Mastiff (67 page)

Farmer and I reassured him that we meant to continue our work without change, as the head of our escort got us back on our horses and on our way to the palace. “This works out well,” Lord Gershom said as we trotted onto the green stretch before the wall. “Farmer will be available for emergencies, and you—”

“Continue in the Lower City, please, my lord,” I said. “I belong there. It’s my home.”

“You could have anything you want,” Lord Gershom said. “From me or Their Majesties. Surely you know that.”

I shook my head. Farmer sighed. “She likes fire opals and Sirajit opals,” he said. “If you are thinking of a gift.”

“I did my duty!” I cried. “That’s good enough. And you and Sabine and Nomalla and Achoo—” I looked at my lord. “If I could be assured that Achoo’s health could be overseen by the city’s best houndsman, that would be wonderful,” I told him. “And if she could have a suitable mate? She is getting old for a first litter, and I promised her.”

Lord Gershom’s mustache twitched downward. I knew he was covering a smile. “So we’ll grant something for the others of your Hunt and Achoo, but naught for yourself. Luckily you have Farmer and me to watch out for you, Beka. I’ve arranged palace places for your brothers and sisters. A royal courier’s place for Nilo, since he is already a palace rider, and situations for your sisters among the queen’s seamstresses. Willes will be a courier for the Lord High Magistrate. And the house that Farmer has looked at thrice already has been purchased in his name. Give the orders for any changes and repairs you wish to my secretary, Farmer. He will see they’re done, and he will give you the papers of ownership. The Crown pays for all, as it pays for the four horses you now own.”

“You think I’ll be doing a lot of riding?” Farmer said wistfully, looking at me.

“You both will be doing a great deal of riding. I’ve already been presented with three requests for your services and Beka’s from lords who have been in attendance at the trials,” Lord Gershom said as we rode through the palace gates. “Be grateful it is not more. I told them Beka would not accept it. They will come to you with other offers, Farmer.”

I looked up at my lord with gratitude. I had my man, Gareth and Sabine were safe, the conspiracy was overthrown. What more could a mot want?

Our escort led us through the main courtyards to the one before the Hall of Crowns, where stable hands in clean garments decorated with a royal badge took our mounts. I began to get very nervous. After we’d dismounted and straightened our clothes, I asked Lord Gershom, “Does Nomalla get a reward?”

“She gets her life,” he said, in that iron way of his that meant she ought to be glad for that much. Given that I’d seen her mother, uncles, aunts, and brothers die for their part in the treason, I thought he might be right. After a moment, he added, “And she gets to work in the service of the Crown, on the Scanran border. She’ll redeem herself there, of that I’m certain.”

A squire in colors and a badge I didn’t recognize came to us and led us through a door in the wing that led to the hall, not into the hall itself. I’d had a glimpse of the hall once, when Gareth was born and named. It was huge, a great chamber terraced in stone for seats, where everyone present could see what took place on the stage. Here our kings were crowned and their children presented to the nobles, mages, religious folk, and guild leaders. Above the seats the doors formed sections of the entire back wall, so they might be folded back and the common folk given a look at the doings of the great. I heard that every time the hall was opened, those whose work it was to guard Their Majesties and their children got headaches.

The squire turned right as we entered the palace. The soldiers standing guard inside the door tried to halt Achoo and Pounce, but Lord Gershom put out his hand. “Where she goes, they go.”

They stared at him, then snapped up into their positions, staring blankly ahead.

I frowned at my lord. “Sir, what is going on?”

Gershom smiled at me. “Beka, I have proceeded along the lines that if I told you more, you would panic and flee.”

I was starting to get a very bad feeling.

“You see?” asked Lord Gershom as if I had spoken. “The less you know, the happier you are. Just remember, when the time comes, how proud your mama would be.”

We entered a room
very
like that where Sabine and I had been stripped, back at Halleburn. There were screens so folk could change garments privately and actual glass mirrors on the walls.

Sabine was already there in new armor polished to a mirror shine of its own. Her curling hair framed her face. It was braided and ornamented with ruby-headed pins instead of her own spiked strap. She wore ruby earrings, too. She looked at us and smiled wryly. “All done up like Midwinter geese, aren’t we?”

