Page 20 of The Maiden

Jura could only stare at her brother in horror. She had not thought of this.

Geralt came to sit by her on the bed and put his arm about her shoulders. “Winning is in your hands.”

“Me?” she asked, confused.

“You must see that Cilean wins the man. You must enter the Honorium and fight as you have never fought before. You must defeat all comers until it is you against Cilean.”

“Yes,” Jura said, nodding. “Cilean will fight for him.”

Geralt gave a look of disgust. “She looks at the man with dreamy eyes. She cannot see him clearly, cannot hear what he says.”

Immediately, Jura defended her friend. “Cilean is a guard. She must see that he is a fool.”

“Cilean is also a woman and she sees him as if she were a girl just coming of age.” He raised one eyebrow. “Have you seen him yet?”

“No, but what can I see that will change what I know about him?”

“He is pale-skinned with pale hair and some of the women seem to be taken with him. They think with their bodies instead of their minds.” He was watching her closely.

She glared at him. “And you think I might be one of these women?” she said with all the contempt she felt. “I don’t care if he is as handsome as the god Naos, he will not change my mind. He has no right to be King of Lanconia.”

“Good!” Geralt said, slapping her on the back as if she were one of his guard and making her fall forward. “My father asks that you come to the castle and be presented to this imposter prince. The king was distressed that you did not attend the feast last night.”

“Did Thal go?” She was surprised.

“He cannot bear to let his English son out of his sight.” Geralt turned away for a moment and Jura knew he was trying to conceal his anguish at the way Thal was displaying his love for this son whom he had not seen since Rowan was a child. Geralt had always worshiped his father but Thal had not thought enough of his son to make him king.

Geralt turned back to his sister and he was calmer. “We have to protect Lanconia. Whatever this man does to thwart us, we have to protect the country the best way we can by working around him. First we must put an Irial queen beside him. We cannot allow a queen of another tribe to infiltrate Escalon. She would bring foreign retainers and they would open gates at night and bribe guards. No, we must stop it before it begins. We must put Cilean on the throne. Do you believe you can win against the challengers?”

“Yes, of course I can,” she said—at that moment she was sure she could.

“Good.” He stood. “Come with me. You are to meet my father’s son.”

Jura grimaced. “Now? Before breakfast?”

“Now. My father demands it.”

Feeling as if she were being led to her own execution, she hurriedly finished dressing and followed Geralt. She didn’t bother putting on her long gown but, instead, wore her guard uniform of trousers and tunic with her big blue wool cloak flung over one shoulder. She hesitated over her empty knife scabbard, then decided to wear it pushed toward her back, hidden by her cloak.

Geralt was complaining that she was taking too long to dress, so she flung open the door and left behind him. Her brother did not pay her the courtesy of walking beside her but strode ahead, Jura trailing behind him as if she were his annoying little sister—which she was.

He led her to the men’s training ground, to the edge of the field where the archery targets were set up. Jura paused a moment to look at the scene before her. In the shade of a tree to her left lay old Thal, gaunt and gray from his illness, on a bed covered with a pile of pillows. She had never seen the hard old man accept any softness in his life, but here he was surrounded by embroidered feather pillows atop what looked to be a tapestry. In a chair beside him sat a beautiful young woman with golden hair and wearing a long dress of some fabric that glowed and shimmered in the daylight. A little boy, golden-haired like his mother, stood near her chair. The three of them were looking toward the archery range at the back of two men.

One of the men they were watching Jura knew was the young captive Zerna, for he wore the distinctive purple-and-red-striped tunic of that tribe. Jura dismissed him, because, even with his back to her, it was the other figure who commanded attention.

He was nearly as tall as a Lanconian, perhaps, Jura grudgingly thought, as tall as some of them, but he was heavier. Fat, she thought, he was covered with fat from his lazy life. His hair was trimmed to just above his collar and the sun flashed off it. It was not white as she had been told but the color of old gold, and looked to be as soft as a girl’s.

If Jura had not been angry before she saw him, she would have been, for he wore a tunic that her mother had embroidered for Thal years ago. It had been loose on Thal but it hugged this man’s plump shoulders, and the sumptuous blue and green embroidery emphasized the broadness of his back. Below the tunic showed his heavily muscled thighs and the cross-gartered boots clung to his big calves.

Jura sniffed. Perhaps he fooled other women, but he wouldn’t fool her. She was used to handsome men. Wasn’t Daire beautiful enough to make the moon jealous?

She straightened her shoulders and went forward to greet her king while Geralt moved away to the center of the training field and his men.

She hated to see Thal as he was now: weak and helpless, just waiting to die, but she would never tell him so. There had always been animosity toward him on her side and grudging respect on his. She had always felt that it was his fault for the early deaths of both her parents. She had been five when she had been orphaned and Thal had taken her into his court, and she had wanted comfort and consoling, but Thal had told her to stop sniveling and had given her a sword to play with. Daire had started teaching her to shoot a bow and arrow when she was six.

“You sent for me?” Jura asked, looking down at Thal. Her expression showed what she felt about the softness of his bed and she refused to look at the Englishwoman.

“Ah, Jura,” Thal said with a smile. He looked like a fatuous old man, not the great Lanconian warrior who had repelled thousands of invaders. “Such a beautiful day. Have you met my daughter?”