Chapter 40: Truths and Revelations

It took Celestine the rest of the morning to find a way to slip away from her job – in order to perform the duties of her second job.

She found Rucar overseeing the tent city that had arisen and waited for him to motion her forward before she approached.

Rucar finished his instructions and walked over to speak to the young maid.

“Good day, Celestine,” he said. “What brings you out beyond the walls?”

“I ... I am not certain,” Celestine admitted. “There are strange happenings at the castle and I am concerned.”

“Oh?” Rucar asked. He considered Celestine of Larchman to be his prize pupil. She was adept with lock picks, a variety of small weapons and could out-grapple most men. Mostly, she was intelligent and had a keen sense.

“It is nothing specific but you’ve always said it is best to bring suspicion to your attention than to have something terrible take place,” Celestine recited. “To that end, well, the king has been acting strangely the past few days.”

Rucar nodded but he considered many actions Joseph undertook to be slightly odd.

“Stranger than usual,” Celestine clarified. This statement caught the spymaster’s attention. “He grasped my nose today.”

Rucar found himself blinking in confusion.

“Your nose?” he asked.

“Like this,” Celestine said. She dare not touch Rucar. No one she knew was stupid enough to attempt that. Instead, she reached to her own face and took her nose between her knuckles.

“Why?” Rucar inquired.

Celestine released her nose and shook her head.

“I have no idea,” she said. “We barely speak. He is never rude but...”

“I understand,” Rucar said with a nod. “And yet, for no reason, he felt compelled to grab your nose?”

“I can see no reason why he would do such a thing to anyone,” Celestine noted. “I certain have never had anyone do such a thing to me.”

“That is odd,” Rucar admitted. “Did he say anything?”

“He said he knew that I was planning to leave your service for the military,” the maid told Rucar. “He said he would miss seeing me around the castle and that I have performed a great service for the country. But he would prefer I follow my heart.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Rucar noted. “You are well-versed in the tasks I’ve asked you to perform but I know you will do exceptionally well as a soldier. I wish you the best.”

“Thank you,” Celestine said with a blush.

“Did he have your nose for the entire conversation?” Rucar wondered. In his line of work, it paid to ask questions, ridiculous as the question might seem.

“No,” Celestine admitted. “He grabbed my nose afterward. Then he released it. He said that seeing as you trained me, he was fortunate not have a dagger between his ribs.”

“I am certain he was making a jest,” Rucar interrupted.

“Oh, he was,” Celestine said. “I immediately protested and he apologized.”

“I see,” Rucar said. “I will admit this is highly unusual but I’m not certain it warrants my immediate attention.”

“There is more,” Celestine said. “Today, before the nose episode, I saw him embracing Amelia Trimble. It is well known in the castle that those two are at odds and have been for some time.”

“The king has a way of burying old grudges and ensuring new alliances,” Rucar pointed out. “I am proof of that.”

“I considered that,” Celestine said. “But, he asked me ensure Amelia’s comfort and she had been weeping for some time. Her eyes were puffy and red. I do not know as yet what transpired but I will do my best to learn.”

Rucar nodded his approval.

“Then there is the strangest thing,” Celestine said. “Last night, I found muddy boot prints leading the king’s chamber.”

“Boot prints?” Rucar asked. “Could you determine if they were male or female?”

“They were the king’s,” Celestine said. “His boots are unusually large and have a stray nail on the back heel. I recognized his tread. I followed his trail. At the stairway, four other muddy sets were found. These were definitely female. I suspect two belong to Julia Trimble and Princess Octavia. They, along with the king, were unseen for a brief period yesterday – something Amelia found vexing, I should add.”

“You said there were four sets of prints,” Rucar said. “Could the other two belong to Amelia and her ward?”

“I do not believe so,” Celestine said. “As I told you, Amelia was displeased so I kept a close eye on her. Lucretia was with her for most of the evening until Amelia paid a visit to her daughter’s room.”

“After Julia returned,” Rucar suggested.

“Victoria’s room,” Celestine corrected. “Julia keeps her door locked and she’s established a system that lets her know when someone has entered her chamber. I confess I have yet to determine what that system is. I do not view her as a potential threat to the king so I have not bothered to investigate.”

“She is as loyal as we are,” Rucar confirmed. “What transpired in the daughter’s room? Were you able to hear?”

“Some,” Celestine said. “The majority of their conversation was done in hushed tones but some was very loud. I believe that Victoria informed her mother that she would tolerate no more interference.”

