Noble Beginnings (18 page)

"My sister, Nora, is a terror with a knife,"
he said, and almost heard the blinks of surprise around the room.
"She's also a terror in many other ways. She may be my little
sister and she may be trained in only the basics of fighting, but I
believe she has the potential to become one of Farlan's greatest
fighters, if she has not already achieved that status. To fight
under her is to have the potential to learn what she knows, which
is a powerful potential indeed. And if you fight under her, you
need have no fear of anyone, even my mother, dismissing you because
you are a mere child. If you truly wish to fight, no matter what
the cost..." As he said this, he locked eyes with Marcus again. Go,
he thought, trying to convey the subtle meaning behind his words.
It is no betrayal to me, to fight under my sister, even if she may
one day take what would have been my place. "I have the utmost
faith in my sister," he concluded, "and may she lead you well."

Marcus gave him one last searching look
before setting out, walking to the front of the hall to stand
before Nora. He bowed to her, and she gave him a searching look,
which he returned. After a long moment, the corner of her mouth
turned up in a smirk and she looked to the other young people who
began to gather, some as young as nine or ten years that began to
join her ranks.

After several minutes, when she was confident
she had gathered them all, she smiled down at them with a slightly
cold look in her eye. "Good. Now, how many of you have
sisters?"

As Nora left with the children, all of whom
were conspicuously dead silent under her care, Dorran turned
uncomfortably to the rest of the soldiers and cleared his throat.
"In the future, we will have further preparations to make," he
said, "but for now, just continue drilling as we have been. Thank
you."

That had not gone entirely the way he had
expected, he thought as he walked back up the hall. It had not gone
terribly bad, either, and it would appear he already had the
beginnings of a loyal force of soldiers to help defend the capital.
He could always wish for more but he had learned life rarely made
this easy.

CHAPTER XVI

The morning before her coronation, Thea took
a small entourage to the dungeons with her as witnesses in her
second attempt to speak to Lady Beatrice Alven and Lyrre. Dorran
was in this group, along with both of his sisters, several of
Thea's guards, and a handful of prominent council members.

Their few days in the dungeons had already
left the Alvens looking neglected and woebegone. Lady Alven's hair
hung limp where once it had curled down her back, and Lyrre's was a
tangled mess which she picked at as though expecting to find hay
sticking out of it. Dorran, looking at the interior of their cell,
was unimpressed; aside from the hardness of the bed and the
coldness of the water in the pitchers, the accommodations were not
so different from his own in the barracks. Still, they looked out
from behind the bars balefully as Thea and her companions came into
view.

"Lady Beatrice," Thea said as she stepped up
to the bars. "I trust our guards were kind and courteous to
you?"

"As much as could be expected," Alven said
woodenly, and Dorran, looking at the blankets spread on the two
different cots in the cell, had to agree. He wondered if the guards
knew that these women were suspected of involvement in a plot to
kill Thea and her family; if they did, he could imagine where they
had summoned up the patience to deal with them from, if only for
one night. Or perhaps just with Alven, he corrected himself
halfheartedly, looking over at Lyrre. She looked as though she were
focusing on doing her best imitation of a half-drowned kitten, but
at least, he thought uncharitably, she was quiet about it.

"Now, Beatrice," Thea said, her voice hard.
"I will repeat my question. Will you or will you not confess to
your involvement in a plot against my life?"

"What evidence do you have of my
involvement?" Alven asked stiffly.

Dorran watched Thea's nostrils flare in
barely contained annoyance, but she decided to play along. "You
were found fleeing the castle mere minutes after a failed attempt
on my life. Moreover, I have a reliable eyewitness who reports
hearing you speaking with a band of unknown men in the lower levels
of the castle."

"In other words, you were spying on me,"
Alven said with an affronted sniff. "How dare you? You invite me as
a guest into your home, plant spies on me, and throw me into the
dungeon without a second thought! What would my late brother
think?"

A muscle worked in Thea's jaw. "I think, Lady
Beatrice, that he would consider himself ashamed to be your
brother." She watched Alven's mouth open and close several times,
like that of an extremely offended fish, before smiling thinly and
continuing. "At the very least, I will ask you this? Was the King
involved?"

"The King?" Alven said, eyes wide. "Whatever
are you talking about? Why would the King want you dead?"

Thea looked utterly unimpressed by the older
woman's theatrics. "I see," she said. "Then I wonder...were you
hoping to gain the King's favor by winning him the duchy for
himself? Or did you simply hope that killing me would place Lyrre
in the position of being a future duchess someday?"

Alven just stared at her, face blank.

Thea sighed. "I'm sure you believe the king
wants to keep you on his side, Alven. I know you have been
funneling money and supplies to him for a long time, but in return
for what? Protection, should he decide to take over Farlan
firsthand? No..." she paused thoughtfully. "You are the king's
through and through, I know that. Anyone willing to serve him after
the losses you have endured will not be swayed by mere words. Now
the only question that remains is what you would like me to do with
you."

"What does that mean?" Alven asked
suspiciously.

"It means that you are free to leave this
land," Thea said. "Of course, when you do, your remaining rights
and properties will default to me, but your only alternatives are
to remain incarcerated here, or to pledge your loyalty to me as
Queen."

"Queen?" There was a wild look in Alven's
eyes again, but it still didn't look quite like surprise.

"I see that he knew," Thea said calmly. "I'd
hoped that my aspirations might come as a surprise to him, but some
of the preparations required taking some risks. Regardless, your
options are the same." Thea stepped away. "Your property, your
loyalty to the king, and your freedom. I will allow you two of
them, but not all three. Select which you would most willingly part
with." With that, she turned and swept back down the hallway, her
entourage following quickly behind her.

