Chapter 4
The Pass of Nod was a narrow valley that wound its way through the mountains. It was less than a mile wide, with tree covered mountains on both sides, mountains that were too steep to ride a horse up. Waist high grass covered the rolling floor of the pass, broken only by a narrow dirt road that wound its way through the middle of the pass. Like the road through the forest, it was just a pair of wagon tracks with grass growing between them.
When we reached the pass, Vomeir raised his hand, signaling everybody to stop. "We'll make camp here. The horses need rest and there's plenty of grass for them to eat."
I had never been this far west, but I knew from my geography lessons that the pass was fifty miles long. At the end of the pass the mountains turned to rolling hills. Not rich green hills like the ones we had just traveled, but dry brown hills. On one of those hills sat the Western Palace.
Like the Summer Palace and the Winter Palace, the Western Palace was built by Issus Bodica Haran, the third Queen of Adah. She constructed so many buildings in the forty years she sat on the throne, that she earned the nickname Issus the Builder.
From what I had read, the Western Palace was smaller than the other two palaces. Surrounding it was a fort that housed the Army of the West. No queen had been there in over one hundred years, mostly because no queen wanted to make the journey just so she could sit in a too hot house on a dusty brown hill.
While the others dismounted, Vomeir rode up to me. "Have you had any more visions? Of what lies ahead? Or of Iderra?"
"No visions."
Iderra would be lot harder to find than Salisha. She was smart enough not to take refuge with people Bedonna knew. It wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't in Morcesha at all. She certainly wouldn't run to the handsomest man she knew like Salisha had. She would have an intricate plan, a plan that she had put a lot of thought into. Iderra was more interested in saving her life than becoming queen. She was perhaps the only Adan princess in history that was smart enough to survive without ever sitting on her mother's throne. I hoped she did because she was my favorite sister.
While the rest of us made camp, Vomeir conferred with Sardis and Miletus. Miletus turned his horse around and disappeared back into the forest. Sardis went galloping on ahead.
"Where did you send them?" I asked Vomeir.
"I sent Sardis to scout ahead and Miletus to double back, make sure no one is pursuing us." Vomeir smiled. "It's not that I don't trust your visions, Your Highness. It's just that I'm used to doing things a certain way."
"Understood."
The sun was setting behind the mountains, casting long shadows on the knee high grass. The woodsman was building a campfire and his wife was unloading pots from the cart, preparing to cook dinner. Zore was attending to the horses, unsaddling them and rubbing them down while they grazed on the deep grass. Prentice was hovering by me, waiting to see if I needed anything.
"Why don't you help your mother." Prentice curtsied and hurried off to help her mother.
"Peaceful out here," Vomeir said. He removed his helmet and breastplate and laid them on the ground, but kept his sword strapped around his waist.
I was about to answer him when I had another vision. Miletus was in the trees, checking the road we had just covered when he came upon thirteen armed men. He drew his sword, but their swords remained sheathed.
"We mean you no harm." The leader of the men had a neatly trimmed gray beard and short gray hair. He wore the same gray breeches and green tunic as Miletus, but his breastplate and helmet were gold, as were those of his men. "We search for the heir hopeful."
I recognized the man. It was Patera LaCere, Captain of the Queen's Guard and one of mother's favorite consorts.
"What makes you think the heir hopeful is out here?"
"Do not take us for fools," Patera said. "Rather take us to the heir."
"You will go no further until you state your business with the heir."
"We are here to carry out the final command of Bella Justine Haran, the twelfth Queen of Adah."
"And what was that command?"
"Defend the heir hopeful."
Miletus studied Patera for a second, then sheathed his sword and turned his horse around. The vision faded and I found myself back at camp.
Vomeir recognized the look that came over me. "You've had another vision."
"Yes."
"Good or bad?"
"A little of both." I had no doubt that mother's final order to her personal guard was to defend the heir hopeful. Although I wasn't quite sure how they found us. They must've followed us. It wouldn't have been too hard to pick up our trail. If they left the palace right after mother died, we would've had less than an hour's head start. It was also possible that mother told them what I would do. She seemed to know her daughters better than we knew ourselves.
While Patera's sword, as well as those of his men, were a welcome addition to our party, I wasn't looking forward to having him and his men around. They were used to a queen that was beautiful and intelligent. There was no way that I could live up to the standard my mother had set. She wasn't known as Bella the Beloved for nothing.
