by Laura Abudo
Pearl straightened in surprise. No one had notified her. She’d been waiting anxiously for the whelping. Fredrick noticed her interest and leaned forward toward Darius.
“I have more orders for you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Tell your mother you need your hair cut,” the King told the boy.
“Mother said…” Darius started but stopped, looking to Pearl.
“Oh, and what did Mother say?” the King asked.
“Mother said that’s something you will have to talk to Father about.”
The King stared at him with squinted eyes. “She would.”
Pearl turned away so Darius couldn’t see the smile on her face as she laughed to herself. She turned back to see Darius and the King staring each other down. Fredrick waved his hand and blurted, “Out!”
Darius saluted the King, bowed crookedly to Pearl then gave them both a huge grin. The same grin his mother, Coral, said made her fall in love with his father. He spun and ran out of the war room.
“That boy is just like his father,” the King said with a smile.
“And that’s why you love him.”
“I suppose so,” he nodded.
“You shouldn’t have him spying on Tomas and Glory. He’s just a child.”
“He isn’t spying,” Fredrick told her. “He’s chaperoning.”
“You know Tomas gives him sweets to take a walk and leave them alone?”
“What?” Fredrick cried in feigned surprise. He smiled, “That’s why I have someone else spying on them.”
“You are wicked,” she laughed.
He sat back, looking at her intently. “Always have been. Now, when are you going to agree to marry me?”
Pearl blushed as she always did when he asked. “A street rat like me doesn’t have any business in a castle,” she said, walking around his chair and plopping her backside down on the table.
“Yet here you are.”
“And I am a child,” she said to him.
“You were a child when I first carried you on my shoulder. You are not a child now.”
“I am less than half…” she started then stopped to calculate. “…half your age. I am the same age as your youngest son!”
“These wrinkly knockers aren’t dried up you know!” he blurted and she blushed more. “You came of age a year ago.”
“You are my King! What would Glory say?”
“Glory would tell you you need to follow the orders of your King!” he told her, slipping his finger in her belt to pull her forward.
“Are you ordering me to marry you?” she demanded. And with a flap of the robe she told him, “I have obligations, you know.”
He looked at her thoughtfully then shook his head, releasing her belt. “No, I’m not.”
She remained sitting on the edge of the table looking at him. He watched her, wondering what she was thinking. She was a bright one, strong willed and powerful. More powerful than any woman he’d ever met before. She could get him to do anything she wanted. In a heartbeat. They just looked at each other for long moments and then she smiled sweetly.
“Puppies,” she growled, kissed his cheek and ran out of the war room, her blue robes sweeping behind her.
He sighed and shook his head. She was right, he knew. She was always right. But that didn’t mean he had to accept it.
Pearl slid into the kennels from her run down the alleyway. Darius was already there on his knees in front of the whelping crate. The kennel master wouldn’t let the boy get any closer. Pearl dropped to her knees too and watched them. The mother’s tail wagged gently, recognizing Pearl. She spent so much time in the kennels and on the grounds with them they were practically kin.
“Four,” she whispered and looked up to the kennel master.
“Small litter this time,” he said. “She had eight last.”
“It’s wonderful,” she said, smiling at Darius, who nodded.
They watched them suckle while getting licked by mother many times over. She was intense in her efforts. Pearl couldn’t wait until they were old enough to totter around and follow them around the yard. After an hour the pair was shooed out to prepare for dinner. Stepping through the kennel door they found the same page looking for them.
“Oh, oh,” Darius groaned when he saw the young man waving to them.
Pearl smiled and took his hand. “He picks on you because he likes you,” she told him. “He says you are just like your father.”
“Yeah?” Darius asked in surprise.
“Yes, and you are.”
He beamed at the news. He adored his father. He was the best man in the world. And his mother agreed. He had to go away sometimes, on order from the King, but when he came back he spent all his time with Darius, teaching him how to wrestle and they played with swords and Pearl’s dogs and picked grapes and …
“Darius,” Pearl whispered with a nudge.
“Yes?”
The page looked at him then realized the boy hadn’t heard what he’d said. He repeated, “The King wants to see you in his library.”
“Thank you.”
The page rolled his eyes at Pearl in exasperation then spun and rushed down the hallway back the way he’d come. That poor page, Pearl thought and smiled. He was run ragged by the King in his harassment of Darius. It was all in fun on his part, saying since Darius was his father’s representative and head of household while he was away, the boy had to fulfill his father’s duties. Hence the miniature Marshall uniform and hatchet. At first Darius thought it was fun but then he started having to follow all the King’s orders.
“Let’s go,” Pearl told him. “I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you,” he said wearily, dragging his feet.
“Enter!” the King barked to Darius’ soft tap on the door.
When Darius stumbled in gracelessly Fredrick waved him forward. The boy dropped to one knee as he always did and wobbled.
“We need to get you sturdier legs,” the King told him, glancing down. Pearl slipped in behind him and stood quietly at the door. “You can stand.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Fredrick held out a wax sealed letter. Darius approached and took it.
