Two Kingdoms 56 - Black Flower

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 56: BLACK FLOWER

This is the fifty-sixth part of an AU construction about a Gwynedd where the duel at Kelson Haldane's coronation went very differently indeed. We are now a bit more than three years into the Gwynedd Wars-- Charissa's new kingdom at Valoret against the Haldanes in the south and the kingdom of Torenth in the east. This episode is set just after "Strand". As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

"He's had work done," Rizak says. He's talking to the others there around the room, to Christian and Aurelian and Ratcliffe. "It would've taken skill to do it." He holds up two fingers pressed against a thumb. "They gave him a black flower, very deep. He could call up his own death at any time. I took that away from him. His memories have been touched as well. A lot of his deeper past is gone, and things have been added."

Their guest is in the center of the room. He's not going anywhere, not now and not ever again. He's in a reclining wooden chair, and Darcek and one of Aurelian's Readers are seated behind him. The guest is fastened to the chair with padded leather straps, and only his eyes are moving. The straps aren't strictly necessary, mind you. Darcek is inside the guest's mind, and has all the guest's limbs under his own control. Whatever Deryni skills the guest once had, they've been stripped from him.

There's heavy bruising all along the guest's jaw, a leftover from his capture, but there aren't any other physical marks on him, or not yet. This is one of Ratcliffe's interview rooms in the ducal palace complex at Tolan-by-Sea, and the instruments of questioning are still in locked metal cabinets along the walls. You can see those in the grey light from the wards in the corner of the room. This morning has been Rizak's day, though. Whatever's going to happen, the Shadow Queen's servants will begin with unseen tools.

Aurelian traces his fingers across a folder on the table. "He had rooms in the city. Paid in Fathane coins. He called himself Master Alister, obviously not his name. He held himself out to be a trader dealing in amber and ivory from up in the Nordlands over the Gulf. He'd been in his rooms for a week— waiting for the ship with the book."

"Two servants," Ratcliffe says. "One tried to put up a fight. He's dead, but we went in before he died. There wasn't much there. The Reader we had says that he wasn't Deryni and didn't belong to any Order. The name Camber wasn't in his memories, and he didn't know about an Order. No sign of anyone being inside his head. Southern, though. A hired blade."

Rizak looks down the table. "The second man," he  says, "the second servant. Not a syed either— not Deryni." He nods at Ratcliffe. "He's in Sir Richard's cells. He doesn't believe that our guest was an amber merchant. He never believed that. He thinks our guest was a smuggler or maybe somebody's spy. The man is from Joux. Hired there. All his memories are his own. He's not quite a fool, but he's very provincial. He believes that this Master Alister was a spy for the ruler of Orsal. He thinks that the Orsals are a major power; they're what he imagines when he thinks of great rulers. Things look that way from Joux. He can't imagine this could be about anything else."

"One hired knife hand," Aurelian says. "And one hired manservant in the wrong place at the wrong time. They came via Fathane. No contact with anyone in Torenth on their way north, but there wouldn't be. This one wasn't part of the attack on the Queen. Our guest is in Tolan-by-Sea because he can read, because he knows something about books, not because he can fight. My own guess is that he might not have known about the attack. He has nothing about that in his mind, Rizak tells me. He was here for the book. His mission wasn't part of the attack. Still, he's one of the hand-and-eye folk. Just like the others."

"Not his first mission, though." That's Christian, down in the shadows at the far end of the table. "He was worth someone's time and effort. He's been on missions for the Hand of Camber before.Let's see what he's thinking."

Christian is very quiet and very cold this morning. He's been like that since the Hand-and-Eye people had come for Charissa. Aurelian and the Queen have begun to take notice. Michael Gordon, too.

Aurelian nods to Darcek. "Bring him up."

Darcek leans forward in his chair and flickers his fingers. He might be playing the dulcimer. You can sense power in the air. The guest's eyes widen and his body arches hard against the straps. His mouth opens, but Darcek isn't letting him scream.

Christian tilts his head. "So tell us— I know your Order, but are you a Hand or an Eye?"

