Enchantress 7 - The Royal Family

At the Watch House eight officers formed up and marched to Constable Iver's house to lay his mother to rest. As they passed the bookstore they saw Nick in "civilian" clothes. The king turned and saw Hollie leading the group. "What is going on?" he asked.

At a command the constables saluted their king and the Watch Commander who stood at the doorway to the bookstore. "Mark Iver's mom died," said Hollie fighting back the tears.

Duke Prescott look torn, he had a duty to his king, but he also had a duty to his men and the fallen heroes of the Battle of Creel Springs. "Go," said Nick. "Mark is your man, go take care of his mother."

"Thank you, your majesty," and Preston dashed off to join with the men who will gather around Mark for support and lay his mother to rest. "You with the shovels, get to the cemetery, I want a grave for her that you would be proud to lay your mothers to rest in. Go!" Four men dashed off to the cemetery that Nick created for the men and women of Lancre who died in the attacks on Bear Mountain and Creel Springs. There was a separate graveyard for the men and women who died in the attack on the Palace on what is now being called Black Wednesday or The Day of Three Battles. There are now over eighty Lancre people dead and Nick and Octavia knew every one of them.

"Follow me, said Nick to his secretary Findlay MacIver and his bodyguard Reziko Pants. They were wearing overcoats over their civilian togs; this was the first day that Reziko wore civilian clothes since he joined the palace guard. They entered the bookstore and Nick led them through the bookshelves, and Findlay noticed a few titles he'd want himself.

"We're not shopping Finny," said Nick. "The twins open this store every morning at seven AM."

"Findlay, your majesty," corrected Findlay. They continued to work their way between the shelves and Findlay was sure they had gone past the end of the bookstore, but they continued to find more and more shelves to walk between. Eventually they stepped out of the shelves and found themselves in the large spooky library in the Unseen University.

"HAVEN'T I TOLD YOU THAT YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE?" shouted the librarian. "YOU ARE NOT A STUDENT OR FACULTY!"

"Shhhh!" said Nick and he put a finger to his lips, the librarian's salute. "Let's step outside and discuss this." And he led Findlay and Reziko out of the library followed by Bérenger Clodporrage, the hotblooded librarian. As soon as they stepped out onto the quad of the university Nick said to Reziko "Kill him."

Reziko whirled and suddenly the tip of his sword was at Bérenger's throat. "Ready your majesty."

Nick stepped up to a shuddering Bérenger Clodporrage who was too terrified to move but that didn't include soiling his robe. "You terrified and verbally assaulted the mother of the King of Lancre when she was looking for information on a lost infant. You embarrassed the mother of the queen instead of assisting which is a violation of your charter as a master librarian. Tell me, what is keeping Reziko from opening your throat?"

"I'm hoping his majesty's largesse of mercy," said a voice from behind Bérenger, and Archchancellor Sebastian Dashwood stepped into the light.

"At ease," said Nick and Reziko sheathed his sword. "Actually, I just don't want to get blood on my overcoat. How are ya doin' Seb? How's married life treating you?" said Nick as he shook hands with the Archchancellor.

"Doing wonderful, splendid! My bride is brilliant! She is thinking of extending the narrow gauge to Henrietta Falls for tourism!" Both the Archchancellor of the Unseen University and his wife, Lucricia von Überwald are train nuts and owners of multiple private cars.

"That's great. I'd love to chat but I have a meeting with the Patrician," said Nick.

"What a coincidence, the Patrician has asked me to join the meeting as an unofficial representative of Überwald." The Archchancellor's wife was a member of the family that rules Überwald. That's when Nick remembered something.

"Bérenger you madcap, I completely forgot about you. You may go." The terrified librarian raced off to change his robes and turning to Sebastian, Nick said, "Shall we hie thee hither?" as they left the university on foot and headed over to the Patrician's palace.

"I don't think that means what he thinks it means," said Reziko.

"Shhh, he's the king. It means exactly what he wants it to mean," said Findlay who was getting used to Nick's fracturing of the language. As long as the documents he signs are clear and concise, Findlay was happy. They were soon at the patrician's palace, as they entered the building a guard said, "Your swords."

Nick shrugged and said, "This isn't my sword," and patted the sword on his hip. "I'm just carrying it for a friend," and continued into the building but a guard stopped him.

"I cannot allow you to continue in with a sword."

