by Cheree Alsop
“We ran over fearing the worst,” Andric said. “We couldn't even see Princess Kit for the huge beast on top of her. It shuddered, and the tip of her sword stuck out of its back from where it had gone all the way through.”
Several of the girls put hands to their mouths in horror, but they continued to listen eagerly to the story.
Andric sat down on a chair next to mine and leaned with an elbow on his knee, giving a dramatic air to the story. His voice caught the cadence of a practiced storyteller. “It took Captain Jashe, Falen, myself, and two of the other Princes to haul the lion off, and all we could see was Princess Kit covered in blood.”
Another gasp, this time not just from the girls.
Andric smiled. “Luckily, most of the blood was from the cat.” His face clouded minutely. “But she didn't respond when we waved smelling salts under her nose.”
“What did you do?” a young girl, perhaps twelve, asked breathlessly.
Andric smiled at her. His voice lowered, “The men loaded her onto my horse and I rode until Tereg couldn't run any more. We switched horses at the base of the mountain; Horsemaster Drade's steed Sorn practically ran over anyone who dared to suggest any other mount. I could have sworn Sorn grew wings the way he flew over the ground that night. Bayn and Freis led the way, and the Princes rode close behind us. The others followed along much slower with Bown, Mylena, and the others who had been wounded during the fight.”
I studied his face as he spoke. This part of the story was new to me, and he was well practiced at keeping his face expressionless of all but the emotions he wished to bring out in the story. I wondered, then, what he had really felt that night.
“When we reached the castle, Healer Jesson was already waiting for us, having been told of our distress by Hawkmaster Ayd whose birds had tracked us since the battle.” His eyes glittered darkly. “My arms were about to fall off.” I slapped him on the shoulder and everyone laughed. “But I wouldn't let anyone else carry her through the castle.” All of us grew quiet. Andric continued, his eyes distant. “When she didn't wake up, I feared that she never would even though Jesson kept telling me she was going to be fine. I didn't leave her side.”
He fell quiet, and I heard one of the girls whisper, “How romantic.”
Andric didn't seem to hear her. He stared down at his hands, his expression unreadable.
I took up the story. “When I awoke, he was asleep in a chair next to my bed. I called his name, and at first I think he thought he was dreaming.”
The girls giggled.
“It was the best dream,” Andric finished. Everyone laughed, but he only looked at me.
A new song, a beautiful, slow melody, struck up behind us. Several of the older boys, inspired by the story, turned to the girls and asked them to dance. The girls blushed and accepted, giggling to each other. The younger ones, boys mostly, were sickened by this display and dispersed to root out snacks from the kitchen.
Andric and I smiled at each other, then he asked seriously, “Would you accept my hand for this dance, Princess Kit?”
The way he said it made my heart skip a beat. I knew I shouldn’t accept. Our emotions were too near to the surface, and our hearts were caught in a situation we couldn’t win. But it was one dance, and perhaps the only dance I would ever be able to enjoy with him. I would survive a thousand heartaches for the chance to be so close to him. I nodded and he smiled.
His hand was cool when I took it, making me wonder if my own was hot. He spun me in a slow circle as we made our way onto the floor.
“That's a beautiful necklace,” he said after what seemed an eternity of silence and mixed emotions as we danced slowly across the floor.
I smiled slightly, glancing down at the claw. “It makes me feel tough.”
“You are tough,” he replied.
I looked up to see whether he was making fun of me or not.
He studied me seriously for a moment, then the smile that I loved tugged at the corners of his mouth. “You're too easy to read, you know,” he said, stepping back to bow as the dance required.
“Oh, yes?” I challenged, “And that's a bad thing?”
He nodded, clicking his tongue. “An undesirable trait for a ruler; those who look to you for guidance must never know your true thoughts or else they’ll see you as human.”
I curtsied a second behind the other female dancers. “I'd rather they know I'm not perfect, that way if a mistake occurs, I haven't destroyed their respect in one fell swoop.”
