PART II Chapter 1

Ashanta paced her room, worrying about what would happen when King Rafe returned. It had been nearly six months since her escapade in the dungeons with Sharra and Lingqui, and so far as she knew, Lingqui was no closer to solving the puzzle of the markings above the mosaic than he had been at the beginning. Of course, she had been unable to speak with him directly for months, for her guards had been doubled, "for her own protection," they said. Ashanta thought differently. Though she could not prove it, she suspected that they had somehow found out about the trip to the dungeons, and were determined that she not be permitted to escape again. I may be the queen, she thought ruefully, but sometimes I feel as if I am little more than an well fed prisoner in my own castle.

A messanger had arrived yesterday from the king, with news that King Rafe was now only five days march away from the castle. Ashanta had refused to speak with him, and had insisted that Sharra speak with him in her stead. She had not yet revealed her pregnancy to the king, and it was now so advanced that any looking at her would know immediately that she was with child. For nearly a month now she had kept to her apartments, feigning illness and stress, and refusing the help of any but the priestess. That would have to change, of course, when the king, my husband, she reminded herself fiercely, returned. He would wish her to sit at his side at the feast to celebrate his success, and after long moons away he would, naturally, wish to bed her. She shuddered. It might be, she thought, that with a carefully designed gown she could hide her advanced pregnancy from the prying eyes of the servants and castle dwellers. There would be no such possibility when she stood, naked, before her husband.

"Sharra." Ashanta spoke with urgency, "What am I to do? The pregnancy will be clear to anyone who looks at me now, and as the king has been gone from this place for nigh on nine months already, it will be clear to everyone, and clearer to him, that the pregnancy is not his."

Sharra looked at her carefully, measuring with her eyes, and walking around her consideringly. "I believe that your gold dress can be altered to disguise your pregnancy, though not hide it completely. I do not know that I have the necessary skill with a needle, but I will try."

"But that buys me only a few hours," Ashanta pointed out. "King Rafe will want to take me to bed, and what will I say then? Better I think for him to realize what it is when there are others around than in the privacy of the marital bed. Perhaps the presence of others will lead him to think before he acts rashly. I think that we must alert him that something is amiss before his arrival at the castle, but I know not how." She resumed her pacing, window to door to bed to window, thinking furiously.

"Lingqui would be the obvious person to send," ventured Sharra. "The king will listen to him, and perhaps even take his advice."

Ashanta shook her head, "He will seem a strange messenger to the people of the castle. Why should we send a court fool as a messenger? They do not know that he is a counselor to the king. For that matter, why send a messenger at all, when the king will arrive himself in a matter of days? It is not as if we have been sending messengers to him at other times during his absence." She paused. "No, any messenger we send will arouse suspicion here at the castle, but Lingqui will arouse more than most. Think you that I have not noticed that I am not permitted even to speak with him directly?" She hesitated before continuing. "Nay, I believe that Firth is suspicious, though not, as it turns out, of the right thing. He is one to watch for."

Sharra looked thoughtfully at the queen. "I could be the messenger," she said quietly. "During this time it is customary that I go into the forest for some time in order to become closer to the gods and to gather the flowers and herbs that make their sacrifices sweet smelling. None would find it strange that I leave the castle now, and none would try to stop me."


"Will King Rafe listen to you?" Ashanta asked.

"I do not know," replied Sharra. "It seems likely that he will listen to the news I bring. I know not whether he will believe it, and I do not know that he will listen to any advice that I give him. But I do not know who else to send. Anyone else would have to be notified of the reason for the message to be sent, and I think that we do not want that."