“Read it,” he told him. “It’s for you.”
“I can’t read, Your Majesty.”
“Why not? Hasn’t your mother taught you?” he demanded. “I’ll have to have a word with her.”
“I’m five!”
“I could read when I was two!” the King told him. He motioned for the letter to be given back and sighed heavily, “I’ll read it for you.”
Darius Somas Kolder Doran,
Take off one of your stockings and hand it to the King.
Darius’ face paled as he stared at his King in shock.
“Well?” Fredrick said.
“I…” Darius stammered. “I didn’t wear any.”
A soft clearing of throat caught the King’s attention and he found Pearl frowning at him with her arms crossed under her breasts. He knew what that meant.
“I’m sorry, Doran. I misread that part. I could read at the age of two but maybe I haven’t been that good at it.”
Darius Somas Kolder Doran,
I am returning from our journey very soon. Please inform your mother and the King we have guests of the Siri nation with us. Give everyone my best. Listen to your mother and Pearl. Don’t listen to the King.
Yours forever,
Papa
“Can you believe he put ‘don’t listen to the King’!?” he demanded of Pearl and she laughed.
Darius searched the King’s face and when he smiled Darius did too. The boy took the letter from Fredrick then ran out when he was dismissed. Pearl looked back at him as she slipped through the door. He sighed, wishing she’d stay and just be there. Most evenings she’d come to read while he worked and it was pleasant. It was comfortable.
“Mama, Mama,” he called as he approached the corridor that the Doran suite occupied.
Coral stood placing dinnerware on a table as one of the servants held a large dinner tray. He placed it down on a sideboard and backed out as Darius ran into the room.
“Mama, Papa is coming home,” he announced, waving the letter at her. He handed it to her then kicked off his boots and jacket, letting it drop.
Pearl walked in after him. She picked up his things and put them away in the wardrobe while Coral read the letter. She frowned at him.
“Sorry, Pearly,” he said apologetically.
Coral sat in a stuffed chair to read the letter. Pearl noted a look of concern on Coral’s face but the woman smiled it away. She handed the letter to Pearl.
“The King read it to us,” she said but when she looked at it the letter was much longer.
Darius Somas Kolder Doran,
I am returning from our journey very soon. Please inform your mother and the King we have guests of the Siri nation with us. Give everyone my best. Listen to your mother and Pearl.
Yours forever,
Papa
My dearest Coral,
I am pleased to say we are returning within a day of you receiving this letter. I have sent the King a report of our number in preparation for our Siri visitors. We have representatives of two clans joining us. We will be delayed in returning home to the Doran Estate. Please, send word to Father.
I miss you terribly.
Yours forever, in the eyes and hearts of the gods,
Amias
Pearl handed back the letter. Two Siri clans were sending representatives. Pearl wondered what that could mean. She hoped they had sent Krisa with them. She missed her so much. They didn’t get to see each other enough. It had been over a year since they’d taken a trip to the Siri forest where they celebrated Krisa’s birthday and coming of age. The King had summoned the girl’s father from Brynntown. It was the first time they’d seen each other in five years and there were tears all around. He was now posted here at the castle as one of Fredrick’s scribes. The last time Krisa had been to the castle was perhaps six months before.
Coral served their dinner as Glory walked in, all smiles. She kissed Darius on the cheek and sat to read the letter from Amias that Coral pointed out to her.
“Oh good!” she cried. “A formal dinner!”
Coral looked to Pearl and they both smiled. Without a queen on the throne all the entertainment and dinners and parties were left to Glory to arrange, as the betrothed of the Prince and future queen of the land. And because she elected herself to that responsibility. She thrived on it. Glory stood up and waved as she dashed out the door, no doubt on her way to the kitchens.
Chapter 2
Sacrifices
Pat lay hidden in the long swaying grasses. For the tenth time in the last day or so he read the letter he’d received, orders.
Leave cannot be extended…return to Marshalls…report to Captain Doran immediately.
And Captain Doran delivered the King’s orders himself during a visit to the western outpost close to Siri lands. He hadn’t told Krisa for two days until she demanded to know what was wrong.
He’d been at her side, literally, for six years. He trained with her with the Siri, they welcomed him easily and he’d stayed. Coral had made a case with the King that he was getting excellent training so he’d have a better officer for it when he came back. Pat never expected or thought of having to go back. He lay in the grass contemplating the fact he had to leave Krisa. He got a lump in his throat. He was being silly, he thought to himself, folding the letter.
From his side appeared Krisa, crawling silently through the grass at him. He hadn’t heard her at all. And now her face was even with his. She peered at him but he couldn’t even smile. She lay down with her head on his chest and he placed his arm over her back. They stayed there like that for a long time.
“Do you remember the time you pulled me out of the muddy gully and let me ride with you even though I was covered in filth?”
“Yes.”
“The next day I told Glory I was going to ask you to marry me when I was fifteen.”
He lifted himself up on his elbows to look into her face. “And why haven’t you?” he asked.
