The Lady and the Prince

After dinner Nick, Elizabeth, and Anne gathered in his suite to read spy reports. Winkershime was there as well, but he had already perused most of the papers and just puttered in the room in case there were questions or he needed to answer the door.

Anne sat on the floor surrounded by paper, while Nick and Elizabeth occupied opposite ends of a couch. They both had their shoes off and their feet up, legs entwined. It wasn’t overly ladylike, but Elizabeth didn’t really care. Anne was female, and both Nick and Winkershime had camped with her in trousers so her legs weren’t exactly a mystery to anyone in the room.

After reading one report, Nick commented, “It looks like we have about a week before Ulle arrives. The three of them have joined forces and are coming south through Haas now.”

Anne held up another paper and said, “King Louis is enraged that his attack didn’t work, and apparently he’s mostly angry at Denland and his own spies that didn’t tell him Anglia had a fighting sorcerer. He doesn’t mention Denland by name, but our man—or woman—in Franck says he refers to the ‘Anglian loyalist dog’ over and over and thinks he was led into a trap.”

“This report from Prince Arthur says that Anglia has lost nearly a quarter of its army to deserters heading home for the harvest,” Elizabeth said worriedly. “How does the remainder equate to the size of the forces from Ulle, Denland, and Montexter? Does anyone know?”

Winkershime said, “From the reports of dead and wounded and the numbers that Arthur has out searching for the remaining Francks and mercenaries in Anglia, I think the armies are about equal. That assumes Glenriver stays and leaves his harvest to the women and children. Aggradon is loyal and will remain for sure. Do you have anything from the other domains?”

Nick had a short report and said, “This is from Haas and says a lot of the men have returned and are working in the fields, but that the harvest may still be short due to their battle losses.”

Anne said, “It looks like Earl Bruce is holding firm too and staying with the army. Anyone see anything from Completon?”

Winkershime said, “Completon is Anglia’s bread basket. I saw something from Arthur allowing half of Completon to depart with their wounded. I considered that already in my estimate though.”

“So what will happen when the armies meet?” Elizabeth asked.

“That’s Arthur’s decision as Warleader,” Nick said. “I imagine he’ll parley with Earl Lawrence and the two dukes. I’d better be there in case there’s any magical trickery, although my presence could actually precipitate something since Denland knows that I know they are all traitors.”

“Which might be exactly what we need,” replied Winkershime. “If they start something, then we’ll be free to finish it. The best thing we could hope for is to take out the three leaders and send everyone else home.”

Anne added, “And the normal rules of inheritance don’t apply in the case of betrayal. The traitors’ families will be exiled, so King William will have to bestow an earldom and three dukedoms including Sothalia on someone. That will cause a power shift in the Council.”

Nick said, “On the other hand, if none of the three react to my presence and just act disappointed and sorry to be too late to fight the Francks, then everyone just goes home and we have to deal with them later. The good part about that is all three would surely support changing the law against witchcraft. Legalizing it would give them an instant power advantage. Aggradon likely would too, and if His Majesty appoints the right person to Sothalia, then there’s the five needed to keep me alive.”

“I hope that’s what happens then,” said Elizabeth firmly.

Nick said slowly, “I’m not sure I do. Personally, yes, of course, but for the sake of Anglia, not really. Having at least two traitorous witches would mean years of potentially very serious problems.”

“You think there could be more than just Ulle and Alice?” Elizabeth asked.

Winkershime said, “Historically, there have been ‘hot spots’ for witchcraft. Magical abilities tend to crop up repeatedly in a town or small group of villages, which would support the theory that it’s an inherited ability. Ulle and Montexter have intermarried a number of times in the last four or five generations and occasionally with Denland too.”

“Do you think changing the witchcraft law would make them loyal again?” asked Anne. “Maybe that’s what this is all about. Some of the younger family members are displaying talent, and they’re just trying to save them.”

“Maybe partly,” Nick said. “But Denland’s plan to kill all the Warwicks and replace us with Ulle while he pulls the strings is a pretty radical idea just to accomplish that. I haven’t been aware of any attempt by any of them to get the law changed. Winkershime?”

