Last Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 2) (10 page)

***

Elissa ran into her apartment, excited at what she had accomplished.  But as soon as she opened the doors to her chambers and she saw the look on Arpwin’s face, all excitement left.  He stood with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

              “Yes?” Elissa asked.

              “Your Majesty, Lord Martin and Lord Kirwal are waiting for you.  They had an appointment with you an hour ago that you missed.  They are not happy.”

              “Oh,” Elissa said.  She had forgotten all about their meeting.  With so many other things to think about, a meeting with the old stodgy lords was far from her thoughts.  “Shall we go see them, then?”

              “Not like that!” Arpwin exclaimed.  “You are dirty and unkempt.  You will bathe yourself and dress in an appropriate gown.”

              “I am fine the way I am,” Elissa argued.

              “Of course you are beautiful as always, but you have responsibilities.  One of those is to present yourself in the best image that you can.”

              “It is just Lord Martin and Lord Kirwal,” Elissa said.  “I do not need to bathe for them!”

              Arpwin’s grim face became grimmer.

              It was then that Elissa realized what the meeting was about.  “The Thellian prince is here, isn’t he?”

              Arpwin gave a slight nod.  “He arrived late this morning in secret.  We did not want to make a big fuss about it, yet.  But he has been waiting for some time for you.  But he will wait a bit longer, as you must be presentable for him.”

              “I have no desire to be presentable for him,” Elissa said with a low growl.  “I am not marrying him.  I tried this once, and it did not work out.  I will not do it again.”

              “My sweet Elissa,” Arpwin said.  He tenderly put his hands on her shoulders.  “We must always think of the kingdom.  We all have a duty to her, and sometimes that means we must make sacrifices.”

              Elissa shook herself away from Arpwin and said, “No.  You are wrong, and I am not going to marry anyone, much less some prince from Thell!”

              “Regardless, you must meet him,” Arpwin said.  “It is not only polite, it is your duty as ruler of this kingdom.  What you do from there is indeed your decision, but you must take into account the kingdom and not just yourself.”

              “Fine,” Elissa said.  “I will meet him now.”

              “You represent your kingdom, which means that you must look, and act, the part.  You cannot receive the prince of our northern neighbor looking like a ragamuffin.”

              Elissa looked down at her clothes.  She didn’t think they looked that bad.  But she did feel dirty and a bath would do her good.

              “Very well.  A bath and then off to disappoint our neighbor.”

              Arpwin could only shake his head.  He clapped his hands and a team of young maidens appeared and began stripping Elissa of her clothes.

***

It was well over another hour before Elissa was bathed, dressed, and primped.  Her long, flowing, golden hair cascaded down the front of her lacy blue gown.  It was much more than she wanted to wear, but Arpwin insisted.

              She strode into the main audience chamber with a smile on her face.  There were a number of people there, many that she did not recognize.  She assumed those were Thellians.  Lord Martin and Lord Kirwal were there, standing amongst the Thellian dignitaries.  As soon as she arrived, Lord Martin rushed to her side.

              “Ah, my Queen Elissa, as beautiful as ever,” Lord Martin said, a smile plastered on his chubby face.  He held out an arm to escort her.  With a sigh that she tried to hide, she took the arm and was led towards the Thellians.

              As Lord Martin approached, he announced, “Our friends from Thell, may I present her Majesty, Queen Elissa Thorndale.”

              Everyone gave a light clap, which further embarrassed Elissa.

              The tallest of the Thellians stepped forward.  He had unusually dark features for a Thellian.  His eyes were steely and cold, and his jaw was square and muscular.  He gave a low bow and extended a hand.

              “I am Prince Toknon, heir to the throne of the Thell,” the man said coolly.

              Elissa took his hand and he dropped to a knee and kissed the back of it.  Even though she knew it was some silly Thellian greeting, it still surprised her and she almost pulled her hand away.  “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

              After an uncomfortable moment, the prince rose and released her hand.  He took a step back, nervousness obvious in his eyes and his actions.

              Elissa cleared her throat.  “I am pleased to meet all of you,” she said.  “And I would like to spend more time getting to each and every one of you, but I think we have some official business to attend to first.”

              Lord Martin’s face turned ash white and then his ears turned red.  “My queen,” he said softly.  “This is not protocol.  There are procedures and policies to follow.  We have an agenda!”

              “Why did I get all cleaned up for this?” Elissa said aloud to herself.

              “Your Majesty?” Toknon asked.

              “You’ve been waiting patiently quite some time,” Elissa said.  “And my apologies for that.  And rather than waste any more of your time, I think we should get right to the point.  Prince Toknon, I am not going to marry you.”

              The prince did not flinch, but everyone else around burst into loud and angry conversation.  Several members of the Thellian delegation became rather heated in their words towards Lord Martin.

              “Queen Elissa,” the prince said coolly.  “Did your emissary not negotiate this treaty?”

              “He negotiated, certainly, but he did not have the authority to negotiate who my husband would be.”

              “My father will be highly displeased.  This will now be twice that our kingdoms have negotiated a peace treaty and you have failed on your end.  The last time that this happened, there was a great battle.  I thought we were past that.  I guess not.”

              “So what now?” Elissa asked sharply.  “Do you just march your army down here and we meet on the battlefield?  Is that how we want to settle our differences?”

