Casimir's Journey (29 page)

“Yes, Father, it is.”

The hall exploded in noise and shouts as people realized what had happened.

Hadden could see Aland and Ceridwen. They were not moving, although at some point, her hand had crept into his. Aland must have made some sort of gesture, because the herald appeared in front of the king, and banged his staff loudly three times.

The noise level fell, but didn’t subside. He banged three more times, and the noise quieted.

The king stood. He’d aged in those few moments, Hadden saw.

“This gathering in the great hall was requested by Sir Hadden. I will continue this discussion if the members of the court and our guests can maintain their silence and allow us to discover what is at work here.” He glared around at the hall at large.

Silence fell.

“Now, Thea, please tell me how this came to be.”

Hadden could see that Aland was trying to keep his temper.

Thea took a deep breath. “I angered a witch.”

The crowd whispered. The queen looked around and the whispers faded.

“I was out in the woods with Casimir. We came upon an elderly woman, and she threatened to tell you. I was upset, and I was…I was not composed. Before I knew it, I’d been taken.”

“What do you mean, taken?” The king leaned forward.

“It was a tower room, a room with no door.” Hadden could see that Thea was getting upset. Whatever had happened, she was still upset by. “The woman who was there told me her name was Catrin, and because I was just like you—” she spit this out at Aland, “She was cursing me. That I was to give up Casimir and free him, and if I did not I would bring a curse down upon all around me.”

Ceridwen had her hands over her mouth, and she looked as though she might be ill.

“You are sure her name was Catrin?” The king asked quietly. Too quietly, in Hadden’s thought. He felt a level of tension that hadn’t been there before.

“Oh, I am sure. She hates you, Father. Despises you. If she were not so angry at you, perhaps she would have no been so harsh with me.” Thea’s voice rose, anger spilling out. This was not anger in just the moment, but a deep, deep hurt. “She said that Casimir was better than anyone in our family, and it would be the ruin of him to be aligned with us. So I must give him up. In spite of how afraid of her I was, I told her that I was a king’s daughter, and I would not be ordered by anyone other than my father and king. You know what she did, Father? She laughed! She laughed at me, and told me if I chose to ignore her, that I would see the results. And suddenly, I was back in the woods, as though I’d never left, with Casimir and the old woman.” Her head dropped and she began to cry.

Hadden had to stop himself from going to comfort her. In spite of their earlier conversation, she was not yet promised to him, and going to her now would do nothing other than get him killed. If not by Sebastian, then by one of his men. With thoughts of Sebastian, Hadden looked around for him. He was sitting to the left, staring at Thea with an expression that he couldn’t decipher. He certainly didn’t look the concerned lover.

“So I came back to the castle. I ignored her, and suddenly, all my sisters and I began to dream that we were dancing at night, and our dreams were so real that we were actually tired in the morning. Finally, one night I stayed awake, and I saw that we were all going to a stairway below my bed, and doing as Sir Hadden described. Gradually, all my sisters became aware of our nightly journey. I wasn’t sure what was going on until I saw Catrin one night in the castle underground.” She looked down, seemingly overcome.

“She confirmed that this was the curse. To my shame and mistake, I asked her what sort of curse this was.”

Hadden noticed that both the king and queen winced. Thea noticed it, because she stopped her story, but when neither spoke, she continued. “She said, ‘You’ll just have to wait and see’ and smiled at me in the most hateful, evil way…” Thea’s voice trailed off. Hadden looked at her more closely. She was angry, and she didn’t like Catrin.

Catrin? He’d met a Catrin. He almost interrupted Thea to ask for more details, but he felt Roysten’s hand on his arm, and stopped himself. Nevertheless, his mind raced. It wasn’t a common name. His Catrin had saved him from the wound to his face. Surely, they couldn’t be the same person?.

“She warned me, told me that if I mentioned the curse to anyone other than my sisters, they would suffer. And if I told anyone, she’d kill one of my sisters each time I did so. I couldn’t risk my sisters, so when you asked, I denied any knowledge. I was also afraid of what would happen to you if I told you. A few days later, I woke with my foot bleeding, and I blurted out my fears to Archibald. Within moments after I’d spoken, the chandelier fell on him.” She stopped again.

