by Dave Duncan
He nodded and she turned her face away.
Releasing his mother's arm, Aeled produced a
ring and held it up. The setting was gold. The
incandescent stone was a ruby the size of a plump
raspberry. "I offer you this for a betrothal gift,
my lady."
Charlotte spoke for the first time since she entered
the hall. "And where did you steal that from, pirate?
Was it you who raped Ambleport last spring?"
Her show of fire summoned back
Aeled's widest grin. "It was, my lady.
But the ring has been in my family longer than this
house has been in yours, I suspect."
Lord Candlefen's face, always florid, was
dangerously inflamed. He had trouble speaking,
gasping for breath. "This is outrageous! You force
your way into our house to abduct my daughter?"
"I would marry your daughter. There's a
difference. I abduct people all the time."
"What choice does she have?"
"What choice did she have before? Why did you not
defend her then?" Aeled's quiet questions silenced
the peer. "Recorder, come here."
Gerard moved closer. Charlotte was not looking
at him now. He started to whisper, "You can
trust--"
"Perform the marriage!" Aeled snapped.
"Yes, ealdor. Your Majesty, Your
Royal Highness, Your High--"
"I will have no part of this rape!" Ambrose
roared from his cage.
Gerard ignored him and completed listing the
witnesses. "Repeat after me: I, Aeled
Fyrlafing, Earl of Catterstow, of the House and
Line of Catter, take this woman, Charlotte
Rose ..."
Aeled repeated the words in a voice that rang
from the hammer beams.
Now Gerard had to look her in the eye again.
Now was heartbreak time. Now he must bind the
woman he loved to the lord he had chosen to serve.
She was biting her lip, staring at the floor,
fighting back tears. "Repeat after me: I,
Charlotte Rose ..."
Silence.
Whispers in the audience ...
"The record can show," Aeled said softly, "that
the groom claimed his bride by right of conquest.
If that is what she prefers."
Still no reaction.
Into the silence crept the words of Queen
Maud, so gentle that only those very close could
hear. "I had even less choice than this, my
dear. I was carried off by force, just like those young people from
Ambleport. I was fortunate in that their leader
took me for his own and did not have me enthralled.
But I was his slave. I had no choice, neither in
bed nor anywhere else. I bore him a son before
he acknowledged that he loved me and made me his
wife. I gave him other children after that,
although only Aeled survived. I came to love
him dearly, for he was a noble man within the limits
of his breeding. I warn you that Aeled is sawn from
the same timber as his father and will let nothing
deflect him once he has set a course.
He will carry you out of here over his shoulder,
screaming and weeping, if you choose that way. But
he is offering you the choice of accepting the
inevitable with grace and maintaining your dignity.
It is no victory, but it may soften the
bitterness of defeat. And he will be beholden to you.
That is important, for he learned from his father
to pay his debts."
Charlotte glared at the older woman for a
moment, then at Gerard ... at the armed brigands
that had violated her ancestral home ... and
finally she looked Aeled over as if she had not
really seen him before.
"Beholden?" she whispered.
He nodded. "Very much so, my lady. Grant
me this and you can demand almost anything of me for
evermore."
Even softer: "King?"
"I will win the crown of Baelmark or die in
the attempt. If I fail, you will be sent
home. If I succeed, you will rule at my
side as my queen."
She drew a deep breath and then looked
to Gerard again. "Start over."
"Repeat after me: I, Charlotte Rose
..."
She raised her voice, high and clear, almost
as loud as Aeled's had been. "I, Charlotte
Rose ..."
The audience gasped.
"... do solemnly and most willingly swear
..."
"... do solemnly and most willingly swear
..."
She did not hesitate once.
"Then I declare you man and wife under the laws of
Chivial," he said.
Slops!
It was not legal. Even without her need for
royal permission, a sword-point wedding could
never be legal. He did not bother asking for
signatures on the certificate, knowing that
Ambrose would refuse and no one else would then
dare to comply.
Aeled was beaming. "Also under the laws
of Baelmark, as my werod is witness.
Thegns, hail Lady Charlotte of
Catterstow!" The Baels roared approval,
beating swords on shields, setting up a
reverberating racket. "Thus the betrothal."
He placed the great ring on her hand. "And the wedding
gift." From his sleeve he produced a shimmering
string of rubies and set them around her slender
white neck. "And the kiss."
She did not refuse him. Nor did she
seem to encourage him, but when he released her he
looked wondrous pleased. "You honor me
greatly, my lady."
