Ascendant

by Craig Alanson

  Carlana tried to keep her eagerness from showing. Tarador needed this treaty, she needed this treaty. Tarador needed the money from loans, to keep fighting the war, until and after Ariana became queen. Ariana would not be happy when she learned, shortly before her sixteenth birthday, that she was betrothed to a foreign prince. The people of Indus felt it was the responsibility of parents to find a good match for their children; this match would be good for Ariana, good for her station as queen and good to ensure the future of the realm. Ariana needed to put aside silly girlish dreams of marrying a servant boy, or a wizard, and think about her responsibilities. Prince Noredon would be a good companion, and his presence in the royal household would bring strength and stability to Ariana's reign, for she could rely on a powerful empire as an ally. With a signed treaty in hand, Carlana could simply smile to herself when people accused her of inaction while Acedor pressed in on Tarador's borders. Merchants would notice their trading partners were allowing credit again. The royal army would see new supplies and reinforcements, including foreign mercenaries. Ariana would see less pressure on her mother from the Regency Council. All of which would ensure Tarador's future and ease Ariana's path to the throne.

  Her daughter would be unhappy, her daughter would be furious. Her daughter would live to become queen. "Yes," Carlana stood up and offered her hand for the Ambassador to shake. "We shall sign the treaty today."

  Koren trudged down a hallway inside the castle, bent over by a bundle of laundry that weighed almost as much as he did. He was dead tired, having just arrived back at the castle that morning. Staying at Duke Magnico's guest house, a hunting lodge, had been an idyllically peacefully couple of weeks, almost a holiday for Koren. The Duke had been fairly bursting with pride to have the court wizard staying at his hunting lodge, knowing the other Dukes would be burning with jealousy, particularly as Paedris had agreed to ride back with Magnico, when the Duke journeyed to Linden for the Cornerstone Festival. When the royal courier reached the Duke, announcing that Paedris desired to stay at the Duke's hunting lodge, the Duke had sent his servants into frantic action; scrubbing the already clean lodge top to bottom, stocking the kitchen with food, filling the wine cellar with the wizard's favorite vintages, and clearing winter leaves and brush from the gardens. When they arrived, Paedris and Koren found fresh early-blooming flowers planted up against the lodge, where the thick timbers provided warmth to the soil, and a retinue of Magnico's servants ready to take care of the court wizard, and do most of Koren's work also. Koren did not have to chop wood, or clean anything except the room Paedris used as a study. Staying at the lodge was a grand time for Koren, the Duke's library was well-stocked with books and maps, the lake was full of fish, and there was an entire countryside for Koren to explore while riding Thunderbolt. He had ranged far and wide, sometimes staying away overnight, with the wizard's permission, although the wizard had insisted that at least two guards accompany Koren on his rides. At first, the guards had resented being assigned to a lowly servant, which was unheard of. Why did a mere servant boy need to be guarded, especially deep inside Tarador? Koren didn't understand it either, thinking the wizard didn't trust him not to get lost, but he obeyed his master. And the guards, after getting to know Koren, treated the rides as a holiday also, and a chance to hunt game on their Duke's private lands. During their weeks at the lodge, the first true signs of spring had arrived, with daffodils popping their bright yellow flowers out of the ground, and fruit trees beginning to bloom, and bees buzzing slowly around, as if they, too, needed to shake off their winter doldrums. Koren had been sad when Paedris announced it was time to ride back to Linden, and although it was fun traveling with the Duke's caravan, now that he was back at the royal castle, there was much work to be done. Such as a large pile of laundry, wet and muddy from long days on the road.

  He stopped at the bottom of a staircase, set the bundle of dirty clothes down on the floor, and sat on a step to rest. Two young maids came along the hallway and paused at a window, just around a corner. Koren could faintly hear them talking.

  “Oh, look, that’s Kyre Falco. He is soooo handsome.” One girl said with a sigh.

  “You keep dreaming, Mariska.” The other girl laughed. “He is cute.”

  “Did you hear about Kyre? Susan, you know Susan, she’s a maid for the Falco’s, she told me the truth is, it was Kyre’s idea to look for the Cornerstone in the moonlight.”

