Prince of the Blood

James looked stung. Newly discovered feelings rampaged through him and his usual pose of relaxed confidence was absent. He looked nothing more than the boy he had never truly been, confused and disturbed by the loving attentions of a woman. ‘Do you think so little of me, after all?’

Touching his cheek, she smiled, and the warmth of her loving gaze swept away the fear again, as it had a dozen times during the day. Gamina had read James’s heart and soul when she had revived him upon the lakeshore and had shared herself with him, both her body and heart. Still, trust for James was grudgingly surrendered, even to the woman who had touched him as no other had. ‘No, love, I do not underestimate you. But I also do not underestimate fear. My talents are not just magic as others upon this island know it. My skills are also in healing the mind and heart. I can share things with those who are weakened in spirit and sick of mind, and help them, sometimes. I can listen to dreams. And I have seen what fear can do. You fear being left again as you were by your mother.’

James knew she was right. Even as she spoke, the feelings of that dreadful night returned, when as a child of six or seven he stole out of his mother’s crib, the stickiness upon the floor her blood, the horror of knowing only utter abandonment. Unbidden tears came to James’s eyes. Gamina gathered him into her arms and let him vent his pain. You will never be alone again, came her thoughts in his mind.

He stood motionless, holding her as if she were his only connection to life. And as it had before, the pain slipped away, leaving behind a tired but warm and relieved feeling. Something angry and festering within him for years had been lanced, and poisonous fear and loneliness were draining away. The wound wouldn’t heal in the space of a single day, or even many days, but in time it would heal and James of Krondor would be the better man for the healing. Her voice came to him as she said, And it is my fear speaking, as well. Doubt can make us all vulnerable.

‘I have no doubt,’ he answered simply. She smiled as she again hugged him tight.

The sounds of footfalls upon the ground and a pointed clearing of a throat signalled Locklear’s arrival. ‘Sorry to intrude, but Pug would like to see you, James.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘And your mother would like you to join her in the kitchen, Gamina.’

‘Thank you,’ Gamina answered. She gifted Locklear with a warm smile and kissed James on the cheek. ‘I will see you at dinner.’

He kissed her again, and she headed toward the kitchen. James and Locklear walked toward Pug’s study. Locklear cleared his throat in a significant, theatrical manner.

James said, ‘You’ve got something on your mind. Out with it.’

Locklear’s words came in a rush. ‘Look, we’ve known each other, what, twenty-two years? In all that time I’ve never known you to show the least bit of interest in women—’ James gave him a strange look and he amended that to, ‘—I mean interest in marriage, at least. Now, out of nowhere, you suddenly walk in and announce to all that you’re getting married! I mean, she’s certainly a beauty, with that nearly-white hair and all, but you’ve known—’

‘I’ve known no one, nothing, like Gamina,’ Jimmy interrupted. He stopped his companion with a restraining hand to Locklear’s chest. ‘I don’t know if someone like you can understand, Locky, but she’s seen inside of me. She’s seen all there is to see, the bad I’ve done and felt, the things that I’ve only hinted at to you, and she loves me despite those things. She loves me, anyway!’ He took a deep breath. ‘You will never know what that means.’

He resumed walking and Locklear hesitated an instant before catching up. ‘What do you mean “someone like you”?’

James halted again. ‘Look, you’re the best friend – perhaps the only real friend – I’ve ever known, but when it comes to women … you have no … consideration. You’re charming, you’re attentive, you’re persistent, and when the lady in question wakes up in your bed, you’re gone. I don’t know if you’ve ever really loved a woman, and sometimes, I’m not entirely sure you really even like them. You certainly don’t take their feelings into account. Why some woman’s brother or father hasn’t run a sword through you … When it comes to you and women, Locky, you just are not very constant.’

‘And you are?’

‘I am now,’ James answered. ‘As constant as water running downhill.’

Locklear said, ‘Well, we’ll see what Arutha has to say about this headlong flight into matrimony. We court Barons need his permission to marry, remember?’

‘I know.’

‘Well, I’ll leave you to your meeting with the spellcaster,’ Locklear said as they reached the door to the Academy building. ‘I expect he’ll also have a thing or two to say about you spiriting away his daughter.’ Locklear left James alone at the entrance.