The Reader looks up. "He's praying. Eparchius. Saint Eparchius. Ora pro nobis. I think that's his birth saint. He's praying  for strength— his birth saint, and to Saint Camber. My lord Kheldour, he's praying to Saint Camber."

The guest's eyes try to turn toward Christian.

"He's thinking... Kheldour. Kheldour. He knows who you are," the Reader says. "Queen...Shadow Queen's man. Queen's man. He says...sell-sword. Hired killer. Sell-swords are hired killers. Whore. He's saying whore. War whore. Queen's whore. Shadow Whore's whore. That's what he's thinking, Your Grace. That's what he's thinking about Queen Charissa. Those are his thoughts."

There's nothing in Christian's face at all. "Well, we know who he prays to. We know what he's part of. Let's ask him something. Hand and Eye— which is he, a Hand or an Eye?"

The Reader's voice is soft and distant. "Camber's hand. It's a prayer. He's in Camber's hand now. In the next life."

Christian glances over at Aurelian and then back at the Reader. "What's the language he thinking in? Anything from the Forcinn?"

"Good Latin, my lord. It's very good Latin. Well-taught."

Christian is smiling. "Of course it is." He looks down at Aurelian and Ratcliffe. "He's an Eye." They both nod.

Christian taps two fingers on the heavy book that's there on the table, wrapped in thick cloth. "They sent him because he's been a scholar. They sent him to read my book like a scholar. The hand acts, the eye directs. He's here to find out about me."

The Reader is frowning. "There's more, my lord. He's thinking Kheldour. He's thinking about your title. And something more. He's thinking Kheldour... Heldurnii.  I don't know what Heldurnii is. But...Heldurnii, brothers— not his  own brothers, though. Not his...real brothers. He means more than family, though.  He means something else. Brothers...brotherhood. An Order, like his own. Heldurnii Brotherhood. Wait...before. Before something."

The Reader shakes his head. "Not just before. It's in Latin— before is coram. Coram deo, before God. Coram judice, before a judge. Someone should be judged. Stephanus...Stefan, Stefan Coram. Whoever that is. Coram, Heldurnii, Brotherhood. This Coram, this Brotherhood, did they betray us? They're not our brothers, no matter what they say. Arrogant. They're arrogant. They want everything in their own hands. He's thinking— they came to us, and now they've used us and they're betraying us. That's what he's thinking— did this man Stefan Coram betray us? He thinks that's why he's here, that's how our people found him. He thinks he was betrayed."

Down the table glances are being exchanged, as well as grim smiles. There are suspicions being raised and possibilities beginning to form.

Christian picks up the book. He holds it out toward the guest. He's speaking in  scholar's Latin. "You're an Eye, Master Alister. They sent you here to read one of my books. This one...this is the life of the first King Festil. I do wonder why this one. The other one, now, the other one— about Deryni origins. That's more of a scholar's work. That's something the heads of an Order like yours might like. Your people, they bought this out of Laas. You were willing to pay good money for a copy. I think you chose the wrong book, though. You think that my life of King Festil will tell you what I am or tell you what I believe in. Maybe what I think a ruler should be like. It doesn't, though. It's good history, and I'm proud of it. It's just not what you needed."

He nods to Darcek. "Let's make him focus. Let's make him really understand this."

This time the guest almost makes something like a coherent sound. His eyes are wild and he's gasping. You can almost hear muscles straining and joints cracking. The guest is inside a world of harsh flashes of agony in red and white. Thin trails of saliva are running from his mouth. 

Christian sighs. "You should've looked all over Gwynedd and Tolan instead of buying somebody's copy in Laas. I've written something new for the Queen.  Wrote it for her as my special gift. We have copies being made and sent out all over Tolan and the West. Into Gwynedd, too. It's my life of the Queen— Charissa, first of her name. It's all about her and all about how she came to be Queen. That tells you all about how I think these days, and what I am, and what I want to have come out of the Gwynedd wars. Everything in it, I stand by it. The history in it will hold up, long after you and I are both gone. You won't get to read it, but it's what you should've chosen to read."

