Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter 2
Cori descended the north tower stairs holding the hem of her dress high in order to move as quickly as possible. She knew she had taken too long getting to the dinner with her parents and newly arrived guests. She vaulted down the last two stone steps, a most unladylike move and then ran into the main hall where her parents were holding a dinner for the guests. She turned the corner, her chest heaving, out of breath as her parents looked up and spotted her. She skidded to a stop and tried to calm her breathing. Her father failed to hide his smile while her mother did nothing to hide her scowl. Taking her time and holding the hem of her dress up just slightly, she stepped down the wide stairs into the Westgate great hall. Looking around the room, she saw the onlooking guests and visitors watching her approach the head table. Cori curtsied to her parents who returned her curtsy with a nod of their heads and then she rounded the head table and took her seat at the end.
Her brother Jonathan leaned over to her from his seat next to Cori. “Nicely done, sister. You managed to not only make an entrance but also to embarrass mother in front of the King’s emissary.”
“Oh, hush,” she whispered back to him as she settled the cloth napkin in her lap. “You know how I hate dressing in court attire. You have it easy. You have that robe and a bare rope to tie it at your waist. I have nearly one hundred buttons running up the back of this thing. It took Cecily ten minutes to do them all.”
“You should not mock a man of God, little sister,” Jonathan said as he passed her the plate of sliced beef.
“You should not tease your little sister,” she shot back. “Isn’t that a sin or something?”
“Failing to honor your mother is a sin as well, sister. I’ll ask for forgiveness for both of us in my evening prayers.” He took the plate of beef back from her when she had served herself and passed her the roasted potatoes. “How was your hunt? Was it worth it?”
“I brought down a mountain cat with two shots,” Cori announced.
Her brother, the monk, almost choked on a mouthful of beef. “Don’t let mother hear you were hunting mountain cats. She’ll never let you go out on a hunt again.”
“I wasn’t hunting the cat,” she said, getting excited. “We were both hunting the same prey. I had stalked a doe and fawn to a clearing and then saw the cat. Besides, Dad would be glad I rid the farm holds of a dangerous predator. I passed two flocks of sheep, not a mile from where I shot the big cat.”
“Cori the huntress does it again, eh?” Jonathan said with a smile. “Saving the farmers, one rogue predator at a time.” He raised his goblet to her.
Cori smiled at her older brother’s praise. All four of her older brothers teased her, but she knew they were proud of her as well. She was a better shot with a bow than all except, perhaps, Logan. The second eldest of her brothers, he lived in the forests of the northern reaches most of the time in his capacity as a ranger and border guardian. Her eldest brother, Rad, was a member of the King’s Heavy Horse Guards and rarely home, but when he was, he enjoyed telling Cori of his time in the forces of the King at the capital with all the pomp and circumstance that accompanied it. Jonathan was the only brother close to home now as his monastery overlooked the bay across the harbor from the Westgate Castle. Hartwell, the youngest of her older brothers, was now a squire in the king’s service and also at the capital with Rad. He had been gone for just over a year and a half, and she missed him as the closest in age to her at seventeen years.
She continued her meal, talking with Jonathan about his studies in the monastery while she looked out over the manor hall. The tables were set in a U-shape with the head table set as the base of the U and the two parallel rows of tables extending outward from it towards the broad double doors through which she had made her entrance earlier. In the center was an open area with a place for occasional dancers and other entertainers who traveled the kingdom. There was now a small group of musicians with a lively jig of fiddle, guitar and drum music that had her tapping her toe under the table as she ate. Her father liked to support the entertainers who traveled through here, a fact that was well known to them. It kept a lively group of musicians and acrobats staying within the town below the castle in hopes of getting the chance to perform for the Lord of the castle above.
She looked to her right from her spot at the end of the head table past Jonathan and the several merchants who were lucky enough to sit up here with the family and tried to see the guests and emissaries from the king in Rhodes. It must be something important to justify more than just a courier. To send a formal representative all the way to Westgate meant that the king wanted more than a response to a written note from Lord Radnor, her father. Her father and mother sat at the center of the head table. Her mother looked regal as she ever did. There was not a hair out of place, and she looked as lovely and stately as ever. Cori secretly envied her mother’s way of always appearing perfect in whatever outfit she showed up in. She knew it was because of her mother’s hard work maintaining appearances even here in the outlying lands of the kingdom. She had married Lord Radnor after meeting him in the capital on one of his many trips there many years before and since moving here, had striven to bring a taste of the capital’s elegance and beauty to the western provincial seat.
Next to her mother sat her father, who wore his customary fur-trimmed cloak and the golden chain of office around his neck that marked him as Lord of the Northern Reaches of the Kingdom of Rhodes. Rhodes was the western-most of the four free kingdoms of the west. To the east were Padon, Theron, and Verona. To the east of the Verona was the Phutan Empire, from which the Free Kingdoms had won their freedom one hundred years before. There was still tension on the borders of Verona where it met the Empire. The war, however, was largely a thing of the past as merchants from the Empire now freely traveled the lands of the Free Kingdoms. Some of them coming even as far west as Westgate to show their silks, jewelry, spices and other wares from the distant eastern lands.
She craned her neck, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of the emissaries seated to her father’s right. She might recognize them, and that might tell her what the news might be that her father had received. Usually, it was the trade minister of one faction or another when an emissary was required, discussing the fur trade or the maritime protection for traders up the coast and to the western islands. She gasped when she saw who it was seated next to her father. Lord Radnor laughed and leaned back in his seat revealing Lord Dunbar, the king’s minister of war. She had met him only once before on a trip to the city of Rhodes to see the capital on one of her father’s state visits there. Lord Dunbar had never traveled out this far before, and it was unusual to see him here in the western reaches. She knew of no trouble with the northern tribes closest to the province of Solon that would warrant the war minister to come all the way out here. It must be trouble on one of the other frontiers. Now she wished she had been around the castle earlier today, instead of out on the hunt. Had she been home, she might have caught some of the gossip from the servants who always seemed to know what was going on before anyone other than her father and mother.
