The Princess & the Gargoyle

by Mireille Pavane

  A party of knights led by Sir Liam and Sir Edmund discreetly left Trasimene for the Black Mountain.

  Since Princess Beatrice had promised her father that she would not leave with the rescue party, she turned her attention to the matter of the kingdom’s defences.

  Under the guise of observing mourning for her sister—and, later, accompanied by the Ladies Megan, Sophia and Lucy of the royal guard ostensibly as her ladies-in-waiting—the princess rode out to clandestinely survey the military preparations and encampments of Prince Xavier’s troops and to visit, in disguise, the regions outside of the capital to see with her own eyes what was happening throughout the kingdom. Her secret reconnaissance was often followed by a stroll in the linden grove of the late Princess Alexandra’s favourite garden.

  The royal household enjoyed an unexpected respite from the upsets caused to its routine by Princess Beatrice, but Lady Sarah and Lady Gersilde had cause to lament that the princess was now always with her head in some military book or map in the royal library, or hobnobbing with the privy counsellors and Exchequer, or off on some jaunt with her knights in tow, and never to be found in her proper royal duties or adhering to protocol as she ought.

  ‘Was Beatrice late again in sitting for her portrait?’ asked King Theobald.

  ‘Not late, your Majesty,’ said Lady Sarah. ‘The court painter sent by Prince Xavier complains that he has never seen the princess’ royal person.’

  The return of Princess Beatrice seemed to usher in a change of fortune for the kingdom of Trasimene. The people grew less fearful of the threat from the Black Mountain when they saw the succour given to the hurt and injured and downtrodden, and the industry of the king’s men in guarding the lands and repairing and securing the damaged roads and crops and homes from future attacks, and their faith began to grow in the unfailing arrival of the princess and her knights to repel the incursions of the beasts from the Black Mountain and occasionally, it was rumoured, from the soldiers of Ossaia.

  ‘You overburden yourself, Beatrice,’ said the king.

  ‘The winged beasts keep returning, father, and there is never enough men or food or gold or time to set against them,’ said Princess Beatrice. ‘I must try to make do with what we have. Trasimene must not be weakened or risk losing the war through battle or attrition.’

  In the privacy of her chamber, the princess stared at the jewel, resting now in a setting shaped like a golden gargoyle’s claw made by the royal goldsmith, Master Peter, hanging on her necklace next to the crystal vial.

  The jewel stared back, clear and unblinkingly silent.

  There were no tidings of the beast or of the party sent out to his rescue.

  A year passed, and then another.

  The frequency of the Black Mountain kingdom’s forays into Trasimene waxed and waned, their intensity blunted by the defences set up under instructions, openly or in secret, from Princess Beatrice.

  ‘It would appear that her Highness Princess Beatrice and the knights of Trasimene hoard all the victories and honour and glory to themselves,’ said Prince Xavier. ‘My men grow restive and rusty from inactivity.’

  ‘We all hope for and look forward to the day when we can proclaim peace in the land,’ said King Theobald.

  ‘Indeed, your Majesty,’ said Prince Xavier.

  A messenger came hastily before the council of war.

  ‘Sir Gustav sends a request for urgent reinforcements, your Majesty,’ said the messenger.

  ‘Tell us at once what has transpired,’ ordered the king.

  Princess Beatrice and Sir Gustav and their knights were returning to the capital on the way back from rescuing a village from an attack by the beasts of the Black Mountain. They had evacuated the village after sundown and were escorting the villagers to a safer location when they were beset by another legion of winged beasts during the night. The princess sent Sir Gustav and half of the knights on ahead to take the villagers to a nearby fort while she and the remaining half of the knights stayed back to hold off the winged beasts.

  ‘I will ride out at once with my men to answer the request,’ said Prince Xavier.

  When Prince Xavier returned, greatly chagrined, to the capital of Trasimene with the rescued villagers and their knightly escort but without Princess Beatrice, a chill ran through the kingdom.

