Chapter 18: End of the Beginning

The royal delegations were given the run of the castle as they awaited Joseph’s return. The dungeon was the only place they were not permitted entry, much to Prince Junius’ consternation. He had tried to bluster his way in but the guards didn’t budge. He had tried to sneak in but had been caught quickly – and chastised by the man who had caught him for ignoring Lady Elena’s orders.

Junius was already upset at having to deal with a woman in a position of power and he refused to be ordered around by her. The third time he attempted to enter the restricted area, he was detained and brought before Lady Elena.

“This is outrageous,” he seethed as he looked at the ropes that bound his wrists. “I am Prince Junius.”

“Where you hail from that might mean something,” Elena told him. “Here, it means nothing. The dungeon is restricted for reasons I will not explain to you. You have been told repeatedly that you are not permitted in the lower levels of the castle. I want you to hear my words and understand them. If you wish to leave Azkoval, no one will hinder you. But if you stay, you will obey our laws and customs. You will obey my orders. If you continue to abuse my hospitality, you will get a firsthand look at what the cells hold when I have my guards toss you in there to wait for King Joseph’s return. Let me assure you, Prince Junius, the king will hold you accountable for your actions. Do you understand everything I’ve said to you?”

The prince turned red with anger and humiliation but the guards on either side of him kept a tight grip on his arms as he tried to turn and stalk out of the room. He finally gave a grudging nod and Elena gestured for the guards to unbind the man’s hands and permit him to exit.

“Joseph will kill him,” Choran said from Elena’s right.

“And then take his army to Marindar to have a discussion with the king about why he permitted such a prat off his soil,” Elena said with a nod. “I would prefer to deal with deranged priests than spoiled children. Can you imagine what this man will do when he becomes king?”

“I shudder to think of it,” Choran replied.

Junius was seething as he walked down the corridor and his mood didn’t improve when he saw his sister waiting for him.

“It is a dangerous game you play,” Octavia said with raised eyebrows. “This is not Restavia.”

“Be silent!” Junius spat. He didn’t need a lecture from a female.

“As I said: This is not Restavia,” Octavia continued. “Women have a voice here and I will use mine. You have underestimated King Joseph and his army. You will not be able to bring overwhelming force against him. You will need to negotiate in good faith and I know that is a difficult thing for you.”

Marindar was a large country that gained its land through conquest. They were particularly adept at attacking their allies when they were at their weakest. Why trade for things when you can take them for nothing? That was the plan when King Augustus sent his children southward.

“We have yet to meet the king,” Junius spat. “He is just a boy. Our father expects you to be the one to lead him around.”

“Do you really still believe he is a backward child?” Octavia asked incredulously. “Do you think all the stories we’ve heard are lies?”

“He grew up poor and uneducated,” Junius said dismissively. “Yes, he might have gathered a large army. That isn’t difficult to do. Once you are ensconced in his life, you will just have to ensure their loyalty is to you and not to him.”

Octavia closed her eyes and shook her head. Her brother had no idea how things were in Tyrell. If he tried to march an army against Azkoval, King Joseph would wind up ruling Marindar.

“These men have already been to battle with him,” Octavia explained. “The man led armies while you were still learning to lift a sword. His army is highly trained and their allegiances are clearly with the king. Watch them during drills. That disregards the fact that I am unlikely to capture his attention. Lady Elena has known him since they were children and there are rumors in the city that there is already a marriage contract between the two. If that is untrue, there is still the entourage from Troyvet. While you have been skulking around the castle, their queen has rapidly become Lady Elena’s shadow. She is a very pleasant woman, nothing like the rulers I have grown accustomed to. Perhaps you should take lessons from her.”

“You need to remember your role here,” Junius said nastily. “When the king arrives, flash your udders at him, let him suckle if you must. It is your only worth to our family.”

Octavia flashed an insolent smile before she replied.

“Which is apparently more value than you hold,” she said.

Jonathan emerged from his delirium a day before the ships made dock in Tyrell. He smelled of stale sweat that had come off his body as his fever diminished. The medic had tried to attend to Jonathan’s bodily functions but it was a losing battle.

Surrounded by water, Jonathan was unable to clean himself. He had been a fastidious man before his trek to Wellington. Now he was unshaven, unkempt and he smelled terrible. His stomach hurt and so did the wound on his arm. He tried to sit up but he lacked the strength.

The medic did what he could to make Jonathan comfortable and then raced off to find the three men who had hovered over him for almost three weeks. The king was the first one to return. He saw Jonathan propped up against the wall sipping on cold broth.

“You gave us quite a fright,” Joseph said. Despite the smell, he sat down in the chair the medic had occupied.

“What happened to me?” Jonathan asked. It seemed as though he had lost a good portion of his life.

“You almost lost your arm when a huge animal tried to take a chunk out of it,” Genrico said when he walked in. He gave a grin and punched Jonathan lightly on his unhurt shoulder. Rucar soon followed him in. The room was crowded with the four large men and the stench was getting unbearable.

“Would you like some fresh air?” Joseph asked.

“More than you know,” Jonathan replied. The king disregarded the smell as he carried Jonathan to the deck. Several other people had heard the news and gathered. They gave Jonathan a warm greeting, with Amelia going so far as to give him a stilted hug. She recoiled and sent Victoria and Julia to find enough water to cleanse the man.

Someone located a small chair and Jonathan was perched on it as he listened to everything that had transpired. He was amazed to learn that he had been incoherent for almost three weeks. He was more amazed to learn that he had almost lost his arm.

“If you hadn’t come around, we would have taken the arm off as soon as we got back to Tyrell,” Rucar said. “If the bite was lower, it probably would have been done before we left Blue Harbor. As it was, the medic worried that you wouldn’t survive the trip if he removed it before we set sail.”

