by T J Trapp
Alec was the first to notice a new ability that Erin had acquired when she wore her ring. “Erin, when I am focusing dark energy to slow down time and accelerate myself, you can sense where my sword stroke is going even before I start to make it. When I use dark energy, you know where my stroke is going.”
Erin thought for a second and said, “You are right. I do know where you are going to make your next strike. I can sense it almost before it happens.”
“Then you should learn how to take full advantage of that ability. Anything that gives you an advantage will make you a stronger fighter. If you use the dark energy crystal on your sword in combination with your ring, it will give you an extra advantage.”
✽✽✽
Even though he had never met the man, Alec wanted to do something special to honor Erin’s father, Consort Devin, and decided that the annual fall festival would be a good time to do it. Alec spent days preparing for it. He located a suitable spot in the Residence’s main courtyard. Having found a natural spring up-hill from the courtyard, and using dark energy, he built a gravity-fed aqueduct and pipe system. Then he created an elaborate spraying fountain, reminiscent of those he had seen in Italy, complete with a stylized image of Erin’s father. He discretely left a spot next to Consort Devin where he could add an image of Queen Therin later.
Erin loved the fountain. She had never seen anything like it in her life. The fountain was unveiled at the harvest celebration, where the Queen and her court saw it for the first time. All were impressed and applauded Alec’s work. The Queen was quite perceptive, however. After lavishing praise on the work, she turned to Alec.
“I notice there is a space next to the image of my dear Consort Devin. What is that space for?” she asked.
Alec stammered and didn’t quite know how to answer.
“Is that where you will put my image when I am gone?” she asked.
Alec nodded his head in a guilty and contrite manner. “Um, yes … I mean, it could … go there.”
“What a wonderful tribute!” she said. “Why wait until I am dead? Go ahead and do it, so that I can enjoy it for a while.”
Alec was relieved. “Of course, Queen Therin. I will do it tomorrow.”
Alec used the fountain project to solve another problem. Part of the lower town, the poorest part of Freeland City, had no water supply. The people living there had to haul water to a central cistern. Alec routed the excess water from the fountain to the cistern to give the lower town a continuous and clean source of water. The poor were honored that someone had done something to make their lives easier.
✽✽✽
Alec was consciously trying to turn himself into a contributing member of Theland. He noticed that the dirt road into town tended to rut out after rain. He replaced about two els of the road with a cobblestone pavement that would be unaffected by rain. It worked so well that nobles and other townspeople petitioned the Queen to have him fix the roads in front of their residences; after initially grumbling in Council meetings about Alec’s “meddling,” Brun then began to complain about Alec’s inability to satisfy the demand.
From Alec’s point of view, one impediment to enjoying life in Theland was the Governing Council. As Erin’s Consort, Alec was an official member of the Council and expected to attend Council meetings. The Council had the power to make consequential decisions that could affect the country’s customs and economy but seemed to Alec to rarely use this power. These are worse than the faculty meetings at the Institute – just a bunch of old men bickering over trivia, he thought. Brun was the head of the Council and resented Alec’s presence, but made few comments in the open forum.
Alec felt that the Council placed impediments in front of him at every turn. Alec wanted to create a “wizard school” and train promising youths to help improve the community. Everyone agreed it was a great idea, but then the problems started, as Brun began to ask theoretical questions and pose arguments. Who would pay for the wizard school? How would the wizards charge for their work? Who would prioritize the wizards work, the Queen or the Council? How would their wizarding abilities be used? And who would monitor them to ensure the youths stayed out of mischief? All of these and other issues bogged down the school project in endless hours of discussion.
Finally, Queen Therin explained the real issue to Alec. “Brun is afraid of having more wizards here. For a long time, Brun has been using the council to try to usurp power from me, the Queen. He knows that Erin is already the greatest of our warrior-riders and will probably lead our warriors if need be; by consorting her with Brunder, he could have limited her role. But now, Brun has to contend with you. You have new abilities that Brun fears. Brun wants to be all-powerful – he is concerned that the changes you suggest would reduce his power.”
✽✽✽
On many long evenings, as autumn waned into winter, Alec, Erin, the Queen, and Erin’s younger brother Colin enjoyed long after-dinner conversations by the big fireplace, sipping goblets of wine. They talked about philosophy on many evenings so that Alec could understand Erin’s worldview and Erin could understand his. The biggest difference, Alec thought, was in how they viewed human life. Alec found it difficult to accept the casual way that Erin’s society viewed killing people. He understood war – although in his prior life he had abhorred the thought of having to participate in one – and he understood the American justice system and its use of capital punishment for murderous criminals. However, fighting a duel with someone merely to settle a disagreement seemed to him like vigilante justice – or no justice at all – even though he himself had done this in self-defense and to defend Erin.
And I’m becoming more like them, Alec thought. I have these conversations with Erin about who to kill, and when. That’s not who I was!
Of great concern to Alec was his nightmarish ability to boil the blood of an opponent. Alec had thought long and hard about it and concluded it was not a humane way to fight, although he knew if it came down to saving Erin, he would do anything without regret. He rationalized that it was like nuclear weapons in his world – something that existed but that you never wanted to use.
