The Rose Throne (29 page)

“To the hunt!” said King Haikor at last. He set out quickly, so the others had to nudge their horses into a gallop to follow him. His mount was larger than any of the others, almost a draft horse, and it could not keep up this speed for long, but for a little while it made Haikor look, if not young, then at least like a much younger version of himself.

Ailsbet watched as Edik, with Kellin close at his side, chased after the king, with the other men not far behind. The women, while allowed on the hunt, knew they were not to get too close to the men, for fear of interfering with the taweyr. Ailsbet took care to stay with them, though at the very front of the women. Issa was close on her heels, though the other women remained far back, talking animatedly with one another as they would have at court.

Kellin looked back several times to see Ailsbet, and he nodded with approval. But she could feel the taweyr in the air. It had never been like this, not even when she was in the south country and had first
realized she had the taweyr. Then, it had felt rich and thick, and easy to take hold of. Now it felt as if it were pressing on her, like heavy air being forced into her lungs. She had to concentrate on her breathing to keep from using it. It was not only King Haikor’s taweyr, but the taweyr of all the men around him, and it was different out-of-doors than inside the court. The taweyr was freer here. It wanted to be free, and she had to stifle it.

Ailsbet normally thought of herself as a good rider, but she found herself struggling to relax on the horse, trying to force the animal to her own pace. It would not listen to her, and the more she fought with it, the farther back she fell from the other women.

The royal forest was just on the west side of the palace gates, away from the river, near the hills where the battle with Aristonne had been fought. The trees were old oaks that had been growing for many generations, tall and thickly leaved so that there was little light allowed beneath them. The forest floor was dark, nearly black, and the heat was oppressive, made more so by the moisture trapped in the air.

Ailsbet relaxed for a moment and found herself alongside Issa.

“It is so strange here,” said Issa, her face troubled.
“So little neweyr in a place where I would have expected so much.”

“My father thinks of the woods as his own,” said Ailsbet. “Is it difficult for you?”

“I am used to so much taweyr by now,” said Issa. “But I am disappointed that it is this way even here.”

“Perhaps it will be good for Edik,” Ailsbet suggested.

Issa sighed. “Have you spoken to Edik about his taweyr?”

“He says he feels it returning to him. That might mean he is coming into his own taweyr at last. But then again, he is sure that he has had it all along, and that it has been stolen from him. He thinks he has only to wrest it back.”

“You see no similarities between him and yourself?” asked Issa.

“In the taweyr?” Ailsbet shook her head. “I know so little. He should speak to Kellin about it.” Since she would be gone. “Perhaps you could ask Kellin to bring it up with him.”

“Kellin and I do not speak anymore. It does not seem wise,” said Issa.

“I do not think that is the right course for you. On the contrary, you should speak to Kellin as often as you can, and in full view of others,” said Ailsbet. She
did not know if she and Issa were friends, but she felt she owed her some last, parting gift of advice.

“But when we speak—” Issa reddened. “We always do more than speak.”

“You must practice not falling into temptation,” said Ailsbet. Just as she must do, herself, with her taweyr.

“It is easy for you to say,” said Issa.

Easy for Ailsbet to say? No, it wasn’t. Just because she was not in love, that did not mean that she did not have feelings.

After this conversation, Ailsbet rode out ahead, spurring her horse past Issa and the other women, until she was nearly closing in on the men. The smell of the forest was intoxicating, and the sight of the animals darting out all around her only made her want to follow them. She let go.

She realized that this was where she felt truly herself. She loved the feeling, hot and heady and open. It made her feel as broad as the whole forest, and not crammed into a tiny space in a castle.

There was music all around her, natural music. She could hear it in the wind that whipped around her face, rushing through her hair. She could hear it in the cawing of birds overhead, in the thumping of her own heart, in the cadence of the horse’s
hooves, in the dance of her father’s hounds just ahead of her.

She could hear everything as she never had before. She heard the horn calling out ahead of her, signaling to the hounds that a stag had been sighted.

But Ailsbet already knew he was there. She could see the weight of him, the color of his golden hide, the tines on his antlers so heavy that it did not seem he could stand upright. She smelled the blood in his veins, and felt the thirst in his dry throat as he passed by the river crossing, not daring to stop. He was afraid, but he was also full of excitement. His senses were keener than ever before, and he loved the feel of his hooves against the dirt of the forest floor, challenging him every second to go faster.

Ailsbet felt his urgency, his heat, and his speed. She pushed her face into her horse’s neck and dug in her heels. She smelled the forest and the taweyr and the freedom and the wholeness that was here.

There was a voice calling behind her, but Ailsbet ignored it. She could not ignore the rush of blood in the men ahead of her, like the stag himself. That was where she belonged, with them.

She could hear her father shouting at Prince Edik to hurry, to go ahead, to ride close behind the hounds. She could see and hear and smell and feel and taste
so many things at once. Death was all around her, though its presence made life seem more real.

Every male creature in the forest stood out for her like a beacon in the darkness. Ailsbet could see them turn and stare at her as she passed. They were blood and death, war and violence, mastery and victory, bloodthirst and terror.

Then came the moment when Ailsbet had broken free of the trees and the women were so far behind her she did not think of them. She looked up and there was the great golden stag in all his glory before her, with a true crown on his head. No need for jewels here, the twisting tines of the rack were a beautiful, unconscious pattern that nothing man-made could match. Ailsbet wanted that crown for herself.

The men had turned one way, but the stag had doubled back. She was only yards away from him, closer than anyone else.

She did not see Edik or King Haikor anywhere.

