David Coe - Shapers of Darkness

“Or the regent?”

“Yes,” the archminister said, his face brightening. “Or the regent. And here I was afraid you were too young to grasp all of this.”

Kalyi couldn’t help but smile, though she quickly grew serious again. “But don’t we want our house to be strong? Shouldn’t all this make us want a war even more?”

“Well, that’s where this gets a bit confusing. Of course we want House Solkara to be strong, but we need balance as well, among all the houses of Aneira. It’s best for the realm if we maintain good relations with the other dukedoms. We don’t want the other houses to have cause to hate House Solkara, or her queen.”

Her queen! The last thing Kalyi wanted was for the other dukes to hate her. She looked away, not wanting Pronjed to see how much the idea of this bothered her. “I guess that makes sense,” she said. She chewed her lip for a moment before remembering that her mother had told her queens weren’t supposed to. “So what should we do?”

“Well, I can only offer counsel, Your Highness. Ultimately this is up to you and the regent. But I believe we’d be best served by speaking with the dukes who oppose the war. Perhaps not all of them, but certainly Tebeo of Dantrielle, and Brall of Orvinti. Their houses are the strongest of those in question. And we should see if we can address their concerns, even if it means delaying our attack on Eibithar by a turn or two. The realm will be stronger if we’re united in this war.”

Kalyi frowned. She wasn’t certain that her uncle would think much of this idea. “I should speak of this with Uncle Numar.”

“Of course, Your Highness. I’d suggest though that you not tell him the idea came from me. He and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on matters such as these.”

She wasn’t certain about that part either. She didn’t like to lie to her uncle. But she nodded to the archminister. “All right.”

They stood in silence for a moment, before Pronjed gave a small bow. “Well, Your Highness. I’ve taken too much of your time already. Good day.”

“And to you,” she called as he walked away.

The scent of fresh baked bread reached her from the kitchen, but the queen was no longer so hungry. She watched the archminister cross the ward. And when he had entered the castle corridors, she made her way to her uncle’s chamber.

The guards standing outside the chamber bowed to her as she approached the door and knocked, and another soldier pulled the door open from within.

“Her Highness the queen, my lord,” the man said, glancing back at Numar.

Kalyi couldn’t see his face, but she had noticed in the past that he didn’t always seem happy to see her, though he was always kind to her when she came to see him.

When he came into view this day, he was smiling broadly. “Your Highness,” he said, bowing.

“Good day, Uncle.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder, but he didn’t ask her into the chamber. “I’m rather busy at the moment, but I had hoped to speak with you later. Can you return when the priori’s bells are rung?”

Kalyi hesitated, started to chew her lip again, but caught herself.

The smile returned to her uncle’s face, though there was a brittleness to it this time. “Can you tell me what this is about?”

“It’s about the war.”

“The war.” He took a breath. “Very well. Please come in. We can sit for a moment or two.”

He nodded to the guard, who immediately left the chamber, closing the door as he did. Numar led her to the chair in which she usually sat and then pulled the adjacent one closer to hers.

“Now,” he said, “what about the war?”

She sat with her hands twisting in her lap, unsure now of how to begin. “I’m worried about our balance,” she said at last, knowing even as she spoke the words that this wasn’t quite right.

Numar looked puzzled. “Our balance?”

“I think we should be strong-our house I mean-but I don’t want us to be so strong that it’s bad. We should talk to the others even if it means that we don’t go to war right away. It’ll be better if we’re-”

“Wait,” the regent said, sitting forward. “Are you suggesting that we delay our attack on Eibithar?”

She nodded. “So that we can talk to the others.”

His eyes narrowed. “What others?”

“Dantrielle, Orvinti. The other houses. The ones that are afraid of us.”

“Kalyi, what are you talking about?”

She looked down at her hands, feeling her cheeks burn. “The war. I want to make certain that we don’t make the others hate us. I don’t want them to hate me.”

“Why would you think-?” He regarded her briefly. “Kalyi, did someone send you here? Your mother perhaps? The duke? The archminister?”

She looked up, then immediately lowered her gaze again.

“Did Pronjed tell you to speak with me, Kalyi?” When she didn’t respond, he took her hand, making her look at him. He was smiling now, his brown eyes locked on hers. “Was all of this his idea?”

“He didn’t really send me here,” she said.

“But he put these ideas in your head, made you think the other houses are going to hate you.”

She nodded, afraid that Numar would grow angry with her.

But his voice remained gentle as he said, “Why don’t you tell me everything you and he talked about?”

She related her conversation with the archminister, answering her uncle’s questions when he interrupted, and trying her best not to leave out any details.

“You tell me that he didn’t send you here,” the regent said, once she had finished, “but he did recommend that you speak to me about all of this, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but. .”

“But what, Kalyi?”

“But he told me not to tell you that he was the one who thought of all this. He said that you and he don’t always see eye-to-eye.”

Numar actually gave a small laugh, though he didn’t look at all happy. “That’s true enough.”

“Was I wrong to tell you?”

“No, not at all.” He stood and began to walk around the chamber. “Kalyi, do you remember the conversation you overheard between Pronjed and the master of arms?”

She would never forget it. They had been in one of the tower stairways, and though she had known that it was wrong to listen, she had been unable to help herself. Pronjed had spoken to the armsmaster as if he were a child, telling him what to think and how to behave. And Tradden Grontalle, the leader of Solkara’s army, one of the most powerful warriors in all the realm, had obeyed him without a word of protest. Kalyi guessed at the time that the archminister used magic to control Tradden’s mind, and her uncle had agreed that it was possible. “Of course I do, Uncle,” she said.

“And do you remember that we wondered at the time if the archminister might be a traitor?”

She nodded. This had occurred to her as well.

“Do you think it’s possible that he was saying all of this not to help you, but rather to hurt you, and House Solkara as well?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shivering. “Do you?”

“Yes, I suppose I do. House Solkara needs to be strong, and Aneira needs to fight this war when the leaders of our army tell us it’s time. If we do as the archminister suggests, and delay our attack, we could ruin everything.”

“But what about the houses that are against the war?”

“Tell me again, what Pronjed said about them.”

“He told me we should speak with the dukes of Dantrielle and Orvinti, that we should address their concerns.”

The regent nodded slowly. “I see,” he said, his voice low. “So the minister wants us to appease them.”

Kalyi wasn’t certain what “appease” meant, but she asked, “Is that what we’re going to do?”