«He has, indeed», Alyce replied, «though he and Duncan together do lead poor Llion a merry chase, and sometimes they lure Kevin into trouble as well».
«They shall be leaders among men!» Kenneth declared, giving his son another hug. «And Llion is pleased with his progress?»
She glanced back to where the young knight was bantering with Trevor Udaut, who had accompanied Kenneth and was holding their two horses, one with a large wicker pannier strapped to its saddle’s cantle.
«I believe you can go ahead with your plans», she said, smiling.
«Excellent».
* * *
The next day was Alaric’s birthday. It began like most days, with Melissa helping him to dress while they chattered about what the day might bring. As a special treat, he was allowed to go downstairs with his parents to eat in the great hall with the adults — a privilege not often granted, though he managed to acquit himself with grace and good manners. Porridge was easy enough to master, and ended up mostly in his stomach, sparing his clean tunic. The honey drizzled on his chunk of fresh bread proved somewhat more challenging, but he managed to confine the few wayward smears to his face and hands, which his father helped him wash off when he was finished.
«That was very nicely done», Kenneth told him as he set aside the damp cloth he had used for the deed. «You’re becoming quite the young man».
Alaric merely gazed up at him hopefully, well aware what day it was, and that gifts were customary on one’s birthday.
«Now», said Kenneth, setting his balled fists on his hips in a pose that reminded Alyce where their son had learned that same posture. «You asked yesterday about a present».
The boy’s eyes lit, and he grinned as he glanced at his mother.
«Well, you’d better go out to the stables and speak to Llion», Kenneth told him. «I think he got little sleep last night, looking after it for you».
The boy took off at a dead run, Kenneth and Alyce following more sedately, so that by the time they reached the stable yard, Alaric was staggering from the stable arch with a long-eared brindle puppy clasped under its front legs, the hind legs and tail dangling nearly to the ground.
«Papa, he’s wonderful! Thank you!» the boy cried.
«I’m glad you like him», Kenneth replied, coming to catch up the animal’s hind end. «But you must support his weight, if you’re going to pick him up. It makes him feel more secure. Better yet, let’s put him down on the ground».
Watching earnestly, young Alaric released his end of the dog as his father set the back legs on the ground. The puppy immediately squirmed around to start licking his face, staggering with the ferocity of his tail-wagging as the boy hugged him close.
«He likes me!» Alaric laughed, face scrunched up against the puppy’s kisses. «What’s his name, Papa?»
«Well, he hasn’t got one just yet», Kenneth replied, «so I reckon you’ll have to give him one». He smiled. «You should also know that Prince Brion picked him out especially for you. The mother is one of the prince’s own favorite hounds, and he thought you would like a royal dog. He should be quite a hunter when he’s grown — and he’ll get quite large. Prince Nigel has one of his littermates».
Alaric’s face had been creasing in an even bigger grin as the puppy’s lineage was unfolded, and he suddenly plopped down in the dust of the stable yard as the puppy tried to climb into his lap, tail still wagging furiously as it continued licking his face.
«I got a royal dog!» he crowed. «Oh, thank you, thank you, Papa!»
Chuckling, Kenneth took Alyce’s arm and walked her on toward the castle gardens, where they whiled the morning away in sweet conversation and gentle dalliance before Kenneth took off with Jared and the other men for an afternoon’s hunting.
* * *
That night, after they had dined at Earl Jared’s table and Kenneth had shared the news of court with Jared and Vera and the others privileged to dine at the high table, Alyce and Kenneth retired to the chamber she had called home for the past three months. Alaric was tucked up in his bed in the adjoining room, the puppy curled up in the hollow of his arm, and Llion slept in the room just beyond. The castle was settling into stillness for the night, though red still streaked the summer sky in the west. A gentle rain had begun to fall with the lowering darkness.