"I don't understand," Vomeir said.
"Miletus has encountered the queen's guard. Apparently, she gave them an order to defend the heir hopeful."
"How did they find us so quickly?"
"Mother probably told them which way I would go. She always knew what we would do before we ever did it." I signalled Prentice, who hurried to my side. "I need to change into my dress."
I couldn't meet Patera and his men dressed in the livery of a servant. They might find me to be a disappointment when compared to my mother, but they would find me to be a well dressed disappointment.
"You're going to change?"
"I think it best." I pointed to Botek and his men. "I don't believe Patera and his men are a threat, but it wouldn't hurt to have Botek and his men hide in the trees. Perhaps you can station them next to the road so they can come up behind Patera and his men. Just in case."
Vomeir nodded. "Agreed."
He relayed my command to Botek, who relayed it to his men. While the soldiers prepared themselves for a possible fight, Prentice and I slipped into a different part of the forest so I could change. The dress felt just as uncomfortable as before, too tight around the waist, too revealing across the chest, and too heavy and confining around my legs.
By the time I stepped out of the trees, Botek and his men were hidden. Vomeir and Derbe had put their armor back on and had remounted their horses. Prentice joined her mother and father by the cart, while Zore brought the black mare over to me, holding her still while I mounted up. Once again, I didn't bother to sit sidesaddle. I straddled the horse, not worrying about how much of my legs were showing. It seemed kind of silly anyway, worrying about how much leg I was showing when most of my breasts were on display.
Vomeir pulled the Ruby Crown out of his saddlebag and handed it to me. I unwrapped the crown and placed in on my head. I tossed the towel to Vomeir and walked the mare to the edge of the forest, leaving enough room for Patera and his men. Vomeir stopped on my right. Derbe stopped on my left. Both men drew their swords and held them in their laps.
"Botek and his men are in the trees?"
"Just off the road. If trouble starts, they'll attack Patera and his men from behind. If not, they'll remain hidden until we tell them to come out."
A minute later, we heard the clopping of hooves in the trees. I debated whether to wrap the velvet cloak around myself and hide my face with the hood. In the end, I left the cloak hanging down my back. I wanted Patera and his men to see the Ruby Crown, it would remind them that they had one more duty to fulfill.
They wouldn't take an oath to serve me. Members of the queen's guard served only one queen. When she passed, they carried out her final orders, whatever they might be. Once that was done, any left alive just sort of disappeared, much like the queen they had served.
Miletus rode out
of the trees first. Patera came next, with the rest of his men following single file.
"Declare your intentions," Vomeir said to Patera.
"We come to fulfill the final command of Bella Justine Haran, the twelfth Queen of Adah."
I kicked the mare and she walked forward. Vomeir started to move with me, but I raised my right hand, stopping him. Patera moved past Miletus, who remained between Patera and his men.
"What was my mother's final command?" I asked when we were face to face.
Patera smiled. "You were expecting us. I can't say I'm surprised. Your mother once told me that you knew things you shouldn't know. I asked her what she meant, but she wouldn't say."
"You haven't answered my question, Captain."
"Your mother's final command was to defend the heir hopeful. Defend the one that wears the Ruby Crown."
"And you will fulfill her wish, even if it means your deaths?"
"We will fulfill her wish. To do less would dishonor the queen that we served."
"Then your presence is welcome here." I smiled. "It's good to see you, Old Man."
"It's good to see you, Little One." Patera looked me over. His eyes lighted on my cleavage and he smiled. "Although you are not so little anymore."
"Mother was right. You are a dirty old man."
Patera laughed. "That's why I was one of your mother's favorites. And if you had dressed like this around the palace, Salisha wouldn't have had nearly as many suitors."
"What news have you?"
"None. We've been busy trying to catch up with you."
"How did you know I came this way?"
"When your mother told us to defend you, I ordered my men to keep an eye on you. One of them reported you left the palace and headed west a full hour before your mother passed."
"I wasn't aware I was being watched."
"We're good at what we do, Your Highness."
"As I am discovering."
“What news have you?" Patera said.
"Salisha is dead."
That surprised him. He obviously didn't expect me to know anything since I left the palace first. "How can you possibly know that?"
"Mother spoke the truth. I know things that I shouldn't know."
"Bedonna found her?"
