Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (9 page)

“She wants to bend something, but it's not your ear,” Dagan replied grinning. In the short time he had known Dagan, he had realized that the sorcerer was a horny old man.

“Dagan, that's no way to talk about a lady.”

“Boy, if half the things that I have heard about her are true, then you are in for the ride of your life.”

The words caught him off guard. “What do you mean? Does the countess make a habit of entertaining young men of the court?”

“Oh yes,” Dagan replied. But then seeing the look on Flare's face, he added, “Don't worry, Flare. Most of the ladies of the court spend their free time with young men. At least Countess Hannah is not married like the rest.”

“What!” Flare exclaimed, “You mean it's normal for the married ladies of the court to cheat on their husbands?”

Dagan shook his head in wonder. “Boy, to be as old as you are and to know as much as you do, you are as naïve as you can be. One of the favorite pastimes of the nobles is sex, and most of the time it's not with their husband or wife.”

Flare shook his head; such things were not heard of in Solistine. Loyalty in a marriage was absolute and unquestioned. “Dagan, do you think I should contact the countess and back out of dinner?”

“If you do, be sure and ask if I can take your place.” Dagan responded, joking.

Silence engulfed them for a couple of minutes. Flare was happy for the silence, because it left him to his thoughts. By no means did he trust Hannah, but he did find her intriguing. Once he decided to keep the dinner date, he found himself eagerly looking forward to it.

His thoughts were interrupted by Dagan, “I don't imagine you are going to be able to study tonight, since you will probably be preoccupied, but let's give it a try.”

The Countess' manor was a short distance from the castle, and Flare enjoyed the walk. He wore a dress military uniform that proudly displayed his golden dagger award. The uniform was black pants with a red stripe down the side, a grey shirt, and a black overcoat. The Countess' palace was easy to find, since all the nobles had palaces and manors near the king's royal palace. The Countess' palace was one street away from the royal palace, and he found it with no problem. There was a high wall surrounding it to keep any commoners away, not that any commoners came this close to the royal palace. Guards patrolled the streets to keep the lowly away and to protect the nobles in the area.

Flare approached the main gate at dusk, just as his invitation said. The wall surrounding her palace was made of huge stone blocks and had metal spikes along the top. The stones that made up the wall had been arranged to form patterns. The patterns were formed by the colors and patterns that seemed to swirl through the stones. The gate that barred the entrance was also made of black metal spikes. The gate was similar to the spikes along the top of the wall except in size, the gate was at least ten feet tall. There were two small guardhouses on this side of the wall, one on either side of the gate. Two guards stood at attention in front of each the guardhouses, and Flare could see more guards on the other side of the gate. The guards were wearing polished silver armor with the insignia of the Greentree house emblazoned on them. The gate also displayed the Greentree insignia, the insignia was a circle with a massive tree growing next to a flowing river.

Flare walked up to the nearest set of guards, they watched him warily as he approached. He stopped several yards away from the guards, “I am Prince Flaranthlas, and I was invited for dinner with Countess Lells.” Flare could see the shock register momentarily on the face of the guards, but they quickly recovered and removed the emotion from their faces. The captain of the guards barked an order, and a guard ran across the lawn toward the palace. Two more guards escorted Flare at a slower pace.

Countess Lells' palace was several stories tall and rectangular in shape and was made of white stone. Each of the second floor windows had a balcony that overlooked the lawn and gardens. The lawn had numerous shrubs and trees arranged in pattern that helped hide the wall and the street from the house. A stone walkway led from the front gate to the front door. There were steps that led up to the front porch, and there were two massive marble columns on either side of the steps. Her palace was newer than the royal palace, and it showed. The royal palace sprawled as it grew with each generation, but the countess' palace had been carefully planned.

Flare followed a guard through the front door and into the foyer. The foyer was the size of a small room. The walls were white with black trim, and the floor was made up of tiles that alternated black and white. A doorway opened to the right, apparently leading into a sitting room. A picture of a man in armor holding his helmet under his arm decorated the wall to his left. The guard turned Flare over to a butler, who led him straight down the hall. The hallway emptied into a large dining room that looked to be big enough to also function as a ballroom.

The dining room had stained redwood tongue and groove flooring planks. The walls were a lightly stained oak, with several huge tapestries depicting famous events in the history of the Greentree family. The number of plants caught Flare's attention. There were planters in the corners with shrubs and flowers in them, and there were several more planters lining the walls. A huge picture of Countess Lells hung on the far wall overlooking the dining table. The dining table was large enough to seat twenty people comfortably, but there were only two place settings at the moment. Several servants scurried around adding the final touches to the table.

“Presenting Prince Flaranthlas of Telur,” the butler announced, even though the countess was the only other person in the room, well not counting the servants. The butler bowed and then turned and walked back down the hallway.

The countess walked toward Flare from her original position near the head of the table. She was wearing a formal full-length white dress. The dress sleeves came down to her elbows, and she wore white gloves. Her hair was done in large curls. She stopped several feet in front of Flare and curtsied to him. He nodded his head in return, thinking that this was all pretty formal. As if reading his thoughts, Hannah broke out in a smile and stepped near him. “Prince Flaranthlas, how good to see you again. I am so happy that you accepted my invitation for dinner.”

“Thank you, Countess. It's great to see you again, but please call me Flare. Flaranthlas is too formal.” He said.

“I agree Flare, but you must call me Hannah.” She said, reaching out and took Flare's hand in hers. She raised his hand to her mouth and kissed it passionately. Her actions surprised and astounded Flare, but he didn't complain. He could feel the heat spread through his body as he got aroused by her kisses. Hannah pulled his hand away from her mouth and said, “Flare, are you ready for dinner, or would you like to go straight for dessert?”

