The Lord Son's Travels (67 page)

“What
can it be?” Irk asked his companion.
 

“Reinforcements
from Allè-dôn perhaps?” Brendan hoped fervently.
 
He and the other war leaders followed the boy down the
corridor to the outer wall of the fortress.
 
A crowd had gathered by one of the slits in the thick stone
wall that functioned as a lookout.
 
Brendan slipped through the excited group to have a look.
 
He gazed past the moat and littered
battlefield to the edge of the burned woods where the monsters had made their
camp.
 
He noted the change in the
fighting immediately.
 
A few
clashes still rang out on the battlefield, but the majority of monsters had
dropped their weapons, and were calling for retreat.
 

“They’ve
been saying that the Lord of the Southlands is dead!” one of the other
onlookers announced incredulously. “They think they are free now, and they
don’t want to fight!” Brendan thought for a moment, then turned to Erik, and
next to him, Tarien.

“Adrien
did it!” he said slowly.
 
“He made
it!” He was sure his words would break the spell and bring back despondent reality,
but when he turned to the window again, it was clear the monsters had dropped
their weapons and were retreating back into the charred remains of the
woods.
 
The human fighters stood in
place, dumbfounded, glancing at each other to confirm they were all watching
the same scene.
 
Soon one fighter
let out a call of victory, and the others joined in, celebrating with abandon in
the still smoking and bloody battlefield.
 

It
was nearly three days before one of Adrien’s messengers arrived to tell a
little of their tale.
 
Roden on
Brendan’s authority forwarded the message of victory on to their neighboring
lands as well as Allè-dôn.
 
By now
their kingdom would have heard the news of the end of the fighting.

Brendan
finished his tale, and glanced towards his friends.
 
His question was evident in his eyes, though he tried to
mask it with a casual air.
 
Tarien
was thoughtful, gazing into the air, conspicuously not in the direction of the
new Bearers.
 
They remained silent;
there was nothing to say about the new powers they bore that they little
understood themselves.
 

Isabeau
rescued them from the discomforting silence by arriving to ask for their
presence in the chambers of King Erik.
 
A celebration had been planned for the evening, as formal as possible
under the circumstances. They were addressed by their old titles when they were
presented at the dinner that evening.
 
This was only a surface continuance, though.
 
As Adrien was approached by Erik, the neighboring royals and
even the Elf King, he was treated as their equal, and their discussions touched
mostly on the changes in the diplomacies of their lands and Allè-dôn in the
future.
 
Elenna remained quiet and
attentive, listening to her husband’s polite exchanges with heavy
thoughts.
 
It was, she noted wryly
to herself as the evening grew late, the first formal dinner she and Adrien had
stayed until the very end.
 
Their
days of slipping out for late night practice were over, she realized with a
tinge of wistfulness.
 
He had had
the same thought, she guessed, when he caught her eye and shrugged with
resignation.
 

These
changes grew more apparent as their visit passed.
 
She would never want to live those past times again, but
Elenna was thoughtful as she visited the grounds of the fortress, where only a
short time before she had worked so hard in fear for the battle ahead.
 
Now she watched the villagers work,
raising a few buildings at a time, chattering happily amongst themselves with
optimistic plans for the future.
 
She avoided the other noble guests as much as she could politely,
feeling the insubstantial nature of her position in their eyes.
 
They were kind, but unsure of her place
in the new political scheme.
 

Adrien
spent his days in meetings, as he had before, but the urgency and vital
importance of the planning was gone, replaced by monotonous discussions of the
minutiae of economic trade agreements.
 
He had had very little training from his father about the day to day
duties of running a large kingdom; he was amazed by the number of decisions he
was already making on behalf of his home.
 
He felt strange speaking as the voice of Allè-dôn; by now his parents
would know that his quest was successful and he would soon be taking their
place as ruler.
 
None of their
communications invoked Elenna; he would speak with his parents personally on
the matter of his secret marriage.
  
He had wondered how his parents would react to a triumphant ending to
his journeys; he would have the definite answer within the fortnight.
 
Both he and Elenna found relief from
their new worries in evenings spent with their friends, who were happy to laugh
at their memories of their adventures and say nothing of the road ahead.

