Hurrying inside, he made his way down the great hall to the stairwell that led up to the apartment he had been assigned before the present mission. Sir Llion was waiting for him just at the entrance to that stairwell, with a small, towheaded boy in his charge. Young Alaric gave a squeal of joy as he saw his father, breaking away from Llion’s grasp to come racing across the stone flags as his father knelt on one knee to receive him.
«Papa! You’re back!» the boy cried, flinging himself into his sire’s embrace to shower him with kisses. «Papa, Papa!»
«I take it that you missed me», Kenneth replied, hugging the boy in return and glancing up as Llion sauntered nearer, smiling faintly. «Will Sir Llion tell me that you’ve been good?»
«Of course I have!» Alaric replied indignantly. «I promised Mama. And I can write all my letters now; Llion helped me practice. I can even read — well, some», he added, at Llion’s look askance.
«Well, then, you shall have to show me», Kenneth said, standing with the boy in his arms to exchange a handclasp with Llion.
As the two adults climbed the wide turnpike stair, Alaric riding happily in his father’s embrace, Llion gave a sketchy report of his young charge’s activities in Kenneth’s absence, and Kenneth, in turn, gave the young knight a bare-bones account of what had transpired when the new archbishop was enthroned.
«We got at least two of the instigators», Kenneth told Llion, «but it was a near-run thing. We have Master Jamyl’s clearheadedness partially to thank for it». He did not add that, without Jamyl’s assistance, both the king and his royal uncle might have returned from Valoret as the subjects of a funeral cortege, and that the nine-year-old Prince Nigel might now be King of Gwynedd.
The next days seemed to evaporate with little to show for them, as preparations for the coronation of Brion Haldane shifted into their final phases. A week before the scheduled coronation day, foreign emissaries and nobles from the outlying regions began to arrive, again swelling the city’s guest accommodations to near-capacity.
Visitors staying in the castle dined in the great hall every night, though the fare was far simpler than what would be provided on coronation day. Most evenings, the young king made a point of joining his guests, at least for a little while, always attended by Jamyl and with at least one crown counselor at his back. Usually, it was Kenneth.
Through all these days and nights, Kenneth often pondered the whys and wherefores by which both his and the king’s lives had been saved by the presence of an elusive Knight of the Anvil, who had been the childhood friend of Alyce de Corwyn Morgan, and who once had been a knight of Lendour.
It came as little surprise to Kenneth, then, that Sé Trelawney was present on coronation day as well, as the new archbishop crowned Brion Donal Cinhil Urien Haldane King of Gwynedd. Kenneth never saw him in the lead-up to the ceremony; but as Brion swore his coronation oath, right hand set upon Holy Writ, Sé was there in the background, the hood of his black mantle pushed back, standing with arms folded across the breast of his long black robe, just above the white slash of his knight’s belt.
He was there — though no one else seemed to be aware of it — when Brion knelt beneath a golden canopy to receive the marks of holy chrism on head and breast and hands, sealing him to the service of his kingdom.
And he was there when Archbishop Paul lifted Gwynedd’s great state crown of leaves and crosses intertwined and spoke the ancient words of king-making over Brion’s bowed head:
«Bless, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this crown, and so sanctify Thy servant Brion, upon whose head Thou dost place it as a sign of royal majesty…»
Kenneth was certain he saw Sé standing just behind the other bishops, hands upraised in benison, with the tattooed crosses dark against his inner wrists, and he seemed to hear other words inside his head.
In the name of Holy Camber, be king for all thy people of Gwynedd, human and Deryni, and reign in wisdom for all thy days…
And finally, Sé was there to offer up his fealty with the other Lendour knights, kneeling to place his joined hands briefly between Brion’s. Kenneth could not hear what passed between then, but Brion told him later that evening, as Kenneth led the happily exhausted king to the royal apartments to help him disrobe as he prepared for bed.
«Did you see that Anviller who came up with the other knights to pledge fealty, Kenneth? He told me he had been a close friend of Lady Alcye. He showed me the tattoos on his wrists, and said that he could not give me the same fealty that the other knights gave, because he now served a different Lord, but he said that if it were within his power, he would always be there when I had need.
«He told me that he was Deryni, and that his powers were mine to command, if ever I should need his services — within the limits of his vows to his order, of course. And he told me that he would look after you and your son as well: that both of you were pledged to my service in a very special way, and that one day, your Alaric should be my Deryni protector, and awaken the full measure of my father’s Haldane legacy». Brion paused slightly in his disrobing.
«I remember that something happened in that regard when you brought me for that last visit to your wife’s bedside. He knew about that, and he said that she had awakened a part of that legacy as her last act of service and duty to the Haldane line…».
