Book 2, Chapter 9: Elsemere

The rest of the day had gone much the same as yesterday. Weapon practice when I could, riding when I couldn’t.

Brundle found me while I was walking along. Or, sitting on a horse that was walking along, getting bounced here and there. I won’t say it was comfortable, but it wasn’t awful. Horses seem pretty ok when you spend a lot of time with them.

Riding from the front of the line, he wheeled his horse around alongside mine, “Your Highness, how are you this afternoon?”

“Oh, good. And yourself?”

“I see you’re still wearing your armor.”

“Yes. It’s surprisingly comfortable.” To myself, I added, ‘especially compared to dresses,’ but didn’t let him in on that secret. Why, he never wore a dress, so he probably agreed with me.

“We’re about to descend into the Elsemere Plains before rising into the highlands.”

“Ah.” I said, not knowing what he was talking about.

“It would be a great place for an ambush, but it seems we needn’t be concerned. Scouting parties have been regularly checking in, no sign of enemy movement ahead.”

“Forgive me, General, but I thought we weren’t going to encounter the enemy until getting much closer to the second bridge. Ah, Duke Bechalle’s lands.”

“That’s accurate. I didn’t come here to worry you, but to discuss a piece of history.”

“History?”

The road began to gently curve right, toward the hills, and upward. We were coming to the crest of the nearest hill. “Yes, just beyond this hilltop is where your father defeated the Laemacians, the Northern Barbarians. Some fifteen years past.”

“This is going to sound ignorant, but I’m unfamiliar with those people and this battle.”

“I had a feeling that were the case.” We crested the hill and the view caught my breath. The northern slope was gentle and long, opening into a vast valley. Several streaks of blue cutting down from surrounding hills fed into a far off river that meandered through the middle of the plains. The army train wound through the grass and I was shocked to see that the grass was taller than the tallest people. It was thick with yellow and white flowers peeking through the top blades. Green waves of grass rolled across the field, like an inland, dry ocean.

“Wow.”

“Lots of snakes in that grass. And birds. Deer, even tigers.”

“I’m sorry, did you say ‘tigers’?”

“Elusive and shy. We probably won’t see any, but your father used to lead hunting expeditions here – some of the skins hanging in the castle halls were caught here.”

“Wow.”

“If Your Highness wishes, we could lead such an expedition.”

“No thank you. We can let the tigers be.” I grew a little worried, and so needed to ask, “What about the ‘grab grass’? Morry had told me about it earlier.”

“There shouldn’t be any here. It only lives in very dry climates, near deserts.”

“That’s a relief!” His comment came back to me then. “What did you mean that you expected me not to know the, ah, Northern Barbarians?”

“If you’ll forgive me, allow me to tell you a little about them. For one thing, they aren’t barbarians. And they’re not from the north. That’s just something we call them.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the rolling waves of grass. A flock of birds burst into the air off in the distance, perhaps a tiger leaping to catch one of them. “Ah, ok. So, we misname them. Makes sense. Gotta have bad guys, right?”

“They are a prosperous nation. High quality steel and silk, excellent glass making.”

“That doesn’t sound barbaric at all.”

“No. But some sixteen years ago they became expansionist, pillaging even Castle Bechalle. The duke retreated to your father’s castle and then the two rallied together, fighting the Laemacians here on this very plain. Well, it would have been the current duke’s father, but Duke Bechalle rode in that army, too. He would have been not much older than you are now.”

“Ah, so Bechalle owes me. Thanks, that’s good to know.”

“Exactly. Also,” he paused, “the Laemacians have dark olive skin.”

“Oh. My, uh, father took a, uhm, a camp follower from them?”

“Your Highness, I would never suggest something like that. The king, it must be said, was a most faithful and dedicated monarch. He-”

“Right, message received. Some people might try to use the, ah, rumors of his . . . dalliances against me.”

“Only the most ignorant and vile of people would suggest that you aren’t the lawful heir to the throne. The woman became his second wife.”

“Oh, whoops, I misunderstood.”

He scowled at me. “Has no one told you this history before?”

I pretended to more than I knew, saying, “This is all starting to make sense now. I should be angry, but they have all passed. My family.”

“She passed in childbirth, well rest her soul. Upon hearing this information, the Laemacians soon renewed the fighting.”

“Wait, that doesn’t add up. They got married, she dies giving birth all within a military campaign? Was the campaign nine months long?” He was trying to tell me something here, but I was missing it. It seemed this body’s father enjoyed his position of power.

“Part of the reason for the war was, excuse me for saying this, the dalliances of the king.”

“Oh. Oh! Did he kidnap her or something?”

“I don’t believe so. During one of his visits, I believe they met. They-”

“I think I get it.” King father – I still didn’t know his name – caused an international war because he, well, had a thing for foreigners. She must have been important for the state to declare over it. Perhaps their king’s daughter or some important noble house or however that works. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because, Your Highness, we are headed in the direction of their empire.”

“I thought we were heading to Castle Bechalle?”

“Yes, and the Laemacian land lies to the east and north of the Bechalle duchy.”

“Ah, I see. You think they might attack us or try to contact me?”

“Of that, I cannot say, but I wanted you to at least be aware of the possibilities.”

“Thank you, Brundle, for that story and for showing me these lovely vistas. Very informative.”

“May I now discuss the battle? I was a foot soldier back then . . .”

He went on to describe how the king had overcome the Laemacian army. I kind of zoned out, wondering how this new information affected me. Were people going to use my presumed mixed, perhaps even illegitimate parentage, against me? Perhaps that’s what the dowager had been aiming for all along. Perhaps these people I’d never encountered, the Laemacians, would lay some claim to the kingdom – I couldn’t yet bring myself to declare it ‘my kingdom’ – through me. I guess I’d deal with these problems as they crop up.

I also wondered how long a deed like saving Bechalle’s lands would count in my favor. He may see it differently, considering I wasn’t around back then. Perhaps more accurately stated, it looks like this body owed its existence to that battle.