"You will stand aside now," sashka said in a voice promising a thousand painful deaths for the Captain. The Vendari flanking him raised their universally lethal weapons in a blatant show of force.
There was only so much abject terror one Wikuni could withstand. Shan and the guards melted out of her path after only a short moment, and the path was clear for her.
Just seeing that dais brought a whirlwind of emotions into her. She had labored for this moment for quite a long time, but she fully understood the finality of stepping upon it. She would be abandoning her freedom the instant she put her foot on that stone, giving up her life in service to the kingdom. All this had begun as simply an elaborate plot for revenge, but along the way her eyes had been opened to the grim responsibility that sitting in that chair would impart upon her. There were alot of things wrong in Wikuna, things that begged to be corrected, things that her father and her family line had perpetrated over the centuries. She would be safe in that chair, safe from her father, safe from the other nobles, safe from everyone that would try to kill her, but seeking its shelter carried with it a price that she worried she may not be able to pay. She would take that throne, and then the problems of her kingdom would become her problems, the duty to fix things would be hers, and the hope of millions of Wikuni would be pinned to her skirts. All her life she had prided herself on her strength. She had been strong enough to overcome a nightmarish childhood, to survive against the many who tried to have her removed, had had the fortitude to stand up against what was thrust upon her and reach for what she wanted instead. And she had been blessed in that struggle, blessed with a brother and sister that loved her, friends she could count on, experienced those sweet parts of life that had been denied to her. But her strength would be all she would have to face the challenges of standing on that dais. There were alot of things to do, alot of things to change, things she had already planned as a final way of getting back at her father that, she had discovered, would also be of tremendous benefit for the people.
It was all right there, a raising of the floor about two feet high, upon which stood the Sun Throne of Wikuna. She had been strong enough to reach for that throne, to earn the right to stand upon that dais. Now she wondered if she had the strength to carry out her responsibilities.
In the end, she realized that there was really no choice about it. She would only be safe sitting on that throne. She still intended on getting back at her father for everything he'd done to her, and to be direct about it, sashka wasn't about to let her back out now. It would be a hard road, whose only concellation would be the joy of casting her father down and looking into his eyes when he realized his defeat. But it was a road that she had to travel.
Tarrin had often told her about his little mother, about how thoughts of her sustained him when he felt lost or afraid, was worried about the future. It had been thoughts of her that had caused him to accept the will of the Goddess and embark on her quest. Tarrin's devotion to that little girl was a powerful symbol of the strength that love could give to someone, for it had taken all of Tarrin's strength to turn his back on his instincts and accept the quest, to accept the yoke of another master.
And it was thoughts of Tarrin that bolstered her, made her take that first step towards the dais. Her brother was counting on her. Tarrin needed her, and she couldn't be there for him unless she was sitting on that throne. He had saved her life, and she wouldn't turn her back on him when he needed her help.
Calmly, gracefully, Keritanima-Chan Eram stepped past the guards, raised her skirt modestly, and stepped up onto the dais of the Hall of the Sun. She turned around and looked at the Vendari and the Royal Guard with dignity, crossing her arms beneath her breasts and showing no signs of fear or doubt. "Shan," she said in a gentle voice. "Summon the noble heads of all the houses, and summon the High Priest of Kikkali. There is urgent business to settle."
Shan stared at her, then looked fearfully at the sashka, then blew out his breath. Then he laughed helplessly. "How should I address you, Lady Keritanima?" he asked pointedly.
"You will address her as her Majesty," the sashka said loudly, loud enough for everyone in the Hall to hear. "Anyone who does not will answer to the Vendari."
Some revolutions were settled with a gunshot. Some were settled at the point of a sword, and some were settled in the bodycount of clashing armies. But the Revolution of Wikuna had been settled before it begun, and it had been settled with a single sentence.
"And I thought being landlocked was going to be boring," Sheba Zalan said with an evil smile.
