They ate and drank in silence for a time, Bock for about ten minutes, Gwaynn for nearly three quarters of an hour, with Carolyn fawning over them the entire time, but when they were finished both felt sated and comfortable.
“Leave the pitcher Madame Carolyn if you will,” Gwaynn said by way of dismissal and the old woman caught the hint immediately and left without question.
“Have you given any thought to how you’ll rule Massi?” Gwaynn asked bluntly after the woman had gone. He caught Lonogan in the middle of a sip of beer and he had to fight to keep from spitting it all over his King.
“You’re joking,” Bock barked and his stomach clenched. This would not do. Ruling Massi was not in his plans.
“I’m not.”
“Surely you have a cousin…an uncle…some close family member fit to rule,” Bock demanded, wondering how he was going to decline the offer if Gwaynn continued to push.
“I do not,” Gwaynn replied, slightly amused by his friend’s attitude. “You’ve fought with me all over Massi. Have I called any of my trusted lieutenants’ cousin, or uncle? I have an elderly aunt living up near Heron…but she’s not able, nor willing.”
Lonogan frowned and downed his beer in five large gulps. He filled his cup again just as quickly. “But to rule Massi in your stead…” he began.
“Not in my stead…as King. Of course you will have to change your last name,” Gwaynn added and Lonogan’s heart fell. Kings were not permitted to marry Travelers, or even keep one in country. It was considered too dangerous for the other royal families in the land.
“But…” Bock began and Gwaynn finally became aware of the unique nature of his friend’s distress. He guessed the cause immediately and smiled briefly.
“What’s the problem?” Gwaynn asked, pretending ignorance, and was surprised when Lonogan gulped at his beer once again, then stood and began to pace back and forth across the room, his boots knocking out the rhythm of his stride on the wooden floor. Gwaynn took pity on his older friend.
“Are you afraid Jess will not like the idea of being Queen of Massi?”
Lonogan stopped in his tracks and turned on the young man sitting calmly before him. “You know?”
“That you planned to move to Light to be with her when the war was over?”
Lonogan nodded.
“No…I guessed.”
“Did you mean what you said just now, about Jess being the Queen of Massi?
Gwaynn nodded.
“But how? It’s forbidden for a Traveler to live permanently off of Light or to marry anyone from a royal family.” Bock gave a little shiver at the mention of royalty. Even as a child he had never dreamed that one day he would have the chance to belong to such an exclusive group.
“You’re forgetting something,” Gwaynn said with a large smile on his face. “I’m the High King.”
ǂ
Tar Nacht was in his room, throwing together his personal items and dressing to kill. Word had finally reached the King’s Island of the defeat of the Temple Knights along with vague and disturbing rumors of Prince Gwaynn Massi being crowned High King by the Tars of Noble.
‘It’s over!’ Nacht’s mind screamed as he quickly attached two spring knives, one to each forearm. He adeptly adjusted the tension then threw on an oversized black tunic with long billowing sleeves to hide the weapons. He was far from panic, but he knew time was against him. He gambled and lost everything. He strapped four more knives tightly around his calves, then pulled down the cuffs of his silk black pants and slipped on a pair of low boots. He was careful with all the weapons for his blades were always tipped with poison. If he could, he would take along a great deal of company when he finally went to meet the Black Horseman. The new High King was sure to move against Sinis, after all they had been trying frantically to kill him for more than two years, the young man must be aware of the fact.
Nacht shook his head in disbelief. Sinis had sent a dozen Executioners to Massi plus nearly twice as many highly trained acolytes, and yet the Prince somehow managed to elude the death he so richly deserved.
‘It was uncanny; the work of providence,’ Nacht thought as he placed his kali at his waist.
The door to his room flew open without warning and Queen Audra rushed in.
“You can’t just leave me!” She screamed at the top of her voice causing the Tar of Sinis to flinch slightly.
“I should kill you and be done with it,” he answered softly and glared at her, satisfied that she quickly came to a halt and then actually retreated a few paces. He began to draw his right kali from its sheath. “Save Gwaynn the trouble and perhaps he will forgive me.”
Audra backed away another step and Nacht was pleased to see real fear in her eyes.
“But…but you promised to support me…to back me against all my enemies,” she said and though she was beautiful, even heavy with child as she was, Nacht could hear the pout of a little girl in her voice.
Nacht slammed his kali back in its sheath and turned his back on her, stuffing the one pack he would be taking with him with extra clothes and weapons.
“You promised!” She insisted, her voice growing a bit stronger now that the immediate threat of death seemed to have past. The young Queen watched him with dismay and rising panic. Everyone had abandoned her; Caiman, her father and brother and Captain Hothgaard, who if the rumors were true was now marching with the traitor from Massi…and now Tar Nacht and the Executioners from Sinis. She was alone and her life was in peril. Gwaynn would kill her, she had little doubt that and he would kill precious Aiden and her still unborn child. It was the only way he could secure lasting power for himself and his own children.
“Take us with you,” she blurted, suddenly very willing to throw her rule in the dust if it meant life for herself and her children.
Nacht laughed and turned to her. “You’re serious,” he said, grabbing his broadsword from the corner. “How fast can you waddle your Highness? Not fast enough I’d guess. And you would be so easy to hide, so inconspicuous. I never took you for a fool!”
He looked at her a moment, then began to push past her, just as shouts and warning bells began to sound in the courtyard beyond. Nacht stopped in his tracks, unaware that Audra was now clutching his upper arm tightly. Unconsciously he threw off her grip and sped across the room to the balcony. Audra, despite her condition was right behind him, waddling surprisingly fast.
They reached the stone railing just in time to see an enormous Traveler bridge pop out of existence, but they took no notice of it, both were entranced by the large army of men and horses that had apparently poured from it and into the castle. There were hundreds upon hundreds…most dressed in the uniforms of the Temple Knights or else wore the colors of Massi, but here and there Nacht glimpsed the gray and royal blue of Noble among the hoards of fighters.
‘Such power!’ Nacht thought awed, and strangely curious. Such a large stable bridge would take a number of Travelers…maybe as many as six or seven. It seems more Travelers had survived than was widely known. “The Travelers finally have their revenge,” he stated softly. “Your husband was a dupe.”