The Lord Son's Travels (48 page)

Chapter 44

Elenna
and Brendan greeted him warmly, then gave him the latest news from Evendor.
 
As a result of several messages between
the Counselor of the Foreign and the
 
Lord King, Adrien was now the official representative of the Kingdom of
Allè-dôn, able to negotiate freely on behalf of his father.
 
This was very welcome news to Adrien;
now he had some political leverage to move the Lady of the Tower.
 

They
switched from horses to a comfortable coach for the rest of their journey to Evendor.
 
Brendan nudged Adrien with his good arm
and grinned at the greatly-missed luxury.
 
Adrien, Brendan, and Elenna rode inside; the Student insisted for
propriety’s sake on sitting with the driver upfront.
 
The carriage was a luxury beyond any other conveyances they
had used during their journey.
 
Unlike carriages that Elenna had seen in movies, this vehicle had the
entry door behind the driver.
 
Two
wide upholstered benches ran lengthwise down the box, with small crystal-glass
windows allowing limited views outside.
 
Because of its customary use to transport royal visitors, all of the
seats were cushioned in soft red velvet, with more velvet draped from the walls
and as drapes on the front windows for privacy.
 
In the middle between the benches was a wooden box with a
selection of drinks, fruits and bread.
 
On the back of the coach rode two guards, armed with obviously
ceremonial weapons.
 
No brigand was
foolish enough to operate within the borders of the Lady.
 

“How
I missed this!” Brendan exclaimed gaily as he lit a pipe he had found waiting
by his seat. He had claimed one of the benches for his own, and stretched out
luxuriously with his boots resting on the expensive velvet.
 
Adrien resisted the temptation to join
him in a smoke.
 
He had taken some
paper and ink from the inn and was busy writing as neatly as he could on the
bumpy ride.
   

“It’s
wonderful,” Elenna replied dourly, wrinkling her nose at the smoke.
 
“Open a window please.”
  
Brendan complied, teasing her
weak constitution.
 
They rode on in
companionable silence, allowing each to settle into their private mental space
for the duration of the ride.
 
The
wagon often passed caravans of refugees, on foot or in wagons, making for the
imagined sanctuary of the House of the Lady.
 
All three of them avoided the view out the window, feeling
some guilt at their short-term inability to help those poor souls they passed
by.
 
“How long until we get there?”

Neither
man knew.
 
During a break in the
ride,
 
Adrien leaned out the
entryway and
 
consulted the
Student.
 
“We should reach the Gap
within three days,” he reported to his other companions when he returned.
 
He looked bemused as he spoke.

“What’s
the Gap?” Elenna asked.
 

He
shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I’ve never learned much about the House
of the Lady.
 
I’ve just been told
that I will be the first of the ruling House of Allé-dôn to enter Evendor since
the Beginning.”

The
ride started up again.
 
Brendan
thought about this bit of trivia and nodded.
 
“My grandfather’s father was sent once as an emissary for
the Lord King.
 
He told my father
tales of his journey when he was a boy.
 
He said the Gap was the best wonder you could see with your eyes
open.
 
All else I remember him describing
was the Needle.
 
The House of the
Lady sits at the Eye of the Needle, he told me.
 
I’ve not an idea what that means.”

The
ride was certainly the easiest journeying they had had since their quest
started.
 
The first night was spent
in a comfortable inn.
 
After a
hearty breakfast, they reentered their coach and spent their hours in
discussion or periods of quiet reflection. Adrien continued to write, and
refused to discuss the contents of his letters.
 
Brendan smiled when he noted his friend often lost in
conversation with their companion.
 
Once Elenna caught his eye and grinned in reply before returning her
attention to Adrien’s speech.
 
In
the evening they stopped at the next inn for a full meal and a good night’s
sleep.
 
The aches and pains of their
time in forced labor slowly slipped away, and before the beginning of the last
day of their journey, all felt rested and ready to begin the next stage.

When
they began their ride that morning, the Student pointed to a looming figure on
the horizon.
 
It grew larger and
larger as they approached and even more intriguing, but they were distracted by
more immediate concerns.
 

The
crowds of refugees had grown thicker each day as their destination grew
closer.
 
Their carriage reached the
end of the public road that afternoon.
 
The road terminated in a small town that had grown around the gate
guarding the entrance to the School's private lands.
 
A huge encampment had grown around the town, as the scores
of refugees arrived and found to their disbelief that they would not be allowed
onto the Lady's property.
 
A few
Students were posted at the gate to tell the disappointing news to new
arrivals.
 
They offered emergency
medical care for the neediest of the arrivals, but were telling all others to
essentially to get back on the road and go somewhere else.
 
