The Sleeping Beauty
Page 32
That was the signal for Jimson to toss the firebird, who had been sitting quietly in his cupped hands, into the air. She arrowed upward and burst into flame, causing oohs and aahs from the crowd, and surely some people were wondering how on earth this little creature, potentially dangerous though she was for her size, could defend a kingdom.
Of course, it wasn’t the firebird that Lily was talking about. The firebird’s flare signaled something quite a bit more impressive. And a very great deal more dangerous.
From where they had been waiting, soaring in slow, lazy circles high above the palace, hidden by the glare of the midday sun, the dragons came.
Four of them.
This was the culmination of Siegfried’s plan, the one that had fairly won him Rosa’s hand. Oh, how she had laughed aloud when he told her, because it was perfect. And as the years went by, the defenses would only get stronger. Kings and Queens would come and go, even Godmothers—but the Dragons would remain, increasing in numbers with every century until not even an army of Dragon-slayers could defeat them.
The people below were already looking up at the firebird; beyond the firebird, four little dots of color came slowly spiraling down out of the sky. A few people in the crowd, keener eyed than most, spotted them first. As they drew nearer, more and more folk noticed, began pointing, murmuring. Then as it became apparent that these winged things were not, in fact, birds…as it became obvious that they were bigger than folk originally thought…as it became very obvious that they were much, much bigger than folk thought, and that they were, in fact, dragons, the murmurs increased to a dull roar that sounded like a distant ocean.
The dragons backwinged and settled to graceful landings on the peaked roof of the palace, spaced out equally behind the royal party.
Then, as one, they lifted their heads and blew out huge plumes of flame that joined into a canopy of many-colored fire above the heads of those on the balcony. The roar of the flames and the heat were just a little bit uncomfortable, even fifteen feet below.
The murmuring cut off abruptly. Every eye in the field was fixed on the dragons and their flame. Before anyone could take it into his head to panic, Lily spoke again.
“People of Eltaria, I present to you the Guardians of the Border.”
She paused, as the dragons cut off their flames and gazed benignly down on the crowd.
“You will have heard that Prince Siegfried of Drachenthal, here beside us, won the hand of the Princess Rosamund with his answer to the final test of the competition—the question of how to best protect our land, not only now, but well into the future. Finally we can reveal his brilliant answer.” She did not stint on the warmth and approval she projected into her words. Siegfried had gotten the idea just before Rosa was kidnapped, but had not been aware just how many dragons the Godmothers knew. Nor how many were ready to jump at the chance for secure homes where they wouldn’t be harassed by treasure-hunters. When he suggested it tentatively, Lily had nearly proposed to him herself.
Siegfried blushed crimson. Fortunately, he didn’t have to say anything, or she was fairly sure he would have stuttered.
“As Guardian for the East, we present Beryl of the Clan Buchenwurm. She and her kin will dwell in the caves of the mountains of the east.”
Beryl, a dragon who had made Sharpstone’s eyes fairly pop out of his head with desire when he first saw her, was a slender and graceful creature of emerald green, with wingwebs exactly the color of young beech leaves. She nodded her head to the crowd, a glint of amusement in her eyes. Sharpstone’s interest had not been lost on her, and as Beryl herself was a young dragon with no hoard yet to speak of, and Sharpstone was not bad to look on and had quite the impressive hoard…well Sharpstone was a very attractive prospect to her, as well. So far as Beryl was concerned, Sharpstone’s presence only sweetened an already-honeyed bargain.
“As Guardian for the West, we present Thundershrike of the Clan Windrider. He and his mate and their kin will dwell on the ledges of the western border. They will have the additional boon that as they protect us, so we will protect their eggs and young with a permanent detachment of the Guard stationed with them. That detachment, of Eltaria’s finest, will henceforth be called the Dragonguard.”
Thundershrike was an old dragon, enormous and proud, the color of blued steel. His Clan was rare; dragons did not usually like to lair in the open, and their nests were vulnerable to attack. He inclined his head to Lily, every line of him expressing gratitude.
