Tag Archives: court

February 13, 2012 · 3:16 pm

Fading Summer Days: Chapter 23A (Why Polly?)

Hello all! This post was previously Chapter 23A, but has now been removed. But don’t despair! Why Polly? will soon be available in its entirety on Amazon.

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February 6, 2012 · 3:04 pm

To Help An Enemey: Chapter 22B (Why Polly?)

Hello all! This post was previously Chapter 22B, but has now been removed. But don’t despair! Why Polly? will soon be available in its entirety on Amazon.

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January 30, 2012 · 3:07 pm

Back at Court: Chapter 22A (Why Polly?)

Hello all! This post was previously Chapter 22A, but has now been removed. But don’t despair! Why Polly? will soon be available in its entirety on Amazon.

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December 12, 2011 · 5:02 pm

At Benishada: Chapter 18B (Why Polly?)

A chapter in which Polly must prove her worth without making a fool of herself, yet again.
The Story So Far: Polly, a princess, an Enchanter, and his apprentice discover they are all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can Polly get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? Can she avoid embarrassment at court long enough to prevent the jadess from seducing the Rajah? And … what does the jadess want with Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 18B: At Benishada

 It seemed all the court had finally arrived, and we started to arrange ourselves into companies. Maria was up front, in a group with the Rajah, so I stayed behind with Janeira and Earl Seanit and Earl Parfin. Then, as if by some unspoken signal, everyone mounted and began moving off.

I took a deep breath and heaved myself up. Fortunately Shenaira did not budge. It took me at least ten minutes to arrange my skirts, and then my hat so I could see, and by that time most of the group was ahead of me.

Thankfully I had ridden before, and side-saddle too, but the reins on my horse were slightly different than what I was used to and it took a little while to sort them out. Gently I urged Shenaira to catch up with the rest, and let out a breath when I remained seated as she walked. I could do this. I would ride her gracefully, with my peacock blue skirts spread out over her back, the feathers on my hat bobbing as we walked, and looking as lady-like as possible. I had been doing precious little of that lately.

I wanted Maria to see her lessons for me had paid off. Though I had still taken my rapier, strapped to my girdle under my skirts.

We rode through Araba, which was mostly awake at this time, its people gaping at the courtly group riding through. I could see the Rajah up ahead, nodding graciously to them and acting exactly like a ruler should. He looked so regal astride his noble black stallion.

Then we turned east, the opposite way of the Falls of Araba, and up a riding path that wound through the mountains. It was quite a pleasant path, with emerald green trees over-shadowing it and birds-of-paradise calling in the trees. It was not yet hot, as it was still morning, but the buttery sunshine still filtered down through the leaves and lit on me pleasantly. The horses’ coats glowed in it. Their walk was a soft, easy walk they seemed able to keep up for hours, and alternately their necks would stretch and arc, and shake out their manes from under the reins that held them In check. It wasn’t at all uncomfortable for their rider, even if they were riding side-saddle, but pleasantly rocking and soothing.

Okay, so it was probably entirely due to the horses that Chaldean women could ride them in these get-ups. I was keeping my seat, amazingly enough.

“Have you been to Benishada before?” I asked Janeira as we rode.

She shook her head. “My family – is not the most prominent. We have never been invited. But now, when I have been introduced at court…”

“Well, I can see why the court likes to go,” I said. “The ride there itself is nice enough. Does the Lord Benishada often go to court?”

“No, never,” Janeira replied. “The court comes to him. He is an uncle to the Rajah, the former Rajah’s younger brother, and thus was installed as Lord of Benishada. The Rajah himself has a summer-home there, which he sometimes stays at. But not this year.”

The Chaldeans were mainly good horsemen, except Janeira, who seemed ill at ease on a horse, and whose horse seemed ill at ease with her. I urged my horse gently past her, and glanced ahead. Maria was riding up front with the Rajah.

A smile crossed my face. Good.

The Rajah and I were on slightly better terms now. The fact that I had apologised, and he had apologised, for injuring each other’s pride, helped a lot. At court we sometimes would talk, though now I did not feel like urging my horse into the gallop necessary to pass everyone else and reach the Rajah. But I could see the Rajah up there, and Maria there. It was obvious Maria had known him for a very long time, because it looked like she was being nearly as impertinent to him as I had been. They must have been very good childhood friends.

Finally, after riding through many vales between the mountains, the gates of Benishada came in sight.

It was up on a plateau, with a path switching back and forth to wind up the slope to its gates, which stood imposing above us. Villains used to be more plentiful on Chaldean roads, and Benishada’s gates had been built to prevent any entry by them.

The horses went up the slope easily, though I was sweating a little as I reached the top. The sun was climbing high in the sky, and it was almost noon.

Maria rode back to me when we reached the gates. She still looked wonderfully glamorous and cool in her white dress.

“So, what do you think of it so far?” she said.

“I have barely seen it yet,” I replied. “But it is – imposing, I suppose.”

“Technically the estate is owned by the Rajah,” she said, “And if he did not have so much business at the Palace, this would be his home. As it is, he lets his uncle, Lord Benishada, take care of it. This has been the traditional home of his dynasty for centuries.”

Her eyes sparkled. “You will see why so many women dream of what it would be like to be mistress of Benishada!”

I soon agreed with her. The grounds of it were breath-takingly beautiful –natural, yet clearly well-cared-for. Along the avenue massive oaks lifted their trunks, seeming to stretch hundreds of feet up, their trunks nearly black and far above topped with a cloud of pale green. But as we drew closer to the manor the natural beauty gave way to velvet smooth lawn.

The manor was a warm ochre colour, flat-roofed, with many windows. It had one great dome and two smaller ones, and at the corners stood short, squat and square towers. Thick wooden doors of brown-black were flung open to welcome us.

There were peacock strolling around, like at the Palace, and monkeys, and pure-blooded dogs, but it had an air of grace and tranquillity the Palace did not have. It had stood much longer than the Palace, and against much more.

At the entrance stood a group of people, like Benishada’s own mini-court, to welcome us. A few of them were groomsmen, and occupied themselves with taking our horses when we dismounted, but the others were nobles, and the fierce, strong and dark, aristocratic man standing at their head had to be the lord. He was older, but he bore a striking resemblance to the Rajah.

“Well, sire,” he said, and bowed lowly and nobly, somehow losing none of his fierceness as he did so, “Welcome to your ancient home.” He had a jutting beard streaked with gray, and a hawk-like nose.

“Greetings, uncle,” the Rajah replied, raising him up from his bow, “I am glad to be at Benishada again.”

Our horses were led away in a long line to the stables at the back, and the court went on forward up to the entrance of the manor. Janeira began hurriedly whispering to me who the others with the Lord of Benishada were. She had never been here before, but she must have heard of them all her life, unlike me.

“That must be the lord’s wife, Lady Perdita,” she said, pointing to the tall woman with hair almost completely gray pinned up in a bun at the nape of her neck. She stood haughtily beside the lord. “And those must be their daughters. Yes, there’s all five of them. And there’s the son, Ben-al-Tur, perhaps you’ve heard of him. He’s quite a famed swordsman. And that woman there, she must be Shuriam, Benishada’s keeper of the keys.”

The daughters were all dark, like their father and like their cousin, and they called greetings to some of us, whom they seemed to know well. They were all rather handsome, with raven-dark hair. Their brother, Ben-al-Tur, stood across from them, dressed in crimson with a rapier sheathed at his waist. I noticed the circlet of emeralds embedded on it. A sword-master.

The lord and his lady stood at the entrance, welcoming each of the court members. I did a deep curtsy. The Lord of Benishada smiled a little when he saw me.

“Fair hair,” he said. “You must be the cousin of the Enchanter. Why else would an Angarian be here?”

“Yes, indeed, my lord,” I replied. I hoped he had not heard too much about my escapades.

On the terrace an elaborate luncheon had been prepared for us. At the front there was set up a high table, for, as Janeira explained, those ‘of the blood’ (those with royal blood). It was as fancy as any lunch at the Palace. We had a soup of shellfish imported from the sea to start off with, followed by a tomato ice, the assorted salads and greens and sliced roots, then a cooling, almost minty sort of ice. After that there was mutton and venison, and slices of pork with apples, round wafers with butter, and towering heaps of biscuits. By our plates were tall goblets of frosty nectar. I was glad I had finally figured out all the court rules for mannerly eating, and need not make a fool of myself at Benishada too.