  “No!”

  “It’s true, Tasha! Kyre heard Ariana was searching for the Cornerstone, and he reminded her about the guards in the old tower, the ghosts who only come out in a full moon? Kyre figured out the Cornerstone had never been moved, he could tell by the marks in the floor there.”

  “He is clever, that one. And more clever to let the princess take the credit.”

  “You know, the princess is sweet on him?”

  “Ariana? No!” Tasha laughed. “She’s a Trehayme, he’s a Falco. Like oil and water, they are, never will mix.”

  “Say what you will, but I’ve seen the way she looks at him.”

  “You, Mariska? When are you ever around princess Ariana?”

  The girl named Mariska sniffed. “Well, I am, sometimes, and I know what I’ve seen. Sweet on him, she is.”

  “Ha! Time to get moving, the dining hall won’t clean itself. Oh, hello, um,” Tasha was startled to notice Karen around the corner, “You’re, uh, Koren, is it?”

  Koren’s ears were burning. Kyre was getting credit for his accomplishment? Angrily, Koren jumped to his feet and slung the bag of laundry over his shoulder, but it was too heavy, and he fell against the wall, spilling dirty laundry on the floor.

  The two girls laughed. “Maybe you should take two trips, next time.” Mariska laughed, while Tasha bent down to help him scoop sheets back into the bag.

  Koren mumbled thanks, picked up the bag, and staggered up the stairs as fast as he could. Kyre Falco had girls in the castle dreaming about him, while Koren was hauling firewood and laundry, and the maids couldn’t even remember his name! “Ariana, sweet on Kyre Falco? Ha!” Koren muttered to himself, then froze on the stairs. He remembered Ariana talking about marriage, she'd said she would probably marry the son of a duke.

  Kyre was the son of a duke.

  Perhaps much had happened while Koren was away.

  Oh no.

  Had Ariana been trying to tell him something, that day weeks ago, while he was stuffing his face with honey cakes and not really listening to her? Ariana was his friend, and Kyre was his friend, so he should be happy for them. He wasn't. He wasn't happy to think about Ariana with another boy, even though he knew it was useless for a peasant boy to dream about the princess. He was a peasant, a lowly farmboy, a common servant. The class structure in Tarador was rigid, if you were born a commoner, that's where you stayed, and you should know your place.

  Koren knew his place, but he didn't have to like it.

  Around the corner, the two maids paused to look out the window. “He’s cute too.” Tasha said softly.

  “Who?” Mariska asked. The only men she saw in the courtyard below were a pair of guards, their faces hidden under shadow by their helmets.

  “Koren, the wizard’s boy. He’s cute. And everyone knows he spends a lot of time with the princess.

  “He’s cute,” Mariska admitted. “I don’t know why the princess invites him to dine with her, he’s just a servant like us. I don’t take tea with Ariana.”

  “Koren does. If the princess if sweet on anyone, it’s Koren.”

  “What? Oh, such talk! Where do you get these ideas, Tasha?”

  “If she’s not sweet on him, and he’s a commoner, then why does she spend so much time with him, huh?"

  Ariana forced a smile to freeze on her face, and she waved appropriately. But she was bored, terribly bored. With all the Dukes and Duchesses gathered in Linden and such Barons, Baronesses and lower-ranked royalty as had been able to make the journey for the Cornerstone festival, Ariana had to endure endless dinners, pa
rties, receptions and, worst of all, watch spoiled royal boys show off for her. At least when they were racing horses across the field, she could get interested in watching the horses, regardless of the riders. Sitting in the royal box above the sparring ring, watching the sons of Dukes and Barons play fight and hoping to catch her favorable eye, she was completely uninterested. She did her duty; smiling, waving, congratulating the winners, engaging in small talk with the parents who were so hopeful the future queen would find their eligible sons appealing. She found none of them appealing. Not in that way. Oh, to be sure, some of them were handsome, and charming, and well-spoken, and quick with a blade or skilled with a bow, and she appreciated any person who could handle a horse with grace and not brute force.