“As Guardian for the North, we present Kukris, of the Clan Parbellum. He and his kin will dwell in the mines that the Dwarves have emptied of their treasures, and in addition, will serve as guards to the Dwarven convoys conveying their precious cargo to our capital.”
Kukris was everything that people thought of when they thought of a dragon. Red and gold, fierce and strong, his ornamental spikes were particularly long, his teeth particularly large and sharp. He had been the first to accept, for Parbellum had long ago made their peace with the Dwarves of their homeland, and their numbers were putting a great deal of stress on the available lairs. This was an opportunity they would never have refused.
“And as Guardian of the South, we present Precious Peony, of the Clan Wazashi. She and her clan are new to these lands, but are long in friendship with the peoples of their own. They will dwell along the river canyons, and above Lake Arrowhead, in the wind- and water-caves there.”
Precious Peony looked very different from the others; her snout was shorter, her wings more ornate, and she was more snakelike. Her scales shone like opals or pearls in the bright sunlight, and she bowed rather than nodding her head. Unlike the others, Peony’s sort of dragon was as much at home in water as in the air. It had been the idea of the dragon champion attached to Godmother Elena’s Kingdom to recruit her and her clan; like Clan Parbellum, they were beginning to feel crowding in their island home and welcomed the chance to split the Clan and make a new home here.
“This is the treaty we have made. The dragon clans are to act as our defenses on the borders and protect the Dwarven mines in the mountains. In turn, we are to provide them with food, which the Crown will pay for out of the Privy Purse, in the form of special herds and flocks which will be pastured nearby. We are also to help them defend their lairs and nests from attack. And in return for the special protection they afford the Dwarves, and the gift of shed skin, the Dwarves will supply them with ten percent of the production of their mines, with which to build their hoards. We believe this treaty will be of immeasurable value to the Kingdom of Eltaria and lead to a firm foundation of alliance with dragonkind that will only strengthen our security as the years pass. People of Eltaria! What say you?”
The acclaim was slow to start—these were, after all, dragons—but after a moment, a few started to cheer. More joined them, cheering or applauding, and more still, until at last the entire crowd roared its approval, and the dragons lifted their heads and roared back until the roof shook.
Lily waited patiently for the cheering to stop, which it eventually did. When she had relative quiet again, she took another deep breath. She had been looking forward to this part for months.
“As you know, the Prince and Princess were wed two months ago. His solution was discussed, negotiated and, as of today, is in place. Flocks have been moved to their new homes. The dragons are today picking out their lairs. The Prince and Princess have been administering to the day-to-day needs of the Kingdom under the eyes of the Council and us. And now it is time. This day, we, Queen-Consort Sable, do hereby abdicate all pretensions to the crown, giving over the rule of Eltaria to King Siegfried and Queen Rosamund. Long live their majesties! Long live the King! Long live the Queen!”
This, of course, was completely unexpected for everyone but the four on the balcony, and after a moment of silence, as she placed the Royal crown on Rosa’s head, and Jimson took the State Crown from its box and put it on Siegfried’s, the roar that went up actually rocked the balcony under their feet.
“Someone is likely to have a polite tiff at usurping the coronation,” Jimson observed, as they made their way back to the Queen’s suite. Everything that Lily wanted had already been sent back home to her Castle. It only remained for the two of them to leave.
“Someone can have all the tiffs he wants,” Lily retorted. “The last time we had a coronation, there was nearly a war amongst the priests and clerics over who was going to get to perform it. Now they can all blame that ‘foreign interloper, Queen Sable’ and unite in their umbrage.”
Jimson threw back his head and laughed. She loved that laugh. She loved to make him laugh. She had always known he was witty, but she had never known what a good sense of humor he had. The past two months had brought many revelations.
“Now, have we gotten everything taken care of?” she asked as they passed through the doors of the suite and closed them behind themselves.