  ‘For several hours the fighting went on,’ said Sir Phillip, who was among the knights who remained with the princess to hold off the winged beasts on the journey from the village. ‘Everywhere a desperate struggle was kept up but it raged most intensely around the princess who was the object of the winged beasts’ fiercest attacks. The princess sent four of her royal guard away from the battle with urgent instructions. When it appeared that the numbers of the winged beasts were dwindling, along with our own not long before dawn, Princess Beatrice ordered a rapid retreat in the direction of a small wood that stood before the ridge of a hill. The princess stopped before the wood and sent the rest of our company of knights over the hill to join Sir Gustav at the fort with instructions to defend it and to seek for reinforcements from the capital. As we passed over the hill, we saw the four royal guards riding and dragging branches and logs about the ground and causing a monstrous dust storm. Only Lady Lucy of the royal guard remained with the princess on the other side of the hill. That was the last that we saw of Princess Beatrice.’

  King Theobald ordered more search parties to be sent out to scour the land for his daughter.

  One day later, Sir Hugo brought a message to the king from the Mother Superior of the abbey of Ermengard.

  ‘The Reverend Mother requests the royal apothecary to attend upon a patient brought to the abbey?’ asked the king.

  ‘It is a matter of the utmost secrecy, your Majesty,’ said Sir Hugo.

  Perplexed, the king followed Sir Hugo and Prospero to the infirmary of the abbey of Ermengard.

  Sir Hugo’s niece, Lady Lucy of the princess’ royal guard, was in the infirmary with the injured patient, Sir Liam.

  ‘I am charged with bearing a message to your Majesty from your daughter, Princess Beatrice. Her Highness the princess sends her apologies for her delayed return to the capital,’ said Lady Lucy.

  King Theobald sank heavily into a nearby chair.

  ‘Explain, please,’ said the king.

  When Princess Beatrice and her knights had arrived at the wood, she sent the knights on to warn Sir Gustav at the fort and to seek reinforcements, assuring them that she and Lady Lucy would remain to hold their ground so that the winged beasts would not pass the wood. The wood stood on a gentle incline up a hillside. The princess had earlier sent Sirs David and Thomas and the Ladies Megan and Sophia just over the ridge of the hill to ride and rattle and drag tree trunks and branches about the ground and kick up a dust storm that would rise into the sky and be visible above the canopy of the wood and appear to be the evidence of a huge restless army hiding in reserve behind the ridge of the hill. The dark sky behind the wood indeed seemed to be alive and rumbling with agitated dust and activity. The princess and Lady Lucy took up their places in front of the wood, waiting for the winged beasts to arrive.

  ‘Dear heavens,’ said the king.

  When the winged beasts caught up to the wood and saw only the princess and Lady Lucy on horseback and the cloud of agitated dust rising from behind the hill, they hesitated to attack. Princess Beatrice had earned something of a reputation for tricks of military stratagem and surprise ambushes.

  The winged beasts were wary that this was another trap and since they could not see through the wood or beyond the ridge of the hill, they did not dare move forward to strike. The princess urged her horse ahead a step and told the winged beasts to come forward to meet her or begone.

  ‘Dear heavens,’ repeated the king.

  The princess had known that it was a desperate ruse, easily discoverable, and that the winged beasts outnumbered them, but she had been counting on the sun to shortly rise. And so it did, moments later, in glorious bright rays sp
reading over the hill, catching the winged beasts by surprise and turning them to stone.

  The king wiped his forehead.

  ‘And where is my daughter now?’ asked the king.

  When the sun rose and the winged beasts had turned to stone, a bearded man stumbled out of the wood before Princess Beatrice and Lady Lucy. The man struggled to bow to the princess but fell to the ground. The princess and Lady Lucy hastened to give him water. The man’s clothes were in rags, dirty, and stained with dried blood. His hair and beard were long and tangled. He appeared haggard and ill, and his body was covered with wounds, but they recognised the knight, Sir Liam. After Sir Liam had revived, he told the princess and Lady Lucy of how he came to be hiding in the wood.

