Steel and Shadow: An Epic Fantasy (9 page)

             
“Then tell me what you may, lass,” Eric told her firmly.  “For I recall the day my father and mother rode out.  My older brother, and my sisters went with him as he was touring the borderlands, and paused to inspect a new garrison near the Tryllsan pass.  He rode out according to all reports, and vanished soon after.  We never found him, or my family.  My younger sister,” he said, still looking at the small redhead, “Was named Amalia.  We all called her Lia, as she was the sort that was a bit of a tomboy.”

             
“My name is Lia,” she told him.  “But I don’t recall much beyond that,” she admitted.  “I know I watched my older sister die fighting after my father and perhaps my brother were slain,” she said quietly.  “My mother was taken with me, but she was…..taken away after I was sold to the Galdynian lord that bought me.”

             
“You will have a birthmark on your left shoulder.  A small red mark shaped like a bird in flight.  All Ericsons have it,” he told her as Koa glanced at her.

             
“Aye,” she nodded.  “I recall, because they thought I was already branded when the slavers saw it.”

             
“Then, I have found my sister,” he said, and moved to hug her.  “My long lost sister is back.  If only mother had come with you,” he growled as he looked up at the Galdynian royals.

             
He paused, then looked back at the mercenary commander.

             
“Jengus, you have more than earned your pay on this campaign.  Name any reward, man, for by restoring my sister, I deem you my very champion.”

             
“In truth, Lord Ericson,” Jengus smiled faintly.  “’Twas my friend Koa that found her, and aided her.  He even told me he sensed something….special about her from the beginning.  Yet even I never would have guessed the lass was a lady.  A princess of Valdor.”

             
“In truth,” the big king murmured, eyeing Koa who was generally as quiet, and innocuous as any common freeman around him.  “She is,” he nodded, “And I am beyond grateful to you,” he turned to Koa.  “It gives me hope I might find my mother, too, knowing that she was alive when….”

             
“Mayhap, Lord Ericson,” Helena Hastings said quietly.  “I might aid you, and bring peace to both our lands doing so?”

             
  The young king turned to eye the older woman standing close to his misty-eyed sister.  He said nothing as he eyed the older woman sharply.  “You know something of this matter,” he finally demanded of her.

             
“I cannot say I know aught for certain.  I do recall overhearing rumors that claimed my lord-husband once hid a Valdoran lady in a tower of the palace where none are allowed save himself, and a few select lords.”

             
“Suddenly, the assassins that targeted you last year make sense, milord,” Jengus told him.  “Did the lout breed a son on her, he might still be considered a legitimate heir if she is your queen-mother.”

             
“Even if he did not,” Eric spat, “Hastings has become more and more mad with every year, and ’tis little telling what might be in his mind by this time.”

             
“Aye,” Helena agreed.  “My lord-husband has been erratic of late.  I fear his wits are failing, and even William knows it,” she said, turning to her older son now free of the disgraceful collar for his presentation to the king.  He had even been allowed garments, common and coarse as they were.  Still, he remained grim and sullen, looking ready to do violence if only given the chance.  Which was why he also remained bound.  “But the king retains a strong following….”

             
“Who likely exploit the king’s madness for their own purposes,” Eric guessed.

             
“In truth,” Jengus nodded.  “I do see the hand of mischief here beyond an aging king’s ire, or his senility.”

             
“Whatever the truth, ’tis time George paid for allowing these insults, and for the death of my family,” Eric spat.

             
“Then we proceed with the plan,” Jengus asked.

             
“Aye.  We send the ransom notes next, but when the messenger arrives, he will discretely inquire as to any Valdoran ladies about who might be…..”

             
“I shall go.  I shall go tonight,” Koa told them abruptly, speaking for the first time in the king’s presence though they had met before.  “If the queen-mother is there, I shall find her.”

             
“Koa?”

             
Koa turned to her, and nodded as Lia reached out to take his nearest arm.  “Aye, lass….  Lady!  If your mother is hidden somewhere around the palace, I shall find her.”  He looked up, and eyed the sun yet hours from setting.  “When night falls, I shall go alone,” he told Jengus.  “Best have the ransom messages ready by then.  I shall deliver them while I search.”

             
“Commander,” Eric frowned at the mercenary.

             
“Trust me, my lord-king.  When Koa travels alone, he is faster than lightning.  And unable to be stopped.”

             
“Then I shall prepare the missives at once.  I’ve most of the demands written out already.  They but need proving, and seals.”

             
Then he eyed Miranda.  “Why, however, is the princess already collared,” he asked.  “I can see masking them as you did, but….?”

             
“She was more than a bit of a handful, and her mischief ended up landing her in a slave’s collar ere she would settle down,” Jengus told him.  “I put her in Koa’s keeping simply because he was the only one the witless woman seemed to truly fear enough to heed.”

             
“Well, then, by their own vile Accords, the little wench is well and truly collared, isn’t she,” Eric smirked uncaringly at the young girl.  “I assume the others were more….cooperative.”