“Well, let’s tick off the list.” Jimson marked off the needed tasks on his fingers. “Dragons, abdication, coronation.”
She nodded.
“Rosa knows the mirror spell, so any time she needs to consult with us or have a lesson in magic, she can just step through.”
“And Siegfried has the firebird to advise him on magic and whatever the Tradition is going to try to sneak by him.”
“We’ve cowed the Council into acting as a Council should, and not trying to bully them.”
Lily laughed. “Or Siegfried has. That one day he roared at them, it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.” She ran through the list in her mind. “There will still be problems. And Eltaria will still need its very own Godmother. It’s too wealthy and too full of magic not to.”
Jimson snorted. “Eltaria will still need the Godmother, the Queen-Godmother, and the—what would you call me?”
“Utterly captivating. I cannot wait to get back home so we can drop all the ‘Queen and her guard’ nonsense. I was so tired of stepping through mirrors every time I wanted to seduce you!” She gave him her “look” through lowered lashes.
“And here I thought I was the one doing the seducing!” He kissed her nose. “All right, then—”
For the last time, Lily discarded the persona of Queen Sable, and with it an invisible burden she was only too glad to set down. She and Jimson each picked up an identical hand-mirror from the table beside the “traveling” mirror.
“Mirror, mirror, in my hand,” they chanted in unison—and a green face appeared in each. Now, of course, she realized that the green color was just the result of the image having to pass through the veil between their worlds.
“Godmother Lily!” said the one in her hand, and “Master” said the one in Jimson’s.
“Is everything ready for us at home, Apprentice?” Jimson asked, a little sternly.
“Oh, yes!” they both said. “And the Brownies do not wish you to leave like this ever again, Godmother,” added the one in Lily’s mirror.
“Well I don’t want to, either,” she replied fervently, and turned to Jimson. “Well, my love, shall we?”
He bowed and gestured to the mirror. “After you, my dearest.”
Swiftly they stepped through, leaving the suite silent and empty, waiting for its new occupants.
Rosa was perfectly happy to put her new crown in the hands of the attendants who were hovering nervously beside her, waiting for her to give it over. She really had no idea how Lily had put up with that much weight on her head. She was already getting the signs of a headache.
Siegfried seemed just as happy about being rid of his. “Are they gone?” he asked, as the attendants took the crowns away to be locked up. Even in a kingdom as wealthy as Eltaria, the two State Crowns were priceless, every gem—and there were exactly one hundred gems, large and small in each crown—matched and flawless, and enough gold in them to stagger the imagination.
“Let me check.” Rosa took out her own little mirror, and the face of Jimson’s third apprentice appeared in it without her prompting.
“Sylvie, are the Godmother and Jimson gone from here?” she asked.
“Not only gone home, but retired to the bedchamber and locked the door!” giggled the Mirror Spirit. “Shameless!”
Rosa slipped the mirror onto the hanger on the wall and laughed. “Indeed! You would think that after three hundred years they would have some decorum!”
“I don’t know about that,” Siegfried replied, slipping his arms around her from behind and kissing the top of her head. “We don’t have anything pressing, you know. That sounds like a good idea to me—”
“We still have to say goodbye to Leopold, so he has some daylight to travel by,” she reminded him, and he mock pouted.
“All right. Let’s go say our farewells to the rogue so we can get back to more important business.” At her raised eyebrow, he retorted, “What? Making an heir isn’t important?”
“Shush, you.” She batted at his hands, and he released her with a laugh that made her shiver a little at the promise in it.
They made their way out to the garden—closed off from the public, and for once, empty of the courtiers. The public were being feted in tents out in that enormous field—after all, it wouldn’t do for them to say they had been cheated of a coronation celebration!—and the Court having a celebration of their own in pavilions in the orchard.
Which left the garden free for someone who needed space to say his farewells. Like Leopold.
And Leopold’s new wife.
Who was currently berating her father and getting the best of the argument.
