Aphonion Tales (New posts 6/13, 6/15, 6/19)

[Cerebral Paladin]

“But leaving that aside… I wanted to ask whether you wanted to accept the baronetcy publicly.”

“What does it mean? I don’t know that I have time to be the noble for some land in addition to my other duties. Besides the land I have in Lyneham, I mean.”

“Most baronetcies don’t come with substantial land. We would probably give you a grant from the Treasury to buy an appropriate townhouse and estate, but nothing more than that. Mostly, it’s just a higher title. It would mean that you would outrank other knights and have a higher status. And unlike a knighthood, it’s hereditary, so your eldest child will eventually inherit the baronetcy, and so forth.”

“So my children would be noble, regardless of who their father was?” Kit asked attentively.

“Yes, they would,” responded Alistair with a look on his face like he had just bitten into something sour.

Kit thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “I think I will accept it then.”

“You know that we won’t be able to prevent people from assuming that it’s because you’re my mistress?”

“But they would be wrong, right?”

“Of course. You’ve earned this through your own actions and service to the Archduchy. But it won’t be like the knighthood, where we could try to make people understand that. Especially because most of your service is secret.”

Kit nodded. “I understand. But I think I’ll accept it anyway. We’ll know that I earned it, and I don’t want to let what they think take away something I’ve earned.”

“Good,” said Alistair with a smile. “By the way, you should pick a name for your house.”

“For my house? Shouldn’t that wait until I’ve bought one?”

“No, for your noble house. For your family. It’s traditional for baronets to have a house name. We could just continue calling you ‘Dame Katherine of Lyneham,’ but with the baronetcy title, that would suggest that you were the ruler of all of Lyneham. So the normal thing would be to add a family name, so that you would be ‘Dame Katherine So-and-so of Lyneham.’”

“Oh. I’ve never thought about that before… my family never had a family name.”

“I know. You can just choose one that you would like. The easiest thing would be to take a variant of my family’s name. Instead of Ashberry, you might be Ashland or something else -berry or something like that.” Alistair deliberately failed to mention that people would take that as an even clearer signal of her status as his mistress, since that would ensure that any of her children had a link to his house, something most appropriate for an illegitimate cadet line. He also did not mention that it would make it extraordinarily difficult for her to ever marry within Canberry.

“Oh. Can I think about that and get back to you on a name?” Kit thought, <<I have to ask Dame Pressa about this. She’ll be able to give me good advice.>>

“Of course. Take as long as you need, as long as you decide before we have the public ceremony.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Alistair paused. “I want to talk to you about something else as well. It’s kind of a related topic. You seemed a little upset when it was time for the coronation, and you had to be invisible instead of being with me publicly.”

“Yeah. It was nothing, though.” Kit’s tone belied her words. “I understand that you have to be the Archduke, and that there isn’t a public place for me with you then.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. There could be. We could make your status more official. I can’t marry you-- but it’s not unheard of for an Archduke to give his lover an official place in the court.”

“What, so I would have the official title of Archduke’s Mistress?” Kit’s question mixed confusion and derision in equal parts.

“Well, no, not in so many words. But we could give you a more lofty title that would give you public status-- make you a countess or something. Duchess would probably be too high--we wouldn’t want to offend the current Dukes. And then we would let it be publicly known that you are my mistress and a major figure within the court. So instead of our going to things like the coronation banquet separately and maybe finding time for a dance together and some conversation in passing, we would arrive together and you would be announced with me and sat at my side and so forth. Everyone would quickly understand what that means.”

“Oh.” Kit thought about the possibility. The idea of having her role defined as Alistair’s mistress made her uncomfortable. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea… My role as the Mouth is easier if I keep a lower profile. People know we’re lovers, but they don’t necessarily assume that I’m part of your inner circle…”

“They probably assume not, in fact. They would think that if you were, you would have been given higher titles than just a knighthood and baronetcy. And I agree, it would make things more difficult for you as the Mouth. It would also interfere with the efforts to arrange a political marriage. It’s one thing for me to have a quiet relationship on the side, and something else entirely to have a widely acknowledged mistress who has been given high status, especially because of what happened with my father and stepmother.”