"Hiding in Morcesha. They dueled. Bedonna won."
"And Iderra?"
"She's still alive. Somewhere."
Patera checked out the people behind me. "When you were little, you collected shiny stones. When you got older, it was stray animals. Now, you seem to be collecting people."
"Not intentionally, I expected to make this journey alone." I turned back to Vomeir. "Sheath your sword, Captain. They are friends."
Vomeir sheathed his sword, as did the others. They called Botek and his men out of the trees. Patera's eyes widened when he saw them appear. "I'm not even going to ask where you found them."
"That village we passed through earlier in the day."
"We saw no people in that village. We thought it was abandoned."
"We told them not to be around when Bedonna and her men passed through. They must've fled into the forest, thinking you were working for Bedonna." At least we knew that Bedonna and her men would get no help from the people in that village. Patera dismounted. His men quickly followed suit. I rode over to Vomeir. "Tell the woodsman and his wife to slaughter the chickens. Tonight, we honor my mother."
Back in the village, someone had tossed a wooden cage with half a dozen live chickens into the cart. I wasn't sure if we had anything to feed them and figured it was better to slaughter them now. Besides, we had a lot of people to feed and there was no game in sight.
Dinner came and went. Solek ate one chicken. Tolek ate one. The other four were divided between the rest of us. The woodsman's wife boiled a kettle of potatoes to go with the roasted chicken. Prentice served the food on wooden plates while her father passed around wooden cups full of mead. I ate the potatoes and chicken, but elected to have water instead of mead.
Everyone was in a surprisingly good mood, considering they had just lost their queen and were running for their lives. Everyone except Vomeir, who seemed troubled by something. I set my plate and cup down and strolled over to him.
I could feel everyone watching me as I walked and that was something I wasn't used to. For my entire life, all eyes had been on my mother, watching everything she did, listening to everything she said. When she wasn't around, they focused on Salisha, who looked just like her. No one had paid attention to me. Or so I thought.
I reached Vomeir. "Walk with me, Captain."
Vomeir set his plate and cup down and fell in alongside of me. We moved away from the campfire and into the night's shadows. It was cooler away from the fire and I wrapped the velvet cloak around myself for warmth.
"I'm not used to people paying attention to me."
"You'll get used to it."
"Something is troubling you."
"Sardis hasn't returned."
The excitement of seeing Patera and his men made me forget about Sardis, forget that Vomeir had sent him to scout ahead. "How far did you tell him to go?"
"A couple miles. He should have been back by now."
Vomeir said no more. That was when it hit me. He was waiting for me to tell him what to do. Me. A twenty year old girl known as Lila the Insignificant. I didn't know what to say or do, so I stopped walking, closed my eyes, and thought about Sardis.
I pictured him in his gray breeches and green tunic. I pictured his silver breastplate, his silver helmet with the green plumage. I pictured his big bushy mustache. Then I saw him, checking one of the legs of his horse and finding it broken.
He consoled the horse, then helped it lay down. Once it was resting comfortably, he stepped back, loaded his crossbow, and put the horse out of its misery. Then he started walking back, mumbling to himself about stopping after two miles instead of going as far as he had.
I opened my eyes and looked at Vomeir. "Sardis is fine. His horse broke a leg. He had to put it down. He's walking back even as we speak."
"You're sure?"
"He rode further than you asked him to, that's why he isn't back yet."
"I thought you couldn't control your visions."
"This is the first time." I turned and headed back to camp. When we reached the fire, I placed a hand on Derbe's shoulder. "Sardis's horse broke a leg. I need you to ride out and pick him up."
Derbe finished his mead, mounted his horse without bothering to saddle it, and galloped west, disappearing into the night. I turned back to the fire. Patera and his men were watching me with puzzled looks on their faces.
"You have a man scouting ahead?" Patera asked.
"Sardis of the palace guard."
"And his horse broke a leg?"
"Yes."
"And you know this because?"
It was hot next to the fire, so I removed my cloak and sat down next to Patera.
"Because I'm a seer." No point in hiding the truth from Patera and his men. Everybody else in camp knew about my gift. "Although this is the first time I controlled what I saw."
"Your gift grows as you grow." Patera smiled and looked at my chest. "Not So Little One."
I could feel my cheeks turn as red as my dress. "Are all your men as randy as you? Dirty Old Man."