"It's very simple, Duchess Vora," Keritanima explained calmly about an hour later. The Hall was now populated with servants, courtiers, functionaries, and even more military men. From what she had been told, nobody had delivered a message about her treason to her father yet. Indeed, the sashka had ten Vendari blocking the hallways to her father's apartment, preventing anyone from delivering any messages until after Keritanima had explained what was going on to all the noble heads, to give her time to sway them without her father interfering. Five noble heads had already arrived other than Sheba, Duke Oran Alagon, Duchess Sulan Shaen, Earl Mardal Koramon, Earl Tory Pritchett, and Duchess Shewl Dokin. One by one, Keritanima had explained the meaning of the message, and the crushing impact that the noble's decision would have on Wikuna. She explained it again to Vora Plantan of house Plantan, standing on the dais calmly and addressing her as the rest of court whispered excitedly about what was going on. "There is a very old law that was created by King Sathon Eram. At that time, Sathon had only one heir, and he was documented with a mental illness that the priests had to treat. So long as he was treated, Elyas was a stable man, and was a very capable heir. To protect the Eram dynasty, Sathon Eram made a decree that made it possible for the noble houses to remove his son, Elyas, from the throne without having to plunge Wikuna into a civil war, just in case Elyas went insane and the priests could no longer treat his condition. It stated that the king would be forcibly abdicated if three quarters of the noble houses swore before a priest of Kikkali that the monarch was no longer fit to rule. Elyas agreed to this stipulation to placate the noble houses, who were rightfully worried about having a mad king on the throne. When Sathon died, Elyas took the throne, and served as king capably and well for thirty years before he himself died. Elyas' successor, Queen Shamintaria, immediately repealed that law, because her own stability was never in question, and she wasn't about to leave a loophole open for the nobility to force her off the throne.
"That repeal was just part of a broader decree that also decreed that any crime perpetrated against a Wikuni of Royal blood was immediately a capital offense, and was punishable by death. My father repealed that decree two months ago, and if you're not too familiar with the intricacies of Royal law, a law repealed is reinstated if the repeal itself is repealed. That made this law binding again, and since it's a plait of Royal Law, it affects my father. So, to make things simple, you are here to cast your vote as to whether or not Damon Eram is a king fit for his crown."
Vora Planton, a large, lumbering bear Wikuni female, looked around calmly and measuredly. Vora was never one to overreact, working with a slow sureness that made her one of the more level-headed of the noble rulers. "I see that the Vendari have decided to inject themselves into this decision," she reasoned. "So, our choices are to continue to support a mad king and face the wrath of the Vendari, or go along with you and put a conniving manipulator ten times worse than her father on the throne. I don't know what you told the Vendari, but I would like to hear their reasons for supporting you."
The sashka stepped forward from the base of the dais calmly. "My niece is the sworn bodyguard of Keritanima-Chan. From her I have heard of the trials suffered by her Majesty. I agree that she is a well known manipulator, but she has also proven herself honorable in the eyes of the Vendari. She has shown traits of friendship, loyalty, and trust. She has accepted her responsibilities. She is a much more humane person than her father, for she cares
about the lives that are placed in her hands."
"And the fact that we stand here is a sure indication of her capability to handle the duties of the throne," Vora Plantan mused. "What say the priests of the Wavemistress?"
"In this, as in all things, we are neutral, Duchess," the High Priest of Kikkali, a tall bull Wikuni, stated. "We are here to serve, not to dictate."
"I see. I also see that I have little choice in the matter."
"We are not here to force your decision," the sashka told the Duchess simply. "We only want it known where we stand and why."
"Then I'll have your word in the matter, sashka. Would she be a better ruler than her father?"
"I would not be standing here if I did not believe it, Duchess," he replied simply.
"Well then, I see little reason to argue. I do think that Damon Eram is no longer fit to rule. I believed that long before her Royal Highness returned and began her games with him. I will support the enforcement of this law."