“Beka said yes to a day,” Farmer told her.

The lady’s face filled with cheer. She rose from her chair and, despite her armor, insisted on hugging us both. Then she had to give Achoo a treat and Pounce a pet. “Can I come to the wedding?” she asked. “I promise not to clank.”

“We wouldn’t hold it without you,” Farmer said, and I nodded. I wouldn’t tell any of them yet, but I hoped the lady would be godsmother to our first child.

The door to the chamber opened again, this time to admit Her Majesty and the prince. We all scrambled to kneel before the queen. She took each of our hands and raised us to stand.

Gareth beamed up at me and beckoned. I knelt before him. I think that no one was more surprised than me when he hugged me about the neck. “I miss you,” he whispered in my ear.

I cleared my throat, which tightened up, then returned his clasp. “I miss you,” I replied.

The other door in the chamber, the one which had not opened before, did so now. Yet another squire bowed deep to the queen. She made signs to us about the order in which we were to follow her. The queen entered the hall beyond, followed by Sabine, then Farmer.

I looked out and balked. That was the Hall of Crowns, far worse than the Jane Street magistrate’s courtroom. By the little I could see from where I was, it was jammed full of persons in silks trimmed in gold, silver, and jewels. These were not my sort of folk at all.

Gareth took my hand. “I know,” my little old man told me. “I don’t like it, either. Mama says it helps if I imagine them all in their loincloths.”

The thought horrified me. Folk don’t look nearly as good unclothed as they think they do. “Does it help?” I asked him.

“No, but I tell Mama it does so she can be happy,” he explained.

I couldn’t help it, even though he is our prince. I bent and kissed his head. “You’re a good lad, Gareth the Strong,” I told him.

“You think I’m strong?” he asked.

“I know you are,” I said.

“I learned it from you. Let us show them,” he replied, trapping me neatly. Together, with Achoo beside me and Pounce ahead of us, we walked out onto the great stone stage to stand with Farmer and Sabine. To do so we had to pass behind the royal thrones where the king and queen now sat, and behind my friends. I thought Gareth would sit with his parents, but he shook his head when I asked. “They told me to stay with you.”

Once we had settled in place, the king spoke. “Those of you who attended the recent trials and executions know that a great conspiracy against our throne was uncovered,” said His Majesty. “In this dread time, a small handful of people saved the lives of our person, Her Majesty, and our son. Prince Gareth was kidnapped and made a slave.”

There were shouts of genuine fear and outrage. People called out, “Gods save Your Majesties!” and “Gods save His Highness!”

“We trusted in our old friend Gershom of Haryse, now Count of Yolen,” King Roger continued gravely. “Count Gershom called together a team of Hunters to trail our son’s kidnappers and to bring him home. While other faithful teams from the Provost’s Guard ranged over the realm, gathering facts and arresting those who plotted against our throne, these Hunters found His Highness and returned him to his proper place. Lady Sabine of Macayhill, come to us.”

The lady walked forward as the king stood by his throne and drew his sword. In that great hall there was only silence. “Kneel,” ordered the king, and she obeyed. “Sabine of Macayhill, I create thee Lady of Princehold, that was formerly Queensgrace, with ownership of all its lands and grants,” the king said, his voice ringing everywhere in the chamber. “These lands and grants, together with the title, go to you and your heirs in evidence of the gratitude held by the house of Conté for your service in this dark time.” Sabine looked up at him. I saw her mouth move, but the king only smiled at her. “In addition, I ask you to take charge of the guard assigned to the persons of His Highness Prince Gareth and any other children of the royal family. Will you guard our children, Lord Sabine? Will you protect them as you protected Prince Gareth?”

I heard Gareth whispering, “
Please
say yes, lady, please,
please
!”

I don’t know if Sabine heard him, but she nodded to the king. He tapped her shoulders lightly with his sword and said, “Then rise, Sabine of Princehold and Macayhill, Lady Captain of the Household Guard!”