“That was nice,” I said to Janeira when we were done. Most of the court was relaxing at this time, before the long ride home again, but we were strolling through the gardens. The mountain plateau made a wonderful place for growing vegetations, and we went around and admired it.

When we got back to the manor the rest of the court was strolling around too, conversing in little groups. Ben-al-Tur stood on the steps of the manor, and when he saw us he came over.

“Lady Penelope,” he said, and I suppressed a wince. I really was sick of that name. He stopped in front of us and we paused in our strol, I watching him and wondering what he could want.

“My cousin, the Rajah,” he said, “Told me that after duelling with rapiers for barely more than a month, you have managed to beat him already. I do not believe it. I told him he is partial to you because you are a blond Angarian, and that I could beat you with one hand tied. Would you allow me to give a demonstration?”

I eyed him coldly. He stood arrogantly, fingering his rapier at his side, his black hair styled into a large pompadour over his forehead. I decided I wanted to fight him, if only to mess that pompadour up.

“I will,” I said, “I but do not bother tying your hands. I want it to be fair fight, and besides, of how much use is it to have two hands in duelling?”

He smirked. “Of much use. But – as you wish. I will give you as much time to get ready as you need.”

I hurried towards the manor, muttering to myself and wishing I’d brought my rapier clothes. But at least I could take my hair down, and make sure my rapier was sharp.

Maria caught up to me. “So,” she said. “You are the fight the Swordsman. Do you have your rapier clothes? Because if you don’t Tyresa Benishada said she would lend you some. She would like her brother taken down a notch, and so would I, he is altogether too contemptuous of women’s duelling. Just because he’s a real Swordsman! I tell you, I have duelled him many times, and have come as close as you possibly can to beating him, yet he still looks down on my skill.”

I stared at her. “But if you can’t beat him, how can I?”

“I have faith in you, Tigress,” she said. “If you hit your flow you’re ten times better than me, though you have less experience.”

I borrowed Tyresa’s rapier clothes and put them on. Looking in the mirror I put my hands on my hips and studied myself. I did not look fierce at all, just a pale, long-nosed Angarian, more like a woman out to snag herself a husband than a swords-maiden, whatever the fact I was wearing pants.

Ben-al-Tur seemed to think so too, and looked at me contemptuously. Beside me Maria clapped my shoulder for luck. She was muttering to herself.

“So you didn’t want him to tie his hands, did you?” she said. “Watch out, his hands are dangerous. But I would not want him to tie his hands either, so if I did beat him he would not have an excuse.”

We faced each other. My palms were slick with sweat and slippery on the handle of my rapier. I gripped it tightly and stared at him.

“So, Tigress,” he sneered. “We will duel.”

His jab-thrust after our bow was even quicker than the Rajah’s had been. It was only by turning quickly that I managed to make him nick my shoulder and not the white patch on my chest. He laughed.

“A little – too fast – for you?” he said amusedly, jabbing left and right as he spoke. I immediately went on the defensive. But he was good, and I was using so much of my concentration on my blocks that I had not the time to study him for openings so I could go on the offensive. I was biting my lip and whipping my rapier in a silver whirl, tasting blood in my mouth. He was coolly staring me down and laughing softly.

And yes, he was good. The earls that had taught me were nothing to this. Maria was nothing to this. It was only by some inner instinct I was able to block his relentless attack, I had to rely on every quick reflex I had. And I could only defend. It was a good thing I did not tire easily, for all I could do was hang on and hope for an opening.

“Ah, lucky one,” Ben-al-Tur said, as my rapier whipped his out of the way. I took a breath and hoped he would pause, but he did not, and only pressed me harder.

“I think perhaps what they call your skill should really be ascribed to luck,” he said. I growled in my throat and fought off another attack. He continued speaking. “Though you are one of the fiercest fighters I’ve ever met – Tigress.”

He nicked my shoulder, and I just had a chance to see a dribble of blood run down it before he attacked again. Tyresa’s rapier clothes were being cut to shreds. Everywhere he was piercing through my defences, but I grimly kept up in spite of the now-ragged edges of my clothes, because my white patch had not yet been touched. But I was quite sure that was only because the Swordsman was playing with me, intent on utterly humiliating my skill.

A tide of anger rose in me at the thought.

“Women should not become sword-maidens,” he told me.

I did not answer.

“They do not have grit enough,” he continued. “The only skills they need are basic protection, and they need not fancy themselves anything more than that. Lady Penelope.”

He called me that deliberately, indicating I did not deserve such a title as Tigress, I was such a poor sword-maiden. But I hated the name Penelope, and instead of shaming me it only made me infuriated.

Then, as my tide of anger rose higher, something clicked in my brain again. Ben-al-Tur might still have been speaking, but everything beyond our two swords was a blank. I could see, almost as if I was detached from it, the Swordsman’s many attacks, and my poor defences. Anger heated my face. Of course he would scorn me.

My sword whipped in my hands, almost without my commanding it, to deflect his blade away. And finally I was on the offensive. He staggered back, obviously surprised. His defensive was nearly as good as his offensive, but I could detect weaknesses in it. Of course, he seldom needed to use it.

“There’s the Tigress,” someone said, or may have said. I was no longer sure. My footwork practice was finally playing off, and I stepped into a stance as I attacked, our blades two blurring bars biting at each other. They were whistling, though it sounded dull to my ears in the void I was in. I looked at the dark man facing me, so like the Rajah, and centred in on the white patch on his chest.

Suddenly it split in half, though I knew not how I’d made my blade get there. I staggered back, blinking, the numbness of the void leaving me.

“What use is basic protection alone to a woman,” I hissed, “if such as you ever decided to take advantage of them?”

Then I turned away.

The crowd that had gathered around us as we fought pressed against me now, but I pushed through them and reached the manor doors. Then, once inside the room that had been set aside for the ladies to freshen up, I sank down onto the bench.

His arrogance had reminded me so much of the Rajah. But even the Rajah’s insults were preferable to this. At least I had given the Rajah reason to think me uncouth.

And I still didn’t understand what had happened. I hadn’t beaten him, had I? Those last moments of the fight… I had felt different than I had ever felt before…

There had to be something wrong, I shouldn’t have beaten him.

 “La, I am so proud of you!” Maria exclaimed as she came in. “Finally, someone beat him. But I have never seen you fight so hard before.”

“I do not usually feel everything click so strongly,” I replied. I turned to her. “But he was infuriating me.”

“And that is why I so often lose!” Maria told me. “He makes me angry and I get distracted.”

“Well, then it is good it works exactly opposite on me,” I answered. Thoughtfully I washed myself down all over and changed back into my peacock blue dress.

Go to Chapter 18C

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October 17, 2011 · 4:36 pm

Black Eye! Chapter 14C (Why Polly?)

This chapter finds Polly continuing in her attempts to foil the jadess’s plans at the Palace.  Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee… and meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 14 C: Black Eye!

 And that was how I came to be viewed as being part of Carmen’s group. It rather improved things to have a side you belonged to. It seemed they’d been curious about me before, but hadn’t been sure if I’d run off to Mandarine’s side or not. So I spent some of my days describing Angaria to them, and they told me more about Chaldea. Now that they’d actually unbent a little, they actually explained a bit about how the court society functioned. They re-introduced me to all the earls again too.

“Isn’t Enchanter Raleigh rich and famous, though?” Clio asked when I’d finished describing my life as a flower girl to her. I bit my lip – maybe I should have left that last description out. Then I shrugged.

“He’s nothing much in Angaria, is he?” I said. “And I’d never known him very well until I visited him.”

Fortunately, Clio accepted this.

Janeira had chosen Carmen’s side too, mostly because I had. We would talk a lot together. Our agreement was that this whole rivalry business would be over if the Rajah would just stand up and actually pick someone, but the Rajah did not seem inclined to do so.

Mandarine’s group avoided me now, or shot barbed remarks at me. But I did not really mind this, I was quite good at shooting barbed remarks back, and then Carmen’s group would giggle behind their fans and congratulate me. They all accepted me, except, it seemed Cassandra.

