NaNoWriMo 2005: 29105 Words (Or, A Good Place to Pause)

Pearl spent the rest of the day exploring the Palace. It was easy, she found, to move about there; everyone mistook her for a servant girl. Actually, she spent part of the day exploring the Palace, and the rest of the day lost in it. She had never dreamed that one building could be so big-- and to think that people lived there! As she went wandering through room after room, Pearl saw some of the most lavish objects she'd ever dreamed of. There was one room that was entirely filled with books, and in her mind she added learning to read to the list of things she wished to ask Lord Talwyr and Lady Celwyn to teach her.

She might have been lost for the night, not knowing how to get back to the room that had been designated for the time as hers, but finally Lord Talwyr found her. He was coming out of a very dark room, but there must have been someone inside, because Pearl could see candles glowing through the doorway before the old wizard firmly shut the door behind him. He appeared preoccupied with serious matters, but as he looked down on her, his face softened.

"Well, Pearl, and what are you doing in this part of the Palace?"

"I got lost," she confessed. "And I was afraid. Lord Maddeg is here."

"Yes, but he leaves first thing in the morning." This was the most welcome news Pearl could have hoped for, and as Talwyr escorted her back to her room, she was smiling.

The next morning she sought Bhodi out immediately. As she passed the room that yesterday had housed the unwelcome specter of Lord Maddeg, she peeked in and saw with satisfaction that it was indeed empty now. Adding to this the fact that Bhodi was up and about today, she could not have been happier. The boy immediately accepted her proposal to show him around the Palace, as she had taken quite and extensive tour already and knew all the fine points. Pearl had intended to ask a lot of questions today-- whether he was indeed from beyond the borders, if he knew what the borders were, if he was the son of a God. She did not think that Bhodi could have been a God himself, but maybe he was the son of one and did not know it. Somehow, though, all of this was forgotten in a wild, shrieking, laughing game of tag all throughout the spacious and stately corridors. There didn't seem to be many people about this day, which made it all the easier.

And which made it all the more startling when, running into the book room to hide, Pearl came face to face with a somber-looking young man. Bhodi came barelling in behind her, and also stopped short. The young man, really little more than a boy, did little to acknowledge their presence. He sat slumped in a chair, his grey-blue eyes staring into space. His hair was dark, his face pale and very young. Pearl and Bhodi looked at each other.

"Hello," Pearl ventured.

"What's your name?" Bhodi asked.

Now he did look at them, surprise and a little interest stealing onto his face. "Who in Gwyddon's name are you?"

Pearl was about to answer, but Bhodi beat her to it. "Hey, we asked you first."
"I'm Emryn." He smiled a little, sadly, as though he regretted his identity. Pearl's eyes went wide.

Bhodi, on the other hand, went on with the conversation. "I'm Bhodi, and this is Pearl. What're you doing in here all by yourself?"

Pearl nudged him frantically, but he only gave her a confused look.

"Oh, I'm... waiting for someone, actually," Emryn replied. There was a brief pause. "My, um... my father just died, last night or this morning."

Bhodi lost his smile. "Gosh, I'm sorry."

In spite of herself, Pearl heard the words, "Your father is dead?" come in a whisper from between her lips.

He nodded. Bhodi turned and noted, at last, the look on Pearl's face.

"You know him or something?"

"Bhodi!" she exclaimed, still in that strained whisper, "It's Prince Emryn!"

The boy raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a single word out, the door opened. Lord Talwyr walked in.

"Ah," he said, smiling pleasantly. "You've made friends."

"Lord Talwyr!" Pearl went to the old wizard, wringing her hands. "The King--"

"Yes," and in an instant his voice had become very heavy. "So, you have heard. Do not be afraid to speak in front of these children, my Prince." He bowed, and Pearl followed suit, executing her best curtsy. Bhodi, still unsure, nevertheless, attempted an awkward bow. "For their safety, I would prefer to keep them with me at this time."

"Their safety?" Emryn asked incredulously.

"Yes. There is, after all, at least one murderer about."

"Murderer?"

Talwyr nodded. "Your father, Emryn, was poisoned."

At this the young prince turned his back abruptly, gesturing in anger. "That is untrue, and you know it is untrue! My father was an old, sick man! That's all there is to this, that is all!"