She knew her mother would never allow her father to interrupt a good feast with business before the meal was completed, so Cori resigned herself to speculation in her mind of what the arrival of the war minister meant here on the frontier. She considered asking Jonathan, but he wouldn’t know anything. He had likely come over for the feast from the monastery right before the meal, interrupting his studies only when he had to leave. The monks of the Westgate Monastery were of the order of Llorenc and studied the mystical healing arts and spells that had made their order famous across the lands. There was a chapter in nearly every large city, and it was a thing of pride to her father that a Llorencian monastery graced the town of Westgate. Indeed, it was the monks of the monastery that kept diseases under control with their lessons on cleanliness and public health. Cori couldn’t understand what drew Jonathan to such pursuits, but she also knew that as a younger brother of a noble family, he would not inherit, and it was not uncommon for others like him to seek out holy orders. She knew her brother had become a proficient healer in his own right, and his studies of the mystical arts of Llorenc were only interrupted by their mother’s demands that he join the family several times a week for a meal so she could see him. The Abbot allowed the frequent visitation to continue the family’s support of the order in Westgate and Cori also believed because he hated leaving the monastery himself. She had met the Abbot on several occasions when he had been required to attend in person, and she knew from his ink-stained hands that he preferred his life behind the cloistered doors of the monastery away from others where he could concentrate on his studies.
Cori was taken away from her speculations on why Lord Dunbar was here by the arrival of the pudding. The arrival of dessert meant that the time was almost here for the announcement of the news from the King. Whatever it was, Cori could hardly wait. News from the capital was always greatly anticipated by the residents of the outlying regions because that was also how they learned of the goings on in the rest of the world, the four kingdoms and beyond to the great Empire of the East. As she dug into her pudding, sweetened with honey and a hint of vanilla and nutmeg, she knew that the news must be important indeed. Her mother had gotten the cook to pull out the precious Eastern spices from the Empire. She rarely tasted vanilla or nutmeg or anything of the western spices except when special guests arrived and the sweet, spiced dessert was a treat.
Finally, her father set his empty goblet down with an audible thump and then rapped the base of it against the table several times like a magistrate’s gavel. He stood and looked around the room for a moment before continuing. Cori sat on the edge of her seat, prepared to catch every single word from her father.
“My lords and ladies, esteemed merchants and noble guests,” Lord Radnor began. “I have called this feast on short notice today based on the arrival this afternoon of Lord Dunbar, emissary from King Edgard and Queen Adelaida in Rhodes. As many of you know, Lord Dunbar is the minister of war and a close advisor to the King. His travel here to the western provinces is both welcomed and long awaited. Unfortunately, he does not come on a mere review of the defenses of the northern and western marches. His arrival signals the news of an impending war.”
A murmur of voices passed through the hall while Lord Radnor paused to let that news sink in with his audience. Cori looked at Jonathan and their eyes met. She saw worry in his eyes but knew that hers held only excitement at the prospect of war. This would be amazing news indeed. But war with whom and why? She returned her attention to her father as he continued as the rest of the hall calmed down again to listen to his announcement.
“Imperial forces from the east have invaded our sister kingdom of Verona,” Lord Radnor continued. “The emperor wishes to force us to join his empire as his grandfather once did. He tried to do so through marriage of his son with Princess Kalila of Verona. When King Aran and Queen Christina of Verona refuse the offer of the hand in marriage of an imperial prince, the emperor took offense and decided to force the issue. Imperial cavalry swept around and cut off the capital city, Veron. Other military units including pike regiments from the Empire have now marched into Verona and are capturing and enslaving the populace of the countryside. We have received no word from Veron for several weeks, but merchants reported that the city still held out against the siege a few weeks ago.” Again Lord Radnor paused to let the news of the invasion sink in before continuing. “The King and Queen in Rhodes, in recognition of our mutual defense treaty with all of the Free Kingdoms, have issued the order to mobilize our kingdom’s levies. That includes the militia and levies here in Solon. Lord Dunbar also wishes to raise the Legion of Solon again to act as the scouts and rangers for the forces deployed in the field by the kingdom. I have sent for my son Logan in the north, to take up the role I once held as the commander of the Legion. He will gather recruits from among the foresters and rangers of the borderlands and bring them here before marching to join the king’s forces in Rhodes. I will be forming our remaining militia of pikemen along with our own Westgate mounted men-at-arms to join the king as well. I urge all able-bodied young men and women to consider joining the militia levies as we march to defend our cousins to the east from this unprovoked imperial aggression. We will, of course, maintain a force on the northern border to keep the tribes of the north at bay, but all others who can be spared will be sent east to the defense of Verona.” Cori watched as her father raised his goblet to the assembled guests and toasted to the coming war. “To the King, the Queen, and to victory!”
The guests at the lower and head table stood on their feet with a cheer and repeated the toast, raising their own drinking vessels and downing the contents. There was a lot of activity then as Cori heard those nearest her talking of their plans to join the militia or, for the lesser nobles, to gather their own mounted men-at-arms to join their Lord on the march. She felt the tingle of excitement deep inside. She knew that she must join the cause as well and knew what it was that she wanted to do. She would join her brother Logan in the Legion of Solon and march to war with her brothers and father.
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Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!