  But none of them were as quick with a blade, nor skilled with a bow, as Koren. Not one of them could have ridden Thunderbolt, nor even gotten close to that horse without catching a hoof in the belly, or a bite on the arm. For all their well-polished and well-practiced charm, none of them had the simple, honest grace of Koren. For all their play-acting in the sparring ring, none of them had ever faced true danger, had ever stood up to an enormous bear, nor plunged into a raging, icy river, nor faced a gang of bandits with only a small knife. None of these royal brats had risked death to save the life of a girl they didn't know, risked death when no one was watching, for no gain but because it was the right thing to do. None of them had saved her life, not even once, while Koren had done it thrice in a single morning. And for all their cleverness, their witty words, none of them had solved an ancient mystery, found a Cornerstone that had been hidden for centuries in the spirit world, and given hope to a weary nation that they might someday see victory in a war that had lasted over a thousand years.

  And not one of them, nor all of them together, were as handsome as Koren Bladewell, in the eyes of the crown princess. When a match was ended, and the victor held up his sword triumphantly, chest swelled with pride, face flushed from exertion, eyes twinkling, smiling up at the crown princess, Ariana could not help comparing that son of the Duke or Baron to a common farmboy, and find the royal boys lacking. Their fine clothes and polished armor, their shining combed hair, their soft hands that had never done an honest day of work in their lives, could not compare to Koren's disheveled servant's clothes, and his tangled curly hair, and his rough hands, hands rough from a life of honest labor.

  If her mother thought that sending Koren away would make Ariana's feelings cool, her mother was wrong. Mother and daughter had argued after Koren left, mother insisting the journey away from the castle had been the wizard's idea, Ariana not believing a word of it. The wizard suddenly had decided, while spring rains were soaking the ground, to ride many leagues on muddy roads, to an isolated hunting lodge? And it was merely a coincidence that the wizard decided to go on this 'sabbatical' just after Ariana almost kissed Koren? Ariana wasn't fooled. Nor was she discouraged. Perhaps there was much of her father in her, for people trying to keep something away from her only made her want it all the more. Her father had wanted to marry the daughter of a minor Baron, a land-rich but money-poor family that could bring nothing to the marriage but the girl who the king admired and loved. Adric Trehayme's advisors and his court had all been against the match, to no avail, for Adric was king and he would do as he wished. Most people, to this very day, considered Adric to have been impulsive and rash in that decision. Ariana, facing the suffocating constraints of her role, found much to admire in her father's action, and thought she understood why he had done that. Tarador was embodied in the king or queen, and the king or queen needed to think of Tarador first and above all, but sometimes, the person who held the office of king or queen needed to be themselves, or there would be nothing left of them.

  Being away from Koren, and seeing all the eligible royal boys vying for her attention, brought Ariana to a decision, a decision she kept to herself. Once she became queen, she would grant Koren Bladewell a knighthood, and a grant of land. Land near Linden, so he would not be far away. She would brush aside the protests of her mother, and her advisors, and her court wizard if needed, and grant Koren the honors he should have had already. Until she became queen, she would bide her time, and tell no one of her decision. No one, except for one person, the future Sir Koren Bladewell. If she could not make Koren a knight now, she could at least tell him of her intentions, and trust him to keep quiet. Now that she had made her decision, she could hardly wait to tell Koren, so much so that she almost wrote a letter to be delivered to him in Relannon. No, a letter simply would not do, letters could be read by prying eyes. And she wanted to see Koren's face when she told him, see the surprise and joy on his face. She imagined seeing his face like that, over and over, and although she was burning up inside to tell him, she would wait for the right moment. She would wait until after the Cornerstone festival, after the Dukes had all departed, and the castle was back to normal. The weather should be delightfully warm by then, she would invite Koren out to a picnic lunch in the gazebo by the lake of the royal gardens. Perhaps for his fourteenth birthday, which would be soon. Yes, that would be the perfect setting, so she would wait for the perfect day, and everything would be perfect.

  Until then, she kept the smile frozen on her face, and waved, and politely talked about nothing, and waited.

