The Truose man collected the girls shortly after the story and they smiled and waved at me. Clearly they enjoyed the story. I hoped they would hear the warning that it contained. I kept my smile as best I could as I remembered that fateful night trapped by the music of Piper. Since then I had never taken the form of a swan again. Having to be so vulnerable and trapped in that form thanks to that strange necklace drove me mad.
Tracey came in after the Trouse family left and nodded at me gently. “Would you tell me more about this youngest of theirs?”
“She seemed to be driven to learn about everything she would need to become a proper woman of the court. Her lessons went well and she paid attention quite a bit. When she heard my story she was engaged and focused on what I was saying. I think she would make a good wife. She is a little younger than the good duke so he will have to wait to produce an heir.” I gave it my best to tell him what I could. His good side was still something I would need going forward.
“I see, well it could be worse. I hear one of his daughters is quite the problem child and thinks she is better than everyone else.” Tracey waved a hand as if brushing aside the conversation. “I know we missed lunch so I’ve called for an early dinner. If you would like to join in the early dinner I wouldn’t oppose such a thing.”
“I might call for another bath and the nicer of my clothes be laundered for the night. I would like to be able to do some more work on some projects and some writing that I’ve been working on. To catalog everything that has happened to me on the road. If that would be alright.” The sour look on his face showed me that I missed something, “Well I am rather hungry as well. I would love to join you for this meal.”
We walked slowly towards the dining hall, me slightly behind him to show the difference in our status as people in this home. “I was part of an arranged marriage you see. At one point I had foolishly thought that I would be able to marry for something as foolish as love but it is not something afforded to the more rich and noble of the lands. Do you ever plan to marry anyone, Dolan?”
I kept my tone soft, I didn’t want to tell him that I had been joined countless times to others over the thousands of years I had lived but not all of them had been a joy to endure. “I wouldn’t be so lucky as to have a life to sustain that of a wife and children. I don’t think a minstrel even in the court of the king would make enough to support a growing family. I would have to be taken in by a rich family that wanted me to perfect my craft in a new and interesting way. Something I wouldn’t be too opposed to. I doubt I’ll find that in the Ursals though. It seems that there is much that this house needs to do in order to be more stable. Would you tell me about the late Duke?”
“He was an honorable man and I think that is what got him killed. He was a good duelist, you see. Studied the blade since he was but a young man and sought to perfect it much as you perfect the use of word and music. Well anyways he was loved by his parents who died in a fire spread throughout one of their homes when he was but a child.”
“Such tragedies seem to follow some families throughout history.” A spark of interest keened in my mind. I knew that my family lines that I’ve tried to sow throughout time all fizzled out due to tragedy and I wondered if there might be some link to an ancestry that the gods didn’t agree with. “I hope he was of age unlike his son.”
“Oh he was of age when his parents passed and was in place to take the role of leader when it was time to do so. He arranged his own marriage as well to the good Lady Augusta. She was quite a beauty when she was young and it was a coup for him to secure her hand. See she isn’t a noble thought, she is the eldest daughter of a powerful merchant family so it did little to secure the house in the social standings that the kingdom has. I still think he was foolish but he was obsessed with his love for her.”
We entered the dining room and there was already a pitcher of wine and two goblets near the head of the table. We approached and I poured each of us a healthy amount.
“Anyways she bore his daughters into this world and I grew worried that he wouldn’t get an heir. I tried to ply him with women and booze to see if he would even birth a bastard as long as it was a boy things would have worked out. However Augusta proved me wrong and bore the young Duke into this world.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Sipping his wine he continued, “It was when he was challenged for his honor that proved to be his downfall. Someone besmirched his wife’s name and said that the boy was fathered by another man. That the Ursal lines were cursed to bear only women to finish their name. This incensed the former Duke.” Swirling the goblet the aroma of the wine floated through the air. “Challenged the man to a duel. It was a quick but mighty duel that had the former duke get slashed along his leg, permanently damaging the muscles that he used to perfect his lunge in deadly combat.”
“That is quite the wound but it wouldn’t have killed him would it. Plus if this was near when the young Duke was born..”
Tracey smiled as he thought about it, “Stabbed the man through the heart after he was slashed. Buried the blade to the hilt and slayed him in that one blow. The man went to the gods for his saying the good Lady Augusta was a trollop. However I bring this up because it would be his undoing in the future.”