He laughed, a light, pleasant sound. He pursed his lips. “I can't say that I find much fault with your logic, except that in expecting to fail you might set yourself up for it.”
I enjoyed his banter and grinned, up to the challenge. “Not setting myself up for it; more like preparation. Because I'm human, I know I will make mistakes. I just don't want to devastate an entire country because of it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps the Zalens will be getting an unexpected firecracker for a Crown Princess when you go home.” His smile faltered.
A knot formed in my stomach and I pushed on quickly. “So how do you avoid making mistakes?”
He spun me around slowly as the other dancers did the same. “Oh, I've made plenty of mistakes.” He winked at me. “It's just a matter of making the ones that no one will notice. I was hard put to explain the time I put a man in prison for stealing based on another man's account, only to find out that it was the other man who was the thief and had stolen a horse the first man was just trying to get back.” He grinned. “The confusing part was when it turned out they were brothers and the horse had been given to both of them by their father, and so in essence, they were each stealing something that already belonged to them. Very confusing.”
I laughed. “What did they do?”
Andric grinned. “Well, the second I let the first brother out of jail he punched the second brother, then they decided to trade the horse for a bull and a heifer of which they each kept one.” He sighed dramatically as we spun around each other, then he concluded when we met up again, “It started all over again when the heifer got pregnant from the bull.”
I laughed and tripped over my feet, but he caught me just before I fell. He held me close to his chest for a moment and stared down at me. Then he shut his eyes tightly. “It's too much,” he said quietly.
“I know,” I whispered, the pain in my heart evident in my voice. I longed to feel his arms around me like the night he held me, and missed the touch of his breath in my hair and the way his scent wrapped me warmer than any blanket.
He opened his eyes and attempted a small smile. “But I enjoy talking to you like this. If this is all that we have, at least it's something.”
I nodded past the lump in my throat.
He picked up the dance where we had left off, spinning me around him again. We danced the remainder of the song in silence, hearts aching but reveling in the closeness of the moment.
Chapter 21
A knock sounded at my door. Glancing at the light filtering through the marble, I noted that it was late, sometime past midnight. Most of the celebrants had retired from the dance about an hour ago, myself included. I wondered who was knocking at the late hour.
To my surprise, Tisha, Nyssa, Brynna, and Kaerdra all waited expectantly when I opened the door. They wore their night robes with their hair either braided or pinned for sleep, but no one looked tired despite the hours of dancing.
“Mind if we come in?” Nyssa asked. She walked into the room without waiting for an answer.
The others came in at my motion and filed past me toward the bed. Without an invitation, they all climbed onto my bed and made themselves comfortable amid the plush blankets. “Come sit,” Tisha said. She patted a spot by my pillows encouragingly.
“Fine,” I complied with some hesitation. “But I have no idea what you're up to.”
Brynna laughed. “Oh, it's not as bad as you think.”
I crawled onto the bed and leaned back on my
pillows. When nobody spoke, I spread my hands. “Alright, what's going on?”
They grinned, but it was Nyssa who spoke. “We need to have a serious talk about boys.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise.
Tisha laughed, “Don't worry, we know all the mushy stuff. This is nothing like that.”
“Yeah,” Kaerdra put in. “Besides, you're the youngest Crown here next to Tisha. Don't think we'd come to you for that kind of advice.”
“Good,” I said, extremely relieved. “What is it then?”
Brynna moved closer on the bed. “At home, I have my nursemaid Krynn to talk to about boy stuff and all that.”
“But here, we only have each other,” Nyssa said. “And we have some major things to talk about.”
“Like Ayd,” Kaerdra put in with a knowing laugh.
Nyssa blushed, but nodded. “Yes, like Ayd.” She sighed. “He's wonderful, isn't he?”
Tisha nodded. “I like his eyes; they're such a pretty color of blue.”