A few refugees were arguing loudly for
aid and shelter for their families.
 
Most of the exhausted refugees instead turned around and settled outside
town in the dusty public lands, meekly hoping that some other opportunity would
present itself, because few if any had the resources to make the journey back
down the road to try another direction.
 

The
crowds parted for their carriage; the red-colored trimmings were enough to
cause the people to fall back in awe at the presence of royalty.
 
All three of the occupants were silent
as they rolled through the noisy streets.
 
They were issued through the gates without delay, leaving the stranded
immigrants behind the relocked gates.
 
They wouldn't reach the School that night.
 
Instead they stayed in a lovely inn maintained some distance
from the gate, out of sight and sound of its commotion.
  

When
they arrived at the evening’s lodgings, the mysterious figure had resolved
itself into a circle filled with a dozen individual stone behemoths.
 
The circle still lay perhaps five or
six miles away; at that distance height was hard to judge, but the tips of each
rock formation had to reach hundreds of feet into the sky.
 
No other outcroppings were
visible.
 
Only this improbable formation
marred the perfect boundary of sky and sand.
 
All but the Student gawked in bewilderment at the
sight.
 
Elenna especially was
dumbfounded.
 
She wandered around,
taking in the sight from a variety of angles.
 
She bit at her thumb as she noted the smooth geometry of
each shape.
 
Each started at a wide
base then narrowed to pointed shards against the afternoon sky.
 
Their road cut between the first and
following peaks, disappearing out of view.
 
Whatever was inside was completely immune to attack; a small
boy with a collection of rocks could repel a large army.

"How
the hell did you build that?" she wondered out loud in her
bewilderment.
 

“Tis
the work of the Lady Eva as a show of favor on our works,” the Student
explained with easy confidence.
 
“Come, let us rest.
 
We
shall wait upon the Lady in the morning.”
 
Brendan waited for her to stop her pacing back and forth and go with
him.

“Bren,
that thing is not possible,” she exclaimed in consternation.

“We
are in the land of wonders now,” he replied with a shrug.
 
Adrien glanced at the wonder, and
merely shrugged and followed his friends back inside the carriage.

Elenna
was not surprised to see an intricate gown laid beside her bed when she awoke
the next morning.
 
She was
surprised to see Adrien dressed and seated across the room, waiting patiently
for her to awake.
 
Each night he
waited until the inn was quiet to join her in her chamber, than slip back to
his own room before she awoke.
 
No
one seemed to suspect their subterfuge.
 
She sat up and greeted him sleepily, and asked why he was
still there.

   
“I wanted to speak to you
privately before we leave for the House of the Lady,” he said.
 
She nodded for him to continue.

   
“The Lady has vast powers at
her command,” he started.
 
“I
believe that you were summoned here by the power of Evenral, which is not under
her control.
 
But I believe she may
also has the ability to return you to your home.”

   
Elenna bit her lip.
 
“If I ask, do you think she will do
it?”
  
      
He nodded.
 
“If she can, and she finds you worthy of
her efforts.”

   
“Hmm.”
 
Elenna pulled her knees to her chest
and rested her chin on her left knee.
 
“Or you can send me home once we find this stone.”

   
“If you wish to wait until
then,” he agreed.
 

   
She sat up.
 
“I already promised to stay until the
end, Rian.
 
Why are you asking me
this now?”

   
He paused.
 
“There will be a great battle by the
time we are finished.”

   
She stretched.
 
“I’ve been in battles before.”

   
He shook his head.
 
“Not like this one.”

   
“There’s always a first.
 
I’m staying with you.
 
Now get out before someone sees
you.”
 

   
Adrien paused in the
doorway.
 
He faced the heavy wooden
door as he added softly, “Maybe you should stay.”
 
She found herself speechless, as he quickly slipped out and
returned to his own chamber.

Chapter 45

   
The coach rolled out from the
inn shortly after, pulled by a new team of shining black horses.
 
Inside the three travelers waited
anxiously for their arrival at the legendary House of the Lady.
 
Brendan had immediately lit a
pipe.
 
Adrien had in his hands an
ink stick and a piece of parchment, and was trying to draft an appropriate
greeting from a renegade royal to the head of a politically unacknowledged
power.
 
He wished he would be able
to speak to Tarien before the official welcome and have his aid in this.
 
He had next to him on the seat a pile
of the other messages he had written throughout the journey, ready to be
dispatched as soon as they arrived.
  

   
Elenna kept her head craned
to peek out at the fantastic geology of the formation.
 
The road was extremely narrow, weaving
its way around the outside of the circumference of the formation.
 
The tips of the crags were far above
them, impossible to see from the coach’s tiny windows.
 