«He told you all of that, my prince, in the time it took to set his hands between yours?» Kenneth asked, when the king had wound down and was gazing distantly at the fire on the other side of the room. He did not doubt that Sé had conveyed all of this to the king — and in the blink of an eye — but he wondered whether Brion grasped the full significance of the gift he had been given.
«He did, Kenneth», the king replied, an odd expression coming across his face as he thought about what he had actually said. «I know he did; it’s all very clear. But I cannot, for the life of me, explain how he must have done it».
«I expect it will come to you in time, my prince», Kenneth said gently. He smiled as he watched the king yawn hugely and crawl beneath the coverlet of the great, canopied state bed. «I have no doubt now that a good many things will come to you in time».
Afterward, when he had drawn the bed curtains, extinguished most of the candles, and left instructions with Jamyl, who would sleep in the adjoining room, Kenneth let himself out and returned to his own quarters, where his precious son slept. Sir Llion lay on a pallet at the foot of the boy’s cot, also sound asleep.
Moving quietly, so as not to wake either one of them, Kenneth slipped his sword from its hangers and laid it on his own bed, then eased closer to Alaric’s bedside to gaze down at his sleeping son, the future hope of the Haldanes, and perhaps of the Deryni race.
«Laddie, laddie, what have we done to you?» he whispered softly, crouching down beside the bed. For he was coming to realize that the recent attempt on the king’s life was likely to deepen the danger facing his son in the years ahead: a son who now had no Deryni mother to protect him. When word got out that the king’s would-be assassin had been Deryni, public outrage would only reinforce the already widespread belief that Deryni were dangerous, their very existence a threat to Gwynedd’s crown and to all honest folk. And if the Zachris Pomeroy affair were not enough, one had but to recall the incident at Hallowdale and too many others like it, which were becoming all too frequent — and not even Donal Haldane had felt competent to address that growing threat.
Would Brion Haldane be able to do any better? A new king only just of age, and without the maturity or experience of his late father?
And Alaric was a decade younger than the king, his Deryni heritage widely known — and already entrenched in the royal household and in the new king’s affections. As he grew into maturity, there would always be those who feared him, who mistrusted him, who would have no compunctions about trying to take his life, even as they had taken the life of young Krispin MacAthan.
It was a dangerous time to be Deryni — or to be the father of a Deryni. Without doubt, the next few
years would present many challenges, as Kenneth strove to protect his son and still serve the king to whom both of them had pledged their ongoing loyalty only hours before.
Fortunately, it appeared that unexpected and powerful allies did exist, as both Jamyl and Sé had proven at Valoret, to protect not only the king but also those who served him; for Kenneth himself might have perished at Valoret, had it not been for the pair. (He did not know whether the two had worked in tandem, or whether the intervention of both at once had been a coincidence; that bore further reflection, and careful observation.) Might there be others as well, looking out for the king, for Kenneth — and for Kenneth’s son?
Briefly closing his eyes, Kenneth Morgan made a prayer in his heart, that God and all His angels might keep the boy safe in their care. He imagined, too, that his dear Alyce might now be numbered among those who watched over the innocent, given angel wings by the farewell of a small boy who had tucked feathers into his mother’s coffin to speed her on her way. A tear runneled down his cheek, but he knuckled it away before bending to press a gentle kiss to his son’s brow.
«You shall serve a great king, my son», he whispered, as he got quietly to his feet. «Not right away — but one day. And there will be men to help you, as you grow into your manhood and your destiny».
Turning away, he moved quietly to the window and drew back the edge of the curtain to glance into the courtyard below, where moonlight gilded the cobblestones and little moved.
«But for now», he murmured under his breath, «I pray that you may be given the time simply to be a boy».
Off to the east, silver limned the horizon with the promise of dawn. It would be Brion Haldane’s first full day as the now-crowned King of Gwynedd.
APPENDIX I
Index of Characters
*AHERN JERNIAN DE CORWYN, LORD — deceased Earl of Lendour and Heir of Corwyn, Deryni; brother of Alyce de Corwyn and briefly the husband of Zoë Morgan.
AIRLEAS — magical name given by King Donal to the boy Alaric Morgan.
ALARIC ANTHONY MORGAN, MASTER — three-year-old son of Alyce de Corwyn Morgan and Sir Kenneth Kai Morgan; half Deryni.
ALAZAIS MORGAN — youngest daughter of Sir Kenneth Morgan.
*ALICIA MCLAIN, LADY — stillborn daughter of Jared and Vera McLain.
