The Conqueror (5 page)

With a wave of her wrist,
she had the prisoner taken away. With a look at Taez, he had been
admonished, chastened, and promised some sort of great reward, all
in one and the same moment. If she was pleased, that was—and as for
all of
that
sort of
thing, they would not know before the morrow.

Eleanora, two husbands and a half a
dozen lovers later, was said to be notoriously fickle, and yet Taez
was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one who had discerned the fine
hand of policy in there somewhere. People would and did talk, after
all. There was pressure to marry, produce heirs, her life was
complicated enough as Taez was discovering.

With his own face and neck burning from
the unaccustomed risk and its companion, cold, naked fear, Taez
settled back into his own place and prayed that she would not look
this way again.

And yet if she did, he had better be
able to meet those eyes with the proper grace and poise.

Chapter Three

With foreign dignitaries in attendance,
Eleanora had little choice but to be gracious and attentive at
dinner. To eat too often in one’s private quarters invited
speculation as to your health and your lack of love for your
subjects. It did not pay to be seen as cold and indifferent, or
even just unfriendly. To be a sovereign and a private citizen was a
contradiction in terms. Surrounded by courtiers and her ladies, it
could be amusing enough at times, and a dead bore at others. A
person had to eat after all, but heavy was the head that wore the
crown.

Surrounded by her ladies, and with all
of the tables cleared, after a time she signaled that the serious
entertainment could begin, and the hogsheads were rolled in to
general acclaim. Pleading fatigue, she took her leave of the
ambassadors, legates and attentive nobles.

One last look was enough to convince
her.

Dancers skipped in, launched themselves
into the air, and tumbled in time to the music coming from a corner
where the royal band was ensconced. The guests would quickly forget
they were in her house, which was a fine thing.

It was the essence of
hospitality.

Eleanora took a moment to herself as
she always did at this time, and paid a short visit to her private
chapel, with only the Priest Dervent and her cousin Theodelinda in
attendance. After a short prayer to Neptune, Father of the Seas and
patron of her kingdom, she retired to her private toilet chamber,
where she made her private ablutions. Getting out of the stiff and
formal robes of state into something a little more comfortable was
blessed relief. The simple garment laid out for her varied only
slightly from the everyday wear of her maidens and other noble
women.

As Queen, one made use of finger-bowl
and face towel as appropriate, but cleanliness was next to
Godliness some said. If nothing else it was a private act and a
private moment where none could make demands upon her limited
time.

It was a habit and one she found some
small comfort in. It was a very human thing. It was humbling. A
sovereign needed reminding that all men were flesh and blood and
had much more in common besides that.

Taez and the barbarian prince preyed on
her mind. His analysis of policy was good, but she had never
thought of him in terms of ministerial status. He ran his
department well enough and hadn’t exhibited any real signs of great
ambition previously. To read too much into it might be
unwise.

He saw a chance to please me, and he
took it. Surely he was aware of the risks and had confidence in his
sovereign. Either that, or Taez takes me for an awful fool. There
was a third possibility, that Taez was a fool. There was always
that.

What the people thought of their king
or queen was vital. Public opinion could be a real
killer.

A glance in the mirror revealed that
Eleanora was alone. This didn’t happen often enough in her peculiar
little world. Everyone was always so eager to please, and hanging
on her every word, constantly flattering her, and earnestly trying
to analyze every little nuance of her language and her posture. Any
little shift in her expression was enough to send a shock wave
through an assembly.

Gods, how she was so terribly tired of
it all. The one thing she could never do was to escape.

Such thoughts merely endangered her and
all of her people.

She lifted the bolt and stepped into
the short, arched hallway that led to her outer
bedchamber.

If it was suspiciously quiet in there,
in spite of two dozen or more young and high-spirited maidens and
all of their natural buoyancy, at first she just plain missed
it.

Her head was just so far away these
days.

***

The first thing that caught her
attention was Theodelinda, up on tiptoes on the other side of a sea
of heads, waving madly, and then Eleanora remembered.

The chattering bodies parted and she
was confronted by the towering barbarian, facing away from her and
restrained by his handlers. It went very quiet, with stifled coughs
and giggles.

The handlers bowed their heads, bending
their knees slightly.

“
Oh, yes. Lowren, the King
of the Lemni.”

Shining eyes and glowing faces
surrounded them as Eleanora stepped coolly inwards and came around
for a closer look.

He seemed so calm. She could not help
but look into those eyes, where she saw the most extraordinary
thing.

Humor beckoned in there, and something
else too—mischief.

He smiled at Eleanora, which came as
something of a shock to the system.

“
Good evening, Majesty. I
bring you greetings from the people of Lemnia.”

Bobbing their heads in feasance as best
they could, the two handlers quickly removed his collar and chains.
Eleanora’s jaw dropped and more than one of the girls shrieked in
either mock or real surprise. The handlers stepped back and went
and stood by the front wall.

“
What—”

A loud knock came at the
door.

Lowren rubbed his wrists where the
shackles had been removed and looked around at the main door to the
regal apartments.

The door opened. A man stuck his head
in.

Eleanora stood, stunned beyond belief
to see a stranger enter her chambers unbidden. He locked gaze with
Lowren.