There's a wine cup on the table, and Christian is running a long finger around the rim. "You're an Eye, Master Alister. I think I know what that means. You and I, we speak the same Latin, and we know all the same hermeneutical tricks. I know what hermeneutical means, yes. Just like you and the other Eyes. If you'd read the right book, you'd know everything you hoped to know. about me. You could tell the Hands of Camber who and what I am."

The Reader looks up. "He's thinking...again, sell-sword. In Latin, still. Mercenary. Hired killer.  Can't...can't have written. Can't write a book, can only hold a sword. Not what his kind do, he's thinking. Shouldn't be able to do. What is he? How does he write?  Deryni, Deryni, lost to the Dark. He thinks you sold yourself to the Dark for the Queen. He calls you a male whore, a war whore, again. He says...he says...your pardon, Your Grace— he says the Queen is a sapphic whore who's the daughter of the devil. He doesn't know how you're able to write about the Festils or about Queen Charissa and not know you're abetting evil. That's what he says— abetting. Saying anything good about them is doing evil."

Christian takes a quick drink from the wine cup. "Well," he says. "Master Alister knows nothing about writing history. He knows less than nothing about me, or the Queen, or the new kingdom. I want him to know, though, that when this is done, he won't be in St. Camber's hands. There won't be a marker for him, not under this name he's using, not under whatever his real name is. He's more than just wrong. He's nothing at all, just like his Order."

The Reader is frowning. "He thinks you've learned nothing from him; he thinks he didn't tell you anything. He thinks that at least he was faithful to Saint Camber. He's proud he didn't tell you anything."

Christian smiles again. "He's told me everything I need to know." He shrugs. "All that's left is how to end the tale."

Down the table, Aurelian and Ratcliffe both nod. Rizak joins them.

Christian puts the book back in its cloth wrapping. There's nothing else to say here. He motions the Reader back from the guest and makes a quick, sharp, final gesture to Darcek. "Finish it."

[Jerusha]

You realize, of course, I had to look hermeneutical up. 

I do hope Christian does not destroy himself in seeking vengeance. It would be such a waste.

[DerynifanK]

I would love to know what Christian wants to see come out of this war. An interesting war, supposedly 3 protagonists; Charissa and her new kingdom, Wencit and Torenth, Gwynned and the Haldanes. But the Haldanes are barely mentioned while Charissa and Wencit continue their struggle. Then there are splinter groups like Hand and Eye. Not sure what their goal is. I would suppose that the main goal for each is power but not sure where this is going . I guess we'll see

[tmcd]

Literally me a few minutes ago: "Eeeeee! A new Two Kingdoms!"

Reading: "Oh. Oh, no. No no no. Noooo."

[DoctorM]

Literally me a few minutes ago: "Eeeeee! A new Two Kingdoms!"

Reading: "Oh. Oh, no. No no no. Noooo."

I hope that's a "No no no. Noooo..." that says "this is dark and scary" and not "this is badly done..."

[DoctorM]

I would love to know what Christian wants to see come out of this war. An interesting war, supposedly 3 protagonists; Charissa and her new kingdom, Wencit and Torenth, Gwynned and the Haldanes. But the Haldanes are barely mentioned while Charissa and Wencit continue their struggle. Then there are splinter groups like Hand and Eye. Not sure what their goal is. I would suppose that the main goal for each is power but not sure where this is going . I guess we'll see

I think what Christian wants is to keep the Shadow Queen alive and on a throne. He probably personally believes that both Torenth and Gwynedd are going to end up divided, and he wants Tolan-and-the-West to be large enough to survive on its own. He wouldn't mind seeing Lionel ruling over a post-Wencit Torenth, since he admires Lionel and since his mother was an Arjenol on the illegitimate side.

Wencit of course was beginning his invasion of Gwynedd while King Brion was still alive, and he'd have carried on with that no matter who was on the throne in Rhemuth or Valoret. He's also angry at Charissa on a personal level-- a mere girl has taken two duchies (Tolan and Marluk) from Torenth, and she refuses to behave the way she's "supposed to" in Torenthi views (i.e., bend the knee to Wencit, marry who she's told to marry, and remember her place).