“There is always the ancient custom of single combat between kings,” the prince said with what might have been a smile.  Or maybe it was a sneer.

              “You would face me in combat?”

              “Well, it is a much more civilized way of settlings our differences.”

              “Civilized?  It sounds barbaric to me.”

              “I fear you know little of what is civilized and what is barbaric.”

              “Because I am a lady?” the queen snapped back.

              “Yes, especially because you are a lady.  The Taran Empire spread quickly and not because they invaded and conquered their neighbors like they do now.  Back then, the world was simpler and there were no empires to rule the continent.  There were many small kingdoms, just like yours and mine.  Power came through the amount of land one kingdom held, and wars were expensive.  The cheaper way of gaining land and conquering one’s neighbors was to challenge their king to single combat.  Winner take all.  Land, people, everything.”

              “Are you suggesting that we engage in this single combat to settle our differences?”

              The prince smiled.  “I would not offer that challenge.”

              “Oh?” the queen asked.  “Since it would seem that I am at a slight disadvantage, it would be wise of you to offer such a challenge.”

              “Not so,” the prince replied.  “You see, part of the custom involves the king, or queen, allowing their champion to stand in their place in the duel.  In most cases, it would be a younger prince or a highly respected warrior.”

              “In fact, it is your kingdom’s custom of naming a champion that comes from this very thing.  The Tarans feared your kingdom because of its knights.  They knew that in any duel, a Karmon Knight would win.”

              “So you fear my champion?” Elissa asked with a smile.

              The prince snorted.  “I fear no one.  Much less the boy you have taken to calling your champion.  Where is he, by the way?”

              Elissa did not reply.  She did not want to reveal that Conner had left, just in case Prince Toknon decided to challenge her to a duel for her kingdom.

              “It is okay,” the prince said.  “You do not have to answer as I already know he has left.”

              “They why not challenge me?” Elissa asked.  “I am no match for you.”

              The prince let out a hearty laugh.  “You make me laugh!  And it is good to laugh!  No, it is an ancient custom.  One that is left for the past.  My interests are not in conquering your land.”

              “Then what is your interest?”

              “My father wishes peace between our kingdoms.  That is why I am here, to join our kingdoms together so that there will be peace.”

              “And you?  What is it that you want?”

              The prince raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak.  But the words that were going to come out wouldn’t.  He stood quietly for a moment while he considered his words.  “I have lived my entire life at war,” he finally said.  “My father ruled the kingdom from his comfortable throne room, while I helped keep the kingdom safe.  As long as I have been able to hold a sword, I have protected our borders.  Not only protecting our villages from the south, from your attacks, but keeping the bandits from the west away as well.  My father is old, and soon I will be in his place.  Maybe it’s time I learn something else besides war, if I am to become king.”

              “Okay,” the queen said.

              “Okay?”

              “There will be peace.  No more will you be attacked by Karmons.”

              “Just like that?  No haggling, no negotiations?  No exchanging of promises that can’t be kept?”

              Queen Elissa shook her head.  “Just my word.  There will be peace.  And open trade.”

“Your guilds have made it difficult for us to trade in your kingdom.”

              “But are they not in our city, now?”

              “They have been allowed in, but only provisionally.  Until the treaty is signed.  I want to make sure that part of the treaty is upheld.”

              “Of course.”

              Toknon smiled.  “I guess that is it, then.”

              “Very well,” Elissa replied with a short tone.

              “You do know that it is not as easy as you say,” the prince said.  “You can agree all you want to peace, but until our people believe in peace, our kingdoms will never be at peace.”

              “I have no idea why our kingdoms have been enemies for so long,” the queen said.  “And I do not care.  If you don’t want us raiding your villages, it will no longer happen.  I will personally guarantee it.  If you want open trade within our city, then it will happen.  I am the ruler of this kingdom, and my word counts.”

              “Indeed it does,” the prince said with a soft and warm smile.  “My father always believed in peace, even when I did not.  I do not know what the future holds for our kingdoms, but if we are to have lasting peace, it must start with us.  With me.  It is time for me to put up my sword and believe in peace.”

              They both turned back to the audience chamber, which was in chaos.  Everyone was yelling at one another.  Their dialogue had gone completely unnoticed as much as they had not realized the craziness around them.

              Both Prince Toknon and Queen Elissa tried to calmly get the attention of everyone, but no one was listening.  Finally, the prince climbed atop a table at the front of the room and screamed at the top of his lungs.  “Enough!  Quiet!”

              One-by-one everyone stopped their bickering and turned to look at the prince.  “Queen Elissa and I have negotiated a peace treaty.  The terms of the treaty are the same that have already been negotiated, save for the part where the lovely Queen Elissa and I get married.  Neither of us wants it, but we have agreed that we shall become good friends.”  He flashed a wide smile at the queen.

Elissa cleared her throat and said as loudly as she could, “Today marks a great day for Thell and Karmon.  Our two kingdoms will finally have peace, something that has eluded us for a long time.  Forever, I would say.  But as I look out among all of you, and see the anger and the fighting, I fear we still have a long way to go.  I understand that Thellians have been trading and selling their wares within this city, and have been doing so for several weeks.  If our people can come together without fighting, maybe the leaders of the kingdoms can do the same.  Our two kingdoms don’t need to be forced to join together through marriage, I believe we can choose to come together as one.  I believe we can become friendly neighbors and not enemies.”