Chapter 11

From Toreas

Zara woke to a soft rumbling. At first she thought she was home, as she had heard that rumbling so often in the morning, as the ocean broke on the shores of Lionor. A sharp pain in her head made her open her eyes. She was laying on the sandy beach, close to the ocean and right next to the river.

"We are alive but just barely."

She looked to the side. Eric came into her view. There, not far behind him she could see he walls of Lionor, her home.

"What happened?"

"We got pulled under. When we came back up, a large piece of wood knocked you out. I just barely escaped it, but crashed next thing into some rocks. I think nothing is broken but it's bruised very badly."

"I'm cold."

"So am I. Let's get to the city so we can warm up."

The sun had come up, the clouds mostly disappeared and it was almost warm in the direct sunlight, even though a light wind sent chills down her spine. She couldn't keep her eyes of Lionor. She made it home.

The gates of the city came into view fast, after they had passed the early inhabitants that came to the river to do their various tasks. It was not usable for drinking, but washing worked just fine with it. Some even caught fish, but it was a very complicated skill from the looks of the men trying it.

The outer walls and gates of Lionor were not only thick but tall as well. You could roll a house through the gates, she always thought. Before she knew how they built houses, she was convinced that they were made outside somewhere and then they rolled it into the city to it's place somehow.

Eric thought about bribing the guards at the gate to gain entrance, but found that they were not interested in people entering but very vigilant about who was leaving. They mixed in easy with the rest of the crowd, mainly poor people, who went to wash in the river. Without a glance from a guard at them, they passed the threshold and entered the capital.

He had been in Lionor before, but he noticed changes since he was last there. It had been always crowded in the city, but it seemed worse now.

The poor people lived on the outer rim, right up against the outer walls. They even built on top of each other and leaning against the walls.

Main street and the large market place had always been paved, but now he saw that they were laying stones in some side streets as well. There also was less refuse in the streets now, at least the main roads as far as he could see.

He knew not a single person in the entire city. He knew a couple places to eat, to sleep, to sell things he could hunt and to buy supplies. But those places might not even exist anymore, as he had just discovered by walking by a black ruin of what once was an inn he had spent a couple of nights in, the last time he had been in the city.

"Why did you do that?"

Pulled from his thoughts he looked over to the princess. She wore her ordeal a lot more with dignity now than the night before. It seemed almost as if she became more stately and more like he thought a princess might act, the closer they came to the castle.

"Just slip by the guards. You could have just proclaimed who I was and they would have let us pass."

He looked her up and down with one quick sweep of his gaze.

"No. They would have laughed at us, possibly beat us and told us to get lost. This way we came into the city and its more likely you will find someone in here that will recognize you than someone at the gates."

She looked over at him. He was right. Eric had lost one boot, but also everything else he had been carrying. None of his weapons were present anymore, the pack had been ripped from him. His shirt had a large gash across his chest and back, the left pant leg was hanging on by some threads and a large chunk of the right one was missing as well. He looked not only poor but more like a beggar than anything else. Looking down at herself the picture was not getting prettier. She conceded that he was right and decided to stop thinking about it. Soon she would be out of these clothes, bathed and in something proper again.

"You are right, they would not have believed us."

"You agree? I think you have bumped your head a bit harder than I thought, Zara."

She looked at him and smiled. It was a beautiful smile. She was dirty, tired, exhausted, cold and hungry, but her smile was beautiful and made her more beautiful than any queen with the finest clothes and most expensive jewelry could ever be. This was how Eric saw it and something bothered him about the thought.

Suddenly he noticed that there was a distance growing between them. After a moment he realized he had stopped walking and so he hurried to catch up again. She did not seem to have noticed his little stop, too much was on her own mind.

"I don't think the guards at the castle will just let us slip by. Do you have any idea how we can get in there?"

Zara did not even need to think about the answer.

"They know me. Or at least they know to get someone who knows me very well. They wouldn't toy with the faint possibility that it could be me."

"Ah, good lap dogs then."

"Not really, but they know when it's better to sniff a second time than to bite first and look later in some cases."

Now it was Eric's turn to smile. She saw it and gave him again a small smile back, before looking forward again.

"I take it the smarter guards are at the castle then, as opposed to the city gates."

"You could say it like that, yes."

A lot of people were on the streets. They both had lost a bit track of time, but knew it must have been late morning. Those noticing them avoided contact with their wet clothing, as if it was something contagious. Others just pushed past them, ignoring them as unimportant and easy displaced obstacles.

The stands in some streets looked very inviting. Food was displayed, as well as proper clothing. A smiths wares were giving Eric a bad reminder that he was unarmed. He would have to rectify that as soon as possible.