"I wish it were so, Emryn, believe me. And I am sorry to bring this added pain to your grief."

"I grieve still for my mother, I grieve for a father I scarcely knew, and I grieve because his death has thrust this..." he waved his hands, "all of this, upon me!"

"What have I to gain from lying to you?" The wizard's voice remained calm and gentle. "I spoke to your father last night, and he had resolved to live. This day he is dead; I have examined him, it is poison. And now whoever has done this will be after you."

Emryn lowered his voice. "I am well aware that there are many who do not want me to come to the throne. Hear me now, wizard, and let it be known to all the Kingdom that I am one of them!"

And now Talwyr grew cross. He drew himself up with all of the majesty of the power he wielded and when he spoke his words could have come directly from the Gods. "Would you throw away your birthright and your Kingdom and the lives of your people so freely? Would you so disgrace your parents' memory?"

The prince was not immune to the force of Talwyr's presence. He backed away, looking frightened now and even younger than he had seemed before. In the whispered voice of a child, he said, "I don't want it. I never have wanted it. I'm not ready, Lord Talwyr!"

"Whether or not you are ready," Talwyr was back to his gentle tone, "it has come to you now."

"What shall I do?" Emryn was pleading now.

"What," Talwyr asked him, "do you believe to be right?"

"Wait," Emryn sighed, "and see if I am to be crowned, I think. If I am not, they may not..." he broke off, unable to complete the thought. "Lord, who has done this? Who could have killed my father?"

Talwyr shook his head. "I wish I knew."

"Lord Maddeg." Talwyr and Emryn had evidently forgotten Pearl and Bhodi, but the children were still standing there, staring agape at these two powerful people arguing about powerful things, and now Pearl finally spoke up. "Lord Maddeg could have done it."

"The high priest?" Emryn asked incredulously. "No, he's my kinsman, my mother's uncle, and he's always supported us. Having us in power only makes him more powerful-- Why am I even taking seriously an accusation made by a little girl?"

"He tried to kill me," Pearl answered solemnly. That stopped Prince Emryn short.
Lord Talwyr didn't tell her she was wrong. He only said, "Perhaps. There are many possibilities, Pearl."

Bhodi said, "What is going on? Somebody please tell me, please-- Where am I?"

Talwyr took him by the hand which was not still in the sling. "I am sorry. This should have been explained to you earlier, but I have been busy, and I apologize. No doubt Niama wanted to tell you, but I insisted that I should, and now I shall. You are still on Dybera, Bhodi, but a very remote part of Dybera."

"Remote," Bhodi mumbled. "Right."

"More will be explained as it becomes necessary."

"This," Emryn suddenly focused on Bhodi anew. "Is the boy?"

"It is," Talwyr replied.

The prince studied the boy for a moment. "What is to happen to him?"

"That, I believe, will be for you to decide. Until tonight, my Prince."

Talwyr bowed and escorted the children from the room.

***
As the sun set, Corbin sat on the bed of the Palace chamber he had been given to share with Niama and Nieve while they stayed there, and sharpened his sword. Lord Talwyr had told him to be mindful, and he knew what that meant. There was going to be trouble, and it was going to be tonight. He had already seen to it that he would be put on guard at the meeting of the High Council. There, he would protect Prince Emryn.

He would have to. The King and Queen were both dead; what choice did they have now, save civil war? Sir Corbin's family had served this house of kings for almost more generations than he could count. Not only was he sworn to protect the last of the royal line, he would do so willingly, and even gladly. This was the way of a knight.
Niama did not see it this way. He could see in the distracted way she moved about the chamber soothing the baby that she was worried about him. When he tried to speak to her about it, to reassure her, she snapped at him.

"Is my love not enough? Why will you put yourself in danger this way, why will you leave me alone-- and not just me, but our child?"

"Because I love the Kingdom, too," he told her. "Because I love the Kingdom I will fight for it, but I will not leave you. I promise. I could never." He took her in his arms. "I am not in danger tonight, my love. This is only a cloak-and-dagger affair, simple as knocking a blade from some blackguard's hand."

"If you get involved in this..." she said darkly. "You don't understand what power the Dyberans have. You've seen a few of their ships, yes, but not everything they have to muster against us. If you put yourself in their way, I fear they will kill you."