“She’s just still sour the Enchanter jilted her,” Rianne told me. “She was rather proud before, and no one had done that to her before. I think she fancies you ought to apologise.

“For his behaviour?” I asked, and gave a little snort. “I’m not responsible for – er – my cousin.”

“She seems to think you are,” Rianne replied.

And Cassandra did seem to think so. She tried her best to make my life miserable for me. Luckily Carmen told her to quit it, and the others in the groups protected me from her. But she did not give up.

“Can’t you be more graceful, cousin of the Enchanter?” she mocked when I tripped on the stairs. She’d never call me by name, I was only ‘cousin of the Enchanter’. I shot her a dirty look back.

The Rajah seemed to notice me very little, which was just fine by me. The others all thought up every manner of outrageous plot to get his attention, but never to much avail. I was content to stay in the background and keep an eye on him. Slowly I was perfecting my technique.

I hope you’re frustrated, blasted jadess, I thought.

I was not much at the Magician’s Peak anymore. Only at breakfast times and dinner, otherwise I was at court. Paulina took over the making of the meals, and she seemed much happier, perhaps because she could get out now, and went to the market every day with Stefan. Stefan tried to keep an eye on Casper too, since he was the one most at risk from the jadess, but Casper was not easy to keep an eye on. He said he wasn’t going to let the jadess interfere with his life.

“He takes too many risks around her,” Stefan said. “He always has.”

“Even when he rescued us, right?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. I insisted on coming too, or else who knows what would have happened if the jadess found him there? Even though we’d been able to keep an eye on her with the silver screen beforehand.”

Casper was still trying to fix the silver screen, but without much luck. He’d order Rubion silver again, but it would take months to get here by caravan.

He teased me when he saw me in my court clothes, calling me ‘little Chaldean court lady’ and other absurd titles. I think it amused him to see me dressed up like that. I certainly didn’t look anything like myself.

I often wished I could just stay at the peak I missed the way things had been before, just me and Paulina, and the enchanters. It was not because I could boss people around, whatever Casper said. I seldom bossed people, though I liked to annoy him. Paulina and Stefan would’ve listened to me too readily.

But I missed cooking meals, and teaching Paulina. Sometimes meals would come out a little strange because she’d been experimenting, and I wished I could give her tips. I wanted to wear the plain, comfortable dresses I’d sewn, and I never wanted to see my girdle again. But regardless, I had to go on.

I was going to get the jadess for this, someday.

Once in a while, though, it was kind of fun to pretend to be upper crust, to parade around in my finery, and to rub elbows with lords and earls. This was not something I would ever get to do in Angaria.

Carmen tried to teach me the art of flirting, but I resisted her efforts until she gave up. The earls weren’t put off by my straightforwardness, but Carmen lamented that this way the Rajah would pay no attention to me. Honestly, sometimes she reminded me of Gretchen.

The earls said they put up with me because there were no other blonds at court, and we became friends; I would tease them, and they would heckle me back. But if the Rajah would come up, with a puzzled expression on his kingly face, I would retreat to the background. It was bad enough I had to be at court and look like I was chasing him, it would be worse if I actually made a fool of myself attempting to talk to him. The earls all asked me where in the world I thought I was disappearing to, and that I’d never get the Rajah’s attention that way, but I would just shrug.

Sometimes I think the earls resented that the ladies were all paying attention to the Rajah, and not to them. I told them all the ladies would all look to back to them again once the Rajah chose his bride, but they would just look at me with a sour expression on their face and say the Rajah was never going to choose, at this rate. Then they would go off and practice their rapier-fighting, to demonstrate their bravery. Often there were tournaments, and then we would all turn out to watch. The Rajah would compete too sometimes, and he won quite a bit, though not too much more than anybody else. It gave me a thrill to watch those long, narrow bits of steel clash and stab against each other.

It was the middle of summer in Chaldea, and it was hot. I wondered how the earls could stand rapier-fighting in the baking hot sun. I wasn’t doing anything but watching, and I felt faint. The only relief was in the cool, shady stone of the Palace, though often by late afternoon it would heat up too. It was nicest in the morning, when it was cool inside the Palace, and pleasantly warm outside.

Mandarine would actually faint, though I wasn’t sure if that was because she tied her girdle so tight, or she just liked everyone hovering around her. It didn’t work too well on the Rajah though, if it was a ploy: he would just wave his hand and order his servants to bring her water and fan her.

The ladies on Mandarine’s side were Lady Aurelia and Daina, Vianna, Suzanne, Delia, Yasmine, Marcia, Allaina, Nadia and Maylin. They did their best to spite us, and we did our best to spite them. On Carmen’s side were me, Janeira, Rianne and Clio, and Junina, Andrea, Indira, Malope, Hallia, Persis and Cerina. And, of course, Cassandra. She was as bitter as ever.

“Didn’t the Enchanter teach you manners?” she’d ask every time I made a mistake. “That’s the way we do it in Chaldea.”

My goodness, no wonder Casper had jilted her.

“Who said I cared how you do it in Chaldea?” I finally snapped back.

“Well, you do our best to dress like us,” she replied. “Pale-haired wench.”

The thing was, I couldn’t really insult her, for she really was beautiful. Definitely more beautiful than me. Otherwise I could have thought up equally cutting remarks about her, but with her flawless skin and bit, dark eyes I could think of nothing to criticize in her looks. I knew Carmen didn’t like us fighting, but it wasn’t her quarrel, and thankfully she didn’t interfere. I thought I could understand how she felt about Mandarine now.

One day I could stand it no longer. Cassandra pushed me just a little bit too far as we were standing one morning in the throne room, and I launched into her. I didn’t bother with little slaps and hair-pulling, like Carmen and Mandarine, but fought as I’d had to fight to protect myself from bullies when I’d still been young in Angaria. I hadn’t used it in a long time, and I was surprised I still remembered. Cassandra was surprised too, at first, then she fought back with equal vigour.

“Girls, stop it!” Carmen shrieked, horrified. I didn’t have to look at Mandarine to know she’d be smirking the spectacle. But I didn’t care about her.

“Lady Penelope!” It was one of the earls. “Ladies, stop that!” He tried to get in our way and got punched in the face.

I almost had Cassandra pinned, but then she elbowed me in the side, hard, and stepped on my foot at the same time. I gasped for breath. She elbowed me when I had precious little breath already, my lacing were tied so tight. Girdles were not made to fight in.

“Cat fight,” I heard another lord drawl. If he’d tried to interfere I would have scratched his eyes out. Luckily for him, he didn’t.

Then I could hear the Rajah calling for order, but I ignored him. Cassandra paused when she heard, which I took advantage of, then she ignored him too. I could hear horrified gasps echo around the room. But I was too busy to attend right then, Cassandra had kicked me in shins.

“You irritating little – flea!” I gasped, as she hung onto my back and draggled my hair. I’d bit back a vulgar Angarian insult just in time. We were at court.

I swung around and hit her with a rather off-centred punch. But she let go anyway.

Then suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulders, lifting me up, and I was dangling off the ground. Looking beside me I saw the Rajah, his dark eyes blazing with fury. The soldier holding me flanked his left side, and on his right one held Cassandra.

“Do you not listen to your ruler?” he said. I squirmed and the soldier let me fall to the floor. I rolled over to look up at him. He was far more interesting in his fury.

Beside me Cassandra was quivering. She was probably afraid she’d be kicked out of court, and then she lost all chance with the Rajah.

“Answer me!” he said thunderously. “Do you know what I say?”

“Y – yes, sire,” Cassandra stammered.

“How could we not, since you’re yelling so loud?” The words just found a way out of my mouth. I heard an anguished gasp from Carmen.

“Oh, you – blasted women!” he yelled. He stormed around the throne room and threw a stone crock to the ground, rather like Maria DeAballah had in the entrance hall of the Peak, except this crock looked bigger and heavier. The Rajah must be tremendously strong.

Damage control, damage control… time to think of something polite to say…

“I’m sorry, sire,” I told him. “Such behaviour is not fitting for a throne room. I should have taken it outside.”

