Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart (7 page)

The knee-breeches, waistcoat, and frock coat in dark green were not too different from what Shad would have worn in any case, but the shirt and hose were fine natural linen rather than the shimmering golden silk he would have worn as heir apparent to the throne.

The one alteration to Shad's uniform was in his headgear. Instead of the tricorn worn by lesser officers, Crown Prince Shad wore a crown upon his fair head. It was less elaborate than the Hawk Haven heirloom worn by Sapphire, but no less a declaration of his royalty.

When Sapphire reached the royal dais, Shad took her left hand and together they made homage to the monarchs. Then, gracefully trading clasped hands, they presented themselves to the assembled nobles, progressing round the circle so that they would be visible to all.

The applause that greeted this gesture was loudest, Elise thought, from the theoretical rear where the foreign diplomats and their parties were seated. It would have been unthinkable to move the rulers of Bright Bay's Great Houses from their traditional places at the front, no matter how important foreign alliances would be to the new king.

Now, in a move choreographed to present less back to the assembly, the two families broke their arc. The bride's party moved to the left of the dais and faced inward, while the groom's party moved to the right and did the same. The maneuver went well, and as the lowest ranked of the "floor" guests had been seated at this point, they would not be likely to complain about backs turned to them. It was enough honor that they were on the ground level at all.

Bride and groom remained at the center, facing each other.

It's going well
, Elise thought as King Allister of the Pledge stepped forward to join the bride and groom.

"It is my great honor and privilege as both head of my house and head of my family to officiate at this wedding," he announced. His voice carried easily through the now-hushed room, so well that the heralds posted at the back to repeat what was said held their silence.

"We are here," King Allister continued, "to begin a new family, a family of two that will, with blessing and fortune, someday be a much larger family."

The traditional words took on a new meaning in the context of this particular wedding.

True enough
, Elise thought,
for if King Allister's wish comes true, Sapphire and Shad will be heads of a very large family indeed
—
that of the new kingdom of Bright Haven
.

Looking out over the crowded room, she could tell that she was not the only one to have this thought, nor was every thinker pleased by the revelation.

"From the time of those ancestors who are but names in our personal litanies," King Allister went on, "we have celebrated the union of two individuals into one family by the filling of a pouch with small items symbolizing our hopes and dreams for the newly married couple. This pouch is then the first thing placed in their family shrine. Someday, when they, too, join the march of ancestors, their pouch will be moved into their heir's family shrine, thus granting continuity."

As King Allister finished speaking, Prince Shad cleared his throat. Like his father, he spoke loudly and clearly, his words heard throughout the hall.

"My dear Sapphire," Shad said, "I ask you to accept the pouch I have had prepared for this day."

He presented to her a small bag about the size of the palm of his broad hand, holding it high so that all of the assembly could at least glimpse it.

The wedding pouch was woven of gold thread, fringed with long strands of tiny, faceted emerald and ruby beads. Silver was never used in the making of these pouches, because of its tendency to tarnish; if family heraldry necessitated it, something white took its place. For this pouch the silver of Hawk Haven's coat of arms was represented in the strand of priceless matched pearls from which the pouch depended.

There were gasps of astonishment and awe as Shad held up the costly thing. Most wedding pouches were made of glove-soft leather and embroidered with costly treasures. This pouch was a treasure in itself.

Sapphire glowed with delight as she extended her hand as ritual demanded to join Shad's on the strap.

"I accept your gift," she said, her tones ringing and clear. Then in a softer voice she said, "Shad, it's just lovely."

Murmurs of delighted approval eddied through the Sphere Chamber as those in front repeated Sapphire's words to their neighbors.

This part of the ritual completed, Elise felt her heart beating faster. As the senior attendant, she would be one of the first to offer her gift. The parents, however, came first.

"My son and daughter," King Allister said, with those words accepting Sapphire into his family, "Queen Pearl and I offer you the hope of children, even as we have been blessed with children of our own."

