Westrons Pt. 17

"Thank you for joining us, to celebrate. I have found my husband."

Cheers interrupted her. She waited for silence before continuing.

"But we also celebrate something that we have not enjoyed for some time: peace. Peace with honour."

The cheers were even louder. Maia Matila looked our way. Tudino, Avette, Langoret. And me. I understood then why Kanitz was so loyal to this young woman. The Queen knew who her friends and loyal supporters were.

She turned, then, to face her future husband, and the music began.

I have to admit that I know less than nothing about dancing. If it's an excuse to hold tightly to a woman you like, then I'm all for it. But the Queen and Prince Consort's performance was obviously well rehearsed. The rapt expressions on the faces of my friends were a good barometer.

When the dance finished, the ballroom erupted in loud and prolonged cheering. The royal couple acknowledged the cheers, before leaving the centre of the floor.

When the music began again, Princess Maia Simonia and her intended moved out to take their turn. I didn't want to watch. It wasn't heartbreaking; I just wasn't particularly interested in watching Themis smile at another man as they glided around.

It struck me, then, that there was no sign of Kanitz in the ballroom. Or Tallia. Why would they miss this pivotal scene - surely one of the crowning moments of the whole affair? Where were they?

When I stepped back, and began to thread my way through the crowd, Ishana and Madze followed. Nasta stayed close to Esyle.

Once we managed to work our way out of the ballroom, Ishana blocked my way.

- "Colonel! What are you doing?"

- "Where's Kanitz? Where's Tallia? Why aren't they watching the dance?" I whispered.

My lead bodyguard was no fool. She realized right away that something was going on.

We only had to follow the trail of agitated servants, into a wing of the palace I was totally unfamiliar with.

- "Where are we?"

- "Servant's quarters." said Ishana.

That's where we found Kanitz and Tallia.

- "Cook!" said the Chancellor. "What are you doing here?"

- "I didn't see either of you at the dance - the ... the thing. I had a feeling."

- "Good instincts." said Kanitz. "But I believe that it's all under control. Tallia can tell you - I have to rejoin the Queen."

- "It's incredible." said my lover. "I can't believe that someone would do ... something like this."

- "Like what?"

- "The soldiers were alert - thank goodness! They caught people trying to sneak a woman into the Palace. A woman in hemmer!"

Ishana and Madze both gasped.

I was aghast, as well. A single female, in hemmer, could have transformed the royal wedding into a riot. A cluster-fuck of monumental proportions. Hundreds of males would have completely lost their minds.

There would have been a stampede, as they tried to fight their way to the female. If she had been smuggled far enough ... I could only imagine the reaction if the Prince Consort and Maia Simonia's intended had joined the rush. Shit - they could have been killed.

But the scandal ... people would have been talking about it for centuries. I'd studied the Halygon Mark II accident in school. But even the most uneducated, near-illiterate person of my time could have told you something about the Titanic - a shipping disaster that occurred half a millennium earlier.

- "Who was it?" I asked. "Who did this?"

- "The Palace staff - the ones that Kanitz sacked." said Tallia. She still looked a little shocked. I hugged her, and pulled her close.

- "Thank goodness they were caught."

We returned to the ballroom, where the dancing had begun. Though I had no interest in participating, I had to admit that the couples gliding and twirling across the floor were extremely graceful. The precision of their steps was remarkable.

Tallia had recovered from her shock. She squeezed my arm. "One day, you'll have to let Esyle and me teach you to dance."

- "In private. Maybe." I said.

The Queen and her consort were presiding over the dancing, watching from thrones set up on a podium at the end of the ballroom. There it was - a podium. And there was the Duchess of Cande, sitting on it, happy as a clam.

I couldn't see Themis. Her husband-to-be was there, but there was no sign of her. Kanitz was whispering into the Queen's ear.

I left Tallia with Esyle and the others. Then I excused myself, and stepped out of the ballroom. Once again, Ishana and Nasta followed me, while Madze stayed with the sisters.

It was cooler outside, without the press of thousands of bodies. I could relax here, too, without worrying that somebody was going to ask me to dance. It was the kind of thing Aneli might do, if she'd had enough to drink.

Or Countess Iloni.

No, I was much more comfortable out here. I snagged a drink from a passing servant, and asked Ishana and Nasta what they thought.