He looked incensed. ‘Whatever practice you have in Angaria, young lady, you should not be fighting in court at all! Now, there may be some bad examples,” he glared furiously at Carmen and Mandarine, “But THAT IS NO EXCUSE!”

“Of course, sire,” I replied.

I realised I was goading him like I did Casper. He was reacting rather more satisfactorily than the Enchanter did, but I wasn’t sure how much more his Chaldean temper could take. I shut my mouth.

I did not trust myself to say a word as I let his tirade wash over me. He could probably see I wasn’t terrified by the look in my eyes, though Cassandra probably satisfied him. She was cowering on the floor.

“You do not hold proper respect for me,” he accused, his eyes shooting sparks at me.

“Oh the contrary, my lord,” I answered. “The higher fury you get into, the more respect I have. You might ask Casper how that works.”

“Oh, get out of my sight,” he yelled back. “And I’ll tell you if I’ll ever let you back into it!”

I hurried out of the room and down the hall, into the women’s room. I looked at myself in the mirror. Two black eyes bloomed spectacularly in my face, between strands of draggled hair. I sighed and began cleaning myself up.

Janeira found me there a while later.

“My goodness,” she said. “I’ve never seen the Rajah get into such a high fury before. He’s usually so emotionless.”

“Yeah, well, lucky me,” I said, “For managing to make him show emotion.”

She looked at me suddenly, then laughed. I could tell she thought I was crazy, but she didn’t seem to care.

“Well, Cassandra was spitting mad after you left,” she told me. “It looks like you’ve started another court rivalry.”

“With Cassandra, or with the Rajah?” I muttered back.
Go to Chapter 15A

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October 10, 2011 · 7:15 pm

Choosing Sides: Chapter 14B (Why Polly?)

This chapter finds Polly continuing in her attempts to foil the jadess’s plans at the Palace.  Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee… where she meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 14B: Choosing Sides

I had been slightly put out at the Rajah for what he’d done to Casper, but now I’d met him I could see he thought he had no choice. Being a ruler always seems to get you stuck in pickles like that. It was wrong to stick Casper in Chaldea forever, and I’d tell him so if I got a chance, but I’d heard a million stories at court about how Chaldea’s fortunes had improved since they had an enchanter in the land again. And I felt a little sorry for the Rajah too, all those blasted women around him, never letting him escape, I wondered if he ever got any privacy.

Anyway, Casper didn’t seem to hate the Rajah personally, they were on quite good terms, but the Enchanter only chafed at the bounds that had been put on him. I wondered if there was a way they could resolve this mess.

But all in all I didn’t like court much, and I told Casper so. He only laughed.

“You just don’t like it because you can’t control it,” he said. “Like you run the Peak, and like you probably ran everyone’s lives in Angaria.”

“I was independent,” I replied. “I helped Gretchen support me.”

“I can imagine!” he said. I shot him a dirty look.

Maria continued to help and coach me. She got so many dresses for me their array startled me. Altogether, including the Chaldean robes Casper had first got me and the dresses I had made for myself, it was almost three times the number of dresses I’d ever owned in my life before this. They were wonderfully beautiful, but somehow they always made me fell like a doll dressed up for show.

I was wearing the lemon yellow one with pearls when Carmen blew her top again. Not at Mandarine this time, but in hysterical panic. It turned out the heirloom ring she’d been wearing, passed down through her family for generations, had been lost, and she’d just noticed. The ladies in her group all gathered around her and tried to sooth her frantic sobbing, while Mandarine and her friends gathered across from them and looked disdainful.

“Probably not as priceless as she’s making it out to be,” Janeira said, “But still, not a good thing to lose.”

The Rajah leaned back in his throne and positively rolled his eyes (I’d have sworn he did if I hadn’t known he was a ruler), while all the earls, lords, officers, and men in the Palace made valiant, manful hunts around the throne room for it. Most looked out of their wits at a lady in distress, and did their frantic best to find it. But it did not turn up. The ladies around Carmen, meanwhile, managed to calm her hysterical screams to soft, hiccoughing sniffles. If possible she looked even worse than when she’d been fighting with Mandarine.

She went to get cleaned up, but still looked positively miserable during our daily promenade. The men all shook their heads and muttered ‘poor little thing’. I’d thought her excitability would put them off, but they seemed to like a lady in distress.

“She’s always been excitable,” Janeira told me. “All her family is.”

We went in to lunch, a first course of cold, cucumber soup, followed by waldorfs, jellied salads, rolls with meat and gravy in them, and other dishes I did not see. Carmen sat across from me, with her two best friends, Clio and Rianne, sympathetically patting her arms while Mandarine glared and sniffed haughtily from down the table. I thought rather that Mandarine was jealous of all the attention Carmen was getting.

After lunch I went out to the front lawn. Tensions in the court were too stressful for me, and I had to get away, if only for a moment. The lawn was empty, and I wandered about restlessly. Over the lawn the Rajah’s peacocks stepped gracefully around me, and I fed them a few crumbs from lunch.

Then suddenly as I was bent down I saw a glint near a bush. Coming nearer to investigate I saw it was round and golden, with a brilliant green emerald set in it. If that wasn’t Carmen’s lamented lost heirloom ring, I didn’t know what was. She must have dropped it when she’d entered the Palace this morning.

As I bent to pick it up there was a voice behind me. I turned and saw Mandarine standing there, flanked on either side by Aurelia and Daina. She crossed her arms.

“You’ve found Carmen’s ring, haven’t you?” she said. “Give it to me.”

“So you can torment her with the fact you have it?” I asked. “Not on your life. I’ve had enough crying for one day. Besides, I don’t even know it’s hers.”

“I do,” she replied. “I’d recognize it anywhere. Give it to me.”

“Forget it,” I told her. “I already told you I wouldn’t.”

Just then another group of ladies rounded the corner. Carmen was among them. They stopped short when they saw us.

“Have it then,” Mandarine told me. She spat at my yellow slippered feet, then whirled away with Aurelia and Daina. Carmen looked at me.

“I found your ring,” I told Carmen. I tossed it to her, then set off down the gravelled paths, in the opposite direction Mandarine had gone.

Later Carmen came up to me, wanting to thank me, to my surprise. I told her it was only an accident I’d found it.

“Yes, but you could have given it to Mandarine,” she replied. “Are you on my side, or hers?”

Her slanted green eyes looked at me, being somehow enhanced by the French green dress she was wearing. She was offering me a place in her group. Now was the time for me to choose sides, and I sighed.

“I’d rather not be involved,” I said. “But at the moment I am rather disinclined to follow Mandarine.”

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October 3, 2011 · 6:08 pm

Court Rivalry: Chapter 14A (Why Polly?)

This chapter finds Polly continuing in her attempts to foil the jadess’s plans at the Palace.

Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee, and taken far, far away from her home… where she meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 14A: Court Rivalry

Maria came over the next morning, with three boxes of new dresses. I slept hard that night after my day at court, and I woke up reluctantly when she knocked on my door. “Come in,” I groaned.

“Good morning,” she told me, sweeping into the room. She dumped three boxes on the floor beside me. “Get up and decide which dress you’re going to wear.”

She had brought three dresses, the first a dark, golden apricot with a V-neck and a golden circlet of ivy for the waist. The second was raspberry edged in gold, with embroidered roses growing up from the skirt to the neckline. But the third one was the one I chose to wear: an azure blue, without seams and without decorations, with a square neck and trailing sleeves. Maria helped me lace up my girdle and pull the dress over that again, and my stomach protested at being constricted for the third day in a row. Around my neck and arms I wore jewellery like woven silver.

“Are you going to court today?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“I do not feel so much like it lately,” she said. “You get tired of it after awhile. So I’m taking the time to re-order my estate again.”

“But you will come to help me every morning?” I looked at her. “Please? I need you for moral support, and I don’t think I’ll ever manage to do this by myself.”

“I’ll come as much as I can,” she promised, combing out my hair. “How did it go yesterday?”

So I told her all about my day at court, and my many mistakes, and she laughed.

“You did very well for your first day,” she said. “I know many who would not think someone not born to nobility could perform half so well. You did not even know what a court was like before.”

She left just before breakfast again, avoiding Casper and leaving me to swallow as much food as I could manage and climb into the carriage to set off. Casper came with me again, he had business with the Rajah.