"Worse, but then they're younger than me." Patera downed the last of his mead and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Speaking of which. A couple of the younger ones have expressed an interest in taking an oath to serve you."
"Members of the queen's guard serve but one queen." Why would anyone that had taken an oath to be in my mother's personal guard want to serve me? I wasn't trying to be modest. From my perspective, it just seemed a step down. A big step down.
"It isn't easy to give up being one of the queen's favorites. If I were twenty years younger, I might feel the same way they do. There's more of your mother in you than you realize."
"Tell me."
"You only knew her a
fter she had gotten used to being queen, but I remember her when she was still a princess."
"She looked like Salisha."
"She looked like Salisha, but she didn't have Salisha's personality. Salisha always knew that she was beautiful. Salisha always believed that she was meant to be queen. Your mother was more like you, a young woman that knew she was pretty, but didn't know she was beautiful. And like you, she didn't care if she became queen."
"You're kidding?" I found that hard to believe, mother loved being queen. She was meant to be queen.
"She had five sisters and just wanted to survive. When your grandmother died, she hoped to flee toward Gibney, thinking if she remained inconspicuous enough, she could slip into the land of merchants and live the quiet life of a shop girl."
"So what happened?"
"Your grandmother made her the heir hopeful and people began to circle around her, just as the clouds circle around the earth." Patera glanced around. "Just as people are beginning to circle around you."
"I'm not my mother," I said.
"That's true." Patera nodded in the direction of the horses. Derbe had returned with Sardis, who was telling Vomeir that his horse broke a leg. "Your mother had only beauty, brains, and humility to guide her. In addition to possessing all of those qualities, you are also a seer."
"Was mother really that unsure of herself?"
Patera laughed. "When her men insisted that she take a consort, she was too afraid to take the man she wanted."
"Afraid of what?"
"That he wouldn't want her."
That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. All men wanted mother, even after she grew ill. "So what did she do?"
"She selected a man that she wasn't attracted to. She figured if he rejected her, her heart wouldn't hurt so much."
"Bedonna's father."
"It was two full years before she worked up the courage to take the man that she really wanted."
"You mean you?"
Patera laughed. "I didn't say that."
"You implied it."
"The best leaders are those that don't want to be queen. Those that covet the throne and the power that goes with it do not make good queens." Patera pushed himself to his feet. "Your mother was right. You will make a good queen, Lila Marie Haran. Perhaps even a great one."
"Assuming I live that long."
"Assuming you live that long. Now, if you'll excuse me. This old body is in need of rest."
Patera headed off to join his men, who had finished eating and were busy collecting their bedrolls off their saddles. I was about to figure out where I could sleep when Vomeir sat down next to me.
"You were right about Sardis. His horse stepped in a gopher hole and broke a leg."
"He can ride Zore's gelding tomorrow. I don't think Zore will mind sharing the back of the cart with Prentice."
"Miletus and Derbe are setting up your tent. It should be ready in a few minutes."
Miletus and Derbe were setting up a large round tent made out of white silk. It was one of the tents my mother used when she toured the country. Patera's men were laying their bedrolls in a circle around the tent, forming a defensive perimeter.
"Where did that come from?" I asked.
"The queen's guard had it on one of their pack horses. They also brought some more clothes for you."
"My riding clothes?"
"More along the line of your mother's riding clothes."
"I can't wear my mother's clothes. Her skirts are too long for me."
"I don't think these were made for her," Vomeir said. "But it does look like she had a hand in designing them."
"Great." That meant more corsets, low cut necklines, and long billowing skirts that tangled around my legs.
"It looks like they're about done, Your Highness." Vomeir stood, then offered me his hand. I took it and let him escort me to the tent. Oil lamps lit the inside of the tent, suspended from the pole that supported it. Blue and red rugs covered the ground inside the tent. Prentice was already in there, fussing with a wicker trunk full of clothes. Vomeir released my hand and bowed. "If you need anything. I'll be right here."
"I need you to answer a question. If you can."
"What's the question?"
"If you loved Salisha, why did you let her chase you away?"
"Perhaps I didn't love her as much as you think I did."
Right then, I did something completely out of character. I kissed Vomeir. Nothing serious mind you, just a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Captain."
"What for?"
"For not loving Salisha as much as much I thought you did."
Vomeir didn't say anything. He just stepped back and closed the tent flap, leaving me with Prentice and my thoughts.