Dawn of Dusk

“You’re Majesty, an envoy from Prince Maltapel of Westonisia, Kalamel, Duke of Maltar,” Veritak, his closest advisor and sorcerer announced.

King Montrosal was annoyed with his daughter. She had told him that Kalamel would be here today and the purpose of the visit. She was placing him in a very awkward position. He couldn’t be very optimistic with Kalamel, yet he didn’t want to discourage the interest of Montrosal in his daughter either. If her interest in Vistyral is not shared by him, then a competent leader would be important, especially one who was so close in proximity.

Westonisia shared a border with Atermador to the west. Maltapel was fifty-seven, balding, about five feet two inches tall, and almost three hundred pounds. His father King Maltal had been incapacitated for years but still retained a clear mind. Maltapel was like a spider patiently waiting for his meal. He knew it would come soon now; his father had a stroke and could no longer communicate his wishes. He was to be made regent and at that point, king or not, he would rule.

Westonisia and Artermador always got along. That was not a concern for Montrosal, but, he didn’t want to offend a neighbor either. This man was going to ask for the hand of his nineteen year old daughter. It was not unrealistic to imagine that Maltapel would like to have a young, beautiful wife, but in reality, he had nothing to offer his daughter except a kingdom twice the size she now had, and she was happy with what she had.

“Well Duke Kalamel, what brings you all the way to Myra? I hope things are well in Weston.” Montrosal managed on of his most ingratiating smiles.

His wife, Vertimar who always took part with him in affairs of state, had asked to be excused today with a headache. He was left alone with this unpleasant task. He didn’t doubt she had a headache, but he was fairly sure that it was not nearly as bad as she had made out.

Kalamel bowed low. “Greetings Majesty, your cousin, the Great King Maltapel sends the wishes of the people of Westonisia for your health and longevity.”

“Odd, I don’t remember receiving either a funeral notice, or an invitation to a coronation.”

Kalamel blushed and got flustered. “I uh, um, I meant no offense, your majesty. I uh meant the Prince Regent of Westonisia Maltapel the Great.”

“You must understand my dear Kalamel that we kings are concerned that no one try to put us in our graves before we are ready.” He laughed, and Kalamel laughed with him.

“I am truly sorry Majesty, I meant no offense.”

“No offense has been taken Duke. How can I help you today?”

“Rumors are about Majesty, that Borrial seeks to ransom the dowry of your daughter for the hand of Lymar, sister to Lemmal, Crown Prince and Regent to Fulsimter.”

Montrosal put a shocked look on his face. “You don’t say why I had no idea. I would have thought that I would be the first to know. Veritak, what do you know of this. You haven’t been holding information of an important nature like this have you?”

Veritak hurried forward. “I know nothing Your Majesty, we have received no notice from Karrondor and I certainly would never divine information not offered by either Thorak or King Lamercal himself. It is against the treaty of the Wizards, You’re Majesty.”

Montrosal looked at Veritak for a few minutes as if in thought then he turned back to Kalamel. “Where did Prince Regent Maltapel obtain this information may I ask?” He worked hard to keep from laughing outright at the bumbling of this duke from Westonisia.

Kalamel pulled at his collar as if he were warm. “Uh, he did not confide in me in this matter. However I’m sure he did not request the court sorcerer to do anything wrong.”

“No of course not, he would never do anything wrong. I was just curious as to the source of Prince Regent Maltapel’s information, but never matter. Until Prince Borrial or King Lamercal say something to me, I must assume that they intend to comply with the marriage contract that is presently in place at this time. It would be inappropriate for me to discuss this with you at this time.

I’m sure you are tired and thirsty from your voyage here. Please allow us to furnish you with a room and some refreshment. We would be happy for you to remain our guest.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty that would be most kind.”

“On the morrow, after you had rested, I would like you to take a message back to your Prince Regent for me. Could I impose upon you in this matter?”

“I would be most honored Your Majesty.”

“Very well, Farmorel, my Chamberlain will assign one of his assistants to assist you in any way. You are invited to dine with me tonight, at seven bells, until then.”

“Yes, until then, Thank-you.”

Kalamel followed Farmorel out the door.

Veritak came over to talk with the king. As he did, the king indicated that he would retire into his study to consult with his counselor. As they passed into the study, Montrosal held his hand up to keep Veritak from speaking until they were in the study.

“Do you think he is really that foolish and untrained in diplomacy or is this some ruse to get you to let down your guard for some blind attack later?”

“Well,” Montrosal said, “I have met some lords who have shown less diplomatic skills but I have never seen a duke that was this inept. It was as if Borrial wanted me to find out his plans and he asked Maltapel to send this duke over to find out our intentions. Maybe Borrial is trying to get out of the arrangement cheaply.”

He rang a bell and a steward entered the room.

“Would you ask the queen and the princess to come in here, please?”

“As you wish, you’re Majesty.”

After the steward left the room, the two men discussed the ramifications of each possibility and what was meant by each in the broad sense. The steward returned with both the princess and the queen, he fetched chairs for each and then retired from the room.