But Kellin was there, staring at her with a look of utter shock on his face. He covered it, and then tried to chase after her, but this only spurred her on faster. She would not allow him to beat her to the stag. She had to kill him and claim her victory.

The stag stared at her as if he understood her thoughts, and then he fled.

Ailsbet followed close behind, keeping her head low so the wind passed over her easily.

She could feel the stag losing strength. He was hot and lathered, and his heart was beating wildly. In a moment, he would fall, or he would have to slow, and she would be there to offer him death with taweyr.

Ailsbet could feel the hounds closing, nipping at her horse’s hooves.

Then she turned a corner, and the hounds went the wrong way. She let out a cry of happiness that was cut short when the stag stumbled and fell, and her horse leaped over him. The stag regained his feet as she quickly pulled back on her reins, and then she was looking into the eyes of the wild great creature.

She slid off her horse. Now the stag was conquered, and he was begging her for death. That was the way of the natural world. She had no weapon to kill him with, but she did not need one. She pressed her hand to his chest and she twisted his heart inside.

His eyes rolled up in his head and he fell forward toward her, his great body knocking her over, trapping her legs.

The king’s hounds came up around her, barking.

Suddenly, Ailsbet felt ill, as if someone had
slammed a bar of iron into her stomach and chest. Her breath caught in her throat, and she did not know if she would breathe again.

“Princess Ailsbet!” called out a familiar voice. Issa.

She wanted something urgently, but Ailsbet could not think what.

She could not move.

The men on horses drew up behind her, but like the hounds, they did not come too close.

“No!” bellowed King Haikor. “It’s not possible. Not my daughter!”

And then Ailsbet realized what she had done. Kellin had warned her. He had offered to take her taweyr, but she had wanted to keep it. And so the taweyr had taken control of her. Now she had shown herself here, in front of everyone. Could there be any doubt how she had killed the wild stag?

“Ekhono,” was the shout all around her.

Issa stared at her, as Kellin came up behind her, too late to help. Ailsbet could see the sorrow on his face, mingled with guilt. And she did not care. Though she was exhausted now, drained of taweyr, she was still glad that she had done what she had. She had never known that the taweyr could feel so good.

Ailsbet could feel her father’s cold, controlled
taweyr like a ring around her, closing tighter and tighter around her neck, dragging her out from underneath the stag.

“She didn’t mean to,” said Edik, confused. “Let her be. It must be the ekhono. They gave her my taweyr.”

But King Haikor pushed his son aside and thrust Ailsbet to her knees. “Ekhono,” he spat at her. “In my own palace, there you were. You have always been there, stealing taweyr from me and from your brother. And I never guessed it. All the problems in the last years, I thought were from rebellious lords lurking at the edges of my power. I kept searching for them and executing those who demonstrated the least hint of defiance. But I never looked at you.”

Of course not. She was his daughter, and therefore insignificant. He had never imagined that she might matter.

He slid off his horse and stood above her. Spent and exhausted, Ailsbet used all her remaining strength to lift her head and stare back at him.

“You are not my child,” said King Haikor. “You never were.”

This hurt more than Ailsbet had expected. “My mother—” she began.

“Your mother cuckolded me. I do not know who your father was.”

“That is ridiculous. Everyone knows I am your daughter,” said Ailsbet.

“You are not my daughter. No daughter of mine could be ekhono. So there must have been some mistake. And now you will pay for your crimes. To the Tower with her,” he cried to his guards.

The ropes that had been brought to string up the great stag and display him were instead turned on Ailsbet. King Haikor used his own taweyr to bind her hands. And Ailsbet could not fight back. Not now that her taweyr was spent. She did not know how long it would take to come back. A day? Or more? She did not know how much she had used. There was far too much she did not know.

I
SSA WATCHED AS
P
RINCESS
A
ILSBET
was taken away, hands tied behind her back, pulled along by the invisible force of King Haikor’s taweyr. She was limp and silent, an animal carried back from the hunt to be slaughtered and drained. King Haikor had followed on his horse, looking murderous. Would Ailsbet survive the trip to the Tower?

Issa would not trust King Haikor for anything.

Prince Edik glanced back at Issa, and then at his father. Could he see Issa’s guilt on her face? She had known the truth about Ailsbet and had not told him
or even hinted at it, and so he had been surprised like this about his own sister. Issa could not bear to face him now, and he moved forward without her. The whole court went with him.

“Let me see you safely back to the palace,” said Kellin a moment later.

And so she and Kellin had a private moment, and it was the least romantic thing she could imagine.

“I asked to take some of her taweyr before the hunt, but she wouldn’t let me,” Kellin said. “She could not control it in the forest. Think what she might do with that power, if she were allowed. She could be a queen of the like that we have never seen before.”

Issa felt a pang of jealousy. Did he think Ailsbet would be a better queen than she?

“And yet she is made into a criminal, like any other ekhono.”

“I shall help her,” said Issa.

“What?”

“Somehow, I shall make sure she is free and safe. I shall make Haikor give her up.” And then she could offer her refuge in Weirland, like the other ekhono.

“That is unlikely, Issa,” said Kellin. “King Haikor cannot afford to let it seem that you can sway him on this point.”

“What is the good of being a princess?” demanded Issa. “All my life, I believed that it was so that I could use myself for the sake of others.” Kellin reached for her hands, but she drew away from him. “If I can save her, I should risk what I must.”

“Issa, Haikor has hated the ekhono all his life,” said Kellin. “And to see his own daughter show herself so publicly like that—he must destroy her.”