Ascendant (61 page)

"What?"
Paedris asked, astounded. He had not heard this part of the story. "What
do you mean?"

"My
mother still thinks Koren is a jinx, no matter what you tell her. I was
standing on the dais in the courtyard, and when I saw Koren, I called out and
started to run toward him. Then the gargoyle fell, right where I would have
been if I hadn't run. I would have been standing there, if Koren had not come
into the courtyard. He was on his way to see you, with a soldier escorting him,
because he was a
prisoner
."

"Yes,
that was, an, um, unfortunate misunderstanding. Which I have since corrected,
by explaining to Captain Raddick." Captain Raddick, who learned that he
had earned the displeasure of the crown princess, and left the castle as soon
as he was able. Carlana had told Paedris that, so far, Ariana didn't know the
army was officially searching for Koren as a deserter, Ariana only knew people
were searching for the young man. And she certainly didn't know the secret
order for Koren to be killed, if he had been captured by the enemy.

"And if I
find which priest told Koren he was cursed-"

"Mother
Furliss says it wasn't her, and I believe her." Paedris hastened to say.
The priestess had been furious, and had told the wizard her suspicion that a
certain worthless priest named Emil Gruch may be the culprit. Father Gruch was
soon going to find himself reassigned to a miserable church in the Fethid
swamp, where he would be too busy swatting mosquitos and worrying about snakes
to do any more damage to the faithful. Which was still a better fate than what
Paedris, in his anger, had wanted to do the wretched man.

"Koren is
not a jinx! He was there to save me, when the bear attacked. And he was there
to make me move, exactly when the gargoyle fell. He is the
opposite
of a
jinx."

"I agree,
Your Highness. While he has been good luck for you, and for me, and for Tarador,
his own luck has been rather bad." Much of which is my own fault, Paedris
added to himself, if I hadn't kept the truth from him. "Is this what you
wished to talk about in private?"

Ariana dabbed
at her eyes with her handkerchief, not caring if the wizard saw her tears.
"Partly, yes. I know you care about Koren, and I need to talk with someone
else who does. Mother thinks he is nothing but trouble."

"Your
mother-"

"Is sometimes
a silly woman." Ariana declared forcefully. "I know she loves me, and
thinks she's doing what is best for me, but she has no idea what she's doing.
She was raised to be a wife, and a mother, she never expected to rule a
country. She's driving General Magrane to distraction, and he's too loyal to
say it, but she's a terrible Regent." After initially ordering the royal
army to the capital after she heard about the raid in Longshire, she changed
her mind and ordered General Magrane to the western border. Then after the
discovery of an assassin in the castle, she had ordered the army back, even to
the point of recalling royal troops that had been sent to reinforce the
provinces, and allies in other countries, that were most threatened by Acedor.
Even Duke Yarron, who had always been a strong supporter of the royal family,
was grumbling about Carlana leaving Levanne province to fend for itself on the
border. "If she keeps doing this, we're going to lose the few allies we
have left. And the Regency Council could shift votes to making Duke Falco my Regent."
Ariana shuddered at that thought. With Regin Falco as her Regent, a position
that Duke had wanted since her father died, Ariana feared it would not be long
before an unfortunate 'accident' happened to her.

Paedris
shifted uncomfortably in his chair. As court wizard, and a foreigner, he was
forbidden from taking sides in any internal Taradoran politics, including
matters of the Regency Council. Perhaps, especially decisions of the Regency
Council, for that was where the Dukes and Duchesses most jealously guarded
their power. Paedris had remained scrupulously neutral, but if Regin Falco was
named Regent, Paedris did not see how he could remain silent. He did not trust
the man, not at all. Until such a thing was about to happen, however, Paedris
felt he needed to remain silent on the matter. For Paedris to interfere in the
Regency Council would be to thrust Tarador into an outright civil war.
"Your mother does what she thinks best." He responded carefully.

"By trying
to protect me, my mother is risking me never becoming queen, or not having much
of a country left once I take the throne."

"Hmm,
well, I can't speak against-"

"Yes you
can. You can speak against the Regent, to me alone. I checked with the royal
chancellor about the law on this. Mother is
my
Regent."

Whatever the
written law stated, Paedris knew the law mostly was whatever those in power
said it was, and Carlana had the power. At the moment. This conversation was
getting into dangerous territory, at a time when Tarador was threatened, and
the wizard himself was not at full strength. Before Paedris could respond,
Ariana continued her argument. "Lord Salva, I need to become queen,
now
.
If I wait until my sixteenth birthday, that will be too late. Too late for me,
and too late for Tarador. Our enemy will not sit idly by for another two years,
while we argue and my mother does nothing."

"The
law-"

"The law
is whatever the Regency Council agrees to. Enough of the Dukes are afraid we're
going to lose the war, soon, that I think I can push my mother aside. But, I
will need your help. Can I count on your support and advice, Lord Salva?"