“Now that I have both of you here, let me bring you up to date on recent events.”

The two women looked at each other and smiled, Vertimar rose walked over to her husband’s chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. “We are fairly current on the situation my love, we heard he conversation in the throne room.”

“You did, why I should have guessed that the headache thing was only a ploy to get out of that meeting.”

“You judge me too harshly dearest, I felt that you would want my opinion on this issue so Mirtar and I went to the antechamber and listened to the visit from this buffoon in there. We have since discussed the meaning of this visit and we are ready to give our analysis. That is we are ready to give our views after my husband apologizes for having thought badly of me and mentioning it in public.”

“What? Why I never! Well okay, I suppose I did assume that you were trying to dump this visit on me alone and that you feigned the headache in order to skip out on this particular visit.”

“Apology accepted. Now that we have all gathered together, you have had a chance to discuss what you made of this; Mirtar will tell you all about it.

Almost two weeks ago, on the evening before the death of Krakal, Lamercal held a feast. Borrial asked Lymar, Krakal’s daughter to marry him. She agreed to his terms which were that:

* One, her brother Lymeel was to become Borrial’s counselor (which of course changed with the death of Krakal (now he will be Lemmal’s).

* Two, Borrial would be able to take a mistress as he desired as long as he was not flagrant about it.

* Three, Lymar could never take a lover.

* Four, he was to make all the decisions and she was to give her opinion only when asked for, and as long as it was the same as his.”

“How do you know all of this?” Her father looked at her with incredulity. “I knew that an agreement had been reached, but not to this extent.”

“People think I am a good woman and a potential bride to their prince or duke. Most of them will do anything to help bring that to pass. That is not the case in Karrondor. I had more trouble finding agents in there because most people don’t like the prince. When I would show interest in him, most people told me to find someone else and remain happy. He, they would tell me, would only bring me misery. I finally had to resort to using a young man who is enamored with me and wants me to know what kind of a scoundrel I am betrothed to.”

“As if you didn’t already know,” Veritak said.

“I know full well. I have saved up enough to ransom my dowry if Father and Mother were going to honor the agreement. I would never submit myself to the degradation and humiliation that Lymar seems to have grasped so eagerly, just to be a queen; I’d rather be a scullery maid.”

“Well, we know what Borrial has in mind, but do we know what this oaf is doing here and why?”

“Yes Veritak, as a matter of fact, we do. Maltapel is a poor gambler. Last year at festival in Fulsimter, he bet rather foolishly with Borrial. Borrial forgave him the debt of almost one hundred thousand golden bekars for three favors to be named in the future. One of these favors is for Maltapel to try to get us to ransom the dowry ourselves. He doesn’t have to succeed, he just has to try.”

“Then you think he really doesn’t want to marry you, but rather, for us to find out what is going on in Karrondor?”

“That is not all,” Mirtar continued as she nodded affirmatively, “Lamercal is dying; my source has told me that on more than one occasion, Thorak has been called upon to take away his pain. Word is that he has only months to live.”

“So both of the northern kingdoms will have new Kings within months of each other and Krakal died the morning after he signed a marriage agreement between his daughter and Borrial,” Montrosal said. “What is the possibility that his death was not necessarily an accident?”

“Apparently he was out hunting with a party, he and Borrial were together and Krackal’s horse threw him almost on top of a devastator bug, he was dead within minutes. Borrial tried everything he knew to save him but to no avail.”

“It’s easy to try everything you know to save someone when their death is a sure thing, Mirtar, did anyone see the horse bolt or the bug?” Veritak asked.

“No, apparently they had lagged behind to talk. Lemmal granted him their highest honor, Defender of the Crown, and offered him an honorary knighthood. The next day he spoke at a special ritual in the Temple of Karron itself. Mon Treel conducted the rites.”

“Yes, yes, we all know that, but is it possible that Borrial had something to do with Krackal’s death?” Vertimar asked.

“It is possible and even probable. Krackal was a leader that no one could influence once he made up his mind. Even with his daughter sitting on the throne in Karrondor, Krakal would have done what he decided is best for his country. Lemmal, on the other hand, has always tried to please his younger sister. He was fifteen when she was born and she wrapped him around her finger for good then. If she will do what ever Borrial tells her to do, Borrial could in effect control two kingdoms, Karrondor and Fulsimter.”

There was silence in the room as everyone considered the implications of one man controlling two countries, but more importantly, two armies. The army of Karrondor was as strong as any in the known world. The navy was weak because most of the ships from Karrondor were merchant ships. Fulsimter, on the other hand, had a moderate army, enough to defend herself from an invasion; but, had a navy second to none. With the merchant ships that could be pressed into military service, both armies could be transported to anyplace in the world in very short order.

“This cannot be allowed to happen,” Montrosal’s voice showed his concern. “He would be able to dictate his terms on just about anything. Everybody would be intimidated into following his policies whether they want to or agree with them or not.”

