“Maya?” I gasped incredulously, torn between the joy of seeing her face and the heartbreak I was expecting. Uttering a small cry, she raced over and leaped on me, straddling my lap. Face-to-face we stared into each other’s eyes for some very long moments. Then she took my hand, guiding it through the unbuttoned folds in her uniform until my palm was resting on her bare chest.
“Do you feel my heart beating?” She inhaled deeply and leaned her forehead on mine. “Know this; the heart you feel is forever yours, Alex Martin, and only yours. I am so sorry if I’ve hurt you.” I drank in her closeness like a draught of the water of life, still unbelieving.
“But you’re a Queen! And Winya said there’s a King now…so…?”
She silenced me with a quick kiss. “My parents, Faeron and Renalla, are alive. They are the King and Queen! Can you forgive me this one last little deception at your expense?”
I nuzzled her gently and whispered, “Right now I could forgive the loss of an arm or a leg; anything, as long as it wasn’t my lips.” And I crushed her to me in a warm frantic embrace that lasted a very long time. Finally, we came up for air, and my dark elf growled lustily, nipped my ear and slid off my lap, pulling me to my feet with a brilliant smile.
“What was that,” I chuckled, “the Jag’uri Puma coming out?”
Maya blushed. “Oh, you know about my spirit animal now, do you? Yes, she’s been making her wishes known a lot more forcefully as of late.”
“Her wishes?”
“Yes, she grows impatient to claim her mate!” She took my hand and pretended to bite it. “Who knows what damage she’ll cause if we don’t find a way to appease her soon.”
I’m pretty sure my face heated up perceptively, because Maya reached up and ran her hands lovingly down both sides of my face and they felt like velvet ice. “I longed for this every day we were apart,” she whispered brightly, her eyes shining with relief. Together, and I mean really together, we walked over to the horses. She calmly stroked Kaima’s back and looked at me, tilting her head.
“Hey, I never found out what your spirit animal is, Magic Boy.”
“Well, it’s a Vakha Stallion.”
“That figures,” Maya quipped matter-of-factly. “Big, stubborn and clueless!” Kaima snorted humorously and bobbed her head up and down. Our laughter was interrupted by the arrival of a very confused but happy pixie. We explained it all to her as we walked hand-in-hand, leading our horses down the hill to the dark elf capital.
The front gate opened right up for us and I was half expecting to find that annoying guard who was so kind to see me off last time. Instead, there was a full squad of guards in heavy armor waiting for us, all led by Ollis.
“Good to see you again, Prince Alex; I hope your trip was fruitful.”
“It was, Ollis; thank you for asking.”
He turned to Maya. “We have kept our side of the agreement, my Lady, will you keep yours?” The man actually looked nervous for asking this.
She nodded. “Yes, Captain, I will not resist.”
“Very well, then. Men, take the Princess into custody.” Three guards came forward to cautiously snap binding irons on her wrists.
“Custody? What for?” I demanded, in no mood for more heartache.
Maya smiled serenely. “Alex, please be calm; this is a good thing, and the only way I will be able to stay with you. Do not fight this; I will be back soon, my love.” She rose up on tip toes and kissed me once more before the guards escorted her away, leaving just Ollis.
“Alex, I’m sorry about this, I really am; but I need you to follow me, as well.”
“What’s going on, Ollis?”
“The King has decided you need to be present for the trial. We should hurry, though; it will start the second they arrive. I’ll have someone take the horses.”
Drawing my tower shield off its tethers to Somnus and loosening my war hammer, I once again reluctantly found myself following someone going somewhere that I really didn’t want to go. But I had just gotten Maya back and, dammit, I wasn’t going to lose her now. If that meant I had to sit though a stupid trial–or level the town–to do so, then so be it.