James entered the building and made his way down a long corridor to the base of the tower, the top of which housed Pug’s study. He mounted a spiral stairway and climbed until he reached the door of the study. As he raised his hand to knock, the door swung open to admit him. Stepping through the portal, he was not surprised to discover Pug alone in the study, some distance away from the door. After he was inside, the door closed behind James without apparent aid.

‘We need to speak,’ Pug said, as he rose and beckoned James to a large window. Looking out, he pointed at small lights which dotted the far shore. ‘People,’ he said.

James shrugged. He knew the sorcerer hadn’t called him to his presence to discuss the obvious.

‘When we came to Stardock over twenty years ago, this was a barren patch of ground in the middle of a deserted lake. The shore was a bit more hospitable, but this Vale was the scene of constant warfare between the Kingdom and the Empire, between rival border lords, or gangs of renegades. Durbin slavers raided, and simple bandits plagued the farmers as much as locust.’ He sighed as he remembered. ‘Now people lead relatively peaceful lives. Oh, there are occasional problems, but for the most part, things in the area of the Great Star Lake are quiet. And what caused that change?’ he asked James.

James said, ‘It doesn’t take a genius to deduce your presence here caused that change. Pug.’

Pug turned away from the view of the lake shore and said, ‘Jimmy, when we first met I was a young man and you were a boy. But in the time between then and now I’ve encountered more than most men could imagine in a dozen lifetimes.’ With a simple wave of his hand he created a cloud in the middle of the room, less than two feet in diameter. It shimmered, then appeared a hole in the air, through which James could see a strange hall. It was a hall hanging in the midst of a grey nothingness, along the path of which doors were spaced every dozen yards or so. The grey void of nothingness between the doors was so absolute that even the black of night seemed rich and alive in comparison. ‘The Hall of Worlds,’ said Pug. ‘By this path I have ventured to places no human has seen, nor will likely see again. I have visited the ashes of ancient civilizations and seen new races aborning. I have counted stars and grains of sand both, and find that the universe is so vast that no mind, perhaps not even that of a god, could encompass it.’

Pug waved his hand and the image vanished. ‘It would become easy to dismiss the concerns of those who live in such a tiny place as the Vale as trivial.’

James crossed his arms as he said, ‘Compared to that, it is trivial.’

Pug shook his head. ‘Not to those who live here.’

James sat without Pug’s leave and said, ‘I know there’s a point to this. Pug.’

Pug returned to his own chair behind his study table and said, ‘Yes, there is. Katala is dying.’

That news, unexpected as well as shocking, caught James by surprise. ‘I thought she appeared unwell, but dying …’

‘There is much we can do here, James, but there are limits. No magic, potion, charm, or prayer can do more for my wife than has already been done. There is a link between healing magic and something profound in the human spirit.’ He grew thoughtful and barely masked the pain his voice did not betray. ‘I think it is natural for all things to die, eventually, even the longest lived races, the elves, and great dragons.’ He looked at James, without words for a moment, then added, ‘If it is time, no magic or spell can prevent this. Katala … is ready to die. Soon she will journey through a rift back to her homeland, the Thuril Highlands on Kelewan. She has seen no kinsman in nearly thirty years now. She will return home to die.’

James shook his head, knowing there was nothing he could say. Finally he asked, ‘Gamina?’

‘I’ve watched my wife grow old before her time, James, though had this illness not developed I would have had to face this burden eventually. You can see I have not aged measurably. Nor will I in your lifetime. I may not be immortal, but my powers make me long-lived. And I’ll not watch my children and grandchildren grow old and wither while I stay as I am.

‘I will leave Stardock within hours of Katala’s departure. William is firm upon his soldier’s path, having forsaken his magic gifts. I wished it were otherwise, but like most fathers I must accept that my own dreams are not necessarily my son’s. Gamina has talents, as well, not limited to magic, but rather stemming from an unusual mind. Her mental speech is both magic and natural, but her sensitive nature, her empathy, her caring, these are special gifts.’

James nodded. ‘I can’t argue that. Her mind is … a miracle.’

Pug said, ‘I agree. I’ve studied my daughter’s talents more closely than any upon this world and know better than even she what the extent of her talents are … and her limits. She would have chosen to stay here, had she not met you, to take over the burdens her mother leaves behind, Katala has been the true leader of our community for most of our time here. I wish to spare Gamina this. She was a child burdened with great sadness and pain at an early age, much like you, I suspect.’