- "It's beautiful." said Nasta. "The flowers ... the costumes ..."

- "Too many people." said Ishana.

A pair of soldiers approached. Palace guards, by their uniforms. One of them stopped several feet away. She was attractive enough, with unusual light blue hair, which reminded me of cotton candy.

- "May I approach, Colonel?"

- "Approach?"

- "I have a private message for you, Sir."

She stepped closer.

"The Princess would like a word with you, Sir. In private." she said softly.

- "In private?" I whispered. Why would Themis risk talking to me now - with thousands of people all over the Palace? Was it simply to say goodbye? She could have done that earlier.

- "I am to take you to where she is." said the soldier with the blue hair.

I made a snap decision. "What's your name, Ensign?"

- "Vayla, Sir."

"Alright, Vayla. Lead on."

It might not have been the wisest decision, but if Themis really needed to speak to me, I wasn't about to leave her hanging.

- "Colonel -" said Ishana. She was never happy with a sudden change of plans.

- "Important message." I said. "Ensign Vayla is taking me where I need to go."

We retraced our steps, towards the front of the Palace. Then Vayla veered to the right, and headed for a doorway where two more Palace Guards stood. They caught sight of us, and immediately opened the door.

Downstairs? Well, it would be private.

- "The Princess is down there?" I said, to Vayla.

- "Her Highness does not confide all of her intentions to me. But this is where she asked me to bring you, Colonel."

- "Sir." said Ishana. She didn't sound happy.

- "It's alright, Ishana." I said. For goodness' sake - we were in the Palace.

Vayla and her companion led the way downstairs. Ishana and Nasta followed me.

We went down a lengthy corridor. I hadn't been here before, but I suspected that these rooms were for hemmers - just like the ones where I'd met Airta, and, more recently, Koroba.

Vayla passed five or six doors - and two more guards - before stopping and opening a door. "Here you are, Sir."

I had to step forward to see into the room. It was a hemmer room. There was a woman in there ... and I knew instantly that something was very, very wrong.

That's when Vayla's companion shoved me inside. Caught off-guard, I stumbled forward. Vayla slammed the door shut behind me.

There were two women in the room. I could smell both of them. I could feel both.

The first was a soldier. Her shirt was open, and her shapely breasts were hanging free, nipples shockingly erect. She wasn't wearing breeches, either. She slid behind me, and slammed the bolt on the door.

The second woman was lying on the bed, completely naked. I recognized her instantly, though we'd only met once before, very briefly.

It was Princess Maia Ariana, the Queen's older sister.

And she was in full hemmer.

I was in trouble. Big trouble. Maia Ariana's scent was excruciating, in this confined space. With the other female's potent aura backing hers, it's a wonder that I didn't immediately tear my clothes off and leap on either one of them.

There were three things going for me, though. First, I'd been expecting to see Themis. My thoughts were geared towards ... well, not romance, exactly ... but, tender feelings, rather than raw arousal.

Second, I'd already had a good look at Maia Ariana. The Queen's elder sister was blonde, with hair the colour of sunlight. She had nice pert breasts, with hard nipples.

But her nose was a bit puffy, she had thick, sensuous lips, and her eyes were just a little too close together. You could say that she was cute. But if she'd been in Homer's epic, her face wouldn't have launched more than two or three ships.

I also knew, from Kanitz, that this Princess was thick as a post. Conspiracies swirled around her, but Ariana didn't lead any of them - the plotters always planned to use her.

The third, and perhaps decisive factor that saved me was Koroba. She'd drained me. I was physically and mentally exhausted - and sexually depleted.

I was, incredibly, only half-hard. That helped me to keep my wits.

There were only a few moments for me to act, though, or I might have succumbed anyway. I bent over, and yanked the sheet out from under the mattress. Then I flipped it over Maia Ariana. I could still smell and sense her, but not having to look at her naked body helped - a little.

- "No!" shrieked the second woman. "She wants you!"

I'm not proud of it, but I took hold of the soldier's wrist, and twisted. She fell to the floor, shrieking again - this time in pain.