“I’m not either, but you should ask Crown Prince Edward, since he sits in Council.”

“Wow,” said Elizabeth, reading a report with the Anglian naval insignia at the top. “This says our ships captured four Franckish ships and sank twenty-two vessels, including five of their big warships with only two Anglian ships lost and two damaged.”

“That’s probably exaggerated,” Anne commented. “At least the number sunk. Although without their sorcerers, the Frankish ships generally aren’t as good as ours. This report says the Drusians are very pleased that Anglia won and killed two sorcerers. Less for them to worry about, I guess.”

Nick said, “Maybe. King Louis will need to do something to regain prestige. I suppose he’ll lick his wounds for now, but next year he may take out his anger on Drusia since we’re allies and Drusia is a much easier target than Anglia.”

“We would have to come to their aid?” asked Elizabeth.

Anne said, “Yes, even though they didn’t get any farther in coming to our aid than gathering their army. But we would have to transport troops across the water to attack Franck. Win or lose, that would mean big losses.”

Elizabeth looked disappointed. “I thought the war was over and that we would have peace now.”

Winkershime snorted. “Once you get more knowledgeable, I’m afraid you will find there is always a threat, always political maneuvering, and always international bickering going on. Peace is just the interlude until fighting breaks out again.”

“But it’s been decades since the last war,” Elizabeth protested.

“My history teacher said that old kings like peace, but young ones like proving their mettle, extending their territory, or just dominating someone else,” Nick commented.

“We can worry about that next year,” Anne said. “Does anyone have anything else to share? No? Well then, I’m going to take a long relaxing bath and go to bed. Good night, all.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea. The kitchen is going to have a run on hot water,” Elizabeth said, sitting up. Nick did too and leaned over and kissed her good night.

The next morning he went out into an empty pasture and worked on moving around air in full view of the palace. A few people paused to watch, but air movement wasn’t very visible. Mostly they just saw Prince Nicholas waving his arms around and thought the wind was rather gusty.

After an hour practicing with air, Nick walked down to a creek that ran through the pasture and sat down on the bank. He was out of sight there, and he just contemplated the water for a few minutes. He played with his trip line along the bottom, scraping up some rounded stones. He tried putting up a matter shield and stopping the flow of the stream, but he discovered two things very quickly. First, the water rose surprisingly fast and he couldn’t hold it back more than a few seconds, and second, his matter shield leaked a little.

It was just a bit of water squirting and dripping here and there. The prince did a smaller tighter shield and just blocked part of the water to test it. He firmed up a couple of tiny holes and then expanded it slowly, working on an even solid surface.

Holding it against the flow of water was difficult though, and as Nick increased the size of the shield it became even more difficult. He released it and moved down the creek to a place where the creek was wide and shallow and then narrowed, and at the narrow end blocked the water again.

His shield held, and the water backed up behind it, overflowed its banks and started to form a small lake. He released it again. It had been much easier to dam the creek where the water could spread out than where he had to hold it all with his shield. Now that he had experimented it seemed obvious, but he just hadn’t really thought about it much before.

Nick was damp and hungry by that time, so he returned to his rooms to let Winkershime fetch him some lunch. There had been very few people in the palace halls when he had come out, and he hadn’t paid them much attention. But now as he went in, the halls were much more crowded. He noticed some people greeted him normally, but others pretended not to see him or actually edged away from him.

It made him a little sad, but he wasn’t surprised. Anglians had been told horror stories about witches from the time they were little children, and those who didn’t know him well probably imagined he might do something terrible at any moment. He wasn’t sure how, but he was going to have to show them that they didn’t need to fear him and that having a witch around could be a good thing.

Winkershime fed him roast pork and fruits and vegetables fresh from the harvest. Nick ate heartily and when he was finished asked, “You know, I’ve noticed some people seem to be afraid of me now. Is there anything you can think of that I could do with my magic in public that would be beneficial?”

The valet stopped scraping plates and thought for a moment. “I’m very sorry, Your Highness, but I can’t think of anything offhand. Lighting fires indoors would not be reassuring, and the servants responsible would resent your intrusion. I can’t see lightning being anything but terrifying, and I know of nothing that needs moving by other than human hands.”