Erin listened to his concerns and his explanation. She felt the sincerity and the truth of what he was saying but didn’t understand the underlying issue.
“Dead is dead,” she said flatly. “It doesn’t matter how you get there. There is no difference between boiling someone’s blood and chopping off his head. It is the same result. You have defeated your enemy.” The concept of ‘rules’ for conducting warfare also was foreign to her. “War is to resolve issues in any way possible, not to fight like a couple of schoolchildren playing some game,” she chided. “But I respect your feelings, and I know that this bothers you.”
✽✽✽
One blustery winter day Erin and Alec went to the Square of Justice to see Queen Therin consult the Stone of Truth. The main portion of the square was a stone-paved plaza with small shops along the edge. In the center was an elevated platform large enough for several people. The Stone of Truth was in the middle of the elevated platform – a perfect sphere half buried in the platform. The part that was exposed was waist high and black. Erin had seen her mother make many pronouncements after laying her hands on the Stone of Truth.
They reached the square long before the Queen and were escorted to a special area reserved for dignitaries. Most of the other members of the Council were already there. Only Brun and Amelia arrived after they did, Brun almost dragging his daughter by her arm. Amelia looked very annoyed. After the pale sun moved a hands-breadth, Alec watched the Queen enter the square, flanked by her attendants. She walked confidently to the raised platform, mounted the steps, and put her hand on the jet black stone. The stone turned from black to a milky translucent color.
Then the Queen made a pronouncement about the need to extend justice to all the citizens of Theland and to discern the right path, and the stone glowed with a golden hue. Her statement is truth, thought Erin. Alec nodded.
&
nbsp; A man was brought forward in chains. A justice presented the charges. “This man – a nobleman of our City – has been convicted of brutally murdering his neighbor, a peasant, in a dispute over a woman. The punishment is death by beheading. Do you ask for the queen’s intercession?”
The man yelled, “No! I didn’t do it! That is not what happened! I am innocent!”
The Stone of Truth turned black.
“That is not the truth,” said Queen Therin in a loud but troubled voice.
“Well, I did kill him, but he deserved to die! I am a nobleman! He was not! He wronged me – he was trying to take the girl I wanted. She was too good for him.”
The truth stone glowed with a golden hue.
The queen shook her head. “I cannot change your sentence. The Stone has confirmed that you have performed a murderous act; even though your victim was of a lower class than your standing, he did not deserve to die in such a violent manner.”
The justice pulled on the man’s chains and took him off. Everyone there realized that the man was being led to his execution.
Erin took hold of Alec’s arm, watching the man being led from the Square. “Mother likes to say that ‘fighting is easy, but governing is hard,’ and she is right. She often must make decisions in cases where everyone has a true and valid position. It is not unheard of here for nobles to take advantage of the lower castes; many nobles would agree that killing a peasant does not deserve a death sentence. I hope that I do not become queen for many years.”
Alec nodded in agreement.
At the end of the inquisition, Erin went to talk with her mother; from his seat, Alec could see that the Queen looked as if she was exhausted from using the Stone. While Alec waited for Erin he saw that Brun and Amelia were still in their seats and having a heated argument. Not wanting to intrude, Alec continued to face away from them, watching Erin. However, he could clearly hear the high-pitched whine of Amelia over the murmuring of the dissipating crowd.
“Father, I don’t know why you insist that I come to these events.”
“Someday you may be Queen; you need to know how to govern,” Brun growled.
“I won’t ever be queen! I don’t need to know this stuff. Queen T will live a long time, and then Erin is next. When she has a daughter, her girl-pup will be next in line before me. I don’t like wasting my time here.”
“You need to be here,” Brun said angrily. “Shut up and pay attention!”
“I don’t want to be here. I want to be with my friends. We planned to spend the afternoon sipping the purple mushroom juice. Much more fun than this.”
“Purple mushroom is bad for you! Addles your brain! You need to stay away from it.” Amelia snorted. Brun continued, “You are just like your brother, Brunder. Too headstrong. Too impulsive. You only think about your pleasures of the moment. Purple mushroom!” He snorted. “I wish you were more like your younger brother. Brar is sensible. He doesn’t go cavorting around like a silly bounder, like you do.” Alec could hear the older man spit.
“Your mother raised you to be better than this. She would come back from her departing ceremony if she knew what you were doing! I wish she were still alive – she’d give you a scolding and knock some sense into that petulant little face of yours.”
“Mother! Everyone knows you poisoned her so that you could consort with Queen T, so stop acting like you want her to be alive,” snapped Amelia.
“I did not do anything like that; she died of ‘the flux.’ Besides,” he lowered his voice significantly; Alec strained to hear. “Poisoning is an offense that can get you beheaded, so only fools openly speak of such things,” said Brun. “But you need to be prepared. You may become Queen sooner than you think. Our Queen would have died of ‘the flux’ recently if the Princess’ new ‘Wizard’ had not saved her. The Little Princess wants to be a Big Warrior and warriors often suffer terrible accidents in battle. Then she would not be around to become Queen. And, sometime when her Consort is not nearby, the Queen might have another bout of ‘the flux.’ Your time may come sooner than you think.”
