The bard, p.24
The Bard, page 24
“Cirren and Vitkin were bunking down in this room when I left,” he informed the assembled people. “Hopefully they have not been moved.”
He entered the room without knocking and was surprised to find a number of sleeping pallets had been placed on the floor next to the two beds. Nobody was in the room so he pulled a rope which was hanging against one of the walls. This rang a bell in the servants’ rest room and soon a young maid appeared. Tor enquired as to the whereabouts of his brothers and was informed that they had gone for a ride. At that moment Fuzzle, Queen Helen’s advisor, walked past. She had changed a lot since Tor had last seen her, though it had only been a relatively short space of time. She no longer looked careworn, but appeared to have a satisfied glow about her.
“Fuzzle,” the Prince said, bowing to her, much to her chagrin. “You are looking good.”
“Stop that,” she admonished him. She held no rank or title to warrant a bow from anyone, let alone royalty, and Tor treating her as a superior made her feel uncomfortable. He grinned at her.
“Where is Helen?” he asked.
“Dealing with some Lords I am afraid. I will let her know you are here.” She looked at the assembled company and sighed. “But first I suppose I will need to sort out rooms for you, though I am not sure where I am going to put you all. You can sleep in here with your brothers. Patrick will have to join you. Nosmas, I had to have your belongings moved into Modo’s room. You will have to argue with him over who gets the bed and who the pallet.” She looked at Ria, Sam and Quartilla. “You ladies are going to be a problem.” Nobody was brave enough to mention that there were two more of their company. That information could wait until after she had settled everyone else in.
“Why are you so crowded?” Tor asked her.
“We have a lot of guests at the moment,” she replied vaguely.
“I can see that,” Tor said. “What is going on?”
Fuzzle’s eyes lit up as she answered. “Queen Helen is getting married.”
The maid was sent to instruct the housekeeper to organise the accommodation while Fuzzle led the guests to a reception room where refreshments were available. She point blankly refused to say any more until everyone was drinking cooled fruit juice.
“Details please,” Ria said to the older woman as soon as everyone have been served. Patrick gave her a disgusted look.
“What she means is we have not been gone for long. I know you wanted to marry Helen off to the first suitable bachelor that came along, but how did you manage to arrange it so quickly?”
Fuzzle looked embarrassed by the question. “Actually it was not me,” she admitted. “Helen managed to find him all by herself.”
“So what is he?” Tor asked curiously. Fuzzle appeared to be reluctant to divulge much information and he was curious as to why. “A Lord? A Duke?”
“Technically he is a Prince.” She did not sound confident in her answer.
“Technically?” Tor raised a questioning eyebrow. Either someone was a Prince or wasn’t. As First Advisor to the Queen, Fuzzle was fully up to date with the royal lineage of every realm, so he could not understand her uncertainty.
Fuzzle opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as she rethought what she was going to say. She then took a deep breath and started again. “Queen Helen is marrying a.”
She did not get to finish her sentence as she was interrupted by newcomers bursting into the room without knocking. “I found these delinquents in the stable,” Seth announced, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. Dal walked by his side, holding his hand. Vitkin and Cirren followed him into the room, closely followed by a man Sam had never seen before. At first glance, Sam had no idea who he could be, but upon looking closer she could see some resemblance to Tor in the shape of his face, Cirren in his eyes and Vitkin in his build. He had to be another brother. Then she remembered Nosmas mentioning a name when he met up with them, but it would not come to her. At the time she had been absorbed in her own misery and could not recollect details of any conversations on the journey from the forest to Rumman’s house.
Tor nodded to two of his brothers, then hugged the third tightly. They had not seen each other in a long time and he was pleased to see him looking so well. When they released each other, Tor turned to those who were sitting down. “Let me introduce my brother, Brodin.” As Tor named each of his companions, Sam studied Brodin closely. He was shorter than Tor, but only a fraction, and his tight fitting clothes indicated a fit, muscular, body. His blue eyes revealed a deep intelligence and the neatly trimmed beard which covered his face was the same dark brown as his hair. He held himself upright, almost regally. Looking at him, there was no mistaking he had been brought up learning court etiquette and manners.
Brodin gave Sam a strange look when Tor explained who she was, but said nothing to her as he kissed the back of her hand, as he had done with the other ladies present.
“Are you travelling alone?” Tor enquired.
Brodin smiled at the question. “No. When Cirren and Vitkin explained why we had to wait for you, I sent the rest of my party south to Willem. This place is crowded enough as it is.”
He had a commanding voice, the sort you automatically listen to. ‘This man was born to be a leader,’ Sam thought to herself.
“Why Willem?” Tor asked in puzzlement. “How do you know where our next destination is?”
“I have no idea where the next clue will send me, but I do know I have to make a detour.” He looked at all three of his brothers. “Or should I say we?”
“I think you had better explain.” Tor had an inkling of what was going to come next and prayed that he was wrong.
“Mother wants to see us.” Tor was not the only one to groan.
“Does she not realise that time is of the essence?” Cirren complained.
“She has heard about Gallad and Hillan and wants to see how many of us are left alive,” Brodin explained.
