4
War
Princess Jarolyn holds both my hands in hers. "I'd never believe that you could ever wish harm to befall me, Tomas. My Mother, all my sisters, they should have trusted you."
"Those were not normal times. First, you disappeared without trace, then all the royal party disappeared, bar two that … somehow escaped … the rest were never seen again. The ransom demand came as soon as they were taken, General Drix demanded that we allow the Republic to occupy all Six Minor Kingdoms and cede the whole of the Eastern Province, where most of the watermills and the lushest forests were, as part of Drix's Republic.
"My Lord Alderlea was summonsed back from retirement, remember he retired only months before you disappeared?; strangely I've just heard that his Manor House has been empty for 20 years. I wonder where he went? Anyway an army was assembled with the loyal Lord once more at its head as General. He asked for me as soon as he returned, after discovering that I was not listed among the missing in the Royal Wedding Party, and had me released from prison. He even made me his Sergeant-at-Arms, the highest rank a non-knight could be appointed. But, two weeks later, as the Army was still preparing for the march, your sister Princess Marija and the Prince Qinocci arrived at the Palace, having escaped from General Drix."
"How did they escape?"
"Indirectly I heard it from Lord Alderlea. Princess Marija told the Queen's Council that the Republican General invited her and her fiancé to supper, during which he offered them the crown of Exonibia, as all of Qinocci's family had been executed. They were offered this reward if the Princess would ride with a Republican guard escort to plead with the Queen's Council to agree fully to the terms of the ransom and thus avoid war. Marija said that at the supper, Qinocci snatched up a dining knife and cut the General's throat with it, before using the General's own sword to fight off the guards long enough for them to manage their escape."
"And the Council believed that dragon poop?" Jarolyn shook her head in disbelieve.
"They had no choice. The Queendom has lacked leadership ever since Queen Sharma disappeared."
"And you believed Marija?"
"His Lordship and I agreed that the whole story smelled of ox dung, Qinocci couldn't fight off a butterfly. But the Council did cede to the Republic's demands, surrendering the Eastern Province on a six-months' programme to allow our people to move out. But no-one from the Royal party was returned and after about six months waiting their release, the Army finally marched on Exonibia."
"And they found the Queen and my other sisters?"
"No, the Republic put up a token resistance for three years but indeed they were leaderless themselves for some time, so there was truth in part of the story, but of the Queen, the Princesses, the entourage and the Exonibian Royal Family? Nothing, not one single sign. Peace was eventually sued with the Republic after about three years of war driving them from our lands but nothing was truly resolved. Nobody knew anything or were prepared to own up. We, that is the Lord and I, suspect Marija."
"My mother, the baby princesses, Lakole and Sheryne, my maid Caroleen, all lost?"
"Aye, all lost. Princess Marija immediately wanted to assume the crown as Queen, with her husband as King, but the Council refused both requests after long debate. They evoked the old laws, which state that a missing person cannot be declared dead until seven years and a day have passed since they were last seen alive. By Princess Marija's own testimony, she was with the Queen before she dined with the General and that was a week before they turned up at the Palace, the decision was delayed until, well, it will be seven years in about three months. Until then, the Council conceded that Marija could be Queen's Regent and Qinocci Queen's Regent Consort. Even when we won back the ground initially conceded and freed the Minor Kingdoms, we found no evidence that the Queen and her party were ever in Exonibia. During peace negotiations with the Republic we appealed for information. They conceded that once their leader died, confusion reigned and they had no evidence of the Royal party. They say they have no reason to believe they were ever transported to the Republic, in fact their leader died without the taking of the Royals being ever officially recorded, even down to the ransom note sent. Whoever our Queen's Council were negotiating with in the Exonibian capital, wasn't them they say and, when we ceded the Eastern Provinces to them, it was a surprise gift horse that they didn't look too closely in the mouth.
"But, now that you have been discovered, Your Highness, you are two years older than Marija and, although you are both non-royal princesses, in the absence of any better claimants, you could claim the throne yourself … if you want to."
"That is the last thing I want, Tomas. I am not a queen, nor was I ever even a proper princess. I am the daughter of a cobbler, not even a properly indentured journeyman or master cobbler, he was a travelling tinker who could turn his hand to repairing anything in wood, leather, tin or brass before moving onto a new town before the repairs he bodged started breaking down again. We were nomads. My father was no fighter, so how he managed to kill that huge fearsome dragon with you as the only witness is a complete mystery to me." She smiled. "We are alone, Tomas, would you care to tell me what I have long suspected really happened?"
Tomas sighed. "I was a very minor part of the Queen's party as she travelled from court to court for attendance at the Spring Assizes. The Dragon attacked without warning and burned virtually everyone in the escort with its very first breath of fire, only the Queen in her carriage, your father and his daughters in your cart, and me sheltering behind my knight, Sir Dhaniz of the North West Province survived. He was mortally wounded, his breast plate glowing red hot from the flames.
"Despite his awful burns, Sir Dhaniz charged the Dragon while the reptile drew in its breath to breathe fire again and Sir Dhaniz stabbed him in the snout with his sword partly going up the left nostril, but the Dragon's fiery breath rained down and burned the poor brave knight to ash, his trapped sword now glowing white hot with the leather handle vaporised. I hid behind Sir Dhaniz' fallen mount while the Dragon took another deep breath to summon up from its depths more devastating flames to finish us off."
I paused at that point deciding whether to maintain my promise to her dead father.
"What happened?"
"Your father had carried you and your sister from the burning cart and hid you behind some rocks. He must've seen the charge of the brave knight and the superficial blow he'd inflicted on the Dragon's face. Your father worked out that there were only a few seconds delay while the Dragon drew in his breath. He was too far away to reach, being an older man he knew he'd never make it, but I was only just behind the smoking body of my knight. Your father threw his cobbler's hammer to me and told me to use it to knock home the hot blade. The hammer landed on the ground between me and the Dragon. We were all doomed unless I was quick and decisive."
"And you were quick?"
"I always was. One blow with that hammer and that white hot sword was driven straight into the Dragon's brain. It died instantly, its fire with it and dying breath was fortunately exhaled unlit. I gratefully handed the hammer back to your grinning father and he companionably slapped me on the shoulder just as the Queen extricated herself from the burning royal coach, the only survivor from the Royal Escort other than me.
"She asked us, your father and I, who we were, I introduced myself as an insignificant member of the Royal Party, the squire of the brave knight Sir Dhaniz who wounded the Dragon and that it was the cobbler's hammer that had killed the beast.
"The Queen never questioned that it must therefore have been the cobbler who killed the Dragon. She insisted that we accompany her as we walked to the nearest town. She, the Queen herself, insisted on carrying your snotty-nosed sister while I carried you in my arms. At the first small village we came to she was able to raise or summon a new royal escort and we were taken to the Palace as her guests. We knew nothing about the Prophecy until the Queen read it out in Court and changed all our lives."
"My father always kept you close, Tomas. He considered you a friend, told us girls to always obey your orders because you were our protector. We all became as good friends as it is possible for the difference in our new roles and the age difference."
"We did, my lady Jarolyn, those were my favourite years." I smiled, then continued, "After you disappeared my fortunes went downhill until Lord Alderlea saved me and took me into his army. He kept me hidden, using a name 'Argun' that the Orphanage told me was my late mother's name. He kept me away from the Queen's Regent and her Consort. Those two are still in control of the Palace and the country. So, tell me, my Lady, what happened to you?"