Keritanima started getting nervous as more and more noble rulers arrived, heard the explanation, and then made their decision. Out of the fourteen that had arrived so far, all of them had sided with her. They all understood the grim portents of refusing. The Vendari wouldn't slaughter them, but if Keritanima made an armed bid for the throne, her ten thousand Vendari would make it a very serious situation, and would give her an excellent chance at victory. The combined might of the army in Wikuna and the private armies of all twenty-eight noble houses would be just enough to make an open battle with the Vendari winnable for either side. What they couldn't forget was that there were fourty thousand more Vendari warriors in Vendaka, and they too would fight against whoever sided with Damon Eram. It would be a civil war between Vendaka and Wikuna, and in that war either side could win, and destroy both kingdoms in the process.
Each house that sided with Keritanima reduced that number of potential soldiers that would resist her bid for the crown, and made the Vendari more likely to win that war. At fourteen houses on her side, it was now a military and mathematical certainty that any fighting would fall in her favor. She now had the military might to battle Damon Eram's loyal forces and crush them, if it came to that. She fervently hoped that it would not, but that was one possibility that she couldn't deny.
In hearing the nobles discuss the matter, she realized how effective her plans had been. Most of them suspected that Keritanima had something to do with Damon Eram's madness, but they all did not doubt that he was indeed starting to lose his grip on reality. The people already hated Damon Eram, and her public flogging had bolstered popular opinion of her greatly. The noble rulers were very impressed with her subtlety as well, that she could trick her father into engineering the means by which she could bring him down. They finally had begun to shed the shadow of the Brat that hung over their eyes when they looked at her, and had to admit that Keritanima was indeed everything they suspected her to be. Not just smart, but patient, methodical, and detail-oriented, good traits in a monarch. She already had a powerful alliance with the Vendari, an alliance that they absolutely could not deny.
In the choice between Keritanima and Damon Eram, they all realized that Keritanima was the better choice. Those with their own eyes on the throne figured that the younger woman would be easier to dislodge from it, at least after the Vendari stopped meddling in Wikuni affairs.
The court was becoming crowded, and not just with courtiers and nobles. Keritanima saw both Jenawalani and Veranika enter, the buzz drawing them to find out what was going on. Many of the servants also came in, as well as Jervis and a few others she knew were spies. The Hall had filled up with people, but most of them remained very quiet as they observed the high drama playing out on the floor before them, as the fate of a kingdom hinged on the words of twenty-nine people.
Keritanima had just finished explaining things to Praki Mation. The fragile little Wikuni was still somewhat traumatized over having a servant's brains splattered all over her, and she was absolutely terrified of Keritanima. All it took was the sashka saying that the Vendari supported her, and she immediately started cowing to Keritanima. Praki Mation would strip naked and walk through fire if Keritanima told her to, because she feared the fox Wikuni that much. Praki Mation made twenty-one noble houses on her side. That was a very large number; in fact, it was only one short of the necessary twenty-two houses she needed to gain her three quarter majority. Keritanima realized that she was only one house away from gaining the crown, one house away from breaking her father and getting her revenge, one house away from starting to set everything right in Wikuna. The first inklings of sheer terror began to creep into her, terror of what could happen, what kind of misery her coup attempt may cause, terror at having to be the queen, to be responsible for the welfare of three million beings. She clenched a hand into a fist and let her short claws dig into her palm, letting the pain keep her mind on the job at hand. Twenty-one was not twenty-two. She still had to convince one more house.
And then her father arrived.
Damon Eram was cleaned up, neatly trimmed, and looking as regal as he could possibly look. He wore the Sun Crown and carried the Royal sceptre, wore the royal robes, and he was surrounded by twenty Royal Guards, his advisors, the Clerk of Law, and the Lord Chamberlain. His eyes bored into Keritanima when he saw her on his dais, on the sacred ground reserved only for him, but said nothing immediately. The entire Hall went dead silent with the king entered, but that silence was broken up by whispers and confusion.
Only about half of the people in court bowed to the King.
