Dragon - Dragon Companion - Dragon - Dragon Companion Part 30
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Dragon - Dragon Companion Part 30

Retruance explained, "The Great Hall of Gantrell is less than three hours' horseback ride to the north. Lord Peter's rule is felt in a wide circle."

"But," said Clem, angrily, "is that any reason to serve us cold soup?"

"The soup is supposed to be cold!" Retruance laughed. "It's a specialty of the inn, you see. Lord Peter, they say, particularly likes it. Colder the better!"

"One more reason," Clem muttered into his spoon, "fora"

"For keeping one's mouth shut, unless one wants to stir up trouble," advised the Dragon. He was stretched out along the grassy riverbank outside the inn, enjoying the fall's perpetual cloud of cool spray. "We'll be better received at Sweetwater Tower. Are we ready to fly?"

"Don't leave a tip," growled the woodsman as Tom began to count out coppers from his purse. "Service was not good enough to earn it."

THE country between Rainbow and broad Brant Bay, which brought Blue Ocean waters to the outskirts of inland Lexor, was called Override. It was generally flat and watered by dozens of meandering rivers and shallow streams. The peo-ple who farmed and lived there, rather than build roads, traveled mostly by boat. Between the rivers, farms blanketed the low ridges while the manors of wealthy land-owners were built on the highest points, with views of the falling land on either side.

Along the coast were vast wetlands into which the rivers flowed and were shattered into intricate networks of channels. A hundred varieties of birds circled and screamed there in vast flocks. Retruance picked a more inland course, where it was quieter.

230 Don Callander It was three days before they were received by the royal couple. The Lord Chamberlain Walden, a tall, extremely elegant man with sharp, suspicious features and chill dignity, when pressed by the Dragon admitted that the king was in Lexor and the queen never received anyone in his absence.

"Her Majesty is feeling well?" Tom asked.

"She is feeling well," replied the Lord Chamberlain, who never said just yes or no to any question. "She has been informed of your arrival. Librarian, and has sent word that you are to make yourself comfortable."

Comfort was a meager word for the profuse luxury of Sweetwater Tower. They were assigned dark, heavily decorated rooms with only narrow-windowed views of the magnificent bay. Each man was assigned a deeply carpeted velvet parlor, a vast bedchamber with a high, soft bed, and a number of silent servants to see to their needs.

It was made clear that they were expected to wait in their apartments and not wander about the castle nor talk unnecessarily to courtiers or servants.

Retruance got along bettera-nobody told a Dragon where to go and to whom he could speaka-and he brought news and gossip when he thrust his head through the midnight blue drapes of Tom's balconied window for a chat, which he did several times a day.

"Be patient," he advised. "The air of the castle is not that of its master or mistress."

"Then of whom?" asked Tom, rather piqued at being shuffled aside by officious flunkies.

"This overstuffed Lord Chamberlain, mostly. It's his way of protecting the king, the queen, and their soon-to-be-bom from what he considers evil influences."

"Us? Evil influences!" cried Clem. "Why, I'd like to a !"

"Hold your horses, countryman," said Tom. "We'll make progress, shortly. A king and queen have a great deal of business to conduct every waking minute of the day. They don't yet see how we fit into that day, I imagine."

"You've said it better than I could," said the Dragon with a shrug of his enormous shoulders. "Say, fellows, if you're that bored, I can fly you out to the Point to watch the cadets drill and the ships come and go."

DRAGON COMPANION 231.

So on the second full day they went with the Dragon across the bay to the Point, a grimly fortified castle surrounded by unusually thick stone walls with their feet in the bay on one side and the ocean on the other. Fleets of warships and galleys anchored just inside the narrow entrance to the bay to protect Brant Bay, the city of Lexor, and the royal personagesa-not to mention, said the Dragon, a great number of traders and merchants of all kinds.

They were very well received. Retruance was aa-de-tacheda-colonel of the Coastal Guards, treated with great deference and respect. Tom and Clem wished they had arranged to live at the Point rather than Sweetwater Tower, for the soldiers were outgoing and cheerful.

A day was all they dared spend away from Sweetwater Tower. When Retruance flew them back in the early evening, they found Lord Chamberlain Walden huffing and puffing impatiently with a message from the king.

"Their Majesties will receive you at ten tomorrow mom-ing. If you had been here, sirs, you would have had a full day to prepare yourselves for the honor."

Tom gave the man a hard, long look and might have said something untoward had not Retruance, at the window, quickly thanked the official and sent him about his business.

"Dragonsa-and Companionsa-are not upset by mere Lord Chamberlains," he snorted, and flew off to take a hot bath.

"A bath, a shave, and a clean shirt," claimed Clem, with heated determination. "They're all I need to do to prepare for anyone, even a queen!"

They ignored the perfumed, pressed, and richly embroidered knee breeches and lacy, heavily starched linen shirts that had been laid out for them.

