Chapter Fifteen

 

 

Jer walked out of the palace with a grumbling Laeder following close behind. The scribe understood why he had to train. He understood why Jer wanted him to train with Aren and Wena, but what he didn’t understand was why everyone insisted on training at the crack of dawn.

“First off, to make a point,” Jer said, pulling Laeder to a stop where the guards wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation. “Second off, to keep her at a time when the other ladies won’t join in just to get attention from her. No lady, or lord, is getting up at dawn just to make nice with the one who sits the throne. Thirdly, because you training at dawn gives you the rest of the day to search the library. I don’t want your eyes going on you because you read in poor light.”

“The library has very good lighting,” Laeder protested. “And I’m just not used to this early rising. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize like I’m about to beat you,” he said. “Training can help with a great deal of things, including that teary-eyed reaction I get when I wake you at dawn. This will be good for you, good for us.”

“Are you joining us?” Laeder asked with a frown.

“It’s also the only time I can train because by the time training is over, everyone else is up and I have steward duties. I’m not going to stop being a warrior just because I’m steward as well. Until the debts are settled, my days are filled from breakfast to dinner except for court times and then technically those are filled as well.”

“Oh, I thought you were going to dump me, then go back to bed.”

“That would be stupid.”

They both stared at one another for a moment. Then Laeder’s eyes shifted over Jer’s shoulder and watched someone walk past the two of them. Concerned, because only lords and ladies would be walking from the palace to the training grounds, Jer turned.

Av approached the guards and came to a stop just out of Aren’s reach. The queen looked haggard, but not in an ill sort of way. No doubt it had something to do with the report Jer had found slid under his door that morning about Lady Olea and Telm stumbling through the hallways drunk the night before.

Whatever the conversation had been about, he was just happy it ended in hangovers and not three bodies in the healer hall.

Jer motioned to Laeder and continued walking. He approached just as Av admonished Aren for drinking heavily enough to be hung over. His brother had a water skin, which begged the question of what Av was doing with a full water skin, which he offered to Aren. The queen took the skin, but shot Av a look that clearly stated she believed it to be a trap.

Stopping just short of Av, Jer took in the whole scene, of Wena standing back and the guards at a sudden standstill, and decided not to interrupt. He pulled Laeder around the two and approached the man in charge of the training.

The captain of the guard oversaw most of the training, but he rose later in order to work with the lords and ladies throughout the day and be available through some of the night. It was said to be the only perk of the job, the ability to sleep in and stay on a fixed schedule, but the captain also had no time off. There were not enough guards, let alone coin, to hire a secondary captain in order to give the captain time off. The few times the man did take holiday, the master stood in as captain.

Em hadn’t permitted him to take holiday in several years. Though that hadn’t stopped Av and Jer from slipping him off palace grounds for a day or two.

The man in charge of the rotation had a cup of tea in his hands, still steaming. He looked blearily at Jer, then bent slightly and looked around Jer, to Laeder.

“You want scribes trained too?” the man asked.

“I think my brother wants everyone trained,” he said in response. “But specifically I want Laeder to train. This is really the only time.”

“You don’t have to explain to me, Lord Jer,” the man said with a headshake. “Lady Wena’s too strong for Aren with whatever it was that happened over the winter. Your scribe lad will be a better match for her, and you for Wena. That woman has some aggression against males that she has to work out.”

“But if I bruise Aren, Av’ll…” Laeder tried to protest but trailed off instead.

“Then you’d best learn to fight quickly,” the man said with a grin.

“He’s joking. Av knows to keep his hands to himself. Aren will dent his skull if he hits you for bruising her during training.”

“I’d also like to see you get past her defences,” the man said. “She might be weak, but she’ll be able to hold her own against you, which means you need to learn fast. I’m only using you as fodder until she develops the muscle she lost and can keep up with Wena.”

“Speaking of Av,” Jer said, motioning to his brother still talking to Aren and the yard of still guards. “Did he come this way yesterday?”

The man nodded slowly. “Shift switch was this morning, but I was warned he might be by. Came by yesterday with a lantern, took it to the master’s house. Woke Ervam, who I’ve never known to sleep past dawn. Then he went back into the palace. This morning he has a water skin, but far as I know the plumbing’s working fine in Ervam’s place, which makes me think the Northern baron is sending Av on silly tasks to keep him busy at dawn and those tasks happen to move him by the training grounds.”