"I don't remember allowing you to hold your private little court, daughter," Damon Eram said scathingly.
His tone and attitude irritated Keritanima, and she decided to put him in his place immediately.
"I did not summon you, father," she said coldly. "Go back to your room."
"How DARE you!" Damon Eram exploded. "Shan, bring her down from there! On the point of your sword if necessary!"
Shan didn't move.
"This is treason!" Damon Eram screamed, nearly hysterically, brandishing his sceptre like a sword and pointing the end at the Captain of the Guard. "Guards, arrest him!"
"The guards will not obey you, Damon Eram," the sashka said as he stepped into the center aisle.
"I didn't summon you from Vendaka, sashka! What are you doing here?"
"Righting an old wrong, Damon Eram," the sashka said in a brutally cold tone. That he didn't call him king or your Majesty was all that had to be said about his loyalties.
"How dare you speak like that to me! Afford me the respect I deserve!"
"You deserve less than what I give you, Damon Eram," the sashka hissed. "You have no honor."
That brought Damon Eram up short. If anyone understood that that was as good as a death sentence in Vendari society, Damon Eram did. The deposed monarch shrank deeper into the protection of his guards, and for the first time he looked around and saw the many Vendari warriors standing along the walls and flanking the dais. "You'll not get away with threatening me, sashka! Your treaty with us--"
"Stipulates that the Vendari will obey who they deem to be ruler of Wikuna. I say Keritanima-Chan is ruler of Wikuna. Prove me wrong."
Damon Eram gave the sashka a strangled look, then glared at his daughter. "It's not that easy, sashka! I'm the annoited king! My rule is absolute!"
"It's not as absolute as you may think," Vora Planton spoke up from the side. "Keritanima has raised a legal and valid challenge to your rule. The law demands that the matter be settled."
"What insanity is this?" Damon Eram demanded. "There is no law that allows a sitting monarch to be deposed!"
"There was no law allowing it," Keritanima said calmly. "Since you have your Clerk of Law here, he can settle it quickly and easily. Since the High Priest of Kikkali is here, who can divine the law with magic to state truth, it will be even easier. Second Volume of Laws of the Crown, year 1397, second decree. You'll find a decree there that states that a monarch can
be forcibly removed from the throne if three quarters of the rulers of the noble houses swear before a High Priest of Kikkali that that monarch is unfit to rule. The law was repealed in the First Volume of the Laws of the Crown, year 1431, first decree. But the repeal of that repeal was enacted in the Fifth Volume of Laws of the Crown, 1826, ninth decree. As your Clerk of Law will tell you, the repeal of a repeal of a law causes the original law to become a binding law again."
"1826? That's this year!" Damon Eram protested.
"Yes, and guess who repealed the decree repealing that law?" Keritanima asked with a wicked little smile.
"I never repealed such a law!"
"Yes you did," Keritanima purred. "It was the decree that stated that any crime committed against the Royal house would be considered a capital crime, and would be punished by death without benefit of trial. Does that sound familiar?"
Damon Eram was eerily silent.
"You didn't read the entire decree. If you had, I would never have been able to use this law against you now."
Damon Eram stared at her.
"Isn't it ironic, father? You set the stage for your own abdication. Perhaps you had a touch of madness in you long before the rest of us saw it."
Damon Eram glared viciously.
"Begging your Majesty's pardon, but the Crown Princess has correctly cited the law," the High Priest affirmed after a moment of muttering under his breath. "The law she cites is a valid law, and that gives this proceeding legal weight. By the stipulations in the law, you may not speak on your own defense, nor can Keritanima lobby or threaten to garner votes. She can only state fact."
Damon Eram stared daggers at the large bull, but said nothing.
"Well, I do suppose you have a right to be here, father. You are a ruler of a noble house, so you get a vote in the matter. Do you want to vote for me?" she asked with a winsome smile.
Tarrin Kael Firestaff Collection Book 2 - The Questing Game by Fel © Page 71