"Something underlies the bad attitude here," Tom murmured. "And I have come to the conclusion it is fear."

AT ten the following morning the young men were shown to a waiting room at the base of the tallest round tower. They kicked their heels alone and watched a steady parade of courtiers and servants climb up and down the winding stair on the far side of the vast room.

"I thought promptness was the *courtesy of kings'!" Clem grumbled under his breath to Tom.

232.

DRAGON COMPANION 233.

Don Callander "Easy, lad! But I certainly would like to know what Murdan would have to say about the way his emissaries are treated. I don't care for my self, but if it's a reflection of roy-al regard for the Historian this country is in deep trouble."

"Nor do I care whether I sleep under a down comforter or on a hay-strewn floor," said the woodsman. "As you say, it seems a calculated insult to the Lord of Overhall. What does the Dragon say? He should know."

Retruance had gone off on an errand of his own. They hadn't seen him that morning.

"He's embarrassed. He doesn't know what to think about it. Himself, they seem to treat very well."

"Just plain fear of a Dragon, is why. Personally, I'd just as soon we were fishing for bass on a lake I know back in Broken Land," said Clem. "Ah! Here's that glum fellow, Walden!"

The Chamberlain appeared from a side door hidden by thick draperies and stalked toward them, chin held too high and eyes half-hooded.

"He probably would take out the garbage with the same look on his ugly dial," scoffed Clem.

"Exactly the same," agreed Tom. "Now be quiet!"

"Master Librarian anda er. Fur Trappera your wait is to be not much longer."

With which he turned on his heel and stalked away through the same hidden doorway. Before it swung closed, they heard his footsteps climbing stairs.

An hour passed.

Clem pretended to sleep, slumped in his chair. Tom spent the time studying the rich tapestries that adorned the walls of the waiting room. They seemed to tell stories of a very ancient time but his knowledge of Carolna history and legend was much too limited to give him any clues to the events depicted.

Shortly before noon a highly polished and beautifully uniformed guard platoon marched through the waiting room and up the stairway without stopping or looking to either side.

"Change of the guard at noon," guessed Clem. Tom sat down and considered what they should do. Nothing occurred to him save rushing the stair and demanding immediate audience.

"But, recall, young Librarian," he scolded himself, "we're dealing here not only with highest royalty but also a lady pregnant for the first time, as well. Who knows? She may even now be in labor."

Consoled by his imaginings, he walked over to a mul-lioned window overlooking the castle's innermost garden. Gardeners were planting, trimming, pruning happily away. It was the most pleasant aspect he had seen since they'd arrived, so he watched for a long time, trying to put names to the flowers and shrubs.

Close to the tower the garden was rather English in style: large, free-form clumps of multicolored blooms, bordered by other, lower flowering plants, casually trimmed and trained. Grassy paths wandered among the beds and a tiny brook rippled over stones and twinkled into a pool filled with gold-colored fish.

Further off, beyond a low hedge, the gardens became very formal, with geometric beds of flowers in solid colors, separated by carefully aligned border plants from wide brick paths. Shady alleys of trees were punctuated with square, round, and oval pools and fountains. From a distance the patterns hardly seemed to be living plants at all.

Rather like a Persian carpet, Tom thought to himself.

"Their Majesties will receive you now," came Walden's voice just behind him. Tom jumped despite himself and spun about to see the Chamberlain stalking toward the stair without looking to see if they followed.

Clem shrugged his shoulders eloquently and fell in beside his companion as he followed the Chamberlain up the stairs.

At the next level they were scrutinized carefully by six heavily armed, silver-steel-armored guards. Walden paced on to the next flight of stairs without giving so much as a glance to the soldiers.

From somewhere above came soft music; strings and a flute. The stairs here were carpeted with rich maroon and gold pile. At the top of the flight another platoon of soldiers stood stiffly at attention.

"This way, please. Don't dawdle!" admonished the Lord Chamberlain. He stopped before a tall, double door with polished copper and brass fittings. When the two visitors stood beside him, he nodded to soldiers, who drew open the doors on silent hinges.

234.

DRAGON COMPANION 235.

Don Callander "Master Librarian Thomas Whitehead of Overhall! Mas-ter Woodsman Clematis of Broken Land!" the Chamberlain said in a loud, harsh voice.

He stepped back and disappeared, leaving the companions standing awkwardly in the royal doorway, staring at the scene before them.

In a vast bed piled high with pillows and cushions of pastel fabrics reclined a small, delicate, dark-haired woman with skin almost as pale as the sheets upon which she lay. Her hands fell limp to either side, palms up and helpless. Under the thick coverings Tom could make out her swollen figure. This was Queen Beatrix of Caroma.