As Rosa and Siegfried entered the garden they could already hear her. She had a very impressive voice, and the lungs behind it to make sure people got her point. Siegfried held out his hand, and the royal pair stopped just out of the immediate vicinity of the three. The stunning and statuesque blonde woman in the gold armor had her hands on her shapely hips and, from the look of it, had been dressing her father down for some time. “…and did I, or did I not do exactly what you wanted by helping Sieglinde escape?” she asked the old, white-bearded man acerbically. “And never mind what you told Mother about her! And never mind what Mother told you. Goddess of the hearth and marriage be damned, she has no right to go around trying to murder poor pregnant girls who got wyrded into falling in love! That makes no more sense than punishing a fish because it can’t breathe air!”
He rubbed at his eye patch uncomfortably. “Well—yes—but—Brunnhilde—”
“So since I did what you wanted, why was I punished for it?” she demanded.
He fidgeted and wouldn’t look at her. “I—promised your mother—”
“Promises you had no intention of keeping! And you knew what was going to happen! You knew very well that once Siggy woke me, the whole wretched saga was going to play out. Erda told you. And I know she told you, because she told me she told you!” Brunnhilde actually stamped her foot at him. “Half of your problems are because you keep too many secrets, and the other half are because you bring them on yourself. So why punish me for them?”
Leopold stood to the side, arms folded, lips compressed as he tried not to smile. And when Brunnhilde’s father turned to him for help, clearly counting on a man to support another man, he shook his head.
“I have no idea what you two are talking about,” he replied. “So don’t ask me to take sides here.”
Brunnhilde had gotten the bit in her teeth and was not going to be stopped now. Clearly she had been saving this up for some time. “So. You lie to Mother, you manipulate me, you manage to lay the blame for everything that happens on me and set me up to be the instrument for everything that is going to go wrong! You set me up to fall in love with my nephew of all the perverted things, and put everything in motion to make my life total misery and end in—”
“Dooooooom!” trilled the firebird from the tree above their heads.
“Exactly.”
Brunnhilde glared at her father. “And now you actually have the nerve to come here, think you’re going to force me to give up my husband, and take exception to me for wanting to keep doom and destruction and the end of the gods from happening?”
“Your mother—” the old man said feebly.
“My mother is a manipulative idiot,” Brunnhilde said bitterly. “You’re another. And you two deserve each other, and you should just go home and slap each other to sleep. I am not going to repeat your mistakes.” Then, out of nowhere, a slow, sly smile crept over her face. “And by the way, Father, I made sure you can’t repeat your own.”
Alarm contorted the old man’s face. Leopold snickered.
“Brunnhilde—what did you do—”
She turned her attention to her nails, examining them critically, then buffing them on the leather strap of her breastplate. “Oh, nothing much. I just got that ring and returned it to the River Maidens.”
The old man’s eyes bulged. “You—what?”
“Well, I didn’t renounce love!” she snapped. “And Siggy was smart enough when the bird warned him to leave it alone! No one else knew where Fafnir was. So Siggy told me where he’d left it, and I got it and gave it back to them. No more cheating and lying over it. No more trying to barter away the other goddesses over it. And no more betraying your own children over it. It’s back in the river where it belongs and now there’s going to be no downfall of the gods, either. There’s no escape from the consequences of what you do now, Father. You’re just going to have to face Mother and learn to deal with each other now.”
“I—she—you—”
“What’s more, my sisters have decided they aren’t going to be so quick to jump to your orders anymore, either. They’re tired of picking up dead men. They’d like some live ones of their own. What are you going to do, put them on rocks with circles of fire around them?” She sniffed. “Siggy and Leo will find them Princes if you do. Niffleheim! I will find them Princes if I have to! I’m sure there are entire marshes full of frog princes that would like to find a sleeping princess that can’t run away when they try to get a kiss! So there. This whole cycle of family drama is over, Father. You just get on that thing you call a horse, and ride back to Mother, and deal with it.”