James gave a slight nod. ‘We’ve shared things …’

‘No doubt,’ said Pug with a wry smile. ‘But that is as it should be with lovers, husbands and wives. I will lose much when Katala departs, more than perhaps even she suspects.’ For an instant, Pug stood exposed to James and the young Baron saw a man isolated from others by unknowable responsibility, and one of the few who could ease that great weight, one who could give him a few moments of warmth and comfort, was slowly leaving him. For just a moment, Pug revealed the depth of his pain, then the mask was again in place. ‘For when she leaves I will begin to concern myself with those grand issues I’ve given you but a glimpse of, and leave behind the “trivial” concerns of Stardock, the Vale, even the Kingdom.’ He looked off in the distance, as if his mind was elsewhere. ‘The Kingdom is my birthplace, Jimmy, but all the world is my home.’ He let out a deep breath, then smiled. ‘I wish for my loved ones what any man must wish: safe homes and fine children, lives unspoiled by turmoil and strife. In short, I wish them to be as happy as possible. And Gamina has shown me what is in her heart, and it is you. I wish to grant you my blessings.’

James let out a long sigh of relief. ‘I hope Arutha is as understanding. I need his permission to marry.’

‘This is no difficulty.’ Pug moved his hands and created a grey smoky sphere in the air. Within it, shapes began to form, then suddenly James was looking at Arutha in his study in Krondor, as if a window appeared between two rooms but a wall apart. Arutha glanced up as if at them and with an uncharacteristic display of surprise, half-rose from his chair. ‘Pug?’

Pug spoke, ‘Yes, Highness. I am sorry to intrude, but I have a favour to ask.’

Arutha sat down with obvious relief there was both a reasonable and friendly cause for the sudden apparition in his study. He put down a quill with which he’d been writing and said, ‘What may I do for you?’

‘You remember my daughter Gamina?’

Arutha said, ‘Yes, very well.’

‘I would like to see her married … to a man of some rank. One of your young court Barons.’

Arutha looked past Pug, caught sight of James, and smiled, his eyes revealing a rare amusement. ‘I suspect we could arrange a state marriage to one of our bright young men, Pug. Do you have anyone in mind?’

‘Baron James seems a most promising young man.’

Arutha’s smile broadened, to what James could swear was almost a grin, something he had never seen his Prince do before. ‘Most promising,’ he intoned in mock-seriousness as he returned his attention to Pug. ‘He stands to be a duke someday if his more impetuous nature doesn’t get him killed along the way, or banished by an angry monarch to the Salt Marsh Islands. A wife might be just the thing to rein in some of that recklessness. I had given up on his ever developing an interest in family. I am pleased to be wrong. I was ten years married at his age.’ Arutha sat an instant, lost in thought as he recalled his own youthful feeling for his wife, then looked past Pug at James, with a rare expression of deep affection apparent. Then he resumed his more familiar stoic demeanour. ‘Well, if he agrees, then you have my permission.’

Pug smiled. ‘He’s agreed, have no worry. He and my daughter are much in agreement on this course.’

Arutha sat back in his chair, a more typical half-smile on his face. ‘I understand. I still remember my own feelings for Anita when first we met. It can come suddenly. Very well, we’ll have a state wedding as soon as he returns from his envoy to Kesh.’

‘Actually, I was thinking of something a bit more timely. She wishes to accompany him on his envoy.’

Arutha’s features darkened. ‘I do not think I should approve. James may not have told you of the dangers—’

‘I have a clear idea of the dangers involved, Arutha,’ Pug interrupted. ‘But I think you have no idea of my daughter’s talents. I know much of what transpires in Kesh. She will aid your sons and envoy should trouble arise.’

Arutha considered this for a moment, then nodded. ‘Given that you are the girl’s father, I expect she has some abilities that may stand her in good stead should things prove difficult.

‘Very well, let us do this much. Marry them as quickly as you judge proper, then when they return, we’ll have a state wedding and festival in their honour. My wife and daughter would never forgive me for letting an excuse for new gowns pass them by. We shall have to do both.’

James looked surprised. ‘State wedding?’