"Then I will die in the service of the Kingdom. I will die for the prince." He held her close. "I will die so that Nieve can grow up safely, in a world without fear and with all the beauty and magic of the Kingdom about her. I do not fear these Dyberans, nor anything they can summon against me."

Niama looked up at him with eyes brimming with tears, though he almost never saw her cry. "I do fear them. Please be careful."

***
The Great Hall of the Palace was a vast room of tapestries and vaulted ceilings. All around the long table the High Council sat, with Prince Emryn at their head. To his right was Lord Talwyr, and to his left, Lord Maddeg. Maddeg had had to be summoned back immediately when it was discovered that the King had died in the night. He was to be buried at dawn, but Lord Maddeg was needed, as one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom, for the deliberation that must now take place over who was to succeed Perrian as King.

If not Emryn, then who? He was the King's son and heir, though he was young. The only way in which the throne would not fall to him would be in the event of his stepping down, abdicating in favor of... whom?

"I will not follow him," a grey-bearded lord proclaimed. "I am sorry, Prince Emryn. I followed your grandfather and your father and even your mother, yes, even though she was not born of the royal blood. But I will not pledge my allegiance to a mere boy, who has never had experience at leading men."

"Leading men against what?" a younger man seated at the table asked. "There has been no war in the Kingdom since before King Perrian's time."

"But," a self-possessed, dark-haired and -bearded man said, "what about Lord Maddeg's prophecy?"

All heads turned to the high priest. Murmurs went along the table to the general effect of, "Yes, what of that? Is it true?"

Maddeg silenced them all with the gesture of a raised hand. "My lords, why must we squabble in this manner? There was a prophecy, it is true, made by one of the priestesses in my Temple. I heard it uttered myself. But such things are only words, my lords, which need not concern us here. I am sure the fate of the Kingdom is perfectly safe in the young Prince's hands... despite what might have been said. I'm sure Prince Emryn can handle any... events which may take place in the near future. Of course, they may not happen at all."

There was more dark muttering. Emryn looked slightly sick.

"I agree," Talwyr said. But his tone said something very different than Maddeg's had. "I might add, however, that Lord Maddeg alone is not responsible for the affairs of the Temple. I know that my authority does not extend so far, but perhaps we should wait until Lady Celwyn gets here..."

"Nonsense," Maddeg snapped. "We cannot delay these proceedings so long."

But there were words of agreement up and down the table for Talwyr's proposal: "Yes, let the Lady come. The Lady ought to be here. We can wait."

"No, we must not lose momentum, we must resolve this--" Maddeg started to say.
Then a scuffle broke out along one of the walls, and three guards rushed at the head of the table from opposite directions. Their swords were drawn, and each had a dagger in his other hand.

***
Emryn stood, knocking his chair back behind him, as Talwyr rushed to his side. To the left, the wizard could see Corbin struggling with a fourth assassin. The knight had knocked the sword from the guard's hand and was gripping the wrist that held the knife, holding it back. He had raised his own sword to strike the fatal blow, but the guard was using his empty hand to force Corbin's arm back. Several of the councilors at the long table, trained from their youths in arms, had instinctively rushed the remaining three assassins, and while a group had succeeded in holding one back, the other two were slashing at the unarmed nobles, running them through with their sword points, and still coming with deadly speed to the head of the table. Talwyr knew that he had little choice as to what he must now do.

The aged wizard extended one hand and let forth a burst of power, of energy almost electric in nature, at the oncoming guards, knocking one of them onto his back and sending the other wheeling back into the wall. Corbin, having at last won the struggle with the first assassin, now rushed across the hall toward this one, leaping over and through the press of bodies.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Talwyr took Prince Emryn by the arm in a grip surprisingly strong and pulled him toward the nearest door. The Prince did not resist, but allowed himself to be dragged along. At the door, to Emryn's confusion, they stopped, and Talwyr nodded down toward the floor, saying, "Come. Quickly." The Prince looked down into the faces of the two terrified children, huddled by the door where no one had noticed them watching the proceedings-- where no one would ever have noticed them save Talwyr. Bhodi and Pearl scrambled to their feet and hurried with the wizard and the prince out the door of the Great Hall.