She asked if she could move to the
front of the coach, but an escort of guards had met them as they entered the
formation, and Adrien thought it too improper to appease her curiosity.
  
She frowned in disappointment but
saw his point.
 
She did get him to
agree to a fifteen minute break in their drive to get out of the carriage and
explore a little.
 
She poked at the
ground and the structures, grimacing and muttering to herself as the men took
the opportunity to stretch their legs and completely ignore the view.
 

She
demanded the attention of her companions.
 
“This is completely bizarre,” she exclaimed as she pointed to the
formation.
 
"No, it’s worse
than that. It’s completely freaking impossible."
 
Brendan and Adrien gathered around with interest for her
explanation.
  
She held a rock
in each of her hands, lifting her left hand high first for demonstration.
 
“This is sandstone.
 
This is the kind of rock we're walking
on, what the road has been made from,
 
and what I would expect to find here."
 
Then she motioned with her other hand.
 
"This is granite.
 
This whole thing" she motioned
wildly, "from what I can tell was formed from one big piece of
granite.
 
Which didn't come from
here."
 
Their expressions were
confused.
 
She tried again.
 
“Somebody brought those huge rocks and
balanced them well enough to keep standing.
 
Even people from my world couldn't have done this."

"A
gift from the Lady of All to those highest in Her favor," the Student
chimed in with smooth arrogance.
 
Elenna shot him a look that caused Adrien to reach out and grasp her by
the shoulder to lead her back to the carriage.
 
He shook his head in warning when she tried again to discuss
her discovery.
 
She bit her lip and
said nothing else on the topic.

   
When the party had traveled a
third of the loop around the formation, the road turned in to the center. The
sun disappeared behind the surrounding cliffs.
 
Soon they reached the foot of
 
the thickest extrusion.
 
To the travelers’ surprise, the road became a steep path
hugging the narrow mountain, zig-zagging back and forth as it climbed to the
sky.
 
The road was barely wide
enough for the coach; even Elenna didn’t want to look out her window anymore as
they climbed higher.
 
The driver
went slowly and cautiously.
 
When
they had nearly reached the top of the formation, the road made a sudden
turn.
 
The driver stopped, and the
student knocked on the door to the coach and asked if they would like to view
the Needle at this time.
 
They
agreed.
 
The student offered a hand
first to Adrien as their leader, and then to Elenna.
 
She stepped down from the coach to the right, where a
viewing area had been carved out of the rock.
 
The first thing she noted the paleness of Adrien’s
expression.
 
When she turned to
follow his gaze, she blanched, too.
 

   
The Needle was another of the
slender formations that had been leveled flat at the top.
 
The legends said the House of the Lady,
and the grounds of the School had been built in this cleared space five hundred
years ago.
 
This complex was nearly
half of a mile of clear air away.
 
The span from their formation to the needle was crossed by a delicate
metallic arched bridge, just wide enough for their carriage.
 
A short drive led to the front of the
main School building, where a welcome party was watching their arrival.

   
Elenna had never had felt
even a momentary fear of heights.
 
Now she desperately wanted to hug the rough wall of rock behind
her.
 
She could see her companions
were fighting the same instinct.
 
She squared her shoulders and faced the Student.

   
He nodded in approval.
 
“Shall we return to our vehicle?” he
asked Adrien.
 
He nodded a bit too
eagerly, and followed Elenna and Brendan back into the carriage.
 

   
“Well,” said Brendan as he
sunk into the comfort of his seat.
 
“I’d say they lie safe from attack.”

   
Adrien shook his head.
 
“How can a bridge that frail hold our
weight?”
 
They felt a bump as they
crossed onto the bridge.
 
Each of
them held their breath.
 
The
horses’ hooves clanged noisily on the metal beneath them.
 
Not quickly enough for their wishes,
they had crossed onto the relatively solid ground of the Needle.
 
The carriage pulled up to the front of
the House, as trumpets blared in welcome.
 
Adrien gathered his papers and scanned his speech one last time.
 
Elenna smoothed her skirts, and
panicked.
 

   
“Who am I here?” she
demanded.
 
Adrien nodded in
understanding.

   
“You are Elenna, Lady of the
Blade.
 
I’ll see that you are given
some tokens in your color.
 
Stay at
my right hand and you’ll be fine.
 
Bren?” he called, as the door to the carriage opened.
 
Brendan stepped out, to a sudden blast
of the horns.
 
The Guards handed him
down to the ground.
 
A duo of young
girls dressed in black with gold trim approached and bowed solemnly.
 
They each took a hand and led him to
the side.
 
Next was Elenna.
 
She was greeted in the same fashion,
and taken to the right side of the walkway.
 