“That makes sense. I think we shouldn’t do it, then.”

“As you wish. I simply wanted to offer you a way to have a more public position in the court.”

“Yes, I understand. And thank you. Knowing that you would be willing to is the most important thing. But it would create more problems than it solves, and my duties as Mouth have to come first. And no matter what else happens, I will always be the Mouth.”

Alistair looked at Kit closely, began to open his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.

“What?” asked Kit. “Say it.”

“And I will always love you,” said Alistair, quietly and tentatively. Even once he had said it, he wondered if he should have. He had said things like that before, to other women, but he had always been lying. This time, he thought he was telling the truth, but wasn’t sure. And precisely because of the way he felt about Kit, he did not want to say it if it were not true.

Kit’s eyes widened at the statement. “I love you, too…” She could not promise that she always would, but she had no doubt that she did right then.

 

[Quartz]

Aww....

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

The Council met for a quick meeting as Alistair dressed for the coronation banquet.

“M’lord, we’ve been getting reports of serious problems in the areas around Caldra and Caligshire,” Kit began.

“What sort of problems?”

“With their armies serving the Abomination of Shur, there are no forces to keep the lands safe, or to deter aggressors. One of the orcish hordes has taken advantage of this and invaded.”

Dame Brionna added, “I’ve been receiving some reports about this from the military as well. The Horde of Fury, as it is called, is fairly dangerous, with about 5,000 adult uruk warriors and another 2500 uruk youths. They are besieging the walled village of Groken.”

Alistair cursed. “Can we reinforce the village in time?”

“That will be very difficult, m’lord, because of the distance.” said Kit. “But it’s worse than that. Derek, the heir to the sheriff of Cogswood, has been leading a group of friends and retainers in trying to deal with the threats and maintain order.”

“Right, we knew about that before.”

“He’s inside Grokken. If it wasn’t for him, Grokken would probably have fallen by now. But if we don’t do something, he’ll be killed with the rest of the villagers.”

Alistair turned to Dame Brionna. “What sorts of troops could we get there in time?”

“Unsupported cavalry might be able to reach it in time, your grace. Airships are the only other option.”

“And our airships can’t carry any substantial numbers of troops. A few marines, but that’s about it.”

“They could still provide artillery support, your grace.”

“And they could evacuate Lord Derek if necessary. We should certainly send the airships. They can only make the situation better, and we must make sure that Lord Derek survives. We can’t afford either the distraction of the Sheriff of Cogswood or the eventual instability the loss of his heir would create. Do we have any cavalry we could get into position in time?”

“Not without uncovering the capital and leaving us with no reserve, your grace. We’ve already deployed as many troops as we could spare with Field Marshal Brightspan and among the refugees in the South. If we were willing to send the forces immediately surrounding the capital, the cavalry might be able to reach Groken in time to relieve the garrison, although even they would have difficulty.”

Alistair shook his head, though not without regret. “We face too many enemies still for that. If someone attacked and we had no cavalry reserve at all…”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“What about less conventional troops, m’lord?” suggested Kit. “Mages or things like that? Maybe some of Stythus’s people could help?”

“Certainly worth asking. Hmm. There is also a substantial sidhe population near there. We might be able to convince them to help by reaching out through the sidhe of the Vale of Tabawatha.”

“Are they friendly to us?”

“Oh, definitely. The sidhe who are near Grokken are less close to us than the sidhe of Tabawatha, but even so. And the links between Canberry and the fey of Tabawatha are ancient; the first Duke was crowned in the Vale and an assassin struck one of the sidhe princesses with a poisoned arrow intended for him.”

“I would have thought that would make them hostile to us, your grace,” said Dame Brionna.

“It could have, but the Bishop of Glor’diadel was able to heal her, where she would have died without his aid. In gratitude, they have always sent a noble as an observer to our coronations, and the ties have only strengthened in the intervening time.”