  The expedition to the Black Mountain to rescue the gargoyle had been ambushed at the foot of the mountain. All the knights had been killed during the ambush or captured and tortured to death when they could not reveal where the magical jewel was. Sir Liam had been led on his way to the torture chambers when a melee broke out. It appeared to be some sort of rebellion. Sir Liam was dragged back and forth in the crush of the fighting until something clutched the chain mail on his back and lifted him into the air and flew with him up towards the watch towers of the city of stone and out of the balconies hewn out of the mountainside and into the night air. Just as they were clearing the side of the mountain, something hit the creature that was bearing Sir Liam and he was suddenly dropped from the sky. Sir Liam fell into the dense canopy of a tree whose branches scratched and clawed but ultimately broke and pillowed his fall. Sir Liam climbed out of the tree, took off his chain mail so he could blend in more readily with the forest vegetation, and attempted to navigate his way towards Trasimene. He eventually came to a village whose residents gave him food and aid, but the village was raided by Ossaian soldiers and Sir Liam, unrecognisable as one of the princess’ knights, was taken prisoner along with the rest of the villagers. For two years, he was kept in slavery until he escaped and again attempted to make his way to Trasimene. He had made camp in the wood one night when he was awoken by the sound of many thundering hooves and a great ruckus being made over the hillside. Sir Liam stayed hidden until sunrise for there was the danger of meeting winged beasts during the hours of darkness. When he emerged from the wood, he saw the princess and Lady Lucy standing before a gathering of winged beasts frozen into stone.

  Princess Beatrice had been distressed by the story and angered by the news that Ossaia was still plaguing villages and practising slavery—that the measures undertaken and treaties made since the princess’ return to Trasimene had been ineffective—Ossaia had simply continued the practice, taking more care to evade discovery, dealing ruthlessly with anyone who would report the offences, and removing evidence and witnesses before word of it reached the ears of King Theobald and the wider population of Trasimene.

  Princess Beatrice tasked Sirs David and Thomas and Lady Lucy to go to the fort to make sure that the villagers were safe, and to obtain help for Sir Liam’s injuries which a drop from the princess’ crystal vial could not fully heal, and to bear report to King Theobald. Then the princess, accompanied by the Ladies Megan and Sophia, rode away, in the direction given by Sir Liam towards the border between the kingdoms of Trasimene and Ossaia, to investigate the atrocities Ossaia was still covertly perpetuating.

  ‘Why have we had no news of this from Prince Xavier? Did you meet with his company of reinforcements at the fort, Lady Lucy?’ said the king.

  ‘Reinforcements, your Majesty?’ said Lady Lucy. ‘We were obliged to leave Sir Liam in the wood with Sir David because Sir Liam was too weak to ride. When Sir Thomas and I arrived at the fort, Sir Gustav was there, keeping watch. Sir Gustav had sent the other knights on to escort the villagers to the capital with the additional protection provided by Prince Xavier’s men but had insisted on remaining behind himself, close at hand, to wait on the princess should she arrive and require assistance. Sir Gustav said that he had given Prince Xavier an account of the night’s events and directions to the wood. Sir Thomas remained with Sir Gustav at the fort to wait for the princess. I returned to join Sirs David and Liam in the wood with a fresh horse and supplies for Sir Liam, and the three of us travelled back to the capital. None of us have seen Prince Xavier’s men since the night the winged beasts attacked, your Majesty.’

  King Theobald rose to his feet, red with anger.

  ‘He dares to be so bold in his lies and treachery!’ said the king.

  Sir Hugo moved to calm the king.

  ‘Please, I beg your Majesty to veil your rage and be patient,’ said Sir Hugo. ‘Sir David is bearing instructions from the princess to the generals. There are arrangements in place, your Majesty, similar to the contingent defensive measures established by the late Princess Cristabel. But they must remain secret until everything is in readiness. There are still many Ossaian soldiers encamped across the kingdom. Princess Beatrice has been insistent upon secrecy to ensure that the exposed and vulnerable villages are not endangered when our plans are revealed.’

  ‘Very well,’ said the king. ‘It will not be easy keeping it a secret from Prince Xavier.’

  When King Theobald returned to the royal court, Prince Xavier came forward and bowed.

  ‘I have received tidings that the winged beasts from the Black Mountain have taken Princess Beatrice and is holding her for ransom,’ said the prince. ‘They demand the magical jewel in exchange for the princess’ life.’

  ‘How came you by these tidings?’ asked the king.

  ‘My men captured one of those vile monsters,’ said the prince. ‘The rack loosened its tongue.’

