"I'm afraid that, due to the cook's oversight, you'll have to eat this
for lunch."
She was about to tell him she could do without his food, but her
stomach was yelling at her. She received it with a scowl and went off to eat
on her own. Alexander wandered down by the horses and petted Lady as
she nuzzled him.
When Louise finished eating, she was still hungry, but she felt much
better. She, too, walked down by the horses. Things hadn't turned out the
way she planned, and her mood was sour. "How much farther do we have
to go?"
Alexander pointed up between two mountain peaks. "It's up there.
Beyond the mountains is Esconodia."
"Esconodians are nothing but trouble," Louise said, repeating
something her father had said many times.
Alexander turned to look at her. "I wouldn't say that."
Louise was disturbed by this. "Everyone knows that the
Esconodians are our enemies."
"They are only our enemies because of the mistrust that has built up
between us over the years," Alexander replied.
"And who made you the expert on them?" she asked.
Alexander had a strong look - one she had never seen before. "I
have met many good Esconodians who have come across to trade with us.
If we would spend half as much time trying to understand each other as we
do defending our borders and fighting, the Esconodians would be our
friends, and not our enemies."
Louise was immediately angered by this. Her father, as king,
commanded the armies. "And who made you the expert on war and peace,
you who have never even volunteered for the military?"
That was about as mean a thing as could be said to a man
Alexander's age. All men who were not of royal birth were required to
serve at least four years in the army. Those of royal birth were expected to
volunteer. Those who didn't were considered cowardly.
Alexander didn't seem ruffled at all. "I am more than willing to
defend my country, if it should come to that. But it's the foolishness of the
way the military is run that bothers me."
She was so furious now that she wanted to slap him, but if he was
going to act the part of a traitor, let him do it, and she would have all the
more against him. She held her composure as she spoke. "In what way?"
Alexander looked thoughtfully into space as he reached up and
scratched Lady's ears. "Because I am born of royalty, I would go into the
military as an officer. And who would I command? Let me tell you who I
would command. I would command men who are far more experienced and
know what they are doing. And thus the military runs. It is the
inexperienced commanding the experienced just because of how they were
born. What a way to defend the freedoms of our country. I don't want to be
the one to command men to their deaths due to the fact I am lacking in
judgement."
Louise's anger turned to shock - shock that Alexander's attack on
age-old customs made so much sense.
"And furthermore," he continued, "since a person's rank is
dependent on his birth, I would be the lowest of most officers, and just
above the common soldier, in a place to be commanded and abused by those
above me, and despised by those below me. If I have learned one thing in
life, it is that the essence of a man is his heart and is the true measure of
what he is. It shows in the way he lives his life, not in how he is born. It is
not the nobility of his birth, but how nobly he lives his life that makes a man
small or great."
Alexander looked at Louise and, seeing the look on her face, he must
have felt he had already said too much. "Perhaps," he said, "we should
continue on."
Louise just nodded. He saddled the horses, and they were on their
way. Alexander's words echoed in her ears long after they left the small
lake. It ate at her mind and heart because she knew he was right.
The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, except Alexander was not
quite sure what to do with the chicken. It started squawking in his
saddlebag, so he gave it to an old lady once they reached the village.
Everyone there seemed to like Alexander and knew him well. At first that
made her hate him even more.
Everyone seemed pleased to meet her, and pleased to know that the
future queen would feel their little village was important enough to visit.
She felt a tinge of guilt knowing she would not have come if it hadn't been
for Alexander and the trick she wanted to play on him.
They could only stay about an hour due to the long trip home. And
just as they were getting ready to leave, something else happened that left
Louise in a quandary. As they were readying their horses, the children of
the town gathered around. One small, blonde girl, dressed in tired, patched
clothes, came up and tugged at Alexander's coat. He smiled down at her
questioningly, and she pointed at his saddle bag. Louise looked at it, and,
for the first time, realized it was still bulging.
Alexander smiled at the little girl, but said nothing. He reached up
and pulled a large leather pouch from the saddle bag. He reached inside and
pulled out a small yellowish-brown stick. He knelt down and crossed his
arms on his chest, then pointed to Louise. The small girl glanced over at
Louise and nodded. She walked shyly over to her, motioning with her dusty
finger for Louise to lean down. Louise obliged, and the small girl threw her
arms around Louise's neck, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Hurrying back
to Alexander, she threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek
as well. He held out the item to her, and she took it and scampered off.
Each child waited impatiently for their turn, and each, in turn,
received one of the yellow-brown sticks. When they were done, Louise
could see an unfamiliar expression on Alexander's face. His smile was still
there, but there was a softness to him. She felt a string from her heart
tugging the tears from her eyes, and she had to blink them back.
After the last child was gone, Alexander reached in the bag and
pulled out the last stick. He handed it to her and smiled. She looked at it
suspiciously. He laughed. "It's good. Just lick it."
She tasted it, and her mouth danced. As she licked at it again and
again, he grinned. "A trader from the east taught me how to make it from
cream and honey. He called it 'honey candy'." Louise could never
remember eating anything so good. She could easily have eaten many more,
but she realized how selfish that thought was since Alexander hadn't even
saved one for himself, even though he surely must have been starving. As
they mounted and turned toward Denville Castle, everyone came out,
shouting goodbye. Louise looked back to see the small, blonde girl poking
her head out from the skirts of the old woman who had been the recipient of
the chicken. The little girl waved shyly, and Louise could again feel the
tears fighting their way to the surface.
