Chapter 41 | The Tale of Two Kingdoms

Arrangements

"What!" exclaimed Ellika.

"Have we ever even met him?" said Temmin blankly.

"I should say we haven't!" said Ellika hotly. "How could you!"

"Ellika," said Ansella warningly.

"No, Mama, no!" cried Ellika rising to her feet. "Papa, how could you be so heartless!"

"We are the king," he answered coldly. "We cannot afford to have a heart, and we are in need of improving our alliance with Sairland."

"So you're just going to give your daughter, your favorite daughter--oh it's all right, Papa, I'm glad you love one of the three of us--you're going to give Seddy to a stranger, as if she was a prize horse!" shouted Ellika, brown eyes blazing. "If this is how you treat the favorite, I shudder to think what my fate will be!"

"Enough, Ellika!" roared Harsin. "Go to your room!"

"Oh, never worry!" she roared right back. "It is entirely my pleasure to leave the royal presence, your majesty!" Ellika threw her napkin on the table, turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

Temmin stared after her in astonishment and turned back to his parents. Ansella was crying silent tears, while Harsin's face was the color of his wine. "And do you have any comment, son?" said Harsin in a dangerous voice.

"Not right now, no," said Temmin. "Only that--can't Sedra have some say in the matter, Papa? Even if it's just when she's to marry this Brinnid person? You can't take everything away from her!"

"I can, I shall and I have. I suggest moving to a different subject or taking your leave."

Temmin rose. "I s'pose I'll take my leave, then. Mama, Papa--" he bowed shortly. "I need to see to my sisters." He walked out of the dining room, leaving his father near apoplexy.

Temmin climbed the stairs, his mind moving faster than his feet for once. There was no getting Sedra out of this. They had all known that the girls would be destined for diplomatic marriages; Sedra herself had reminded him what her fate would be only two weeks past. It just seemed too soon! Granted, she was 19, but shouldn't she have some sort of say in it, however small--even just to be given a chance to get to know Brinnid a little before she was yoked to him forever? He sighed and knocked on Sedra's door.

To his surprise, Ellika opened it and pulled him inside without a word. She closed the door, put her back to it and said, "Maybe you can get something out of her."

Temmin turned, but Sedra wasn't anywhere in sight. Instead, Sedra's maid Camma stood in the center of the room, arms crossed. "Camma, what's going on? Where's the princess?"

"I'm sure I don't know, your highness," said Camma firmly.

"That's all she'd tell me, either," said Ellika, echoing Camma's crossed arms. "Camma, please, you must tell us, you know we're on Seddy's side!"

"That's as may be, your highness, but I don't know and if I did I wouldn't say."

"Never mind," said Temmin with sudden realization. "I know where she's gotten to. Elly, stay here. If Mama comes looking for Seddy, keep her busy--keep her busy, both of you." Camma turned pale as he spoke, and when their eyes met, he could see he was on the right track. He gave her a small, grim smile, and headed for the door.

"Don't give her away, I beg you, your highness!" said Camma, low and urgent.

"Never worry, Camma," said Temmin as he shut the door on Ellika's puzzled face. He ran down to the mud room, slipped off his good shoes and put on a pair of sturdy boots, tucking in his pants legs--there would be no repeat of the last time he ran after Sedra--took off out the door and walked across the lawn at a purposeful pace toward the King's Woods. He desperately wanted to break into a run, but he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than necessary. As it was, he was worried, but he hoped that if either of his parents were watching or enquired after him, it would be dismissed as a sulk. Best to play it up just in case, he thought; he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, hunched his shoulders angrily and put a bit of stomp to his step, but as soon as he got into the Woods proper, he dropped the attitude and began looking for Sedra in earnest. It didn't take him long before he spotted the bright caravans of the Travelers, clumped in a clearing.

Temmin was afraid of the Travelers, and, he felt, for good reason. He didn't know if they possessed magic now, but at one time at least a couple of them had, and apparently it was hereditary if the Teacher was any example. The last thing he wanted was to become enchanted. Even so, love and concern for his oldest sister stiffened his back. And, after all, he was the Heir. Even Travelers should think twice before meddling with him, he told himself.

He set his shoulders, drew himself up as tall as possible, and strode into the encampment. A dozen heads turned, and a dozen pairs of eyes looked him up and down. "I am Temmin, Heir of Tremont," he said in a voice much stronger than he felt, "and I have reason to believe my sister the Princess Sedra is in this camp."

A wiry middle-aged man stood up from where he had been examining the axle of one of the caravans. "Oh, yeh do, do yeh? Your highness, beg pardon?" he added sardonically. A rippling snigger went through some of the men; the women simply watched with lazy smiles, some patting the heads of the little children clinging to their skirts.

You have the habit of command, Allis said so, you have the habit of command, he repeated to himself. "I do," said Temmin firmly. "And you will take me to her."

"No need to order folk about, she's right here," came a creaky voice. It belonged to an ancient woman, who looked very much like the Traveler Queen in the book--almost identical, in fact. She was leaning on the arm of a tall, handsome young man with rusty hair who could have been the twin of the Traveler Prince. On his other arm was Sedra, her expression closely matching the one her father had been wearing when last Temmin had seen him.

Temmin spoke to the old woman. "You are the Queen of these people, I presume?" he said frostily. "Does one address you as 'your majesty'?"

The Travelers let out a great mutter, and more than a few hands male and female went to their daggers. "Oh, stop it, Temmin. Show some respect, for age if not for rank," said Sedra. "How did you know where I was? Camma couldn't have told you."