“Why do you believe that?” Jer asked.

“Because Lord Av knows better than to stop training to talk to her, which means he’d avoid the area if he could. However, after seeing her it’s like a moth to the flame, and the damned fool can’t help but stop and talk for a bit.”

“Why aren’t the men still training?” he asked.

“It’s my understanding”—a giggle cut across the yard, sending an odd sort of shiver through Jer—“that no one wants to be sparring when that happens. Of course he was walking away and doesn’t ever seem to feel that.”

“He’s a hole,” Jer murmured.

“Oh, the poor boy is the butt of a joke he doesn’t even know he’s part of,” the man said with a sigh. “Does explain why he doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that a giggle can do that to everything.”

“What do you mean, everything?” Laeder asked, looking at Jer for help. “I feel something, but what does he mean everything?”

“A queen giggling shouldn’t make you shudder, Laeder,” he said quietly in response. “That’s typically how it feels when a queen is … you know…”

“Enjoying herself,” the man grumbled.

“And then it’s only the first two or three times after she’s linked to the throne because both adjust. It’s a strong emotion so the throne allows it to flow through the palace, not realizing what it is that is going out.”

“If that’s what happens when she giggles, what’s going to happen when they finally fall into a bed?” Laeder asked.

“They’ve been in a bed,” the man said. “It’s a quite well-known fact that while Lord Av does keep the lady’s attention, he is missing his mark. And if he’s a hole, he doesn’t even realize that he is missing the mark. Makes me wonder if she knows he’s missing.”

“But that still doesn’t explain what’s going to happen when he finally does,” Laeder said, his voice starting louder, then dropping below a whisper. “The whole of you came to a standstill at a giggle. The men outnumber the women.”

The man scratched his chin as he considered Laeder. “Lad, we were born with two hands, and our fathers instructed us on how to use them should we find ourselves in want but lacking a willing companion.”

“The lords also currently outnumber the women, who are mainly wards of the throne,” Laeder stressed.

“Which means they have no one to stand for them, should something happen,” Jer muttered. “I’ll discuss that with the captain of the guard once he wakes. It’s not something you need to worry about, Laeder. For starters, it’s one of the reasons you’re going to be training. Secondly, you’ll have me and I will hurt anyone who tries to touch you like that unless you invite them to. And then I might take a hand, given the fact that they should know better, having grown up on palace lands.”

“I’m a worrier,” Laeder grumbled.

“I know you are, and that’s why I love you, but in the field, while she’s near, is not the time to bring it up,” he said sternly.

“I’ve also read the tales,” Laeder muttered. “He might not be able to feel the throne, but he can still affect it like a mate to the throne can. He can affect how the men react.”

“Then we’ll have a discussion with him as well,” Jer said.

“It especially depends on the magic of the queen involved and how many others she’s linked to versus how far her magic spreads. The influence of a queen can be felt to the very edges of her magic, which is usually only mentioned with the madness. But if the madness, which is an underscoring feeling, can be felt at the edge of the magic, then the stronger emotions can also be felt. The farther Aren’s magic spreads, the more people would be affected by her, which means that it’s not just palace grounds we’re concerned about.”

“Her magic hasn't spread beyond palace grounds,” Jer said, trying to calm Laeder’s concerns.

“She’s linked to the village in the northwest. Even if there’s no one living there anymore, her magic is working out there and is linked in a direct line to her. The villages and homesteads and estates down that direct line are more likely to get their lighting and plumbing back first. Magic doesn’t just appear there and appear here, it needs to travel there from here.”

“A queen who holds lands off palace grounds tends to spread more,” the man in charge of the training said. All but forgotten, he had remained as Jer and Laeder had quibbled over the topic. “And the lad’s right—those between the palace and that piece of land are usually the first, or only, ones to gain lighting and water while that queen sits the throne.”

“That’s a long distance for her magic to spread across,” Jer said.

“Well, given the fact that a giggle can do that to the men?” the man asked. “I’d have to say that a true laugh might light up the whole world. Or her anger? Saw that last year in court. Lady Aren isn’t felt often, but when she is felt, everyone knows and every light gets a little brighter. I’m just saying.”