The four of them ran, Talwyr leading, down endless dark corridors, through dust-filled rooms that might not have been used for centuries. The children gasped and panted with the effort of keeping up, but Talwyr had set a pace that could just accommodate them. He did not remove his iron grip from Emryn’s arm. Pearl and Bhodi, as they ran, exchanged fearful glances. They had only been curious to see the Great Hall and the wise councilors and, besides, Bhodi had expressed reluctance to believe that Emryn was a real prince. They had found the hall, located as it was in the center of the Palace, and had snuck in, crouching low to the stone floor, not worthy of notice to anyone assembled there for the meeting.

Then, all at once, terrible, confusing things had begun to happen. There had been noise and shouting, and everyone had sprung to their feet. Pearl and Bhodi saw the men running at Emryn, but Pearl hadn’t been able to understand what it could mean until Talwyr had stood protectively in front of the Prince and, in a show of magic which had made her gasp, kept them away. Then they’d seen the councilors pierced with swords and fall, blood on their clothes, and they’d heard the horrible screams of dying men. And still they were unable to move until Talwyr, like a burst of light in his white robes, came to them and awakened them from their immobile stupor.

Without thinking, at first, they’d followed him. But now Pearl was thinking, and there were many questions she needed to ask and doubted Lord Talwyr would answer. Now was not the time for questions. Now was the time for running.

But when Pearl and Bhodi looked at each other, the silent question that passed between them was, How much trouble have we gotten ourselves into?

It was strange, really. Neither sought to blame the other-- this was too big for that. Already they were in this together, despite not knowing what exactly “this” might be.

At a crossroads in the maze of halls, a distant light flooded into their path, and voices could be heard. Talwyr pulled them up against a wall until the voices and footsteps echoed into silence. Then they ran on. But Pearl’s impatience had overcome her sense of propriety.

“Lord Talwyr, where are we going? What’s happening?”

“Not the time Pearl,” the wizard muttered distractedly. “No time for questions now.”
Pearl obediently shut her mouth, but Emryn, who had been trailing along in a sort of wide-eyed shock, at last dug his heels into the flagstones, causing the party to halt.

“No, the girl is right,” he said quietly. “I am the prince. I want to know what is happening.” He drew himself up. “I demand to know what is happening.”

“Very well, my lord,” Talwyr answered, and his voice was quiet and strained. “I should have thought it would be clear, but nevermind. Whoever killed your father now wants you also dead. He is not bothering to make it look like an accident, which I had not expected. You are in immediate danger. An attempt has just been made on your life. We are escaping.” The wizard took off down the hallway again.

“What about us?” Bhodi called after him.

“You are in danger, too,” he replied.

“Why?” the boy persisted.

They could see Talwyr ahead of them shake his head. “No time for explanations now.”
After a short time, Emryn pointed out, “We are going in circles.”

“Yes. We are putting them off the trail. We are almost there.”

No one bothered to ask where “there” was. But a moment later Talwyr slowed down, pausing before each closed door they passed, studying it briefly, and then moving on. Under his breath he could be heard saying, “No... no, not quite... this one? No.” Until finally, in front of a plain, splintered wooden door that looked no different from the last eight plain, splintered wooden doors, he stopped.

He said, “Yes.”

Talwyr opened the door, and the others wordlessly followed him through it. They emerged into moonlight, in what looked like a deserted piece of garden, a spot which had been overlooked by the tenders of the Palace gardens for some time. It was narrow, and overgrown, and across the narrow space was a wall. It looked, Pearl thought, somewhat like the border walls all around the Kingdom. Except set into this one was another plain, wooden door.

Talwyr turned to Emryn. “My prince, do you know where we are?”

Emryn looked stricken. “The doors. I’ve heard my parents talk of the doors, when I was little but I never... they never told me... but that’s what this is, isn’t it? Where does it go?”

Talwyr sighed. “I had wanted your father to speak with you about this before... but, things being as they are...” He eyed Emryn. “How much have you heard?”

“That there are doors,” Emryn spoke slowly, reaching far back into his memory. “And that they go... somewhere. Mother always told me that if I was ever in danger I should have you help me find the doors.”

“And now,” Talwyr said, “though I regret it, that time has come.”

Struggling against the overgrowth, the old wizard yanked the door open. It stuck once or twice, but at last, with creaking hinges, it opened wide to reveal... somewhere.





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