  Now that all the Dukes and Duchesses had arrived for the Cornerstone festival, Koren was doubly busy, as were all the servants in the castle. Only two Dukes, close friends and allies of the Trehaymes, stayed in the royal palace, the other families maintained homes in the city. Koren was exhausted from running into the city and back, carrying gifts and messages to and from the wizard. Then there were the dinners Paedris was invited to, the lunches Paedris hosted in return, the daily rides out into the countryside, and the quiet meetings Paedris had with the army generals and captains. The only break Koren got was that the weapons master was too busy for Koren’s training; the sparring ring was constantly busy with young royals eager to prove their prowess.

  After he found the Cornerstone, and Carlana announced a festival to celebrate Ariana’s great accomplishment, he had been angry. Then, like everyone in the castle and the surrounding city, he had become swept up in the excitement of the festival; every day, wagons streamed through the city gate bearing food, entertainers, even a circus with strange, giant animals that Paedris said were ‘elephants’. Now, with two days remaining before the festival, Koren only wanted the event to be over, so he could rest. Let Ariana be given credit for finding the Cornerstone, she would have to sit through endless speeches and wear hot, scratchy clothes. Koren mostly wanted simply to sleep.

  Koren feeling worn out was not good enough for Niles Forne, who now had his Duke living in the city, and Regin Falco was questioning why his son’s advisor had been unable to get rid of a simple servant boy. The commoner boy was getting far too much attention from the princess. Excuses would not do, Duke Falco insisted Koren be gone by the end of the summer. One way, or another.

  As long as Koren thought he had friendship and support from the crown princess, Forne reasoned, there would be little reason for the boy to leave. How then, to show Koren that he was nothing but a lowly servant to Ariana and her mother? Forne's latest plan was why Kyre sought out Koren in the stables.

  “Hey, Koren, I haven’t seen you around lately.” Kyre said, trying to lean casually against the worn stall door.

  “I’ve been busy.” Koren barely looked up from his work.

  "I have an idea,” Kyre said, as if it had just occurred to him. “The Regency Council, that is the royal family and all the Dukes and Duchesses, are meeting tomorrow, to talk about the war, and strategy and all that stuff. You want to come as my guest? Paedris can’t make you work while you’re with me, right?" He winked.

  "Oh, I don't know, uh, I don't think I'm supposed to wear my fancy servant's clothes if I'm not with Paedris, and he said he's skipping the Council meetings, they're all just posturing and speeches."

  "I've got clothes you can w
ear. Come on, it will be fun. You can learn a lot, watching the dukes and duchesses arguing." Which is why Kyre's father was making him go. "You may hear something Lord Salva needs to hear. And, Ariana will be there."

  "Oh, uh, sure." Koren was eager to see the princess again. "Ok, I'll go."

  “Hold!” Duke Bargann grumbled, pointing one of his pudgy fingers across to table at Koren, who was sitting in the row of chairs behind Kyre and his father. “Who is this boy? I don’t recognize him.”

  Regin Falco drew himself upright in his chair, and fixed Bargann with an icy stare. “He is a close friend of my son, and a guest of the Falco’s. Kyre can attest to his good character.”

  Bargann snorted, and waved his hand. “I don’t care if he’s your knight champion, Falco. Meetings of the Regency Council are for royalty only. That’s the law. Regent Carlana, you allow this?”

  Carlana winced. A petty dispute to start the meeting was the last thing she needed, and she silently cursed Koren for causing the trouble. Defending the Falco’s in formal session of the Council almost made her choke on her words. “If Duke Falco wants-“

  Bargann cut her off. “I don’t care what Falco wants, the law is clear. I remind you, it is the law that put you on that throne now, instead of your daughter.”

  “Mother!” Ariana leaned to whisper harshly in her mother’s ear.

  “Not now, Ariana.” Carlana whispered back. She could not understand why Bargann was arguing with Falco, those two were strong allies. What was really going on, she wondered? “The law is the law, and we must follow the law more than anyone else. You are the crown princess, you need to speak.”

  Ariana swallowed her anger, the taste bitter in her mouth. She stared straight ahead to avoid looking at Koren while she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. “The law is clear. Koren must leave.”