The Arete - Princess-Consort Ch. 01

The cut of the cendrée cloak was a bit much and awkward. There was no hood to protect from the weather, no slit up the back for riding, and fur lined the bottom edge to no practical purpose. I concluded that I'd simply throw the thing away by choice, but the style wasn't optional for palace wear. Still, I'd wear it as needed in the palace and leave it along with my bride when I returned to campaigning.

The tailor strictly forbade me wearing my leather boots about the fortress too, but my fur slippers apparently passed muster as a cordwainer was threatened, but not sent for.

Looking into the glass, I was pleased with the overall effect, although my low military ponytail seemed incongruous with the rest of the look. I didn't know any fancy ways to do up my chestnut hair, so I hoped that its natural shine and thickness would make it ornament enough.

"Do you not have any jewelry?" the tailor reprimanded me. "I'd think that you could have at least looted some off in the wilds or wherever it is you go."

Suppressing a smile, I wondered idly how long I'd survive as an officer if I poached my soldiers' loot. More than one of my greedier classmates from the Academy had fallen in battle to an arrow loosed from within their own ranks.

"Just my house necklace." I held up a small steel pendant on which my name, birth date, parentage, rank, company, regiment, and division had been engraved.

"Tuck that away," she advised, "Better to have no jewelry at all than steel jewelry."

I did as instructed. The tailor left. Laerdya arrived, retinue in tow, and I was duly collected yet again. As we strode the stone hallways to the throne room for the betrothal ceremony, a designated page explained my part in the ceremony. I nodded along, reasonably sure I could execute my role of mostly standing still and turning twice before exiting.

With a woven mat in my house colors at arm's reach to my right, I knelt facing the throne and court on a woven mat of the royal colors. I sensed a presence arrive on the other mat, whom I assumed was my bride to be, but I couldn't be sure since I remained looking forward.

"Arise Lieutenant Taiglox of House Laerdya," the Queen's voice boomed from the throne.

I stood and Heoldax, as the Crown Princess, strapped a weapons belt around my waist. I'd been told I'd receive gifts that I should then examine and appear to appreciate, but I'd been led to expect pointless fripperies.

Instead, three weapons hung from the belt. I immediately uncased and strung the bow, pulling it to find the best draw strength I'd ever experienced before unstringing and recasing it. I then drew a flanged mace and heavy kopis, both of the finest steel and perfectly balanced. Mace in my left hand and kopis in my right hand, I took a few practice swings, a goofy happy smile on my face.

Heoldax smiled back indulgently and I realized that it was not the time to admire my new gifts quite so thoroughly. I rehooked the mace, sheathed the kopis, and stood back at attention with my eyes forward.

"As the woman to whom will fall the protection and care of my precious daughter, you will be well-armed and can depend upon the support of my house for her sake." The Queen pronounced standard words and I bowed deeply in thanks.

"Arise Princess Caeli of House Royal," I heard Laerdya's voice boom. I saw someone in my house colors step to the other mat with a full set of matching jewelry in gold, set with grey hued diamonds and blue hued sapphires. "As wife to my dear cousin, you will be well-provided for and can depend upon the support of my house for her sake."

A horn blew and I right faced to get my first look at my bride. My jaw dropped open and refused to close.

Though obviously the natural sister of Yonjax - same dark hair and dark eyes - her skin wasn't chapped from sun and riding, her muscles weren't overdeveloped from heavy armor and hard fighting, and her countenance wasn't set in determined aggression. Just the opposite, everything about her from her bone structure to her manner seemed delicate, soft, and inviting.

Remembering myself, I took her hands as I was supposed to at that point in the ceremony, although it felt somehow profane to take her gentle hands in my rough soldier's grasp. Certainly I became uncomfortably aware of how calloused I was in every sense.

Still, I said the words and found myself meaning them profoundly as I fell into her dark eyes. "Princess Caeli, I offer you my protection and care as my rightful and only wife until my death. I will also claim, succor, rear, and advocate any daughters you should bear. This I swear on my house, commission, and honor."

"I accept your offer," she responded simply and smiled up at me hopefully. Then the horn sounded again. I was angry at the interruption of our moment together, but released her from my hands and gaze nevertheless as we both faced forward again.

