Upon the Flight of the Queen

by Howard Andrew Jones

  He nodded to her and suddenly, through a subtle change in the set of his shoulders and face, she was no longer his confidant, though his manner was not unkind. “We must ready for the fight. And that means rest. You’ve a few hours before dawn. You should be able to sleep now. Sometimes it works that way.”

  “What way?”

  “After you’ve been up and thought or done something else for a while.”

  She was very tired still, and wondered if he might be right.

  He spoke on, as though he’d decided something with minimal reflection. She’d never known him to do that before. “Join me at the governor’s. For breakfast. I’ll send someone around to wake you a half hour before.”

  She felt honored. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

  He nodded and headed for the door. She realized that was a dismissal, and followed him out.

  With so much to think about, she really only returned to her bunk to humor him, and was surprised to find herself deep asleep when the squire touched her shoulder hours later. Disappointed as she was to be awake, it was exciting to be included in N’lahr’s plans, and reassuring to learn herself still capable of sleep untroubled by dreams.

  When she left the barracks with N’lahr, the sun had risen as though a normal day was come. But so would it have risen, she knew, if the Naor had laid waste to the city.

  Dogs barked and carts creaked in the streets as Vedessus struggled sluggishly to rise. It was an uneven awakening after the revelries of the previous night. Many houses still were shuttered, but scattered bands of people lay in the parks; a distant few staggered homeward in a happy haze.

  Vedessi buildings were built mostly of tile, brick, clay plaster, and stone, wood being a rarer commodity on the plains, and few rose more than two stories. It was a city of low hills and beautifully tended gardens, arranged for the most part in straight lanes. The windmills that drove the pumps and other machinery soared above all, facing into the west wind. The city had a spare, geometric beauty, especially in comparison to the ornate artistry everywhere evident in Darassus. After having been away for so long, she saw the place with new eyes.

  A few unaccompanied children played in the streets, chasing each other with sticks and arguing about who should play Altenerai and whom Naor. At the sight of the solitary Altenerai pair striding purposely along, the youngsters stopped cold to regard them with naked awe. One girl who couldn’t have been more than five came stiffly to attention and offered a perfect salute with a grimy hand.

  Elenai heard the group jabbering excitedly after N’lahr returned it.

  An occasional adult shopkeeper, busying to open their concern, stared at her companion. They didn’t try to interact. Elenai could see in their faces and prayerful motions the undiminished reverence she’d noted the night before—his presence was proof of divine intervention in their lives. No matter the mundane details of treachery, hardship, skill, and sheer luck that underpinned the miracle, the Gods had, for them, simply sent N’lahr back from the dead in the city’s hour of need.

  She realized with a start that once again she’d neglected her morning prayer, and swore to herself that she’d stop forgetting. With their rushed schedule in the last week, there’d been so little time for so many things, but that didn’t fully excuse her inattentive behavior. She wondered if Kalandra’s casual blasphemy about the Gods’ early activities had unconsciously influenced her own actions.

  The Vedessi palace lay just off the city’s center, an ugly, flat-faced building of four stories with six separate towers. One tower climbed from each of its four corners, one rose from its front entrance, and a thick one, with a bell, half again the height of the others, stuck up from its center. The building’s brick had been painted a startling light blue offset with elaborately painted tiles around the openings. It had always struck Elenai as garish, although it did set the building apart.

  “This has bothered me for years,” N’lahr said, indicating the palace.

  “The color?”

  “No. The design. Someone with an idea of defense but lack of actual practice. Look: arrow slit windows but too many gates and doors. Any decent force that breached the city walls wouldn’t have difficulty taking the palace. There’s not even a protective wall.”

  She’d grown up with the building, but immediately understood and agreed with N’lahr’s assessment, wondering why she hadn’t noticed before. A seat of government should serve as a fallback position for as many critical assets as possible. N’lahr was a tactical genius, true, but she was certainly capable of noticing such deficiencies herself.

