Part 81 (1/2)
The carriages waited below the terrace, along the King's Parade. Queen Sollace came from the castle and crossed the terrace, pausing occasionally to address last-minute instructions to Sir Mungo, who responded to each of her requirements with the same urbane equanimity.
Queen Sollace descended to the Parade and was a.s.sisted into the royal carriage. She settled herself into the cus.h.i.+ons and a robe of baby-fox fur was tucked across her lap. Madouc then entered the carriage, followed by Lady Tryffyn and Lady Sipple, and last by a certain Damsel Kylas, who had lately been appointed to attend Madouc.
All was in readiness. Queen Sollace nodded to Sir Mungo, who stood back and signalled the heralds. They blew three 'Royal Retreat' fanfares, and the cortege moved off across the King's Parade. The procession turned up the Sfer Arct, and the company settled itself for the journey. Madouc sat beside Queen Sollace. Facing her was Damsel Kylas, a maiden sixteen years old, of high principles and dedicated rect.i.tude, though Madouc found her tiresome, lacking both charm and wit. Prompted either by vanity or by exaggerated sensitivity, Kylas suspected that all men, young and old, who pa.s.sed nearby had come to ogle her and perhaps make improper advances. The conviction caused her to bridle and toss her head, whether the man looked in her direction or not. The habit puzzled Madouc, since her thin shoulders and large hips, saturnine face with its long nose, black protuberant eyes and bundles of wiry black curls hanging to each side, like panniers on a donkey, created no image of memorable beauty. It was Kylas' habit to stare with fixed and unblinking attention at an object of interest. Madouc, sitting opposite, was unable to evade the scrutiny. She thought to fight fire with fire, and for five minutes focused her gaze on the tip of Kylas' nose, without effect. Madouc became bored, and turned away in defeat.
The procession entered the Arqueers; at the same time the weather which earlier had presaged so poorly, changed; clouds and mist dissolved; the sun shone bright upon the landscape. Queen Sollace said, somewhat complacently: ”This morning I prayed that the weather be kind to us, and make our journey safe and pleasant, and so it is.”
Lady Tryffyn, Lady Sipple and Kylas uttered appropriate sounds of wonder and gratification. Queen Sollace arranged a basket of honeyed figs conveniently to hand and spoke to Madouc. ”Now, my dear, you may recount all concerning the recovery of the Blessed Grail!”
Madouc looked around the carriage. Kylas stared with owlish intensity; the two court ladies, ostensibly sympathetic, could not mask their hunger for sensation, ultimately to become the precious stuff of gossip.
Madouc turned to Queen Sollace: ”Such information, Your Highness, is suited for your royal ears alone! There are secrets which should not be heard by the common folk.”
”Bah!” grunted Sollace. ”Lady Tryffyn and Lady Sipple are trusted intimates; they can hardly be described as 'common folk'! Kylas is a baptized Christian; she has interest in naught but the Blessed Grail itself.”
”So it may be,” said Madouc. ”Still, I am constrained.”
”Nonsense! Proceed with your narrative!”
”I dare not, Your Highness! If you wish fully to understand my prudence, come with me, you and I together, deep into the Forest of Tantrevalles.”
”Alone? Without an escort? That is insanity.” Sollace pulled on the bell cord; the carriage halted and a livened groom jumped down to look through the window. ”What are Your Majesty's needs?”
”These ladies will ride for a s.p.a.ce in one of the other carriages. Narcissa, Dansy, Kylas: be good enough to oblige me in this regard. As Madouc indicates, there may be matter here unsuited for general dissemination.”
With poor grace the two ladies and Damsel Kylas moved to another carriage. Madouc quickly took the place vacated by Lady Sipple, across from Queen Sollace, and the procession once more set off up the Sfer Arct.
”Now then,” said Sollace, munching a fig and paying no heed to Madouc's move. ”You may proceed. In all candour, I prefer to hear your tale in privacy. Ignore no detail!”
Madouc saw no reason to conceal any aspect of her adventures. She told the tale to the best of her recollection, and succeeded in arousing the wonderment of Queen Sollace. At the end she eyed Madouc with something like awe. ”Amazing! When half of your blood derives from Faerie, do you not feel a longing to rejoin the shee?”
Madouc shook her head. ”Never. If I had remained at the shee, to eat fairy bread and drink fairy wine, then I would grow into something close to a fairy, except that mortality would come upon me more quickly. At this time, almost all fairies have taints of human blood in their veins; so they are known as halflings. In time, so it is said, the race will mingle into the ruck and the fairies will be gone. Among the human men and women, no one will realize that their quirks and oddities come from the fairy trace. As for me, I am largely mortal, and I cannot change. So I will live and die, as will my children, and soon the flow of Faerie will be forgotten.”
”Just so, and to the greater glory of the Faith!” stated Sollace. ”Father Umphred tells us that the folk of Forest Trantrevalles are devils and satanic imps, of lesser or greater venality. Along with heretics, pagans, atheists, impenitents and idolaters, all such folk are destined for the lowest pits of h.e.l.l!”
”I suspect that he is wrong,” said Madouc.
”Impossible! He is learned in all phases of theology!”
”Other doctrines exist, and other learned men.”
”They are all heretical, and all false!” declared Queen Sollace. ”Logic compels this conviction! Listen now! Where would be the benefits for True Believers if everyone were to share alike in the glories of the hereafter? That is carrying generosity too far!”
Madouc was forced to admit the logic of the remark. ”Still, I have not studied the subject, and my opinions count for little.”
When at last Queen Sollace had discussed the affair to her satisfaction, she halted the cortege once again, and allowed Kylas and the Ladies Tryffyn and Sipple, all somewhat disgruntled, back into the carriage. Madouc slid over to the side of the seat. Lady Tryffyn and Kylas took their old places and Lady Sipple perforce occupied Madouc's original seat, opposite Kylas, to Madouc's great satisfaction.
Queen Sollace said: ”Princess Madouc was correct in her a.s.sumptions. She spoke of certain matters which clearly are best not made public.”
”It must be as Your Majesty a.s.serts,” said Lady Tryffyn with a pursed mouth. ”It should be noted, however, that I, at least, am notorious for my discretion.”