Hearts in Cups (12 page)

When the regent's
speech concluded Lord Talen stood again to read the decisions and their
implementations from the last council session. As he read, Hollin noticed
glances being exchanged between the lords of Gresha and Thurin. Both men
shifted in their seats nervously and Hollin speculated to herself as to which
lords or ladies had been canvassing them for support. At last, Lord Talen asked
for new business and Hollin was hardly surprised to hear Niall's voice.

"Let me begin by
stating at once that no disrespect is intended toward Lord Percamber, who has
ruled well and ably as our regent since the death of King Gwydian. However, his
tenure was meant to be a temporary measure, and the time is now at hand for us,
as the governing body of the Pentarchy, to consider and resolve the issue of
kingship. The Pentarchy has been many years now without a High King, and there
are rumours from beyond our borders that we are beginning to be viewed as a
headless state." Amid rumblings of protest, Niall went on. "Obviously
with our excellent regent we are far from headless, but the fact remains that
there is no king on the throne and no heirs to succeed him." At this
remark, a babble of excited voices erupted; some supporting and some denying
the Duke of Mirvanovir's statement.

Lewys finally took the
floor to speak and the other voices fell silent. Flicking his fair hair out of
his eyes, he spoke earnestly. "What Niall has said has much merit to it,
but I wish to remind everyone here that there is an heir to the throne: Prince
Brian ap Gryffyd, son of our late king."

"That is all well
and good, but where is the prince? He has not been seen or heard of for ten
years," Brescom interjected, looking around to see who there would argue
with this statement. "He may well be dead for all we know!"

"He is still
alive," Percamber refuted in a flat, unequivocal voice. "He is
residing of his own volition in a city to the north, beyond our borders."

"What's that you
say?" Gunnar snorted derisively. "Hidden away in a mountain retreat
for ten years! That's a bit hard to swallow. How do you know he's there? And why
isn't he here, where he should be?"

"I haven't seen
him in those ten years either, Gunnar, and I do not know why he has not
returned sooner. But he is alive and he is the legitimate heir to House
Sandovar and the throne." Percamber's reply held a note of weariness that
alarmed Hollin.

"How do you know
he is alive?" Gunnar persisted, clearly unconvinced.

"Because,"
Colin broke in smoothly, "We have resonated a crystal to his life
energies."

"Do you mean that
he left a resonating crystal behind when he left?" Lady Laurin asked
delicately.

"Not exactly. With
the help of Lord Percamber and my wife, we were able to activate a crystal to
him." Laurin's white eyebrows soared upwards in astonishment.

"Oh come now,
Colin," Niall said, his voice etched with skepticism. "You resonated
a crystal to the individual energies of a person missing for ten years?"

"Magician's
brew," Gunnar muttered shaking his head. "No good can come of playing
about with that mumbo-jumbo."

"This does stretch
our credulity quite a bit," Aidan was quick to point out.

"Come now
gentlemen, and ladies." Branwilde's deep, authoritative voice cut through
the speculative remarks being passed about. "Need I remind you that we
all, by being confirmed heads of our Houses, are capable of arcane acts. Gunnar,
you should be the last to talk of "magician's brews;" you are
eminently capable of your own "mumbo-jumbo." But I would ask of
Treves: how has he been able to verify that the crystal does indeed resonate to
the living force of the prince?"

Before Colin could
respond, Percamber testily broke in, "I ask you to remember that, not only
is Brian my grandson and well known to me, but I also was trained at Dacara and
my skills, though not used in recent years, are, I assure you, reliable.
Besides these proofs, another has been furnished by our esteemed Duchess of
Langstraad." Curious and calculating eyes were turned towards Hollin,
whose kept her expression unreadable. "Lady Hollin has in her possession a
ring, an heirloom of House Sandovar, that has the unique property of being
keyed to a member of that House. In this case it is attuned to Prince Brian. It
resonated as the crystal did when we probed it."

"I will take your
word for it that the prince may well be still alive, but it is of little
account, if he has seen fit to abandon the Pentarchy." Branwilde's face
expressed both the irritation and incomprehension that such a decision caused
in him.

"We do not know
that my grandson has indeed abandoned the Pentarchy." Percamber went on to
give a brief history of Prince Brian and the reasons he left the Pentarchy.
"I was not there when he parted from his father, but the late king was
certain that his son planned to return and assume his duties."

"Perhaps he no
longer wishes to be king," Aidan ventured.

"Or is captured
and held against his will again," Gunnar suggested with a grunt.

"Since no ransom
demand has been made, that is not very likely," Lewys replied.

"It may be that he
is simply unaware of the current political situation in the Pentarchy,"
Laurin put in with deceptive sweetness. "Any of these suppositions could
be true, or they all could be false. The question is: if the rightful prince is
proved to be still alive, what are we going to do about it?"

Hollin thought that
this remark was as good a lead in for her as any, and so she spoke up, weighing
her words carefully. "Something that Lord Percamber did not mention about
the crystal and the ring is that in order to gain a clearer idea of where the
prince is, the resonating energies were recombined into the ring, which is the
stronger arcane object. The resonance is now clear enough that it can be used
as a sort of internal compass to find the actual whereabouts of the
prince."

“If that is so,"
Lewys said, "It seems that what we shall have to send an embassy to find
the prince, inform him of the situation and escort him home." He looked
around at the other council members, most of whom were already nodding their
heads in agreement. Hollin glanced at Niall, to see what effect these
revelations were having on him, but his face remained an unreadable mask.

Branwilde was nodding
with the rest. "I think you are right, Lewys. Niall is correct about the
effect that a regency without a visible heir is having on those beyond our
borders. The time is right to reestablish the throne and place the High King on
it. We must send messengers to the prince as soon as possible."

