22.3

It was not often people dropped by Castle Blackpool unannounced. It was rarer still that such guests were greeted warmly.

In the castle's great hall, Cai stared at the newly arrived visitor as though he were looking at a ghost. Finally, his face broke into a delighted grin.

Kendall Kraxton tossed his cloak confidently at a passing servant. He unbuckled his sword belt then hung it on the back of a chair before taking a seat. Hung thus, his sword stayed within easy reach.

Cai noted that the man still displayed weapons habits of a northern officer accustomed to a battlefield. The behavior was a bit out of place in the present, jovial atmosphere of Castle Blackpool.

Kendall said, "Had I known that Dirk had seized power as Regent a year ago, I would have been here months ago. I waited too long to escape that hellhole of a land!"

"Your return is timely nonetheless. The king will no doubt be pleased."

In the days when Saris ran the war, Kendall had set a record killing southern soldiers. He had always been at the front lines with Dirk back then. The knight once had a reputation as one of the most brutal of the prince's vassals. He was dedicated, loyal and merciless.

Kendall's service to the prince had come to a halt one fateful summer, five years ago. After a victorious battle, Dirk had sent him off to lead a squadron to "consolidate the new holdings." The "consolidation" had been nothing short of razing every village, hovel and shack for miles. Following the prince's orders, Kendall spared no one. Men, women and children were all murdered, and hoisted on pikes. It had been the single most brutal war crime of the age, shocking the conscience of almost every military leader.

Even Saris Blackpool had been outraged. He was a ruthless warrior, but decency prohibited such actions against civilians. The king wanted the peasants alive to rule over some day; acquiring the territory was no good to him if there was no one left to farm it.

Every royal house in Aperans had demanded that the man responsible be turned over to the South for punishment. Dirk had argued vehemently that Saris should laugh at the request. The prince insisted that the reaction proved Camerand was full of weak-hearted kings with no stomach for war. Saris would hear none of it. Kendall had embarrassed him. But he nevertheless refused to turn the knight over to the South. Northern justice was swifter and surer.

Kendall had never revealed to Saris that he had acted on the prince's order. His loyalty to Dirk had been unequivocal; he would never have brought his lord into disrepute. He also knew his silence was the price of his life - had Dirk doubted his loyalty even for a second, Kendall would have been dead.

In the end, Saris had reluctantly spared Kendall. To the king's obvious frustration, the Karteian troops regarded the knight as both a patriot and a hero. Back then, Saris was still embroiled in quashing the last remnants of the Blue Thorn rebellion. He could ill afford alienating his soldiers' loyalty. The clever crown prince thus had no trouble convincing his father that it would be too dangerous to execute Kendall. At Dirk's urging, instead of beheading the knight, Saris merely banished him.

Many had viewed the banishment as tantamount to a death sentence. No kingdom in Aperans would shelter the man. Lawmakers in every town and village in Camerand had orders to arrest him. Rumors spread through the realm that a rich farmer in Rhysland had offered a thousand kolna reward for the dark knight's head.

Kendall had slipped out of Aperans aboard a ship in the dead of night. No one had heard from him since that time.

Cai's brown eyes sized up the road-weary man now. There had been a day long ago when they had been rivals for the prince's favor. He ribbed, "You look terrible. But then, you always look that way, as I recall."

"I couldn't give a rat's ass. Unlike you, I don't spend all my free time pursuing every wench with a pretty face."

"I never had to pursue anyone for anything!" the good-looking seneschal remarked cockily. "They always came to me."

"Only the ones Blackpool didn't want. Or was finished with." Kendall smirked, "Now instead of fighting on the front like any proper knight, I suppose you content yourself to oversee the damned chambermaids."

"Not just the chambermaids," Cai boasted, gesturing with his head to an exceptionally well-endowed, comely kitchen servant who had just brought in a tray of food. "You'll be amazed how pleasant all of the castle's servants are to the eye now that I select them."

The girl heaped warm food upon the hungry visitor's pewter plate. He arched an eyebrow as she leaned over to fill his goblet with hot wine, suppressing a smile. After so many years away from Karteia, he found the girl's classic, northern peasant stock pleasing.

Cai's gaze fell upon the girl. He had long since ceased to be particularly enthralled with the charms of the castle's domestic servants. In fact, nearly every woman in the castle seemed utterly unremarkable lately. He missed Portia terribly. He noticed Kendall eyeing the servant and offered, "Remind me later, and I'll send someone to your room knead the knots out of your back from the ride."

"That, and a hot bath sounds divine." The knight flashed a crooked smile. It would be good to have someone keep his bed warm. There were privileges accorded to status in the northern military that he had almost forgotten about.

