Arillia by Illuminati Architect

Chapter Thirteen, The Master

On Saturday morning, 21st Jinua, I carried the swordbelt to the stables where Amelia kissed me.

“Please look after Lord Sparot today, for I must visit my aunt. Also, ensure that our three horses will be ready for our trip on the 29th.”

“Why can’t I ride along with you then?”

“You’re not ready, and that day, we shall fight on foot against the undead.”

“What do I need to be ready for, Arillia?”

“Fine, miss Amadev, let me demonstrate for you now what a nasty, wicked princess I am. And think carefully about what I say here. Then, hopefully, you’ll decide you’d rather be in your husband’s arms rather than mine.”

“That can never be. In my heart, I know that I belong to you alone.”

“As you desire. I am about to swear you to secrecy, knowing full well that you will carelessly blab about what I tell you, and you will be ridiculed about what you say, and I will use this ridicule against you. It is up to you if you will then take this lesson to heart and become a responsible adult.”

“I will respect my oath to you. I won’t betray you.”

“Even when this betrayal suits my own interests? Do you solemnly swear on your honor as a dame in training to hold what I am about to tell you in strictest confidence and never reveal it in any way without my permission for the rest of your life?”

“I so swear on my love for Your Highness.”

“Friday 3rd Befur, slightly after noon, you will either slay a dragon or your aim with your lance will be off by a hair’s breadth, and the dragon will slay you. Kill or die, that is what I am training you for.”

“Nonsense. There hasn’t been a dragon sighting in this kingdom for almost a century.”

“Then, if you truly love me, you will tell none about this before and after I put your life on the line behind a thin wooden shaft to defend the subjects of my kingdom. Prove your love with your silence and your diligence in your training, and I will return to meet you at this spot tonight.” And with that, I fashioned the swordbelt to her waist.

I took a short carriage ride with Rebecka not to the official Mayor of Kristophoro’s residence but rather to Aunt Aleyda’s townhouse, which she had continued to maintain even after Lord Augustus’ selection to the office two decades ago. Clearly, my visit was to be for important, not official, business.

Rebecka rode then followed me quietly, even when Mrs. Rossi greeted us inside.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Is Lady Augustus in?”

“Yes, she is expecting you in her study.”

We handed our cloaks to Mrs. Rossi, and Rebecka followed me up the stairs, where my maternal aunt was seated behind the stacks of letters on her desk.

“Good morning, Arillia. This must be Rebecka Glister.”

“Rebecka Reltuc,” she responded instantly.

“Oh?”

“Lady Rebecka is a bit sensitive about her family. Best to let the matter drop.”

“And Lady Rebecka is visiting us today for what matter?”

“She is to be my understudy.”

“Our agreement was for one master and one student. I pray that you do not attempt to change it again.”

What are you, the Sith?

“Not until you get me that saber of light,” I whispered back to Greg, then slightly louder to Aunt Aleyda, “I have made accommodations to respect the change in the configuration of the facts as I have found these, as you have taught me.”

“There is that strange behavior of yours that your mother mentioned. The Arillia I knew wouldn’t have abandoned her promise to attend the council meetings while I was traveling.”

“That naive girl died on her eighteenth birthday. Since then, I have pursued grave threats against our kingdom and our family.”

“And have amassed the most interesting collection along the way. I hoped you’d bring by the blue parrot you picked up in Suskan. Is she to help you with Lady Mildred’s curse or instead with our family complications that even your mother’s mighty magics could only overcome for two daughters?”

“I had not even considered those uses, though I have heard that the powers of the Blessed Girls are greater than our wizardly healings, and they don’t seem to have any difficulty breeding themselves. In any case, Polly is an innocent, unsuited for our games.”

“Speaking of games, Gioio Caiola will be visiting this afternoon. Does your Royal Highness have time in this calendar of mighty quests for a simple game of cards?”

“You have all of my time that you require today, but I would like to have a few words with Mr. Caiola.”

“Interesting. Please follow to my parlor, and I will have Mrs. Rossi bring us tea.”

Once we were seated there, she continued, “I at least have upheld my end of our agreement. I have offered your hand throughout Avrupa, but even the displaced princes seem more intent on reclaiming their thrones than sitting on ours.”