I could still sense arousal - but her pain seemed to cloud it. Maia Ariana was tangled in the blanket and the sheet. I rolled her up in them like a carpet, and then knotted the ends around her feet. I was fully aware that just under these fabrics was a female in hemmer, who would be only too happy to have me unwrap her - and then penetrate her.

But I was thinking of Themis, and Koroba. That helped a bit. So did the sounds of a scuffle in the hallway outside. They were muffled by the thickness of the door, but I was fairly certain that my bodyguards were still fighting.

I tore a pillowcase to shreds, and used it to tie the injured soldier's wrists together. Another pillowcase went over her head.

- "No! No ... Fuck her! She wants it!"

- "Yes - fuck me!" said Ariana. "I want it!"

I gagged them both with strips of another pillowcase. Honestly? I was tempted to bend the soldier over the bed, and fuck her.

The fight in the hall seemed to have subsided, very suddenly. That might mean that my bodyguards had been overwhelmed.

Then I heard pounding on the door.

I had no way of knowing who was out there. But that was my only exit, and the farther I got from this room, the better. It might also be Ishana and Nasta, trying to get to me. So I slid back the bolt, and yanked the door open.

- "You see?" shouted a voice that I recognized.

General Vis. From the look on her face, she'd been expecting to see something other than me standing in the doorway - with my clothes still on.

And next to her stood Princess Maia Simonia. My Themis.

***

General Vis was slow to react. She seemed confused, somehow unable to understand what had happened. Or what hadn't happened.

- "Your sister is here, Highness." I said. "With another woman. They're both in hemmer. I was lured here, under false pretences."

Themis was no fool. She also trusted me - there was no way that I would deliberately mislead her.

"May I suggest that you call for some reliable guards? Better if you know them personally. I can't vouch for any of the ones behind you, except my bodyguards."

General Vis' mouth was working, like a fish, but no words came out.

Vayla was quicker to react. She made a dash for it.

There were more guards in the hallway. Themis had her own trusted bodyguards with her. One of them neatly clotheslined Vayla as she tried to rush past, then dragged her to the floor.

- "STAND!" shouted Princess Maia Simonia.

Everyone froze. It was the first time I'd heard her 'authority' voice - and I was impressed.

- "No one moves - until I find out what is going on here."

She took charge. In quick order, she had Vayla, General Vis, and three other guards inside the room with her sister, still wrapped in her cocoon. With the door closed on them, I felt significantly safer.

Themis sent one of her guards to find Kanitz. Then she sent Ishana to bring back some more reliable Palace Guards. Nasta was still a bit woozy, from a blow to the head.

The Princess took me aside.

- "What is this? What's going on?" she whispered.

I kept my voice low. There were two of her guards only ten feet away, glaring at me.

- "I was lured here. Ensign Vayla told me that 'the Princess' wanted to speak with me."

- "You thought it was me? Oh, no! D'you think they know?"

- "No. They relied on my snobbery. If I'd asked, I think they would have told me that Maia Ariana wanted to see me."

- "She's in hemmer!"

- "I didn't know that. Is that why she wasn't at the boat party?"

- "Kanitz was right." said Themis "You are a babe in the woods."

- "How so?"

- "Do you really believe that I would send for you on my wedding night, Cook?"

- "Well, it was ... unlikely. I knew that."

- "General Vis told me that there was a problem with my sister. One that required my immediate intervention. She could have approached Kanitz, of course, but there's bad blood between them, now, so her request didn't strike me as too odd."

"Now I understand: they meant to open the door, and have me see you ... with my sister."

- "Bad." I said.

Themis looked me in the eye. "It would have been the end of you, Cook."

***

Kanitz was incandescent with rage.

- "Tell me again! From the beginning!" she shouted.

Themis was right. I'd originally thought that this was a plot to discredit me. It was much, much more than that.

Princess Ariana would have been humiliated. Of course, that wouldn't mean much to anyone who knew her: she was widely considered a complete ditz. That was why the majority of the nobles had chosen Maia Matila, the second daughter, to be their Queen.

It was also a blow at the Crown. For this scandal to erupt on the Queen's and her younger sister's wedding nights ... it would have been seen as the worst possible omen.

Everyone would have questioned her judgment. How could she have trusted a sly, sneaky rapist like me? If you judge a person by the company they keep, it would've gone hard on the Queen ... and on Kanitz.