After he devoured every morsel of food on his plate, he sighed heavily. Weariness crept up on him now that his belly was full. It was his first good meal since leaving Lemica.

"You smell like you need a bath more than a girl," Cai observed.

Kendall glared at his companion spitefully. "You would too if you'd been through what I have. I crossed from Baaldorf over the plains in a day and a half. Would have been a single day if the damned horse weren't so slow. And I was lucky to find a mount at all."

"Horse shortage in the South?"

"The southern peasants have eaten most every one of them. I expect them to start eating each other before the winter ends."

"Dirk will appreciate hearing that. When did you land ashore from Lemica?"

"About a week ago. The damned boat was attacked by pirates in magical ships just off the Camarand coast. They torched the boat with enchanted missiles. As we went down, I slit the captain's throat for a life boat." Kendall ran his fingers through his dirty, disheveled, auburn hair. He was long overdue for both a haircut and a shave. He grumbled, "If Vector had something to do with summoning those blasted pirates, I'll kill that damnable Wizard with my own hands."

"That would be a welcome service, if you can find him. The Wizard disappeared after the coronation. Blackpool's theft of his monocle strained their relationship."

A broad grin spread across Kendall's face at the news. He had never made any secret of his dislike for the Blackpool family's Wizard - or its conniving Witch. He had always loathed magic, and after several years living in sorcerer-infested Lemica, he hoped he never had to see another spell caster as long as he lived.

"You'll find much has changed here - all for the better." Cai watched the man for a moment then added, "Today you would have been decorated as a hero for what you did. Saris' sentimental way of waging war is long dead."

"Let's go tell Dirk I'm back!"

"No, not now."

"He's seen me knee deep in corpses at the Western Perimeter. I'm sure he'll forgive a little travel dust."

"He is unavailable. You have time to rest before you see him."

"I've spent five years waiting to reclaim my place here - and you tell me he's 'unavailable?'"

"Dirk is king now! He'll see you when - or if - it suits him. If you don't remember your place, you may end up receiving your 'audience' with him in the dungeon!"

The other man glared back suspiciously. Kendall expected to march in triumphantly to be greeted personally by the new king. He was not one to accept being brushed off. He demanded, "Well where is he then?"

Cai shrugged, "Frankly, he's not yet arisen."

Kendall squinted, trying to comprehend why the king would be asleep in the late afternoon, just as the winter sun was setting. He frowned, "Blackpool never sleeps in the middle of the day! He once told his men he would put them to sleep permanently if they ever slept passed dawn!"

"The queen has nocturnal habits. The two of them generally sleep until nightfall."

"The what?!" Kendall gaped open-mouthed for several seconds before regaining his composure. This was a development he had not reckoned with in his plans. "Which one of Karteia's noble families weaseled its daughter onto the throne then?"

"She isn't a daughter of any of our noble families," Cai offered tentatively.

"Dirk would never have married a commoner!"

"She isn't from Aperans."

"A foreigner is even worse than a commoner!" Kendall scowled angrily. He was a Karteian patriot. He truly believed his countrymen deserved to rule Camerand because they were superior to the weaklings who grew up in warm weather. In fact, he had barely tolerated spending five years putting up with foreigners in Lemica. Now he came home to find his sovereign had made one queen.

Amused by the other man's reaction, Cai said, "She is perfect for Dirk - and for Karteia. She's utterly magnificent. Everyone here adores her."

"Foreigners are only good for Karteia when they fill our servant quarters!"

"She is a very unusual woman. The army loves her. The aristocracy loves her. Even the peasants love her. She's more Karteian in spirit than most natives."

The visitor crossed his arms and grunted skeptically, his jaw set in disapproval. He said, "We'll see how long she lasts before Dirk gets tired of her."

Cai shook his head, flashing the man a warning look. "Your stay here will be short and fatal if you annoy the queen. If Dirk doesn't kill you, she will. And honestly, he would probably be kinder about slaying you than she would."

"Humph," Kendall snorted. Whoever she was, he hoped she would stay confined to some tower with her needlepoint or knitting. He expected that he would not have to see her more than a few times a year, once he found a place at the head of a legion in the Baaldorf invasion.

Meredith, Dirk's chambermaid, moved silently into the room then, her head bowed modestly to avert eye contact with the men seated at the table. She stopped behind Cai and curtsied politely, "Lord Seneschal."

The instant Cai glanced at her, she handed him a folded piece of parchment, sealed with wax bearing the stamp of the king's signet ring. The seneschal frowned in surprise. Dirk always used a knight or a high-ranked military officer to deliver written orders to him - he had never before trusted a simple house servant with something like this. He opened it and read its single line quickly:

"Summon Portia to my chambers at once, in strictest secrecy."