“What are you going to do about it, Father, start a war because you are afraid someone else might do it first? There is nothing you can do except try and buy some Dwarven Steel from Cryarlac or directly from the Dwarves. They don’t need much in the way of silks and fancy clothes, and usually they prepare their own vegetables so our best bet is through Cryarlac.”

“We are back to that subject are we?” Montrosal said teasingly. I’ll bet you could exert some influence on our trading partner.”

Mirtar blushed and looked at Veritak then at the floor. She placed her hands into her lap and began to cry. Veritak noticed first and spoke to console her.

“Hey, hey, it’s all right, nothing I didn’t already know. I have been watching you for a few years now. I feel like an uncle or something to you and as you have interacted with the young nobles I have watched your energy level. It always increases when you are around Vistyral. It also flows into him so I’m sure that he has some kind of idea that you like him too. As far as I can tell, he is as nice, as his brother is mean.

“I’m sorry dearest,” Montrosal said apologetically, “I shouldn’t have forgotten your secret and disclosed it even in front of Veritak. Please forgive me.”

Mirtar nodded her head and wiped her eyes and turned to Veritak and said, “I don’t want to appear to be a young fool Veritak. I want to know for myself that I am not just a prize in a game of thrones. I realize that as the only child I will reign in Artermador with whichever man I end up married to. To some women, just to have the power, or to be near it, is enough. It would not have been enough for my mother; neither would it have been enough to have the power alone.”

Her mother nodded in agreement.

“I truly love him and would like nothing more than to be his wife someday. To my knowledge, he has not shown any interest in anyone at all. The way his brother is, that concerns me a little, but I don’t think that is an issue. He is twenty-nine years old and by that time, men usually are interested in marriage. He has always treated me wonderfully, and I have always felt that he liked me, that I was someone special to him but he couldn’t say or do anything because I was betrothed to his twin brother.”

Veritak walked over to her chair and put his arms around her. He looked more like a bear than a sorcerer. He stood over two meters tall weighed as much as any bear his height and it was all muscle.

“Now dear you have come to the right place for ‘Uncle’ Veritak knows just the right spell for you. I have already seen your husband to be, I saw him the day you were born.”

Every one in the room looked at him with shock in their eyes. Montrosal wasted no time in breaking in.

“If you knew who she was going to marry, then why didn’t you tell me that before she was betrothed? We could have promised her to the right man from the beginning. Sometimes I don’t know why...”

“Forgive me for interrupting your interruption Your Majesty.” Veritak waited for Montrosal to calm down and continued. “I could do nothing as part of my sworn oath as a sorcerer, to make no effort to influence a future event either to assist or impede it from happening. If any of you had known you would have pursued it unfailingly until you chased the poor soul away.”

Vertimar opened her mouth to speak but Veritak cut her off. “And don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done that, I saw that as a future alternative with the both of you making Mirtar’s life, and that of her future husband, miserable.”

Mirtar turned and looked Veritak in the eyes. “Please tell me who it is, and what I must do. No, don’t tell me that. Just tell me, will I be happy?”

“When a prince or princess is born’ their future can be read by their parent’s sorcerer. That is the only exception to the rule against looking into the future. When a court sorcerer looks into the future he is allowed to prophesy a blessing and all positive events can be documented; only positive ones. If no proclamation is made at birth, then the prophesy can be placed on the adult and all of the blessing can be voiced. I never declared your prophesy. I can do it now if you like.”

“I would like it very much.”

“Now you realize that this prophesy is things that should come to pass, not necessarily things that will come to pass. The future is always in motion and we can influence future events. This is as a road map to help you make the right choice when in a crossroads or fork in the path of your life.

He placed his hands on her head. “Mirtar, Princess of Artermador, holder of the Candle of Light, I give you the following prophesy. You have been born at a terrible and wonderful time of mankind’s history. There will be many calamities and difficulties for you to overcome in your life but you have been given many gifts of the Gods to use in ways to deal with them. You will choose a fine leader and a loving man to be your husband and to share your kingdom with you, you will not wait to be asked but will take the lead and ask him to marry you. Strong, bold, and intelligent children will be a result of your marriage, train them well when they are young and they will make you proud and happy in your twilight years. During your reign as queen, you will encounter many challenges, some of which will threaten your life and the lives of some of your family members. If you act with dignity and courage, your life will be spared and you will be able to influence those around you to give some of your family members the opportunity to survive as well.

If you constantly strive to do what is best for your subjects they will never give up their support for you and will insure that you retain your throne to pass on to your posterity.

If you ever make a choice out of greed or selfishness, you will lose all you and your ancestors have spent centuries building up. Your land will become desolate and barren, filled with the bones of the dead.

Magic will become an important part of your life and will allow you to in many cases prevail in spite of overwhelming odds. Learn what you can in the time you can and it will serve you well.

Keep your council and share it only with your husband and closest advisers. Watch for betrayal from those close to you. If you succeed you will enjoy peace and prosperity for your kingdom in happiness.

I speak these things unto you having looked into your life and having knowledge that these events may come to pass, for behold I am Veritak, Counselor of the Artermadorian Prairie and what I have spoken is true.”