"Lieutenant Taiglox of House Laerdya, my daughter Princess Caeli is hereby betrothed to you. You shall be married here in two weeks. Your courtship may now begin."

I bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty," and then turned immediately to my bride, "I'm Taiglox," I started, uncertain.

"I'm Caeli," she answered quickly, but seemed a little embarrassed at the same time.

Heoldax caught my shoulder before our conversation could go further, "The 'courtship may now begin' part isn't quite so literal I'm afraid. We'll set up a meeting for tomorrow," she corrected my behavior, not unkindly. I smiled an apology at each woman and let the Crown Princess push me gently back toward Laerdya's retinue as Yonjax took Caeli's arm and led her away. My bride smiled back at me over her shoulder and I could hardly contain my joy. Even a guardswoman removing my spectacular new weapons for safekeeping couldn't perturb me.

"That was very good," Laerdya complimented me. "Though I suppose it isn't such a hardship to receive expensive presents and the hand of a beautiful princess, is it?"

"No," I answered promptly, still perplexed. I suppose I assumed in the back of my mind that Princess Caeli must be horridly unattractive in appearance or manner. Or both. Otherwise, even without the benefit of a dowry or with the requirement of living with the bride's family, surely better connected relatives than me must have jockeyed to fulfill the alliance. Maybe not Laerdya's daughters or close nieces, but someone higher must have wanted the marriage than her thirdborn fourth cousin, three times removed.

"You've no doubt heard the story of how I became Laerdya over my elder sister?"

"I have."

"There's a wide misconception that our mother sent me to kill her. In fact, we were both released in the forrest with the same directive that only one of us could return home alive. I actually liked Trugnix, but we were too close in age and equally qualified to lead. And a Laerdya doesn't suffer rivals within the family, for herself or her heir."

I nodded and remained silent, the obvious threat being clear enough that - if she'd murder her own sister without hesitation - she'd throw away my life without a thought if my death benefited her or if my life inconvenienced her.

"Keep that in mind, and so limit yourself to military ambitions only. Do not seek to involve yourself in politics beyond your station."

"I am a cataphract in the Queen's army. I have no other aims."

"Good," she accepted, "Now, I've been too long away from my own seat of power and will leave this evening. The guardswoman will stay on with you and a suitable annuity has been set up for you with the Bank of Qwine once your marriage is announced. Until then, you'll need to make due on your officer's wages. Do nothing to offend your in-laws or embarrass your house."

"Yes, Cousin Laerdya." The palace provided room and board for my people, my warhorse, and me, so I couldn't imagine needing more than my officer's wages.

With no further instruction or ceremony, I was dismissed. I saw to Savaran and returned to my rooms.

Inside, I found the two sisters sewing and left them to their business after a pleasant greeting. The corporal was nowhere to be found, but she'd brought her second-rate tack and kit. Clearly she'd maintained her gear conscientiously, the leather being so well-oiled and the steel being so scrupulously polished wasn't something she could have faked in a day. But the steel was pitted and the leather cracked, and so I couldn't help thinking less of Laerdya for either not knowing or not caring that her armorer purchased inferior materials.

I resolved to get the corporal better gear. After all, I only had the one soldier. Surely I could look after a single soldier. You'd think.

A simple lunch seemed a good next step and I had a mouthful of hard cheese when the young corporal returned. She'd quite obviously been crying. Since nothing about her in our short time together had suggested that she was a milksop, I gathered that something very bad had happened.

"Corporal, report," I ordered, hoping her discipline would kick in and steady her.

It didn't work. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes remained on the floor. "I've been released from service to be your valet, ma-, mi-mi-milady."

I didn't tell her to calm down, because I understood her distress. Being a soldier has been intentionally and systematically deeply ingrained into both of us as the cornerstone of our identities. Had my nobility been disproven, I'd be fine and even relieved in some ways to be a common cataphract with limited responsibilities. Conversely, I firmly believe that I'd hang myself if kicked out of the army.

Most unfairly, although noble and common are set by birth, the castes are fluid and - just as I lifted Imogen's and Miriam's station at will - Corporal Kemptrux had become Kemptrun at someone's whim. Everything the poor kid had worked for and dreamt of had been taken from her in a single act of dismissal, including every speck of pride she had.