“Well I guess that is settled then,” Vitkin said unenthusiastically. “Our next port of call is home.”
Helen chose that moment to join her guests, having managed to rid herself of the Lords she was dealing with a lot earlier than expected. She walked in, her long ginger hair flowing behind her.
“Tor,” she cried out in delight. “You made it at last.” He held out his arms and she ran into them. When he released his grip, he looked her up and down critically. “You look different,” he commented.
“You mean I look happy?’ she asked in a playful voice.
“That may be it,” he agreed. Then he stopped smiling at her. “I am not happy though.”
“Why ever not?” she asked, genuinely puzzled. Then her hands flew to her face. “Nobody else has died have they?” She scanned the room and noticed some missing faces.”
“No,” he assured her. “Torrick and Liselle have decided to give up travelling and settle down and Brin remained with his people.” He glanced at Sam as he spoke, but the mention of Brin’s name did not appear to upset her. “It is you I am not happy with?”
“Me? What have I done wrong?”
“You could have let us know we needed to come back here. You would have saved us a lot of time.”
Helen gave him a stern look, her appearance changing from a joyous young lady to a Queen who was used to running a kingdom without the help of husband or father. “You know I could not do that,” she said in a voice that made Tor feel like a naughty school child. Tor knew she was right and did not push the matter. He decided to change the subject. “I hear you are getting married. Fuzzle was about to give us the details when she was interrupted. Now we can hear them first hand.”
“What do you want to know?” she asked, knowing full well the question he was not asking but delaying having to answer for a long as possible.
“Who is the lucky man?”
“Prince Alate. Well, we call him Prince but his people do not recognise the title.” Tor stared at her, the look on his face indicating that he was waiting for an explanation. He noticed that his brothers and Nosmas were all looking intently at the floor, walls and ceiling. They obviously knew what was coming.
Helen sighed dramatically. “Alate is an altar.”
Chapter 22
Seth choked on his drink and Dal slapped him hard on the back. “One of the winged people?” Ria exclaimed in delight.
“Winged people?” Sam asked, enthralled. She had sudden visions of Pygar from Barbarella and had to supress a giggle.
“The altar are a race of people that live in the nearby mountains. As Ria so ungraciously pointed out, they do have fully functioning wings and can fly,” Tor explained. “They are not human, but are more closely related to us than any other species.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Patrick demanded, ungraciously turning Helen round to look at him. “You are a Queen, or had you forgotten. You are supposed to marry for the good of your country.”
“Calm down,” Fuzzle said, taking control of the situation. “Politically, this is actually a very good match. Alate is the youngest son of the leader of the altars, hence we call him a Prince, and has agreed to live here in Linket.”
For those who did not know about the altar people, Fuzzle gave them a brief lesson. They lived in tribes, mostly in mountains. For some unexplainable reason, they only ever gave birth to male children, resulting in them seeking mates from nearby human cities and villages. Usually the young males would secretly court their desired female, eventually convincing her to abandon her family and join him in his home in the mountains. Recently, however, the tribe that lived near Linket had taken to spying upon the women folk and kidnapping those they found most desirable. Occasionally those stolen had been married, but they were returned unharmed as soon as they managed to persuade their captors that they were not free to mate with them. Often the men had ventured into the mountains, in an attempt to reclaim their stolen relative, only to find that she was happy to stay and had no wish to be rescued. Only once had this not been the case and the men had been allowed to leave unmolested, taking the young woman with them.
“They have agreed to cease all taking of our women,” Fuzzle continued, “and instead will court them openly, here in the city. Only once they have the permission of both the girl in question and her family will she be taken into the mountains.”
“Alright,” Tor said, accepting what Fuzzle had told him. “But what about you Helen? You cannot tell me that you honestly feel anything for your fiancé.”
“Actually I do,” she informed him. “I am in love with him.”
Tor smiled, walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. “I am glad,” he told her, genuinely pleased that she had found happiness with someone her head advisor obviously approved of. “Congratulations.” As soon as Tor had spoken the word, Helen found herself surrounded by people telling her how happy they were for her, even Patrick.
“So when do we meet the lucky man?” Seth asked
“Tomorrow,” Helen said. “When do you plan to go back to the tomb.” It was Vitkin who replied.
“Based on the clue, we think we might need Tor’s vampires so we plan to head out at sunset, if that will be alright.”
Fuzzle nodded. “I will notify the keeper.”
“Vampires?” Helen asked. Although he had not been with them on their last visit, the Queen had been told all about Hawk. She was soon brought up to date with the adventures concerning Ellen and confirmed that she had no problem with the two undead remaining in her city.
“I will leave you boys to get reacquainted,” Helen said to the four Princes. “River is in the bathing room and I plan to spend the next few hours there myself. Care to join me ladies?”
After the last few days spent on the roads, the thought of being clean again appealed and all of the females enthusiastically took Helen up on her offer. Once they were alone, the men called a serving girl over and ordered jugs of chilled ale to be delivered. Tor had not seen Brodin in a long while and was eager to spend a few hours drinking and catching up on all he had been doing.