“If you think of anything, let me know.”

“Of course, Your Highness. By the way, Arthur wants you to join the army in four days in southern Completon, which means you will need to leave the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

“You mean we have to leave, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness, but…I had thought to wait a bit to inform you, but perhaps it is better you know now. After this situation is sorted out, I intend to retire. I am now a grandfather, and I have served Anglia for many years. I would like to spend my remaining time with my daughters and their families.”

“Ralph, what would I do without you? I still need you.”

“I am not the only person in the world that can train a Spymaster or be valet to a prince, Your Highness. I assure you I will find a suitable replacement before I go.”

Nick nodded reluctantly. “I understand. You should be with your family, it’s only right. You’ve done excellent service in all your roles, and you know I’ll miss you terribly, Ralph. But I trust you to find a replacement, although I doubt whoever it is will be nearly as good.”

“You are very kind, Your Highness.”

“Once you retire, you’ll just be an ordinary citizen, right?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Winkershime said warily.

“So if I command you to call me ‘Nick,’ you’ll have to obey?”

Winkershime smiled and said, “Yes, Your Highness, but I’m still your valet for now, and it wouldn’t be proper.”

“Of course not, heaven forbid any improprieties.”

“Exactly, Your Highness.”

There was a knock at the door. Winkershime opened it to find workmen with Nick’s trunks, newly arrived from Aggradon. Someone Nick didn’t recognize but Winkershime obviously knew handed the valet Nick’s valise retrieved from the Stratton Barony. While Winkershime sorted out his things, Nick went down to Elizabeth’s suite and found her sitting room full of trunks as well. Sylvie was thrilled, but Elizabeth readily accepted his invitation to go for a walk.

They went to the stables to see if their horses had come with the trunks, and indeed Falcon and the palomino were there. They both spent a little time petting and grooming their favorite mounts, and then Nick led Elizabeth out to the field where he had been practicing.

He was getting quite adept at moving air around, but then he took her down to the creek and showed her what he could do with water.

“Can you splash it or carry it up on the bank?” Elizabeth asked.

“Why would I want to do that?”

“It would come in handy to put out a fire or just distract someone.”

Nick tried it. Splashing was easy; lifting out any appreciable amount of water was not. It seemed to be even heavier than rocks, and the weight moved as the water sloshed. The prince quickly lost a load off to the side.

“I guess I’ll need to practice that. There’s something else I’ve been thinking about too.”

Nick put his matter shield flat down on the ground in front of him and gingerly stepped on it. It held him, but it felt very odd. Slowly, he lifted himself off of the ground a few finger widths and then a hand and then two.

Elizabeth exclaimed, “You can fly!”

“No, not exactly, but I can lift myself.” Nick tried shifting his weight and was pleasantly surprised he had no difficulty adjusting his shield. In fact, he seemed to do it automatically to support himself. He raised up to waist height and began to slowly move forward and almost lost his balance. He quickly stopped and fell off the front.

The grass in the field was long enough to cushion him, and the prince immediately bounced up again, brushing himself off and laughing. “That was fun! Do you want to try it?”

Elizabeth was hesitant but finally agreed to let him lift her. Nick helped her step on and then lifted it only a few inches and moved it slowly while he walked beside her and held her hand for safety.

“This is fun, much smoother than a wagon. Maybe I should sit down on it though, balancing would be easier.”

Elizabeth sat down, and Nick extended the shield behind her and sat on it too. It was harder to lift, but he could manage a couple of hand widths and send them skimming over the field. They were starting to gather a crowd of observers, and he waved to them. A few waved back, and one or two called out, “Me too,” or “My turn next.”

His attention on the crowd took away his focus from his shield and he lost control, the shield dissipating beneath them and tumbling them into the grass. But they both came up unhurt and laughing. Nick helped her up and called out, “Sorry, no more rides today,” to the watchers.

In the afternoon Elizabeth helped Sylvie go through her wardrobe, and Nick reread parts of his magic book. He knew so much more now that some sections that had been incomprehensible at first were much clearer to him.