“So Catrin cursed you to dance every night, and forbade you from telling anyone?” Hadden hadn’t heard Ceridwen speak up in the hall before.

Thea nodded. “My sisters can confirm this. Once they were all awake, they all knew. We couldn’t tell. The one time I did, the person I told died. And if I told you, which I think was what Catrin was trying to prevent, she would have killed one of my sisters. I spoke with her several times when we were underground. She cared not that others died. She said I had to learn, as you had not, that actions have consequences.” She put her hands on her hips. “What is between you and her? Why has she killed off three people, two of whom I loved? What did you do that angered her so?” Her voice rose again, and she took several steps towards the king.

“I bear responsibility for my actions, but this is not all on me, Father! What did you do? Why does she hate you, and why did I and others pay for that? Why did Casimir have to pay for that?” The last words were a shriek.

The king didn’t answer. He turned to the queen, and she leaned into him. They looked as though they were unable to support themselves in that moment.

“Why?” Thea was not deterred. “I’ve wanted to ask you since this began! The one time I asked about Catrin, you ended the conversation and wouldn’t speak of her! What did you do? What was so bad that people had to die? Archibald? Ulric? Casimir?”

The court went silent at her words. The small hum that had been steady until that moment stilled. When he’d thought on what to say to the king, this was nothing he’d considered.

Her lady-in-waiting came forward and gently plucked at Thea’s arm. “No, Lisette, I must speak.” The woman backed away, but not before Hadden could see the anguish on her face.

He looked around. Sebastian still had not moved. He turned abruptly and met Hadden’s eye. Then he looked back at Thea.

“Your Majesty?” Hadden took a step closer to the throne. “I think we shall have a great deal of time to discuss this. There is, as I said, more at work here than a simple curse. If I may, Sire, I’d like to make my choice of bride.”

He knew that he seemed pushy and completely callous, but he’d seen the look on Sebastian’s face. Sebastian was at war with himself. All this talk of Casimir couldn’t be comfortable, and he loved Adelaide. Hadden wanted to negate him as a problem, and he could see that Sebastian was on his way to becoming one. Not that he blamed the man. This was not a position that he wished on anyone, even as underhanded as Sebastian had initially been to him.

The king looked up, tired. “Yes, Sir Hadden? What is it that cannot wait? There is time for you to make your choice, surely.” He had his head in his hand.

“I choose your eldest daughter, Your Majesty. Thea is my choice for wife.”

The court was silent for another heartbeat more, and then sound exploded like a catapult over the ramparts. The men with Sebastian were loudest, and some made for him, hands on their swords.

Sebastian stood then. He said something that stopped them all. He walked towards Hadden and just as quickly as the room had gotten noisy, it went still. No one wanted to miss this.

Hadden hoped Sebastian remembered their conversation—that he was helping him to achieve his real goal, which was to be with the woman he loved, who loved him. Sebastian walked past Hadden to Thea. He took her hand, and bowed low over it.

“Madam,” he said clearly, so that all could hear. “I am honored that you agreed to marry me. However, Sir Hadden has a greater claim on your hand. He’s won it, and I graciously quit the field. You are released from your promise to me, my lady.” He kissed her hand, and then turned to Hadden, walking the few steps to stand in front of him.

“Sir Hadden of Erimoor, I offer you my congratulations for your success in this quest. I offer my thanks to you for ending what is a truly horrific situation with no further loss of life. I am, as are we all,” he glared around the room, particularly at his men, “Indebted to you.” He looked directly at Hadden, and then bowed.

Hadden was shocked. Nothing he’d seen had indicated that Sebastian knew to be gracious, but he was pleased. For Adelaide if nothing else. Thinking of her, it was hard not to find her and see what her reaction to this was.

“Prince Sebastian, you are a credit to your kingdom. I thank you,” he said, and bowed, making sure to go lower than Sebastian had. The man had swallowed a great deal of pride just now; Hadden wanted to let everyone know he respected it.