“So long as the jadess doesn’t get you,” I told him with a laugh. He pulled a face.

“I try not to put myself in a place where she can get at me,” he said.

“You know,” I said, “I feel sorry for Paulina. I mean, being left behind.”

“I gave her a protection charm too, you know,” he told me. “So she can get out of the house now.”

“I know,” I sighed. “But she’d be so much better at this court stuff than me.”

The carriage reached the Palace. Casper led me through the Palace again, since I didn’t know the way, this time to a different throne room, with different heralds at the door. But one we went in I found all the same nobles as the day before.

“Hello,” Janeira said to me, once I had given my greetings to the Rajah.

“Hello,” I replied. The other ladies all looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I nodded to them.

It was much like last time. I sat down on a chair, spreading my azure skirts out around me, and listened to them talk. Janeira explained some of the names they were talking about, reminding me of people I’d met yesterday. But still I couldn’t contribute much to the conversation, and I kept getting everyone mixed up.

“That Lord Hamptys thinks too much of himself, doesn’t he?” Carmen was saying, fanning herself slowly with a large, gilded fan. It was hot and stuffy in the throne room. Mandarine looked sharply at her.

“Lord Hamptys is my father’s brother,” she told Carmen coldly. The others were all watching them with avid interest.

“So?” Carmen asked, raising one eyebrow archly.

“I would appreciate it if you did not insult my kinsmen,” Mandarine replied.

“Not again,” Janeira sighed from beside me.

“Why not?” Carmen said. “They’re all pompous asses, and you’re one of them.”

“Nice words coming from someone who can’t even get the Rajah to look at her,” Mandarine sneered, her face white with fury.

“Oh yeah?” Carmen hissed back. “Does he look at you any more often?”

“He does,” Mandarine asserted.

“Does not!”

“Does too!”

“You shrieking fool!”

Thwack! Mandarine’s hand shot out and slapped Carmen across the face. Carmen rose up, raised her arms, and hit back. Then Mandarine grabbed a hunk of shiny black hair, and they both fell to the ground in a screaming, kicking, biting, yowling pile. I stared, aghast.

“Cat fight,” an earl standing two feet away remarked.

The other ladies weren’t helping much. The ones on Mandarine’s side were facing the ones on Carmen’s side, circling the fight, hissing at each other and encouraging Carmen and Mandarine on. There was quite a lot of hair-pulling and elbowing in the crowd, and multitudes of dirty looks, though Carmen and Mandarine were the only ones who were actually fighting.

I stood up nervously. “Um, why don’t we take this outside?”

They all stared at me, and even Carmen paused, though Mandarine did not.

“Whatever for?” Daina asked.

“We’re in a palace!” I protested. Maria must’ve been crazy – meek-tempered women at court, my foot! Janeira came up beside me.

“The Rajah’s learned not to keep valuables in his throne room by now,” she told me. “Don’t worry.”

I stared at them all. Didn’t they see? How uncourtly and unladylike!

“Chaldean women have tempers like cats,” I remembered hearing Casper say. “And once they start there’s no stopping them.” I think he’d been talking about the women who’d been furious at him for jilting them, but I thought I understood what he meant now.

The brawl was still raging. A couple of palace guards and some earls were trying to drag them apart, but they seemed afraid to get too close. I was about to try and extricate them myself, when a piercing whistle tore through the hall.

“Stop it this instant,” the Rajah commanded. He stood, regal, his noble eyes flashing, his strong profile hard, his muscle tense under his robes as his darkish hair fell down around his forehead. He made a motion with his scepter, and amazingly both women stopped. I made a mental note to correct Casper. Chaldean women could be stopped if they lost their tempers, but only by a young, handsome, unmarried Rajah’s command.

Both Carmen and Mandarine looked decidedly worse for the wear. Their hair was yanked out of its combs and tangled around their shoulders, their make-up was smeared, their expensive dresses were torn and rumpled. Jewels that had fallen off were strewn around the floor.

“I have tolerated your childishness long enough,” the Rajah told them sternly. “I will no longer. I will not have this unseemly behaviour in my court. From now on you will get along.”

I thought he was asking rather much, but both Carmen and Mandarine looked penitent, at least for now. The Rajah gave them one last look, before sitting down and continuing his conversation with the officer beside him. He already looked as if he’d forgotten the incident.

“Well, they certainly both got the Rajah to look at them that time,” I muttered.

“Sharp tongues get you in a world of trouble at court,” Janeira said, rolling her eyes. “Especially theirs.”

Without looking at each other Carmen and Mandarine picked up their things off the floor and stormed away, presumably to fix themselves up. The other ladies separated into two groups, Carmen’s group and Mandarine’s group, and began whispering excitedly.

“Does this happen a lot?” I asked Janeira.

“About every couple of weeks,” she replied.

Carmen and Mandarine came back looking as good as new, and my day after that was pretty much the same as yesterday. I though I was finally getting the hang of manners at lunch. At least I didn’t make everybody stare at me so often.

Court days fell mostly in a pattern. First was the morning, when everyone arrived one by one, to be announced by the heralds, and to give their greeting to the Rajah. Then, while the Rajah took care of business, the court ladies were left to gossip and amuse themselves together. After that it was our ‘daily promenade’ around the garden. Officially it was to get some fresh air, but both we and the Rajah knew better. The earls seemed to know better too, and often they would show up and watch us during this time, talking among themselves. Probably discussing our beauty and rating us, I thought. Most of the earls seemed to be of marriageable age, perhaps that explained it.

Then there was the mid-day meal. The Rajah’s lunch was the finest in the land, slices of cold venison, fresh salad, platters of fruit, bowls of jelly, pitchers of cream, and frozen ices to go between each course. Too bad the laces on my girdle were too tight for me to enjoy much of it.

And in the afternoon the court enjoyed leisure time. We did all sorts of courtly things: boating on the river, displaying ourselves to the common folk, viewing plantations, hawking (for those with hawks to show off), competitions in which the lords and earls would show off their skills for us. The earls and the court ladies all seemed to know each other, and be friends, and sometimes I wondered why the ladies didn’t just quit chasing the Rajah and marry one of them. They were extremely kind and courtly; I met some of them because they who showed open interest in the only woman with blond hair there, though obviously not because of my beauty. I got to know some of the ladies too, and they could’ve been worse, but it seemed it was hard to really fit in here if you weren’t on anybody’s side. So I stood around by Janeira.

The Rajah came too, in the afternoon, if he wasn’t wrapped out in something else. When he did, the ladies would all jostle in a crowd around him, enough to make me green and wish they’d give the poor man a break. If he disappeared even for a moment, though, I worried, wondering if the jadess was getting her hands into him, but at least I had all the ladies under my eye. Though Casper would probably skin me alive if he knew.

“I thought you said Chaldeans like their women meek,” I said to Maria, first moment I could – one morning when she brought over new dresses. “The two leading women at court are spitting cats.”

“I said you would have to be meek and mild, to get close to the Rajah,” Maria retorted. “Carmen and Mandarine are leaders at court, very true – but are either married to the Rajah yet? Is that the sort of woman he prefers, or merely the sort that wearies him? You decide.”

Slowly I hooked a pair of jewelled earrings into my ears. “He seems – pretty sick of court in general. Don’t tell me, he’ll offend some important family if he doesn’t show up.”

“You are quick.” Maria grinned.

Casper’s plan was genius, then – there was no way the Rajah would meet a strange woman outside of court, and if he was always at court it would be difficult for the jadess to make a move. Even more difficult if I was there to keep an eye on things.

“You are a foreigner,” Maria went on. “You have to be very careful about your place in court. And I know the Rajah prefers the sort of woman – that I can never be.”

She glanced away quickly. It was the first sign of emotion (other than anger) that I had ever seen in her.

I wouldn’t go to court anymore, either, if I had to watch all those women fight over the man I loved.

“Look here, the Rajah’s got to open his eyes someday,” I told her.

She let out a long sigh. “I do keep telling myself that.”

 

Go to Chapter 14B

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September 26, 2011 · 6:54 pm

Fish Out Of Water: Chapter 13C (Why Polly?)

This chapter finds Polly continuing in her attempts to foil the jadess’s plans at the Palace.

Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee, and taken far, far away from her home… where she meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 13C: Fish Out Of Water

“Yes?” the Lady Janeira said. “I’m new here too. My family lives on the eastern borders of the land, and today I’m allowed to go to court this time for the first time ever. What do you think of the Rajah?”

“Fascinating,” I replied.

“Yes, we all think so,” she answered. She leant a little closer. “I’d watch out for those two, you know,” she indicated Lady Carmen and Lady Mandarine. “They’re the rival groups here, and you’ve got the pick sides. I haven’t yet,” she giggled, “because I’m new. But they’re both chosen me. What I mean is, they both want the best on their sides, because they’d rather have the Rajah pay attention to a member of their group, if not themselves, rather than the other side. Strange, isn’t it?”

I could honestly say yes. Everything so far had been strange.

There were lots of people to see the Rajah, and the Rajah dealt with them all. We sat by the edge and gossiped. At least, everyone else did. I didn’t know half the people they were talking about, and they didn’t tell me. They didn’t seem to know what to make of me, a pale Angarian sitting in the midst of them.

“So you’re Casper’s cousin,” Lady Aurelia said to me finally. I nodded.

“That Enchanter!” Lady Daina spat. They all exchanged looks at this, then turned back to me.

“You do know what he’s like, don’t you?” Lady Aurelia asked.

“Yes,” I replied coolly. “Fortunately, I happen to be his cousin.”

“By which you mean?” Lady Mandarine inquired sharply, staring at me in a way that got my back up.

“He doesn’t jilt me,” I told her sweetly. Beside me Janeira gave a quick gasp. I sighed to myself and cursed my mouth. If I wasn’t careful I’d get myself in trouble.

Lady Mandarine’s gaze had hardened, and she got up and swept to the other side of the throne room, but Lady Carmen was studying me appreciatively. I flushed under all of their gazes. At the edge of the group I noticed Lady Cassandra and Lady Clio had joined us. Lady Cassandra was looking at me especially hatefully.

“Well, well, the Enchanter’s cousin,” she said.

I did not trust myself to reply, and remained silent. They continued staring at me for a while longer, then began talking again. I let out the breath I had been holding.

“I told you to be careful,” Janeira told me. I shrugged and sighed. Looking up I saw the Rajah get up from his ornate chair and stride out of the room. For a moment I panicked. Casper had said never to let my eyes off him! Then I quickly made up my mind and hurried out after him.

When I got out into the hall it was empty. Looking back I realised I was now in a different part of the Palace, and I hoped I wouldn’t get lost. Picking up my skirts I hurried down the passageway. Where had the Rajah disappeared to?

I wandered around for a few minutes, getting worried. I knew I wasn’t cut out for this, I thought. But I could get out of it now.

Turning a corner I almost ran into the person I was looking for, the Rajah with a couple dusty volumes in his hands, which fell the to the floor as I knocked them.

“Oh – I’m sorry,” I gasped, almost sheepishly. What would he think of me, wandering around the Palace like some aimless fool?

“Lady Penelope,” he said, “What are you doing here?’

“Looking around, your majesty,” I replied. “I mean, er, Most Exalted Rajah…” I was making even more of a fool of myself. I bit my tongue and looked at him. Politely he offered me his arm and said courteously,

“Shall I show you back to the court, Lady Penelope?”

“Sure – I mean, yes,” I replied, flustered. But I did not take his arm, so after a while he dropped it.

Forgive me, Casper, if he kicks me out of the Palace, I thought. Luckily the Rajah did not seem about to do so. I followed him back down the halls to the throne room.

The ladies of the court all turned to look at me again as I re-entered. I was already red, but I’m sure I flushed three shades darker.

I’m never doing that again, I vowed silently to myself. Next time I would wait a while before I started worrying.

Just before noon the court ladies went to ‘stroll around the garden’, though their real intention seemed to be to promenade where all could admire them, and mostly for the Rajah. I went too, not really knowing what else to do, feeling like an idiot and making casual small talk with Janeira. The Rajah stood on his balcony and smiled with an arrogant amusement that was similar to Casper’s, only somehow more dark and regal. He knew this was put on for his benefit.

I looked around the garden at all the strolling silks and laces, and realised why Maria had said my other robes were completely unsuitable. They were simple compared to these, decorated only with embroidery. I decided they must be the kind of robe the common people wore, and that was why Casper could buy them in the market, but the dresses here at court were made professionally be seamstresses especially for the woman who bought them. I wondered how much all these dresses here put together would cost, and how Casper could afford to get such dresses for me.

I realised then Casper must be quite wealthy. Funny I had never thought of it before. But of course the only Enchanter in the land would be rich.

“You said both Mandarine and Carmen asked you to join their sides?” I said to Janeira as we strolled.

“Asked me if I was for them, or against them, more like,” she replied. “But yes, they did.”

“Neither has asked me,” I said, “And I do not wonder why.”

“Come, it is only your first day here,” Janeira told me. “They are not sure about you yet. And they do not really know if you’re competing for the attentions of the Rajah, or if you’re only visiting the court. Are you competing?”

I sighed as I walked. “Yes.”

The court ate the noon meal on the terrace, on a long white table set with gleaming silver and served by servants in blue. Besides the ladies of the court there were also many lords, earls, and officers, some with their wives. The meal was lavish, with course after course, but following the example of the ladies I ate little. I did not think I could fit much down anyway, with my girdle. The only trouble I had was remembering the procedures Maria had taught me: do not start your course before the Rajah does, follow the Rajah in his choice of utensils for each course, and do not talk loudly, lest you interrupt another conversation. More than once I found the whole table staring at me with shock and horror. It did not help when Mandarine hissed loudly in explanation to the earl beside her, “She’s Angarian.”

After lunch most of the court reclined for awhile, inside, in a dusky, brocade draped room infused with incense, because outside the heat of the day had reached its peak. Even the Rajah relaxed, discussing trivial matters with the other earls. Then, when most of the stodgier lords and officer had left, the younger set got up and gathered around.

“Afternoons are ours,” Janeira explained to me. “The Rajah usually has no business to attend to.”

A couple of earls were standing by Carmen and Cassandra, caped in maroon with sheathed swords at their waists. They turned when they saw me come up.

“Ah, it’s the Angarian,” one of them laughed. “I’ve heard about you. You’re the Enchanter’s cousin, right?”

I nodded.

“Funny,” he said. “You’re so much more charming than he is.”

They all laughed as I reddened. Carmen glanced at me edgily and moved as if to politely cut me out, and Cassandra positively glared.

“Pay the earls no mind,” Janeira whispered. “They’re always like that.”

“My dear Earl Rojah,” Carmen said to them, quite obviously cutting me out now. “I hope you have given thought to this afternoon?”

“I thought we might boat down the river,” he replied. “The weather being as it is.”

“But we always boat!” Carmen said. “And my dress…”

“Won’t be shown in its fullest glory on a boat,” the Earl finished. “Which would be a terrible thing, since it was made to pull in the Rajah.”

Carmen glared at him, but not in a way that said she was seriously angry. “Fine. We will boat.”

The earls began moving away, to tell the Rajah of their plans, and as they passed me they smiled.

“You are coming too, aren’t you?” one asked.

“I suppose so, if you wish me to,” I replied sweetly. Maria would have been proud.

And so for the rest of the afternoon we took the Rajah’s private yacht and sailed slowly down the river that ran through Araba. Here, more than anywhere else, I could see how out of place I was, because especially during this time, when the court was relaxing and having fun, I could see how well the ladies and the earls and the officers all knew each other. I spent the trip sitting near the bow and letting the cool river breezes blow over my face. Once, for politeness’ sake, the Rajah came to check on me, and for a while Janeira talked to me, but other than that I was alone. In a way I was glad, because I needed time to sort out my thoughts.

At the dock at the end of the voyage carriages were waiting for us, which took us up and carried us all the way back to the Palace. They day was almost over. Clio, Daina and Aurelia and the others in my carriage were discussing the dinner that night, but I had not been invited, and besides, Casper had said he would send a carriage to pick me up at the end of the afternoon. I realised suddenly I would be glad to see the Peak again.

“I hope you enjoyed your day here, Lady Penelope,” the Rajah said to me as I left, “And you are welcome back tomorrow.”