The Haldanes have spent the last three to four years regrouping. (What they want is easy: recover the Gwynedd north, restore Kelson to uncontested rule over all Gwynedd) Kelson was still very young through the last several years, and many a Gwynedd lord was cautious in supporting a boy-king. Kelson is now seventeen or eighteen and beginning to assert himself.

Duke Nigel did manage to re-capture Rhemuth, so there is that. Alaric Morgan was badly injured at what would've been Kelson's coronation, and he's been slow to recover. That wasn't helped by the anti-Deryni rebellion under Warin de Grey. The defeat of the allied force sent by the Orsals has also delayed Haldane efforts to strike north at Valoret.

The next real action may be in the west, where Bran Coris is fighting the dukes of Cassan and Claiborne and trying to set Meara alight against the Haldanes.

The hand-and-eye people are realizing that they've been played by Stefan Coram, who's persuaded them to offer support against Charissa. I suspect they were willing to do that in the first place because as a splinter faction of the Knights of the Anvil, they wanted to find a noble purpose. Stefan Coram's own goals are...well, expansive. He's hoping to create a new world, or at least a new Gwynedd with "good" Deryni guiding it.

We'll see what happens.
 

[DoctorM]

You realize, of course, I had to look hermeneutical up. 

I do hope Christian does not destroy himself in seeking vengeance. It would be such a waste.

I like "hermeneutical" as a word, and I'm just waiting to use "chiliastic". I'll find an occasion!

I think that Christian has spent much of his life feeling like an observer-- a mercenary captain watching other people's causes and wars, a scholar reading about the distant past, a sometime courtier who's been a polite if ironic figure watching politics and life from the wings. He's almost thirty now, and he's suddenly faced with a clear threat to the one person he's loved for the last decade and a half. I think he's surprised himself by finding a hard side to his own personality. But, yes-- I don't want him to lose himself in vengeance. (Charissa would worry about that, since it's very like what she's dealt with in herself since her father's death.)

[Evie]

Kelson was still very young through the last several years, and many a Gwynedd lord was cautious in supporting a boy-king. Kelson is now seventeen or eighteen and beginning to assert himself.

I think this is a very important point to consider. In the Real Middle Ages, loyalties weren't to kingdoms, they were to Kings. Because the fealty relationship was meant to be reciprocal, a lord swore his fealty to a king who was strong enough to offer his protection. It was an agreement of "I will protect you with the assistance of men who are loyal to me, and in exchange I expect that you will also protect me and mine." And that worked well as long as you had a strong King (or in Charissa's case, Queen Regnant) who could deliver on their end of the bargain.

But if you had a child King under a Regency, that was a very uncertain time for a Kingdom, and even if the King is technically an adult by law (as Kelson was before his Coronation), an extremely young and inexperienced King is an unknown factor. Is he going to be strong enough to keep the Kingdom together? Can he fulfil his end of the fealty contract? Remember, society hadn't developed the notion of allegiance to a Kingdom or country yet. Their loyalty was devoted directly to their King, and was contingent on that vow of fealty.

So you would have some lords who would, out of their personal loyalty towards the late King Brion, do their best to support Kelson as he grows into young manhood, hoping he will be an equally strong King or that he has the potential to become so with their support. After all, he is King by right of birth, and for those who believe in the divine right of Kings, that holds a lot of weight. But you would also have other lords who would say "I dunno, I trusted Brion to be able to fulfil his feudal obligations towards me and mine, but I'm not sure this youngster can hold his own against someone like Wencit or Charissa. I need to promise my sword to whichever side I think is most likely to be able to help me maintain my lands and goods. I guess that sucks for poor Kelson, but I'm out." And you'd have others who would take more of a wait and see approach, not wanting to alienate Kelson since there is a good chance (if he survives long enough) that he could turn out to be as good and powerful King as his father was, but also not wanting to do anything to ruin their chances with Charissa (and/or Wencit), in case one of those other would-be rulers end up taking all.