But it would have been worse for me.

- "We'd have had no choice but to execute you." said Kanitz.

- "Really?"

- "Of course, you idiot! What possessed you to follow this ensign?"

- "Vayla?"

- "Whatever her name is! You didn't even know her! Yet you followed her - to your doom!"

- "He saved us, Kanitz." said Themis, quietly.

- "By ... by pure luck!"

- "May I have a word with Cook?" said the Princess. "In private?"

Kanitz threw up her hands, in exasperation. But she did leave us alone.

Themis sat down next to me, and took my face between her hands.

"You have to be more careful, my love. Kanitz does everything she can to keep you alive, but you have to help her, a little."

"Tonight could have been a disaster for my sister. The Queen, I mean."

"But it could also have been the end of all my hopes, as well."

- "Your hopes?"

Themis sat back. "I have to give my husband a child. A daughter, ideally, who will inherit his lands. I may need to produce two daughters, just to be safe."

"But after that ... I want you again. I want to feel like I did with you, outside Tonol."

I didn't trust myself to speak.

"Can you wait that long, my love? It could take four or five years ... or even longer."

- "I ... didn't ... know ..."

She reached up, to touch my cheek.

- "How could you doubt it? Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. If we can be together again - I know that we'll be much older by then ... but my feelings really haven't changed. I still want you."

My eyes were wet, and I felt a tear trickle down my cheek.

Themis slid a little closer, and took me in her arms.

***

I'm told that the wedding was a success. Some people wondered about the absences, for a time, of Princess Maia Simonia, and Chancellor Kanitz.

The Queen was very unhappy, when she heard the whole story. At times like these, she probably wished that she was an absolute despot - with the power to order the execution of wrongdoers.

But the Westrons were more civilized than that: they had courts, and judges, who jealously guarded their powers from royal interference. Nothing could be more guaranteed to unite the nobility in opposition to the Crown than to arbitrarily execute one of their number.

A public trial, though, could be very embarrassing for the Royal Family. The salacious nature of the plots could cause a scandal, almost as surely as if they had succeeded. Besides, trials like these could go on for a year, or more - by which time people might forget about the perpetrators entirely, and focus only on the titillating details.

The Queen found her options quite limited. It was a frustrating and potentially dangerous situation to be in. So much so, that she convoked the Council of the Blue Chamber.

Tallia and Esyle had no idea what that was. Their mother, Tisucha, had to explain it.

- "No one knows who came up with idea of a Council - or even who the original members were. But the King - oh, yes, it began centuries ago - felt that he needed the support and approval of the most powerful nobles in the realm."

"For some reason, he chose sixteen people - some say that was the number who could fit into the chamber comfortably. Others suggest that the King wanted an even number, so that he himself could cast the deciding vote."

"Legend has it that he invited his brother, and eight of the greatest, most powerful nobles of the Kingdom. Three successful generals, who had won a battle. The final four were commoners: men of honour, though, renowned for their integrity."

- "Commoners?" said Tallia. Clearly she and her sister hadn't heard this story before.

Tisucha didn't ignore the interruption. She simply stared down her eldest daughter, as she had a thousand times before.

- "The decision they had to make was enormously difficult. The King's brother had plotted to assassinate him. The King wanted advice on how to deal with him."

- "Wait." said Esyle. "Who did the King invite to the chamber? The brother who'd tried to kill him? Or another ...?"

- "And why is called the Blue Chamber?" asked Tallia.

- "The dominant colour in the floor tiles was blue." said Tisucha. "As for whether the brother who attended was the accused assassin ... it was never officially recorded."

"Why can't the two of you just keep quiet and listen - as Cook does?"

There was more to the story. But the ending came as a surprise: the King had his wayward brother executed - with the support of the Council of the Blue Chamber.

***

- "There was no real way to keep the identities of the Councillors a secret." said Kanitz. "They came to the Palace on six separate occasions, and the proceedings lasted all day - sometimes well into the evening. The whole process took almost a month."

We were ensconced in her private apartments, with a bottle of wine between us, as the Queen's Chancellor explained to me what had happened - and why.

Basically, she felt the need to bare her soul, to tell me the truth about the whole affair. I suspected that she also sought my approval, or at least my assurance that they had done the right thing, in the right manner.