"Fine. Tell the patrician that the King of Lancre expects him in my office at five PM next Wednesday." And with that he turned and left with Findlay and Reziko.

They were nearly in the Unseen University when the guard sprinted up to them and grabbed Nick by the shoulder. The guard wasn't quite sure what happened next because it happened so fast. One minute he was grabbing the little guy's shoulder, the next he's laying flat on his back with a huge black cat pressing his shoulders into the cobble stones with frying pan size claws. It opened its mouth displaying steak knife size fangs and roared a roar that left the guards eardrums vibrating for the next week.

"Sorry," said Nick, suddenly human again. "It's kind of a nervous twitch since the war. You come to tell me the patrician doesn't mind the swords?"

"U-u-u-uh y-y-y-eah"

"Good man," said Nick as he helped the huge human back to his feet. "Go ahead and take the rest of the night off."

"Y-y-y-yeah g-g-g-good i-idea."

"I wish you wouldn't do that," said Reziko as they headed back to the palace. "It makes me feel unnecessary."

"Sorry, I'll try to keep it to a minimum."

"It was truly inspiring," said Findlay who has heard about the King's skill but he hasn't seen it.

"Next time I'll do the dingaroo," said Nick, "it's truly amazing."

They headed back to the Patricians Palace escorted by a second security guard who saw Nick take down the other guard and kept looking over his shoulder. He nervously escorted them to the Patrician's office where the Patrician, Havelock Vetinari, the Duke of Ankh, Samuel Vimes, and the Archchancellor of the University, Sebastian Dashwood waited. Nick nodded to the Patrician, then bowed to Sam Vimes and held out the sword he was carrying at his waist. "Your blade, your grace."

Sam took the blade and turned it over in wonder. It was made for him by his wife Sybil when he was made the Duke of Ankh but was stolen when someone broke into their mansion while they were on holiday in Überwald. "I'm sorry, Sir Samuel... I can't get the blood off of it."

"Thank you, your majesty. Where did you find it?"

Nick remembered taking it from the man that stumbled into their campfire the night before the battles started. The lost mercenary tipped Nick off that an attack was coming and from that moment onward Nick remembered every single man he killed with Sam's blade. "I didn't find it... it found me." Nick wasn't exactly there with them, his eyes were unfocused when he said, "I avenged my king with it... it's a fine blade." Then Nick sat down and smiled at Havelock Vetinari and said, "Thank you for seeing me."

"I see that your little mountain country just enlarged its borders," said Vetinari.

"Yes sir, Duke Lolar Hampton of Warwickshire and I saw how vulnerable we were with our naïve, live and let live attitudes. Twice bit, thrice shy kind of thing."

"You seem to have a knack for stepping in and saving Lancre," said the Patrician. "First a large creature that wanted to eat A'Tuin, followed by a clan of dwarves bent on stealing bear mountain, then a wizard from another world, and now a vengeful old woman." Havelock drummed his fingers on the table, then said, "it's always the vengeful old women that are the most dangerous."

"Now they must watch for the King of Diamonds," said Nick.

The reference to the king in the deck of cards that only shows one eye wasn't lost on Lord Vetinari. "The king of diamonds is the lowest ranked king in the deck."

"That's true, but he outranks forty-four other cards."

"Hey," said Sam who was inspecting his sword for blood and finding none, "You guys gonna play poker or are we going to talk?"

"I came to inform you that we are going to take steps to ensure that the Day of Three Battles doesn't happen again. I buried far too many friends and neighbors and I want to ensure that no king of Lancre, no duke or earl under that king ever has to go through that again. My intelligence showed that that old woman contacted the leaders of thirteen nations and eleven took part in the attack and an additional two joined by proxy.

"I only have ten taking part, Cystern, Spatz Mountain, Ataxia, Spinsters Gulch, Akrasia, Gwenders, Sialoqi Peak, Lalochezia, Smicker, Frisson Falls and one joining by proxy, Nikhedonia," said the patrician.

"I'm sure your intelligence is more on top of it, we're new at this," said Nick with a frown.

"I noticed that you made your head of police the duke of nothing exactly so you have a spare political tool and a ready commander for your reserve forces," said the Patrician. "It took me twenty years to figure that one out, you realized the need in two months."

"I'm not incapable of learning," sighed Nick. But he got exactly what they came for, the Patrician's list was exactly the same as his, unless they were both withholding information.

