Chapter 7

“The king will see you now,” the chamberlain called out to the robed figures sitting patiently on stone benches not meant for comfort being both cold as well as hard. The meaning of being left to wait in that waiting area when other, more comfortable rooms were available was not lost on the sorcerers. Getting up from the benches they had been left to sit upon, the four figures followed the chamberlain silently, their embarrassment all the greater as servants looked out at them as word of the incident out in the training field had preceded them.

Moving through the open doors, the five men walked down the service hallway passing various doorways that led to servant areas such as the kitchen on one side. The other side of the hallway contained doors leading to other official rooms such as the small throne room where the king usually dispensed justice. For now the five walked past the small throne room stopping in front of another set of doors, these were guarded by a pair of soldiers. Pausing for only a minute everyone in the hallway could smell the aroma of fresh food wafting from gaps in the doors.

Following the chamberlain into the room the four men stopped in front of a long table where the king along with his queen and five of their children sat eating their evening mean not bothering to look at the men standing before them. Ignoring the men, the king took another bite from the leg bone he held in his hand. Looking at the four sorcerers while he ate, he gave them time to worry as to their fate for using the king’s name without his permission.

The king of Greenwater himself was more amused than angry at the men standing before him as he already knew what had happened out on the training field; his spies were very good. Setting the leg bone down to pick up a napkin, King Nogar waited a few more seconds before stating, “Taog, I hear there was an incident out on the training field today and these men with you from my council were all involved.”

Taog knew there was no point in lying to the king, his spies kept him informed of events in and around the city. Instead the man offered, “Milord, I would like to start by saying the council is sorry for the embarrassment we caused you today out on the training field. We had no idea the woman was anything more than an herbalist with the gift of healing. What happened today was all a misunderstanding, we were...”

Raising his voice, King Nogar replied, “Misunderstandings do not leave two dead and two others requiring healers themselves.”

“Sire, as I said, the woman misunderstood our purpose in requesting to speak with her. As soon as we started to approach she set her hounds loose on the council’s men then that half-breed slave of hers added to the confusion while others tried to restore order,” Taog replied.

“What about this morning, you sent a rider out to inquire why she did not appear this morning before the council. My source tells me she declined your summons and instead invited the council to come out to the training ground to speak with her. Instead you sent the same boy out there with five guards to bring her before the city council apparently by force.

“So after the summons was declined, I too would probably have a similar misunderstanding when six men show up saying I was to follow them in the name of the king.”

“Milord, please we were only trying to prepare the city for any possible attack. We observed the woman for three days before we sent out the summons as we assumed she had no ability, at no time during those three days did she use any magic that we could see. Even with that limitation, we thought approaching her was a good idea, we could see she was a gifted herbalist,” Taog answered.

“I appreciate your efforts on behalf of the city and those should continue,” the king stated. Adding in a raised voice, “My problem is that you brought me into this. You made city council business the king’s business.”

“My apologies Milord this whole issue was never our intent. With your permission, I will go out and speak with this shaman and correct the misunderstanding,” Taog answered.

Looking at his senior sorcerer on the city council, the king answered thoughtfully, saying, “No, I think not. If she is like others from the upriver clans then your presence would only make everything worse and the one thing we do not need while we’re preoccupied trying to stay neutral in the fighting going on to the west is war with the upriver tribes. If one of their shaman was injured or worse, killed.

“No Taog let us give this shaman some space and time. She has done nothing wrong as she was protecting herself. Her slave did what I would hope any servant of mine would do if someone in my family was being threatened. For now leave her to me and I will think on what, if anything should be done as she did defy the summons in my name.”

Ignoring the four sorcerers in favor of his dinner, the chamberlain stepped forward indicating the men should leave via the same door they had entered through. Pulling the doors shut, the chamberlain returned to the table and instead of standing to one side took a seat across from the king, helping himself to food from the king’s table.

Looking at the king once his plate was full, he asked, “What is your wish Sire?”

Sitting back from the table, the king answered, saying, “Having a shaman within the city walls is always a boon, not just if the city is attacked. Though you and I have heard stories of armies bypassing entire cities when they knew there was one or more shaman within the walls. The southern cities respect them to the point of allowing the shaman of other races to enter their cities. Were it to become known we had a shaman residing here, others might pause before they were willing to challenge our neutrality. What are your thoughts wife?”