ALUN MELANDRY, SIR — a new-made Mearan knight, son of the murdered former royal governor of Ratharkin.
ALYCE JAVANA DE CORWYN MORGAN, LADY — Heiress of Corwyn and Lendour, Deryni wife of Sir Kenneth Morgan and mother of Alaric and Bronwyn.
ANDREW MCLAIN, DUKE — Duke of Cassan, father of Jared.
ANSELM, FATHER — a chaplain at Rhemuth Castle.
ARRAN MACEWAN, SIR — a new-made knight of Claibourne.
ARTHEN TALBOT, SIR — newly knighted youngest son of Sir Lucien Talbot, royal governor of Ratharkin.
AURIEL, ARCHANGEL — Torenthi name for Uriel.
BAIRBRE — maid to Vera Countess of Kierney, who also looks after Duncan and Kevin McLain.
BARRETT DE LANEY — blind member of the Camberian Council; brother of Dominy de Laney.
*BEARAND HALDANE, KING SAINT — pre-Interregnum Haldane king who pushed back the Moorish sea lords and consolidated Gwynedd.
*BLAINE EMANUEL RICHARD CINHIL HALDANE, PRINCE — second son of Donal King of Gwynedd, 1083–1092.
BRION DONAL CINHIL URIEN HALDANE, PRINCE — firstborn son and heir of King Donal; later, King of Gwynedd.
*BRIONA, PRINCESS — only child of the last Prince of Mooryn, wife of Prince Festil Augustus.
*BRONWYN MORGAN — a sister of Charlan Kai Morgan, who died in the service of King Javan Haldane.
BRONWYN RHETICE MORGAN, LADY — infant daughter of Alyce and Kenneth Morgan, younger sister of Alaric.
CAMILLE FURSTÁNA, PRINCESS — daughter of Prince Zimri Furstán and Chriselle, a Festillic heiress; aunt of Prince Hogan Furstán; now known as Mother Serafina, a nun at Saint-Sasile, an all-Deryni monastic establishment at Furstánan, in Torenth.
CASPAR TALBOT, SIR — third son of Sir Lucien Talbot, brother of Sir Arthen Talbot.
*CHARLAN MORGAN, SIR — distant cousin of Sir Kenneth Morgan, loyal knight in the service of King Javan Haldane, with whom he died in battle.
CILLIAN, MASTER — a royal physician at Rhemuth Castle.
CLAARA MORGAN WINSLOW, LADY — widowed younger sister of Sir Kenneth Morgan.
CLARICE — a granddaughter of Claara, and grand-niece of Sir Kenneth Morgan.
*CLUIM HALDANE, KING — great-grandfather of King Donal.
COCKLEBURR — a retired warhorse selected by Sir Llion as a first training mount for Alaric Morgan.
COSMO MURRAY, BISHOP — Bishop of Nyford; dies during the synod convened to elect a successor to Archbishop William MacCartney in 1096.
CRESCENCE DE NAVERIE, SIR — special counsel to the Regents of Corwyn.
DEINOL HARTMANN, SIR — seneschal at Castle Cynfyn.
DELPHINE MORGAN — unmarried older sister of Sir Kenneth Morgan, chatelaine of Morganhall in his absence; an accomplished poet.
DESMOND MACCARTNEY, ARCHBISHOP — Archbishop of Rhemuth, brother of Archbishop William.
*DOMINIC DU JOUX, SIEUR — son of Richard du Joux, a follower of Prince Festil of Torenth, and Princess Tayce Furstána, a first cousin of the new Festillic king; first Duke of Corwyn.
DOMINY DE LANEY — sister of Barrett, member of the Camberian Council.
DONAL BLAINE AIDAN CINHIL HALDANE, KING — King of Gwynedd, Prince of Meara, and Lord of the Purple March.
*DUCHAD MOR — Torenthi Deryni general who unsuccessfully attempted to invade Gwynedd in 985 on behalf of the Festillic Pretender of the day.
*DULCHESSE, QUEEN — childless first queen of Donal Haldane.
DUNCAN HOWARD MCLAIN, MASTER — son of Jared Earl of Kierney and Vera, Alyce’s twin sister; cousin of Alaric.
*ELAINE MACINNIS, LADY — first wife of Jared Earl of Kierney, and mother of Kevin McLain; died in childbirth.
ESMÉ HARRIS, BISHOP — Bishop of Coroth, and member of Corwyn’s council of regents.
ESTÈPHE DE COURCY, SIR — a young cousin of Michon de Courcy.
EWAN DE TRAHERNE, SIR — Earl of Rhendall, a new-made knight.
EWAN MACEWAN, DUKE — Duke of Claibourne.
