Page 38 of The Forgotten Throne

Chapter Twenty-Four

Things to Do and Plans to Make

“Does this mean we still have to go through the whole coronation process?” I asked, praying they would tell me that I didn’t have to do it at all.

Mathew looked at the others and once again they did that silent communication thing they did and Lawrence cleared his throat. “While much of it will be for formalities’ sake, I do believe it’s what’s best for our people to have the coronation ceremony. There are things that we can for go such as the cleansing, memorization of the vows, and the observance of your consummations with your consorts. Although we do ask that you spend the night with at least one of them for appearance’s sake. We hold strongly to our traditions no matter how antiquated they might feel.”

“I can accept that,” I offered. “Even though we have the blessings of the dragons, I would still like to journey out to meet them since our oath with them has changed. Vasin has shared that they will be eager to talk with him about what happened and I agree it would be best. As for the guards, Alsten, when would be the best time to meet them and allow them to give their fealty to their new queen?”

“Allow me two days to organize things with them and recall the soldiers that I have out in other lands keeping track of the Lost King’s movements. While we wait, it might be best to come up with a plan for those who will be guarding the castle along with you. I know there are many who would prefer to not have to leave the safety of our valley as well as some who have been hoping to see some of the outside world. As I’ve mentioned before it’s only been a short while that we’ve been expanding our reach,” Alsten explained.

“Works well for me, I plan to travel out to the dragon lands with my men so that they also might be known to them,” I reasoned. “My wish is that we can build a new friendship with the dragons that is not based on our need to bond with them. I do hope that keeps happening since I know the joy it can bring to have a companion like Vasin in my life and I know others do as well. We just need to ensure that what I’ve freed them from won’t be able to happen again, the loss of both human and dragon life is too great a cost.”

“It’s absolutely incredible that you were able to break the old oath and replace it with a new one,” Eleazar shared, shaking his head. “You’ve been here a mere two days—not even and you’ve changed our world more than we ever dreamed.”

Sal grunted his agreement and slammed his wine chalice down. “I always knew great things would come from our wee Cassy. She just needed to learn how to stick up for herself. The knowledge that she has trapped in that pretty head of hers was getting stifled with the scared little waif she was when I first met her.”

My brows shot up at this new found information. “So all the impossible tasks you gave me and then the hours spent pouring over old scroll that you couldn’t read was to build me a stronger backbone?”

“Of course, did you really think that I wouldn’t prepare you for the world you were about to take over? I’ve seen the dismal state these so caller mercenaries had turned themselves into scrimping and scraping for whatever work they could find. Once we had been a people to be feared and respected but without a true leader, they let fear rule. Now that you are here and have the power to lead us I know that things will change, quite quickly I would think,” Sal stated.

Cole let out a chuckle. “Would you look at that, old Sal does have a heart.”

“Watch it boy, you might be a consort to the queen but it doesn’t mean I can’t make your life hell still,” Sal barked back. “You could have been just like your father but you chose to be the opposite which I will never understand. The mind you have isn’t something we see often.”

This surprised me. I knew that Cole was smarter than he ever showed or people gave him credit for but for Sal to call him out like that meant what I’ve seen is only a glimpse of the true story.

“Those days have passed and I’m happy with the life I chose, landed me here didn’t it? If you’ll recall I was sent on the mission to sneak her out of her own home because I was the best,” Cole countered, giving me a wink. “I’d say that worked out well for me.”

Mathew cleared his throat drawing the attention in his direction. “I would very much like to take a look at the library that you have in the castle, would it be safe enough for me to do so tomorrow?”

“I don’t see why not. But do keep in mind that even though it has some comforts, it doesn’t hold any warmth, food, or supplies,” I warned.

“You know the one place we didn’t see was the kitchens, do you think they are in a separate building?” Abbott questioned. “We didn’t spend much time with the outbuilding except for the stables.”

“Ah!” Eleazar cried as he stood and hurried out of the room.

“Don’t mind him, sometimes spicy food doesn’t sit well,” Mathew shared conspiratorially.

“I heard that!” Eleazar yelled from wherever he’d run off to.

The older men snickered as we all waited to see what got Eleazar so excited. Shortly he returned with a large roll of paper. “Ann, come help me clear this table. We have important things to look over.”

Ann appeared out of the door that was attached to the kitchen with a scowl on her face. “You could ask nicely. The things I do for the three of you would astound the people of this village,” she muttered while picking up plates.

Eleazar wasn’t patient enough for her to clear the rest, so he shoved them aside and took a napkin wiping off the table to make sure it was clean and dry. Finally he spread out whatever he’d been holding and stepped back with a pleased smile on his face. Curious, I got up and walked around the table to stand next to him and found that he had a drawn sketch of the castle and the grounds.

“How is this possible? I didn’t think anyone could get in,” I gasped, flipping through the large sheets to see every story of the castle was documented.

“That is true but when some of the castle staff were left behind to look after things they helped create these drawings. We viceroy of course kept them a secret not wanting just anyone to know what the castle might hold. I think we’ve only brought these out once since we took our positions and that was only when the previous men showed us we had them,” he informed me.

I shifted the pages until it was the one that showed the layout of the outbuildings. We already knew about the stables and smithy next to it but we hadn’t seen the soldier barracks were right in that area as well. “Abbott the kitchen isn’t detached, but it’s under the throne room and it looks like there are hidden stairs that lead up to the upper dining room as well as to the second floor where the ballroom is. The work that went into this castle is brilliant, but I shouldn’t expect anything less from our people, they seem to have a knack for staying hidden.”

The others got up and crowded around me as they looked over everything pointing out what we’ve seen and discovering more that we hadn’t found in our venture today. This castle was complex and had many secret passages to it but what I found interesting was the fourth level. It had a honeycomb set up with one room in the middle and the others branched off of it connecting them all like one large space full of bedrooms and sitting rooms alike. There was even another dining room if whoever wanted to stay in the space didn’t want to venture down to the other.

“What do you suppose this floor was created for? It’s an odd set up for a living space almost as if the people wanted to make sure they all shared the same space but still have the illusion of personal space,” I mused as I scrutinized it even more.

“That, Your Majesty, was created in mind for the Dragon Queen and her consorts so that they might all be able to live together in harmony. King Cardon spent many years redoing that whole level of the castle. Right after his coronation he moved his room down to the third level where it used to be for guests alone and started working on restructuring the whole fourth level into this. No one understood why he would do such a thing when he chose one wife for himself and kept his family close. It never would have worked for him to live in an environment such as this, so he finally started to talk about the Dragon Queen prophecy,” Eleazar explained.