             
“The queen ever seems the height of wit and decorum,” Jengus smiled at his recent lover.  “And while the princes are spirited, they kept quiet after they learned how far defiance would take them,” he said pointedly as he eyed the three shackled princes standing before the king in simple garments, hobbles, and little else. 

             
Eric nodded.  “Well, you’ve obviously the skill for handling troublesome guests.  I bid you keep them until we hear back from the Galdynians,” he said, and headed for his horse to lead them to his nearby camp in the heart of the pass. 

             
He took Lia with him, and while she hesitated, Koa nodded, and only then did she let him lift her into Eric’s arms so he could carry her with him after he mounted.

             
“Are you untouched, Lia,” Eric asked on the short ride to the camp where he was supporting legions sent out to harangue the border communities.

             
“Nay, I am not,” she admitted baldly, though she flamed doing so.

             
“They used….?”

             
“I was raped by the slaver that stole me.  He….favored very young lasses.  None ever touched me since,” she told him.  “They….disdained my blood.”

             
“Not even your champion,” he asked quietly.

             
“Sir Koa has been the most gallant of all gentleman since the moment I met him,” she smiled, the smile transforming her drawn features until she resembled his other sister whose beauty had been compared to goddesses by some at the time.  “He has cared for me, kept me safe, and even avenged me when a Galdynian noble tried to have me beaten to death.”

             
“And what did he do to him,” he asked her quietly.

             
“He cut off his hand for striking me, and cut out his tongue for ordering me whipped.”

             
He gasped.  “He had you whipped!”

             
“There was a healer of some power that came with him.  She spared me even a scar, my lord.  I was fortunate.  And, as I said, Sir Koa well avenged me,” she smiled.

             
“You care for him?”

             
“I owe him much, aye, but….I do care for him, too.  Aye.  He, too, is….special.”

             
“You know he is a shadow?”

             
“Aye.”

             
“Do you understand what that means,” he asked.

             
“I understand enough.  He is still a good man, my lord….”

             
“You may call me Eric,” he smiled back at her now, hearing just a hint of an indignant tone he recalled in Bella’s voice when he had last seen her.

             
“I’m not sure ’twould be proper.  Sister, or nay, you are the king,” she told him.

             
“And you are a princess, and my sister.  Do I bid you call me Eric, imp.  You may do so.”

             
She gave him a curious look.

             
“What?”

             
“You….  You always…..  Called me imp.  I remembered that just now,” she said, her eyes suddenly bright.  “I…..I am…..your sister,” she half choked, half asked.

             
“I’d know my own sister, Lia.”

             
“You called me Bella.”

             
“She lives in you, imp.  You’re her very image.  I almost expected to see a blade at your side, and hear you demand to go riding into battle.”

             
“I remember….my sister fought furiously that day,” she said quietly.  “But….there were so many.  They ambushed us.  Arrows were flying, and…..  And then that man grabbed me.”

             
She shuddered.

             
“But you survived, and you lasted until you could be found, and restored,” he told her as they neared the encampment of his own legion.  “Now, let me show you a true welcome home, imp,” he told her, and paused at the first sentry.

             
“Sergeant, behold,” he called out to one of his nearby men watching them ride up from the mercenary camp.  “My lady-sister Princess Amalia has been found, and restored to us!  Surely the true god is on our side,” he grinned as Lia gaped at his posturing to the man.

             
The man stared up at her, stared hard, then bowed so low his helm nigh brushed the ground.  “Welcome home, Princess Amalia,” the man said with an obviously emotionally choked tone. 

             
“Th-Thank you,” she smiled, fearing tears again as she saw the loud declaration had brought out more men in Valdoran armor, and all were looking her way.  On cue, they bowed low as Eric rode through their midst, and stopped at the center command tent. 

             
When she was set down, the men bowed again, and then bowed for their king who dropped from his horse.

             
“Well,” Eric demanded.

             
The men exploded into a raucous, howling cheer as they literally applauded her, and wide smiles greeted her as she shrank back against her brother in alarm.

             
“Welcome home, imp,” he told her, hugging her from behind.

             
She couldn’t help but cry now.

X

             
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Eric told her as he came out to find her still up later that night.  “From what I’ve heard, I doubt anything would hold him if he didn’t wish to be held.  Let alone harm him.”

             
“I know, my lord….  Eric.  I just fear for mother, though.  ’Tis been years.  What must she think befell us?  What must have befallen her?  I recall the last thing she said to me was….”

             
“Aye?”

             
“Be strong,” she said quietly.  “Just that.  Be strong.”

             
“And you were.  You are.  How else did you survive until we could find you, Lia?”

             
“Yet, had I not gone out to feed Koa?  Had not everyone else feared the Wolf’s ‘demon,’ then I might not have met him.  I might not have been championed.  I might…..”

             
“Such thinking plagues us all at times, imp,” he said, sitting beside her on the flat stone she used as a seat.  “Do you not think I plagued myself over the years after you, and the rest of our family vanished.  We never even found their bodies.  ’Twas as if you all just vanished.”

             
“For a time, I even forgot myself.  Only that bloody day remained in my memory,” she told him.  “I…..I tried hard to forget.  To just….”