She shrugged, telling him, “I don’t know.”
He touched her cheek softly then fell back down again, more in agony now that he was going to have to leave her.
“I didn’t know if you’d want to,” she told him.
“For a Siri woman who sees everything and knows everything how could you be unsure?”
She thought for long moments then said, “Most of the time your heart is there, but there are times…you have uncertainty.”
“Those are the times when I tell myself I am too old for you and I’m not Siri,” he told her honestly.
She lifted herself up on her hands and knees and leaned in for a soft kiss. Their first. From a long distance away they heard a long low whistle. Their lips stopped moving against each other and she pulled away. She disappeared into the grasses. Pat took a few deep breaths then stood. She still hadn’t asked him.
“Darius. Darius,” the voice whispered. “Darius.”
He turned over, opening his eyes only a little. A pair of dark eyes peered at him from under dark unruly hair.
“Papa?” he asked. The eyes smiled. “Oh good. You are back. Now he’ll leave me alone.”
The voice chuckled. Amias pushed back the covers from his son and lifted him out of the bed he was sharing with his mother. Coral looked as beautiful as ever and it took a great amount of will to not crawl in with her at that moment, but he had something to show his son.
He made him put on his boots but carried him in his arms, the boy resting his sleepy head on his father’s shoulder. They passed many guards on duty. It was barely sunrise so not many other people were up and around, though when they reached the stables there was plenty of activity.
The Marshalls’ war horses had returned as well as approximately thirty others, beautiful brown, sleek horses with long manes. The boy stared in wonder at how many there were. Groomsmen were busy brushing and caring for the mounts.
“You rode all night?” he asked.
“We had a very bright moon tonight. I was anxious to get home to you.”
The boy smiled then got down to examine the horses. He walked down all the stalls then stopped and stroked the nose of his father’s horse, reaching up high. It nudged him in recognition. Amias stood leaning against a post watching him. The child could trip over his own feet standing still but he’d grow out of that, he told himself. He seemed to grow more every time he came home from the road.
“We’ll have to get you your own horse soon,” he told Darius. “Mother won’t be happy riding in the carriage much longer.”
“A real horse?”
“Yes.”
“There are new puppies,” Darius announced. “You want to see them?”
“Maybe later. I haven’t said good morning to your mother yet.”
“Oh, you’d better do that,” Darius told him with a nod.
They found Coral still sleeping. Glory was stirring in the adjoining room so Amias shooed Darius off to her. He removed his boots and jacket then slid in next to his wife. She was so warm and soft as he wrapped his arms around her. She roused and smiled with her eyes closed then turned over and buried her face in his neck.
“How did you know it was me?” he whispered. “It could have been any old ruffian in your bed.”
“It’s the smell of horse, pipe smoke, campfire and you. It’s the nicest smell in the world.”
He wrinkled his nose. He pulled her close. He nuzzled his scruffy face on her cheek, kissing her neck hungrily.
“The girls,” she whispered and he groaned. Glory emerged tentatively from the other room, towed by Darius.
“They need a suite of their own,” he whispered as he sat up in greeting.
“Good morning, Captain Doran,” she smiled. She kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll take Darius to breakfast if you�
��d like to sleep. He said you’d ridden all night.”
Coral looked at him. It was not typical for him to ride all night at all. It isn’t safe traveling on the roads in the dark. He did look tired.
He shrugged. “The Siri travel in the night as well. We’d reached the garrison too early to stop so they just wanted to ride through.”
“Is there urgency?” she asked, getting concerned.
He shook his head as Pearl emerged from the other room, dressed in her robe, with disheveled hair. She re-braided.
“Take Pearl with you,” Amias called out to Glory. The girls looked at each other as Amias settled back down.
“Yes, Captain,” Glory cooed, leading the other two out. She closed the door.
“You are sure?”
He reached for her. Her question never got answered.
The dinner Glory hosted was impressive. All thirty Siri, the King’s table and all the courtiers in Danyc were to be seated and an army of household staff awaited their queues. People milled around before dinner waiting for the King before they could sit. He finally emerged from a door at the back of his table accompanied by his sons Tomas, Jimm and Glory. The Doran table sat to the King’s right, the family having earned the place as some of his favorites. Darius sat between his parents. The lords and ladies of the court found their usual spots. The Siri were seated across from the King at a large table with a smattering of other guests among them.
The gentle rumble of voices filled the formal dining hall before the King stood to get their attention.
“Welcome, everyone,” he announced loudly. “Welcome to the esteemed representatives of the Siri nation.”
Enthusiastic applause filled the room. The Siri were very well respected as a clever and resourceful people, coming to aid at times of need. They appeared to have unnatural abilities to detect trouble and thwart aggressors. During the battle of Verdera they had immobilized so many of the Kusira Sisters attacking the Danycians they had won distinction from the King.
Krisa sat near the end of the Siri table near two other young Siri; one was a leader’s son and the other a small child, the daughter of another. Krisa had come of age but was still seated away from the older members in the middle.
