Chapter 4: War

Princess Jarolyn holds both my hands in hers. “I’d never believe that you could ever wish harm to befall me, Tomas. My Mother, all my sisters, they should have trusted you.”

“Those were not normal times. First, you disappeared without trace, then all the royal party disappeared, bar two that ... somehow escaped ... the rest were never seen again. The ransom demand came as soon as they were taken, General Drix demanded that we allow the Republic to occupy all Six Minor Kingdoms and cede the whole of the Eastern Province, where most of the watermills and the lushest forests were, as part of Drix’s Republic.

“My Lord Alderlea was summonsed back from retirement, remember he retired only months before you disappeared?; strangely I’ve just heard that his Manor House has been empty for 20 years. I wonder where he went? Anyway an army was assembled with the loyal Lord once more at its head as General. He asked for me as soon as he returned, after discovering that I was not listed among the missing in the Royal Wedding Party, and had me released from prison. He even made me his Sergeant-at-Arms, the highest rank a non-knight could be appointed. But, two weeks later, as the Army was still preparing for the march, your sister Princess Marija and the Prince Qinocci arrived at the Palace, having escaped from General Drix.”

“How did they escape?”

“Indirectly I heard it from Lord Alderlea. Princess Marija told the Queen’s Council that the Republican General invited her and her fiancé to supper, during which he offered them the crown of Exonibia, as all of Qinocci’s family had been executed. They were offered this reward if the Princess would ride with a Republican guard escort to plead with the Queen’s Council to agree fully to the terms of the ransom and thus avoid war. Marija said that at the supper, Qinocci snatched up a dining knife and cut the General’s throat with it, before using the General’s own sword to fight off the guards long enough for them to manage their escape.”

“And the Council believed that dragon poop?” Jarolyn shook her head in disbelieve.

“They had no choice. The Queendom has lacked leadership ever since Queen Sharma disappeared.”

“And you believed Marija?”

“His Lordship and I agreed that the whole story smelled of ox dung, Qinocci couldn’t fight off a butterfly. But the Council did cede to the Republic’s demands, surrendering the Eastern Province on a six-months’ programme to allow our people to move out. But no-one from the Royal party was returned and after about six months waiting their release, the Army finally marched on Exonibia.”

“And they found the Queen and my other sisters?”

“No, the Republic put up a token resistance for three years but indeed they were leaderless themselves for some time, so there was truth in part of the story, but of the Queen, the Princesses, the entourage and the Exonibian Royal Family? Nothing, not one single sign. Peace was eventually sued with the Republic after about three years of war driving them from our lands but nothing was truly resolved. Nobody knew anything or were prepared to own up. We, that is the Lord and I, suspect Marija.”

“My mother, the baby princesses, Lakole and Sheryne, my maid Caroleen, all lost?”

“Aye, all lost. Princess Marija immediately wanted to assume the crown as Queen, with her husband as King, but the Council refused both requests after long debate. They evoked the old laws, which state that a missing person cannot be declared dead until seven years and a day have passed since they were last seen alive. By Princess Marija’s own testimony, she was with the Queen before she dined with the General and that was a week before they turned up at the Palace, the decision was delayed until, well, it will be seven years in about three months. Until then, the Council conceded that Marija could be Queen’s Regent and Qinocci Queen’s Regent Consort. Even when we won back the ground initially conceded and freed the Minor Kingdoms, we found no evidence that the Queen and her party were ever in Exonibia. During peace negotiations with the Republic we appealed for information. They conceded that once their leader died, confusion reigned and they had no evidence of the Royal party. They say they have no reason to believe they were ever transported to the Republic, in fact their leader died without the taking of the Royals being ever officially recorded, even down to the ransom note sent. Whoever our Queen’s Council were negotiating with in the Exonibian capital, wasn’t them they say and, when we ceded the Eastern Provinces to them, it was a surprise gift horse that they didn’t look too closely in the mouth.