I curtsied smoothly, gave a little smile, and ascended into the carriage that would take me home. It started to rattle down the Palace hill to the city again. I leaned my head back tiredly against the seat and thought about my day, and the people of the court I’d met.

Janeira, who seemed to understand a bit what it was like to be new and out of place at the Rajah’s court; Carmen and Mandarine, the two rivals who completed for the Rajah’s attention and hated each other, and now probably hated me too; Cassandra, whose grudge against the Enchanter who’d jilted her seemed to extend to all of his family, including his ‘cousin’; Daina, Clio, Aurelia and the others who seemed to regard me with a sort of superior disdain. And then there was, of course, the Rajah himself. The young, dark, and handsome ruler of Chaldea.

“How was it?” Paulina asked me when I reached the Peak. She was making dinner since I was not there to do it, and Radagast was curled by her feet.

“Tiring and confusing,” I sighed. “I’m going up to change.”

Quickly I undressed and put on my light blue dress. It felt so good to get out of that girdle, and to wash all that make-up off my face. When I looked in the mirror and saw my familiar, natural face staring back I felt relieved.

“So, how’d you do?” Casper asked when I came down. I looked at him.

“Put it this way,” I told him, “I don’t know how you ever talked me into doing this.”

 

Go to Chapter 14A

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September 19, 2011 · 9:26 pm

The Ruler of Chaldea: Chapter 13B (Why Polly?)

Sorry it’s a bit late today. I’ve got a feeling life’s going to get a bit hairy over the next couple months. :)

This chapter finds Polly, after much preparation, embarking on her new role to foil the jadess’s plans at the Palace.

Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee, and taken far, far away from her home… where she meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here.

Chapter 13B: The Ruler of Chaldea

We dismounted in a courtyard paved with white marble and surrounded with trees, the Rajah’s Palace looming up over us. A smooth, gradual path with steps every few feet led to the doors, and we began to climb it. Within minutes I was gasping.

“This – doesn’t – look – so – hard – from – down – there,” I panted. It was the blasted girdle, of course. Any flower-girl worth her salt could’ve climbed these steps without breaking a sweat, if she didn’t have a girdle squeezing her middle. And the black velvet cape was so hot!

The entrance hall was large, stone, and cool, with thousands of people moving about in it, officers of the Rajah, soldiers of the palace guard, citizens with petitions for the Rajah, and nobles of all sorts. But I did not see a single court-woman anywhere, and I wondered where everyone who was supposedly ‘chasing the Rajah’ had disappeared to.

They all seemed to know the Enchanter though, and cleared a path for us as we went. Many of them nodded to me, clearly thinking I was someone of importance if I was with the Royal Advisor. A flush crept up my neck. I did not belong here at all.

Maria had been right, there were a lot of stairs in the Palace. But I was too sick of them by now to try to ascend gracefully, and only forced myself to go on without breathing too loudly. All around us sumptuous drapes hung, and weavings of various scenes, but we went by them too fast for me to see them clearly. Everywhere there was the smell of incense.

I still had not seen any women, and so I was relieved to see a dark-haired beauty floating up the hall towards us. Her dress was even more elaborate than mine, and she stopped short for a moment when she saw us.

“Ah, Cassandra,” Casper said when he saw her, quickly pasting a smile on his face.

She stopped short. Her eyes widened, then narrowed.

“Enchanter Raleigh,” she replied. Then she whirled around and stormed off the other way.

Casper looked bemused.

“Let me guess, one of the ladies you jilted,” I said, watching her storm off.

“Yes,” he replied, wincing. Then he looked up and realized we were coming up upon another women in the hall. This one was strolling slowly with her back to us. She seemed to hear us coming up behind her, and turned.

Her glare could’ve melted steel.

“Er – hello, Clio,” Casper said weakly.

“Scoundrel!” she cried, and whirled to stormed off after Cassandra, an expression of indignant rage on her face.

“Why do you do it?” I asked. “Why do you jilt them?”

“They only come to me because they can’t get the Rajah,” he replied. “I don’t like being second-best.”

I snorted, picked up my skirts, and continued down the hall. “Then I have no sympathy,” I said.

We came to the throne room eventually, or it was one of the Rajah’s throne rooms at least. Heralds in red and holding long trumpets stood at the door, and they blew three short blasts as we entered.

“Most Honourable Enchanter Raleigh, Royal Advisor and Enchanter of the Realm, with his cousin, Lady Penelope Raleigh, to see the Rajah,” they announced.

“Did you ask them to announce us like that, or is that really your title?” I muttered to Casper, but he ignored me and continued on into the throne room.

“Hail, Most Exalted Rajah (may your years increase)!” he said. I noticed he used the Rajah’s full title now that he actually stood I front of him.

The ceiling above us was vaulted, and it came down draped in red hangings over the chair where the Rajah sat. The Rajah was tall and dark, seated between two stone lions, and he had sharp eyes, dark hair, olive skin, and a hawk-like nose. I could see why so many women were in love with him – he was rather good-looking – and his presence commanded a certain respect. He turned towards me and his eyes swept me up and down.

“This is Lady Penelope?” he said. His face relaxed into a smile that made him no less imposing, and he held out a ringed hand. “You are welcome to remain at my court for however long you are in Araba.” His dark eyes met mine and I felt a quiver run down my spine. “A friend of the Enchanter’s is a friend of mine.”

I smiled as sweetly as I could and gave a grateful curtsy. There was something in his presence that made me want to impress him.

Along the wall were gathered groups of Chaldean women, long rows of them in exotic finery, with hair of black, brown or red that shone in the light. They were watching me and I could hear them whispering; I knew they were deciding what I was like by the looks of me.

“These are the women of my court,” the Rajah continued. “I’m sure they’ll make you feel at home.”

He began introducing them to me. As he said their names they would come forwards and curtsy, looking hard at me, then giving a glance to the Rajah, before retreating back to their place on the wall. I nodded to each of them. Maria had not been kidding when she said every female in the land was at court in hopes of capturing the Rajah’s heart.

Then the heralds behind me announced the next visitor, and Casper led me over to the women of the court before disappearing out the door again. Probably before one of the women he’d jilted tried to get revenge, or something.

“La, this is the most boring part of the day,” the woman beside me was saying to her neighbour. “While the Rajah conducts business. Pah! Why should we wait around for him here, I say?”

“Why don’t you go on then?” a woman from across the circle put in. “We shan’t miss you.” She was the chestnut-haired, brown-eyed lady the Rajah had introduced as Lady Mandarine. The first glared daggers at her.

“Ooo, wouldn’t you just love that,” she said. “So you could get your dirty claws into him with me out of the way!” She had raven-dark hair that hung in curtains around her face, and she wore a deep green dress that brought out the emerald of her slanted eyes. Beside her, her neighbour laid a hand on her arm.

“Calm down, Carmen,” she said. Carmen subsided, but she still glared at Lady Mandarine from across the circle. I could tell by the tension that Lady Mandarine and Lady Carmen were really, fiery, rivals. Nervously I looked around and wished I could get out of here. I did not belong among all these dark-eyed beauties.

“Pay them no mind,” the lady next to me said. “They’re always like that.” She looked me up and down. “I’m Lady Janeira. What did you say your name was?”

“Pol – er, Lady Penelope,” I told her.

Goodness, I could hardly keep my name straight. I’d given up on ascending stairs gracefully back out in the courtyard. At least I had smiled sweetly at the Rajah. But beyond that… I had no idea how I was going to get through this without getting into a dreadful muddle.

 

Go to Chapter 13C

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August 29, 2011 · 5:51 pm

The Costume of the Court: Chapter 12A (Why Polly?)

I keep meaning to get back to drawing again, but I haven’t had a chance yet. Hope the chapters are enjoyable on their own as well. :)

Polly, while impersonating the princess, has been kidnapped by an enchanter and his trainee, and taken far, far away from her home… where she meets the very princess she was impersonating. It is revealed they all are being threatened by a malevolent magical being known as a jadess. Can she get along with the arrogant enchanter long enough to figure out how to survive with a jadess after them? And … why does the jadess want Polly? Chapter 1 is here

Chapter 12A: The Costume of the Court

I woke up the next morning, put on my light blue dress, and pinned up my hair, wanting to look slightly dressier than normal. Today Casper had said I would be given a crash course in Chaldean court behaviour. I wondered who he had got to teach me. His woman of the moment?