Ollis led me a few blocks in a direction I hadn’t travelled yet in the city and, finally, through an archway and up flights of stairs to some sort of viewing platform. We were in an outdoor arena area that looked like it was probably used for trials of horsemanship or mock battles. Its bottom had a sand floor surrounded by a six-foot wooden fence. There were a number of stout foot-thick pells in the middle of the arena in two rows. The stands above the arena walls were completely packed with townspeople. Below me on the arena floor stood Maya, now in a long formal white dress, her hands still shackled, with three elf guards standing behind her. Oddly, she had a big smile on her face as if she were receiving some kind of a reward instead of a trial. Slightly above where I was standing, sat Faeron and Renalla in a formal box. Behind them loitered a large number of dark elves in formal robes whom I didn’t recognize.
Faeron had already started his speech, and I think we missed most of the introductions from the sound of it; but he was just getting to the meat of it, apparently.
“Crown Princess Maya Talmin, daughter of King Faeron and Queen Renalla Talmin, you have been charged with the high crime of illegal assumption of the right of rule from your liege. How do you plead?”
“Very much guilty as charged, my King,” Maya’s voice rang out clearly to the crowd.
“Very well, by your own admission of guilt, I will hand down the sentence. Normally in these matters, this is an automatic and immediate sentence of death!”
What the…? I couldn’t help myself, I tensed up and my hand automatically started for my hammer, but Ollis gently grabbed my arm and shook his head, and I saw Maya still smiling brightly in the arena below.
Faeron continued, “However, in this instance, it appears there are extenuating circumstances that warrant the crown’s mercy. Those being that the prisoner did not seek the crown for personal gain; and by all accounts, it was believed that she was required to assume the throne. Additionally, the prisoner did, in fact, personally lead the rescue party that restored the crown to the proper King and Queen.” He paused for effect. “However, this is still a serious offense; therefore, punishment must be meted out. By the decision of the ruling counsel, I hereby strip you of the title of Crown Princess, and revoke any and all claim on future rule of our people.”
I heard a number of surprised gasps from the crowd, and immediate murmurs and whispering, with most of them leaning toward this being a horrendous punishment. I would think it was still much better than death, but then I’m not a dark elf. Maya, on the other hand, just beamed more brightly and looked over at me and nodded. I leaned over to Ollis and asked him what was going on.
He rubbed his grizzled chin and leaned back to whisper, “Alex, the short version is that it is a capital crime to accept the crown before the previous ruler is known to be dead or the crown passed down normally. In this case, they were assumed dead, even by the council, so Maya wasn’t at fault. But we’ve never had a case like this come up before; usually it’s the heir plotting a coup and it’s a pretty cut and dried case. To be honest, the council has been pulling out their hair and burning up the law books trying to figure out what to do. Plus, it is recognized that any punishment too severe will likely sour relations with Sky Raven forever. And don’t think that people didn’t take note of what you did for us to help break the siege. People are still talking about the fire tornado and that stone monster.”
The King continued to speak, “You are relieved of all rank in the dark elf community; however, I am ordering that you will retain your citizenship and, of course, all family ties remain unaffected.” The crowd was pretty subdued throughout this entire event so far, but I could see they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, so-to-speak. “Speaking of family ties, I would like to take care of a bit of business since we are all gathered in this public forum. Sir Alex, are you pres
ent?”
“Here, my King,” Ollis shouted.
“Ah, there you are. If you wouldn’t mind stepping into the ring with my daughter.” If a King tells you to get into an arena with your lover, I guess you do it; so I walked over to the rail and vaulted it, easily jumping down into the arena. I didn’t bother to lighten the weight of my armor at all because I was still annoyed at this entire charade. The impact of my weight shook the place pretty good, and people looked at each other in consternation. I took my place by Maya’s side; and suddenly, without anyone touching them, the shackles that bound her dropped to the ground with a rattle of chains that made everyone in the arena draw in a breath. The forged metal became liquid, pooled, and then reformed into a metallic-hooded snake that lifted its head to the crowd, its eyes glittering like mirrors. The three guards who were supposed to be detaining her backed up slowly, the whites of their eyes showing their unease. Finally, I allowed the metal construct a last menacing hiss before it soaked harmlessly into the sand.
