Page 60 of A War of Crowns

Kyn hooked a thumb toward Eisway, where he sparred with their newest recruit. Some lanky bastard named Tayn. “They want to joust, Father. But I don’t know about the melee.”

Rakon pulled the fish free of the fire. While he portioned out everyone’s meals, he answered, “I’ll be doing the melee tomorrow, boss.”

Aldric nodded. “As will I.” Of course he would. He had no choice.

Edmund had named him Drakmor’s champion for the tourney.

While Rakon passed him a triple portion of fish wrapped in large leaves scavenged from the treeline, Aldric announced, “We’ll have Eisway and Tayn in the joust tomorrow and the rest of us, excusing Kyn, Calix, and Leif, in the melee. Let us show these Elmorians what Drakmor is made of.”

Young Sven shot him a look full of alarm. “Youwantmein the melee?”

Leif clapped the lad on the shoulder and teased, “Some bruises will do you good, boy.”

But Calix wrinkled his nose. “If they bothered including an archery competition, Iwouldbe able to show them what I’m made of.”

With his portions of fish clasped in his left hand, Aldric waved with his right. “I’ll be on the ship,” he rumbled to his still chattering men before setting off into the deepening evening.

It was slow going, picking his way across the sands with his poor depth perception. Calix caught up to him quickly.

“Want me to come with you?” his new second-in-command asked, a hopeful quality to his tone.

Aldric would have preferred Rakon or Leif for the position of second. But neither wanted the responsibility of being theMother.

Calix had been the next best option. And he wasn’t a bad choice. He was a decent man. The best shot they had now that Leif’s vision was failing.

Aldric only wished he wasn’t so hard on the younger men.

He dashed his new second’s hopes with a curt, “No.” He just wanted to be alone for a time. “Stay with the men,” he instructed. “Keep the young ones from doing anything stupid.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Calix sighed. Soon after, he melded back into the shadows, leaving Aldric alone at last.

Alone save for Soot.

A quiet chirp was the only warning Aldric received before the winged serpent dove out of the darkness and wrapped itself downthe length of his left arm. He squinted at the creature and warned, “No fish for you, little beggar. Not until we reach the ship.”

When it came time for him to veer toward the cove where their ship was concealed, though, Aldric found himself suddenly walking in the opposite direction, pulled as if by invisible strings.

Frowning, he dove deeper into the jungle.

The wilds of Nerina Reef were a far more treacherous sort than those he had come to know at Blackrun, filled with tangling vines and ferns as tall as he. More than once, he nearly lost his footing in the deep shadows. But the sounds and scents of the queen’s false village soon led him right to the heart of those painted tents.

It all reeked of excess.

It was easy enough to find the pavilion that surely contained the strange woman he had met on the beach. He but looked for the largest and most ornate one.

Aldric had been raised on tales of King Hamon V of Elmoria—the great de la Croix conqueror. The man who had swept the mainland and claimed victory after victory for his small island nation in the days of the Great Conquest. The man who could have ruled all of Avirel had he not lost his nerve upon the battlefield the moment he lost his heir. Aldric could see no sign of King Hamon V’s legacy among the current gilt and glitter.

All he could see was evidence of what happens to men when they forget what hunger tastes like.

Armed guards surrounded the queen’s pavilion, but Aldric slipped through the heavy underbrush unseen. It was one of the many advantages of being smaller than expected.

So few thought to look for him.

The irony of the moment wasn’t lost on him, though. Once upon a time, when he was still the Crown Prince of Drakmor, Seraphina de la Croix was meant to be his bride. He remembered the negotiations well. His father thought it a good match.

Untilhewas no longer worthy of it.

And now here they were. She, a queen in her own right. The first woman in all Avirel to sit a throne as a ruling monarch. And he, a nobody skulking in the bushes.

---