They talked for another hour and Nick assured that he offered no threat to Ankh-Morpork or Überwald. The men from Ankh-Morpork that were part of the attack were very unsuccessful mercenaries and were not sent by the Patrician and Nick was prepared to sign any reasonable treaty they offered. They agreed that he was correct and had the right to concentrate on the minor kingdoms that joined the attack on Lancre and give most of them the chance to join the Kingdom of Lancre voluntarily.

The meeting skirted less danger than Havelock Vetinari had expected, he expected threats from the short king but his remark about the king of diamonds recognizing that there were cards above him told Vetinari that Nick knew his position... or did it? The man is full of surprises. Vimes finally demanded to know where his sword came from.

"A mercenary that got lost. He was supposed to be in the group that attacked Creel Springs. They came in from Ankh Morpork, Quirm and the Sto Plains, they hopped on freight trains and hopped off as the train approached Hot Dang. He couldn't find his meet up point and wandered lost in the woods for two days until he stumbled onto our campsite on Bear Mountain. We tied him up and he told me he won the sword in a poker game at the Mended Drum."

Sam inspected the blade again and said, "You avenged your king with this?"

"The man that took my kings life was still alive when we met. I corrected that issue with your blade and haven't touched it since. Now if you don't mind, I must take my leave," and he got up and along with the Archchancellor he headed back toward the Unseen University.

They were headed back to the University and instead of walking toward the library Nick started leading them behind the university. "Where are you going, your majesty?" asked Findlay.

"Home," said Nick as he led them along Peach Pie Street, and soon he found the wall that his father threw him against so hard that he lost consciousness. Over there, that was where he broke down and wept and realized he was all alone, lost in a world that hated him until a puppy curled up with him. He looked at a pile of trash, barrels and crates just a jumbled pile, but Nick knew that there was sense to their arrangement.

He signaled to Findlay and Reziko to be silent and Reziko pulled his blade and followed Nick as he slowly approached the trash pile. The entrance should be right about... here. He found a small entrance to the pile. There was nothing there in the blackness but looking with his left eye he saw a small shivering child. It was a tiny boy, maybe three years old, who sat shivering and stared at him with his huge eyes. "Hi little guy," whispered Nick. "Whatcha doing? Is it your turn to sleep near the door?"

The tiny boy didn't react at first but eventually he nodded his head. Nick sighed, there was a family group of kids in there, the little ones, the ones that the big kids beat up and took their food and the pennies they scrounged. They huddled in a group for warmth but someone had to sleep by the door when it gets cold so they either took turns or put the one that was closest to dying there. Being small, Nick slept by the door quite often. "Would you like to come with me and get warm? I have a nice warm house and a box full of puppies."

The little boy nodded again but the look of sheer terror never left his face. "Ok, come on you, let's go get some supper and get warm. Nick reached in and picked up the little boy, "What's your name?" but the tiny lad didn't answer. Nick slowly backed out of the nest knowing that at least one other child would come out.

Finally, he was free from the house and Nick asked again "What's your name?" as he held the little boy tight.

"Cholly. His name is Cholly."

Nick looked down and there was a little girl looking up at him with her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes. She couldn't be older than five years old but Nick knew that the kids in the gutter didn't look their age. "How old are you?" asked Nick.

"I'm seven and I'm his mommy."

Nick was moved to tears, quite often a little girl will become "mommy" to the youngest children on the street despite her inability to actually fix their problems. "Mommy" ads a little order to a horrific condition. "Is that your mommy Cholly? What's her name?" Cholly's huge eyes continued to show fear and exhaustion. Cholly simply nodded but he didn't make a sound. Starving kids don't make sounds. "What's your name mommy?" asked Nick.

"I'm Darla and I'm not your mommy," she said with a stamp of her bare foot.

"I'm taking Cholly with me to see a doctor, and give him some nice hot food, maybe even a warm bath, and a bed to sleep in and you can come too." He looked down and several more kids emerged from the nest. "Is that ok with you Cholly?" and this time he nodded a little more enthusiastically.

"Your majesty," started Findlay but Nick glared at him. "Sir, how will we get these children home?"

"Is that a real sword?" someone cried and Reziko was suddenly surrounded by five boys who were fascinated by the sword. Nick counted, they had five boys between the ages of four and seven, two girls, Darla and Tina, a girl who looked barely older than Cholly, and Cholly himself.