There was very little on runes, but there were some basics, and Nick was determined to understand them better before facing Ulle. He picked a very simple candle-shape-in-a-circle one that was supposed to just produce light and drew it in chalk on a blank section of wall in his bedroom. Then he tried to imbue the lines with a very small amount of energy.

Nothing happened except he smeared the chalk. The prince traced the outline in ink, let it dry, and tried again. That seemed to work better, but it was hard to get a purchase on the lines with his magic. He realized it would be much easier if the lines were incised as the spider rune had been on the beds, but he thought it could be done on a flat surface. The rune on his window hadn’t been scratched on, had it? He wasn’t sure.

After several attempts he was able to carefully imbue the ink with a tiny bit of energy. Then he sat and looked at it as it did nothing. Oh, he was supposed to trigger it somehow, wasn’t he, but he hadn’t thought to try to add some sort of trigger into it. In fact, Nick had no idea how to do that, and his book just said the rune needed a trigger, not how to create one.

By dinnertime, he was tired of trying to activate it, so he escorted Elizabeth to the main hall. He wasn’t sure how they would be received, but no one at the high table seemed to take any particular notice, everyone just accepted their return. There was a little buzz of conversation at the lower tables when they came into the dining hall, but that soon returned to a normal level as well.

Without Giselle, the dinner conversation had reverted to Anglian, so Elizabeth understood everything that was said but there was very little conversation. Eugenie and the queen chatted a little about what next spring’s fashions might be like, but the men mostly remained gloomily silent. The king looked drawn and thin and only played with his food.

It was dark when Nick went into his bedroom to sleep, but as soon as he blew out the last light, his rune began to glow softly. Disgusted, he tried to grab and ground the power he had put into the lines, but all he could access was the light itself. He could ground it as it appeared, but it just kept coming. Finally he gave up and went to bed, burying his head in his pillows and blankets.

The prince awoke to a soft exclamation from Winkershime. He unburied his head and found his valet staring at the candle rune, which was still glowing just a little in the fading darkness.

“That didn’t work exactly as I thought it would,” Nick said.

“Yes, Your Highness, I can see that. How long will it last?”

“It doesn’t do anything in the light, but how many nights it will go, I have no idea.”

“Ah, I see, in the nature of an experiment then, Your Highness. Perhaps next time you experiment, you will use an empty chamber instead of your bedroom?”

“Yes, Winkershime. I would have preferred to do it in the cave, but that’s out-of-bounds right now.”

The valet opened Nick’s shutters, letting in a great deal more light, and the candle drawing just became a drawing again. A light rain sprinkled against the window driven by the occasional gust of wind. Winkershime said, “I’ll mention to the cleaning staff not to touch that. Do you know if it is dangerous to touch, Your Highness?”

Nick got out of bed and approached the rune. Winkershime tried to stop him, but was too slow. Nick touched it, and he could feel the energy in it but couldn’t draw it out.

“Your Highness! You must not put yourself in danger like that.”

“No danger. I know how much power I put into it, and it wasn’t much. I was rather hoping it would release at a touch so I wouldn’t have to spend another night with my head under the covers. In any case, just tell the staff not to bother any of my doodles. A casual brush against it won’t do anything.”

“There are more?” Winkershime asked, looking around.

Nick grinned impishly. “Not yet. What’s for breakfast?”

After eating a big breakfast, Nick put on his cloak and went back to his practice field. He wanted to see if he could do anything with rain. But besides blowing it around with gusts of wind, he couldn’t find any way to affect it. He tried tossing a lightning bolt up into the clouds with no effect, but when he tried a second one, he got a return bolt that was too fast and too close for comfort. He went in.

Nick spent the rest of the day with paper and pen, trying to draw the basic runes from his book and memorizing which was which. He drafted them with cancelling lines and with augmentation lines, and he tried combining two into one figure. It was an interesting exercise, but he didn’t energize any of them or draw them on the walls. Without knowing how to create and set a triggering mechanism or cancel the rune entirely, it was just too dangerous.