«I have missed you», Kenneth murmured, watching her in the mirror as she brushed out her hair. «That, alone, is reason enough to bring me here. But there is another reason for my visit at this time — in addition to Alaric’s birthday. I’ve come to relay a message from the king».
She stiffened slightly, then laid down her brush to turn and look directly at him.
«What message?»
«He asks that you — Name Alaric». He shrugged as she cocked her head to stare at him more sharply. «He said that you’d understand what that meant».
She sighed and nodded a little distractedly. «Oh, I do. It’s…a preparation for the time when Donal must set his Haldane imprint in place, so that Alaric will be able to act for Prince Brion when Donal is gone».
«By your reaction, I take it that this is something outside the normal», Kenneth said quietly, «even magical. Is there danger?»
She shook her head. «No danger. It simply isn’t often done for so young a child».
«I see».
She sighed and considered, then came to sit beside him on the bed. «I shall need your help».
«You know I will do anything you ask», he replied, taking one of her hands to kiss its palm.
Laughing gently, she leaned closer to kiss him on the mouth. «Darling Kenneth, what would I do without you? May I read exactly what the king told you?»
«You mean, read my mind?»
«Yes».
He inclined his head in agreement. «Do what is needful».
Smiling, she slid her hands to either side of his face, thumbs resting lightly on his temples.
«Close your eyes and relax, dearest Kenneth», she murmured.
* * *
The next morning was spent in domestic activities, Kenneth retiring to the stable yard with Llion and Jared and several of the other knights while Alyce occupied herself in the solar, settling before her loom and humming an ancient tune as her fingers slipped an ivory shuttle back and forth among the threads of warp and weft. In the garden below, she could hear children’s voices, shrill and excited: Alaric playing with his two McLain cousins.
She glanced outside and smiled at the sight, savoring the late summer air with its scent of sunlight on grass, clean earth, and recent rain. Alaric had found the damp flowerbeds and the pond and was rapidly initiating the slightly younger Duncan into the joyous mysteries of mud. The seven-year-old Kevin was doing his best to remain aloof and clean, as befitted the ducal heir to Cassan, playing quietly with his toy knights on a patch of stone paving beside a more formal fountain, but it was apparent that his interest in the younger boys’ mud was fast becoming more than academic.
No matter. The late-morning sun was warm after the chill of the previous night’s rain. Melissa, Alyce’s maid, and Bairbre, the maid who looked after Duncan and Kevin, would be less than pleased at having to bathe three squirming boys this evening, but it was the first real rain of the autumn; the summer had been dry. Not for months had the weather permitted such boyish pursuits. Alyce laughed aloud when she saw that Kevin had finally succumbed to temptation and was making mud moats and mottes and castles with as much gusto as either of the younger boys.
She heard a rustle behind her and turned to see Vera entering the room with Bairbre, her riding habit of earlier in the day exchanged for a gown of honey-brown the exact shade of her hair, which gave her grey-green eyes a tinge of the sea. While it was well-known that the two countesses were related by marriage, only the two of them knew that they were, in fact, twins, cunningly separated at birth by their Deryni parents so that the second-born Vera might be brought up secretly in a human family, without the Deryni stigma that had been Alyce’s lot
for all her life.
Now Vera was Countess of Kierney, by marriage to the widower Jared McLain, whose first countess had died giving him his eldest son and heir, who was playing in the castle yard with Alaric and Duncan. Not even Earl Jared knew that his second wife was full sister to Alyce de Corwyn, one of the last of the High Deryni heiresses.
«I wish you could have ridden with us, earlier», Vera said, coming to embrace her. «I doubt your daughter would have approved, however». She smiled as she glanced down at Alyce’s rounded belly, then nodded dismissal to her maid. «Thank you, Bairbre. You may go now».
As they drew apart, both of them laughing companionably, Alyce took one of Vera’s hands and led her closer to the window.