  Once beyond the gate guards, a servant conducted them past expensive wooden doorframes and paneling to a sunny oval dining room with a small table. The servant told them the governor would be along shortly, and Elenai scanned the room while two attendants in dark livery kept their eyes forward resolutely. Five leaded windows looked into what was likely an interior courtyard, admitting light but little detail. Beautifully scrolled panel doors were interspersed with built-in drawers on the cabinet opposite them. Most likely the pale green tablecloth, plates, and utensils now adorning the oval table were normally stored within. Six chairs were in place, although there were settings only for four. She guessed N’lahr had sent a messenger ahead informing the governor he’d be bringing a guest. A door stood closed on either end of the room, one by which they’d entered and one behind the head of the table, where the most ornately scrolled chair back was positioned.

  While the two Altenerai waited, a small army of servants arrived in waves. The first group set small plinths before the windows to support vases holding blooming blackthorn and rockrose. Next came the food, borne on lidded bronze platters, and drink, carried in slim white pitchers set along the cabinet’s surface.

  Silently the servants had come, silently they left, and it was Elenai’s stomach that intruded into the quiet, for the aroma of fresh baked bread, cooked eggs, and some kind of sweet sauce awakened her hunger. She longed to reach for the lids.

  N’lahr smiled conspiratorially at her, an unguarded human moment broken by the opening of the door behind the table head. Elenai looked up expectantly. A fox-faced older gentleman entered, dressed in a dark red robe threaded in silver. He nodded politely and stood to one side of the door.

  Only then did Governor Verena join them, smiling warmly.

  Elenai had seen her several times over the years, most recently last night. Verena had risen to rule the decade before, proving her competence through many challenges. In the light of day, Elenai saw that age had thickened her middle even as it had softened her squarish face. This morning, her gray-streaked auburn hair was piled loosely behind her, cascading to rounded shoulders. Her eyes were well and darkly lined, her cheeks lightly rouged, and a low neckline revealed generous cleavage. She wore a light blue dress reminiscent of the color of khalats, probably meant to honor the Altenerai, although it emphasized her eyes as well.

  She advanced to extend hands to the commander, her dress hem swirling about pretty ankles. “Alten N’lahr! It’s a pleasure to see you again so soon.” Her voice was strong and clear.

  “Likewise.” He briefly touched fingertips with her, his beneath hers, then bowed his head respectfully. She didn’t offer her hands to Elenai, but nodded, and Elenai lowered her head.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Elenai Dartaan. And let me again offer my congratulations upon your well-earned promotion.”

  “Thank you.”

  “This is my chief counselor, Alusus Garl.”

  The gray-haired man nodded solemnly. “It is a pleasure,” he said. Elenai suspected she had been introduced to him last night, but much after the battle was blurred to her recollection. There had been so many people who wished to greet them all.

  Verena bade them to be seated, and they took their chairs, Alusus on her right hand, N’lahr on her left. Elenai had been placed nearer N’lahr than Garl. Quickly, the liveried servants stepped forward to serve the food—steamed greens, pan fried eggs, fried
tubers seasoned with cinnamon, and fresh fried trout coated in bread crumbs.

  It was all Elenai could do to keep from shoveling it in like a teenaged boy. Though the impromptu feasting last night had been excellent, she hadn’t dined this well in months, not since she had helped Elik celebrate his twenty-third birthday. Idly, she wondered if he was still in Darassus, and what her friend had heard of her. Would he believe her a traitor, allied to the purported murderer of Asrahn, Master of Squires?

  Verena was eying N’lahr over her cup. “How long has it been since you’ve had a day off, Alten?”

  “A long while,” he admitted, and Elenai noted that the governor didn’t address him as commander. A slip, or a slight? He continued, “Today won’t be a respite, either. There’s much to be done.”

  “I hope you have the time at least for a leisurely breakfast. And that my company doesn’t require too much work.” She eyed him through her lashes as she sipped again.

  Elenai stared. Was the woman flirting with him?