“Past time for that,” Rucar muttered to himself. “So, we do not know who the other boots belonged to. Did you attempt to follow them upstairs?”

“That is when another strange thing happened,” Celestine said. “I saw the king with a mop. He removed all the evidence that anyone had passed. He cleaned the floor to his chamber, the stairs and the second floor. I ... I thought it imprudent to ask him what he was doing. He is the king.”

Rucar found himself nodding again.

“This is odd behavior,” he agreed. “Let me ask you: Do you think it is possible he has been poisoned?”

“No,” Celestine said. “You’ve told me that most poisons affect the breath and the perspiration. Before he took my nose, I was close enough to smell both. I do not believe anything of that sort has transpired.”

Rucar peered out to sea and stroked his short beard as he considered what he’d just learned. The problem he’d found with spy work is that things rarely fit together into a pattern until after a culminating event. It was much easier to look backward to determine what happened than to look forward and predict its happening.

“For now, I wish for you to keep a close eye on the king,” he determined. “You know the others I wish for you to watch but the king is most important. If anything else strange occurs, please alert me. If you cannot get to me, find Julia or Octavia. They both know how to find me and neither has other official duties.”

“Certainly, Rucar,” Celestine said. The spymaster watched as she headed back toward the city walls. He would miss the having the young woman’s eyes and ears in the castle. She would not be easy to replace.

“Where did you get these?” the cobbler asked when Elizabeth set Joseph’s boots down on his table.

“King Joseph asked us to bring them to you,” Elizabeth answered.

“I worried that someone had stolen them from him,” the cobbler admitted. “All manner of young women titter about him on the street. He is a good man and I won’t have him going about barefooted.”

“We did not steal them,” Catherine said. “We live in the castle. This is Elizabeth Burbridge and I am her maid.”

“My apologies,” the cobbler said.

“It is fine,” Elizabeth replied. “We feel the same about our king as you do. Can you repair the soles? He wishes to ride after evening meal.”

The cobbler scraped the dried mud off the bottoms and looked at soles. They were cracked in several places.

“I fear it will take at least a day,” he said with sincere regret.

“Perhaps we could purchase a new pair of boots for him?” Catherine asked.

The cobbler shook his head sadly.

“The king has the largest feet I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He says it is because he spent so many years walking across the upper landmass. I think he just has big feet. Either way, I have to make his boots. Please let him know that I will make him a fresh pair when I’ve finished with these. I’ll send these to the castle on the morrow and have the new pair by next week.”

Elizabeth nodded.

“Do you have boots that we might purchase for ourselves?” she asked. “I fear ours are in no better shape than the king’s. We were in the mud yesterday and then the sun dried them.”

“I might,” the cobbler said. “Let me get my wife. She refuses to let me deal with pretty young women.”

Elizabeth did her best to return the man’s toothless smile before turning to look at the few pairs of shoes in the building. She saw something that caught her eye and was holding something she had never before seen when the cobbler’s wife appeared from the back room.

“These are ... interesting,” Elizabeth said.

“Impractical if you ask me,” the cobbler’s wife noted. The boots had the same sort of strings that Julia used to tie her clothing running across the tops. They were tall, perhaps going to the knee. At the back was a wedge that elevated the heel. “My husband got swindled by a foreigner. The man told him women in Denayian capital are wearing those things now. I think the man was lying. You’d get stuck in the mud the first time you crossed the street. With those confounded horses everywhere, you might wind up dead when you couldn’t move your feet.”

Elizabeth put the boot back where she found it and took a seat. She had learned in her childhood that it was important that one’s shoes fit well.

“Well now, I think we can fit you two right up,” the woman said as she looked downward. The boots the young women wore were well made. Perhaps not up the standards of her husband but close. Her husband might be a fool but he knew how to make shoes. The women pulled down two pairs of standard boots – leather or deerskin uppers with a sole made from harden leather.

“These are very nice,” Elizabeth noted when she ran her hands across the material.

“Sturdy, too,” Catherine agreed. Unlike Elizabeth, she cared more about the bottom of the shoe than the top.

As Elizabeth put on her new boots, she found herself looking at the first pair she had picked up.

“Are those for sale, by chance?” she asked.

“I can’t see why you’d want them,” the cobbler’s wife said. “I’d sell them to you for a copper just to have them out of here. I get feisty every time I see them. I have four more pairs just like them in the back.”

“We’ll take them all,” Elizabeth said. “And we’ll pay what your husband paid. We reside in the castle for now and the floors are stone and wood there. Mud will not be a problem. Could you have your husband deliver them to me at the castle when he takes King Joseph’s boots back to him?”