“You have your Landis, so you can just back off my boy,” Nyssa replied in mock seriousness.
Tisha laughed, “Don't worry. Landis and I are spoken for. We've made a promise to be wed a year from now, but our parents don't know we're that serious yet.”
The girls oohed in excitement.
“And you're all invited to the wedding,” she said with a little clap of joy as if she couldn't contain herself.
“Congratulations,” Kaerdra replied with a big smile. The rest of us echoed it, bouncing up and down on the bed like little girls.
I found myself grinning and enjoying myself. I had never had sisters or close girl friends to gossip with, so it was an extra treat to find that these girls actually went out of their way to come talk. I was almost at ease when Kaerdra turned to me.
“Alright, let's have it about Andric.”
My heart slowed.
“Yes, yes,” Brynna said, scooting closer. “What's the deal with you two?”
“And how will your father react?” Tisha put in. It was no secret that the countries below the mountains held Antor in contempt for the stealing they had done and the rumor of their animal magic, but my father and Landis' father held the biggest grudges. I wondered now if it was because they wanted to keep their own raids secret from the rest of the rulers.
I sighed, feeling the weight of reality settle onto my shoulders. “Andric and I know it will never work out,” I said softly.
“But you're perfect for each other,” Brynna protested.
“And he obviously needs you,” Tisha said, running her fingers through the ruffles on the edge of a pillow.
“But he was a thief, and I don’t know if any of our parents will ever be able to forgive that,” Kaerdra said gently.
As much as her words hurt me, I nodded. “Exactly. It would never work out.”
Kaerdra then surprised me. “Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? You have to worry about yourself once in a while.”
The other girls nodded and I stared at them. “But I'm a Crown. I can't just marry a Prince from Antor, hundreds of miles from Zalen. Neither of us can leave our people.”
That sobered them up. “You're right,” Nyssa said quietly after a few minutes. “I forgot that you're the Crown now, and Andric's father doesn't rule.”
“But Rory will be alright,” Kaerdra put in. There was an edge of stubbornness to her voice.
I looked at her in surprise, and was even more startled when a tear rolled down her cheek. “Kaerdra?” I asked, confused.
She lowered her head so that her face was hidden by her long blond hair. “I can't help it,” she said. “I love him.”
All the girls turned to stare at her.
“You love Rory?” I managed to say. Tears burned in my eyes.
She nodded again, then buried her head on my shoulder. “Oh, Kit. How do you stay so strong? He's your brother and you don't even know how he's doing.”
I rubbed her back and blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. “My parents keep me informed,” I said, leaving out the fact that their updates were very simple and sparse. “He's going to be alright; I just know he is.”
“Is he getting better?” she asked. She turned to look up at me, her blue eyes rimmed with red.
I couldn't lie to her; instead I shook my head and tears spilled down my cheeks. “No,” I whispered.
She turned her head and cried on my lap. The other girls gathered close, patting our backs and telling us that Rory would be alright.
I knew deep down that what they said didn't make a difference in Rory's condition, but somehow I felt better, as if just knowing that other people here shared my sorrow made it easier to bear the fact that my brother was sick to the point of dying and I didn’t know from one letter to the next if the news they brought would shatter my world.
***
The next morning, Andric began breakfast by announcing that if everyone was ready, we could have the duel that night. The girls jumped up and down very unprincesslike and taunted the boys. The Princes and I exchanged worried looks, but I knew they would go easy on the girls. I also knew that the boys would be surprised when they saw how much the girls had learned in such a short period of time.
All of the talk during the day was of the coming duel. We heard it as we rode around the city delivering food, and when we stopped to help a kindly older woman move her few belongings to her sister's house down the road so that they could stay together.
“I hope you Princesses knock their socks off,” she said in a feisty tone that surprised us. I was grateful the boys were out of hearing range. “We'll be cheering for you!” she said excitedly.