  “On the contrary.” N’lahr paused to butter a slice of steaming hot bread. “But I can’t tarry long. I’m sure you’ve received the same news as I and appreciate the need for haste.”

  A smile pulled at the corner of Verena’s mouth. “Are you always so serious? Do you hurry so quickly from your lovers in the field?”

  N’lahr’s eyebrows rose. He actually sounded caught off guard. “In the field?”

  “Do you rush from Kyrkenall?” she explained, as if it were obvious. “Or do you favor the lovely Elenai?” Verena glanced over at her before appraising him once more.

  Elenai blinked a little in surprise and resumed chewing her greens. It had never occurred to her anyone would assume her involved with Commander N’lahr.

  N’lahr returned her gaze with a level expression of his own. “Elenai is but newly promoted and it would be inappropriate to have a relationship with a subordinate,” he said, which should have been blindingly obvious, but it intrigued Elenai that he dismissed the idea with that argument and no other. “And Kyrkenall isn’t my lover.” He added the last as if he’d addressed the matter before.

  “I thought you went everywhere together. And he’s more beautiful than I am. Surely.” Verena bent to cut one of the eggs into smaller pieces.

  “You undervalue your charms,” N’lahr said.

  If she’d been astonished at Verena’s flirtations, she was even more surprised by the frank appraisal in the commander’s response.

  Verena smiled knowingly. When she spoke once more, she adopted a heavier tone. “You’re here to convince me to send soldiers and supplies with you to The Fragments. But you know I must always keep the needs of my people foremost in my thoughts. What if the Naor return while our strongest sons and daughters are gone? If they go with you, how would my soldiers fare against a force said to be many times their number?” She paused, her eyes shining. There was nothing remotely playful in her manner now. “Why should Vedessus weaken rather than fortify itself? Especially since, by your own report, we face invasion from without and corruption from within our own alliance.”

  Every one of those was a legitimate question, as much as it annoyed Elenai to hear them.

  N’lahr appeared lost in thought.

  Garl, silent apart from the clatter of his cutlery until that moment, spoke with a flat authority. “Vedessus is recovering from a siege and can ill afford expenditures on behalf of its neighbors.”

  As N’lahr seemed disinclined to speak, Elenai offered, “If Alantris falls, the Naor will use The Fragments to regroup and resupply and then resume their attack on Vedessus. We’re all safer if we drive them from our lands now.”

  Verena addressed her directly. “Why can’t you just fight the Naor in Alantris with another herd of eshlack?”

  Elenai should have guessed that would come up. But before she could manage an explanation, N’lahr answered. “Because that tactic would fail. The circumstances here were unique and cannot be duplicated in The Fragments. We struck at night with no warning over plains and at great speed. The few Naor who escaped the battle will tell others how they were defeated, so precautions will be taken against a similar attack. And cattle cannot be moved quickly over forested hills and through river valleys undetected all the way to the walls of Alantris.

  “As to your other concerns,” he continued. “You know my reputation; the soldiers of Vedessus will not be wasted in battle.” He held Verena’s eyes a moment before adding. “Vedessus remembers its own straits, only yesterday, and will soon know that Alantris finds itself in the same situation today. Your people will want to fight. And they’ll want their leaders to make the way clear.”

  Verena sat against the back of her chair and brushed absently at her necklace, her expression thoughtful. “Share your plan. What dangers would my people face?”

  “I require eight hundred of your foot troops and all three hundred of your cavalry. That will leave a minimal but adequate defense should a Naor force return, though I intend to keep them busy around Alantris. A third of the cavalry will be sent forward with Altenerai scouts, and the main force will approach through the Cenahra Pass to minimize chances of detection. My chief concern is supplies. I will need approximately one hundred wagons of rations and fodder. As for my plans against the enemy, those will be determined once I understand their disposition.”

  Elenai forgot to eat. She was astounded that N’lahr had worked all that out in the handful of hours she’d managed only sleep and worry. The governor nodded gravely. “There’s another matter I wish to discuss. One hardly insignificant.”