“Then we should definitely speak to them, m’lord. With their powers of illusion and enchantment, they might be able to distract the uruks or lead them away from Grokken.” Kit looked at Dame Brionna thoughtfully. “Perhaps I should handle that? Brionna’s aversion to chaos might be a problem.”

“Good idea. And I’ll be busy speaking with Lady Susan of Furrows and the Sheriff of Cogswood. They both need to be informed, and Furrows will need to mobilize its army in response.”

“Indeed, your grace. I think the main question is whether you should order all of the Archduchy’s vassals to mobilize their troops.”

“It’s worth thinking about…” replied Alistair. “But I’m hesitant to do so unnecessarily. There will be people who respond negatively, especially this early in my reign. Let’s hold off for the moment. If the problem becomes more serious than just the attack on Grokken, we can do so then. Besides, it would take any troops from neighboring duchies too long to get to Grokken to save the village.”

“What about asking Lady Brightspan to send some of her devils?” asked Dame Brionna. When the other Council members boggled, she shrugged. “They are expendable. Any devils that are lost fighting the uruks would still be a gain.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” responded Alistair. “We still can’t fully trust her, and I don’t want to encourage the Duchy of Brightspan to begin intervening in the neighboring duchies. Let’s see if we can’t handle this with more conventional forces, and the fey.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

With that, the Council dispersed to carry out their respective assignments. Kit approached the sidhe observer where he sat calmly in a garden, encouraging the plants to grow. The flowers had already become much more dense and colorful than they had been just a few days earlier. She had been told that he was very old, although there was no way to tell directly from looking at him, and had been acting remarkably sane. Dame Pressa also told her that the normal form of address for all sidhe nobles was “great lord,” but Kit could not resist using this noble’s particularly entertaining honorific. “Pardon me, Flower Lord…”

As Kit prepared to introduce herself, the sidhe lord smiled at her. “Yes, Dame Katherine of Lyneham?”

“We wished to speak with you about something.”

“We? Oh, yes, you are part of the Archducal Council, aren’t you? Should we go to the council room then? I assume the room will want to participate in the conversation.”

“The room, Flower Lord?” Kit asked in confusion.

“Of course. My council chamber is one of my most trusted advisors. Doesn’t the Archduke rely on his?”

“Uh, no The council chamber doesn’t say anything.”

“It just listens?” Where Kit had been a little confused, the sidhe lord was amazed, although he then nodded slowly. “Ah, I had noticed that most of your walls are mute. I just assumed that the council chamber would be different. How sad it must be for them to have to just listen, never saying anything. Perhaps I should try to help the walls find their voices… Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?”

“Not exactly, Flower Lord. That would probably be a bad idea, really. We actually wanted to talk to you about an uruk horde that is besieging one of our villages, Grokken, in the Duchy of Furrows. It’s near a sidhe sept, and we thought…”

“You wish our brave knights of the Flower to relieve the village!” the sidhe said excitedly.

“You could,” said Kit, “or you could distract and mislead them. If your forces can defeat the uruks, that would be perfect. But we thought there might be a few too many of them, and since they probably are easily fooled by illusions, your glamours might be able to lead them away.”

“I shall inform Lord Daisytop, as his tor is much closer than ours. He will send either troops or a thousand giggling pixies, or both.”

“You have our thanks for anything that you can do.” Kit resolved to have Stythus report on how effective the sidhe were. She liked the Flower Lord, and she certainly could not complain about his enthusiasm, but somehow she was not entirely convinced that he would take care of things. She didn’t expect a lot of focus from those troops.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Stythus contacted a few of his friends from the Plane of Air, and a group of four young air elementals, about the same age as him, set forth to scout out the enemy army and to report. They would not be able to do more than a little harrying, if that much, but they would provide substantially more information about the threat.