The look on Flare's face must have been comical, because Hannah could not suppress a giggle. He recovered quickly, “Dessert sounds good to me,” was his only answer.

Flare left Hannah's palace a couple of hours before sunrise. His stomach grumbled since he hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime, but he didn't even notice. His mind was on the events of the evening, and his thoughts swirled with the things that Hannah had shown him.

He slowly walked towards the king's palace, enjoying the memories of the night. The moon was full in the sky, and provided plenty of light for him to see by. He hardly even noticed the surroundings as he walked. He was exhausted, and he was not looking forward to working with the guardians in a couple of hours. It was going to be a long day.

Dalin Olliston sat in his chair, intentionally ignoring the man standing in front of him. That was one of the benefits of being the High Priest; no one questioned him or refused his commands, even kings deferred to his judgment. He had been high priest for almost three decades, and he was feeling his age. His head was full of hair, but it was as white as newly fallen snow. The skin on his face was blotched and hung loosely. He absently picked a piece of lint off of his white robe, before finally lifting his eyes to acknowledge the man in front of him. The man stood, as if at attention for review by a general or a king. Dalin sighed before saying, “You failed me miserably, Angaria.”

Duke Angaria flinched as if slapped; he was not used to failure and he did not like having the High Priest point his failures out to him. He had been dreading this meeting ever since the award ceremony where the king announced his adoption of Flare. “High father, it was beyond my control. The king did not seek my counsel as he always does. I found out about his decision when he announced it to the crowd.”

Dalin let the silence hang in the air for several moments. He had found that when people failed him it was sometimes best to say little or nothing at all. People, who had failed, knew their failure and the silence made them even more uncomfortable. He noticed the duke shuffling his feet and took it as a sign of his discomfort. “Angaria, for almost two thousand years the church has fought to keep the prophecy from being fulfilled. That half-elven bastard is the greatest threat we have ever faced, and you allowed the king to adopt him without even warning me ahead of time.” He had been on a visit to the capital city of
Kelamer
and had wanted to return immediately, but the trip had taken almost a year of planning and it could not just be tossed aside. He had returned as soon as possible, but he had still just arrived.

“High father, please accept my humble apologies. I will not fail you again.” Duke Angaria said emphatically, bowing his head.

Dalin felt a sense of satisfaction, judging by the conviction of the duke's words he would do everything in his power to prevent another failure. His mood soon darkened as his thoughts returned to the topic at hand. “What do you suggest we do about our new 'prince'?” Dalin put such venom on the word prince that it almost sounded like a curse.

“Father, for now I suggest that we wait and watch him. He has only fulfilled several portions of the prophecy; there are quite a few left to go. I do not think we should panic at this time. If he attempts to complete the prophecy, then we can take the appropriate steps.” Duke Angaria hated having to say those words. He wanted nothing more than to have Flare drawn and quartered, but he had given the situation a lot of thought while waiting for the High Priest's return.

Dalin rubbed his eyes; he was starting to get a headache. “Fine, but I want you to get someone close to him. I want to know everything he is doing, but I don't want him to suspect anything. Do you understand?”

For the first time since Duke Angaria entered the room, he smiled. “Father, I anticipated your request. I already have a dedicated member of the church trying to get close to him. We will know everything he is doing before he even does it.”

Dalin smiled in return. That was the one thing he liked about Angaria, he was resourceful and cunning. “Excellent. Can you trust this spy of yours?”

The smile faded from Angaria's face, “I trust my spy as much as any of the members of the sect.” A look of surprise briefly appeared on the face of the high priest, but it was quickly hidden. Mention of the sect, even is such closely guarded quarters, was not accepted. The mission of the sect was simply to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy, but only members of the sect knew of its existence. Angaria mentioned the sect to try and put the high priest off balance. He was deeply loyal to the church and the High Priest, but he did not like dealing from a position of weakness.

The high priest stared at Angaria, the Duke's words had thrown him off. His smile was gone and his eyes had a hard calculating look about them. After a couple of moments of Dalin's stare, Angaria dropped his eyes to the floor. “Angaria, what's the progress of our other plans?”

Duke Angaria raised his eyes back to meet the gaze of the priest. “Sir, the boy is naturally resentful. It was easy to gain his acceptance and trust, everyday he is more under my influence.” The pride was thick in the duke's words.

Dagan folded his hands over his lap, “Excellent. That boy can change the course of history, Angaria. Do not fail me again.” The words echoed with the not so subtle threat.

When Flare had free time, which wasn't often, he enjoyed spending it in the library. He loved the diversity of the books and the many different viewpoints that the books presented. The books came in all shapes and sizes. Some of the books were so old they were even written on mediums other than paper, and other books had wooden covers. In addition, there were numerous historical texts that fascinated him. The other main reason he loved the library was it was the one place that he could have peace. Over the past couple of weeks, he had been introduced to the nobility via parties and balls. He had to spend hours dancing and talking with people who appeared to love him, even though he secretly suspected that almost all of them despised him. His drilling with the other guardians had been reduced, and even his time with Dagan was suffering. However, his relationship with Hannah was strengthening, although it was purely a physical relationship without the feelings that he felt for Murleen.

Flare had found books on many different subjects on the shelves, but he could not find a match on the name Zalustus. He had searched for the name ever since his return from
Fort
Mul-Dune
, but without success. He didn't expect to find a book on the prince that had attacked Fort Mul-Dune, but he knew most royalty were named for a former family member. All his attempts proved futile.