James Enge: Blood of Ambrose

"Now," Kedlidor continued, "should Ambrosia's champion vindicate her-"

"What chance is there of that?" cried the King despairingly.

The withered old man, the only one of the family servants spared in the recent purge, focused his dim gray eyes on his King. "That is of no concern to me, Sire. I am not a gambler, but the Rite-Master of Ambrose. I am charged with knowing and teaching the proper ceremonies for every possible occasion. The Lady Ambrosia's acquittal is a possible occasion; therefore I will teach you the proper ceremony."

The King stared sullenly at the floor of the room. The Rite-Master dispassionately struck him across the face. "Attend, Sire. Say-"

"I know all that stuff," muttered the King, and he did. He had spent the night reading the ritual book, wondering whether he would be more relieved by Grandmother's acquittal or her death.

"Show me that you know, Sire. Take a breath, speak loudly and clearly …"

There was the thunder of booted feet in the hallway outside and the door flew open. The King's uncle, Lord Urdhven, was there with a troop of men wearing his personal device, a red lion standing against a black field. Behind Urdhven was the poisoner Steng. He met the King's eye and smiled gently.

"It's nearly noon," the Protector remarked. "Bring his Majesty, Kedlidor." He turned to go.

"No, Lord Urdhven," Kedlidor replied.

The Protector, resplendent in gold armor, enamelled with his own blackand-scarlet device on the breastplate, paused and smiled ominously down at the gray shadow of a man. "Why not?"

"It is not fit that I be seen with the King at this ceremony. My rank is too low. Further, your poisoner may not be there."

"He won't be. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. The King ought to precede you. He is of higher rank, you know."

The Protector turned his red smile on his nephew. "I do know it. Naturally, Sire, you must go first. All the forms will be met for this ceremony."

The King walked past the Protector and the poisoner into the hall of armed men. They fell in behind him, the sound of their feet in the hallway like a stone giant gnashing its teeth. He passed out into the golden light of the enclosure, and there was a unanimous shout from the crowd as the royal procession was recognized. There were soldiers before him, clearing a path, so he didn't have to decide what was the right way to go. While seeming to protect him, they took him to the wooden stair that led to the royal box, above the Victor's Square, at the midpoint of the lists.

Already the stands of benches on either side were crowded with spectators. The King had never been to a formal combat before, and he was amazed at the mixture of somberness and hilarity among the onlookers. He seated himself amid dutiful cheers, which sounded louder and more impassionedeven hysterical-as Lord Urdhven the Protector appeared and took his place at the King's left hand.

Opposite the stands stood the prisoner, chained to a stake, her mouth bound with a green rag torn from her appellant's robe. Beyond her was nothing but the dead lands between the two cities that bore the name Ontil. Somewhere beyond the gray hills was the Old City, capital of the First Empire. No one lived there now-it was under the curse of the Old Gods; even the river Tilion had been diverted when the New City was founded by Uthar the Great and Ambrosia centuries ago. But, in name, Lathmar was King of that city too. He had often daydreamed of escaping from the New City to the Old City, where he would find his true subjects and make war on the people who had killed his mother and his father….

At a curt gesture from the Protector, the heralds blew on their trumpets, shattering the King's reverie. Vost, the High Marshal (since the recent execution of the one appointed by the King's late father), stood forth in the Victor's Square and cried the challenge.

"Lady Ambrosia Viviana, accused of witchcraft, has claimed her right of trial by combat. If her champion is present, let him come forth and enter the lists, or her life is forfeit to the King (the Strange Gods protect His Majesty)."

The heralds blew another blast on their trumpets, and the excitement of the crowd died down. They could see, as well as the King himself, that one end of the lists was vacant, and that at the other end stood the Red Knight. Perhaps this would only be an execution and not a combat after all.

Then the muttering of the crowd changed slightly. The King, leaning forward, saw that someone else had entered the lists-someone shorter than the King was himself, who bowed low before the prisoner.

The crowd was half-amused, half-thoughtful as the unarmed dwarf marched past them up the lists to Victor's Square.

"Have you come," the High Marshal said as the dwarf drew to a halt before him, "as champion for the Lady Ambrosia?"

"If need be," said the dwarf, with unassumed confidence.

"If you are not a champion you must depart from the lists."

"Heralds can be in the lists, before the combat and at intervals. So can squires."

"Are you herald or squire?"

"Both! Herald, squire, apprentice, and factotum to my harven-kinsman, Morlock Ambrosius, also called syr Theorn. I am Wyrth syr Theorn."

"Sir Thorn-"

"I'm not a knight. Wyrth. Syr. Theorn. Wyrtheorn to my friends."

"Wyrththyseorn-"

"Not bad. Take a deep breath and try again."

-you must take up arms for the Lady Ambrosia or leave the field. The trial has begun."

"You don't have the authority to make that judgement, Sir Marshal. I appeal to the judge of the Combat. My principal has been delayed, but he is coming. On his behalf, I ask that the combat be delayed for a time."

Vost, the High Marshal, looked uncertainly up toward the royal box. The King realized abruptly that the decision was his. He was the judge of the Combat, as the highest-ranking male present. He looked at Urdhven, who made a slight gesture of indifference, his golden face impassive.

"How much time?" he called down.

"As much as I can get," the dwarf replied cheerfully. "Morlock is horrible old, you know, and doesn't move as fast as he used to."

The King put his hand to his head. There was nothing in the rites Kedlidor had taught him about this. But there should have been: it seemed a reasonable request. But he didn't know what a reasonable answer would be.

"Let me come up and explain," the dwarf proposed. "For I have messages from your kinsman Morlock, not meant for the common ear."

"Uh …" The King gestured indeterminately. The dwarf took this as permission and hopped into the Victor's Square. Shouldering the High Marshal aside, he swarmed up the wall beneath the royal box and threw himself over its rail to land on his feet before the King.

"Hail, King Lathmar the Seventh!" he cried. "(You are the seventh, aren't you? Good, good, good. I was afraid I'd missed one.) Hail, King of the Two Cities, the Old Ontil and the New! Hail and, well, well-met. Good to see you. Eh?"

"Are these the private messages Morlock sends to his kinsman?" the Protector inquired, his face split by a leonine smile.

"Not at all. The Lord Protector Urdhven, I believe? No, Morlock sent me chiefly to inquire after the King's health. But he said not to do it right out in front of the crowd. I suspect he thought you might be sensitive on the subject, what with your sister and brother-in-law and all their trusted servants dying so suddenly in recent days. Do you suppose they caught that fever that's been spreading through the poorer parts of the city-or was it a disease that only strikes in palaces?"

The Protector's smile was gone, but the predatory look remained. "The King's health you may assess yourself," he said flatly. "If there is nothing else-"

"Nothing from Morlock, but I believe that, speaking as the agent of the champion of Lady Ambrosia, the forms have not been met. Isn't the champion entitled to a representative in the judge's box, to argue points of honor, foul blows, that sort of thing?"