Dorran had expected her to leave the dungeon
then, but instead she paused to talk with the man in charge of the
dungeons. "How are my would-be assassins doing?" she asked.

"They're unharmed, Your Majesty," the man
said cautiously, careful to get the title right. "They seem
unlikely to cause trouble here."

She nodded approvingly. "Good. If they seem
interested, tell them that I will extend them their freedom or
their protection. Have them questioned, but then, if they wish to
leave, they will be escorted to the border at our convenience. If
any of them wish to stay, they may do so. I will place them in
households willing to accept them as temporary servants, until they
have shown their loyalty."

The guard bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Thea graced him with a smile. "In that
case..." She turned to the others. "I suppose it's time to make
that title official."

The ceremony was planned as a simple affair.
Almost everyone in the capital was working together, desperate to
complete preparations for the coming siege; atop their ongoing
efforts to house and look after the refugees that continued to
swarm into the country and the capital, there was barely enough
time to spare to have Thea's finest clothes aired and the hall
decked out to suit the solemnity of the situation.

Between nailing garlands to the walls and
helping to beat the hall's carpets, Dorran checked in several times
on Myriel as she completed the small repairs that had been needed
on a handful of formal gowns. There had seemed no end of work to be
done, and almost all the inhabitants of the castle seemed filled
with the same drive to make it as impeccable as possible for what
could be called the most important moment of Thea's life, and in
Farlan's history.

He stood in the corridor outside the main
hall, not looking at his mother or sisters as he watched the doors.
The half-dozen guards who had been given the day off to participate
in the ceremony filed in first, flanking the chair that was to
become Thea's throne. Dorran waited until they all stood still and
at attention in front of the crowd before entering after them.

The hall, for all its solemn crowd dressed in
their dusty finest, was dead silent his steps reverberated on the
thin carpet as he continued forward, eyes fixed on the battered
wooden chair. He passed Myriel on the way in, and saw that her eyes
following him, expressionless. When he reached the front row of
seats, he sat halfway down the row on the right.

He did not turn his head to track his sisters
and mother as they filed, one by one, into the hall. It did not
behoove a prince, even one out of the line of succession, to
gawk.

Prince, Dorran thought with amusement. It
wasn't as though the title actually fit him; it was strange,
though. How such a stuffy-sounding title was actually a relief
compared to the heir of the duchess.

After his sisters had settled on either side
of the dais and his mother was standing before the crowd facing her
newly re-polished throne, the remainder of the ceremony was fairly
short. Prominent members of the council took turns reading aloud
the proclamation of Thea's crowning as Farlan's Queen, and each
asked her a series of questions about her dedication to Farlan and
its people, which she affirmed shortly. Then a few of the younger
servants, stiff with nervousness, came forward and garbed her in a
long-flowing, fine-woven cape and a simple but impressive golden
crown. She turned and curtseyed deeply to the crowd.

They burst into raucous applause. It echoed
through the hall so loudly that Dorran imagined the sound of the
clamor spreading through every wall of the castle, down to the
dungeon where Lyrre and her mother and their would-be assassins
were cursing their luck. He knew that their celebrations were being
echoed the inhabitants of the city outside and, in turn, by the
rest of the newly-formed Queendom. He wondered how long it would
take the King to hear their cries.

Thea walked to her chair and settled onto it
amid the tumult, and then, as she raised a hand, it died down.

"I name as my heir," she said crisply and
clearly, "my eldest daughter, Adhara Farlane, and after her, her
sister Nora. I decree as well that the authority in deciding
Farlan's next heir lies in the ruling figure at the time and if
their will is unclear upon their death, it falls to their closest
advisor to determine the next heir. I have selected Lady Aiken for
this purpose; may she and the rest of my council serve me well.

"Now," she continued. "I have an important
command to make. Miss Edith, step forward."

Dorran watched, surprised, as Edith came
before the new Queen, dressed in a fine purple gown and with her
hair properly coiffed for the occasion, and knelt obediently before
her.

"I believe I wronged you before, my dear,"
Thea said, loudly and clearly but not without warmth, "when I
denied you and the rest of Farlan's daughters the opportunity to
fight for her honor. Will you aid me now in fighting for her
freedom?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Edith said clearly. From
his vantage point near the side of the room, Dorran could see her
face, see the way her eyes shone with a fierce pride at the simple
words that had been offered her.

"Very well. Gather whomever you can of the
daughters of Farlan, and help prepare them to fight. I know that
His Majesty, the King over the Western Kingdoms, will think us an
easy foe to conquer. Help me to prove him wrong."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Edith said again, and
rose to her feet, meeting the Queen's gaze. She saluted smartly,
the gesture of a soldier, and turned, dismissed, to listen to the
rest of the new Queen's orders.

There were more commands after that,
instructions to Adhara and Nora and handfuls of other advisors, to
carry out instructions both publicly given and hidden, as well as
declarations made about Farlan's preliminary preparations for the
upcoming battle but none of these could make Dorran more certain of
Farlan's victory than could the triumphant light in Edith's gaze as
it met his on her way back to her seat.

CHAPTER XVII

After Thea's coronation, the castle's
activity kicked up again, until it was the busiest Dorran had ever
seen it in his life, even more so than it had been during the
preparations for his father's funeral.

Whatever Nora had said to Thea to allow the
youngest fighters to form a corps under her, they were now a part
of the strategy for the capital's defense. From the first day,
there were children underfoot everywhere in the castle, as Nora
sent them on imaginary errands to learn the fastest ways in and
around the castle. Next, she taught them about traps and siege
materials and set them to work constructing small, stubborn spiked
contraptions from wood. One evening, Dorran passed an unused
practice chamber in the barracks where what must have been most of
the children in the capital were sitting in quiet, neat rows,
constructing small pointed objects to scatter on the ground before
the capital's gates and other, yet more devilish, objects.