Arutha nodded once, emphatically. ‘Gamma’s a royal cousin by adoption – unless you’ve forgotten – all of Pug’s family are. Our cousin Willy will be Duke of Stardock if I don’t make him Knight-Marshal of Krondor first. You’re marrying into the family.’ Then in mock-doubt, he sighed, ‘Though that thought brings me only the coldest comfort.’

‘Thank you, Arutha,’ said Pug with some amusement at the banter.

‘You are most welcome, Pug. And … Jimmy,’ he said, again with a genuine smile.

‘Yes, Arutha,’ said James, returning the smile.

‘May you be as happy in your marriage as I am in my own.’

James nodded. While Arutha was never a demonstrative man, James remembered years ago when Anita nearly died; the grief Arutha had endured was still keenly recalled. Only a few besides James knew how deep was the Prince of Krondor’s love for his Princess. ‘I think we shall be.’

‘Then I have a gift for you, an early wedding present.’ He opened a small chest atop his writing table and withdrew a small parchment scroll. ‘I shall give it over when you return, but for the present—’

Pug interrupted. ‘I can bring it to him now, if you wish, Arutha.’

If the Prince was surprised by this offer, he showed none of it. He simply said, ‘If you would be so kind.’

Pug waved his hand, closed his eyes a moment, and the document vanished from Arutha’s hand, appearing in his own. Arutha’s eyes widened slightly, his only reaction to the sorcerer’s ability really to move the parchment over such a distance in an instant.

Pug handed it to James. ‘For you.’

James opened the document and read. His eyes widened briefly. ‘It’s a patent of Office. Earl of the Prince’s Court. And King’s Minister.’

‘I was going to give that to you on your return, anyway. You’ve earned the rank, James. We’ll discuss holdings and revenues when you are back in Krondor. You will also assume the duties of Chancellor of the Western Realm when Gardan retires.’

James grinned, and Pug and Arutha both remembered the boy thief they had met years before. ‘I thank His Highness.’ He could not help but laugh. ‘But how many times has Gardan attempted to retire?’

Arutha seemed unable to avoid being amused in return. He laughed. ‘Every time he tried, I promoted him to a higher office, but now that he’s Duke of Krondor, I can’t find another unless I abdicate.’ Arutha’s face lost its smile. ‘No, in a year or two, he’ll return to Crydee and take up fishing and annoying his children as he spoils his grandchildren. You get the Chancellorship, Locklear will get the Exchequer, Valdis: Knight-Marshal and William: Knight-Captain of the Household. I’ll decide who gets to be the new duke then.

‘Now, let me return to work,’ said Arutha.

Pug said, ‘I bid you good evening, Highness.’

‘Good evening, to you, my lords Duke and Earl.’

Pug waved his hand and the image of the Prince vanished. ‘Astonishing,’ James said. ‘With that trick,’ he looked at the parchment he held, ‘and these armies …’

‘Which is why we must talk of things other than your wedding, James.’ Pug moved toward a table and indicated a decanter of wine. James poured two goblets of a fine fortified red. As he sipped, Pug sat and motioned for James to do likewise. ‘Stardock will not be allowed to become a tool of any nation. I have plans to prevent that.

‘My son will not inherit the title of Duke of Stardock. I think he prefers the life of a professional soldier, in any event. No, the two men you met upon landing, Watume and Korsh will be given sovereignty over this island after I depart, with another yet to be chosen, a triumvirate of magicians who will decide the good of the people here. They may expand that council as they see fit in years to come. But Lyam will not always sit upon the Throne of the Isles and I would not give over the power of Stardock to one like Mad King Rodric. I met him, and had he mustered magicians such as we have here to his cause, the world would have trembled. I also remember the havoc created by those magicians on Kelewan who chose to do the Warlord’s bidding during the Riftwar. No, Stardock must remain apolitical. Always.’

James stood up and said, ‘As a noble of the Kingdom, I fear you come close to treason.’ He took a few steps toward an open window and looked out into the night. Then he smiled. ‘As a man who learned to think for himself at an early age, I applaud your wisdom.’

‘Then you will also understand why I trust you will always remain a voice of reason in the Congress of Lords.’

James said, ‘A small voice, but one that will attempt to speak on behalf of your vision.’

Pug said, ‘I don’t think your voice will remain small very long, my lord Earl. Arutha has plans for you and when he speaks, the King listens. No, you will rise to a position of great importance one day.’