“Well, if I am Queen, I will not go through all of this foolishness with that stupid stone. If I think that someone needs to be beheaded, I will order it and not force people to waste their precious time sitting in the cold watching a silly spectacle.”
Amelia rose with a great rustling of her plentiful robes and stomped out. Brun followed, still talking in a low voice. Alec did not hear any more of their conversation. What he had heard was upsetting enough.
✽✽✽
Erin and Alec decided to celebrate their consorting as part of the Queen’s annual spring festival. Erin was eager to have a public celebration of their union and decided that would be the ideal time. By the time of the spring festival, the mountain snow would have melted and the fields would be green with new promise. The Queen liked to have an event to celebrate as part of the festivities.
“In my country, we would have what we call a ‘wedding,’ a ceremony where the bride and groom – the woman and the man – appear before their elders and family and friends, and pledge to love and honor each other,” Alec said. “Sometimes they are very small affairs, but the bigger ones are fun – a formal ceremony, lots of flowers, and music, and dancing, and fancy clothes.”
“A ‘welding’?” asked Erin. “That sounds onerous.”
“No, no,” said Alec, laughing. “A ‘wedding’! A coming-together. Do you have any ceremony like that here?”
“Not really. Sometimes we have a grand dinner when people consort, to introduce their families to each other. But not a big ceremony. ‘Music and dancing’ sounds like something they would do in Gott, not here. But … a feast, and new clothes …” Erin’s eyes darted back and forth as she began to warm to the idea and felt Alec’s desire to celebrate. “We could have a big event as a part of the spring festival, right here in the gardens of the Residence. We could invite the cream of the town society – they would like that. I could have a new dress made, and new clothing for you! And for Mother! She will like this idea!” And so, with the excitement of a bride, she began making plans.
The word quickly spread that there would be a consorting celebration between the Princess and her man. Everyone wanted to be a part of the party since it was the chance of the year to hob-nob with Theland royalty and cognoscenti. Alec wanted this to be a spectacle to showcase Erin. Alec insisted that some of his country’s customs be included alongside the local traditions and the Queen readily agreed.
When the day came, they set up a formal receiving area with white tents in the center of the Residence gardens. A central pathway led from the Residence to an open pavilion in the center of the area, flanked by mounds of white flowers on either side. The guests, those few hundred townspeople fortunate enough to be graced with an invitation, stood on either side of this aisle.
Normally at a formal event of this type, the two would have walked in together, hand in hand; but for this occasion, Alec had other ideas. Two royal whistle-bearers heralded the beginning of the ceremony. First Erin’s brother Colin walked towards the center of the pavilion. Then Alec walked alone down the aisle, resplendent in his new suit made in the highest style of Theland by its finest tailor. Erin appeared next, at the garden doorway, wearing a simple long white gown. Two young flower girls walked down the center aisle in front of Erin, throwing out pale scented flower petals. Erin paused for a moment for effect before walking with a slow, stately step towards Alec. As Erin walked by, each of the flower petals glowed gently with its own light. Erin walked to Alec looking like a Greek goddess of old legends, highlighted in fire and light.
She looks stunning, Alec thought. As a bride should.
When she reached the front, she took Alec’s hand, but Alec wasn’t finished with his special effects.
“The crown, please,” he said. Colin stepped forward holding a pillow in his outstretched hands, a small tiara nestled atop. Alec took the tiara in both hands and put it on Erin’s head. Then he foc
used a little dark energy, and the tiara lit up, bathing Erin in a soft light.
Alec took her hand and held it up high in the traditional sign that Theland couples used to show they were consorted. Both wedding rings that Alec had made lit up and glowed in soft light, wrapping their hands together in a symbolic joining. Gasps and coos of amazement rose from the crowd, and then the guests cheered and applauded the couple. With that, Alec and the glowing Princess joined the rest of the guests in a long receiving line. All looked at Erin with amazement as she glimmered softly in the evening sun, with two moons setting behind the couple to frame the scene.
Erin and Alec had one more trick to regale their guests. As the sun went down, Alec focused dark energy, and two dozen light globes awoke to brighten the feast area. Again, there were gasps and murmurs of pleasure and delight. The feasting and revelry went long into the night, winding down only when the ‘magic’ lights started to dim in the early morning.
15 – Touring Theland
Ever since Erin had brought Alec to her homeland, they had talked about taking a trip through her mother’s realm so that Alec could see the rest of Theland. One spring afternoon, Erin came out to the corner of the stable that Alec had claimed as his work area. “It is chilly in the Residence, but it is warm out here. No wonder you spend so much time in the stables!”
Alec smiled, and pulled her close. “I’m not trying to get away from you! No, I spend a lot of time out here working, because there is so much that needs to be done. Everything is so hard to do when you have to create everything from scratch and have no one to help you.”
