Lessons in Etiquette (Schooled in Magic series) (31 page)

He shrugged. “I was once part of a mission to Heartbreak–that’s one of the smaller islands off the coastline, ruled by a single aristocrat,” he added. “We spent two weeks there and every night we were wined and dined in greater style than here. And it ended without any agreement.”

Emily winced. The sheer cost of food and drink alone had to be staggering. And then there was the gold and silver plates, the jewelled goblets filled with expensive mead, the fancy clothes worn by the social queens…how could anyone afford even
one
ball, let alone fourteen of them? Zangaria was a rich country, but was it
that
rich?

But would it matter if the country couldn’t afford it
? She asked herself.
The king needs to put on a show
.

“So,” she said. “How
are
the negotiations going?”

Sir Xavier gave her an odd look. “The king and his Privy Council are handling them personally,” he said, as if he had expected her to know that. “Right now, they are keen to preserve as much of the country’s independence as possible, while the other kingdoms want to secure considerable influence for their prince. King Tonal actually wanted to send a few thousand soldiers to serve as the prince’s guard of honor. Completely unacceptable, of course.”

Emily nodded. No kingdom would be completely happy with
any
foreign troops on its soil, certainly not enough to make a stand against the kingdom’s army. On one hand, it
would
give the prince some teeth he could use to support his wife, but on the other hand it would fatally weaken her position. Alassa would be better advised to keep the royal army strong and loyal to her, which might be tricky. A queen couldn’t lead armies into combat, which meant that the army might develop loyalty to her commanders instead of to her personally.

“Two other princes are being offered without any strings at all,” Sir Xavier added. “That looks too good to be true, so we are left wondering if they have an ulterior motive.”

“Apart from wanting to get rid of the Prince,” Emily guessed.

“They don’t say
that
on the proposed treaties,” Sir Xavier agreed. He nodded towards Prince Jean, who sat at the head of the table. “There’s another reason for these balls, Milady. It allows the king a chance to evaluate their behavior for himself. If they can’t control themselves in a formal ball, they probably shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the seat of power.”

Emily shrugged. It made sense–but what stopped the princes from pretending to be nice until they had won the princess?

“But enough of such talk,” Sir Xavier said. “Tell me about Whitehall?”

He would have made a skilled interrogator, Emily decided, as she did her best to answer his questions. Some of them touched upon the final battle with Shadye–he wanted to know precisely what had happened, just like everyone else–while others seemed designed to learn more about Emily and her relationship with Void. Emily answered briefly, wondering just who had
really
organized her companion for the evening. Had it been Alassa, as she’d said, or King Randor? There couldn’t be many people better at drawing information out of an unwilling donor without needing interrogation spells.

But then, a skilled diplomat–or a spy–would be able to read her expression…and drawing conclusions from the questions she chose not to answer.

I should have spent more time playing poker
, she thought, ruefully. She had a feeling that she’d told him far more than she’d intended. Kingmaker–the local version of chess–didn’t require someone to keep their face blank, at least not unless one player knew that disaster was looming and the other was ignorant of the opportunity that had been dumped in their lap. Maybe she could introduce poker…no, it was impossible. She didn’t know the rules.

The meal finally came to an end, with bowls of ice cream being distributed along with the dance cards. Emily was puzzled by the large portions–ice cream had been a luxury item in medieval times–until she realized that cooling and freezing spells had probably been used to produce it, instead of icehouses. It tasted better than any she’d had back home, she decided, and managed to finish it all despite having eaten a full meal. Maybe there was another reason for the dancing, she decided finally. They needed to burn off the food they’d eaten.

Sir Xavier winked at her. “I was given to understand that you might not want to dance all of the dances,” he said. Alassa
had
to have told him that. “If you like, I can mark your card for every dance and we can withdraw.”

Emily grinned. “You don’t learn anything useful from dancing?”

“Not really,” Sir Xavier admitted. “Nothing ever gets decided on the dance floor.”

“Please,” Emily said, after a moment’s thought. It was unlikely that he had an ulterior motive, apart from wanting to escape the ball. She held out her card and watched as he neatly signed his name in each box. “I just want to go to bed.”

“Hunting tomorrow,” Sir Xavier said. He gave her a rather droll smile. “All of the princes will be trying to show off in front of a princess who happens to be an enthusiastic hunter herself. It should be fun to watch from a safe distance.”

Emily made a face. She hadn’t liked the idea of hunting, even though she’d eaten meat from animals the sergeants had caught during expeditions. Sergeant Harkin had made a remarkably tasty venison stew. But Alassa had been keen for her to come, pointing out that most of her attendants couldn’t keep up with her. The alternative was being permanently surrounded by the princes.

“Yeah,” she said, as the servants started to move the tables to one side. “I suppose it will be fun.”

S
ERGEANT HARKIN WOULD HAVE EXPLODED WITH
rage, Emily decided, if any of his students had shown such a…lazy…attitude to departing the castle. They’d been told that the hunt would begin at ten bells, after breakfast; the princes and their various retainers hadn’t been ready at eleven bells, with the sun rising ever higher in the sky. Alassa’s growing impatience had been contagious, with the effect that many of the huntsmen and the maids in waiting were growing equally annoyed. By the time the princes–seven of whom were clearly suffering from hangovers–joined them, a large part of the day had been wasted.

“Maybe we won’t bother to dress for dinner,” Alassa muttered. “Do you think Father would allow us to eat in our hunting outfits?”

“Probably not,” Emily said. Besides, it was hot–and she was already starting to sweat. They’d be dirty and smelly by the end of the day. “Why don’t we eat down there?”

“Father wants a dance every day,” Alassa explained, quietly. “I think Mother wanted to make sure she got a good look at the princes before he made his decision. She will insist on having a say.”