James said, ‘Perhaps, perhaps not, but at this moment, I’m just another court Earl.’ Then he grinned as he added, ‘Still, Chancellor does merit some attention.’ He lost his grin and spoke seriously. ‘I will try to make others understand. But you realize many will be of the mind that if you are not clearly loyal to the Kingdom you must be an enemy?’

Pug only nodded. ‘Now, to other matters. We shall have a priest over from the village on the lake shore, no temples stand upon the island itself, and our relationship with those who practise clerical magic is not, shall we say, entirely cordial.’

James smiled. ‘You poach their lands.’

Pug sighed. ‘So many think. In any event, the only clerics I found reasonable men are either dead or distant. I’m afraid as our power here grows, so does the suspicion of the great temples in Rillanon and Kesh.’ Then his expression brightened. ‘But Father Marias who oversees the small Church of Killian in the village is a decent enough man. He’ll agree to a wedding.’ Then Pug’s face relaxed into a wide smile. ‘More to the point, he’ll certainly agree to the feasting.’

James laughed aloud, and as thought of his wedding to Gamina swept through him, he was both awed and delighted by the sensations thinking of her caused. Then Pug said, ‘I do not expect you to understand what I’m about to say. But should you ever come to a time when you need to say something upon my behalf, say this, “The last truth is that there is no magic.”’

James said, ‘A very odd thing for a magician to say. I don’t understand.’

‘I don’t expect you to. If you understood what it meant, you would not be travelling to Kesh; I would persuade Arutha to keep you here. Just remember.’ Pug read his future son-in-law’s face and said, ‘Go find my daughter and tell her we’ll hold the ceremony day after tomorrow. No reason to wait another four days to next sixthday – we’re breaking enough traditions as it is.’

With a smile James placed the half-finished wine upon the table and left the room. As hurried footfalls echoed down the steps of the sorcerer’s tower, Pug turned to look out the window and spoke softly to no one, ‘We could all use a dose of revelry. Too many dark days are coming.’

The entire town of Stardock as well as a major portion of those from the shore who could find a way across the lake stood in a large circle around the portly priest. Father Marias smiled and beckoned James and Gamina to stand before him. He was a red-cheeked man, a baby who had never matured, but one whose thinning hair was turning silver-grey. His green robe and golden tabard were threadbare and often washed, but he wore them as proudly as any lord. Marias’s eyes were almost alight with pleasure at a wedding. His flock were fisher folk and farmers in the main, and all too often his duties consisted of burying them. Weddings and dedications of babies to the Goddess of All Living Things were especially delightful.

‘Come along, children,’ he said as Gamina and James advanced slowly. James wore the clothing he had brought along for his presentation to the Empress, a tunic of pale blue, dark blue leggings, and black boots. Over this he wore a white surcoat sewn with gold thread. On his head he wore the latest fashion, a large beret which hung nearly down to his shoulder on his left side, a silver badge and white owl’s feather setting it off.

Locklear stood beside him, similarly attired, though his clothes were even more richly fashioned in russet and gold hues. He glanced about, convinced these new fashions appeared ridiculous, but no one seemed to notice. All eyes were upon the bride.

Gamina wore a simple gown of lavender colour, set off with an extraordinary string of pearls around her neck. The gown was cinched at the waist by a wide belt studded by matching pearls and a silver buckle. A garland of flowers circled her brow, the traditional ‘bride’s crown’.

‘Now, then,’ Marias said, his voice betraying the rich, almost lyrical accent of one who was born along the south coast of the Kingdom Sea, near Pointer’s Head, ‘seeing as you’ve come before me with the stated intention of marriage, I’ve a few things to tell you.’ He motioned for James to take Gamina’s right hand in his and he placed his own pudgy hand over theirs. ‘Killian, the Goddess I serve, looked down upon man and woman when they were created by Ishap, the One Above All, and saw them apart. Man and woman looked heavenward and cried out in their loneliness. Hearing them and pitying them, the Goddess of Green Silence spoke, saying, “You shall not abide apart.” She then created the institution of marriage as a bond to bring man and woman together. It is the melding of souls, minds, and hearts. It is when two become as one. Do you understand?’ He looked each in the eye and in turn Gamina and James nodded.