Ashanta nodded. "Then you must go," she admitted, somewhat grudgingly. "I wish you to carry a letter to King Rafe from me. You will have to speak with him as well, but let him read the letter first. You must not be the one to tell him of my condition, lest he attack  you in his anger." She turned away, and looked out the window. "You had best try to figure out where the King is likely to be camped in two days. Bring the fastest horse remaining in the stable. You must arrive at the holy place where you pray as quickly as possible, for my illness has progressed and I cannot have you gone for any longer than absolutely necessary." She smiled wryly, "In fact, I think that you must go to that holy place to pray and to gather the herbs that may save my life. Quite literally, as it turns out, though not in the way that the people of the castle must think. Now, go. Make your preparations. I will write the letter, that it may be ready when you leave."

Sharra bowed slightly, "I will do as you ask, Highness. I can be ready to leave in an hour or so. Will the letter be ready?"

"It must be," replied Ashanta, "for my life, and the life of the child in my womb, she who will save the Shauvrin from a grave peril, are at stake here." Picking up a piece of parchment and a pen, she sat down at the desk in front of the window and began to write.

"Dear Husband," she began,

"I have news for you, and I know not whether you will take it well or ill. I ask that you read this letter from beginning to end, and take its content to heart so that you might act rightly. I tell you first that Sharra is none but the bearer of the letter, and has had no other hand in the circumstances of which I speak. And now, I will tell you my story, in a rather abbreviated form. We can speak more of it upon your return to the castle. I begin with a story from the very earliest days of the kingdom of the Shauvrin.

"Many years ago, before the history that we have set down in our books and parchments, there lived a great and a kind king. We no longer remember his name, but he ruled wisely and well for many long seasons. One year, the kingdom was attacked by the people from the South, and the Shauvrin, being a peaceful people, fell as blades of grass before a scythe. And in those days the king entered into the dungeons of the castle and was never seen again, but from the dungeons of the castle erupted a giant dragon, bronze in the sunlight, and flew out over the land, driving the Southerners before him. Again there was peace in the land, and the son of the Dragon King, who was now King Shembo, ruled in peace and prosperity for many years. And there grew up a legend, that at the time of greatest need, the Dragon King would return and rescue the people of the Shauvrin from great peril. It is a legend that is believed by many of the common folk, though the telling of it has fallen out of favor in the castle.

"In the third month of your absence, a great dragon was seen in the sky on three separate mornings, glinting golden bronze against the sky, and so long that had he landed in the courtyard of the castle, his tail would have touched the wall on the North and his breath singed the wall on the South. And he also appeared thrice to me in a dream, and he flew with me over the land and spoke to me of grave dangers that would be facing the Shauvrin in some years, and he said to me that I would give birth to a daughter, and that she would be the child of my womb, and the fruit of his loins. And behold, it has come to pass that I am with child though I have not lain with a man these nine months of your absence.

"The dragon also spoke to me, saying that there would be many threats to our daughter, and people who would wish to kill her, but that I must keep her safe at all costs, for the future of the kingdom was in her hands.

"I write this to you in the hopes that you will not act rashly when you see my condition, which has been kept concealed from the people of the castle and is known only to you, to Sharra, who carries this letter, and to myself.

"I am as always, your loving queen, Ashanta."

She put down the pen and read the letter through again. She hoped that the letter would have the desired effect, and that the king would support her rather than becoming angry, but she feared that things would happen otherwise. At least, she hoped, that the king would divorce her and throw her into the dungeon instead of ordering her executed on the spot.

Sharra knocked gently on the door and entered. "I have asked Muerth to send up such food as would befit an invalid," she said, "so you will not starve in my absence. I suggest that you take to your bed at mealtimes, so that your condition might remain hidden from him and from the others of the castle. I fear that you must be left alone otherwise during this time, unless there is another you wish to let into the secret, for the guards will not allow Lingqui into the chamber."

Ashanta scowled. She knew that Sharra spoke truly, but she was not happy about it. "I do not believe that there is any that I wish to tell before King Rafe's return to the castle," she replied. "Go now, quickly and in good health. Take care that you do not get lost, and bring food enough and blankets enough for the journey. I will await your return eagerly, and in hopes that you return before King Rafe so that we might meet together and share counsel before I must face him myself."