By
the end of their short visit, many new political alliances had been set in
motion, the first for Allè-dôn in many years.
 
Visits to Allè-dènè were promised by the Elf-King, who for
the first time in anyone’s memory, was interested in forming a permanent
relationship with Large Folk.
 
Most
of the royal visitors left Roden at the same time, since their aid no longer
urgently needed there, and they had much work to do in their own homes.
 
Erik and his family sent them off with
their warmest thanks for their aid.
 

To
Allè-dôn, they sent their oldest daughter.
 
Isabeau was coming officially only as representative of her
family to the coronation of her friend.
 
Erik and his wife hid it well, but there was sadness that her
participation was not more intrinsic to the festivities.
 
Their daughter had accepted the change
in her destiny; she harbored no bitter thoughts to the future bride as they
climbed in together in the same carriage with Brendan and Adrien.

The
procession that had arrived in Trees Man was now much larger as it set off east
towards home.
 
The soldiers under
Tomas’ command marched behind the carriages as they traveled.
 
They made quite a sight for the
commoners who would gather outside their homes as the great parade passed
through the country.
 
The carriage
took what would have seemed a brisk pace for any other nobles than these ones
finally returning home.

Chapter 64

Their
road lay far to the north of the route they had taken west.
 
The contrast between the road home and
the road out was a running source of humor during the long days of riding.
 
After the months of endless riding, the
terrible traveler’s stew and the dangers of their previous adventures, the last
part of their journey was a well-deserved series of good meals and soft beds in
comfortable inns.
 
For their own
peace of mind they traveled as nobility under false names and let the large
army lag further and further behind their carriage.
 
 
Stories from
the battle were already being spread and exaggerated along the way.
 
Several times while ensconced in the
common rooms of that night’s inn, they were treated to Bards’ epic tales about
their own adventures.
 
Most of the
tales featured Adrien as the hero of what was now being commonly referred to as
the Lord Son’s War.
 
He pursed his
lips whenever he heard this term but said nothing in response.

Throughout
the gaiety of their ride, neither Adrien or Elenna could forget for long
burdens weighing on their minds.
 
First for Adrien was the pressing concern of the politics of their
arrival.
 
Allè-dôn had not had a
Bearer for nearly two hundred years, and never had an unchosen heir risen to
power.
 
He also had the additional
concern of introducing Elenna to his family.
 
Their approval wasn’t technically needed since they were
already legally married and he was now the Bearer and thus the kingdom's
incontrovertible ruler, but things would go much more easily if the family
could accept her willingly as Lady Queen or least fake approval for the public.
 
As much as he laughed and relaxed
outwardly with his friends, his mind was nearly always distracted with worries
of the coming reunion.

Many
of the same thoughts were on Elenna’s mind, but in addition, she was also
obsessed by the smooth enigma that as often as not was in her possession.
 
She fingered it often when it was with
her; sometimes thoughtfully, sometimes without awareness.
 
Adrien spoke only once about its
acquisition; saying only that his opinions of the Lady that he had always so
honored were decidedly changed, and the new policies of Allè-dôn would reflect
his education in that matter.
 
She
could see for herself that it was some type of technology far advanced from
anything she had ever seen, but as much as she studied it she couldn't understand
anything about how it was made or by whom, or how much she could trust its
powers, considering its source.

She
did know that it was the method Alexander had used to travel back and
forth.
 
On their long carriage ride
home she had plenty of time to lose herself in memories of her family and
friends back home, her favorite places and destinations she had in mind to
visit one day.
 
She thought of what
Alexander had told her about New York, though she told herself firmly it was a
lie, and grew more frustrated because she had with her the way to know for
sure.
 
They both wanted to test its
abilities, but they knew that the present time was not the right occasion.
 
They knew too little to be safe; for
example they had no idea how time would pass while they were gone.
 
A five minute visit could take five
minutes, or hours or days would pass in Allè-dôn.
 
From the time of their arrival in Roden they were under
constant surveillance by their protective guards; they would be even more
closely guarded in Allè-dôn.
 
In
addition, there were too many details to take care of before their arrival, and
their plans after arrival were hazy at best.
 
Their next travels, and Elenna’s homesickness, would have to
wait.