When we left the house, Tisha turned to me worriedly. “I didn't know that anyone would be coming to watch.”
I shrugged, surprised as well. “I guess we can't blame them for wanting to attend. It should be highly entertaining.”
“Hey,” Nyssa said at my teasing tone.
We joked on the way back to the stables, and then met the boys near the forge where Smithy Hensas said to meet him for our swords. He had planned to hand them out earlier, but decided last minute that he would wait, saying that there were some ‘final touches' that had to be made.
“He probably has to finish cutting yours out of paper so that it's light enough,” Danyen teased Nyssa.
She slapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe he melted yours in the forge.”
His eyes widened and she laughed.
“Not melted, nor paper,” a deep voice said behind us. We turned to see Smithy Hensas and his craftsmen walking our way. They held the swords wrapped in hides so that we couldn't see them. “A bit anxious, are we?” the Smith asked knowingly at our furtive glances toward the hides. He smiled in amusement. “I can guarantee that each sword is to your satisfaction.” His face darkened and he continued in a low rumble. “And if it's not, you'd better say it is.” At our lack of intimidation, he grinned, showing more joviality than we had ever seen from him. He waved his arm toward us. “Men, present the Princes and Princesses of Denbria with their swords.”
I stood last in line and waited almost patiently as the other Crowns accepted and unwrapped their blades. I could hear their oohs and aahs, and saw the pleased smiles on the faces of the Smithy's men.
When Bagan handed me my sword, his black bear shuffled up behind him and gave the weapon an appreciative snuff. Bagan bowed low and said, “You've already proven worthy to own such a blade. May it defend you well.”
I blushed and accepted it, and was immediately amazed at how much lighter and refined it felt compared to the sword I used in practice, which was the same one that had saved me from the mountain lion. I was loath to part with it afterwards, and Smithy Hensas never asked for it back.
When I took the wrapping off my new sword, I could only stare. The blade was light silver in color, and polished until it shone in the last of the evening light. The hilt was gold, and wrapped securely in smoothed golden wire threads that f
it my hand like a glove. Intricate etchings ran down the blade; the palm leaves of Zalen mixed with the stockier leaves of the Antoran trees and trickled down the blade to where a fierce mountain lion snarled at me, twin to the one etched on the claw around my neck. The bottom of the hilt was shaped like a dew drop, and the guards curved up toward the blade to protect my hand, rising in two graceful curves to catch unaware combatants so I could throw their swords aside.
The blade was lighter than I had imagined, but weighted well so that it rested securely in my hand. I swung and it whistled through the air. It was a sword like no other I had ever seen. I didn’t feel worthy to hold it.
Smithy Hensas must have seen something in the look I gave him, for his smile grew even bigger and he nodded, a proud gleam in his eyes. Tanner Saren handed us the sheaths he had fashioned to fit each sword. His work showed the palm leaves of Zalen down the leather of my sheath, and I saw that the emblems of the other countries, the oak of Eskand, the sword of Tyn, the apple of Veren, the great ships of Faer, the hoof print of Maesh, and the dagger of Cren were emblazoned on each sheath and echoed on the blades. The others grinned at each other when they saw the mountain lion on my sword.
“I don’t think any of us has a chance against the lion killer,” Kenyen teased.
“That's fine,” I told them honesty. “I’m really not planning on dueling. This is between you real Crowns.”
They laughed at my inflection, then protested; but I refused to give in. “I've had enough dueling for a lifetime,” I told them. “Besides, this way it'll be even and we'll have a good match.”
“But we'll be fighting alone!” Tisha protested.
I laughed. “You'll have each other. And don't worry, Master Hensas is going to give everyone padded blades so no one will get hurt. It'll be fun.”
The girls looked ready to back out of the duel. Smithy Hensas chuckled. “Now don't be gettin' cold feet. This crowd's been wanting a good fight for quite a while. They're just thrilled you volunteered for it!”
