Ascendant (18 page)

Koren was
expecting lunch with the crown princess to be stiff and formal, with a
different fork to be used for each course. Instead, he found Ariana sitting in
a sunlit room which overlooked the courtyard garden, attended by only a maid.
When she saw Koren, she ran to him and hugged him, in a most undignified
manner, while Charl Fusting looked away in everlasting horror. The chief of
protocol backed away with a bow and scurried out the door, muttering to
himself, his face white. When the door closed behind him, Ariana and Koren
burst into laughter.
“
Most
irregular, most irregular.
”
Koren imitated the fussy Fusting..

“
Oh, never mind him.
”
Ariana laughed.
“
My mother says he
’
s in charge of all the
things that aren
’
t
important around the palace.
”
She pointed to the table, covered by plates piled high with food.
“
Are you hungry? Let
’
s eat first. I want to
show you around the palace.
”

The palace was
even bigger than Koren imagined, one room after another, until Koren was
completely lost.
“
Does
the palace ever end? Kyre told me it was big, but-
“

“
Kyre Falco?
”
Ariana looked unhappy.
“
Koren, you need to be
careful about Kyre. The Falco
’
s
and the Trehaymes are not friends. You know the history of our families?
”

Koren shook
his head.
“
No.
”
Apparently, he didn't
know much of anything.

“
The Falco
’
s used to be rulers of Tarador,
until seven hundred years ago.
”

Koren was
completely surprised.
“
What
happened?
”

“
The Falco
’
s were the strongest of
the seven Ducal families who broke away from Acedor, and Dagon Falco was chosen
to be the first king of Tarador. At first, the Falco
’
s were good rulers, I
guess,
”
Ariana
shrugged to show she wasn
’
t
convinced,
“
but
then they became lazy, and cared only about gold and jewels and building bigger
palaces-
“
Ariana self-consciously touched her diamond necklace.
“
The Falco
’
s built this big palace,
we, we Trehaymes just live here. Anyway, Luis Falco was king seven hundred
years ago, and he was terrible. Fat and lazy, and he didn
’
t take care of the army.
Acedor attacked, and they got all the way here, they surrounded the castle and
destroyed the city. Luis Falco locked himself in the palace and hid under his
bed. Well, maybe not really, but he didn
’
t
do anything useful. Some of the Dukes of Tarador fled, they thought the battle
was lost. But Duke Aldus Trehayme, my ancestor, rallied what was left of the
army, and they fell upon the enemy at night, during a terrible rain storm. The
enemy was surprised and defeated. When he got to the palace, Duke Trehayme
found that Luis Falco had been killed by an assassin. And King Falco had no
heir. Luis' brother claimed the throne, and in the confusion, several army
commanders declared their support for him. Then it was discovered, of course,
that the Cornerstone had been stolen during the battle. That ended any support
for the Falco
’
s.
They had lost the Cornerstone! The Dukes then chose Aldus Trehayme to be their
king. And Trehaymes have been the royal family ever since. And ever since, the Falco
’
s have been scheming to
reclaim the throne. That includes Kyre. Be careful around Kyre, I don
’
t trust him.
”

Koren
considered both that Kyre had been nice to him, and that Ariana had been nice
and was the crown princess.
“
He
’
s just a friend. And I
’
m just a servant. I couldn
’
t help him even if I
wanted to. And I don
’
t.
”
He hastened to add.
“
Um, Ariana, what is the
Cornerstone?
”

Ariana put her
hands to her mouth and gasped.
“
You
don
’
t know
about the Lost Cornerstone of Acedor?
”

“
No. Stories about ancient
history aren
’
t
something that put food in your belly on a farm in Crickdon.
”
Koren said defensively.

“
But everyone knows the
legend of the Lost Cornerstone! It
’
s,
wait, the chamber is right down this hallway. I
’
ll show you.
”
Ariana reached to grab hold of Koren
’
s hand, and she received a
warm tingling feeling. A good feeling. Behind them, Nurellka discretely looked
the other way. Ariana tugging a boy by the hand was not proper behavior for a
princess!

The crown princess
led the way down a corridor that was part of the original fortress; the walls
were plain stone, the floor not covered in fancy rugs. They passed through
several doorways, and at the end of the hallway came to a pair of heavy wooden
doors.
“
There
used to be guards here all the time, but my grandfather put an end to that.
What
’
s the
sense in guarding something that has already been lost? The door is only locked
at night. People don't come in here like they used to.
”
She tugged on one of the
large metal door handles.
“
Help
me, Koren, it
’
s
heavy, and the hinges need to be oiled.
”

With the two
of them pulling, the door swung ponderously open. Inside, Koren was surprised
to see a large, empty stone chamber, with a high vaulted ceiling. In the
ceiling were windows, which allowed sunlight to shine down upon a low, flat
slab of stone that filled the center of the room. Their footsteps echoed in the
emptiness.
“
I
don
’
t get it.
There
’
s
nothing here.
”
The floor was covered with a layer of dust, and cobwebs shown in the sunlight
from the windows.