Elenna
had another secret concern, she finally voiced when they were only a few days
from the border.
 
They stopped for
the night at an inn, as they had done throughout their journey when a noble
house wasn’t convenient.
 
Elenna
saw her chance when Adrien had left the inn on a few errands.
 
She presented herself at Brendan’s
door.
 
When he answered, she
grimaced shamefacedly, and asked sheepishly for his help.

“What
is wrong, Elenna?” he asked with concern.

“Can
I come in?” she asked.
 
He glanced
up and down the hallway to insure this irregular behavior was not observed, and
moved back from the doorway to give her room to slink by.
 
He waited for her to speak.

“I
need your help,” she reiterated, paused, then admitted.
 
“I don’t know shit about being royal.”

“Well,
Lord Wed, first lesson is on your speech,” he answered primly, with his mouth
twitching at the corners.
 
“The
Lady Queen would not use such language.”

“Lesson
absorbed.
 
Please help me, Bren!”
Elenna pleaded, collapsing in his chair.
 
“I have to meet all of these people in a few days, and I really don’t
want to embarrass Adrien.”

“Have
you talked to your husband?
 
He can
instruct you.”

Elenna
shook her head.
 
“I love him
dearly, but I know Adrien isn't the go-to guy for royal etiquette.”

Now
Brendan did grin.
 
“You are a
stranger, so you’ll not be expected to learn all of the rules at first.
 
But I can help you with some basics.”

She
nodded with gratitude.
 
“Please,
even just tell me what to do when I meet his parents.
 
I’m scared to death of them.”

Brendan,
who had just spent more than a month living with the royals of Roden, was
sympathetic.
 
He fussed over her
for a while, directing her to lift her head, tuck in her chin, et cetera until
her posture met his approval.
 
Walking was more difficult; unlike any other Lady, Elenna had the
swordsman’s tilt, common from the heavy weight of the weapon she had worn so
long at her side.
 
Like all of the
other swordfighters, she had the habit of keeping her drawing hand near her
side and ready; he gave up on changing that, knowing that even as the Lady
Queen her fighting techniques should remain sharp.
 
Assassination attempts were not common but unfortunately not
unheard of.
 
And he knew that she
would never willingly let her hard-earned skills deteriorate.
 
After some practice he termed her quite
presentable.
 
He warned her of the
gauntlet she would have to graciously face as a future royal bride. In
Allé-dônian tradition, a week of festival proceeded any royal marriage. In that
time, formal dinners would serve to introduce the bride into society.
 
There would be parades during the days,
and formal presentation of gifts by nobles and the most important trade
groups.
 
It was grueling even for a
fan of Court life.

“What
about the ceremony itself?” Elenna asked.
 
She was trying not to let her despair show.
 
Her only consolation was that Adrien would be miserable
along with her so she’d have company in her suffering.

Brendan
answered, “It will be similar to the ceremony in Roden.
 
With thousands of observers.
 
As the recognized Bearer, Adrien will
have his coronation in the morning.
 
You don’t have a separate coronation, but become Lady Queen as soon as
you are formally married.”

Elenna
buried her face in her hands.
 
“Bren, I don’t think I can do this.”

He
smiled and knelt down by her feet.
 
“You and Adrien have been the true leaders of Allè-dôn for some time
now.
 
You were the ones,” he added
over her protests, “who commanded our forces and made our alliances.
 
You stopped the fighting and saved
Allè-dôn, you bear Evenral.
 
These coming
events are only formalities for the sake of the people’s entertainment.”
 
He leaned closer.
 
“I’m a loyal Allè-dônian, and I can now
with a clear heart name you Elenna Lady Queen.
 
When you meet Andrüe and Alma, you will meeting them as
equals.
 
I know it, Adrien knows
it, and they know it as well, so don’t let them scare you.”

Elenna
raised her head and smiled at him with gratitude.
 
“So when are you and Isabeau getting married?”

“Two
weeks after your ceremony, with my Lord King’s and Lady Queen’s approval,” he
replied without surprise but with a wide grin.
 
It was Elenna’s turn to laugh.

“That’s
reason enough for me to go through with this,” she replied, and clasped his
hand.