The idea of loyalty belonging to the individual (or at most, to a particular family/dynasty) rather than the Kingdom at large is a foreign mindset to most modern people, who either tend to be more allegiant to a country than to the individual who happens to be running it at the moment, or if they feel a sense of loyalty to the individual, there is more of a tendency to more inextricably link that individual with their nation. (For instance, I can't as easily separate Queen Elizabeth II or King Charles from the UK in my mind. But there are loyal Britons who might think "we don't really need a King anymore," and there are other loyal Britons who say "We still want both our monarch and our national identity," but I'm less convinced there would be as many who would say "You know, I'd follow Charles anywhere, no matter where the seat of government might happen to be, because we know he's got our backs on an individual level, and everything of value I have was granted to me by him" in the same way that a nobleman in 1121 would think of the subject/monarch relationship.)

[tenworld]

it seems like at least in fiction if not real history that loyalty oaths no matter how sacred were easily broken when it was convenient.

[DoctorM]

it seems like at least in fiction if not real history that loyalty oaths no matter how sacred were easily broken when it was convenient.

Any good history of the Hundred Years War, or the Anglo-Scots wars, or Japan c. 1400-1615 will give lots and lots of examples.

[tmcd]

@Evie You might be underrating the influence of legitimacy and inherited right, and I think DoctorM might be too. To quote from Shakespeare's Richard II,

Did not the one deserve to have an heir?
Is not his heir a well-deserving son?
Take Hereford's rights away, and take from Time
His charters and his customary rights;
Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day;
Be not thyself; for how art thou a king
But by fair sequence and succession?

Without that influence, Henry II Plantagenet would not have gotten the compromise settlement that got him all England after the Anarchy, and Henry III could not have gotten the throne either. Both of them came to the English throne with half the realm occupied by enemy forces. One was 20 and the other was an infant.

[Evie]

@Evie You might be underrating the influence of legitimacy and inherited right, and I think DoctorM might be too.

Oh, absolutely those things were considered important! They just weren't considered the only important factors to be weighed in when trying to decide whether to support a claimant to the throne or not. I am sure that in the majority of cases, a lord would prefer to just continue supporting the legitimate heir of the previous sovereign, provided that legitimate and rightful heir was otherwise suitable. But being legitimate and having the inherited right didn't exactly help the Empress Matilda (Empress due to her first marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor) when her father died and her Norman barons decided they didn't want her second husband Geoffrey of Anjou potentially acting as King by right of his wife. (And in that period of history, the idea of a woman being Queen Regnant would have been even more eyebrow-raising than it was in Elizabeth I's time centuries later, not that it wasn't a novel and, for many courtiers, very worrisome prospect even then.) Henry VI was also the rightful and legitimate son and heir of Henry V, but far from a strong King, so it's not surprising that there were those looking to support other claimants who didn't share his mental health issues. 

[DoctorM]

I think Evie is right-- all other things being equal, medieval barons preferred having a king from a known, traditional royal bloodline (and was a legitimate heir). That said, each baron had to consider his own interests. As strong king was better than a weak or easily-manipulated one, since he could serve as a mediator or arbitrator among barons. But too strong a king was a threat to baronial autonomy (see the history of Poland-Lithuania and Hungary).

Legitimate bloodlines and heirship come with religious sanction, and that does count. But a fair number of English lords after 1216 were willing to accept Prince Louis of France as king because they were sick and tired of the Plantagenets and worried about how young Henry III was. (Okay, yes, Prince Louis was a king's son and carried royal blood-- everyone agreed on that) A larger number were willing to accept a young child as king because there was advantage to be had.

[drakensis]

I'd imagine that the Duke of Claibourne is quite furious, but with Bran Coris and Ian Howell having been in Charissa's camp, that opened up his flank.

I'd imagine Ewan is furiously arguing for an attack to recover his lands, much less concerned about liberating Valoret.

[DoctorM]

I'd imagine that the Duke of Claibourne is quite furious, but with Bran Coris and Ian Howell having been in Charissa's camp, that opened up his flank.

I'd imagine Ewan is furiously arguing for an attack to recover his lands, much less concerned about liberating Valoret.

I think you may be right about that. And both Cassan and Claibourne have to worry about Meara as well.