«Vera, you really must look at this», she said, her casual tone for the benefit of the retiring maid as she directed her sister’s gaze toward the garden below. «I fear that my son has been an exceedingly poor influence on yours. Our maids will be appalled when they learn how dirty three noble children have managed to get in less than half an hour».
Vera laughed and moved back into the room to perch on a stool where she could survey her sister’s weaving. Alyce had been working on the background of a hunting scene showing Castle Culdi high on its hill, with a band of horsemen galloping across the fields in the foreground, bright banners flying. Somehow, she had managed to convey a sense of foggy mystery, as though the riders floated across an early-morning meadow. Vera ran an appreciative finger across the tightly woven threads as Alyce sat down beside her.
«How ever do you manage to get this effect?»
Alyce gave a mirthful chuckle and took up her shuttle again.
«We had a Kheldish weaver at my father’s court when Marie and I were young», she replied. «He was old and sick, even when we first met him, but he still could weave. Father had him tutor us. It seemed a safe enough skill to teach Deryni children».
Vera glanced at the door, which the maid had closed behind her, then passed a hand between them and the door. The spell was not a potent one, but it would muffle their words beyond discernment by any unseen listener. Like Alyce, she had learned early to guard her secrets as though her life depended on it.
«Was the man Deryni?» she asked in a low voice.
Alyce shrugged. «I don’t know. He never said, and I was too young to know to ask. But I realize now that much of what he taught me was the ancient cording lore. Of course, he couched it only in terms of the physical manipulations involved». She smiled as she slipped back across the years in memory. «Our governess, poor, dull lady, thought it but an advanced weaving technique. She had no patience with learning it herself. Had she but known…»
«Praise God she did not!» Vera snorted. «But, could a human even learn the lore behind the cording?»
«I don’t know that, either. It was only after he was long dead that I began to understand what he had taught me — and poor Marie never did manage to learn it. Now she is gone, and I dare not use it myself except to enhance my wifely pastimes, as you see here». She indicated the tapestry with a sweep of her hand. «I sometimes wonder why we are given such training, if we may never use it».
She fell silent at that, and Vera did not speak. In that instant they had passed from idle reminiscence to consideration of one of the greatest enigmas of their lives. After a moment, Alyce glanced at the doorway again, then scooted her stool closer to Vera’s with a rasp of wood against stone.
«I’ve had a message from the king», she said.
Vera looked at her sharply, apprehension stiffening her fair features.
«Oh?»
«’Tis nothing ill», Alyce assured her, «other than the timing, perhaps. Sooner than I had hoped, but» — She kept her eyes on her weaving as she took up her shuttle again and continued.
«Before Alaric was born, Kenneth and I…made an agreement with the king that our son should serve his son. It was an easy enough promise then, and even while he was still an infant.
«But when we brought him to court for Prince Brion’s coming of age this summer, the king informed us that he wishes Alaric to come to court as page to Prince Brion as soon as he reaches his tenth birthday — sooner, if anything should happen to me or to Kenneth».
«Page to the prince!» Vera relaxed visibly and nodded. «But, that’s welcome news — or, do you fear his reasons, that he simply wants Alaric nearby, where he can be watched more closely? After all, ’tis no secret what he is».
Alyce shook her head again. «No, it is not that». She drew a deep breath and let it out in an effort to relax, carefully setting aside her shuttle. «Vera, he intends that Alaric should be…bound to Prince Brion’s service by magic, not just as page and future squire and knight, but to assist when the time comes for Brion to assume his father’s full power».
«He would trust a Deryni with this?» Vera breathed.
«It is only a Deryni who can do this», Alyce said softly. «It is what Alaric was born to do». She did not add that the king very nearly had been the boy’s father. «Kenneth and I agreed to this, soon after I discovered I was with child. The time now has come to begin his preparation».
Wide-eyed, Vera sat back and merely gazed at her twin, trying to take it all in, too stunned for speech. Then she came to slide her arms around her sister’s shoulders and they simply held one another, clinging together in fear and futile comfort.