“Rise, knight. Gallivas is lucky to have you.” Sebastian’s voice was warm. He held out his hand, and Hadden took it. Sebastian clasped his forearm, and smiled. It was the most genuine smile Hadden had ever seen the man wear. He suspected that the possibilities had just opened up in front of the prince.

Sebastian dropped his hand and turned to the king. “Your Majesty, I ask for your indulgence. I would like to retire along with my men.”

The king still had the tired, stunned look about him. “You may indeed, Prince Sebastian, and Gallivas thanks you for your chivalrous behavior towards us.”

Sebastian bowed, and turned quickly. His knights hurried to bow as they followed their prince out. Hadden could tell that they were flummoxed at why Sebastian had behaved as he had. However, once they learned, Hadden felt sure that the men would be happy for their future king.

“Thea, do you accept the hand of Sir Hadden?” The king asked quietly.

“I do, Sire, with my grateful thanks for all that he has risked for Gallivas, my sisters, and me.” Her voice was strong. Hadden was proud of her. She may not love him, but she would not shame him.

“Then—” He began but he was cut off by the banging of the doors to the great hall. Along with everyone else he turned to see the reason for the disturbance.

A woman strode in.

“Very pretty, princess, but no, you shall not have him,” The woman said in a loud voice. “I’ve kept him from you and tried to keep him safe twice already. I shall not surrender to you now.”

“What are you doing here?” Thea asked. Her voice was a horrified whisper.

“You shall not have him. Not ever,” The woman came forward and stood between Hadden and Thea.

Why none of the guards had leapt to remove her, Hadden couldn’t tell. The king and queen looked as though they’d seen a ghost.

“What are you talking about?” Thea asked. She seemed the only person capable of speech.

An old woman stood up in the crowd suddenly. “Princess Thea, what has—or rather, who has Catrin taken from you recently? Who has she kept from you? Think, girl!”

Hadden stood on his toes to see who it was. It was Grizelle. What was she doing here, this far from Ethion? He turned to Roysten, who shrugged. This may have started out as his report to the king, but it had become something more, and was no longer his show at all.

Thea looked as though she couldn’t breathe. She was gasping, trying to get the words out. “You, you…what do you mean you’ve kept him from me? Who is he?” She was on the verge of hysteria.

Hadden thought he had better step in. She was now his betrothed, so he probably could get away with it.

“Madam, I do not know you—”

She laughed, and said, “Oh no, Hadden?” She waved a hand in front of her face, and he saw the older woman who’d healed him when his company had left him in her care.

“You? The Catrin Thea speaks of and you are the same? But why? You were so kind to me!” He moved closer to Thea, reaching for her hand.

Catrin waved her hand again, and was once again the woman who’d burst into the hall.

“He is not yours and never will be.” She hissed at Thea. “I told you he was too good for you, and I was right. He still is far better than you, than any of the line of Gallivas,” she said scornfully, casting a scathing glance around the room.

“What—what did you do? What have you done with Casimir?” Thea whispered. Hadden wasn’t sure that anyone else heard her.

Catrin laughed, and it wasn’t a nice sound. She waved a hand at him, and while he felt nothing, Thea gasped when she looked at him. One of the princesses behind the king cried out.

So did most of the court. There were shrieks, and Hadden could see that a few women had fainted, falling straight from the benches they sat on. His eyes flew to Roysten. His esquire looked shocked, and…afraid.

He turned to Catrin. “What have you done to me? Who am I that everyone looks at me in this manner?”

“Casimir…” whispered Thea. Tears streamed down her face. “How is this possible?” She reached for him, hand stretched to his cheek. She touched him, touched the scar. He reached his hand up to hers, glad to feel her touch. That didn’t answer to what was going on.

“Who am I?” He said to Catrin. “What is the meaning of this? What have you done?”

The mocking look of earlier was gone. Catrin looked at him with what looked like affection. “I have saved you, Hadden. I saved your life. This spoiled, selfish girl let you go to your death. I tried to warn her away, tried to save you, but no, you ran straight to her. And when I thought you were safe, you had to go and take up the challenge again!” She threw up her arms. “So I had to save you, once again, because of this…this…” She gestured at Thea, obviously too angry to speak.

