Melina Marchetta - Finnikin of the Rock

"Did they torture him?" the boy asked in a hushed tone.

"No. The king had a plan. Each night, while pretending to demand an apology, he would speak to Trevanion about the barbarian invaders and his lazy Guard. Trevanion made him a promise. If the king released him, he would choose forty of the best fighters in Lumatere and put an end to the annual plundering, and the king agreed.

"Trevanion was ruthless in training his men, but it was worth it. One year later, when the barbarians returned, they failed to conquer Trevanion's river. By the time he was twenty-one, he was made captain of the Guard. His men were fearless warriors, and the country stayed safe. No one dared to challenge Trevanion's Guard. Even the Monts kept quiet and out of trouble, and everyone knows how hard it is to keep the Monts under control."

"But what happened to the other captain of the Guard? The king's cousin?" the boy asked.

Finnikin heard an intake of breath, and he knew it was not right to mention the impostor king to these children. But the adults knew the rest of the story. The cousin of the king had been offered a place in the Charyn royal court, where he waited for the next ten years for a chance to take the throne of Lumatere.

"Don't you want to hear about Trevanion and Lady Beatriss?"

"Oh, yes, please," the little girl begged.

"Are you sure? Because perhaps the story about Trevanion working at the palace as the new captain will bore you." He directed his remark to the young boy, who shook his head solemnly. "This is where Lady Beatriss comes into it. From the outside, she seemed fragile. She was a novice of Lagrami, as most of the privileged girls were. They were taught to be good wives. To be accomplished. I've heard some say it was a weakness for the captain to fall in love with such an indulged child of Lumatere. But Trevanion saw more in her than most."

"She was almost as beautiful as the princesses," Emmian murmured.

"No one was as beautiful as the princesses." The voice came from one of the exiles standing outside. Finnikin saw that, despite the drizzle of rain, he had acquired an audience.

"Trevanion would disagree. But that wasn't always the case. You see, Lady Beatriss was the nursemaid of Balthazar and Isaboe, as well as being a loyal friend to the three older princesses. Now, I will be the first to admit that the royal children, and me included, did not make Beatriss's task easy. Balthazar and Isaboe were very... shall we say, high-spirited at times? They had little fear of anything and spent many a day hanging out of the tower of the palace, calling out, 'You, there!' to the children of the villagers, while poor Beatriss would hold them back, begging them to behave.

"But Balthazar loved the villagers. He used to call them 'the neighbors,' and as he'd make his way down to the palace village, he would call out to them one by one. 'Your rose beds are a vision, Esmine. I will have to take one for my mother.' Or 'I hope you will be sharing that wine with my father once your grapes are ripened, Mr Ward.' The queen raised her children to see no difference between themselves and the poorest villagers. Although there was many a time she boxed our ears for teaching the village boys how to shoot arrows from the roofs of their cottages.

"One day, Balthazar was hanging precariously out of the tower when the captain of the King's Guard happened to be walking across the moat, into the palace grounds. I can remember an almighty roar and Trevanion ordering us down from the tower. 'Including you!' he shouted, pointing a finger at Lady Beatriss."

The younger ones in the tent laughed, and even Sir Topher chuckled. "I remember that bellow well," Cibrian said, nodding.

"A trembling Lady Beatriss made her way down to the moat, trailed by the rest of us, to receive the biggest blasting of our lives. Poor Beatriss was sobbing, but Trevanion shouted, 'Stop your blubbering! They are the royal children! They need to be kept safe. Be functional, woman. Are you nothing but a doll with a pretty face and a powerful father?'"

There were gasps from both inside and outside the tent.

"Well, of course, he was ordered to apologize, but he refused. It was his job to protect the royal family, he told the king, and he should be able to do and say whatever it took to ensure their safety. Meanwhile Beatriss was sent back home to her father's manor until the fuss died down. The three older princesses refused to speak to the king until Trevanion apologized, and Balthazar and Isaboe were full of woe because their new nursemaid was the meanest woman in the whole of Lumatere. And that's how things stayed."

Finnikin paused, almost hypnotized by the look of anticipation in the eyes of the children and adults around him. Some from outside the tent had squeezed their way in to sit beside Cibrian and his family. Evanjalin's hands were wrapped around her knees, and she rested her head against them. There was a faraway look on her face, but her smile remained and it stirred something within him.

"Everything changed one day when my father was returning me to my mother's people in the Rock Village. Balthazar and Isaboe begged to come along, and who better to look after the royal children but the captain of the King's Guard? Even the meanest woman in the whole of Lumatere agreed.

"On the way, we stopped in the Flatlands to deliver some documents to the duke of Sennington, who was Beatriss's father. Trevanion told us to stay with our horses while he walked down the path to the manor house. We became restless after a while and wandered into a nearby paddock, not realizing that it contained one very angry bull. A huge one, glaring straight at us. As Trevanion approached and saw the danger, his first reaction was to race down the path toward the paddock. That day was one of the only times I have seen fear in my father's eyes. He was the captain of the King's Guard, the best swordsmen in the land, but what did a river boy know about bulls?"

"What do you river people know about anything?" one of the Flatlanders teased.

"More than a yokel farmer," a river exile tossed back, and there was more laughter. Finnikin could tell that teasing and laughter were new to these people.

"Then who happened to be walking by at that moment but Lady Beatriss, who was a farm girl at heart and understood animals. Before we knew it, she was waving her arms, yelling for us to run as soon as the bull turned toward her. We ran for our lives, leaping over a fence that to this day I have no idea how we got over. But we were safe. She wasn't, of course. I swear that she went flying in the air when the bull charged her. My father had no choice but to maim the animal. Then he carried her out of the paddock and laid her under a tree. Princess Isaboe was sobbing over Beatriss's body, begging her to open her eyes. Which she did after a moment or two. Seeing us safe, she breathed a sigh of relief and then looked at Trevanion and said, 'Was that functional enough for you, Captain?' Then she slapped his face, because his hand was on her thigh, and promptly fainted."

There was applause from the women and groans from the men, but the children stared at Finnikin, awestruck.

"And from that day on, my father wooed her."

Finnikin glanced up as he finished. The tent was overflowing with people, young girls with wistful smiles on their faces and young men who looked as if they were imagining themselves as Trevanion. But it was the expressions on the faces of the older ones that caught Finnikin's attention most, a mixture of joy and sadness as they remembered the world they had lost.

"Ah, Trevanion," Cibrian murmured later as they sat outside the tent where the children slept. "He should have prostrated himself at the feet of the impostor king." Cibrian had gutted five large trout and was cooking them over the fire.