Jonathan shook his head in denial. He had seen men who had lost an arm or a leg but he could never imagine it happening to him. He wondered how Elena would have reacted to his infirmity. He couldn’t even claim it happened in battle. A dog had attacked him because he had turned his attention away from what he needed to be doing. He wasn’t a hero returning from war. He was a man too stupid to watch out for danger.

The king had doted on him for the past day and it was getting irksome. Jonathan felt as though Joseph believe him to be a stupid child who needed his nose wiped constantly. Genrico and Rucar were just as bad. Even as Jonathan sat on the deck one of the three hovered around in the background.

Finally, Jonathan had enough and spoke sharply to Rucar when the man brought forth a cup of water and some bread.

“I can tend to myself!” Jonathan seethed.

“I do not believe anyone thinks differently,” Rucar replied. “I simply got some for myself and thought I would do you a kindness.”

“A kindness?” Jonathan said in a tight voice. “You have watched over me like my nursemaid for weeks.”

Rucar threw his head back and laughed, an action that caught Jonathan completely off guard.

“We are aboard a ship surrounded by water,” he said through his chuckles. “What else were we supposed to do? A man can only polish his sword so many times.”

Jonathan blushed not only at having lost his temper but from the ribald double entendre.

“You are our friend,” Rucar continued as he sat down on the deck beside Jonathan’s chair. “King Joseph relies upon your advice. It is natural that we worry about those we care about, Lord Burbridge. We do not tend to you because we think you invalid. We do things for you because we know you would do them for us if the roles were reversed.”

“I feel so foolish for letting my attention wander,” Jonathan admitted.

“It has happened to all of us at one time or another,” Rucar said with a smile. “Why, not three months ago I allowed a mere sprout of a girl to sneak up behind me with a crossbow. I am certain King Joseph and Lord Larchman have similar stories. You were unlucky. I could have opened the building that housed those foul beasts just as easily as you did. It would not have mattered if you had been highly alert. The animal sprang from the darkness. You reacted quickly to shield yourself, lest the damage be far worse.

“King Joseph feels responsible for your injuries – just as he feels responsible for the men and women who fell into the water and drowned and the men killed or wounded in the streets of Blue Harbor.”

“I am responsible for my wounds,” Jonathan insisted.

“Perhaps in your mind, yes,” Rucar agreed. “In the king’s mind, he is responsible if a late storm slows the wheat growth or if a young maiden catches a cold.”

Jonathan frowned. He wanted to rebut the statement but he knew it was true. He had seen Joseph fret about those he’d lost when he thought no one was around to see it.

“You must help to break him of that or he will go insane,” Rucar continued. “No man has that much power because no man could withstand its influence. Still, isn’t it better to have a king who cares too much instead of one who cares too little? Let him assuage his guilt. Allow Lord Larchman and me to demonstrate our friendship and loyalty. It causes you no harm. The captain says we will arrive in Tyrell in the afternoon and you will have a fresh set of people wishing to nurse you. At least those will look a might bit better than the ones you have now.”

Princess Liala sat at her window watching the soldiers drill in the castle courtyard. Just as Lady Elena had predicted, the groups had merged seamlessly, teaching and learning from the other.

Liala wished her mother had permitted her to continue in the military. As the youngest of five children, it was unlikely that she would ever assume the title of empress. She had been permitted to join the militia and she had trained for the last five years. She had led soldiers into small battles; she had been a leader.

Now she was nothing more than a prostitute, she decided. Her mother would sell her off to a man she didn’t know and wouldn’t like just because the man had a large army.

The second portion of her mother’s plan had proven true. The Az army was immense and she had heard rumors that she had seen only a portion of it. It was hard for her to comprehend. The Troyvettian army was less than 250 men and women. She commanded a group of 25. She wondered what it would be like to head an army of a thousand or more.

The motion in the courtyard brought her thoughts back to reality. She would never be a soldier again.

She watched as the groups separated quickly and the Az men formed straight ranks and headed out of the castle walls at a trot. In short order, she watched as Lady Elena and her two constant companions – Liala’s mother and the big-busted pale girl – went out of the castle surrounded by guards.

If her troops hadn’t been standing to the side, Liala would have thought the city was under attack. If an attack were under way, her troops would be right in the thick of the fighting. Her thoughts returned to attack when more soldiers emerged from the barracks, formed up and headed out the gates.

She wondered if she should take charge of her troops and lead them into the fray before the truth hit her: the king had returned.

Indeed, the ships had arrived. As protocol dictated, the king’s ship was the first to be towed into the docks. Joseph should have been the first down the gangplank but he stayed aboard. He instructed Yerrick to assist Lydia off first. Her seasickness had not lessened and had worsened as the ship cut through the tide to shore.

She was almost green by the time the ship was tied to the dock. Yerrick assisted her down the plank and several soldiers followed. The men had stood on the deck of the ships, looking out at the capital. For some, it was a homecoming after more than a year away. For others, it was their first look at the place they hoped to make a better life.

Elena and the soldiers arrived to join the crowd of citizens that had turned out when news of Joseph’s return spread through the town. They looked around for any face they recognized but saw no one. Men still walked down the gangplank in pairs but Elena still didn’t see Joseph or Jonathan.

Joseph was the last one off the ship. Jonathan wanted to walk to shore but Joseph shook his head. The man was barely ambulatory and the last thing the king wanted was to have to jump into the quay when Jonathan tumbled off into the water. Instead, Jonathan was on a litter carried by Genrico and Rucar. Elena gasped when she saw the litter and almost fainted when she saw who was being carried.