Page 55 of Once Upon a Crown
“Never thought I’d see your face again.” The voice came from my left as Donald took a seat next to me.
“You’re a hard man to find, you know?”
“You’ve been looking for me?” He searched his coat pocket until he pulled out a coin and placed it on the bar top.
“Everyone seems to have scattered after the rebellion.”
“I think many were surprised to find you on the throne. Especially after Arthur preached so much about ending the monarchy. I think they felt betrayed by him.” We both kept our voices low, not making eye contact.
“So did I,” I admitted. “Things might have turned out so differently if he’d just told me.”
“A lot of the folks believe that you knew all along. That you and Arthur were just using them for your personal gain.”
The barmaid walked up to us, took the coin and placed a cup in front of Donald. Some of the ale spilled over the edges.
“I promise you I didn’t know.”
“I did.”
I couldn’t keep my head from turning as I looked at him with surprise.
“Some of us had known your uncle since our time at the palace. We were the ones who helped him escape and fake his death.” Of course. How did I not see it before? Uncle had known the masters of the clan for twenty years. Many of them used to work at the palace. And all of them hated my father, for whatever reasons they might have had.
“Arthur made us take an oath not to tell. And that we would fight with him to put you on the throne.”
“Yes, so that he could use me as his puppet to rule as he pleased.”
I took a sip from my cup out of frustration. The liquid tasted bitter.
“True as that may be, this kingdom was doing no good in the hands of your father or brother.” I couldn’t disagree with him, but it hardly felt as if we were faring much better now. “You’ve given back land taken by the Crown, lowered the unnecessary taxes. You try to look after the folk that weren’t born with fancy titles, because you know what it’s like to live like that. That’s why most of us spread out. We could finally start building lives of our own. There was no need to steal.”
“You don’t understand,” I said softly. “War is coming and unless we do something, too many innocent people are going to die.”
“There’s always another war coming.” Donald took a big gulp of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“The King of Argon is in Norrandale. His armies are slowly making their way north. If he reaches Everness, our army isn’t big enough to fight back. We’ll be lambs before the slaughter.”
Donald didn’t say anything but I could tell he was pondering my words.
“I need men to fight.”
“I thought Everness had such a large army. King Magnus was always boasting about it.”
“The king’s guard suffered some major losses during the rebellion,” I replied. “And while we do have a bigger army than Norrandale, it will not be enough compared to Argon’s. The royal council don’t see Aries for the threat he is yet, and while we might be able to hold up the kingdom’s defences, we might need more men to go to Norrandale and fight. Argon has one of thelargest armies on the continent. There are discussions of King Cai taking back Mistwood and it would take some time to gather all the loyalists. I need the people on my side too.”
“And I suppose you’re expecting I help you with this.”
I turned in my chair now, no longer caring if we caught the attention of a few strangers in a tavern. “Not all the people see me as their queen yet. I am still in the first year of my reign and I haven’t an heir to strengthen my claim. You helped my uncle raise a rebellion once, with enough people to overthrow the Crown. And I know Uncle had relations with some of the other bandit clans in the forest.” True, Fairfrith might have been the biggest, but there were plenty of desperate people in the kingdom back then, willing to do anything just to live another day.
“With all due respect, that took twenty years, Your Majesty.”
“I know you still have contacts in the clan. And I know you can gather people to fight. Maybe not enough to defeat an army but enough to stand a chance. I want to take the fight to Norrandale. To stop King Aries before he can set foot in Everness. I’m meeting with the royal council to gather their men but many of them aren’t convinced he will turn to us next. There may have been no battles yet, but there will be, and they will be bloody and brutal.”
“It will not be easy. As you said, many people don’t acknowledge you as the true queen yet. And they don’t want to live under the rule of a monarch anyway.”
“Well, if Argon conquers Everness, there’s no chance of a republic ever. This isn’t just about me. This is about the kingdom and its future. We need the Everneans to fight for themselves.”
Donald rubbed the scruff on his cheek. “I used to think Arthur was mad for thinking you could rule someday. But now I think he saw something in you that the rest of us didn’t.”