Paedris should
have taken some time to consider the crown princess' stunning proposal. He
didn't need to. Ariana was ready, far more qualified at her young age to rule Tarador
than her mother ever was. Seeing the young girl making such a momentous
decision on her own, and acting so forcefully, to take the reins of great
responsibility, swept away any doubts he may have had. He had been waiting for
Ariana to take power, planning, wishing and hoping for that day, hoping it did
not happen too late. Now, he could do something about it, and together, they
could thwart the plans for the enemy. He cleared his throat, and announced "Your
Highness, I have been waiting for this day, ever since your father died. Yes,
you have my complete support. And, the gratitude of an old man. I should have
suggested this to you, before we came to such a crisis."

"Thank
you, Lord Salva." Ariana said gravely, then the young girl in her broke
through, and she leaped out of her chair to fling her arms around him and kiss
his cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Paedris could
feel the wetness of her tears on his cheek. He gently unwrapped her arms from
around her, and looked her in the eyes. "And now, Your Highness, if you
are going to be our queen, there is a very important secret you need to learn,
about Koren Bladewell."

That very same
night, Koren held onto the ropes that led up to the mainmast of the ship, and
looked down at the angrily foaming black water. Not actually
down
, for
the ship was healing over so far that the crests of the waves were above him,
and as he tried to make his way to the railing, a wave smashed him full in the
face, he lost his grip on the rope, and was washed across the deck to be bashed
against a stack of crates. As the ship healed over the other way, the water
cascading off the deck pulled him along with it, and he tumbled, out of
control, up against one of the holes the sailors called
‘
scuppers
’
where the water poured
out over the side. Coughing and choking on seawater, Koren decided that nothing
aboard a ship was easy, not even throwing yourself overboard.

The ship
rolled the other way again, and Koren let himself slide across the deck,
splinters from the rough wood deck scratching his skin. He bumped against the
rail, and scrambled up the railing, determined to dive overboard, before a wave
threw him back, or he lost his nerve. A black wave loomed above him, gray foam
curling to strike him down, as he pulled himself up onto the top of the
railing, and took a deep breath.

A breath that
was knocked out of him, when a rough hand took hold of his shirt collar and
yanked him back onto the deck, just as the wave broke over the railing and
knocked him down. Once he recovered from being battered into the deck by the
water, Koren was hauled to his feet by a large sailor named Alfonze.
“
What in the hell are you
doing, you young fool? You could have fallen overboard!
”

“
I was trying to!
”
Koren choked out the
words, which only made him realize how very much he wanted to live.

“
Trying to-
“
Alfonze was dumbfounded,
as he pulled the young man he knew as
‘
Kedrun
’
up next to the mast,
where they were safer from the waves breaking over the side.
“
Why would you want to go
over the side, at night? You seasick?
”

Koren shook
his head. Unlike the five other new crewmen, he had not gotten seasick during
the week the ship had been sailing due south across the open sea, not even in
the storm.
“
Jofer
said this storm is going to sink the ship, and that one of us new men brought
bad luck with us. It
’
s
me, I
’
m a
jinx! I brought this storm on us, and we
’
re
all
going to die as long as I
’
m
aboard!
”

To Koren
’
s surprise, he saw Alfonze
’
s teeth shining with a
broad smile.
“
A
storm? You call this a
storm
, you stupid landlubber?
”
Alfonze roared with
laughter.
“
This
ain
’
t even a
blow, nor not a squall. When we get into a
storm
, I
’
ll let you know, and there
won
’
t be no
mistaking it. And never listen to Jofer, that useless old idiot hasn
’
t learned a darned thing
about sailing in all his long years. He sees mermaids around every shore, and
there ain
’
t no
such thing, mark my words.
”
Seeing Koren was not yet convinced, Alfonze pointed toward the bow of the ship.
“
Lookee there,
you wooly-head. See the sky yonder is lighter? That
’
s moonlight, where this
little cloudburst ends. We
’
ll
be out of this in half a glass, and then you
’
ll be called on deck to clean up some of this
mess. So no sense going below now to get out of these wet clothes, you come
with me.
”
Koren held onto the big man as they climbed the stairs up to where two sailors
were wrestling with the big wheel that steered the ship.
“
You see? If this were a
storm
,
the cap
’
n
hisself would be up here, instead of snoring away in his cabin. Storm?
”
Alfonze shook his head
and laughed, and truly Koren could see that, although the ship still bobbed
alarmingly on the waves, the crew had everything under control.
“
Yussaf, Renten, this young
fool Kedrun here thinks this is a fearsome
storm
!
”

The two
sailors laughed along with Alfonze. As Koren held tightly onto the railing at
the top of the stairs, and squinted to see in the stinging seaspray, he peered
ahead, to where he could now see the night sky truly was distinctly lighter. He
may still be a jinx, trouble and doom for everyone around him, but not this
night. Not this one night. And that gave him hope.