The road was getting steeper as it climbed towards the castle. The seat of power in Lionor was situated not in the middle, but touching the outer wall of the city itself where it was built right next to the ocean cliffs. At one point it probably had been just a single tower, now it was a large collection of towers and many other large buildings, surrounded by a double wall. Anyone attacking in force would have to climb the city walls, fight through the city, climb the first wall of the castle and then not get slaughtered in the open space in between, before climbing the second, slightly higher wall. Under the present king, nobody had tested those defenses yet and it did not look like it would happen any time soon.

Any war was far away and the last time Eric had heard news about Lionor, it was being protective of it's borders but nobody tried anything serious, apart from a couple of skirmishes to the south.

Eric had never been this close to the castle before. It always looked large from the distance, but being so up close, it was really imposing. Zara had taken the lead. Instead of going to what was the main gate for the castle, she took a right turn and they ended up at a much smaller gate, manned by only three guards. One of them was sitting a bit inside the gate on a stool, while the other two leaned on their spears on either side of the gate, busy with their conversation.

".. that was the last of that I tell you. He had so much beer I think he wouldn't have recognized his own mother. Good thing we got him out of there, the sergeant walked in a bit later and..."

The guard stopped abruptly and all three guards eyed them suspiciously. The gate was mainly for people who worked at the castle, but did not live there as well as for errand boys. Most were known on sight, so somebody coming to the gate they did not immediately know was suspicious.

"Who are you and what is your business?"

The sitting guard had planted himself a bit in front of the other guards and was looking at them sternly.

Eric sized the man up instantly. He was large, but heavy in the belly region. Not good enough for fighting, but good enough to bully around people and blocking entrances. This is the princess and we would like to get in, seemed like a bad thing to say in this situation.

"Guard, look a tittle closer at my face and ignore the dirt."

The man bent down a little and squinted. A visible strain was on his face, thinking, imagining and trying to figure out who that was in front of him. Before he could say anything the guard to the left spoke first.

"That's... You are Princess Zara. Your highness, the king is worried sick."

As if on command, all three men lowered their head and saluted. Eric would have laughed if he felt better armed. Three grown men, armed and armored saluting a young woman, at least a head shorter looking like she just crawled out of the gutter. She also smelled that way.

"Who is your companion your highness?"

Hands were already on swords and Eric only sighed. He really felt uncomfortable not even having a dagger anymore. A belt alone would be an improvement. So he just stood there trying to look none threatening and harmless. He wasn't very successful at it since he had pretty much no practice at it.

Zara put up one hand and the guards relaxed a little.

"This is Eric, he is my rescuer. Inform my father that I have returned. I will be in my chambers, cleaning up from my journey."

Without waiting for an answer she started walking as if she owned the place, the guards scattering in front of her. Eric followed her closely and was then passed by one of the guards who ran towards the largest towers of the castle. She did own the place, or at least her father did, Eric reminded himself.

Past the second wall, they stood in an open yard, surrounded by buildings. It looked like someone had built smaller city inside the large one. She knew where she was going, or at least he assumed that, so he just kept following her. This was where she knew the way best.

The few people they met ignored them or gave them a small disapproving glance. Nobody talked to them or tried stopping them. After navigating the maze of corridors for what seemed to Eric like a long time, they came to a large door which Zara pushed open without knocking. At first he was astonished that one could walk so long in buildings connected to each other without reaching an end, now he was surprised at how large one room could be. The ceiling was high above, a large bed stood against one wall, large enough to bed an entire family, two cupboards, some mirrors and a large desk each stood almost lost in the large room. Each one was of more than average proportions, but looked small in this room.

"This is my room. I think you are the first male to enter it, other than my father, in a long time."

"Well, you are home, I'll be leaving now."

He turned and then felt her hand on his arm. Concentrating hard, he suppressed the urge to pull it away and twist it around. When he didn't expect to be touched, that was his natural reaction and it had saved his life a few times by now.

She noticed how he looked at her hand and quickly retracted it. She had seen a danger in his eyes that she had never seen before and it scared her a little.

"Wait! You have to see my father. He will be grateful to you for my rescue and will want to reward you."

"Zara, I have no desire to be rewarded. Besides by now you should know I don't mix well with royalty. All I want is to get out of here and back to to my life. I have no clue how to get out of here, so maybe you can tell someone to show me the way out and you wont have to endure my presence any longer."

"Please, then stay because I ask you to. I just would like you to meet my father."

He looked down at himself.

"I take it this is not proper attire to wear in front of a king?"