  ‘I wish to speak to this beast,’ said the king.

  ‘The monster is dead, your Majesty,’ said the prince.

  ‘You tortured, then killed the prisoner?’ said the king.

  ‘I slayed the villain before he could utter more insults to the princess,’ said Prince Xavier. ‘I would do it again to defend her honour.’

  Before the king could reply, the trumpeter announced a late arrival to the royal court.

  Princess Beatrice hurried in and went to kiss the king.

  ‘I am terribly sorry I am late, father. My horse threw a shoe and I was obliged to stop by a village to find a farrier,’ said the princess.

  ‘Beatrice,’ said the king, embracing his daughter.

  ‘It is a miracle that Princess Beatrice is returned safe and well, your Majesty,’ said Prince Xavier. ‘We must take care that she remains so given the threat issued by the kingdom of the Black Mountain.’

  ‘What threat?’ said the princess.

  ‘The beasts of the Black Mountain believe you possess the magical jewel that was stolen from their kingdom,’ said the prince.

  ‘I see,’ said the princess.

  ‘They say that you are responsible for the death of their prince,’ said Prince Xavier.

  ‘Many things have been said about me, but that does not mean that they are true,’ said the princess.

  ‘Is some part of it true? Do you, in fact, have the jewel?’ asked the prince.

  ‘Not quite,’ said the princess. ‘The oracle appeared before me and revealed the jewel’s whereabouts. I was told that it must remain a secret.’

  ‘Then that is even greater reason for Princess Beatrice’s safety to be of utmost concern to the kingdom,’ said the prince.

  ‘I will not be coddled and confined,’ said the princess.

  Prince Xavier’s concern for Princess Beatrice’s safety intruded upon the princess, bringing her great vexation and inconvenience. Each time the princess tried to throw off the restrictions on her activities, Prince Xavier would protest the dangers of leaving the capital, and sure enough, reports of scouting parties of winged beasts searching the land would follow soon thereafter which proved the foresight of the prince’s words.

  Nothing the prince said or did, however, could curtail the princess’ determination for slipping away to the abbey on the edge of the dark forest wh
en the attention shifted momentarily away from her, or leading a sortie of knights out to repel the continuing attacks of the winged beasts on the kingdom of Trasimene.

  Prince Xavier grew desperate. It appeared that the many victories of Trasimene had exhausted the patience of the winged beasts of the Black Mountain and, according to the prince. the beasts had turned their attention to fervently attacking Ossaia.

  ‘My subjects call for me to wed, and to join our kingdoms in strength and solidarity against the Black Mountain, your Majesty,’ said Prince Xavier. ‘Princess Beatrice would make a fine queen.’

  ‘Prince Xavier wishes to pay court to you, Beatrice,’ said King Theobald.

  ‘Oh,’ said Princess Beatrice.

  ‘I will tell the prince his suit is declined,’ said the king.

  ‘If the prince has asked for my hand, he may have it,’ said Princess Beatrice.

  ‘Beatrice,’ said the king.

  ‘If the prince plots mischief, then it is necessary, father,’ said Princess Beatrice. ‘And I will do my duty.’

  News of the royal betrothal of Princess Beatrice of Trasimene to Crown Prince Xavier of Ossaia was announced to much astonishment.

  The royal household continued to enjoy the respite from the upsets stirred up by Princess Beatrice, despite the preparations for the betrothal celebrations, for being betrothed to the prince did not dampen the princess’ characteristic waywardness or prevent her from joining the knights in riding into battle.

  ‘Beatrice, you have finally made a conquest of Lady Sarah,’ said King Theobald.

  Lady Sarah blamed Prince Xavier for the deaths of the Princesses Alexandra and Cristabel, the king told Princess Beatrice. She was so aggrieved by the prince asking for Princess Beatrice’s hand, compounding the loss of the two princesses, that, lacking a proper outlet for her grief and ire, Lady Sarah told the royal chef to exchange salt for the sugar, and sugar for the salt, in the meals prepared for Prince Xavier for an entire sennight before the prince began to seek for a royal chef of his own.

  ‘Lady Sarah did that?’ said Princess Beatrice in wonder.