved by the fact that he was not carrying Amelia as a passenger with him, and his body was familiar with the process of making the long magical step.
The landscape was peaceful. He hitched his pack up higher on his back and began walking through the field, heading east, stepping carefully through the furrows of the freshly plowed soil. He unconsciously reached down to pat his hip, and discovered that he didn’t carry a sword, or even a knife. He’d had his weapons confiscated while he’d been imprisoned in Donal’s tower in Southsand, and he’d never replaced them. He hadn’t had any opportunity to find a blade until he’d reached Stoke, but he chastised himself for not making a purchase there.
He’d have a chance in Greenfalls, he told himself. That was his destination, his first destination.
“Where do I go after I get there?” he spoke aloud, asking the Voice.
“Go north, into the mountains. There was a road once, though it is only a few fragments left in the valleys now. But go north, and you will be guided,” the
Voice assured him.
“And what will happen when I arrive there?” Theus asked.
“You will gain knowledge. You will receive further direction. And you will learn of a weapon you must have to fight the evil that grows,” his guide explained.
“Is there anyone else who can fight the evil?” Theus asked. “Do I have to do it alone?” He had suffered enough adventures. He wanted to live in relative peace, the way other women and men did.
“There are many others, but you are the one with the ability to play the crucial role. Without you, the efforts of the others will fail,” the Voice told him.
“Who are the others?” Theus found the Voice’s focus on him to be ominous. Better to ignore that for the time being, and seek to understand more about the people who could fight against Donal and Ind’Petro.
“You have met many of them already,” the Voice surprised him. “And there will be others, some who you may not meet, but your fate and theirs will be tied together.”
Theus stumbled over a high furrow in the field, just as the sun breached the top of the mountains on the near eastern horizon. He caught his balance, and resumed walking with more attention to the ground, until he reached a narrow lane. His stride grew longer and more sure after he gained the relatively smooth, dusty surface, and he continued his trip to the east.
Throughout the morning he wove a crooked line among the intersecting, twisting roads of the farm belt, bearing easterly as much as he could. By the late morning, he felt ready to use the white magic to jump once more, and he sprang forward into the east.
He found his step ended in the gentle mountains he had seen all morning, an ancient and narrow mountain range that ran between the valleys of the Westlands River and the Landwide River. And he found that he landed in a heavy rain storm.
He was wearied by his second use of power that morning, and he went down to his knees, his pants becoming soaked by the puddle he had landed in. He sputtered in disgust, took a deep breath, then pushed himself up to his feet and looked around.
Unpredictable Fortunes (The Memory Stone Series Book 3) Page 10