He knew that he was in trouble, yet again, when a whole flock of maids rushed the room. They all started to talk at the same time and by some miracle Zara seemed to understand them all. She gave a few short commands, some maids bobbed once and then he was abducted by a small cluster of the whole force. They led him to a nearby room that had a gigantic tub in it and told him to strip as they would wash and cloth him.

"No."

"Sir, we need to get you out of these... well I suppose it was once clothing. When we assist you, we will be done a lot faster. Besides there is nothing on a male we haven't seen yet."

He felt cornered. There were five of them and the one in the corner looked strong enough to put up a fight. The thought of flight was all present, but then what was some water and fresh clothing?

"Give me the new clothes and I will do these things on my own. Or I go like this to the king and let you explain to him my attire."

The maids looked around at each other, then the one in front bobbed once and said "As you wish, sir."

"And don't call me sir. My name is Eric."

"Pleasure to meet you Eric, rescuer of our princess."

She had fallen out of a sack into his lap, but that detail was not something he thought would be a good idea to repeat to these women.

"No titles, now give me those clothes and go outside."

He had never seen a tub this big and wondered how many buckets had to be carried to fill this monster. It was only half full, plenty enough for him. They wanted to fill it more and even make a fire under it. He had none of it. They put a bundle of clothing on a table and one of the maid explained to him to use the brush and then dry off with the white cloth next to the tub. Out in the woods he had neither and it felt odd, but if this was how they'd do it here, he might as well. He was already here and all, it might offend the king if he stank like an entire sewage pit.

He shooed them out, closed the door and took a few deep breaths. This was the first time he had been alone for a few weeks. It was nice. After being almost tied to Zara for weeks on end, he had almost forgotten how nice it could be to be alone. Also he did not have to worry about her, she was save and sound, another deep breath and he felt almost relaxed.

His clothing was shredded. He might be able to save some of the shirt and one part of the pants, but there was too much lost from one leg to make it even practical. His belt was gone, even the small purse had been ripped away in the river. Now he had only the few coins left that were sewn into the shirt. It would be enough for some new pants and a pair of boots. Maybe even a dagger.

Naked he went into the big tub and started scrubbing the grime off. It was cool, but not as cold as he was used to. In comparison to the river this was hot water. A small fireplace in the corner warmed the small room up very fast as well, it made him even a bit sleepy.

After a few minutes washing he decided he was clean enough and dried of with the sheet that was draped over the edge. He usually just got clothed right away, but they had insisted he'd use it. One could still see that the sheet had been white once before Eric had used it.

He examined closely what the maids had described as clothes. There were two pants, one of which he had no idea to wear, so he chose the second simpler looking one. It was a bit light but would be covering him decently. He wouldn't want to be in the forest with it, but for something indoor it should be good enough. The shirts was another matter. A total of five things one could wear was there and for some reason he had a feeling that all of them had to be worn together. He had seen something like that on some nobles before but no idea how to wear it. One of them looked the most normal with just white cloth and long sleeves so he just pulled that one over his head. The shoes were flat and rather impractical if he ever had to set foot outside the castle. Hopefully he could buy some new boots right after this meeting of the King.

His other clothing he had rolled into a bundle together with his one boot. He'd come back and collect it later.

To finish it, he strapped his small armor bit back on his forearm, it gave him at least a small bit of security to know he could block a blade with his arm. The shirt went again over his arm and he checked if it was visible. Unless someone touched his arm it would not be noticed.

He opened the door and received instantly complaints.

"You can't wear the shirt like that!"

"Where are the over pants?"

"You have to wear them all, they are fitting together, otherwise it's just.."

"Enough!"

Eric cut them off glaring.

"I'm wearing this or my old clothes, which one do you prefer?"

"We can show you how to done the other clothes, sir."

He fixed the maid who had spoken with his eyes. A small sound like the words she was about to say just died on their way up her throat came from her. Satisfied that they wouldn't try some more of this nonsense he decided to launch another effort at teaching them who he was. Or better who not.

"I'm not a noble. I live off the lands, mostly in forests. So stop calling me sir! And now show me where Zara's room is again so I can wait for her to be done."

"But s.. I mean... Well, the princess is already done and with her father."

His brow furrowed. Didn't women usually take longer, with all those dresses and hair and so on? He had not been in there for a very long time himself.

"I thought it would take her more time."

"Oh no, she had help of course, then it goes very fast."

"Ah", was all he said then looked to the left and to the right. He knew her room was to the left somewhere, but no idea where she might be now. So the maids would have to lead him.

"Well then, take me to them. Zara asked me to meet her father, so let's get it over with. I want to get out of this sorry excuse for clothing and then out of this castle as fast as I can."