"Ok, who wants to come live with me?" asked Nick but only Cholly raised his tiny hand.

"Why? What's in it for you?" demanded Darla, who clearly was the head of this family.

"I'm starting a school, it's a boarding school so you'll have a place to sleep and food to eat."

"What are we going to learn?" asked an older boy.

"Stuff you've never even dreamed about, we're going to make snow men, and climb mountains. We're going to learn about farms and how to take care of cows and horses and chickens and pigs, and we're going to learn how to build furniture, like tables. We're going to learn how to mine and dig out coal and iron and we will ride horses, swim in the big pond and you'll meet fairies and gnomes, dwarves and trolls. What do you say?"

"There's no such thing as dwarves," said Tina.

"Are you coming with me Cholly?" Nick asked the tiny boy in his arms.

"Es."

"All right! Cholly is coming. Anyone else?"

"I have to come with and make sure he doesn't cause trouble, so is Tina," said Darla as she put her arm around the other girl. "You guys are coming too," she ordered the other boys.

The boys who were still admiring Reziko's sword and his description of how his grandfather made it barely heard what she said, but they agreed. "You can't take them through the University," said Archchancellor Dashwood. Before Nick complained Sebastian Dashwood said, "There were some problem with... ahem, underage visitors. The buildings are surrounded with strong spells that prevent underage people from entering the university unless they have been matriculated."

"Ewww," said Darla.

"Fine," said Nick, "We'll just wait in Havelock's office."

"I've got a better idea," grinned the Archchancellor.

<><><><><>֎<><><><><>

The funeral ceremony for Marge Ivers was held by torchlight in the Battle of Creel Springs Memorial Cemetery. Town criers walked through Creel Springs and Lancre announcing another victim of the Day of Three Battles had died and her funeral was in Creel Springs. Even before the sky was fully dark carriages and people on horseback came down Breeders Peak road and crowded the cemetery. Octavia took one glance back in Marge's tiny house and with a wave of her hand it was cleaned spotless, then she made the trek to the cemetery with Annabelle Prescott guarding her.

Normally the young duke was speaking at these grave side ceremonies, sometimes the king, but this time it was the queen. She normally avoided speaking at these ceremonies, she was poisoned during the battles and felt ashamed that she allowed herself to be poisoned like that so she was unavailable to help.

"When I first moved to Creel Springs one of the first people I met was Margaret Whiting, Sieffre Merrick's granddaughter. She was in love with John Ivers, the apprentice to the county farrier Allyn Evans." She wished she hadn't said that because dear old Allyn was a victim of the senseless violence and was killed with his own hammer. He was buried here too.

"Marge always had time for the couple of strange city kids, and always a kind word and a helpful hand. The first baby I ever held in my life was my own, Marlon, and Marge joined her cousin Ena McCrory to help me out, to learn the mysterious ways of children." Her chin started quivering and she heard Ena gasping, trying to hold back the tears, but she was fighting a losing battle. She and Ena and Marge had drifted apart over the years... and she hated herself for letting that happen.

She spoke of her and Marge raising Holly and Mark together as infants, then the horror that all farriers wives dread, a sudden kick from a horse that ended her husband's life. She stopped there remembering the horror and the realization that her magic could not fix everything; in fact it couldn't fix what needed fixing most.

"Thank you Marge, thank you for the times we've had together, you, me, and Ena, we were inseparable. Thank you for your son Mark, a brave, wonderful young man who saved my family, we will keep an eye on him for you. I love you Marge... I... I..." She suddenly looked so lost, so alone. Then mechanically she said, "we commend you to the soil, until we meet again." Then weeping she stepped down from the platform and her guards drew around her. Annabelle caught Octavia as she collapsed weeping, crying for her friend that she couldn't save.

Hollie was lost, she didn't know what she wanted until the senior witch in Lancre, Agnes Dempsey came up to her and said, "Go spend some time with your young man, we'll work on borrowing on Monday night."

"'k," was all she got out then went and sat in her mother's carriage as person after person stepped up to Mark and offered their condolences. As they were doing that, Octavia walked over to her carriage and sat down next to Hollie and hugged her daughter until Mark had enough and was carried into the carriage. As soon as he sat down Hollie moved next to him and she cradled his hand in hers.