Some Pawn in Their Game

“Hey, cheer up. It could have been worse,” Dmitri smiles, referring to the rest of the family breakfast that we’ve just escaped from. Now we walk down yet another corridor that looks just like all the other confounded corridors in this dratted prison of a mansion.

“In what way, exactly?” I hiss. That meal was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster, and I’m in no mood for his attempts to cheer me. “I suppose they could have decided to test me in academics now, rather than putting it off until after luncheon in the hopes that rest will render me more agreeable.”

“In their defense, you have been in something of a sour disposition since you met Juniper.”

“And of course that’s somehow out of the realm of reasonable expectations, under the circumstances! Any girl should be perfectly content with being taken from her home by absolute strangers and learning that she’s been set to marry one of those strangers since before she could speak. Obviously it’s my training in etiquette and deportment that’s at fault, not the fact that I’m not supposed to ask questions about my rather sudden change in circumstances, or even to know where I am!”

Dmitri winces under the force of my tirade. “I never said your feelings weren’t justified. I know full well that this has all been quite a lot for you to take in, and that’s why I told them about the situation with your clothes—”

“You shouldn’t have said anything about that! I was content to let it go, to play the part they’ve created for me, but because you decided to interfere I’ve been saddled with these extra lessons and the test—”

“I was trying to help you, to let them know what a tremendous change it is for you—”

“I don’t want your help! You’re part of the problem. You lied to me, just like they’ve all been lying to me my whole—”

“What are you talking about?!”

“You said it’d be less formal here than in my Grandmother’s chateau. Less formal, indeed! What a heap of rubbish.”

“I said that based on the one evening I spent in your, erm, former residence, before I knew you were allowed to dress less formally, before we even had a real conversation! Forgive me for getting the wrong impression. I just wanted to offer you some consolation, and you—”

“Just want someone to be honest and decent with me, for once in my life, instead of treating me like some pawn in their game, a game I never asked to be a part of.”

“A perfectly reasonable wish. I’m sorry, Aerys. I truly am. If there was anything I could do—”

“Get me out of this mess.”

“You know I can’t do that. We’re stuck in the same tangled web, you and I.”

“Yet somehow your parents seem to have no understanding of how—”

“They were told to expect something quite different of you, is all.”

“Oh, it’s quite clear that they have no idea what kind of bride they’ve actually obtained for you.”

“None of the reports they got from your family indicated that you were anything but cooperative and well-behaved, and your Grandmother specifically promised us that you wouldn’t ask some of the questions that you have asked.”

“How could she promise such a thing? And don’t lie to me. I heard what your mother said about the necklace, and I remember all too well what you told me about them last night. Combined with what I’ve seen myself--”

“All right, all right, calm down.” The flames are in his eyes again, flashing dangerously. “Come with me.” I would have protested, but his grip on my wrist defies argument and he opens a panel in the wall shortly afterward. My eyes light up at this discovery and I quickly make note of the panel’s location before he drags me into the tunnel behind it. It is pitch black, but for a light he’s obtained from somewhere, seemingly a torch for which I can make out no handle. What devilment is this?! A few twists and turns later, he opens another panel and the light disappears. I would comment on it, but I want him to answer my other question and I don’t want to push my luck. Whatever the secret of the light is, I suspect I shall have another opportunity to find out.

We emerge into a stable and he goes immediately to a tall black stallion, which nuzzles him affectionately. I am impressed that he has such a gallant mount. He’s astride the horse in an instant, despite its not being saddled.

“Roderick, a hand, if you would?” Dmitri calls. A stable boy emerges from a sort of cupboard behind bales of hay.

“You called, sir?” he replies.

“Give the lady a leg up, won’t you?”

“Of course, sir.” In this case, ‘a leg up’ means that the stable boy (who is actually at least a head taller than me) roughly takes hold of my waist and lifts me up into Dmitri’s arms as though I weigh no more than a feed sack. Dmitri settles me in front of him on the horse’s back, a precarious perch although I’m somehow seated astride.

“Thank you, Roderick.” And then he jabs the horse’s sides with his heels and we’re off. I can’t help screaming a bit, until his hand clamps down over my mouth.

“Stay calm, Aerys,” he whispers near my ear. “It’s only your first riding lesson. You wouldn’t want to frighten Excalibur here, would you?” I shake my head frantically. Surely we shouldn’t be cantering for a first lesson, but I will say nothing of that. I can’t see what this has to do with answering my question, either, unless he simply hopes to distract me from it instead of deferring it as his parents did. Or mayhap he simply seeks privacy. My hope is for the latter.

Dmitri brings Excalibur to a halt in a stand of trees within sight of the mansion, at the foot of a mountain. The whole region is a good deal more mountainous than ever things were near Grandmother’s chateau. I wonder how far I am from there now. Dmitri slides off Excalibur easily, then offers me a hand to help me down.

“How shall I get back up without your stable boy?” I inquire.

“I’ll set you up myself before I mount. I expect you won’t give me any trouble, if you wish to be back in time for luncheon,” he answers breezily. He has a fair point, unfortunately. I’ve caused enough trouble for one day. Accordingly, I take his hand and he helps me to the ground, somehow ensuring that I end up in his arms again.