“You horrid, evil woman,” spat Thea. “He’s beaten your curse. You have nothing more to say on the matter. Be gone, you awful crone! You have no place here!” She took a step towards Catrin as she spoke, and Hadden was afraid that she might try to strike Catrin. If Catrin really was a witch and as powerful as she sounded, this was not wise.

He caught Thea around the waist. “This is probably not the best idea,” he whispered into her ear. “Be still. She will not trouble us for much longer.”

“You think not, little Hadden? You are wrong. She will never have you. You are in my debt. You—”

“If he is Hadden, why does he look like Casimir?” Thea screamed. “What have you done that you enchant him to look like Casimir?”

There was a sudden crash as Catrin waved her hands and a number of the king’s guards went flying. “Do not test me, Aland. Or have you and Ceridwen forgotten what I am capable of?” She looked at all the princesses, and then at Thea, and laughed. “With all these reminders, how could you forget? But it seems you do, and if so, I shall be happy to remind you.”

Aland had stood when Catrin threw his guards back. Now, he sat down slowly, with the guide of Ceridwen’s hand on his arm. “Have you not done enough?” He asked hoarsely.

“What have you done to me?” Hadden asked. “Why do I not look myself?”

“Hadden is not who you were born as,” came the soft tones of someone else. Grizelle came forward. Hadden was happy to see her, but surprised.

Not more than Catrin, however.

“Why are you here, old woman? This is not your concern.”

“But it is, Catrin. This has gone on long enough.”

“What did you do?” Hadden asked Catrin again. “Do not lie to me!”

Amazingly, she flinched when he raised his voice. “I did what I had to in order to protect you. I have always protected you, and I shall do so to my end.”

“Which will come quickly, if there is justice,” said Thea.

Hadden stilled her again with a touch of his hand.

“Does Grizelle speak true? Am I really Casimir?”

Catrin didn’t answer. He stepped closer to her, putting Thea behind him. “Am I Casimir?”

Finally, she nodded.

“Have you taken all memory of that from me?”

She was still, and then nodded again. “I did it out of love for you.”

Oddly enough, he believed her. She sounded like a mother—like she could be his mother.

“Taking away my freedom, my choice—that is not love. I appreciate the care you’ve shown me, but you cannot extract my life as payment. Love doesn’t demand payment, Lady Catrin,” He said softly. “Love doesn’t deny choice, or the freedom to live as one wishes. You must return my memory of who I really am to me. You must allow me to make my own choices.”

He could hear a muttering growing behind him, but he concentrated on Catrin. She watched him closely, intently. Then she sighed, and shook her head. “I must let you go, mustn’t I?”

He nodded. “Have I disappointed you thus far?”

Catrin smiled, a rueful smile, and again, he thought of what he imagined a mother to be like. “Other than your devotion to this girl, no. You deserve better.”

Hadden put out an arm to stop Thea. He knew she was close to bursting, but her anger wouldn’t help things now.

Catrin sighed again, and then she waved her hand.

Nothing happened. Hadden looked around, and then—

—Everything was dark—

—Then all was light—

—Then there was a tremendous force on his neck—

—Then pain, pain as he’d never known before—

—Then Catrin, healing him—

—His neck itched, itched horribly he wished it would just fall off—

—He needed to get to Thea. She wasn’t safe—

—Had to kill the knight, the poor man. All he wanted was his love—

And he looked up, and saw all around him.

Catrin, as he’d remembered her just before he’d gone to get the oranges. She looked nervous.

“Why would you treat me so?” He asked. He remembered. Remembered his life as Hadden, growing up with Maddox, and Roysten, and his time in the army. “Hadden? Was that real?” He whispered. The enormity of two lives rushing in at once nearly overwhelmed him.

“Lord Maddox?” The man was walking towards him. “What is real, Catrin? What or who am I? This solves nothing!”

Grizelle had been silent but now spoke. “Catrin, you must return them all.”

Catrin whipped her head around. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Casimir? Hadden? He didn’t even know how to think of himself, much less what to think.

“What is real?” He whispered. He staggered a bit, leaning towards Thea.

“Oh, Casimir!” She said raggedly, and pressed herself to him.