Without a word, Charlotte turned to his mother and the
two women embraced. It was magnificent.
Even Aeled seemed impressed. He drew a
long breath and looked around the hall as if
wondering whether so great a triumph could be real.
"Wife, we must leave quickly, for every minute
we delay increases the chances of bloodshed. Your
family may follow us to the ships to make their
farewells there if they wish. I give you my word
they will not be harmed or restrained. If you have
ladies or attendants who will risk this journey
with you, I give them safe conduct on my honor
as a thegn and swear that you will have means to reward them
richly and send them safely home." He raised
his voice to fill the hall. "When my men leave,
they will take hostages, but they will be released
unhurt when our ships cast off. Only my
wife will be taken aboard, unless any of you wish
to accompany her, in which case I promise you
safe return. I admit that the rest of you will be
asked to make donations to a wedding gift, but I
rely on your natural generosity to avert any
unpleasantness."
He paused to look over at the Crown
Prince raging impotently behind his shield of
equally furious Blades, and all his teeth showed
in a grin. Gerard guessed what was coming and thought,
Don't do it, Aeled!
Aeled did do it. It was out of character for him to be
victory on a scale few men would achieve
even once in their lives, and he could not resist the
chance to gloat. If he forgot the she-wolf once
that day, it was then.
"Cousin? You don't mind if I call you that
now, do you, Cousin? Now we're related? We
were born in the same week, did you know?
Some boys grow up faster than others, of
course. Dear Ambrose, my wife and I will
be delighted to entertain you if you wish to come and
visit us. But do let us know in advance, won't
you? Our coasts are well defended."
"I will come!" Ambrose roared. "I will bring
a fleet and burn out your nest, pirate. And you
I will hang from the highest branch in Baelmark!"
Aeled bowed. "Words are for braggarts.
Princes should be men of deeds. Fare thee well,
Cousin. I like your Blades. They're very
pretty."
He offered his arm. Charlotte took it, and again
the hall gasped in disbelief. Smiling, he
steered her toward the main door, walking within a
double line of thegns. Gerard, following, found himself
escorting Queen Maud. Studying her
profile, he saw no resemblance to Aeled in
it. Hard years and many troubles had engraved deep
lines, but they gave her face such character that he
longed to sketch it.
"That is no easy voyage, mistress," he
said as they left the hall. "Your presence here
does you great honor."
She glanced at him and then away. "No one
comes out of this affair with honor. The girl
displayed incredible courage while being publicly
raped, that is all."
As they passed through the outer door, nervous
footmen fell into place alongside to hold
umbrellas over them, being encouraged to do so
by Baelish swords. Aeled and his bride were
leading the procession along the terrace path,
Charlotte now swathed in a hooded,
floor-length robe that looked as if it might be
ermine, in which case its value was incalculable.
"Lady Charlotte could find no better
husband than your son."
"You think so?" Maud said. "He treats
women like livestock and men like tools. So did his
father. I do not find this behavior admirable. It
is to my shame that I did not manage to talk him
out of this plan or bring him up to know better."
Two dead Blades lay in full view on
the lawn, but marks on the grass showed where other
bodies had been dragged away, more than two.
Already the rain had faded the bloodstains.
Gerard protested. "She detested the thought of
being married to that ancient, slimy Duke!"
"There is shame enough for your King to share,
yes. My son behaved like a brute today, but what
about you, Master Gerard? You tell a woman you
love her and then you sell her?"
They rounded the rose garden hedge and saw the
fleet ahead, eight long vessels tied up at
the bank of the Wartle. Dragon ships seemed a
nightmare delusion in the peaceful heart of
Chivial.
"Never! I did what I did for her
happiness! She had been given no choice before.
I found a better man for her, that's all."
"What right had you to make that choice? Why did
you not let her decide? Yes, you could! You could have
told her this morning what was going to happen. Then
she could have fled or stayed, whichever she wanted.
She could have been waiting at the river mouth when the
ships arrived--but that wouldn't have worked, would it? That
would not have provided the drama, the romance of the
handsome pirate chief arriving in the nick of time
to steal the royal maiden from the lecherous old
aristocrat under the very nose of the Crown Prince.
Oh, no! Think not that you did this for Charlotte.
You wanted to be the little gray spider. Your
ambitions do you no credit."