Standing to the queen's right was a strikingly handsome middle-aged man of just above medium height with close-cropped gray hair. He wore a maroon uniform (that matched the carpeting) and a brightly polished silver scabbard at his side, a ceremonial sword whose hilt and pommel glittered like a jeweler's showcase. His face was familiar. Tom had seen it in portraits hanging at Overhall, and stamped on golden volsa-and in the features of Princess Royal Alix Amanda, this man's daughter. This was Eduard Ten, King of Carolna.

Tom also saw, beneath the maroon velvet, the silver, and jewels, a worried, care-haggard husband.

"Welcome to Sweetwater Tower," Eduard Ten said in a clear, pleasant voice with bass undertones that surprised Tom, for the man was rather too slight for such a tim-bre.

"Thank you. Your Majesty!" they replied together, bow-ing from the waist.

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"We bear a letter to Your Majesty," the Librarian said quickly, trying to sound at ease and confident, "from your loyal servant and friend, the Historian Murdan of Overhall. And we bring his personal, spoken greetings and good wishes as well."

The king took a step forward and held out his hand, so Tom plucked Murdan's letter from his inner coat pocket and laid it in the royal palm.

"Thank you!" said the king. He glanced at the superscrip-tion and for the first time smiled, ever so faintly. "You are, I believe, Murdan's Librarian?"

"Yes, sire. I am Thomas. May I say it is a great pleasure to meet you."

"And a pleasure to me, also. My daughter has written to me of you. Master Thomas."

"I knew she intended to," said Tom, blushing crimson under the king's level gaze. "I hope she woulda well, be complimentary, I guess is what I meana but not just complimentary. Approving?"

The king laughed and the sudden sound in this somber place was like the pealing of large, well-cast bells.

"She was both approving and very complimentary," said the queen. Tom turned to her in surprise, having almost forgotten she was there until she spoke. Now she smiled wanly at him and nodded to her husband.

"May I present my wife? Her Majesty, Queen Beatrix. a"

"Ia Ia I'm truly honored, ma'am!" said the Librarian, stammering in spite of his resolution to seem bold and confident. The lady on the bed was really very beautiful, if much too sickly pale.

"This is my companion and good friend. Clematis of Broken Land," Tom went on quickly. "He claims no title but that of freeman of Carolna."

"We are ever deeply grateful for our freemen," said Eduard, nodding warmly to Clem. "Where we would be without their support and love, I don't dare imagine!"

Clem made polite, confused, pleased noises and bowed again to the royal pair. Eduard and Beatrix smiled at his bluff good looks and country manner.

"Please, take chairs here," the king impulsively invited. "Under normal circumstances, at this time of the year, I meet friends in the garden, buta"

"I was just admiring your beautiful gardens, sire," said Tom. "I've not had a garden of my own since I was a child, having lived mostly in places where it was impractical."

Gardens provided all four with a common subject on which to converse while they warmed to each other.

"I plant herbs and flowers as well as green and yellow vegetables in my own plot beside my cabin in the Broken Land," Clem told the king. "I live pretty much alone, so it's pleasant to have bright colors about when you work, not to mention the aromas. Besides, sire, some of the flowers are DRAGON COMPANION.

237.

236 Don Callander also herbsa-and some of the herbs are flowers!"

"Where I grew up," said Queen Beatrix, showing more animation and a bit of color as she joined in the conversation, "my mother had the most splendid garden anyone had ever seen. You remember it, Eduard? She worked in it every morning before it got too hot, and sometimes in the evenings. I wish a"

She didn't say what she wished but said it with such wistfulness that Tom leaped to the realization that she missed being out of doors, in a garden, free of artificial restrictions. The queen had been a child of open places and wide waters. No wonder she was unhappy here, even to the point of sickness!

"What did your mother grow?" he asked, as it seemed to please her to remember her mother's garden.

"All sorts of flowers. Some that won't grow this far north, but many were the same as the ones our gardeners grow here."

She described the green shrubs and the herbs in her mother's garden, as well as the flowers her mother lovingly cut, arranged in vases, and put everywhere about the big Knollwater manor house. Then she spoke of the vegetables, especially fresh, sweet corn, green beans and yellow beans, and peppers of dark green, yellow, orange and bright red, both hot and sweet.

"And, oh! Tomatoes! Big, red, juicy, wonderful tomatoes. How I miss them!"

"Tomatoes grow in the north!" injected Clem. "I always had two or three rows just for myself, to home. They do wonders for a stew, ma'am!"

The queen looked forlorn, somehow both elated and saddened by the thought. The king hastened to explain.

"My Northerners have the idea in their heads that tomatoes are poisonous," he said.

"Who is that, sir?" asked Tom.

"Oh, the people of the northeast. Never grow tomatoes, they say! They ruin the soil! Never eat tomatoes! I grew up near Lexor and never tasted one until I visited Knollwater, the time I first met my wife. And I loved them, and her, at once!"

The queen blushed prettily and gave her husband a radi-ant smile.

"I would think," Tom said, boldly, "that a Queen could insist on having tomatoes on her table any time she wished."