Now she could see clearly the large crowd that had gathered
for the occasion.
 
Most of the
members were women, dressed simply in black with veils over their hair.
 
They were lined up on either side of a
runway that approached the main building.
 
At the top of the front steps, a small group waited.
 
She recognized Tarien, and smiled at
his nod of greeting.
 
Next to him,
a tall blonde woman was whispering to an attendant.
 
She was the Lady, Elenna guessed.
 

   
Lost in her thoughts, she had
not heard Adrien’s announcement.
 
The crowds cheered, as he strode past her down the walkway.
 
She fell in behind him next to
Brendan.
 
As they started their
approach, the Lady descended the steps to meet them halfway.
 
She was startlingly beautiful, almost
too perfect, Elenna mused.
 
She had
luxurious long blonde curls, covered by a jewel-encrusted veil.
 
Her dress was black, with a train that
stretched behind her in a shimmering waterfall of jewels and golden
embroidery.
 
She moved with a hint
of impatience, as if she was weary of all the times she had had to walk this
path to greet yet another functionary from the outerworld with no usefulness to
her.
 

   
They met in the middle of the
aisle.
 
The Lady paused
expectantly.
 
Her courtiers frowned
in dismay as they realized the next stage of their greeting wasn't going as
planned.
 

   
Brendan realized first what
was wrong.
 
“Kneel,” he whispered
fervently to his friend.

   
“No,” Adrien answered
simply.
 
The couriers muttered
amongst themselves.
 
He stood his
ground, waiting patiently for the greeting to continue.
 
In the Allé-dônian view, the tradition
of kneeling before superiors was demeaning and unnecessary.
 
If a commoner would happen to run into
a royal, a simple nod would suffice to recognize their relationship, and no
acknowledgement was required to greet a royal from another land.
 
Most of the other lands of the
Eastlands accepted this quirk of the Allé-dônians and excused them from this
part of their ceremonies.
 
Apparently the Lady of Evendor did not.

   
Before the wait could grow
too uncomfortable, the Lady motioned for one of her courtiers to step
forward.
 
“Who comes to seek the
Counsel of the Lady?
 
Who seeks to
enter the Halls of Wisdom?”
 
His
voice boomed over the heads of the crowds.
 

   
“I am Adrien Lord Son ä
Allé-dôn,” he replied.
 

   
“Welcome, Lord Son,” the Lady
replied.
 
Her voice was smooth and
neutral.
 
Elenna remembered the
recorded voice on the university’s voicemail system.
 
“Who travels with you?”

   
Brendan subtly tapped her on
the back.
 
She stepped forward.

   
“I am Elenna, Lady of the
Blade.”

   
“Welcome, Lady Elenna,” the
voice answered dispassionately.

   
“I am
 
High Lord Brendan ä Wellect,” he
continued with a polite nod.

   
“Welcome, Lord Brendan.
 
You have come to a House where only
Truth may be spoken.” The Lady intoned, and the crowd immediately fell
silent.
 
“You have come to a place
where only Truth may be heard.
 
Have you come ready to receive Truth?”
 

   
 
“Aye, my Lady,” Adrien answered for the group.
 
This was the end of the formal greeting.
 
The Lady turned on her heel and
returned to the top of the steps, trailed by her advisors.
 
Her guests followed behind.
 
The crowd waited until they had
disappeared between the pillars and silently dispersed to their daily duties.
Tarien greeted them at the top with nods and a whisper into the Lord Son's
ear.
 
At the main doors of the
building, the Lady paused and turned to face them again.

   
“You are not Students of the
Truth so you may not pass into these chambers.
 
You will follow my chamberlain, who will escort you to your
suite of rooms.
 
I will speak with
you later.”
 
The man to her left
stepped forward and motioned for them to follow him from the doorway.
  
Without a glance back the Lady
entered the main hall with entourage streaming behind.
 

Their
lodgings were in the guest house behind the House of the Lady.
 
The Allé-dônians had been given a wing
of the building for their own use, with large airy bedchambers and a common sitting
room with a large picturesque window facing the south.
 
Adrien was drawn to the awe-inspiring
view of formations against blue sky.
 
He dreaded the approaching conference with the Lady.
 
He took deep breaths and silently
organized his thoughts.
 
Tarien
approached from behind and laid a fatherly hand on his shoulder.
 

“You
will speak true and right, Lord Son,” he said.
 
“Worry not.
 
She
will see the rightness of your deeds.”

“What
news have you had here of the fighting?” Adrien asked.
 
Tarien motioned for him to sit near him
on one of the comfortable sofas.
 
Immediately a servant dashed in to offer cool drinks from a tray.
 
The Counselor took a deep draught
before replying.