“Displaced?”

“Yes, the revolution in Frankia has been resolved. They have a new emperor Ramolino, a soldier of common birth but unusual energies. Several kingdoms of Avrupa have fallen to his swift attacks, and now Albion seeks to build a coalition of whoever can stand against him on the continent. This Ramolino seems to have an unusual charisma that towers over his tiny height, but he is also full of strange ideas, changing the units of measurement to kilometers and kilograms as if there hasn’t been enough killing in Frankia already.”

“Isekai!”

He has to be.

“What is that, Arillia?”

“Have you met this Ramolino?”

“Yes, he took me aside and asked me to secretly act as his agent in Ioa. I nodded and said I would, of course.”

“Isn’t telling me this a violation of his command?”

“What do I care? The man is a fool to expect me to follow his whims.”

“Aunt Aleyda, I order you to dance around the room singing dirty limericks.”

“What? Wait, you expected that to work for some reason. Some new spell you are working on?”

“A technique more powerful than magic, dragons, or demons. The danger to Ioa is much greater than I thought, and I feared mere total catastrophe. Now that I know that I cannot command you, I can hope that this Ramolino can’t either. So, I will ask you to act as if you were his agent here. Write to him of a weak and foolish Princess Arillia and suggest that he send to Carnel’s birthday party some charming young gentleman with his complete trust, perhaps a son or nephew, to sweep this Arillia off her feet and snatch the crown of Ioa for his use. I assume that Albion still puts much trust in the power of their navy?”

“Yes, of course. Ramolino has hardly any navy to speak of and hence can’t reach Albion, much less our continent in force.”

“Albion will fear the waves soon enough, as will we.”

Later, during a break in the card game with Aunt Aleyda and Mr. Gioio Caiola I asked him which card games Treasurer Farland played, and he said he’d have an answer by the council meeting.

Back at the castle, I was deep in thought about these new developments when Sir Amadev stepped up to me in the courtyard with his daughter behind him.

“Your Highness!”

“Yes?”

“My daughter says you’re training her to fight a dragon!”

“Does she now?” My smile was genuine, but at least I refrained from jumping up with a raised fist and shouting Yes! Thanks to Amelia’s betrayal of her oath to me I could win this forthcoming world war.

“Do you hear that, men? My daughter’s going to be a dragon slayer!” Sir Amadev turned to the nearby guardsmen, who all laughed.

“Father!” Amelia started to reach out to him, then withdrew her hand.

“Well, if that’s what Miss Amadev wants to do, then we must properly train her for the role, now mustn’t we?”

The Amadevs turned back to me, and as Amelia stared, her father continued. “Your Highness had me worried for a bit, but there hasn’t been a dragon sighting in Ioa in over a century. Yes, I’ll train her well for this dragon hunt on your ride to take her to see the Olmecs.”

“I happen to have a sketch of how a practice dragon target might be constructed. Perhaps we can start building one in the courtyard tomorrow?”

“But of course, Your Highness.”

The next morning, I found her alone in the stables. “Good morning, Mrs Amelia Olmec.”

“You knew that would happen, but you had me swear on my love for you. Why?”

“Since your love for me means nothing, then I suppose you’ll be a contented bride?”

“That isn’t the case at all! Why put me through a test you foresaw that I’d fail?”

“I hoped that you would fail and that it would teach you a lesson.”

“Why would you be so cruel if you can foresee the future?”

“I see many futures and cling to one slender thread of hope with a deadly embrace. Next time I ask you to do something, don’t consider it optional or something to debate. Just do what I ask of you. Now let’s get started on your practice dragon so you’ll be ready to slay this terror of the skies.”

I laid out the plans for my mock dragon and had Sir Hoofblack start on the construction. It was to be sticks tied together with rope and covered with canvas. I copied the stance that Greg remembered from the game with the dragon’s wings folded, his left wing and two feet on the ground to support his weight while he swept the claw of his right wing at a height of six feet as the tip of his sharp beak stabbed down from eight feet above the ground as his long neck curved to deliver this strike towards the same imagined target.