  “You refer to the queen’s betrayal.”

  “That’s not at all how I refer to it,” Verena said bluntly. “I understand you believe your freedom was traded for Naor hearthstones, but it sounds as though Commander Denaven was the offender, not Queen Leonara. He tried to kill you and lied for years to maintain his hold on power. And he’s already paid for his crimes. You need further evidence if you wish to prosecute your claims against the queen.”

  N’lahr put down his fork. “Even if Leonara were ignorant of the conspiracy to imprison me, its existence without her knowledge hardly speaks well of her management. She sat in Darassus for seven years staring into hearthstones while Mazakan built up his armies and our own defenses were left to rot. She pulled our brightest mages out of public service to aid her obsession. She remained unengaged while our Master of Squires…” He seemed choked for a moment as if struggling to speak the words “… Asrahn, was murdered and our best defenders divided in a misplaced manhunt against one of their own. Denaven’s hunt for Kyrkenall resulted in the death not only of several promising squires, but Belahn the Bear and Decrin of the Shining Shield.”

  Verena sipped from her cup, watching steadily.

  “Leonara’s attention has been focused inward, not outward to the care of her charges. She has all but abandoned any day-to-day governance of Erymyr, much less the realms, because she is consumed with the study of magic. Specifically, the study of the hearthstones, aided by her Mage Auxiliary. And need I remind you, Denavan was her choice to replace me.”

  “It seems to come again and again to hearthstones.” The governor set the cup on its dish. “While much of what you say is opinion or speculation, the queen’s infatuation with the stones has been noted by the governors and members of the Erymyran Council. And the secrecy she enforces around that subject is a source of growing irritation.” Verena toyed with her fork, but only Garl showed any remaining interest in the meal as he precisely moved carefully chosen bites to his mouth. “What would you have me do?” she asked, watching through her lashes.

  “Gather the governors with the council,” N’lahr said simply. “And replace the queen. For the safety of the realms. Her flawed judgment has endangered the lives of every man, woman, and child in every one of the five realms. If not for her disastrous choices, the Naor would never have come close to your walls, or those of Alantris.”

  “If I champion your charges
,” Verena said slowly, “I place my own position at risk.”

  “There are few rewards without risk,” N’lahr said. “But someone must step into the void the queen’s absence will create.”

  “Indeed,” Verena said with a shrewd smile. Elenai understood that she’d arrived at that conclusion long since. “And which of the many hopefuls will receive the blessing of the Altenerai commander?”

  Gods. Was that what she had been angling for this entire time? Elenai looked first to one, then the other, watching the way their eyes locked. And she realized that the governor had finally referred to N’lahr by his appropriate title.

  “I am no queen maker,” N’lahr said. “But I will support someone with a proven record of sound judgment. Someone who sees beyond the border of her own realm to weigh the people of all our lands equally. Someone who is not afraid to make the right choices, even when they come with challenges.”

  The two, governor and general, looked at each other for a long time. Elenai barely breathed while Garl continued calmly eating. Finally Verena signaled for an attendant and indicated her cup. As the young man hurried forward, the governor addressed Garl. “Give him what he asks. Ensure that he receives the best wagons. Market price only please.”

  Garl bowed his head. “As you command.”

  “All needs be done swiftly. Commander N’lahr will seek to leave on the morrow.” She looked across the table at N’lahr. “While it is true that we store surplus for times of need, Vedessi stock is not inexhaustible. If the winter is hard this year this expenditure will be felt keenly by my people. I understand that some supplies were recovered from the Naor. I expect you’ll use what you can of those?”

  “I’m accustomed to making the best use of what’s at hand,” N’lahr said.

  “Yes,” Verena said with a faint smile. “You’ve ably demonstrated that. I’ll contact my fellow governors on the subject of the queen and the charges against her. It would be helpful to have a written account from you, signed by your own hand. I’ll include it in the dispatches.”