Elizabeth stopped by before dinner so he could escort her. “Are we leaving early tomorrow?” she asked.

“We? I’m leaving early tomorrow. There’s no reason for you to go anywhere.”

“It seems to me you very much needed Elias to kill Frais. You might need him again with Ulle.”

Nick gave her a sour look. “You don’t really have to remind me I was inadequate to take down the Franckish sorcerer by myself. But Winkershime will come, and I’ll have the entire army to help me. I don’t have to hide who I am anymore, remember? One fighter more or less is irrelevant.”

“Nick, the rest of the army has no experience working with you, but I do. It took all three of us to eliminate Frais, and this time there will be at least two witches against you at the same time. And I am in no way disparaging your abilities. In fact, I think you are amazing, being able to do so much entirely self-trained out of a book.”

“You do?” Nick asked hopefully, fishing a little for another compliment.

Elizabeth went to him and put her arms around him. “Of course I do. You are my very own wonderfully magical betrothed, and I’m very proud of you.”

“Well, you have a lot to be proud of yourself, my lady. I guess having Elias along wouldn’t be a terrible idea, but I hate exposing you to danger. If anything happened to you, I’m not sure I wouldn’t just let them burn me and be done with it. Living for decades without you would be far worse.”

Elizabeth kissed him and then said, “That’s very sweet, but you know I feel the same way. I don’t want anything to happen to you either. Sitting here waiting for someone to bring word would be far more difficult than just going along with you and making sure you are safe.”

“Well then, for our own peace of mind, I guess we need to stick together.”

“Uh-huh,” Elizabeth murmured in agreement and kissed him again. “But right now, we need to go to dinner, or we’ll be late.”

The king and queen didn’t attend. Edward simply said they were dining privately, and he gave the signals for the service instead. Afterward Nick caught up to Edward in the hall and had a short private conversation with him. When Nick came back to Elizabeth’s side, he spoke quietly so only she could hear as they walked through the halls.

“Edward says the king is quite ill and can’t keep food down. He also said no one has made any attempt in Council to change the witchcraft law, not that it has been able to meet since before the Francks invaded.”

“But it will once this is over, right?”

“I don’t know. Eventually it will meet, but when and who will be on the Council will depend on what happens with Ulle, Denland, and Montexter.”

“Then we’ll just have to wait and see.” They stopped at Elizabeth’s door. “I suppose we’d better both go to bed early tonight. Have you gotten any updated reports?”

“Yes, but there’s nothing new. Ulle should be entering Completon tomorrow, but it’s a big area, and it will take his army days to get to where we’re supposed to meet Arthur.”

“Well then, kiss me good night, Your Highness, for tomorrow I’ll be Elias again.”

Nick gave her a long kiss. “I do miss this when Elias is around.”

“Me too, but he has his uses. Good night, Nick.”

But the prince was reluctant to leave, and they were alone in the hall. After a great deal more kissing, he finally went back to his own suite. After their session in his bedroom, he found he wanted more every time he kissed her, but this wasn’t the time or place. In his bedroom, he found the rune on the wall glowing again when he snuffed the last candle, but it was softer and fainter than the night before. He could sleep just facing away from it.

In the morning the three of them met at the stable. Since Nick was traveling as himself, they didn’t need much in the way of supplies. They could stay at an inn and travel openly with the army when they reached it. Elizabeth still needed to be careful of her identity to avoid scandal, but as a companion to a prince, Nick assured her she would have at least semi-private accommodations.

The ride was pleasant—Nick on Falcon, Elizabeth on her palomino, and Ralph on a nice bay. Since they were headed more north than east, they didn’t encounter any previous battle sites, just farmland and towns. The prince had argued against her riding her favorite horse to help hide her identity, but since the horse wasn’t actually hers and others rode him too, she had won the argument.

Along the way, Elizabeth decided she should buy the palomino from the royal stables and name the horse Goldie. Nick tried to get her to name him something with more pizzazz, like Lionheart or Flash, but she resisted all his suggestions. He also told her that once they were married, she could choose up to three of the general use royal horses to be her personal mounts, and she just needed to tell the stable master which of the horses she wanted.