“Good for her,” Emily said. She looked up as the grooms brought their horses over to them, already saddled with the new stirrups. One of the grooms helped her onto the horse, which snickered unpleasantly at her. She could tell that the beast was wondering if she really knew what she was doing. “Is this horse a safe one?”

“I told them to give you the most docile horse we have,” Alassa assured her. She scrambled up into her saddle without apparent difficulty. “And compared to this one, that one is a lazy old nag.”

She smiled, then raised her voice. “Open the gates!”

The gates opened. Alassa’s horse cantered forward, passing through the gates and heading down the long road towards the forest outside the city. Emily shivered as her own horse started to follow Alassa, praying that the citizens had heard they were coming and made sure to get out of the way. The last thing she wanted to do was watch a child crushed by her horse’s hooves. She clung on tightly as the horse picked up speed, the princes cantering past her and closing in on Alassa. Behind them, the retainers and huntsmen followed at a more sedate pace.

I will learn how to teleport
, she promised herself again. Maybe she could convince Void to teach her the moment she was old enough to channel so much power. Or maybe there were potions that boosted one’s power…no, that was dangerous. Several necromancers had started out that way. But anything would be better than riding a horse. No matter how many times she rode, she doubted she would ever grow used to it.

The buildings started to fade away as they passed through the gatehouse and headed towards the forest. From what Alassa had said, it was clear that the forest had been preserved by royal authority and kept well stocked with game. Commoners were not allowed to hunt in the forest, at least not without special permission. Reading between the lines, Emily suspected that obtaining permission required a huge bribe for the royal gamekeepers. No doubt there were hundreds of poachers who risked killing deer, boar and whatever else there happened to be in the forest. They needed the meat to feed their families.

They paused just outside the forest. The huntsmen advanced forward, into the gloom, while the retainers handed out weapons. Emily was offered a long spear and then a bow, both of which she declined. Alassa winked at her and stuck out her tongue, then accepted a spear and a sharp knife that looked almost large enough to be a small sword. Emily made a face in response. She might give chase, but she wasn’t going to kill the poor animal.

“They’re all going to try to impress me,” Alassa muttered, the moment Emily was close enough to her for the princess to whisper without being overheard. “Just watch them.”

Emily rolled her eyes, causing her friend to giggle. Most of the princes were swapping stories about hunting creatures in their own kingdom, including a handful of beasts that had been touched by wild magic. Emily had some problems accepting that the story of a rabbit carrying a knife–and proving extremely difficult to defeat–was actually true, although she had heard of stranger things. Other princes bragged about the number of boar or deer they had taken in a single day, reducing the entire population to nothing if all of their claims were true. Was it actually possible, Emily wondered, to kill two boar with the same spear, at the same time?

A horn blew from the gloom. Alassa let out a hunting cry and spurred her horse forward, the dogs yapping as they raced ahead. The princes followed, cheering loudly as they trampled their way through the undergrowth; Emily sighed and grabbed tight hold of the reins as her horse gave chase. She leaned down and pressed her head into the horse’s neck, praying that she wouldn’t run smack into a branch that would knock her off the horse’s back. A fall at such speeds might result in serious injury.

The trees started to blur into a confused mass of green light as the horse moved faster. Hundreds of birds and rabbits fled from the hunters, although the hunters largely ignored them. They were after bigger game. Emily could barely see anything past the Princes, all of whom seemed to be trying to cluster together as they chased Alassa. Alassa herself was almost hidden behind them, only her long blonde hair visible as it streamed out. The maids hadn’t tied it up very well.

Emily shuddered as the horsemen started to split up, the trees growing thicker and thicker. Just for a moment, she caught sight of a brown shape ahead of them, ducking and weaving in a desperate attempt to escape before it was hidden again behind one of the pursuers. The deer was moving too fast for her to get a clear look at it, but there was no mistaking it for what it was. Emily felt a brief stab of guilt, remembering the movies she’d watched as a child, before the deer was cornered. It came to a halt and stared around, looking for an opportunity to jump past them and flee again. But between the hunters and the dogs, there was no way out.

No
, Emily thought, as Alassa dismounted. But there was nothing she could do.

The deer hissed at the princess as she advanced with a spear, pawing the ground in its helpless fury. It couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to attack Alassa, or the dogs, which were hanging back. They were well-trained, Emily decided; no one was holding them in place. She looked away as Alassa braced herself, then heard the howl from the animal as she drove the spear into its head. A moment later, the retainers were moving forward to pick up the carcass and carry it back to the castle.

Emily felt sick as she saw the blood on the ground. She knew–of course she knew–that people hunted for food. Hell, she knew that meat came from animals, rather than simply appearing out of nowhere, as some of her old acquaintances had seemed to believe. The price of roast beef or a simple hot dog was a dead animal. But knowing it and actually believing it were two different things.

But is that really what’s bothering you
? She asked herself.
Or is it that they turned the hunt into a blood sport
?

She considered it as the huntsmen headed off in search of the next deer. The sergeants had hunted deer, rabbits and fish–and she hadn’t felt disgusted, even when they’d made their students help prepare the meat for cooking. Gutting a fish was thoroughly disgusting and yet she hadn’t felt so sick…

Maybe it was because she’d
been
hunted.

“The hunt often affects people that way,” Lady Barb said. “At least on their first true hunt.”

Emily turned to see Lady Barb sitting on her own horse. She hadn’t even realized that Lady Barb was accompanying them, but it shouldn’t have been surprising. Alassa’s retainers needed someone in charge–and Alassa herself needed a chaperone. Emily wasn’t sure why they bothered when her father could simply interrogate her if there was any doubt about her conduct, but maybe they just didn’t want the question to arise.