Alistair met briefly with each of the Sheriff of Cogswood and Lady Susan of Furrows. The Sheriff was, as expected, terrified to hear of the danger his son was in. Alistair assured him that the Archduchy would do everything it could to ensure his son’s safety, but he understood the situation. No amount of intervention could eliminate all of the danger his heir-apparent would face, and the very features of courage and gallantry that made the Sheriff so proud of his son would make it difficult to extract him easily.

Lady Susan also quickly understood the gravity of the situation. She agreed with Alistair that there was no need to involve the Duke of Furrows in dealing with the uruks; even knowing about the attack would upset him greatly, but he would be unable to give any constructive aid. Lady Susan agreed to dispatch the two legions of horse archers that formed the bulk of the Furrows army to relieve Grokken. It would not be without risk, as that would leave the capital of Furrows largely undefended, but even the small infantry guard there should be sufficient to hold the heavy walls and fortifications against anything short of another entire uruk horde. Because a quick and decisive victory against the Horde of Fury was the best way to deter other hordes from attacking, the risk was worthwhile.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

After discussing the scouting mission with Stythus, Dame Brionna went to attend to a meeting that had fallen by the wayside up to this point. For several days, Grand Dame Sophia of the Order of the Pure Azure Flame had sought an audience with members of the Archduke’s inner circle, but the meeting had not been scheduled because of more pressing matters. The Orders of Flames were powerful, but not on a level with major realms. Grand Dame Sophia had perhaps the same level of influence as the head of a major merchant house. Additionally, each of the Orders was dedicated to a single religion, and the Order of the Pure Azure Flame was Paranswarmian. While her request was still sufficient to arrange a meeting, it did not need to be handled as expeditiously as a request from the Grand Dame of the Order of the Pure White Flame, the Glor’diadelian order, would have been.

Grand Dame Sophia rose as Dame Brionna entered the audience chamber. The Grand Dame was a striking woman-- not young by any stretch, but extraordinarily expert in the use of at least cosmetics and likely also magics that both concealed and staved off aging. She was dressed in formal robes, in a perfect azure of course, with an unusual heraldic badge of sorts on her chest. She bowed politely to Dame Brionna. “Thank you for accepting my petition for a meeting.”

“I am sorry that we did not join you sooner, but his grace has survived thirty-three assassination attempts in the recent weeks. We had been rather preoccupied dealing with those.”

“Indeed. I would not have wished to draw your attention away from such matters. Nonetheless, my Order has important information of which we wish the Archduke apprised.” Grand Dame Sophia paused for a moment to choose her words with care. “We would see stability in this realm, because this realm stabilizes the entire South. I first approached my counterpart in the Order of the Pure White Flame with the information I bring, but religion and ideological differences intervened. The Grand Dame of that Order would not believe that I spoke truth--she thought I sought to slander her Order and create additional difficulties.

“The vast majority of your enemies have been dealt with, or will be drawn into confrontations inevitably that will be won, according to my divinations. But there is another figure that stands behind, a master of deceptions, a master of lies. Victory against him is not inevitable.”

Dame Brionna responded to a rap upon the door, opening the door a crack. “With your permission, Grand Dame, I would ask that you allow Dame Katherine of Lyneham to join us.”

“I would be most pleased to make her acquaintance as well.”

Kit walked in. She was a little surprised that the Grand Dame stood and bowed at her entrance, but she was getting more used to such things. She returned the bow, somewhat more awkwardly, and gestured for Grand Dame Sophia to sit again as she slipped into her own chair.

The Grand Dame smiled. “I am pleased to see that the Archduchy has taken my request so seriously that you have arranged a meeting with the two most powerful women in the Archduchy.”

Kit startled at that description. For a moment she thought that it was intended as mockery, but then realized that it was serious. What was even harder to deal with was the realization that it might be true. She swallowed and responded, “Given the urgency of your messages, we thought that it was only fitting to meet with you personally.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“As I said, you have my Order’s thanks. As I was explaining to Dame Brionna, the enemies that one can see have either been neutralized or are in a position where destiny weighs in your favor. The final battle with the demonlord of cats will be more vicious, but I can see that he will fail. The binding to the land will give the Archduke another push, another strength in the struggle. That is beyond the Abomination of Shur, and it will be defeated.