While he liked her, and felt he would probably like her more, he understood now what she’d told him when he was Hadden. Something wasn’t there. He looked up, looked to Catrin, and was about to open his mouth when Grizelle held up her hand.

“I know what Melasine took,” She said. She looked at Catrin and nowhere else.

“I cannot know, nor is there anything I can do.”

“Do not lie to me, girl,” said Grizelle. “You may be stronger, but I have been alive for a long time. I have it, right here. Return it to its owner.”

She held up a small leather pouch. There was nothing remarkable about it, but Catrin seemed to know what it was. She visibly recoiled from it.

“How did you get that?” She asked Grizelle.

“I too am known to those of our kind. Something you seem to have forgotten. Now return it.”

“You can do it,” Catrin sneered.

“No, I cannot. What you have undone, even through the actions of others, you must right.” Grizelle’s face was stony. “Catrin, it is time. You have carried this on your heart for what? Scores of years. What has it gotten you? What have you achieved?”

“What do you know of anything I’ve done?” Catrin asked.

“I am here, am I not? How do you think Hadden came to be here? I set him on this path, gave him the idea, showed him what was possible, and helped him.”

“What? This was not yours to interfere with!” Catrin was furious.

Grizelle seemed to grow taller. Hadden—Casimir, he reminded himself—looked around. The hall was quiet, riveted on the scene playing out before them. People looked scared. Well they might. Magic, which this was on a very large scale, while accepted, was not part of daily life. And two such enchantresses—he had been changed right before their eyes.

He put aside all the trouble that was going to cause to focus on the two women in front of him. “Did you enchant me as well?” He interjected, directing his question at Grizelle.

“I would not do so. If you were to do this, you had to decide to do so of your own free will. Free will,” she emphasized, glaring at Catrin. “That thing you claim to prize so! I guess you only see the value to you, rather than to others. No, dear boy, I would not enchant or manipulate you. I offered you a chance. What you did from there was entirely on you.” The smile dropped from her face, and she focused on Catrin.

“How dare I? How dare you behave in such a manner? Show yourself!” Grizelle made a throwing motion at Catrin.

Nothing happened.

“How have you managed it? With all the harm you’ve done, how you have managed to keep from—”

“Being ugly?” Catrin sneered again.

“Dying,” Grizelle said quietly.

“I have done a great deal more good than anything else. Which you would know if you’d allowed me to heal myself. That’s what I did, you know! I healed myself!”

“Catrin! We can discuss this later! Give it back!” Shouted Grizelle.

No one moved. He doubted anyone even dared to breathe. Thea nestled close to him. It was nice, but he was more interested in the two enchantresses.

“He is fine without it,” began Catrin.

Grizelle cut her off. “No! They were taken unfairly, and you know it! You sent him there a-purpose! You knew what Melasine would seek out! Return them!”

Catrin slowly took the pouch from Grizelle. Opened it, and upended it into her hand. A fine, sparkly dust poured into her hand. She looked at him, and she blew the powder in his face.

“NO!” Shouted Aland, rising from his throne.

“My lord, be seated!” Grizelle called to him. “No harm will come to the prince or your daughter!”

Aland didn’t listen. He moved towards them, and Grizelle waved her hand. He stopped, and
slid
backwards until his knees hit the chair.

“I beg you, please sit, my lord.”

Unlike Catrin, who moved things with a mere flick of the hand, Grizelle was sweating with the effort of keeping the king away.

Hadden looked at Catrin. She was fuzzy due to the dust she’d blown right at him. He coughed a little and then—

—he doubled over as though struck in the mid-section.

“Casimir!” Cried Thea. “Help him!” She yelled.

All of it—all of it came back. What was first in his mind was his love for Thea. The overwhelming love he had felt—how had it not been there before?

He held his stomach, gasping as he caught his breath. With Thea’s arm about him he stood. “What did you take from me?”

“She took nothing. Melasine took your best memory. It is back.” Grizelle answered him.

What would his best memory be? It came before he even finished asking himself the question. It was when Thea and he had admitted their love for one another. Now, as then, he was overwhelmed with the strength of his feelings for her.