Spring.
Spring came early on the West side of the mountains. Paris ran her fingers through the wildflowers. When she had gone to see the Empress, the lady had refused to give her seeds for them. "You don't need them anymore," she had said. "You no longer need my gifts of understanding."
It wasn't until she got to the site of her old house, mundane flowers packed and ready, that she understood. The fields were carpeted in flowers, blue and yellow and red, as far as she could see. It was hard at first to recognize where things were, but she found the flat stones that marked where the doorway was, and then made out the traces of the old building in the mounds visible under the colorful carpet. She found, by pacing her memories, where the kitchen window was, where her mother would have stood, and spent a few moments planting the flowers she brought among the ones that would be visible from that window.
'You'd like him,' she thought as she worked in the dirt. 'Not just that he's a Baron. He's very nice. Nice to his people.' She couldn't help a smile. 'Cute, too. And his mother, and Lady Gryphon, they are all such fine people. You'd approve of them, him, even if he weren't a Baron.'
"So this is where you grew up," Ewen said, moving softly up beside her. He smiled his lopsided grin. "Looks like Mother Nature beat you to the planting of the wildflowers." He helped her up and they walked around, hand in hand, as she pointed out where the fruit trees and the fields once were. They ended up next to the two warhorses, each encased in heavy barding, with blue cloths over them. "Well, Baroness deLacey, shall we join the others?"
She grinned back at him. "I think we should, your Excellency." She mounted Beaujolais, who, with an eager snort, turned into the woods. A few moments through the trees brought them to the marshaling area.
One footsoldier poked his compatriot in the ribs. "Damned strange honeymoon, if you ask me. I wonder if she wears the sword to bed."
The other chuckled. "Damn straight, I bet she does..." He was cut off suddenly as he fell into the dirt.
"Sergeant," the voice called out.
"Aye, Lieutenant?" came the answer from nearby.
The figure in armor stared down at the two in the dirt. "It occurs to me that we will need latrines when this exercise is over. These two seem to have dirt on their minds. I think they just volunteered."
The sergeant nodded, face absolutely straight. "Aye, Sir Rodric. Latrines for five thousand." He kicked the two scared troopies. "That's it, you two, up and digging."
"You two remember," Rodric said quietly, addressing the two. "Sir Paris is not only a friend of mine, but Prince Martin is fond of her too. And he's not as lenient as I am." He turned back to his squadron of heavy cavalry. "Mount up. We'll be getting the orders soon."
Springtime came early to the West side of the mountains. Martin was going to practice his winter-rested army on the orcs around the tower, before taking them east to continue the civil war. The two deLaceys rode through the mass of horse and foot to the headquarters, where Martin and William tried to bring order to the chaos. Rhori and Kivan, with Hobbes and Pounce of course, were out scouting the enemy, their information being used for last minute adjustments. They passed the priests preparing their field hospitals. Paris smiled, remembering Mia's happy little baby, the only thing that could have kept her from this. And she thought of her friend Lorraine Chivar, now, as Jules had once put it, seriously pregnant.
Martin was shouting orders. "Get those catapults in place now! I said I wanted a morning attack, I meant today, not tomorrow." She looked toward the engines, but couldn't spot Calais. They would cover the initial assault and the return of the forces after the attack. She got close enough to Martin to see that he wore his regular sword again, having given the Sword of State to Queen Carline when she was crowned on LongNight. She had named him her Lord of War, and given him command of the armies, in exchange. Even without that sword, she didn't know anyone who would want to cross him.
Behind them she spotted Alessandro wrestling with the newest addition to the army, the First Gryphon Air Cavalry. His quest had taken him off into those mountains to bring back more of the beasts. A dozen warriors, William included, would ride them above the battle and help direct the fight. It was this coordination that was the main thing they wanted to test, although there was one ulterior motive.
Umin.
If the fight looked strong enough, they thought he might try to fly away. William and Alessandro would go after him, their swords protecting them and their mounts against his magical spells. Eliminating him would greatly relieve the pressure on the new capital of Westmore. Martin put the finishing touches on his deployment, and signaled the horns and drums to be ready. "Bet you won't get him, William. He's slippery."
William grinned back at his older brother. "You just want to get him yourself. But it doesn't make sense to let him magic your mount out from under you." He walked back to where the griffins were, a bit away from the horses that were nervous in their carnivorous presence. Paris and Ewen took up their positions in the mounted reserves.
"You'll need a lot of luck to find him," Martin shouted to his brother.
William signaled his unit's readiness back to Martin. "What do you think, Paris?" he called. "Feel lucky today?"
She stopped the laugh, but couldn't help the smile. "Oh yes, my lord. Very lucky indeed."
"Epilogue" copyright 2000 P.Shea. The contents of this site are copyright 2004 Sheryl A. Knowles unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.