“However, there is one behind. I cannot get a clear reading. My focus is divination, and I have spent many years attaining a mastery of my field. But I have been unable to even see his surroundings or characteristics. He is a master of deception, a master of lies.”

“You say ‘he’ is; are you certain of the enemy’s gender then?” asked Kit.

“I am certain that he is male.”

Dame Brionna nodded thoughtfully. “Based on what you’ve said, he must be enormously powerful, to be beyond such as the Abomination. Are we talking about an evil god?”

“I do not think a god,” replied Grand Dame Sophia judiciously. “Gods are bound by the Compact, except Borsh’tro, and his stench is unmistakable. A demon-lord, perhaps? A Baron, an Earl? I approached my sister, but differences in ideology and faith can blind us to what we do not wish to see. But you can act, and I am convinced that this deceiver has infiltrated the Order of the Pure White Flame. It has not touched my sister, but she is oblivious and will not clean her own house. And if I understand the rules of the Order within this realm, the government cannot do anything until a crime has been committed. Since the faith of Glor’diadel does not maintain an Inquisition… the government must keep an even more vigilant eye.”

“And the government does keep a vigilant eye,” said Kit. “But what makes you so certain that the Order of the Pure White Flame has been infiltrated?”

“I have seen them in visions. Not their faces, but there are three of them. One is a woman who has sought refuge with them, who has some reason to hate the Archduke.”

Kit closed her eyes momentarily, both in sadness and to focus her thoughts. “Does this image match that one?” She projected an image of Baroness Francesca’s sister into the Grand Dame’s mind.

“Yes, that is the one who has fled to them. I think she is a pawn in this.”

“She is a pawn,” Kit said definitively. “She has been hurt terribly and lied to.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” replied the Grand Dame, with a tone of true compassion. “But she will be a danger.”

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

“Is there any way that we can remove the danger? Draw her out of the influences?”

“Perhaps, but the key to that does not lie with her. There is an image that moves in the North, and that could be the Archduke. I know that it is not.”

Dame Brionna nodded. “There is someone impersonating his grace.”

“It is more than impersonation; it is of his essence!” The Grand Dame gestured emphatically. “If I did not have the Second Sight, I would be unable to tell, and I have been trained in observation all my life.”

“That could be the master of deception you spoke of.”

“Perhaps. If I had to guess, I would say that the false one even believes that he is the Archduke Alistair.”

“Do all of the Grand Dames have the Second Sight?” asked Kit. “How could the head of the Order of the Pure White Flame remain oblivious then?”

“I was picked for having both the Gift and Arcane power. Not all of the Great Dames have both, but it is better when they do. My sister in the Order of the Pure White Flame does not.”

“I still want to focus on the nature of the imposter,” said Dame Brionna.

“It seems to me that somehow, at sometime, probably in the last two or three years, someone has obtained items of Lord Alistair’s. Possibly blood, possibly… other bodily fluids,” the Grand Dame said awkwardly, with a quick glance in Kit’s direction.

Kit said quickly, “Yes, we understand. Unfortunately, that’s all too plausible.” She added a curse under her breath about Alistair’s behavior.

Grand Dame Sophia cleared her throat and continued, “And has used them to mock him in this one. If, perhaps-- obviously you, Dame Brionna and Alistair’s other confidants, cannot leave Canberry any time in the next several years, but-- if you have trusted ones, you should send them north. If you can bring the false one back alive, you can then break the threat.”

Dame Brionna nodded curtly. “We do have trusted agents we can send.”

“When you say that we could break the threat, could we release Baroness Francesca’s sister from their hold?”

“Indeed, and identify the three who are traitors. Uncoerced testimony would, I believe, be enough to allow you to question them.”

“It would,” confirmed Dame Brionna.

“Then, as I said, all may be well if you send your agents north to bring this one back alive.”

“We’ll take care of it,” assured Kit.