As they plodded on in silence, she finally had to ask the questions
tugging at her heart.
"Alexander, those children knew you would have that candy for
them, didn't they?"
He nodded. "It all started with Nell, the little girl that came first.
She is my favorite. Both of her parents were killed in a horrible accident. I
tried to talk to her, but she just wanted to hide from me. I found out she
hasn't talked since the day of the accident. So, one day, I pulled out a piece
of candy to give to her. I told her she was beautiful, and I loved her, and
that was what the candy meant. Pretty soon I was giving it to all of the
children. I've just started bringing it every time I come, and they know I'll
have it. I enjoy doing it at many of the towns I visit."
"Do you visit lots of towns?" Louise asked.
"As many as I can," he replied.
They rode on in silence for a long time, but the events of the day
kept gnawing at Louise until she asked some more questions.
"Alexander, who is the old lady she is with?"
"That is her grandmother. I've thought of seeing if Nell could come
live at the castle, but they're all each other has in the world, and her
grandmother would never leave the mountain."
Louise found herself troubled by what had happened with the
children. She wanted so desperately to hate Alexander that anything that
drew her feelings in another direction bothered her. She worked hard to put
it from her mind, but it was impossible as she sucked on the sweet candy he
had given her. As they came down off of the mountain to a point where she
could see the castle in the far-distance, she realized how hungry she was.
She reached in her saddle bags and pulled out the dried food
Alexander had packed for her. As she bit in to a piece of cheese, she
suddenly realized how hungry Alexander must be. Due to her callousness
he had had nothing but water all day. The thought made the cheese swell in
her throat, and she choked.
Alexander stopped his horse. "Are you all right?"
Louise regained her composure. "I'm fine. Continue on."
She ate all the food and was still hungry, and though it looked like
the castle was very near, it never seemed to get any closer. It was almost
dark when they finally arrived. Everyone had eaten long before, but it only
took a moment for a meal to be set before them. As they ate, she stewed
about the events of the day. Her emotions confused her. She tried to dull
the discontent in her heart by telling everyone, servants and nonservants
alike, the story of the chicken, even as Alexander quietly ate at the same
table. It didn't seem to take away her mixed-up feelings, but it changed the
subject. All who heard it seemed less than excited at her attempts to
humiliate Alexander.
After eating, they retired to their rooms. She had to relate the
whole chicken episode to her ladies-in-waiting. Their laughs seemed
forced, which annoyed her further. She was tired from the long ride, and
had barely laid down in her bed before she was fast asleep. She slept
deeply, but as morning came around, she started to dream.
She dreamed a dragon held her prisoner. It snorted its stinking
breath into her face. Its breath smelled fermented, as if it had been drinking
wine. It made high-pitched squealing and grunting sounds as it belched.
When she awoke, she found herself looking directly into the face of a pig.
She let out a scream; the drunken pig squealed and ran around her
bedroom, knocking a pitcher of water to the floor, breaking it into shards.
She stood up on her bed and continued to scream, and the pig continued to
squeal and run, knocking over lanterns, furniture, and the wash basin.
Elizabeth and Marina came running.
There was a large chair pulled in front of the doorway to her room,
which blocked the pig's escape. The commotion brought servants and
others quickly from every direction. Elizabeth and Marina called some
servants to help pull the chair from in front of the doorway. The pig
scrambled through, and they chased it as it continued squealing and grunting
around the sitting room. Finally it saw the open door to the hall and headed
through it.
As Louise continued to stand on her bed, trembling, Alexander
appeared in the doorway. He leaned casually against the wall, grinning.
"Relative of yours come to call?"
She was so angry and scared she could hardly speak. "How, what..."
Alexander stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That thing must have
gotten into the same marinating sauce as the chicken."
She screamed and threw her pillow at him. He ducked, and the
pillow flew past him and landed at the feet of Elizabeth and Marina, who
were standing behind him in the sitting room. Alexander just turned and
bowed slightly to them. "Ladies," he said. Then he exited the room.
Louise's ear-piercing scream followed him far down the hallway.
She was so angry that she could hardly taste her breakfast. The news
of the pig was all around the castle long before she left her room. She had
to sit at the same table as Alexander, with his serene smile. The food tasted
like sand as she chewed on her anger. Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret
sat quietly as if not knowing quite what to do. If she told them what
Alexander had done, she knew they would have to punish him, but it was
humiliating to mention it after the many pranks she had played on him. He
had finally played one on her and she had lost control of herself.
She stormed from the dining room, determined that whatever she did
to him next was going to be the best of the best. She was going to get him
good in whatever he took pride in most. As she trudged back to her room,
she wondered how he had gotten that horrible beast in there without her
knowing it. Obviously he had gotten it drunk, but how did he drag it in?
He must be stronger than she thought.
She paced back and forth in her living quarters. She had to have the
right event and the perfect timing. Once, Lady Marina came in, but, with
one vicious glance from Louise, she quickly retreated to the safety of the
hallway. When a plan finally came to Louise, she knew it was the most
perfect of all perfect plans, and she smiled to herself as she prepared to
implement it.