I leaned back, impressed. “That’s actually some damned good deductive reasoning there.”
“I always suspected there was something kicking around inside that drake’s head,” Liam remarked. “What was the second of the two things you learned?”
“That one such as I can learn to appreciate the friendship of the fey,” Shaw admitted. “Even if the fey in question looks absolutely delectable as a menu item.”
Liam gave the griffin a sharp glance. “Then again–”
Shaw chuckled. “I jest, I jest!”
I ignored the byplay as I stood and went over to the chalk board. Belladonna’s prophetic phrases still remained where I’d written them down. I tapped my finger under one key line: The greatest of the dragons passes into realms beyond the sight of all.
“Sirrahon and Wyeth may indeed be together,” I said quietly. “They’ve both passed into realms ‘beyond the sight of all’. Where could that be?”
But my thoughts cut off as the tower door opened with the heavy clunk of wood on metal.
My centaur friend Galen came trotting in, looking tired but strangely pleased with himself. Herald, the Lord of the Pursuivant, trailed along in his wake like a skinny and brightly colored balloon. The man still dressed in his peacock-like rainbow of colors, from his green hose to his checkerboard-shaded doublet. He held a bundle of cloth in his arms stacked so high that he had trouble seeing over it.
“Salutations, Dayna,” Galen intoned, as he indicated his companion. “The Lord of the Pursuivant has brought you some special linens. So special, in fact, that he insisted on carrying them hence from the weavers’ cottage.”
“Then let’s set them down before he trips over something,” I said, as I stepped aside and beckoned Herald to come forward. The man made his way forward until he was able to set his burden down on the table. He began setting out the folded cloth in several piles as he spoke.
“My thanks, Dame Chrissie. I didn’t mean to disturb you prior to your mid-morning attendance at court. But I was so very pleased with the latest items from our artisans that I wanted to bring them over right away!”
Herald proudly described the thread count and fabric makeup of each pile. These included two sets of bed linen, some light cloaks or capes to wear to court in the summer, sets of ‘bathing linens’, which I think meant ‘bath and facial towels’, and even a full set of cloth napkins. The common element to each item was that my four-colored shield had been printed or embroidered on each piece, probably with a great amount of labor.
“I’m impressed,” I said honestly. “This is…it’s like Christmas! That’s a kind of gift-giving holiday where I’m from. I don’t…well, I just don’t feel like I deserve all this attention.”
Shaw and Liam snickered at that.
“Perhaps I have been absent for a key event,” Galen observed. “What is so humorous?”
Liam spoke up first. “Dayna’s been attracting a lot of attention today. Specifically, that of three knight-errants.”
“It’s nothing,” I said quickly. “These three idiots in armor each wanted permission to fight in the Spring Tournament as my favored champion.”
“You didn’t give your permission to any of them, did you?” Herald said, and his voice leaped in pitch. “You didn’t even hint at accepting their requests, I hope?”
“Of course not! I know that this gives a winning knight the opportunity to court his lady.”
“Oh my, it’s not just that! A knight who fights as a favored champion can be considered a woman’s ‘protector’. They are bound by the laws of honor to challenge any man who so much as makes eyes at his lady to bloody combat. It’s a very good way to scare off potential suitors and make the lady unavailable to marry anyone but that one knight!”
A chill made its way between my shoulder blades and stayed there. I’d just come uncomfortably close to an unwitting and unwilling courtship event. I laughed unsteadily.
“Well then, I’m glad I put things off, then. Like I was telling Shaw and Liam, this whole thing with the knights is ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely it is ridiculous!” Herald agreed firmly. “Dame Chrissie, you should be marrying a lord with land and titles, not some penniless errant knight!”
I swallowed, hard, and tried to interrupt, but Herald ignored my attempt and went on.
“With the status and respect you carry at court, you’ve become one of the highest-ranking women in the kingdom, probably only second to Lady Behnaz. And speaking of Lady Behnaz, I’ve spoken with her about you for quite some time yesterday, and I’m pleased with the results I obtained between the morning and afternoon tea.”
Herald looked expectantly at Galen. The centaur frowned for a moment, then raised his eyebrows as if suddenly remembering something. He reached into one of his saddlebacks and pulled out a scroll, one held together with a short length of red-and-black cord.
“Ah, thank you for carrying this,” Herald said, as he took the scroll and undid the cord that bound it. “I couldn’t have handled it as well as the linens, after all.”
Galen inclined his head politely. “Think nothing of it, Herald.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, as a new suspicion dawned in my mind. “What do you have written on that scroll?”
“The solution to all of your problems, Dame Chrissie. This is a complete list of the choicest suitors on the royal court who can potentially bring in the substantial amount of funding you require.”
“The funds that…” I tried to say, but the nervous butterflies in my stomach were rapidly escaping as I felt my anger start to kick in. “Why in the world do I suddenly need a ‘substantial’ amount of money? Did I suddenly go broke?”
Herald arched an eyebrow as he replied. “It’s quite simple, really. You’re far worse than ‘broke’. As a matter of fact, you’re more heavily in debt than any single knight or lord has been in the past seven hundred years since the kingdom of Andeluvia was founded.”
For a moment, all I could do was gape at the man.
Just my rotten luck.
(…continued...)
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A Perjury of Owls Page 27