FAXON HOWARD, BISHOP — an itinerant bishop, kin to Vera Howard McLain.
*FESTIL, KING — first of the Interregnum kings of Gwynedd, a younger son of the King of Torenth.
*FESTIL AUGUSTUS, PRINCE — son of Festil, later Festil II.
FISKEN CROMARTY, BISHOP — itinerant bishop elected Bishop of Marbury in 1096, in succession to Paul Tollendal.
GABRIEL, ARCHANGEL — guardian of the element of water.
GEILL MORGAN, LADY — middle daughter of Sir Kenneth Morgan, married to Sir Walter, a young knight of Kierney.
GEOFFREY DE MAIN, SIR — a new-made knight, non-identical twin to Thomas.
GRAHAM MACEWAN, LORD — six-year-old heir of Ewan Duke of Claibourne.
HAMILTON, LORD — seneschal of Coroth Castle.
HARKNESS, LORD — visiting lord put to sleep by Jamyl Arilan.
HOGAN FURSTÁN, PRINCE — Festillic Pretender to the throne of Gwynedd, posthumous son of Prince Marcus, nephew of Princess Camille/Sister Serafina, and Jonelle Heiress of Gwernach, by which right he was sometimes known in later life as Hogan Gwernach.
HORT OF ORSAL — ruler of the Principality of Tralia, premier of the Forcinn Buffer States.
ILLANN, KING — King of Howicce and, after the death of his mother, Queen Gwenaël, King of Llannedd; brother of Queen Richeldis and uncle of Brion and Nigel.
*IMRE FURSTÁN OF FESTIL — last Interregnum King of Gwynedd.
IRIS CERYS, SISTER — a professed nun at Arc-en-Ciel, formerly Cerys Devane, former roommate to Alyce de Corwyn.
IRIS JESSILDE, SISTER — second daughter of Jessamy MacAthan, a professed nun at Arc-en-Ciel.
IRIS JUDIANA, MOTHER — Superior at Arc-en-Ciel; d
aughter of a Bremagni duke, educated at Rhanamé.
IRIS ROSE, SISTER — a professed nun at Arc-en-Ciel.
ISAIYA, MASTER — a Master of the Deryni Inner Order at the University of Rhanamé.
JAMES OF TENDAL, SIR — hereditary Chancellor of Corwyn.
JAMYL ARILAN, MASTER — nephew of Sir Seisyll Arilan, Deryni; a squire to King Donal and Prince Brion.
JÁNOS SOKRAT, COUNT — a Torenthi courtier.
JARED MCLAIN, EARL OF KIERNEY — only son and heir of Andrew Duke of Cassan; husband of Vera, father of Kevin and Duncan.
*JASHER HALDANE, KING — younger brother of King Nygel and elder of King Cluim, who helped repel the armored infantry of Duchad Mor in 985.
JASKA COLLINS, SIR — a new-made knight of Gwynedd, known for his horsemanship.
JATHAN, PRINCE — youngest son of King Donal and Queen Richeldis.
*JERNIAN, DUKE — fifth Duke of Corwyn, a comrade of Kings Nygel, Jasher, and Cluim; father of Stíofan Anthony.
*JESSAMY FERCH LEWYS MACATHAN, LADY — deceased daughter of Lewys ap Norfal and wife of Sir Sief MacAthan, all of them Deryni; mother of the murdered Krispin MacAthan by Donal Haldane.
JIRI REDFEARN, SIR — an aide to King Donal.
JORIS TALBOT, SIR — eldest son of Sir Lucien Talbot, royal governor of Meara at Ratharkin.
JOVETT CHANDOS, SIR — childhood friend of Alyce de Corwyn, secretly Deryni; close friend of Sir Sé Trelawney; marries Lady Zoë Morgan.
JUDIANA, MOTHER — see Iris Judiana, Mother.
JULIAN TALBOT, SIR — second son of Sir Lucien Talbot, royal governor of Meara at Ratharkin.
KAILAN PETER CHANDOS, MASTER — infant son of Zoë Morgan and Sir Jovett Chandos.
KÁROLY FURSTÁN, PRINCE — third son of King Nimur of Torenth; later, Crown Prince.
KENNETH KAI MORGAN, SIR — an aide to King Donal; husband of Lady Alyce de Corwyn, father of Alaric and Bronwyn, plus Zoë and two more daughters by a first marriage; created Earl of Lendour for life, in right of his wife.
*KERYELL OF LENDOUR, EARL — Deryni Earl of Lendour and husband of Stevana de Corwyn, Heiress of Corwyn; father of Alyce and Vera.
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