Faeron sighed, “Alex, next time, please uses the stairs. Herald, if you please…”
A brightly dressed, dark elf female strode forward and placed herself in the middle of the arena, calling out in a loud melodious voice, “Presenting Sir Alex Martin, Enchanter Wizard, Prince of the Nova, and Ruler of Sky Raven Fortress!”
Completing her introduction, she spun formally on her heel and left the ring in a big hurry, her eyes nervously scanning the sand floor. Maya reached over and grasped my hand with a smile, and Nia, who had been loitering on the outskirts of the crowd in case things got ugly, flew over and landed in her usual place on my shoulder.
Faeron continued, “Sir Alex, here, has decided to seek my permission to court my daughter, and he has passed all tests with top marks. Now, before I declare my approval, is there anyone who would like to challenge him in combat for her hand? Oh, by the way, before anyone steps forward, I would like to mention that Maya has also vowed never to marry anyone who cannot first defeat her in battle. So, any takers?”
I unsheathed my war hammer and slammed it hard against my shield boss as I spun slowly, searching the crowd for an opponent. The sound reverberated throughout the arena, and by the time it had stopped echoing, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop anywhere in the place. Even the women and children froze in place.
The King smiled, “I will take that as a no, so I hereby give Sir Alex permission…” Renalla grabbed her husband’s arm and was whispering urgently in his ear. His eyes widened at what she was saying, but he maintained a genial smile throughout. “Never mind, I take back what I said. As of right now, I hereby order you, Sir Alex, to marry my daughter under penalty of extremely pissed off parents-in-law. Do we understand each other?”
“Perfectly, Sir!”
“Excellent! Then we will be expecting wedding invitations soon.”
Maya wrapped her arms around me again and kissed me right in front of the entire crowd. Amazingly, the crowd roared its approval as I quickly slung my shield and hammer across my back and scooped up my dark elf girl in my arms and tenderly carried her up the stairs and out of the arena. That’s one way to make a statement I guess.
A few hours later, after a small party that Renalla set up–with a lot of food involved, people gathered to see us off. We were assembling at the front gate once again, Maya happily in her armor, the twins hovering awkwardly, and Nia all smiles perched on my shoulder, pleased that everything had turned out for the better. The only ones who weren’t happy were the druid girls. They were sitting around like someone had just kicked their puppy.
“What’s wrong, you two? Don’t you want to go home?”
“Of course we do,” sniffled Lin, “but we are going to miss this place.”
“Ah, I see what’s really going on; you two are going to miss seeing Ryliss, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” they both said sadly.
I looked up to see an odd sight coming down the road. Smiling to myself, I turned their heads so they could see what I saw. There was Ryliss, running down the main road with several backpacks and more scrolls than she could possibly carry. In fact, most of them fell onto the ground as she ran.
“Wait for me!” she shouted, running up to us completely out of breath. “I was told you guys weren’t leaving ‘til tomorrow.”
“Sorry, we need to get back to Sky Raven as soon as we can. It’s not safe having the key stones here.”
“Ryliss, what are you doing here?” Julia demanded as she and Lin jumped to their feet.
She smiled as best she could when out of breath. “Why, I’m coming with you, of course!” All three of them were suddenly bouncing around with glee and chattering nonstop. I walked over to Faeron; he grinned knowing what I was going to ask.
“Ollis called in a favor; apparently, those three have grown into very close friends, and he made a very good argument about getting a scholar into the fortress itself. You know, for the history and secrets it might hold. But those three just being friends was good enough for me.” He chuckled and pulled Renalla close to his side. “To be honest, we started treating Ryliss like another daughter while Maya was away. But it seems now with the way everything turned out, that we will need to buckle down and work harder at producing another heir…strictly for the good of the kingdom, you understand.” My friend made a comically sad face, and his wife punched him playfully in the arm. Not knowing what to say, I cleared my throat awkwardly and attempted to change the subject.
