Book 2, Chapter 27: The Discussion Behind The Tapestries
“Some sweet wine, cousin?” He found me wandering the halls. I was enjoying my alone time perusing the tapestries, walking slowly toward where we were to meet. I guess he’d grown anxious and decided to head toward my rooms.
The halls were wide and high, tapestries lining much of the walls, art elsewhere, and, as usual, the stonework captivated me. Nothing like this had existed where I came from, my world of concrete, metal, mirrored glass and neon. This was a treat! A part of me felt intruded upon, but we did have a meeting.
“No thank you. Never touch the stuff.”
Cocking his head, surprised, he said, “But sweet wine is your favorite. You enjoyed it the entire banquet we had just two days ago. Here, a sip, perhaps you’ll like this variety. I brought it up from the cellar just for you.”
“Perhaps an ale later. Or an unsweetened wine. The sweet wine has no appeal for me.” No sense in telling him that Brin had the serving girl substitute regular wine for me that night. I didn’t want his anger directed at her, though I had never seen him lose his temper.
He looked annoyed. But then his lips slowly uncurled, eyes unnarrowed, face relaxed, shifting to the appearance of joyful contentedness, almost like a purposeful decision to be happy. It was uncanny. He’d concentrated to do so. I took a step away from the perfectly normal not alien human.
His eyes moved from me to the tapestry behind me, “You like it? Allow me to show you some of my newer ones.” Two soldiers accompanied him, standing a bit back. He gestured one over and passed both my intended drink and his to the soldier, who then walked away with them.
Back to calm, with a touch of joy, “This one is about the famous battle at Krowperk. In fact, this whole series is. This Laemacian king is something of a hero to me. Here,” he moved us to the next one, but it wasn’t so much a painting of people as movements of armies, in formation through a valley. “Laemacia had been caught by surprise two days prior and their military vastly reduced. Gnosh, on this side,” he gestured to the left side. “A large military force in tight, symmetrical formations marched into the valley, nearly double their number.”
“I thought Laemacia was an empire?”
“It is now, to be sure. At this point, though, a kingdom.”
“How did the Laemacian king – forgive me, I forget his name – win this battle?”
“Through cunning. King Kgosi had his men dig pits and cover them up, leaving caltrops hidden in the grass between them. He positioned half his sorcerers on a mountain, here. That left his army dangerously unprotected, and so they were ordered to retreat as if appearing to break when meeting the army.” Bechalle lit up, clearly enjoying describing these tactics. The first time since meeting him I’d seen him enthusiastic about something.
“The Gnosh army fell for the ruse and made chase. Once his troops were out of the area, his sorcerers caused the mountain to collapse on the larger Gnosh army. The falling rocks were far and above what the Gnoshian sorcerers could protect against. They and the king were crushed. It was a trivial matter to clean up the remaining soldiers.”
“So, the power of wizards is limited?”
“Oh yes, Cayce, very much so. Magic is a tool, wizards are the tools of rulers. To be a great leader, you must know the limitations of your tools.”
“I want to learn more about these issues. Albian, you are the first person to treat me as an equal.” I slipped my arm in his, to which he stiffened, paused, and relaxed, “Please continue.”
Placing his hand on mine, “You see, a mountain is a precarious structure. It traps an enormous weight above its centerline. It’s much easier to break that line, than move the mountain itself. The sorcerers below-”
“Yes, but how much, uhm, volume of stone, can a wizard protect himself from?” I was thinking force equals mass times acceleration, so it would be possible to calculate just how much energy output a wizard had if I knew their failure point. Testing that seemed inhumane, though. Or, at the least, difficult. And would require willing, suicidal mages.
“Mountains do not come in discreet packages.”
I smiled up at him, “Perhaps we should run some experiments?”
He actually laughed. A barking laugh, and then he dragged me along, pointing out other tapestries, other wars, hunts, mystical creatures, some he believed existed, some he didn’t, and we walked through the castle, pleasantly passing the time. Arm in arm, I wondered if I misjudged him.
We stopped at a mirror and while he explained its origins, I again saw my reflection. We were both attractive. Tall, thin but well-muscled, his sharp features, handsome, masculine, contrasting with the cute girl with stunning make-up that would have caught my breath before, lithe little body. The grand magister said I’d not finish puberty until I was seventeen. A wonder, for these hips were curvy and my waist small. But these were, I knew, partly a trick of the costume.
“Cayce, I have one last piece I’d like to show you before we dine.”
“I have a question, actually.”
“Oh?” We paused.
“Were we to marry, would I be able to continue my campaign, or would you leave me here?”
“What’s your preference?
“I think I’d prefer to be part of the campaign. I know the horrors of war, but to send troops off to fight for me when I wouldn’t go myself seems wrong.” Part of me was really asking if he’d mind that I preferred armor to dresses, but I couldn’t figure a way to ask without sounding childish.
“Well then, off with the troops you go. Not many women are like you.” He took my arm again and we walked, slowly, to a heavy door. He opened it and there were stairs leading up.
I entered, we walked up the wide stairs. Tapestries, as usual, along the walls. I said, “It’s a shame I have to threaten the Barclay duchy at all. Lady Sapphire and I got along very well. But the dowager will certainly try to poison her against me.”
“You should have killed her when you had the chance.”
“I’m beginning to see that, though I find unnecessary death distasteful.”
“With your parents gone, your brother dead, she was the legal ruler of our kingdom. And she is a cunning, crafty old bag, with ties to many of the nobility and influence with the church.” We continued up, probably having climbed two stories now, “What, may I ask, caused your cessation of amicability?”
“She forced a pedophile priest on me.”
“Ah. Yes, that is most troubling. For what purpose?”
“She believed . . . I don’t know. She thought . . .” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, it sounded so absurd that a caregiver would blame the victim of a heinous crime and believe that being the target of a crime somehow made the target corrupt.
“An innocence test?”
“Yes. I killed the inquisitor.”
“Ha!” He clapped his hands together, “Good for you! I bet that was a shock! Did it register in his eyes? Did you take enjoyment of the life leaving his body?”
“No, god, I did not look at his eyes. He fell away from me. I think I was in shock.”
We’d traveled more flights of stairs up this tower, but I was not tired, and we’d come to a door. “Shock? Surely, you’ve seen all manner of men die. Surely, you’ve been the cause of a great many deaths.”
“A few. Those wizards . . . but I didn’t want to.”
“More than those, I think.”
I pulled away from him, backing into the room, “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Cayce, we both know what you are. The things you have seen! The things you have done! I want that. I want it from you so very, very badly.” The enormous door boomed when he closed it, trapping us in this room.
It had no tapestries. Two wooden poles rose from the ground in the middle of the room, bolted to the floor. A bench, a table with vessels on it, pots on the floor. I backed up, he stood in front of the door.
“What are you talking about? What do you want?”
“I just told you.” He stepped toward me, raising his hands, “Make this easy and it’ll be over quickly.”
I dropped into a fighting stance, right foot back, slightly bent knees, hands up and open in front of me. No time to get the dirk. He was big and probably fast, I didn’t stand a chance. I could bite him. I would. “You change your mind about rape, Albian?”
He barked a laugh, “I have no interest in such activities.”
“What then?”
He rushed forward, barreled into me and we fell to the floor, him on top and passed my guard. I punched and punched at his chest to no avail, he hit me in the head. I covered up, elbows to my temples and curled up to his inner thigh, biting down as hard as I could through his pants. He didn’t so much as scream and battered his fists against my elbows and head until I blacked out.
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