I went downstairs and found Paulina already making breakfast. Bacon and pancakes sizzled on the stove. I started to join her, but she waved me away.

“I don’t want to get grease spots on your dress,” she explained.

I couldn’t eat much. It was not that I was exactly nervous, but I wasn’t sure what things would be like now. At least Paulina would be staying.

Stefan was saying he didn’t like to go to market anymore and leave the Enchanter ‘defenceless’ at home, but Casper waved him off with a laugh.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll be safe from the jadess as long as I stay in the Peak.”

After breakfast Casper came over to me and handed me a little box.

“Your protection charm,” he said. I opened the box. In it was an odd-shaped charm that could clip behind the neckline of any of my dresses, and remain out of sight. I put it on.

“You’ll have to wear it whenever you leave the Peak,” he told me, “And it’ll only keep the jadess from touching you, not keep her away completely.” He looked up again and grinned. “Hope you have better luck with her than I did.”

Just then the door went rat-tat, and Stefan went out to get it. I followed behind him into the entrance hall. There was a rat-tat again at the door, and he opened it.

“Maria DeAballah!” I exclaimed. She saw me and smiled.

“Why, hello,” she said. “Casper said you would be here. I’ve come to teach you.”

“You?” I laughed. Of all things… well, at least our last meeting had been friendlier than the first.  “Well, come in. What are we doing first?”

She studied me intently. “Well, first of all clothes. What else have you got?”

Behind me I could hear the Enchanter come up. Maria’s eyes narrowed slightly when she saw him.

“Ah, Maria,” he said, with a smooth and courtly smile. “I’m glad you could manage to do this for me.” He looked amused at the way Maria carefully held back her rage.

“Come,” she said tightly to me. “Why don’t you show me sort of wardrobe you possess for court?”

“Why’d you agree to do this for him if you’re mad at him?” I asked her, while I was leading her up to my room.

“Because I like you,” she replied. “I heard Casper making inquiries for someone to teach you Chaldean manners, and I agreed to do it because I wanted to know you better. Certainly not because Casper asked me!”

“He’s exasperating, isn’t he,” I said.

“Undoubtedly,” she replied. “I was wondering, though, why are you here at the Magician’s Peak?”

I remembered the story we’d agreed to tell everyone. “He’s my cousin.”

Maria looked at me, those wonderfully wide and deep brown eyes of hers flashing dangerously. “Nonsense. Whatever anyone else believes, I don’t fall for it. How come you’ve never come out of the Peak before, then? I want to know really.”

“He rescued me,” I admitted. We’d reached my door to my room, and, fortunately, Maria didn’t press for more details. I opened the door. Maria walked in, nodding approvingly.

“Not bad,” she said. “Now, where are your clothes? I need to see if you possess anything suitably Chaldean.”

“I do,” I answered, going over to my chest. “This is just one of the dress I made. But I do have a whole bunch of Chaldean robes Casper got for me.”

I opened it and began laying the silky garments out in a row. Maria walked along them, studying them with an odd look on her face.

“These won’t do at all,” she said. “You can tell he bought them from the same booth. Look at them, they’re all the same except for colour and embroidery. It won’t do at all for the court.” She threw up her hands. “La, men have no taste!”

I could not quite see what she was getting at, but as I had never liked them much in the first place I did not complain. She bent down and search through the chest.

“Yes, nothing,” she said. Then she looked around the room. “Do you have a charcoal and paper? I’ll draw a quick sketch and sent it to my seamstress, and hopefully she can get it whipped up for when you go to court tomorrow. She really is a genius with a needle.”

“I do,” I replied, pointing to a piece of charcoal and paper on the table. ”If you do it quickly Stefan can probably drop it off when he goes to market.”

She took it and sat down, scribbling busily. I looked over her shoulder, but her scrawled design confused me. She seemed to think her seamstress would understand it though. I took it from her when it was done and ran downstairs to give it to Stefan. Then I came back up.

Maria was standing over the robes, thinking.

“You will have to wear one of these for now,” she said. “Just to give you an idea of what it’ll feel like while I teach you all the other graces. I will make sure you get more proper dress later, for now we will just have to make do.” She looked at me.

I sighed and slipped my pretty yellow dress over my head and stood there in my under-dress. Maria stared at me in surprise.

“How many layers do you Angarians wear?” she asked.

“You don’t wear under-dresses?” I asked. I shrugged and slipped that off too. Now I was just standing there in my shirtwaist and under-drawers.

“This is crazy,” Maria said, still looking at me. “Do you even wear a girdle?”

“A girdle?” I asked.

“You know,” she gestured, “To cinch in your waist. A slim waist can be a lady’s greatest asset.”

I shook my head. She sighed and opened the bag she’d brought with her.

“Luckily I wasn’t sure if you did or not,” she said, “And brought one along. And proper under-drawers. My goodness, you Angarians.”

I changed into them. The under-drawers were shorter, and did not have ribbons at the bottom to pull them in at the calf. Beneath the girdle I wore a light, sleeveless shift, and the girdle, a curved black thing, laced over top. I looked rather helplessly at the laces.

But Maria didn’t seem to expect me to do them up myself. She pulled the ones on my back, hard, making me stagger backwards.

“Tight!” I gasped.

“A slim waist is a lady’s greatest asset,” Maria grunted, pulling harder. ”Remember that.”

Over it I put on one of the red robes. Maria did up the lacings tightly in the back of that too, which I’d only loosely tied before. It did look figure-flattering that way, but I felt almost naked without an under-dress underneath.

“Your hair should be a help too,” Maria continued, pulling out the ribbons I’d tied it back with. “Few possess such blond hair in Chaldea.”

She began pulling out the pins and yanking a comb through it. My scalp protested, but she seemed to have a certain skill because my hair did look shinier than before.

“Now, a lot of people leave their hair out loose,” she said. “Like me. But I think yours would look good in that new style they have started wearing.”

She gathered it together, then twisted it sharply and fanned it out, so it stood up at the crown of my head in a sort of loop. Then she took some of the tiny, discreet pins with marching red jewels and secured it down. Around my face she wisped out narrow strands of hair, twisting them around one finger so they didn’t hang lank. Then she stepped back to look at me.

“A good start,” she said.

I turned to face her, surprised. What more was there to do?

Then I saw her getting out tubes and tubs and pouches of what looked like pastes, and I understood.

The upper classes in Angaria sometimes wore face products. I wasn’t upper class, so I had never worn them. But in Angaria it was considered shameful if your cosmetics were noticeable. In Chaldea it seemed to be exactly the opposite. It was shameful if your cosmetics weren’t noticeable.

“Good long eyelashes,” she said to me. Then she pulled on them so hard it felt like they were coming out, and curled them on a narrow rack-thing. With a paintbrush she delicately painted them black. It made my eyes looks like a cat’s.

She rimmed them with a stick of dark kohl, saying that would make my blue eyes bigger and more noticeable. Then she fussed over my brows for a long time, brushing and trimming them, until they were neat lines. Thankfully she hadn’t made them into a pronounced arch like hers, but then she probably realised her face could pull that off. Mine couldn’t. The way she’d done them looked natural, if a bit darker than normal.

I looked into the mirror and was surprised at how wide my eyes looked. Maria laughed when I told her.

“That is certainly all the rage lately,” she said.

She dabbed pink on my cheeks and painted my lips cherry red. Even when I wasn’t looking in a mirror I could see my lips out of the bottom of my eyes, a bright, glowing red.

“Kissable,” Maria said, smiling.

“But I don’t want to be kissable!” I cried.

“If you’re chasing the Rajah, you do,” she told me.

Some day I’ll get you for this, Casper, I thought. It was positively degrading to have to chase a man like that. And it would only make the Rajah more sure of himself. Goodness! I thought when she gave me the mirror. My smoky eyes were certainly a contrast to my pale hair. Not that it looked bad. But I would certainly be kicked out of Angaria if I ventured anywhere near it like this.

What had I gotten myself into?

 

Go to Chapter 12B

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