"No, she didn't," said her brother. "She was as tight-lipped as a clam. It was a good guess on my part, I'd have to say," and here his proud royal front collapsed. "Seddy, you can't run away with the Travelers! You yourself told me Papa would never let you go with anyone he didn't choose, let alone a Traveler!" He gestured at the young man, whose arm Sedra was steadily squeezing tighter and tighter. "You'll get these people slaughtered!"

At this, the muttering turned to out-and-out laughter. "Kings stopped trying to kill us ages ago, your highness," said the tall young man, smirking. "Besides, we haven't agreed to take the princess anywhere. Yet."

"And you are?" said Temmin pointedly.

"Oh, I do beg your pardon, your highness," said the young man, making a sweeping bow. "My name is Connin." Names and looks run strong in the blood apparently, thought Temmin. Ah well, when he took the throne he'd be the sixth of his name; royalty must be the same all over. He just hoped the magic hadn't followed along the same lines.

"I'm not here to run away," said Sedra impatiently. "I'm here for advice--advice and comfort." She leaned her head on Connin's shoulder.

"Oh, Seddy, I feel awful about this, Ellika and I both do, we had a terrible fight with Papa, Ellka actually shouted at him!" said Temmin, taking her free hand. "Even he didn't look happy about this, I can tell you."

"He's not," said Sedra. "He's miserable about it. He told me so. But if I were in his place, I would marry a daughter off to the king of Sairland, too. Strategically, he's in the right, and I told him so. It--it's just hard, being the daughter and not the king."

"But why must you go to Sairland?"

"Sairland is our oldest ally, but the last marriage between our houses was more than three centuries ago. The alliance needs strengthening, especially now that the Nijan Empire has finally decided to end its isolation. We need the Sairish navy with us, and they need us to stand by them on their mainland. Not to mention that we don't want Nija muscling in on our trade relationships."

"But what has that got to do with you getting married?" said Temmin impatiently.

"Eddin's blood, you're a ninny," she said contemptuously. "Is Teacher not teaching, or are you not listening? I rather suspect the latter. Family ties trump all, and the Nijan Emperor never lets his children marry outside the Nijan nobility. It's the only thing we can offer that Nija cannot. Honestly, Temmin, if you're going to be king you must learn to pay attention."

"I do pay attention," he said sullenly. Sedra would be better at this ruling thing, why wasn't she a boy? he thought. If she was the heir, he could go into the cavalry without a backwards glance and never worry about any of this. "So you're going to accept this marriage?"

"How can I refuse it?" she said bitterly.

"Well," said Temmin, "maybe it won't be so bad. Perhaps Brinnid of Sairland is a brainy bookworm like you are. Who knows, perhaps the two of you can while away the Sairish winter buried in books together."

"I have heard that on the contrary, Brinnid is excessively fond of dancing and gaiety, and despises intellectual pursuits," she grimaced. "I shall be very surprised if we have two things to say to one another."

"Look at Mama and Papa," said Temmin, desperately casting about for some glimmer of hope. "Theirs was an arranged marriage, and they have absolutely nothing in common--except us, I s'pose you'll have children some day, so there's that!--but they like one another well enough!"

"If by 'all right' you mean they each have their own separate lives with their own lovers and Papa gets his way in everything, I suppose you'd call it a crashing success. My heart wants more," she said, unconsciously flexing her fingers on Connin's arm, "though my head knows it's hopeless."

She looked so sad, thought Temmin. "Will they at least let you take Camma with you?"

Sedra looked at him fully for the first time. "I don't know," she said, eyes tearing up. "Oh, Temmy, I'm frightened!" She threw herself into his arms, and for the first time in memory, Temmin comforted his oldest sister.

"It's all right, Seddy, we'll think of something," he murmured. "We'll figure out some way to make it better, you'll see."

"I love you, Temmy!" she sobbed.

"I love you, too." He kissed the top of her head and looked up into Connin's somehow familiar blue eyes. He raised an eyebrow and Connin spread his arms and made an old-fashioned, graceful leg. "What exactly are you to my sister, sir?" Temmin said coldly.

"Temmin, don't," said Sedra into his shirtfront.

"It's all right, your highness. A friend," said Connin.

Temmin stared at him a little longer, then kissed his sister's hair again. "Let's get you home," he said, "Ellika's worried sick and Camma is beside herself with fear I'll do something rash and tell everyone where you went. You lot," he said to the Travelers, "I know you've got the run of the King's Woods, but I strongly suggest you clear off. I'm not going to say anything, but if the king finds out, custom won't protect you."

"We don't need custom to protect us and your father knows it, I assure you," said the crone with a grim smile. "Sedra, just remember what I've taught you, there's a good girl, off you go." And she shooed the siblings out of the camp with her apron, just as if they were a pair of chickens.

"What she taught you?" said Temmin as they walked together back through the woods. "Sedra, what have you been doing?"

"Never mind, Temmin," answered Sedra, leaning on his arm. Her eyes were heavy and swollen. "Please, just never mind right now."

"You promise you will talk to me at some point?"

"I promise."

"All right, then."

They walked in silence until Temmin's stomach growled so loud it made Sedra jump. She burst out laughing. "Poor Temmy, I made you miss your lunch. Make sure you get something in the kitchens before you go back upstairs." Temmin squeezed her arm and they went the rest of the way without speaking.