Queen Fravi sitting next to her husband answered him, never looking away from her new daughter feeding at her breast, “There is much that we do not know about her other than people saying she is a shaman. We know she is from upriver and those tribes have always been friendly with us but that does not mean they are so now. If the decision was mine to make, I would send someone non-threatening to the training field to meet her and judge her demeanor. If she is at least not hostile from today, then whoever was sent out could make contact for us in the name of the king. Judging from their report, we might even invite her to join the royal party at the ceremony to be held in honor of the citizens completing their training for the militia. Besides having a royal presence at the ending ceremony is never a bad thing since the citizens may be called upon to defend the walls for all of us.”

When there was a pause from the queen, King Nogar asked with just a touch of playful sarcasm to his wife, “So who shall we send to make this initial approach, Chamberlain Nugo would be my first choice but if we’re looking for someone non-threatening...”

Taking a break from his own meal, Chamberlain Nugo offered, “While I appreciate the king’s trust in my dealings with people, might I suggest the twins.” Looking at the twin teenage girls sitting to the queen’s left, he continued, “Considering the trouble they normally get into around the castle no one would suspect them of being anything more than who they are and certainly no one would guess they were being sent out as your envoys.”

Mentioning the twins by their Uncle the girls perked up becoming very interested in what was being said. The discussion continued well past the time the younger children had been dismissed and sent to bed, leaving the three adults and two apprenticed king’s envoys sitting there. The twins payed rapt attention to all that was being said around them as both of them realized this was the first time they had been given a duty to preform for not only their parents but the king and city. After yet another hour of discussions they too were dismissed and as the door closed behind them, Queen Fravi offered, “I certainly hope you’re right in allowing those two to do this. The shaman might mean a lot to Greenwater.”

“They’ll be fine. Even if they fail we’re no worse off than we are now and should they succeed we will have their pride to help keep them out of mischief. Now they simply get into trouble with only their family to keep them in line.”

“That should be enough for anyone,” the queen replied.

Nodding his agreement, Nugo continued, saying, “You’re right, it should be and for now our family can keep them in line but if they succeed in this then anyone who knows them will be able to influence them, simply by mentioning how proud everyone was of them when they succeeded with the shaman where even the sorcerers of the council failed. We all win.”

“What if they should fail?” the king asked the chamberlain, his brother.

“Those two will not fail. If you were watching them as I was, you’d know that. While we were explaining what was needed, I would say the two of them were completely focused on what was being said. The only way they might fail would be if they stopped being themselves and tried to be you or me. Let the girls be themselves and we’ll see what they can do. I have faith in my nieces and both of you should have faith in your daughters.”

“My daughters, I have faith in, it is the rest of the world I worry about,” the king said.

By the time the king and queen returned to their quarters for the night, the plan was in place for the twins to ride out with an escort and mingle with the citizens; all the while they would be moving closer to the woman with the goal being to eventually make contact and meet her. The chamberlain had a slightly different course plotted. While returning to his bedchamber he moved down a hallway and once he was sure he was alone, re-positioned the long sword that was with one of the middle suits of armor in the hallway. By the time the chamberlain had finished a section of the wall had opened a little farther down the hallway. Stepping through the hidden door, the wall closed behind him. He didn’t make it to his bed for several more hours.

No one told the twins what their schedule would be and the two of them were up and dressed in their commoner’s clothing before the sun rose in the eastern sky. Slipping out of their room the two sisters made their way down yet another hallway and before long disappeared through another wall similar to what the chamberlain had done the night before.

By the time the girls arrived at the training grounds practice was underway for the trainees. The girls could hear the clash of metal on metal as they got closer to the training field. Making their way through the crowds the girls mingled and talked with the people around them. They found families watching their children practice, proud of them for being willing to fight but scared for them at the same time as everyone knew they might be called up to fight for the city.

The idea of people not willingly running out to fight for their king was foreign to the girls as they’d been told all their lives how everyone loved and adored the king. During the day they had to learn to not jump to their father’s defense as more than a few people did not like their father with more than a few insults directed his way. As the day progressed the girls had their eyes opened and received much more of an education about how the common person lived and now knew more than they ever did before. They wouldn’t forget anytime soon.