They stayed at an inn overnight, and Elizabeth did get her own small room, while Nick and his valet shared a large one. The food was only passable, but no one went to bed hungry. The next day, they started out a little later but still encountered the army by late afternoon.

Nick announced his identity to the outer pickets, and they were escorted to the center of the camp where a large tent sported a banner with the Warwick crest. One of the guards at the tent ducked in when they rode up, and Arthur was there to greet them by the time they had dismounted.

He welcomed Nick warmly, nodded to Winkershime, and just gave Elias an odd look. He led the way into his tent, and Elizabeth was surprised at how pleasant it was inside. The ground was covered in carpets, and there were interior hangings to divide the tent into two rooms and block drafts and enough folding tables and chairs to accommodate a dozen people. The hanging that divided the tent was pulled back, and she could see a large cot and Arthur’s armor on a stand. A sword with an ornate handle was in a special glass case.

Arthur saw her looking at the sword and stopped her before anyone was seated. “Um, how should I address you, uh, sir?” he asked her.

“I am Elias, Your Highness.” Elizabeth looked questioningly at Nick. Surely Arthur knew who she was? Nick gestured back at his ear and then pointed at the entry. Of course, the guards would be able to hear through the tent material.

“Ah yes, Sir Elias,” Arthur said. Elizabeth wasn’t sure when her alter ego had become a knight, but she let it go. “You have never seen my sword Arbitra, have you? Well, if you think you’ve seen magic, I can assure you you’ve seen very little until you have seen Arbitra in action.”

Arthur removed the sword from its case and held it up where she could see it but not touch it. “Do you know its story?”

Elizabeth said, “Yes, Your Highness, Prince Nicholas has told me.”

Arthur wasn’t pleased that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to repeat his tale, but he took it with good grace. He said, “Well, it isn’t complete until you know that Arbitra has brought me through every battle unscathed and led the Anglian forces to victory. Without Arbitra’s strength, we would surely have faltered before the overwhelming numbers of the Francks and the evil Franckish sorcerers. But Arbitra has preserved us.”

Elizabeth glanced at Nick to see how he reacted to their accomplishments being credited to Arthur’s sword, but to her surprise, she found him smiling. “Yes, of course, Arthur,” he said. “While it was actually Elias’s arm that slew Frais, I’m sure Arbitra’s influence was felt all over the battlefield. Of course Arbitra couldn’t save all of the Anglian army, and many still had to give their lives, but you were protected. I wonder, do you think Arbitra had anything to do with my killing Strelliere far up the coast?”

Arthur was frowning now, trying to reconcile Nick’s words with his belief in his “magic” sword. “I…I’m not sure how directly Arbitra acts. It may just ensure that the future is as it should be. Its influence may not be limited by distance, and of course it would act to preserve those who are important.”

Elizabeth added, “I understand Connidian has been fighting by your side. It must be wonderful to have such a superb fighter next to you throughout the battle.”

Arthur’s frown cleared. “Oh yes, and he’s only received a scratch or two in all the furious fighting he’s done. Being right next to me, of course, he was protected a bit by Arbitra too, although not to the extent I was since he’s less critical to the prosperous continuation of Anglia.”

Winkershime cleared his throat to get their attention and said, “Your Highnesses, perhaps we should speak of the upcoming meeting?”

Arthur put away the sword and they sat down around a table. He began, “First let me tell you my instructions from King William. Lady Alice Montexter is supposed to be confined at home until a witch finder can examine her. If she is with Ulle, then I am to arrest her and return her to imprisonment in the palace. Also, the king has directed that our three dilatory lords are to be brought before him to explain why they were so slow in responding when the army was called. I expect they will be fined heavily or something of the sort.”

Nick said, “So if they cooperate, then that’s all that will happen. What are the odds of that?”

Winkershime said quietly, “Unlikely. Denland has pumped up Ulle to the point he will probably refuse to submit to the king. Denland himself will realize his own danger of being executed as a traitor, and Montexter is unlikely to allow anyone to chain his daughter and haul her away.”