I refilled his cup as he was going through it to wet his mouth quite often. It barely seemed that he was enjoying it and I wondered if the story left a poor taste in his mouth and he was trying to wash it away. “Wounded, he focused on securing the future of the Ursal house with some marriages with my recommendations to cement his standings with the rest of the kingdom and made sure that he got the best of all the deals he was becoming part of. In his every spare moment though he doted on his son like any father would. Augusta was never able to bear children after him you see so it was their one heir that she bore.”
“Tragic that she seems so young I wouldn’t expect her to be struck barren. Was there a sickness?”
“Who knows with women they hide so many things. Some whisper that she used magic and witchcraft to bring her beloved husband a son and the price was that she would never have another child. Rumor in the women’s courts that I try to ignore.” Tracey looked glum, “He was challenged to another duel recently though. With his injured leg he stumbled at the wrong moment and was killed with a crack to the back of his head. It wasn’t a quick death and it took until his body fully gave way to sickness that he passed.”
“That is truly awful, I guess that is why Lady Augusta made sure that the shrines of the gods were disgraced. I think that is a waste of what they give us.”
“The gods? I don’t think they even exist. The king says he is descended from them and I think that is poppycock if you ask me. Money and power should make kings not divine gifts. However he did find such a way to bring prosperity a few generations ago and it seems his family has been able to keep it going since. Things are changing though.”
“Why do you say that?”
Tracey’s eyes grew dark and he chugged his wine, “This is souring my mood. If you are so curious I’m sure you can talk to other people to find that information. Let us talk about more upbeat things. Tell me what kind of things you’ve learned on the road.”
“Have you ever been taught to make your own fire? I’m not sure how noble hunts go but it is an essential skill for all wanderers of the road. Most carry flint and steel now and don’t know the old ways. I’ve made sure to learn anyway that might be useful for the future of my survival.”
“There are more ways than one to make a fire?”
I could see that curiosity would pull him from his funk and I started to describe the ways I’ve learned to make fire. From the earliest of rubbing sticks and lighting kindling to the new flint and steel that I had been learning how to use. It was one of the most important skills I had ever learned. For a long time I was too lazy and would use magic to light fire. When I started to find my strength during the Cataclysms to be wanting. I knew that I would have to conserve my strength over the many years I lived so that I wouldn’t fail in the future.
“Amazing, I’ll have to arrange a professional to teach my boys how to survive out in the wilderness. I hear that is good for the growth of a young boy. I wonder though if It will ever be enough to please my wife. She is a silly woman and sometimes I wonder what pampering she gives my sons. They seem so soft that they won’t be able to stand up for themselves in the future.”
Angela came into the room with plates of food and piled them in front of us. “Here is your food good sirs. I hope you enjoy it.” It was a simple affair of steak and vegetables. There seemed to be plenty of butter involved and some exotic spices wafted from the steak. “I hear the chef wanted to make your favorite Sir Ermine. Shall I let her know you are pleased with the meal.”
“I’ll let her know myself if I am pleased with the meal. You can send her to my chambers when I retire.”
Angela ignored the blatant move to bed the chef once more. “I’ll let her know good sir. I hear that your wife might be coming to see you tomorrow.”
Tracey coughed and choked on a bite of steak. His face turned beat red as he coughed out a chunk of barely chewed meat and with watering eyes looked at Angela. “What, why wasn’t I informed of this sooner?”
“She sent word that she would be here tomorrow and keep it a secret from you. However I must’ve slipped my mind that she wanted to keep it from you. I will accept any punishment you see fit.”
“No, no need for that. Thank you for letting me know and our secret is safe with us isn’t that right Dolan?”
I nodded, “I will forget about all this by morning so it is a surprise to me when she comes.”
“Good, good, well.” He stopped for a second, “Give my regards to the chef that the meal is perfect and I expect her to make my wife’s favorite tomorrow for dinner. She loves a cooked grouse and prefers a citrus sauce rubbed into its skin. Should be able to arrange that by tomorrow.”
As Angela turned to leave I called out, “Could you have another bath drawn for me Angela. I would like to freshen up before I spend much more time studying.”
With a curtsy she left us both. “Is there some sort of primer for all the houses and what they do and produce good Sir Ermine?”
“Yes, yes there is. My family makes one so that we know what to trade each of the houses for maximum profit. Would you like to read it?”
“I would love that.”