The Gathering Storm (Crown of Stars #5)

The Gathering Storm (Crown of Stars #5) Page 48

“Fool of a groom!” Wolfhere, emerging from the mob, grabbed hold of Zacharias’ wrist. “He should have waited until evening and peace—” The next word lodged in his throat. Only a croak came out. “God help us!”

Screaming, the stallion reared. It had cleared the space around it, although a dozen people lay on the ground, some stirring and crawling away, others lying motionless where they had fallen. Blood smeared the stones. The groom was shouting to his fellows on the ship, and they had brought rope, but they didn’t leap into the fray quickly enough.

Because one bold soul strode forward to confront the gray stallion. One person was eager to test herself against the wild creature that now terrorized the docks. One small, stubborn, and recklessly foolhardy child too spoiled to understand the meaning of caution or the strength of an animal many times her size and vastly more powerful.

“Blessing!” Wolfhere was trapped behind a brace of brawny sailors loudly laying bets on whether the girl would go down under the horse’s hooves.

“Brother Lupus!” cried a voice triumphantly from behind Zacharias. “I have tracked you down at last!”

2

TO Sanglant’s surprise, the Arethousan governor did not greet her visitors at the marble portico to the governor’s palace house but made them wait in the sun without offering them even the shade provided by the colonnade that ran along the forecourt. A smooth-cheeked eunuch, declared—in Arethousan—that he had to properly learn their names and titles before they could be announced to the Most Exalted Lady Eudokia.

“We’re being snubbed,” murmured Sapientia, her skin flushed either from heat or annoyance. “Treated as if we’re impoverished supplicants! Made to stand out in the sun like commoners! The governor should have met us personally and escorted us in!”

“Hush.” In truth Sanglant did not know what to make of the eunuch’s supercilious attitude, looking them over as though they were a prize lot of horses brought in for the master of the house to consider buying. Sapientia quieted, still fuming. “Heribert, I pray you, do what you can.”

While Heribert haggled with the eunuch in Arethousan, Sanglant glanced at the other companions he had chosen to accompany him: Lady Bertha, because she had insisted on coming, Captain Istvan because he had traveled to Arethousan towns before, three young lords who had the sense to remain silent, Hathui, and twenty of his most levelheaded soldiers. All sweated profusely. It was nearing midday, when the sun’s hammer seemed doubly strong. Bertha winked at him. She alone seemed to be enjoying herself.

No doubt the heat accounted for Heribert’s rising anger as he and the eunuch, looking cool in his linen robe and jeweled slippers, descended into a snappish disagreement. It ended when the eunuch retreated through the doors.

“What were you arguing about?” Sanglant asked when Heribert returned to him.

“The title by which you and Princess Sapientia will be introduced to the governor, my lord prince. The chamberlain insisted that the word meaning ‘lord’ and ‘lady’ will do, a title I refused to accept. We struck a bargain. The soldiers will remain outside, in decent shade, within shouting distance, and you and Her Highness shall be referred to as ‘princeps.’”

“Ah.”

“Do not trust the Arethousans, my lord prince. They are devious, greedy, and will flatter you while they steal your purse. Rank means everything to them. Bargain where you must, but do not give way in any matter that will make you seem low in their eyes.”

“Why do we accept these insults?” demanded Sapientia. “We should just leave!”

“We’ll need the assistance of the governor to fully equip ourselves for a trip into the grasslands,” said Sanglant, rather tired of having to point this out to Sapientia once again. “We’ll need guides as well.”

“Don’t we have Bulkezu for a guide?” she retorted. “Is that not why you spared his life?”

“I would not put my trust in him alone, but I promise you, Sister, he will serve us in the end. As for the governor, we must travel as diplomatically as we can. Better we leave no trouble in our wake that we must deal with on our way back.”

The heavy doors opened silently, hauled back by unseen figures, and the eunuch reappeared, his jade-green robes swirling about his legs as he indicated that they could follow him. Once within the palace, the heat became bearable. Marble floors graced the colonnades. The palace had the appearance of great wealth considering its location in a frontier trading town. They passed several courtyards with fountains running merrily and glimpsed chambers fitted with gold-and-ivory ornamentation and jewel-studded divans. Finally, they entered a shaded arbor overgrown by thick grapevines and screened off by cunningly worked, lattices. A dozen soldiers stood at guard, holding spears. A trio of eunuchs whispered in one shadowy corner beside a table laden with wine and fruit. Two slaves worked fans on either side of a couch, whose occupant reclined at leisure, eyeing them as though they were toads got in where they did not belong. She was past the prime of life, with gray showing in her elaborate coiffure and two coarse black hairs growing out of her chin, but the precious rings on her stubby fingers and the gleam of gold weighing heavily at her neck indicated her rank. A simple gold circlet crowned her head.