“We will take good care of Ryliss for you, and tell Ollis he’s free to visit anytime.”
He smiled, “No doubt about that. But take care of yourself, too; I don’t want you dying on us now. Some of us here would like grandchildren someday.” We both laughed for a bit, and instantly the rapport that we always felt was back.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Our final goodbyes were interrupted when a freight wagon pulled up behind the group, pulled by a pair of mules. Driving it was Renalla’s father, the shaman and fire wizard, Mingt.
Faeron merrily slapped me on the shoulder and chuckled, “Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. Now that you’re officially engaged, dark elf custom dictates that a family member chaperone be present until the wedding. Guess who volunteered?”
“Sweet!” Ryliss exclaimed. “If we’re bringing a wagon, I can bring my siege bow and a lot more of my books!” With that, she dragged Lin and Julia swiftly away to grab more stuff.
I looked at Maya, and she looked back at me in consternation. Through Winya’s link, I said, “Exactly when did I lose control of this situation?”
She stared back at me with flirtatious eyes, sighed resignedly, and shrugged. “That’s not all you lost, Magic Boy. I was looking forward to teaching you how to hunt night marmot on the way back.”
I had no reply to that, absolutely none! Life is simply out to get me. And Winya snickering evilly in the back reaches of my mind didn’t help either.
Ryliss finally returned, pushing a wheelbarrow full of books, with Lin hoisting the biggest bow I had ever seen and Jules carrying a bundle of six-foot arrows. Everything went into the back of the wagon, including the three girls and two dragons. Although Dawn did make a convincing case for riding on Somnus with me, Maya ruthlessly quashed that idea.
If the stallion thought the idea of keeping pace with donkeys was repugnant, he truly hated the concept when mules were involved. It was going to be a long, slow, excruciating trip.
Chapter 6
Alex
With the wagon slowing us down, it would take six full days to get back to Sky Raven. We could have made it easily in less than three with the Vakhas. I wasn’t happy about the delay in getting the key stones back to the fortress, but I had to admit I was enjoying the travel. Using our link through Winya, Maya and I caught up on everything that happened while we were apart; it was like having a very private conversation in the midst of a crowd.
Maya’s grandfather was actually a lot of fun to have around, except for t
he obvious annoyance at bedtime, when he would pointedly drop his bedroll right in between where Maya and I had set up and promptly fall into a seemingly deep sleep. The first night I was tempted to lean over him and grab a kiss from my girl, but my mage sight showed me that he was a very, very light sleeper.
Rosa, at least, was extremely happy that he was coming along with us; Hons and Alera were doing a great job, but both were still novices at being Primus. Rosa had been a virtual outsider among the other tower heads, so she never really absorbed the technique of leadership. Apparently, from what I gathered from her frustrated ranting, there are hundreds of questions that come up on a daily basis that require an immediate answer from the Headmaster. The old Headmaster made it all look easy because he had centuries of experience and a staff that handled the small stuff.
The first day and night we were all busy getting a feel for the travel, but that next evening, Nia, Maya and I faced an obligation that we had dreaded; but in good conscience, we couldn’t put it off any longer. We needed to tell the twins about their mother.
After supper that evening, Maya and I led them off a few hundred yards across the scrub flats to an area that Nia had scouted out. There was a fall off that led down into a large flat sandy washout next to a small clear-running stream. From up top, I dragged down a couple stubby logs to use as chairs, and we sat the girls down directly across from us, close enough we could reach out and touch them. The alarmed expression on the two dragon girls’ faces told me that they were concerned and nearly on the verge of panic.
“Mistress, if we have offended you in some way or shirked our duties, we are truly sorry,” Dusk blurted out, exchanging bewildered glances with her sister.
Maya reached out and patted their knees. “Relax, girls, you aren’t in any trouble.”
I started, “This may be a difficult discussion; would you two feel more at ease in your true forms? There’s plenty of space here.”
Heir To The Nova (Book 3) Page 10