“I hope you’ve brought me here to answer my question properly,” I remark as I pull away from him, still rather sour.

“Yes, but also for your first riding lesson. You did uncommonly well, I must say,” he compliments. Is he ever anything but irritatingly charming?

“I owe that to your holding me on, as I was too terrified to be any use myself. Do you usually start your pupils with bareback cantering?”

“Blast! That must be why they don’t let me teach riding lessons,” he jokes through gales of laughter. “I knew I’d forgotten something.” His sense of humour is endearing. A sliver of my anger melts away, and I even laugh a bit, too. A relieved smile flits across his features.

“See? Everything looks better once you relax a bit,” he tells me. He looks perfectly at home here, in a formal riding costume, leaned casually against a tree. I know I am awkwardly out of place, and try to conform to a more relaxed pose against another tree.

“Perhaps you are right,” I concede, trying a different tactic than the angry outbursts from earlier, “and I’m sorry I’ve been so cross with you. I know you’re not the one to blame for these circumstances. I am just so angry that no one will be honest with me.”

“We’ve only meant to protect you, here,” he whispers, amber eyes flickering dark with sadness. “I know intentions in your own family were more malicious. They meant to keep you from interfering with...certain plans. But it all makes us feel rather awkward, knowing, and we only mean to make things as pleasant as we can for you--”

“By weaving another nest of lies?” My words are gentle, but a gentle tongue can break a bone, as they say. His expression is heart-wrenching. “I’m sorry. I know you, at least, mean no harm. But honesty means far more to me than any protection you might be offering. Please, tell me the truth.” His face shows defeat. I hate that look. I will not marry a man like my father. But perhaps now it only means that I have won this particular battle.

“About what?” So I’ve been right; there are a thousand secrets here. What question shall I ask? What weighs most heavily on my mind?

“What did my grandmother hope to accomplish with this necklace, specifically?”

“She meant it as a means of control,” he responds with a cringe. The idea seems to repulse him as much as it repulses me. “All of them are. There are multiple enchantments: one to foster attraction with he who wears the matching one, one to ensure obedience to authority, one to eliminate curiosity about seemingly fishy happenings. Perhaps others, but I’ve forgotten. It’s said that Zira’s works best.”

“She’s the least intelligent of all of us, for one thing,” I mutter. “I have no doubt that Grandmother needs my mother’s help to make all of this work and so she knows about her daughters’ necklaces, if not about her own. She is kept enough in the loop to be useful, I suspect. And Kyla knows more than she has let on, I’m sure from her letters. But her in-laws are most unkind to her, and I suspect much of what has been hidden from me has been thrown in her face to spite her.”

“I thought as much, from your answers to my questions earlier. Between the two of us, we have all the pieces to the puzzle.”

“But what happens if we solve it?” The question is terrifying, to say the least. He shrugs, trying to be nonchalant, but his eyes reveal that he is considering all the same possibilities I am.

“Maybe nothing, if no one else finds out that we’ve solved it. Maybe the world will end. Maybe we reveal the solution to the world and face the storm that’s sure to follow. Only time will tell, I suspect.” We stand in silence for a few minutes, considering everything.

“But why wouldn’t my necklace work like the others? I’ve never seen Mother or Zira or Kyla question Grandmother in anything like I have since putting it on.”

“Surely you know that you’re not like them.”

“I’ve never looked or acted quite like any of them,” I admit softly, toying with a lock of my auburn hair. It’s always set me apart, from everyone, not just my family. “I asked Grandmother once if I was truly related to them. She just smiled and told me yes, but that I was the special one. I had no idea what she meant. I still don’t.” Dmitri’s eyes are blazing: Realisation; anger; hatred; shame. What has he figured out that I haven’t?

“She chose each of you from the beginning, to fit a specific deal,” he mumbles. I wonder if he realises that I can hear him. When his eyes meet mine, I know he does. “She chose you for me, for this....”

“While I was little,” I finish. “Which is why you knew of it when you were a small child, as well. But the deals...and why me...and why the necklace doesn’t do what it’s meant to....”

“Too many questions, to sort through now.”

“But eventually.”

“Maybe.” He resumes bearing his full weight, leaving the tree to hold itself up without his help. “We should be going back. They’ll suspect something if we’re gone too long, and not that we’ve been discussing this, either.”

“They think so little of me to think that I would let you take me out here and--”

“Stranger things have happened, where those necklaces are concerned. Excalibur, here.” He beckons the mighty black steed to stand near a tree stump. He intends me to use it as a mounting block. I join him by the stump without being asked, thinking that perhaps my cooperation will earn another tidbit of information.

“But if mine isn’t working as it should--”

“I don’t think the necklace is the problem. Look deeper, Aerys. And step up on this stump for me, will you? There we go. Grab his mane, there, at his shoulders, and jump--” His hands on my waist, lifting as I jump, and then I’m astride Excalibur again. A moment later he’s up behind me, his (firm) chest pressed against my back, his arms forming a secure barrier to keep me from falling off Excalibur’s back. “And we’re off for your second riding lesson. I promise it’ll be a bit tamer. After all, I doubt you’ll see much of our land if I take you through it at a gallop.”

***~O~***