However, valet or soldier, she was mine. I chose soldier and chose to remind her what that meant. "That's fucking 'ma'am' to you, Corporal. The years and money spent on training you to be a useful soldier for the Queen's army will not be fucking wasted by you becoming a fucking valet. Am I fucking heard, Corporal?"

"Yes, ma'am," she answered smartly, shoulders back and hope shining on her face.

"I don't know or care what knucklehead told you that you were released you from your duty, but she was wrong. You may be in limbo for a bit, but I'll return to my company after my honeymoon and you'll come with me as a horsegirl. From there you'll have a good chance at becoming a cataphract, but that will have to be on your own merit. At the least you should have a respectable career in the light cavalry, but your odds of being selected by one of the heavy horse companies will be better if you train with me in the meantime."

"Thank you, ma'am."

She looked ready to start crying again, so I decided to save her any further embarrassment. "You've had a trying day, Corporal. I'll be heading out to put in a couple hours' training at five bells. Why don't you read and rest until then?"

Her whole body shook uncontrollably. I stood, pushed her down into a chair, and brought a cup of water to her lips. "Drink."

She took some small sips and coughed a little, but stopped shaking.

"Now what else is the matter?"

"I've wronged you, ma'am. Or I've accepted orders to wrong you at least."

I frowned, but doubted it was that dire. "How so, Corporal?"

"I'm not really guarding your door. I'm supposed to discourage you from visiting or having visitors for carnal purposes and report if you do. Or if you do anything else notable."

"Report to House Laerdya?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well then you haven't wronged me or anyone else. Intelligence gathering for one's own house or the country is a perfectly legitimate set of orders to execute. In fact, it makes a whole lot more sense than you standing traditional guard duty while unarmed and inside a held fortress, even if both tasks would be equally fruitless. You just report truthfully whatever you're asked and I'll just keep on doing nothing worth reporting. Neither of us should have any internal conflict."

"Ma'am, I was also ordered, if I couldn't talk you out of it that is, I was ordered to offer you..." The sudden look of deep shame on her face gave me a pretty good idea of what she was ordered to offer me and it ignited a righteous rage in me on her behalf.

Relationships between disparate ranks or within a chain of command are considered counter to good order and discipline and can be punishable if committed in conjunction with other offenses. (Certainly as a professional soldier, I'd never disgrace myself by taking part in such a relationship up or down.) Additionally, many camp followers began as soldiers who proved unsuited to the life. (Young soldiers are often warned not to spend more time on their knees than on their horses, not to develop a greater taste for pussy than for blood, not to be abed when they should be ahorse, etc or they could slip to whoring.) But what had been done to Kemptrux was far worse.

I'd only known one officer that was guilty of rape of a fellow soldier by force or coercion. She'd taken advantage of a common horsegirl with barely any training, no rank, and no company. The victim was among the most defenseless and susceptible among us, and there are some that would argue that it was an act of cowardice more dishonorable than desertion. I see their point.

Execution of noble or common soldiers was only allowed as punishment for treason or desertion though and officers couldn't receive physical punishment for any offenses. But that didn't matter with a crime so intrinsically abhorrent to every soldier's sensibility. The ranking member of her house in camp disowned her by proxy and thereby invalidated her commission, she was flogged until too lamed to continue serving in any soldierly capacity, and she was left in a ditch when the army broke camp.

A rear scouting party reported her hung from a tree. No one inquired whether she had sense of shame enough to hang herself or if the scouts had done for her.

To violate the trust a young soldier should have for her comrades in that way is unforgivable, and all steps must be taken to show how grossly wrong such a thing is.

"Kemptrux, look at me." I forced the young corporal to both listen and hear. "There is no shame for you in receiving that order. It's no reflection on you. There's no danger that you'll have to decide whether or not to follow it. Whoever abused their power over you to give that order is utterly despicable. Give me a name."

She gulped, "Ma'am, I can't."

"You can. You're a soldier, not some whore to be ordered to such actions. You owe no loyalty to a woman with no sense of shame."

"Laerdya, ma'am."