"There is one
small problem," Colin interjected casually. "The ring resonates to
the prince but it is attuned to Hollin. No one else can use the ring."

"Which is
why," Hollin continued smoothly, "I intend to accompany the embassy
to the prince." The shocked silence that followed her announcement was
more profound then she had anticipated.

"You? Leave the
Pentarchy to look for the prince?" Beside her, Gunnar sputtered with
consternation.

"That is what I
said, and what I intend to do," was her imperturbable response.

The old duke looked
taken aback, and then recovered himself. "I'm afraid, my dear girl, that
it is impossible for you to leave the Pentarchy at this time."

"Nonetheless, I am
going," she replied as firmly as before. "And don't bother to
patronize me!"

"You don't
understand, you are too close in line for the throne yourself!" Aidan's
voice raised itself in protest.  

Now it was out in the
open; a rustle of anticipation swept the room.

"Well Aidan, I am,
in actual fact, not the closest to the throne. Both my cousins, Gervase Iscoed
and his sister, Genvra, have a closer blood-link than mine." Several
people coughed nervously and exchanged raised eyebrows.

"Hollin, you know
there has been a lot of talk over the last winter about the question of
succession," Branwilde's sonorous voice was one of calm deliberation.
Guessing that Branwilde had set it up for Aidan to raise the subject initially,
Hollin braced herself to listen to the Duke of Creon's argument, knowing that
his opinion was respected by the other nobles and that his advice was apt to be
taken by them. "There have been a number of points raised that support a
claim to the throne being tendered in your name," he began. "I
confess that when I arrived in Pentarin a few days ago, I had no idea that the
prince was still alive. I assumed, wrongly it seems, that this council session
would be concerned with choosing a new High King from those candidates with the
worthiest claims." He shot what could have been a look of amusement at his
fellow council members. "Since it has been revealed that the legitimate
heir to the throne is still alive, our first task must be to try to locate him
and bring him home. However, in the event that he cannot be found, or for some
unknown reason cannot return, the question of succession should still be
addressed by us today." Amid the nods and vocal assents, Hollin sat in the
realization that she was not to escape the council's manipulations without a
degree of conflict.

"You have a good
point there, Branwilde. What if the prince doesn't return?" Gunnar asked.
"We need contingency plans!"

 Laurin's thin
voice cut to the heart of the matter. "It seems to me," she said,
"that we all agree that Hollin is considered to be the most eligible of
the claimants, both because of her close blood-tie to House Sandovar and
because, before the tragic death of her sister, she was hand-fasted to the
prince. Also, though none of you have said so much, she is unmarried."

"Exactly,"
Gunnar proclaimed emphatically. "Hollin is not married.”

With all of the haughty
dignity she could command, Hollin rose and waited until all were silent.
"Let me begin by making one point exceedingly plain to all of you: I am
not simply "Lady Hollin," but Her Grace, Hollin Morwen Medicat ap
Lir, sole ruler of the Duchy of Langstraad and wielder of the power of a Great
House. No one in this room outranks me!" She paused and raked the room
with her very cold, grey eyes, demanding their attention and respect.
"You, my fellow dukes, are but my peers, and I excel in rank over everyone
else in this room.  No one here has the right to command or compel me to
do anything!”

Her point made, she
continued, "The succession to the throne of the Pentarchy is the issue,
and knowing that the legitimate heir to that throne is still alive and, I
trust, well, our immediate task must be to find Prince Brian. Only I can use
the object that can find him. Therefore, I propose that an embassy befitting
the future High King of the Pentarchy and head of House Sandovar be assembled
to set forth as soon as possible to find him." She stopped to gauge the
receptivity of her fellows, before adding, "I personally feel that to do
less than this would be to court a charge of treason."

There was a long
silence during which everyone looked at everyone else and then back at Hollin.
Expecting Branwilde to answer for them, Hollin was surprised when Niall spoke
first. "Hollin is absolutely correct; we would be remiss if we did not do
everything in our power to place the lawful heir on his throne. I personally
commend you for being so courageous as to offer the use of your ring in the
attempt to find him, and I feel that you should be given the council's full
support." He regarded her with a benign smile and inscrutable eyes. As
several of the other nobles began to be swayed by Mirvanovir's words, Niall
smoothly went on to add, "However, if we follow your lead in this matter,
then it seems only right that you should at least agree to discuss a
contingency plan."

At this, there were
voluble utterances of assent raised by several council members. A hard glitter
entered the Duke of Mirvanovir's eyes but his voice remained pleasantly
conciliatory as he continued. "The Countess of Pentarell has, I believe,
made an excellent suggestion. Should your quest be unfruitful and you not find
the prince, or find him and be forced to return without him, then, in the
interest of political stability, I would ask you to agree to marry the son of
one of the Houses and begin a new line of kings."

The general acclamation
that met this speech told Hollin that she was walking on thin ice to reject
this proposal out of hand. She took a deep breath to steady herself. Niall's
proposition was obviously considered by many to be eminently fair to the
Pentarchy and entirely suitable to those of her caste who married for dynastic
rather than personal reasons. Even Niall's choice of wife was based as much on
her father's wealth and noble standing as on the lady's personal attractions.
Was it only a peculiarity of her own nature to be so reticent about the idea of
an arranged marriage? Since succeeding to the office of Duchess of Langstraad
she had assumed that she would be considered ineligible to marry the prince
and, in deference to her rank, that she would be allowed to make her own choice
of a husband when she was ready to do so. Yet here she now stood faced with the
choice of refusing to go along with the council, thereby all but abandoning the
rightful heir and chancing civil war, or of accepting the possibility of forced
marriage for herself if the embassy should fail to find the prince and convince
him to return.