Queen Pearl stepped forward when her husband spoke and dropped a small ivory carving of an infant into the open pouch.

She quickly kissed both her son and his new wife before stepping back to her place.

King Tedric spoke next and despite his best efforts, his words did need to be repeated by the heralds. King Tedric was clearly accustomed to this and paused between each phrase so that the heralds' voices seemed a natural echo.

"Daughter and son," he said, "you are entering into a great adventure. Elexa and I knew each other hardly at all when we were married. Over time, we have come to understand each other and to know that the greatest strength a marriage can have is the power to listen—not merely with the ears but with the heart as well. Learn to put yourself where the other stands, to not think of your own reply and advantage, but of what the other one is saying. Listening with ear and heart will bear you through all trials, through all manner of sorrows, and enhance all of your joys."

He concluded his speech by helping Queen Elexa walk forward, he leaning on his staff, she leaning on his arm.

Elexa placed in the pouch a tiny carved image of an ear and a heart bound together by a slim cord of twisted silk threads. Again the bride and groom accepted the parental kiss—though in this case the age difference made it seem grandparental.

My turn
, Elise thought, and stepped lightly forward.

"Cousins," she said, "my gift is the wish for health for both of you and for all of your offspring."

Elise wanted to say more, but her mouth was drying with the sudden awareness of all those gazes—not all of them friendly—centered upon her. Panic made her heartbeat rush in her ears and she thought she heard a distant howling. Then she recaptured her confidence.

"Although you will have many treasures," she continued, realizing that the pause had been long only for herself, "health is the greatest of them. Without health, the shine of gold dims, the sparkle of gems turns dull. With health, every sunrise, every fresh breeze, every glow of firelight becomes a treasure beyond counting."

She stopped then, having done her best to paraphrase similar speeches she had heard given. From the little wooden box she had carried up the aisle she removed a piece of amethyst carved in the likeness of an androgynous figure breathing in deeply—the traditional image of health.

After bestowing, the ritual kiss, Elise stepped back into her place. She discovered that she was biting the inside of her lip, for now the time had come for Firekeeper to do her part.

The wolf-woman hesitated for the barest moment. Then she stepped forward, her head held high. Watching Firekeeper move, Elise thought she seemed haughty; then she realized that what she had taken for arrogance was a listening alertness. Firekeeper was following the routine as rehearsed, but clearly her whole mind was not on the task at hand.

Firekeeper halted in front of the bride and groom. Her voice when she spoke was loud enough to carry, but strangely rusty-sounding. Elise realized that she had rarely—if ever—heard Firekeeper raise her voice, unless she was calling to Blind Seer—and then she was more likely to howl.

"Sapphire and Shad," Firekeeper said, omitting titles but speaking with an affectionate warmth that removed any trace of disrespect from the address, "I am to offer you the wish for wealth and I do that because I am supposed to, not because I think you will need it."

There was a soft chuckle at this, doubtless because of the abundance of gems and precious metals in evidence among the royal party.

Oh, soft-pawed Lynx
, Elise thought in despair,
she's forgotten her part
.

"I offer you," Firekeeper continued seriously, "another wealth—one you have shown already, so I don't give it to you, I wish you to keep it. This wealth is the wealth of courage. Be strong and brave and faithful as you were in war, even now when there is peace. That is what I wish for you."

She placed a shining gold coin in the bag—the traditional fallback money with which every family gifted the newlyweds. After this she added something that only the bride and groom saw.

The wolf-woman smiled and solemnly kissed the astonished twosome, then padded back to her place. Through all of this, even her carefully worded speech, she never lost that bow-strung alertness.

Elise wondered if anyone else recognized Firekeeper's attitude for what it was. Glancing about, she saw Sir Dirkin Eastbranch looking from side to side, frowning.