A little later, when their fears had been somewhat assuaged by creature comfort in one another’s company, they drew apart to dry their eyes and sniffle forlornly and force reason to prevail once again over human doubts and worries. Alyce swallowed with difficulty and drew herself up straighter, still clinging to her sister’s hand, and forced a tight, desperate smile.
«Foolish women, we, to weep when there is a chance to give our sons a better life. We are of the High Deryni born. We were bred to better things».
Vera nodded: a curt, constrained dip of her chin, trying to match her sister’s bravery. «You speak truly. Has…has the king yet told you what must be done?»
«Aye, some. He commands that first of all Alaric must be Named, according to the ancient traditions of our people — though how he has learned of this custom, I know not».
«Is it wise to Name so young a child as Alaric?» Vera asked. «He is only just four. By tradition, he should have near twice the years».
«The essential element is that he understands the difference between right and wrong — not his years», Alyce replied. «What concerns me most is that he not be frightened at his first encounter with serious magic. The ritual is not dangerous, as you know, but it could be very alien to a four-year-old, even one as precocious as my Alaric».
After a few seconds, Vera said, «Suppose I were to Name Duncan at the same time. Would that help?»
Alyce snorted softly. «Did I not just hear you say that even Alaric is young for this, and that a child should have twice the years before he is Named?»
«Well, I cannot let you do this alone», Vera said reasonably. «Or Alaric. At least if the boys are together, they will have one another to make it seem less strange».
Hardly daring to believe it, Alyce gently laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder.
«I prayed that you would say that», she whispered. «Would you really agree to do this for us?»
«How could I not?» Vera replied.
Alyce smiled and shook her head slowly. «How I do love you, dear sister».
«And I, you».
«Enough to do this thing tonight?»
«Tonight? So soon?»
Alyce nodded and took a deep breath. «I know it isn’t much time, but who knows what the future may bring? I could die in childbirth — and the king is not young. But now, tonight, you and I are both here, and the boys are here, and — please say you’ll do it, Vera».
Vera sighed wearily, suddenly looking far older than her twenty-five years, then nodded.
«Tonight. So be it».
* * *
For their working place,
Alyce chose the tiny Lady chapel that Earl Jared had caused to be built the previous summer, in the heart of the castle gardens. It was there that he and Vera had finally laid their stillborn daughter to rest, at the feet of the chapel’s statue of the Blessed Virgin; and it was there that Alyce had already spent many hours pondering her situation and what they must do.
Later that afternoon, while the maids tackled the task of scrubbing the mud off two exuberant boys — Kevin declared himself grown enough to take his own bath — the two mothers brought baskets of «sewing» into the shade of the garden, there to disappear for a time into the chapel’s cool recesses and make their preparations. Kenneth and Jared had gone out with a hunting party around noon, and returned early in the evening.
After they all had supped, Alyce drew her husband aside and told him privily what he must know of the evening’s plans. Alaric had been long ago tucked up in bed and was sleeping peacefully. Sir Llion did not question that the puppy had been relegated to his room for the night, and would ask no questions in the morning.
«I never guessed that Vera is your sister», Kenneth said to her in a low voice, as they gazed down at their sleeping son. «Does Jared know?»
Alyce shook her head. «Nay, and he must not know», she replied. «Not because he might think the lesser of Vera, or of Duncan — he is a good man — but because all of them will be safer that way. Right now, you are one of only three people who know the truth — and Vera and I are the other two». She closed her eyes briefly. «Actually, I lied; there may be four. I’m sure you remember Father Paschal, who was my family’s household chaplain. He knows, or knew. But I am not certain he is even still alive…though I hope I would have heard, if he had passed on».
Kenneth glanced away briefly, pondering what she had said, then took both her hands and grazed her knuckles with his lips before raising his gaze to hers again.
«I remember Paschal, of course. Is he…one of you?»
She nodded.
Childe Morgan cm-2 Page 17