“Young miss, to have the reminder of my husband’s foolishness out of sight, I will bring them myself,” the cobbler’s wife announced. “The full price is rather high. That is why I am so peeved with him.”

“How high?” Elizabeth wondered.

“Six silvers,” the wife revealed. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll just charge you six silvers for everything. I’ll throw in the boots on your feet if we can keep your old ones. They were not made in Tyrell and my husband likes to see how things are done elsewhere.”

“That is a deal,” Elizabeth said. She handed over the silver coins from a bag she kept tied around her neck and tucked into the bosom of her dress.

The old woman was shaking her head at the frivolity of youth as they left.

“Why did you purchase those shoes?” Catherine immediately asked. “The woman is right. We could never wear them out of doors.”

“It is the way they are structured that caught my eye,” Elizabeth admitted. “You will almost be walking on your toes. Do you recall last week when Octavia was trying to sneak up on Julia?”

“Yes,” Catherine said.

“She was on her tiptoes,” Elizabeth continued. “I remembered thinking that the motion caused the material on her trousers to stretch very tightly across her rear.”

“I recall,” Catherine said.

“Now, picture in your head the four of us and Liala wearing tight trousers and those boots when we dine with our king,” Elizabeth continued with a giggle. “I believe the elevation will draw his attention to the places we wish him to view.”

“If nothing else, we will be able to kiss his cheek easier,” Catherine said, joining her friend in laughter.

“Answer me a question truthfully,” Elizabeth said as they neared the castle grounds. She pulled Catherine to the side.

“Certainly,” Catherine replied.

“Would you take our king to your bed if he wished it?” Elizabeth asked with a lifted eyebrow.

“I am his loyal subject,” Catherine replied. “It would be my duty!”

“I’m serious,” Elizabeth insisted. “Would you permit him to bed you?”

“Yes,” Catherine admitted without embarrassment. “I believe I would permit it if he desired me. And you?”

“I have no desire to be queen,” Elizabeth answered.

“We did not speak of marriage,” Catherine pointed out. “We spoke solely about taking him to bed. Would you?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth admitted. Unlike her friend, she blushed furiously. “My turn.”

“You wish to continue?” Catherine wondered.

“One more,” Elizabeth pressed. “Yesterday, when we were both astride him, did you find it exciting that our bodies rubbed together?”

“It was ... interesting,” Catherine replied. “It was far more interesting than I suspected it might be.”

“You’ve thought of such things?” Elizabeth asked.

“It is my turn to ask questions, I believe,” Catherine noted.

“I found it exciting,” Elizabeth admitted.

“That is not the question I planned to ask,” Catherine said with a grin. “I wondered if this game wouldn’t be more fun if we included Julia, Octavia and Joseph later this evening.”

“Oh, I think it would be much more fun!” Elizabeth agreed.

“Then let us save our questions until then,” Catherine suggested. “We would not wish to be too far ahead of our friends in learning the answers.”

The middle-aged merchant entered the castle with clear trepidation.

As with most in Tyrell, he had dealt with the king’s representatives frequently in the past three years. He was used to conducting business with the castle. He was not used to conducting business in the castle. He was particularly worried about meeting the king.

Franco had heard much of the young man that had wrested control of Azkoval back from the tyrannical rule of Wilhelm and his cohorts but the opportunity had never arisen to meet Joseph. Now he had been summoned – only days after giving a price to one of the king’s many admirers regarding the erection of several new buildings.

Franco was worried that the king would compel him to lower his price – which was already several coins below what he would have charged anyone else. His second fear – borne of life under the previous regime – revolved around Esmerelda, his daughter.

It was no secret in Tyrell that King Joseph had any number of young women vying for his attention – women both known to the king and unknown to him. Yet the king had yet to announce his choice of bride – despite the fact he was 22 years of age. King Welton was married by 18. Welton’s father had been wed at 15.

The rumors in town had the king sharing his bed with a different willing woman each night. Now Franco feared the young king had taken notice of his only female child and wished to claim Esmerelda for his own.

It was said that, in days of yore, the king had the right to bed any woman that was of age – regardless of social status, marital status or willingness. Franco had to admit that Joseph had been progressive in his views, granting rights to the common man (and woman) that would have seemed impossible a mere five years earlier. But Franco had lived long enough to understand that men of wealth and power often viewed rules as something to be applied to others, not to themselves.