After this, the ceremony proceeded without any interruptions to the ritual course. Prince Tavis stepped forward next and offered the couple the gift of wisdom. Giggles vanished into wide-eyed solemnity, the twins offered their eldest brother and his new wife the gift of happiness. Then it was time for the bride and groom to offer each other their secret wishes—each for the other.

Sapphire began, her strong fingers curled around the token in her hand so that none might glimpse it and so denature the power of the wish.

"Shad, I offer you my secret wish for our union." Sapphire's words were ritual, but the ringing note in her voice made them unique to this marriage. "I give it to you because from this day forth whatever I do, I do as part of something new—a new creation called 'us.' "

She slipped her trinket into the bag. Clearing his throat, Shad spoke in turn. Although the words were the same and his delivery less polished, he too spoke with sincerity.

Stealing a glance about the hall as Shad slipped his secret into the marriage pouch, Elise noted that many of the watchers were wiping away tears. The hostile looks had softened, too, blunted perhaps by the intensity of the two young people in front of them.

Incongruously, Elise thought she heard a distant, mournful wolf's howl. Again, she was in a position to note the expressions on other faces and realized that the sound wasn't merely her imagination. Surprise, annoyance, curiosity danced across face after face. The one face Elise couldn't see was Firekeeper's, for the wolf-woman still stood at her shoulder but through that slight contact she felt the other tense.

The ceremony was moving into its final phase and no one was about to interrupt it to deal with a disconsolate wolf. Indeed, many of the guests probably thought the cry was that of some hunting dog out in one of the courtyards and had already dismissed the noise as a minor annoyance.

Sapphire certainly recognized that lupine voice, but she did not permit anything to distract her from this important moment. As Shad had produced the pouch at the beginning of the ceremony, she drew something from her little basket.

"Now," she said, the single word a triumphant clarion, "dear Shad, we have received the good wishes of family and friends. With this needle and thread let me close the pouch so that' these good wishes may sustain us through a long and fruitful marriage."

Shad drew the two edges close together, holding them for Sapphire's ease. As he did so he recited,

"What we here have drawn together let no person, no force, no cause in all the world pull apart. Together we are sewn. Together we shall remain."

On the final words, Sapphire ended her stitching and tied off the thread. As it snapped, the assembled guests broke their long silence by chanting as with one voice slightly furred about the edges:

"As these two so wish it, let it be so."

Bride and groom embraced and Elise felt tears blur her eyes.

Caught in the joyful moment, she thought the shouting that filled the hall was that of spontaneous applause. Only when she heard someone scream, heard the crash of metal upon wood, and saw Firekeeper leaping toward the bride and groom did she realize that something had gone terribly wrong.

F
rom his seat in the front row of a first-tier balcony, Derian Carter saw the assassins attack. Unfortunately, he was unable to do anything to prevent them. All he could do was lean forward and add his voice to the hundreds raised in spontaneous cries of warning.

"Look out!" he heard himself yell, and even as the words were ripping their way from his throat he thought how foolish they were.

Jared Surcliffe was on his feet trying to leave the balcony, his efforts slowed by those guests who were crowding forward for a better view.

"Let me through!" he commanded, pushing his way through. "I'm a doctor."

Such was Sir Jared's authority that the panicked mob did part—at least sufficiently to let him squeeze by.

Derian kept to his seat, knowing that by the time he reached the floor whatever was transpiring would be over. Instead, he set himself to witness every motion, for perhaps that testimony would prove of some later use.

Even as Sapphire had broken the thread with which she had stitched closed the wedding pouch and the assembled guests had spoken their joint blessing, four pairs of men had suddenly risen from their places among the rows of foreign guests.

No one commented or made move to stop them as they crossed the few steps that took them to the front. They were foreigners and couldn't be expected to know the details of the ritual. Indeed, the fact that they were garbed and equipped in a similar fashion suggested that they were special attendants, moving to escort their honored masters to congratulate the bride and groom.