Lady of the Star Wind (34 page)

General Intef answered the salute. “Long overdue. But welcome.” He clapped Rothan on the shoulder. “And you brought Lieutenant Khefer and Chief Archer Djed as well, I see.”

“But how?” said Sharesi, not releasing her grip on Tia’s hand. “This is a true miracle, beyond comprehension, beyond even praying for, but I must know all the details!”

Rothan laughed, giving her a hug. “We’ll explain, I promise. First, let me introduce several people to whom we owe much.” He gestured to Mark, Sandy, and Sallea, who’d withdrawn from the family reunion. “This is the Lady of the Star Wind, Alessandra, and her warrior, Mark. I owe them my life, Tia’s life—much more than I can ever repay. And Lady Sallea is the ambassador from the Mikkonite. Her father rules in the Empty Lands.”

General Intef assessed them coolly, nodding as Mark saluted. “You’re welcome to my province.”

Princess Sharesi chimed in with less reserve in her voice. “But of course we’re delighted to have you here. This is amazing. The men Lieutenant Khefer sent home told us rumors of a wild journey to find the city of Khunarum. I gather from the presence of Lady Sallea, the ambassador from the Empty Lands, you had a measure of success?”

“Indeed. Lord Mark saved my life in the lost city. The circumstances are a tale worth telling. But there’s something else of higher priority, Grandfather, Mother.” Rothan glanced at Tia for corroboration of his claim, and she gave him a tiny smile of encouragement.
 

“We’re aware of Hutenen’s death.” Sharesi wiped away a tear, smearing her eye makeup. Mark remembered Rothan had said she’d raised the late prince along with her own son. “Sad tidings.”

“The official report stated you were entombed with him because you wished to go to the underworld in his company,” General Intef said, a question in his tone.

Rothan shook his head, meeting his grandfather’s searching look without flinching. “We were entombed at Farahna’s command, not by choice.”

“Beats dying under the lash,” Mark said. “Which was her first choice of death sentence.”

“How did you escape, then? No, never mind, we’ll discuss the details later.” Sharesi waved her hands as if shooing insects away. “You must be exhausted from travel and the dangers you faced. I imagine the journey was hardest for Tia. I see there’s to be a child.”

“We’re man and wife now.” Rothan’s declaration was simple, heartfelt. “The child will be my heir.”

“This calls for a feast of celebration and proper thanks rendered to the Exalted Ones for so many reasons it makes me dizzy to think of it all.” The princess gave Tia a hug.

“Followed by serious discussions of strategy in the morning.” The general wasn’t smiling. “If Farahna learns you’re alive, I’m not sure what her reaction will be, but the range of possibilities is grim. We must be prepared.”

Rothan laid his hand on the general’s arm. “Wait, Grandfather, we’ve not told you the most important thing.”

Brow furrowed in a frown, the general stopped.

“More important than the fact of your survival? More than Tia’s pregnancy?” Princess Sharesi asked. “What else can there be to add to this momentous day?”

Rothan gestured to his wife. “My love, may I have the box, please?”

She brought the container, setting it on the table in front of her husband. He took a deep breath and slid the golden lock aside, flipping open the lid, extracting the Crown of Khunarum, and setting it on his bare head. Pivoting on his heel, he faced the staring occupants of the room.

“I am become king.”
 

There was a moment of total silence.

Khefer and Djed knelt.

The general and Rothan locked eyes for a long moment. Mark would have given a great deal to be privy to the rapid thoughts and plans obviously whirling through the older man’s mind. General Intef went to one knee a heartbeat later, hand over his heart. “Hail to the king, may the gods be praised!”

Then and only then, Mark observed, did the other men in the room go to their knees and take up the cry. He filed the fact away for the future.

General Intef regained his feet a moment later. “With Your Majesty’s permission, we must keep this news quiet while we plan our next steps. The matter is even more urgent now. Farahna will take extreme measures against you once she receives this news. The Maiskhan won’t welcome the idea of another legitimate claimant to the throne, either.”

He addressed the officers and men who’d accompanied him. “This is not to be spoken of until the king decrees it to be public knowledge. I will have a blood oath on this from each of you. Do you all understand?”