“Yes, well, we will meet with the lords and give them the opportunity first,” Arthur said. “I will send a herald to propose a meeting midway between our forces. I, Glenriver, and Aggradon will meet with the three of them. If they refuse to obey me, then we will separate, and hostilities will begin.”

“I’d better be at that meeting,” Nick said. “Just in case.”

“There’s no need, little brother. I have Arbitra after all. If they start something, Arbitra will defend my party.”

Nick thought quickly. “But it would be wise to have a second prince present. If there is any question later about what was said, my word would carry more weight than Duke Winslow’s or Duke Maximillian’s or a commoner’s.”

“As a witness?” Arthur said thoughtfully. “Well, I could propose a meeting of six to six and include a couple of my generals, I suppose.”

Elizabeth wanted to object to being left out, but Winkershime gave a small shake of his head, and she subsided. The meeting concluded, and they were shown to another tent nearby with the banner planted in front. It was a little smaller than Arthur’s, but equally well-furnished. Nick had more hangings brought in to partition off a separate small area for her. He didn’t need a large space for meetings, so they ended up with three areas, and he had additional cots brought in for her and Ralph.

Elizabeth got Ralph alone and asked, “Why shouldn’t I be at the meeting with Ulle?”

“Elias doesn’t have the rank to be included, even if he is an excellent fighter and we unofficially make him a knight. Don’t worry, we won’t be that far away. If a fight begins, either it will be very quick and Prince Nick can protect his side or it will start a general melee and everyone will charge out and do battle.”

Elizabeth had to concede the point, but she didn’t like Nick being in danger without her. Camping wasn’t unpleasant since she had a tent for privacy, although it was a bit boring. They had several days to wait until Ulle would arrive, and there was nothing they really needed to do.

Ralph wandered around the camp and spoke to people most of the time, gathering rumors and checking on morale. Nick sat outside with a stick and drew in the dirt, studying rune shapes. Elizabeth watched him sometimes, but he was focused on what he was doing and wasn’t much use for conversation at the same time. She wished she had thought to bring her sewing or something.

The next day it drizzled on and off most of the day. The wood for campfires was damp and smoky, when it could be lit at all. Nick lit their campfire with such heat that the wood burst into flames wet or not. The cooks saw that and had him light the cooking fires, and then others began asking for his help too. Eventually he just walked around the camp and lit fires for anyone who needed help. Most of the soldiers were grateful, but a few made signs against evil. Nick noticed that no one refused food cooked over his fires or sat apart and didn’t warm themselves though, and some of those that had withdrawn from him were kidded by their companions for being superstitious.

Late in the day two days later, Arthur summoned them to his tent again. The tent was full this time, the dukes and generals being present as well. When everyone had arrived, Arthur came out of his private area and said, “Gentlemen, the armies of Ulle, Denland, and Montexter are camping less than two miles from us. My herald has returned with their agreement to meet tomorrow at midmorning on top of that small rise east of the road. There will be six on each side. I will be accompanied by Prince Nicholas, Duke Maximillian, Duke Winslow, and Generals Dunn and Smith. I expect everyone to be prepared for combat if necessary, but no one else is to advance closer than one half mile to the meeting place. Questions?”

There were several about placement of troops, but nothing significant to Nicholas or Elizabeth. The meeting lasted less than an hour, and then they returned to their tent. Ralph joined them as they entered; he hadn’t been allowed inside Arthur’s tent for the meeting, but they knew he would have listened from outside as a great many others of lesser rank had done.

Nick turned to them and said, “We need to alert everyone to be very careful about wagons or people coming into camp now. We don’t want runes going off over night or while we’re having the meeting with Ulle and company.”

Ralph replied, “I can take care of that. I’ll let Arthur know, but first I’ll talk to Connidian, Dunn, and Smith so they’ll have the pickets looking out for odd drawings. They may not understand exactly what runes are, but if they spot anything, I’ll have them come and get you, Your Highness. Or should they just burn anything with a rune inscribed on it?”

“I’d better see it first. A rune on the bottom of a wagon could poison everything in the wagon, so it all would need to be burned. If they do attack us with runes, then what?”