As soon as Sam entered the bathing room she heard the sound of splashing and knew that River was enjoying herself. Ripples could be seen near the centre of the pool and a head suddenly appeared, water running over the pale blue skin. River squealed with joy as soon as her eyes focused on the new arrivals.
“Ria, Sam, Dal,” the water sprite called out joyfully, before swimming to the edge of the pool and climbing out, oblivious to her nakedness. Quartilla was introduced and Ria told River about Sam’s situation. The young sprite cried when she heard that Brin remained behind, hugging Sam tightly, then smiled broadly when Sam’s pregnancy was announced. The friends were glad to be back together once more and dropped their clothing on a nearby bench before diving into the water. Quartilla was not so enthusiastic. She was not used to being naked around strangers and had made sure a towel covered her body as she removed her clothes. She waited until the other women were swimming away from her before dropping her towel and quickly jumping into the water. They all cleaned themselves then floated in the warm water, relaxing.
“Dish the dirt,” Sam said to Helen as they languished in the pool. Five pairs of eyes regarded her quizzically. Sam sighed. No matter how accustomed she became to living on this world, every now and then something would happen to remind her that she was still, technically, an alien. In this case it was using a common phrase that meant nothing to anyone she was with. “Please tell us how you and your birdman met.”
Much to her surprise, Queen Helen burst out laughing. “Birdman?” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Never say that in front of any of the altars,” she advised. “They may not see the funny side.”
“Did he kidnap you?” Dal asked, recalling what Helen had been saying earlier about the altars.
“Yes, he did,” Helen replied without hesitation.
“This I have got to hear,” Ria said eagerly. The Queen’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red. “Stop blushing. Your face now clashes with your hair.”
Ria, Dal, Sam, Quartilla and River all looked at Helen expectantly. “Very well, if I must,” she sighed dramatically. She got out of the pool and retrieved her towel, tying it around her body before making herself comfortable on a bench overlooking the pool.
“Not long after you were last here, I was in my private garden. It was a bright sunny day and I was enjoying spending some time alone. Suddenly a shadow fell upon me and before I knew it I had been scooped up in strong arms and was flying away from the palace. I screamed, but was too high up for anyone to hear me. I was terrified. I had heard all of the stories about young girls from the town being kidnapped in such a fashion.”
She paused in her narration, walked to the door and instructed the serving girl waiting outside to bring fruit drinks, before returning to the pool side. Everyone except River took this opportunity to alight from the water, noticing their fingers were beginning to wrinkle, and were wrapped in warm towels by the time the drinks arrived. After lubricating her throat, Helen continued.
“He flew me directly to his home, laying me down on his bed. He then bowed formally, introduced himself and informed me that he had been watching me from afar for a long while. I have never been so scared in my life. I thought I was about to be raped.”
“Did you not tell him who you were?” Ria interrupted.
“Not until later. He then told me to relax and that I would enjoy spending time with him. Knowing it would be worse for me if I resisted, I simply told him that he could do what he wanted to me but I would not enjoy it. He took that as a challenge.”
“He raped you?” Sam was shocked.
“Of course not,” Helen replied impatiently. “As he slowly undressed me my body went rigid, but his hands were so smooth and gentle I began to relax. He was absolutely amazing. He touched me in ways I have never been touched before and I swear to you I tried not to enjoy it, but I could not help myself. He made my entire body crave him until I was almost screaming to be satisfied.”
“So you did have sex,” Ria said bluntly.
“No we did not,” Helen snapped. “He is not that sort of man. Can I continue now?” Ria nodded her head. “Good. Where was I? Oh yes. When I thought I could not take any more, he kissed me. Words do not exist to describe that kiss.”
Helen fell silent and her eyes glassed over as she became lost in her memories. Ria coughed politely to regain her attention, making the Queen blush once more. “I eventually told him who I was and he was horrified and would not stop apologising. He returned me to the garden and flew away. I thought I would never see him again.” She sounded wistful as she spoke the last sentence.
“But I was wrong,” she continued after a moment’s pause. “A few days later he returned to the garden, claiming he was unable to keep away. This time guards were present and he was arrested and thrown in a dungeon beneath the palace. He went willingly, not resisting his arrest in any way, even when he was chained to the wall. I could not sleep at all that night, knowing he was only a few floors below me, so I crept down to the dungeon to see him. He did not seem surprised to see me. His tunic had been removed and his chest glowed in the pale light of my torch. I could not help myself. I wanted to do to him what he had done to me, so I put the torch in the holder and walked up to him.”
Much to everyone’s annoyance, she stopped to take another drink. “You cannot leave it there,” River complained when Helen showed no sign of resuming. Helen smiled mischievously.
“I ran my fingers down his chest, making sure only the tips of my nails were in contact with his skin. He shivered so I continued, touching every part of his body that was not covered with cloth, right down to his navel. One look at the bulge in the front of his trousers told me I had got the reaction I desired. I then stepped back from him and walked towards the door.”
Ria groaned. “You are a cruel woman,” she said.
“That is exactly what he said. He informed me that he had satisfied me and he deserved to be satisfied in return.”