“If it—if it pleases Your Majesty, let us leave this place and go on to the house.” Princess Sharesi’s voice was faint. Mark wondered if Sandy would have her as a new patient before the end of this family reunion. “A great feast will be prepared in your honor.”

“My companions and I have journeyed far, and we’re tired,” Rothan said. “For tonight, an intimate family dinner is all we can handle, Mother. We’ll be pleased to recite the tale of our adventures for you.”

“It will be my honor to hear of them.” She bowed her head and moved aside for Rothan and Tia to pass ahead of her. She and General Intef followed a pace or so behind.

Mark snagged Djed by the arm as the archer collected the wooden box holding the crown. “Is there going to be this much formality all the time now?”

“No. His Majesty can indicate he’s present as a military officer. Then we can all be less constrained by royal protocol.” Djed sounded wistful. “He may be more his old self when we’re private with him. But he is king now, apart from all men, anointed by the gods, and there’s no going back to the older, simpler times. None of us can ever forget his new status.” He hefted the box and walked out.

“Thank goodness there’s some hope, though, for less pomp all the time. Even your grandmother doesn’t insist on all this bowing and scraping,” Mark told Sandy as he held the door open for her to follow the archer from the room.

“She would if she knew someone else demanded it.” Sandy packed her medical bag. “We’d better hurry, or they’ll leave without us. Rothan shook them pretty badly with his announcement.”
 

“Did you see how the locals didn’t pay homage till the general made it clear which way he’d go?”

“Rothan taking the crown as his must be a lot for them to absorb,” Sandy said, frowning thoughtfully. “But one thing my grandmother always used to say—if you have the key military officers behind you, you sit a secure throne.”

Captain Khefer stuck his head through the open doorway. “The king asks for you. We can’t leave till you are with us.”

“We’re coming,” Mark said, ushering Sandy through the door ahead of him.

Chariots conveyed them up the long, easy incline of the mountain pass and onto the immense, miles-long plateau forming the core of the territory. The general’s personal estate, including his sprawling house, official buildings, several temples, secondary residences, and various assorted outbuildings, all enhanced by well-manicured gardens and luxurious old growth trees, lay a few miles into the plateau. The compound sat at the edge of the capital city. Quiet, efficient servants escorted the newcomers into the house and to the banquet that had been prepared while the household waited for them to arrive.

There was much talk and laughter at the dinner, which lasted for hours and through so many richly varied courses that Mark lost count. Rothan recited the long tale of his adventures in the Empty Lands, of meeting Mark and Sandy, of the rescue by the Mikkonites, of the desperate search in the half-drowned city for the crown, the sea voyage aboard the
Lady Dawn
, and then confrontation with Farahna and the eventual escape from the tomb. The journey to the south took a brief time. Captain Khefer was allowed to share his adventure of burning the trading warehouses and stables when he stole the oxen.

“An epic tale,” General Intef said at the end of the entire recitation. “We shall have to have the scribes record it for posterity. And now, King Rothan the First, by the grace of Khunarum and the gods, we must make some serious plans.”
 

“Not tonight!” Princess Sharesi protested. “Tonight is for rejoicing and celebrating. No battle plans.”

“You’re right, Mother, but so is my grandfather,” Rothan said. “Tomorrow, we’ll need to count those we can rally to the cause, which provinces have treaties with us, or can be trusted to fight Farahna beside us. We’ll have to sift through Captain Khefer’s information about the Maiskhan forces in the capital city and in the land at large. There’s much to do before we can launch any kind of successful rebellion. We must be successful; we will retake our homeland.”

“To the downfall of Farahna and all tyrants!” Mark stood and raised his mug in a toast. Rothan came to his feet, followed by their companions around the table, all lifting mugs and goblets and repeating Mark’s cry with gusto.

The dinner party broke up quickly. Rothan and Tia withdrew first, as royal etiquette required. Princess Sharesi came to Mark and Sandy. “I’ve ordered a suite of rooms prepared for you in the same wing of the palace as His Majesty’s. You need to be close should he have need of you. I hope the rooms I’ve chosen will be to your liking.” She extended a hand to Sallea. “Your chambers are in the same wing.”