Ralph made a face. “Arthur will still have the meeting. The rules say he should, so he will, but maybe we could get him to substitute Connidian and Elias for the dukes, that is, if we can convince him Ulle is responsible.”

“Why does it always have to be so complicated?” Elizabeth complained.

Nick moved close to her and said, “Life is complicated, that’s all. We’re taking one problem at a time, remember?”

“Right, one problem at a time. What can I do?”

Nick replied, “While Ralph gets our leadership onboard, you and I can go around the camp and check for runes on what is already here. Ulle could have sent someone on ahead. I should have thought of that earlier, but I didn’t. At least you and I will probably recognize a rune when we see it, most folks might not.”

They checked wagons and tents and went through weapons piles. Nick explained that one fire rune could destroy an entire wagonload of weapons or supplies. It was slow work, but they were thorough in spite of the odd looks they got. But they didn’t find any runes on anything except for one wagon that had brought in horse feed the day before. None of the feed had been used yet, and Nick had the wagon taken outside of camp and burned with the feed still in it.

Arthur summoned them to his tent afterward. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “You destroyed perfectly good feed that we need for the horses. Have you lost your senses?”

Elizabeth asked, “Didn’t Ralph tell you about the runes?”

“Yes, he said something about magic symbols, but that’s all a bunch of claptrap.”

Nick said calmly, “Arthur, you know about the bed runes back at the palace and how some of our beds had to be burned. The symbol on that wagon was the same sort of thing and I think at the very least would have made any horse eating the feed sick if not dead. The horses may be a little short on rations tomorrow, but they’ll be fine.”

“Just because there are a few scratches on a wagon—”

“It wasn’t just scratches, it was an incised pattern imbued with magic. Runes are a specialty with Ulle and Lady Alice, and we’ve got everyone watching out for more of them. I’m surprised Arbitra didn’t detect anything.”

That made Arthur pause. He went over to his sword, unsheathed it, and then held it out. “Maybe you have a point. I haven’t had her out of her sheath in camp. Perhaps that is my mistake. I’m detecting a little uneasiness still from her. Perhaps there should be a thorough search for any more evil magic.”

“Yes, absolutely,” Nick said and steered Elizabeth quickly out of Arthur’s tent. Elizabeth asked, “He really thinks the sword is telling him something? Is that possible?”

“I don’t know. It’s doubtful, but who knows? I have a lot of magic; maybe Arthur has just a tiny bit, enough to get feelings about things, or maybe he just lets his imagination get the better of his reason. I don’t detect any magic in the sword, but maybe Arthur does sense things and just attributes it to his sword. Let’s go through the camp again.”

They searched until dark and did find one more rune. A small block of marked wood had been shoved down into a wagon full of arrows. Nick found it and lifted it out gently, warning everyone else to back up.

“This looks like a very basic fire rune,” he said as he carried it carefully held away from his body to the nearest campfire. “Stand back.”

He tossed it into the fire, and it flared up into a roaring blaze the height of two men. Everyone backed away from the heat and watched it with awe until it gradually died back down to just a campfire. But the men who had been sitting around it doused it then and moved away from the spot. Nick didn’t blame them, although with the block of wood burned to ashes, he knew there was no more danger.

They told Arthur what had happened, and he just nodded in satisfaction. “Arbitra knew. Let me check again.” But when he unsheathed the sword, he said, “She doesn’t detect anything else right now, although the residue of the destruction of the evil rune in camp might be hiding something.”

Nick just nodded, and when he and Elizabeth were back in their own tent, he laughed a little. “Arthur is an expert at making ambiguous statements so he can always claim to be right afterward. Not for his own opinions, but when it comes to Arbitra he has to protect his belief in the sword.”

“I just hope we found everything,” Elizabeth said.

Ralph came in then and replied cheerfully, “The only way we’ll find out is if we’re awakened in the middle of the night by some disaster. Sleep well.”

Nick and Elizabeth kissed good night. Elizabeth found it hard to go to sleep, lying awake tensely for some time waiting for a commotion. But nothing happened, and eventually she slept through a peaceful night.