On Monday, I further accelerated Carnel’s instruction and started on Chemistry. She had some of the same basic questions I had asked Greg, so I was ready with the answers.

“Why half a spin?”

“Carnel, the electron must always have some amount of spin for atomic and molecular stability. These up and down spins are arbitrary directions we choose, so they must have the same magnitude. And the photon must have the least quantum of spin. Therefore, we are left with the electron flipping between spins positive and negative one half to emit or absorb a photon of spin one. It’s all just keeping the sums balanced.”

Carnel spotted the pattern in the isotope weights of the periodic table of the elements on Wednesday, 25th Jinua, but I assured her that I would cover nuclear decay at a later time. That afternoon we reviewed her notes with the Reltucs about suspicious activity in the tax records as I took notes in my diary (whose cover was secured with a strong enough Hold Door that only complete destruction could allow anyone other than another wizard to open it).

That evening, after an early dinner, Polly asked me while she helped Mary dress me, “Arillia, where are you going tonight?”

“The city council. Hence I am attending as a noble observer, rather than presiding as royalty. They’ll be a social party afterwards so don’t wait up. I’ll be back around midnight.”

She kissed me, then applied my lipstick.

I made one last check in the mirror, then put on my purse and put the diary in that. I met Rebecka at the door of the room she shared with Alice, and saw that she was dressed in my riding clothes without any makeup at all. “Going for the rustic noble look?”

“Your highness?” Alice asked from behind Rebecka.

“Don’t worry about it. There’s no time to fix it, and we can work this into her mystery.”

Lord Augustus greeted us at his official residence as the mayor of Kristophoro, “Good evening, Arillia. And you must be Lady Rebecka?”

Rebecka curtsied to him, “An honor to meet your Lordship.”

“May I offer you ladies a drink?”

“Sorry, Uncle, but I’ve had a bad experience with alcohol lately. My nurse has suggested that I just drink pure water until I get older.” I handed Rebecka a pair of his empty goblets, then pulled out my wand and filled them with water.

The other city council members greeted me and most handed me letters for the queen. Some of them were on Carnel’s watch list, but I declined to use my special power so openly to get the truth. I decided to wait for more private settings, given the unreliability of the power beyond.

Why do they address you as Lady Aurora?

I whispered back to Greg, “The city council operates independently of royal authority. Hence I attend under the title inherited from my mother. Everybody knows exactly who I am, but it’s a fig leaf, as you say.”

Rebecka and I joined Aunt Aleyda at a table to the side as the city council seated themselves on either side of her husband on one side of the long table at the end of the main hall. Then the door at the far end was opened, and one by one important persons from the city were announced, entered, bowed to me, and then presented their case to the council.

Once the official business of the council was concluded, they retired to Lord Augustus’ study (along with some of those who had made appeals) to conduct the actual business of the city.

Rebecka and I followed Aunt Aleyda down the stairs.

Where are you going?

“To a hive of scum and villainy,” I whispered back.

The council of rogues rose from their seats as I entered to bow to me, then retook their seats as I sat at the head of the table. Rebecka and Aunt Aleyda sat behind me.

I saw that most were in attendance this evening, including Gioio Caiola and Matron Chiara Dellanotti.

I waited a moment for them to settle themselves, then spoke out. “It has come to my attention that the borders of my kingdom are unwatched. I will end this and have a firm accounting of all who enter and leave.” I raised my hand to cut off their sudden complaints. “This will be to your advantage to force freelancers to work under my patronage to you all. I look forward to your cooperation in these matters. Hand over these outlaws who attempt to operate beyond my law, and I shall hand back those with drive and talent for your use. Before you test me on this, make sure you have a subordinate trained and ready to take your place. I will continue to work on my missions that you need not concern yourselves with. Just tell your employees that should they encounter myself in the field they are to turn aside and if they cause me no trouble then I shall not pursue. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you and I shall endeavor to attend or at least send word in the future. Now you may each present the report of how your operations have fared since I saw you last. One final whim of idle interest on my part though. Ms. Dellanotti, has the woman I treated survived?”

“Yes, Your Highness. She thanks you and has returned to work.”

“Under more secure conditions this time?”

“Her assailant has been dealt with.”