“
All secure, Sire.” He
glanced rather longingly at the ladies and then quietly closed the
door again.

He left a rather confusing tableaux
behind, as all the ladies began talking at once and Lowren and
Eleanora took their first real good look at each other.

“
Silence!” Eleanora didn’t
know whether to laugh, or to cry, or to simply let loose with all
the furies of hell—upon this hairy, half-naked man who stood in a
ladies bed-chamber with the most insouciant air.

Lowren struck a pose, engaged the
tittering ladies with a friendly grin and then, as if the evening
hadn’t been quite upsetting enough already, he took a long breath
and began to speak in a sonorous tone.

“
Be still, the beating
wings of my heart, dry up, the windows of my soul, do not weep for
that which could never be…”

The first claps were
awkward, lonely things, but the swell of applause grew and grew and
even Queen Eleanora had to accept that the man was
here,
after
all.

***

“
Lowren.”

He stopped his recital.

“
Yes, Majesty?”

She stood there very straight and grim.
She clapped her hands.

“
Ladies.”

They shuffled and giggled and stood up
straight. They tittered and covered their mouths and waited upon
their sovereign’s instruction.

His mouth opened. He winked, looking
around in sly understanding.

“
Ah.”

She blushed. He grinned in pure
enjoyment.

“
Ladies. You will please
retire. And no eavesdropping.” This was always a hazard.

All the women of noble birth were
confined to this end of the house during the hours of darkness for
many reasons, some of them not so obvious.

She could always lock them in
indefinitely. It had been done before, although not by her...not
yet.

There was a second exit at the far end
in case of fire, but the look on Lowren’s face told her that this
too would be guarded.

“
Perhaps Theodelinda would
care to stay and be of counsel.” Those dark eyes glittered at
them.

There were squeaks and giggles as the
group made their exit into the inner reaches of what could only be
described as the harem. It was a harem of virgins, presumably.
Bright, round eyes took one last look back, an appreciative look,
even a speculative look in one-too-many cases. The last girl went
out the door.

Her cousin was right there. Quiet
reigned at last.

Her face was grim.

“
Lowren. What is the
meaning of this intrusion?”

“
I needed to speak to you,
Eleanora. And yet, so far, you have rejected or refused to
recognize my embassies. There are matters of grave import which
require attention, both yours and mine.”

“
This is a most
extraordinary act. Even for a barbarian. Explain
yourself.”

“
If I had sent a rider,
with messages of state, and if he did not arrive, or if you should
send him back…and if the message should fall into the wrong hands,
it would be tragedy for all concerned. These are serious matters. I
must speak frankly with my neighbors. With all due respect,
Majesty, that includes you.”

“
And what message would
that be?” Theodelinda glanced at Eleanora, unsure of the reaction
but reassured by her short nod.

“
That the Hordes are
arming. And they have taken Sinopus, on the Great Blue Sea. And
there are a half a million men under arms…probably more, actually.
The Great Khan does nothing without reason, Majesty.”

She took a sharp breath.

She’d heard the news of course, and
troubling it was.

“
And so naturally, you
thought of us first.”

“
Something like that,
yes.”

The King looked down at his
attire.

“
I hope you will be
inclined to listen, for I mean you no harm. My own presence is
evidence of my sincerity, for surely we cannot stay long without
being discovered and overwhelmed.”

He wasn’t about to tell her that she
had been taken by a bare dozen men, all of them
volunteers.

She stared, half-believing it. As far
as barbarian rulers went, he was better than most. His word was
said to be good, and the Lemni were some of the finest light
cavalry known outside of the boundaries of proper military
discipline and organization. But they were good nevertheless. They
were also known to raid far up and down the coast in their
long-ships when the cause suited them. They accepted gifts from
many other states, which were usually seen as tribute by the
recipients. Lowren’s kingdom was at least stable and had been so
for a couple of generations.

There weren’t very many of them, of
course. In that sense, they didn’t carry much weight when
considering alliances.

“
Go on.”

“
With your permission,
Majesty, I would like to call in one of my men.”

“
Go ahead—I clearly can’t
stop you.”
But if I live, I shall surely
avenge myself.

Her tone conveyed the menace well
enough.

“
Thank you.” He raised his
voice towards the door of the chamber. “Kann.”

The door came crashing open and the man
in question came in with a calm visage and confident air. There was
someone else out there she noted, as the door was pulled closed
from outside.

“
So far we are
undiscovered, sire.”

“
Thank you. The map,
Kann.”

His Serjeant at Arms drew it out from a
long leather pouch and unrolled it.

He spread it out on a table normally
used for sewing, embroidering tapestries, and the odd light
refreshment when the nights were long and cold and the ladies were
all in attendance.

“
Please.”

Eleanora, with Theodelinda, moved in
closer.

It was a map showing the northern half
of the Great Sea and its littoral.

“
Kann.”

The Serjeant nodded and went to secure
the door to the area where the ladies-in-waiting were quartered in
the dormitory-like upper floor on this wing of the
castle.

He came back in a moment.

“
It’s locked, and it seems
fairly quiet over there.”

Lowren nodded.

“
All right. Let us begin,
then.”