Book 6, Chapter 26: Out Of The Tent
“If our militaries won’t help against this threat, then why did you come here?”
“Ah.” I thought about what to tell him. The truth wouldn’t help – ‘well, Serce, I was running from everyone in fear of my life!’ – but lies always got me into trouble. I needed a selective truth. “To unify the land and stop all this senseless warring. Our nations have to prepare for what’s coming and wasting our men against each other’s spears isn’t going to help.”
“If you really are a goddess, can’t you-”
“Serce, there’s more of them and they’re stronger than me. That’s why I need to get the mage to that temple. It’s why we need peace, so we can prepare for what comes. They’ve,” I sat back, rubbed my eyes, pushed hair away from my face, “already sent creatures after him. Very difficult to defeat creatures.”
“Creatures? What do you mean by this?”
“Monsters, but not the typical ones. Two legged, two arms, with additional appendages coming from the back, I think, that curved over their shoulders. They attacked with those and their clawed . . . hands, I guess. These seemed nearly impervious to steel. Only fire worked. Uh, they were tall and very mean looking.”
“Fire? That’s manageable for an army. We could have the archers loose tarred and enflamed arrows. I take it the preparations you mention, the unification of our nations is, in part, to defend against such creatures?”
“Yeah. Yes. There’s more to come, I fear.”
“What do these ‘Others’ want, Cayce?”
“I don’t know. I wish I did.”
“Surely if you’re a goddess and they’re like you, you must have some idea.”
“They’re not like me. I don’t understand them. They come from a place of horror.”
“Well,” he said, nodding and picking up his cup, “the clearest path to unifying our lands into one empire is, as I see it, through marriage. I have the-”
“Oh, I’ve had enough talk about marriage in my time, let me tell you!”
The prince wryly smiled at me, “The powerful in Laemacia are barely united under my rule, Cayce. And the military. Otholos did it through violence. How are you going to, as an outsider, keep the nobles in line? If I walked up to your generals and dukes and proclaimed myself king, do you really think they’d take me seriously?”
“No, but-”
“But I don’t have the blood. That’s true. You’ve half the blood, you’ve never lived in Laemacia, you don’t know any of the nobles, and the military won’t listen to you.” After taking a drink, he set his cup down.
“Some of them will. You saw that today.”
“Oh sure. Not enough and not out of loyalty, but fear.” Serce traced circles with his index finger on the wooden table, “You want to rule like Otholos?”
“Then you’ll just have to get them in line for me!” Took a breath, letting the sudden anger fade. “Sorry. Listen, Serce, I don’t mean to displace you. You’ll retain your position, we’ll figure it out.”
“The only way to retain my position-”
“Yes, yes, yes. Marriage.”
“I was going to say, become a member of your family.”
“What? I’m going to adopt you?”
“You’ve had a long journey here.” He rose, “I’m going to arrange for a meal. Rest and enjoy the wine a while.”
“I may growl a little, too.” As he stood up and walked away, as I sipped, two oppositional thoughts came to mind. It was too easy, being a noble. I’d been instantly elevated merely by being recognized by Serce. Just a week ago, Cresida was having me empty her bedpans. I suppose that meant I should always and ever travel with my own army, or at least a host of guards, to prevent myself from being treated like, well, anyone else.
And the other thought, was that there’s no way Serce is just going to give me the empire. Even if I had my divinity, proved it to him, I’m sure he’d try to find some way to resist. Monarchs only gave up their thrones when executed, prior to the modern era. Well, a handful abdicated in favor of their children. And another handful lost their lands and had no choice but weren’t killed.
But no one in history had ever handed over their throne to an outsider out of good faith.
Although, my circumstances were different, and there were no real parallels in history. I really was a deity and really did prove it, though I no longer could. Took another sip while thinking Serce was probably right, marriage was the way to go. Yet I didn’t need the throne. I needed to get Talaren to the temple.
And I needed to touch that mirror one more time.
***
“What do you mean we have to share the tent?” Crossed my arms, cue foot tapping, staring at Serce standing on the other side of what was to be my bed. Lavish, thickly cushioned, full of purple and red pillows, ropes of gold trim outlining them, highly polished, heavy wooden frame with intricate carvings to hold it up.
“We didn’t bring another royal tent with us.”
I gave him an angry head tilt, “Then you’ll have to make do without one.”
“I cannot, not in front of the troops.”
“Well, you can’t stay in this tent!” Looking away from him, I walked away from the bed, “This, this is my tent.”
“Cayce, I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Whirling around to face him, “We’re that casual now?”
“Unless you want me to call you ‘Your Most Royal Highness’ when we’re alone.” He shrugged, smiled one side of his face, “We were using our first names just an hour ago.”
“You know what? You keep the bed, I’ll take the floor. I’ve been sleeping on the ground so much, I’ve gotten used to it. And if you get off the bed, for any reason, I will turn you into a toad.”
“A toad?”
“Maybe a coffee tree. I’d like a coffee tree.”
“Coffee? A small black bean that’s crushed and simmered into water, like tea?”
“Wait, what?” I practically ran up to him, grabbing his shirt. “You know about coffee? Tell me you have coffee in Laemacia!” Maybe, just maybe he would be worth marrying after all.
“Some of the nobles import it from a kingdom far to the east. How do you know about it?”
“Oh, Serce, you almost won me over there. Alright, new plan. After we unite our nations and defeat the unimaginably awful Others, assuming we survive and the world isn’t destroyed, we’ll conquer this eastern kingdom and take over their coffee production.”
“I thought you were against wars.”
“That just proves you’ve never had thick, dark and bitter coffee.” I half turned away from him, “Ok, alright, we’ll simply expand – and protect – the trade routes.”
He picked a pillow off the bed and fluffed it up, “It’s the method of production that keeps me away from it.”
“What do you mean?” I wondered if it was like our trade, where poorer nations used slaves to harvest difficult to get to beans, like chocolate and sometimes coffee. “They use children to harvest it?”
“No, not the harvest. Elephants consume the plant, then the laborers pick the beans out of the resulting feces, clean the beans off and dry them in the sun. Those are then crushed and simmered in hot water.”
“That’s . . . different. Not what I imagined. The beans can also be roasted, though I hope, the flavor profile is better.” Elephant digestion. Possibly the earliest method to process coffee beans. It definitely makes you wonder about early foraging societies and where they got their ideas for what constitutes food.
Setting down the pillow, he placed his hands on my shoulders. “I will take the far side of the tent and sleep on cushions.”
“Why didn’t you have the generals come to meet me?”
“Tomorrow. We’ll rectify that tomorrow.”
“Alright,” I pulled his hands off my arms, “no touching the empress. If I really am to-”
A loud voice from the entrance to the large tent, “Beg pardon the interruption, Your Royal Highness, but scouting parties have returned, reporting a force gathering to our south.”
“Ah,” Serce said, looking at me.
Taking a step back, I said, “That will likely be the army I told you about. They’re after the mage.”
To the soldier kneeling at the entrance, Serce said, “How far from here?”
Remaining on one knee, looking at the ground, he said, “Perhaps my lord would receive better information by questioning the scouts?”
The prince said to me, “I’ll go and learn how near that army is and discuss what to do about it with my generals.”
“No. This is as good a time to meet your generals. I am coming with you.”
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