“
Of course not, silly. This
is where the Cornerstone used to be, before it was lost.
”
Ariana hopped up onto the
stone slab.
“
It
was right here, before it was stolen. See, you can still tell where the
Cornerstone rested.
”

Koren saw
there were marks on the slab. He paced the corners.
“
Wow. It was huge.
”

“
It would barely fit
through those doors. See the scratches on the floor, leading toward the doors?
That
’
s where
the enemy dragged the Cornerstone across the floor.
”

Koren looked
around the chamber. There were no other doors. And the windows, far above, were
too small.
“
But
the other doors down the hallway are single doors, too narrow. How did the
enemy get it out of the castle?
”

Ariana raised
her hands.
“
That
’
s the mystery. No one
knows. It couldn
’
t
have fit through the doors in the hallway, but it isn
’
t here, so it must have
been taken away. Most people think it is still here, in the castle somewhere.
It
’
s far too
heavy to move without an army. This whole chamber was built around it, after
the Cornerstone was brought here.
”

“
What
’
s so important about this
cornerstone, anyway?
”

“
It
’
s the original
cornerstone, the first stone laid down when the castle was built for the first
king of Acedor, when our people came across the sea. When the Dark One seized
power in Acedor, much of the castle was knocked down, and during the battle,
our army took the cornerstone and hauled it away to Tarador on a great wagon,
pulled by dozen oxen. Legend says Acedor will not be restored to our people,
until the Cornerstone is returned. So the enemy stole it, and hid it somewhere.
My mother says without the Cornerstone, any talk of defeating Acedor is
foolishness, and that is why she doesn
’
t
like it when Paedris tells her she has to send the army out to fight.
”
All these heavy adult
decision were going to be hers, in only a few years.

Koren got down
on his knees and studied the scrape marks that were cut into the stone floor.
Something wasn
’
t
right. He rose and stepped onto the pedestal where the Cornerstone used to
rest. His skin tingled, and he stepped back.
“
Why do people think it
’
s still here in the
castle?
”

“
Because, um,
”
Ariana bit her lips,
trying to recall her history lessons.
“
I
think the enemy was only in the castle for a few hours before Aldus Trehayme
attacked. There wasn
’
t
enough time for the Cornerstone to have been hauled away.
”
The crown princess held
her hands out and shrugged.
“
Nobody
knows. I have an idea,
”
she said, with a mischievous grin,
“
we
could look for it.
”

“
Us? You and me?
”

"Sure, why
not?
”

Koren looked
around the empty chamber.
“
Where
would we start?
”

“
Um,
”
Ariana had no idea.
“
I don't know. Wait! We can
search the scrolls in the royal library first. Mother is always saying I should
read more.
”

Late that
afternoon, Carlana found her daughter in her private chamber, kneeling on a
chair, elbows resting on a table, a table which was covered with scrolls. More
scrolls were carefully stacked in baskets on the floor. Putting a finger to her
lips to stop Ariana
’
s
maid from announcing her arrival, Carlana tip-toed along the wall to stand
behind the heavy drapes.

“
Look, see, this one is
about Aldus Trehayme. Oh, it
’
s
just about his family line. Hmmph. What do you have?
”

Carlana heard
Koren
’
s voice,
speaking slowly, because his reading skills were not quite ready for
deciphering ancient scrolls.
“
It
says, it says, um, something about King Aldus sent a del, uh, a del-
“

“
Spell it out,
”
Ariana suggested gently.

“
D-e-l-e-g-
”

“
Delegation. That means an
official party, acting in the king
’
s
name. Go on.
”

“
He sent a d-delegation to
Ching-Do.
”

“
That
’
s an empire far to the
east, a very powerful empire.
”

“
The delegation was to seek
wizards, to help defeat Acedor.
”

“
Mother told me all our
wizards were killed in that war, so there were none left to defend the kingdom.
”

“
Then where did Paedris
come from?
”
Koren asked, confused, and a little flustered, because Ariana was leaning
close, and the warm scent of her perfumed hair was making him dizzy.

“
Oh, he
’
s from Stade, that's a
land far away to the south, across the sea. All of the wizards from Tarador
were killed. So, we brought wizards here from foreign lands. Besides, that war
was a long time ago. Go on.
”
Ariana encouraged.