“I’m sure the accommodations will be fine,” Sandy replied graciously. “You’re very kind, Your Highness.”

“I’ll walk with you.” The elder princess and Sandy fell into step together as they left the large banquet hall and traversed a long hall. Mark stayed a step behind, Sallea matching him stride for stride, and a small crowd of servants trailed him, as if he was leading a parade.
 

Clearing her throat, Rothan’s mother asked, “I notice what must be the Mirror of the Mother at your belt?”

Sandy stopped in the middle of the hall. “You know of it?” She half lifted the mirror from where it dangled on her hip.

“I’m a high priestess of the goddess Haatrin, daughter’s daughter of She who created the mirror. I’m learned in the mysteries of my particular temple. This is a deep and old secret of a related temple.”

“Do you know how to use it? To see with it?”

Sharesi missed a step in her surprise. Mark grabbed her elbow to steady her. “You carry it, and yet you don’t know how to use it? How did this come about?”

He didn’t like the trend of the conversation, much as he was drawn to Sharesi, who reminded him in an indefinable way of his own mother. He was wary of anything causing doubts about their assumed identities. Frowning at Sandy, he shook his head, but eager as always for knowledge about the artifact, she ignored his unspoken signal.

“We found the mirror in our house at the Lost City of Khunarum. I’d been searching for it ever since we were in the Temple of Nuet. I was bitten by Sherabti—”

Face set in lines of distress, Sharesi clamped her hand on Sandy’s arm so hard her knuckles were white. “Forgive me, but to speak Names of Ancient Power is unwise. Even the names of those much removed in time can draw the focus of disastrous energies. You’ve established no safeguards, Lady.”

“I’m—I’m sorry.” Sandy glanced at Mark for help, rolling her eyes. “I’m frustrated because I don’t know how to use the mirror, to make it reflect.”

“A great pity. This is a secret lost to time, then, I fear,” Sharesi said. “It’s not recorded in any scroll I’ve ever read. The mirror always fascinated me, ever since I read of it as a child, but not much is known.”

Mark tried to do damage control in case any was needed. “We did explain to Rothan, to the king, I mean, we’re not the Lady of the Star Wind and her warrior who lived in the time of King Khunarum.”
 

“How odd your predecessors left it there for you with no instructions. Legend speaks of it as a fearsome weapon as well as an instrument of farseeing.” Sharesi strolled farther, drawing them with her. The servants marched solemnly behind. “I know of an elder wisewoman from the western provinces who used to serve me as a maid. She might have additional knowledge, coming as she does from an area where a large number of the most ancient scrolls and tablets survived. I know she trained under a legendary wisewoman who, it was said, searched all her life for the mirror because she’d found a document setting forth the conditions for its use. This senior mentor hoped to find it, of course, but never did, so she passed on what she knew to Babsuket in the last days of her own life. Many are the legends about where the artifacts from Khunarum’s city ended up. I’ll arrange for you to meet with her.”

“Marvelous! Tomorrow?”

Appearing amused by Sandy’s eagerness, Sharesi bit her lip in an obvious attempt not to smile. “My serving woman is old, half blind, and retired to live with her great-grandchildren in a village at the far edge of this territory. I’ll have her summoned as rapidly as may be done with one of such age and infirmity.”

“We could go to her,” Mark said, conscious of Sandy’s hunger to learn more.

Sharesi shook her head. “It wouldn’t be proper. You are of the king’s inner court, and others must come to you, my lord. It will be her honor to be summoned. His Majesty will reward her well for the service.” Head tilted, quizzical smile on her rouged lips, the princess said, “I think you have many things to get used to here in Nakhtiaar of today. And now, here are your chambers.”

Two servants swept the doors open as the princess gestured. Other people flowed around them, carrying lamps and torches, flooding the room with light. Their few meager belongings from the oxcart had already been laid with precision on top of a chest on the far wall. Exhaustion overtaking his willpower now that Sandy was safe in the general’s stronghold and he could relax his vigilance somewhat, Mark focused on the great bed.