Griffin's Daughter

“ How’d you get so big so fast, Dari? I haven’t been gone that long, have I?”

“ Aye, long enough, sir. Dunno how it happens. I just wake up ev’ry mornin’ an’ I’m bigger.”

Magnes smiled, touched by the boy’s simple cheerfulness. “The stallion my father is riding…I’ve never seen him before.”

“ Oh, that’s his Grace’s new warhorse. Arrived just last week, all the way from Kalu…Kalun…”

“ Kalundwe?” Magnes prompted.

“ Aye, that’s it! He’s a beauty, he is, sir. I’m not allowed near ‘im, though. None of us lads are, only Master Nolus and Lian. They look after ‘im.”

Magnes turned his attention back to the arena where horse and rider were executing a series of flying lead changes. Dari leaned on the railing beside him, totally spellbound. The stallion moved with effortless grace, powerful muscles sliding beneath shimmering hide like ripples on water. A pair of blackbirds, who just moments before had been squabbling atop a pile of dung, took flight and blew past the stallion’s nose, but the horse ignored them, so attuned was he to his rider. As the duke cantered past their position on the fence, the beast snorted, spattering Magnes and Dari with a spray of fine moisture.

Duke Teodorus cantered the stallion in ever tightening circles until he had the horse spinning on his haunches. He then brought the stallion to a complete stop, fully collected and ready to take off in any direction at the touch of a heel. The duke held him thus for several heartbeats, then released him. The horse visibly relaxed and stretched out his neck for a vigorous shake. His ears, which only a moment ago had stood erect with alertness, now flopped lazily.

The duke dismounted and led the horse toward the gate. Magnes slowly walked over to meet him. He lifted the latch and held the gate open as his father and the stallion passed through, then followed behind as Duke Teodorus led his new mount back into the stables.

Lian, the head groom under Master Nolus, waited at the stable entrance to take the stallion from the duke, who handed over the reins with a word of thanks. Dari scurried past with a quick wave to Magnes and disappeared into the dim interior of the barn.

“ How was he today, your Grace?” Lian asked as he slipped a halter over the stallion’s head. The big horse whickered softly.

“ He’s settled down nicely,” the duke replied. “He’s a little stiff on the left hand, but that’ll soon sort itself out. The important thing is that he’s got a cool head. He listens well, unlike a lot of stallions. That’s vital in the heat of battle. He’ll not panic and bolt. I think I’ll start him on some sparring exercises next week.”

“ He’s magnificent, Father. He must have cost a small fortune,” Magnes said, taking care to keep his voice neutral. The duke stared coldly at his son for a heartbeat, then began walking briskly back towards the keep.

Magnes took a deep breath and fell in beside him. “Father, I…” he began, but Teodorus cut him off.

“ Be quiet, boy.” Magnes gulped and shut his mouth. Father and son walked on in chilly silence. Magnes shot a quick glance at the duke’s face but saw only stony impassivity. They crossed the yard quickly and entered the keep. As Magnes followed his father up the stairs to the second floor, he felt like an errant child about to receive a whipping for an especially heinous act of disobedience, which, in a way, was accurate.

After slamming the door to his study behind them, Duke Teodorus crossed the room to sit in a large, padded armchair. He pointed wordlessly to the footstool beside it. Magnes needed no further instructions. He positioned the stool in front of the chair and down he sat, like a penitent before a judge.

“ Start talking,” the duke ordered. Magnes folded his hands in his lap to keep them from shaking, lest they betray his anxiety.

At first, his mouth could not seem to form the right words. His mind and heart knew what they wished to say, but his tongue turned traitor and refused to cooperate. With an enormous effort of will, he finally broke through the barrier, and the words flowed out in a great rush, like water over a shattered dam.

He told his father all of it. He first spoke of Jelena’s despair and desperation. He then confessed his love for Livie and his desire to step aside in favor of Thessalina so that he could marry the woman he loved and live in peace with her, farming the land. He wanted to make his father understand why both he and Jelena had felt compelled to flee Amsara. Neither one of them could face what had been decreed by others for them. He finished by relating, briefly, all that had befallen Jelena and him in Alasiri and his reasons for returning.

Duke Teodorus listened in silence, his face a still-life rendered in cold granite. When Magnes finished, he waited, eyes lowered, for his father to speak.

Several heartbeats slipped by, and still, the duke remained silent. It was torturous, and, Magnes felt certain, quite deliberate.

Just as Magnes decided he could not stand it any longer, his father spoke.

“ So. The elf lord let you leave, did he? Stupid of him. If it’d been the other way round, I would’ve kept his son hostage…in irons.”

Magnes looked up sharply. “Father…”

“ I am your liege lord and your father,” the duke stated slowly, cutting him off. “And as both, I have absolute authority over you in all things. Is this not so?”

Magnes stared at the duke, taken off-guard by the question.

“ Is this not so?” the duke raised his voice a notch, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

“ Yes, Father,” Magnes conceded.

“ Your disobedience cost me a great deal of money, but what is worse, you shamed me and brought disgrace upon our family. You stole another man’s property. Do you know what that makes you? Veii and I had already signed a contract. Money had exchanged hands. The girl was bought and paid for.”

A flash flood of anger surged through Magnes. The words escaped his mouth before he had time to think of stopping them. “Stop talking about her as if she were a thing! Her name is Jelena! She is your only sister’s daughter, for the gods’ sake! Why could you never accept her as part of our family?”

“ You keep silent while I’m speaking to you!” the duke hissed. Furiously, he sprang from his chair and began to pace. Reflexively, Magnes ducked, expecting a blow. Instead, the duke folded his arms tightly behind his back and continued to rant.

“ You are going to pay back Veii out of your own purse, d’you hear? And what’s more, there’ll be no more talk of you stepping aside. You are the Heir, and that’ll never change, so live with it! The marriage contract can be renewed. I happen to know that Orveta has yet to find another prospect for his daughter. This alliance between our two houses is far too profitable to abandon over the foolish whim of a lovesick puppy!”

“ Is that what you think I am, a lovesick puppy ?” Magnes could barely speak through teeth clenched as tight as the jaws of a wolf trap.

“ I think that you are the future Duke of Amsara, and it’s high time you started acting like it. Now, get out! When I summon you again, you’d better be ready to tell me everything you know about that tink castle and its defenses. And I suggest you spend some time meditating on the error of your ways!” The duke turned his back on his son and went to stand by the open window. Magnes opened his mouth to protest, but the futility of it froze his tongue. Instead, he retreated as ordered. He left his father’s study and fled to the heights of Amsara’s outer wall where he could calm his mind and think.

If only I’d had been able to make Father understand. Gods know I tried, but he wouldn’t listen.

Magnes began to regret coming back to Amsara.

Perhaps it would have been better if I’d never returned. I could have gone south to Darguinia or west to the seacoast and gotten passage on a freighter outbound to the Shilluk Islands, he thought. I still could. After enough time has passed, Father will be forced to declare Thessalina his Heir.

Magnes truly believed that his sister would make a far better ruler than he ever could be. It was she who had inherited the necessary qualities that made a good leader, not he.

Magnes also believed that, deep down, Duke Teodorus knew the truth of the matter but refused to acknowledge it. The duke was a man who defined his life by tradition, and he would stubbornly cling to it, no matter the consequences, and by tradition, the first-born inherited all titles, lands, responsibilities, and obligations.

All of which Magnes would gladly hand over to Thessalina, without a moment’s hesitation.

The sun stood directly overhead now, and the land below lay prostrate under shimmering waves of heat.