Unfair! "He is a third the age of that
old degenerate. He offers a greater title,
probably more wealth. Charlotte will learn to be
happy with him, just as you learned to love his father. I
found her a better future." Now that the tension was
over he was starting to shake, but his own future
seemed most wonderfully bright, too.
"Of course we foolish women will love whoever
warms our beds, won't we?" said Queen
Maud. "No brains required as long as you have
a pintel. I have heard blind people laugh. Even the
maimed can learn to be happy again. But Charlotte
might have been happier in a bed of her own
choosing, Master Gerard. Nothing can excuse what
you have done. Fortunately, I see no profit in
it for you."
The procession had reached Groeggos, whose
gangplank had demolished a fine rosebush.
Charlotte stopped and turned to look back.
"I fear that your family has chosen not to come and
see you off, mistress," Aeled said.
"Did you ever think they would?"
He shook his head, studying her face with
wonder. "Not really. And thus I am even more
grateful to you for your acceptance. Your courage
astounds me. I swear again that I will
strive evermore to be worthy of your love, my
lady."
She was recovering her color, unless that was
only the chill wind burnishing her cheeks, or the
contrast of the snowy fur framing her face. The
robe was indeed ermine. "Beholden? Is that the word
you used, my husband?"
Aeled smiled. "Ask for anything in the world and
it is yours, mistress."
"Divorce?"
"Anything except that!"
"I shall remind you of this vow in future, perhaps
often."
He laughed. "You will never find the need." Then
the atheling's green eyes turned on Gerard and their
merriment chilled into cold appraisal of
unfinished business. "What of that one, wife?
He is a friend of yours? A close friend? I am
thinking that his friendship is strange."
"Too strange for the name!" Charlotte said
quickly. "You wound me by suggesting it. The man
deceives himself. He is a flunky, a lowly
scribbler who mistook courtesy for affection and
could not be misappraised of his error. My lord
husband, I swear to you that I never gave him the
slightest encouragement."
"Then you do not wish to take him with us?"
"I should much prefer never to set eyes on him
again. Is he not in your pay?"
Aeled's smile was back manyfold. "I
promised him nothing. He owed me wergild for a
thegn he slew, but he has requited his debt and
now we are quits."
Horror and disbelief had kept Gerard
paralyzed through this exchange. Now he lurched
forward. "No! You said I would be your wita. You
are a giver of treasure!"
Aeled shoved him so his feet slipped away and
&nb
sp; he crashed on his back in the mud. The pirate
looked down with contempt. "I never promised
to take you as my man. You are already traitor
to one king, so how could I ever trust you? Your life
was forfeit in Ambleport. You have won it back, so
begone and be grateful." He looked around.
"Osric, keep watch that this Chivian does not
board. By your leave, my lady ..."
Effortlessly, he scooped Charlotte into his
arms.
She smiled at him for the first time. "You are very
strong, my lord."
"You are very fair, my lady." He carried
her up the plank.
RADGAR
IV
"How I Got Here?" Raider said
thoughtfully.
"I suppose the greatest blame should be laid
on Gerard of Waygarth. A nice enough young man,
I understand, yet sadly misguided. He was of
no real importance in himself, but back in 337,
during your father's--"
"Never mind him! You need not go that far back."
Wasp felt peeved. Why would the King not let
Raider tell the whole story? What could have
happened twenty years ago that he still wanted
kept secret?
"I was merely going to explain how I caused
the war--"
Raider was interrupted by a tap on the door.
Commander Montpurse took delivery of a pitcher
of water and another receptacle that led to some
embarrassing moments. When that one had been
removed and both Wasp and Raider had enjoyed a
drink from the other, Raider began his tale.
"The witenagemot is like your Privy
Council, sire, in that the witan are the king's
advisors, appointed by him. But it is also like your
House of Lords, a formal summoning of all the
earls. The earls are the only ones who vote and the
only vote that ever matters, or is binding on the
king, comes when one of them issues a challenge.
If the others support him, the king must
abdicate or fight. If he wins the vote,
then woe to the upstart!
"My father's exploit in carrying off Your
Majesty's cousin from Candlefen was hailed throughout
the land as the finest foering in generations, full
worthy of a Cattering, but it did not
automatically make him king. Far from it! First of
all, many of the earls had unpleasant memories
of the strong rule Catterings had imposed in the
past and preferred the looser hands of a Nyrping
monarch. Second, it is almost impossible for the
witenagemot to assemble without the king's summons.
King Ufegeat was in no hurry."
