Authors: Carol Berg

Transformation (61 page)

BOOK: Transformation

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“I will,” I said, mounting up. “If you ever have need of me ...”

“Be safe, my guardian.”

“Be wise, my prince.”

He was laughing as I rode away, through the streets of his city and into the desert.

It was on the next morning when I stopped at a small rocky outcrop to wait out the worst heat of the day that I unwrapped a rolled leather bundle to find the two well-written papers. The first was a writ sealed by the newly anointed heir. It stated that, despite physical marking that might indicate otherwise, the Ezzarian who bore the letter was a free man, not to be detained, made captive, abused, or mishandled in any way under penalty of banishment from the Empire or death. A precious writing indeed. Even an illiterate warrior could not ignore Aleksander’s seal.

But it was the second paper that caught my breath.

A Continuation of the History of the Glorious Dakrah of Aleksander, Crown Prince of the Derzhi Empire, as begun at Capharna and continued this fifth day of the Month of the Bull by the hand of Illeos of Avenkhar.
After this most holy anointing in the manner prescribed by the overlord Tyros when his son Athos came to his majority in the Courts of the Sky, the Emperor Ivan zha Denischkar did proclaim Aleksander to the people as his beloved son and heir, as their Emperor’s Voice and Hand. And after they had retired from the place of the anointing, the Emperor did ask Prince Aleksander what gift he desired to remember the day: horses or lands, gems or gold, slaves or wine, women or titles, or perhaps songs to be made of his trials and his victory over the unholy Khelid treachers.
The Prince contemplated the riches offered him, but without hesitation spoke his mind. “One thing, honored father, I would ask of you. Far to the south lies a warm, green land once known as Ezzaria. Some of your nobles have occupied it these past years, but I am looking for a suitable site to build myself a palace, a sanctuary where I can take my bride on the day my marriage is blessed by your hand. I would ask that you grant me all titles to Ezzaria, compensating those displaced with twice the lands in Khelidar or other territories that are under my rule. I will take possession of this land at the summer solstice and travel the houses there to see if any are to my liking. I desire it to be a private territory, no trade routes through it, no use of its timber or game unless I say it, and this to be written into the law of the Empire so that it will extend beyond my death for as long as the Derzhi rule.”
The Emperor expressed his astonishment with the modest request of the Prince and his pleasure at my lord’s care for those noble families displaced by his desire. With his hand and his seal the Emperor has commanded that all be done as the Prince has spoken.

At the bottom of this finely written page were a few words, drawn in crude, childlike letters.