Sabine got to her feet, bowed to the king, then the queen, then Gareth. Shakily, she went to stand at Gareth’s back. I thought my heart would burst, I was so glad for her. She had fought long and hard for the Crown. Now at last she had a post where the best healers would look after her knees, her shoulders, and her back, and Gareth would have a friend he could trust in his guard.

“Farmer—” the king began.

“Cooper,” my man said firmly, walking over to kneel before the king.

“Farmer Cooper, then,” said the king, raising an eyebrow at me. “You did many fine deeds of magic in the Hunt to find our son and keep him alive. You did not accept the post of Chancellor of Mages, which Cassine Catfoot has taken up for the time being. You have accepted only humble work for the Provost’s Guard. Will you agree to help the royal mages screen those mages who come to work in Corus, with a proper gift from the treasury for your aid?”

“I will and I thank you, Sire,” Farmer said.

“Will you accept, with our thanks, this deed to lands, including the property you have recently purchased, for a city block in Corus? Property always helps a man in the world,” the king said, handing Farmer a document with seals on it. “Even more so when he is about to marry.”

I swear I saw the king wink at Farmer.

Farmer stood, did his bows, and looked back to join me, but Lord Gershom gestured for him to stand with Sabine.

Then His Majesty picked up a large document edged in gold, dripping gold seals on ribbons, and faced the hall rather than calling me forward. Gareth, to my surprise, wrapped both hands around my arm and hugged it tight. I knelt beside him, wondering what had him so excited. He latched on to my neck in reply as our hounds and Pounce moved closer to us.

“The third member of this group has asked for very little for herself, and we are told she is uncomfortable before crowds,” said the king. “But I have read her reports.” He took a deep breath. To my shock I realized
he
was shaking. “We read them, and we asked our son, whose life she saved, what he thought she would like. He said that she wanted the same thing that he did. And when he told us what became of other slaves, of their lives, we found ourselves disgusted. This is not the way people should live, in want and fear. No one deserves to be thrown away as refuse. All are equal in the Black God’s eyes.

“Throughout this, we have seen one thing over and over,” the king told them. “Messages, armed men, and weapons have traveled this land with the slave caravans. Spies disguised as slaves have been found in the great houses of the realm. Our enemies used the slave trade to disguise their activities. Several of those found guilty held shares in the slave trade and used the caravans and their ability to buy and sell slaves to plant enemies everywhere, even here.

“And it was money from the trade that paid for this. The mages came because they had grievances with the Crown. Others came because they were offered the gold that comes from buying and selling men and women. Over and over our son’s kidnappers told him that if he was not good, he would be branded. Anyone who was kind to him was sold or murdered. He was whipped like a slave, slapped like a slave, starved like a slave.”

The queen had her handkerchief out. The room was deathly silent. Looking around, I suddenly realized there were soldiers all along the walls. Where I could see in the crowd, I suddenly found faces I knew from the Afternoon Shift in nearly every district in Corus. They were planted carefully, like seeds—to spy on the audience should they attack Their Majesties even now?

The king unrolled his document. “As of the first day of October, all slave traders will leave Tortall. From that time forward, there will be no selling of slaves within our borders unless the sale is to reunite families and has been approved by a Crown magistrate. All slaves may buy their freedom, as has been the custom, or they may remain with their owners until their deaths. No owner may cast a slave out. All slaves who choose to remain slaves must be cared for during their lifetimes. Those families who have made income from the trade may negotiate with the Crown for loans depending on their plans for a new trade. And as of the spring equinox, 250, no child under the age of ten may be a slave. Owners must find a trade for these young slaves to learn or face a visit from the Crown’s representatives. In time, as older slaves go to the Black God, we will have no slaves in Tortall.” He lowered the document. “Some of you will feel unfairly punished for the misdeeds of others. The Crown is not trying to beggar you. We will do what we can to help. But the
keeping
of slaves beggars many lesser nobles and well-to-do tradesmen. We do not have the great farms of Maren and Carthak where they may work. Many evils take place under the canopy of slavery, including the banditry and piracy that plague our mountains and seas. This trade may go elsewhere. Let other monarchs deal with its mischief. I hope they can protect their children from it. Prince Gareth, and Rebakah Cooper!”