I sighed in frustration. "No loyalty, but fealty then." Certain high members of government can give soldiers such orders and others of dubious honorability on the grounds that they might have knowledge that such actions are important to national interests. Patently untrue in this case since - even if my perceived celibacy could be shown to be of national interest - I'd have willingly chained myself up when not in public rather than use a comrade in such a way. "If anything similar happens in future, tell me and I'll mitigate the effects to the extent that I can. Alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Alright, then. Off to your reading. Since you're fully in my charge now, no less than two hours a day each of riding, reading, and drilling. You can leave off standing outside the door for hours."

"Yes ma'am." She went to read. I had nothing better to do, so I did too, returning to my own room and a copy of Ceprex's Siegecraft and Siege Defense borrowed from Yonjax.

Five bells rang. Kemptrux stood expectantly in my doorway. "Read anything interesting?" I asked as I donned my armor.

"Sort of. There were a lot of terms that I didn't understand. What's a pincer movement?"

"It's when you split your forces into two prongs in order to attack from multiple directions."

"Ah. A few things make more sense now."

"Tell you what, tomorrow, start on Bavrox's Battle Ahorse and keep Grawex's Terminology of the Combat Arts at hand as you read."

"Cheers. What are we training on tonight?"

"Archery from horseback in the training yard."

"Why are you wearing armor then?"

"It's important for both you and your horse to practice with the full weight and restriction of heavy armor."

"Oh. I don't exactly have my own horse."

"No worries. Any warhorse you borrow from the stables will most likely be trained to the same leg pressure commands."

We picked up my warhorse, an unclaimed warhorse, and cavalry bows and full quivers. Being astride my beautiful Savaran made me feel immediately at home. We drilled for an hour before we were approached by a dozen or so other young guardswomen.

"Uh, ma'am, do you mind if we join?" They asked hopefully, each already armed, armored, and leading an barded horse apiece.

"Of course." By the time it grew too dark to continue safely, the impromptu practice session had expanded to about 30 young women.

"Ah, shame you've called it a night." Yonjax caught up to us at the stables. "That was fun to watch."

"They'll get better as we train and it gives me something to do," I shrugged, "Leading a company is a constant headache, but I do miss having soldiers." I looked fondly over at Kemptrux, who was returning her borrowed horse to a stable hand.

"I see your single guardswoman was left behind. You fucking her?"

"Royal or not, I'll give you one fair chance to take that back." I set my jaw and mentally prepared myself to punch her in the back of the head from the front. I'll admit that I was hyped from Kemptrux' recent misuse, but my response needs must have been the same with or without the added impetus.

"Easy, girl. I take it back," Yonjax laughed it off. "Your servant girl, then?"

"No, not Imogen either," I shook my head, not as offended at that insinuation. Sleeping with one's servants is distasteful and unwomanly, but not dishonorable. "I can hold out a couple more weeks for your beautiful sister."

"You think she's beautiful, do you?" A sly glint flashed in her eyes.

"Well, yes. I have met her and am not blind."

"In that case, I'm sorry I impeached your honor." She clapped my shoulder. "Get this armor off and I'll stand you up a few drinks at my apartments."

"Alright, I'll drop my tack and kit off and meet you up."

"I keep forgetting how not born to this you are," she noted in a friendly way, then whistled, "A few of you hands go with Corporal Kemptrux to put up their gear in Lieutenant Taiglox's apartments."

The young corporal took charge and I walked with Yonjax back into the palace interior, "So, if she's not staying on as a lover, why do you still have her in your household after Laerdya's departure?"

I debated lying, but had no reason to protect Laerdya. No natural loyalty left there. "She's a spy for Laerdya."

"Oh, good," she clapped my shoulder again, "I worried you wouldn't realize why and I'd have to lead you to that conclusion," Yonjax condescended, "How did you figure it out?"

Yonjax's low opinion might have been insulting, if it weren't accurate. "She told me."

Yonjax laughed heartily, "So she's as bad at espionage as you are at intrigue? And you're letting a known spy live with you? Training her no less? You're a forgiving woman."

"It's hardly her fault. She's an honorable soldier and can't help her assignment." I reasoned as we walked into Yonjax's rooms. "Besides, I don't plan to do anything noteworthy enough to be reported."

"I'm glad you feel that way. And that you'll understand why I'm assigning a valet to your household." She laughed again and whistled as she sat down. Wine was brought by two different servants who simultaneously poured each of us a glass.