CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWE NTY

Cregitzig seemed not to be paying attention. The queen spoke again: "Chaldez wants to be king of Kroya. What would he need?"
"An army," said Cregitzig tersely.
The queen might have considered such an answer to be insolence from anyone else, but she knew better than to lose her temper with Cregitzig. "Have we the ships for such an army?" she asked.
"You have more ships at your disposal, Majesty, than any other monarch on earth, but who will pay for their charter? Will Chaldez?"
The queen looked at Chaldez. "Well," she said, "will you?"
Chaldez wanted to laugh, but sensed that the question was not put in jest. "I couldn't charter a hollowed-out log," he replied.
"Nor, I suppose, could you pay for an army?"
Chaldez frowned. The discussion was moving in a discomforting direction.
"Kroya," said the queen thoughtfully, "is rich, is it not? They say there are more mines in its mountains than trees. If Chaldez were made king of such a realm he could pay for a fleet of ships and several armies, could he not?"
"Soldiers and ships' captains," said Cregitzig, "are not to be relied on unless they are paid their dues promptly."
"You are saying," asked the queen, "that they might not be prepared to wait for the outcome of our efforts to put Chaldez on the throne? That they might want paying before the campaign is concluded?"
"They certainly will."
"I see no difficulty there," said the queen. "I am not so poor that I cannot mount a small expedition to help a friend. Chaldez is going to be wealthy, as wealthy as Taigram, perhaps; he would not begrudge returning the gold to our treasury which our treasury has laid out on his behalf."
Chaldez said "I will, I hope, always repay all my debts."
The queen grinned at Cregitzig. "There!" she exclaimed. "We have it from his own lips!" When next she spoke her tone was changed: "Think about this," she said to her commander. "I want to know how many men you will need, and how many ships and what provisions will be required. We must know what strength the Kroyans have; inquire of our sea captains and those who trade with Kroya into the matters that have a bearing on our undertaking. I intend to conquer Kroya." She smiled at Chaldez. "In your name, my dear. You will be the conqueror of Kroya, but with my army, my ships and my commander!"
A few days later Chaldez visited his grandparents again, seeing Taigram alone this time. He told him about the meeting with Cregitzig and what the queen had said about mounting an expedition on his behalf.
Taigram flew into a rage: "How dare she! She can't aa...aa...aa... give you something that's not aa...aa...aa...aa... hers to give! The crown belongs to me!"
"I have no intention of taking it." Chaldez said.
This mollified his grandfather. "Mark this. What...aa...aa...aa... that woman gives with...aa...aa...aa...aa... one hand she takes back a hundredfold with the...aa...aa... other."
Chaldez had already gained the impression that if the queen made it possible for him to become king of Kroya, she would make him pay, and pay dearly.

For a while she spoke interminably of Kroya and its enormous wealth, and Chaldez attempted to convince her that his real interest was only to avenge the deaths of his mother and father and take from Sigmar the crown of Sair, but she always insisted that Kroya must come first. Then, as the weeks dragged on while Cregitzig awaited the reports on which to base his calculations her enthusiasm weakened. It pleased Chaldez; he was perfectly happy to forget about Kroya - and Sair as well, for that matter.

* * * *

He had been living at the stavista for over a year before he had his first sight of Prince Beune, the crown prince.
Beune had a household of his own outside the stavista. It was but a few minutes walk from the stavista gates, and when he heard about it, Chaldez imagined that he would be a frequent visitor to his mother, the queen. This did not prove to be the case.
The heir-apparent's visit was preceded by major preparations, as though he was coming from a distant part of the island, and accompanied by a vast entourage. Chaldez was in awe of him long before he arrived. And when he did arrive he stared at him in astonishment.
Beune was a shambling half-wit. He dribbled and laughed raucously; his booming voice sounded out of control and he gazed around him with large dull eyes.
Queen Rane ignored all this. She spoke to him as though he was perfectly sensible; she asked him how he was and if he had done any hunting recently? He dribbled and laughed and stammered.
A young woman attended him; Chaldez would not have taken his eyes off her face, she was so pretty, had the presence of Beune not been like a magnet to them so that he constantly found himself gazing at him instead, heedless of the horror in his expression.
She was, he learned later, Beune's wife.
After Beune had gone, the queen asked Chaldez what he had made of her son, and then she eyed him as though scrutinising a suspect mushroom which had been presented for her to try.
Chaldez said "I may misjudge him, but I hope his understanding is better than it would appear to be," and to his astonishment the queen began to cry. She reached out for his hand, and between sobs she said "what am I to do, Chaldez? What am I to do?" He made no reply; he just wished Doo was present. If anyone could comfort the queen, he was sure she could.
No sooner had the thought occurred to him than he began to feel badly about her: not once had he been to see her; indeed, he had banished her from his mind.
The reason, or so he comforted himself later, was because he had been distracted by the queen's increasing demands on him; a greater distraction, though, and one he would not admit to, was the presence at court of several aristocratic young women. They vied with each other for his attention, and although their giggling and furtive little glances had embarrassed him at first, he soon delighted in it.
His first assignation had been with Harrina, a tall l7-year old with long red hair and striking grey-green eyes. She had come to his chamber and they had held hands and then kissed. He had thought she would let him make love to her, but she had only allowed him to kiss her firm little breasts.

The others - there was Dovin and Fenni and Ardur, the most beautiful of them all - were equally willing to share kisses and caresses, and equally adamant about witholding from him the gift he most wanted.
Ardur whispered "You must find a wench for that, my darling. I will be married one day, and I must come to my wedding bed unsullied."
If Chaldez had thought he was in love with her, and he believed himself to be in love with whomsoever he happened to be kissing at the time, this remark awoke him to the true nature of their relationship. From then on it was all a game. He limited his expectations, taking and enjoying what was offered without any sense of obligation. Life at the stavista was sweet, and he was irritated by Dan's constant complaints.
Dan, stocky and dark, his chin clothed in its first beard (Chaldez was attended by the court barber) lacked the charisma of a dispossessed prince, and he resented being cast in the shadow of someone to whom he knew himself to be superior in every important respect. Naturally active and energetic, he was bored and disgruntled.
"There are tournaments all the time," remonstrated Chaldez. "Why don't you show them how good you are?"
Dan shrugged. He had no intention of contributing to Chaldez's prestige by appearing to represent him in the bouts. "If I succeed." he said bluntly, "you'll get the credit."
"Because you're my 'squire'?" Chaldez was incredulous. "That's nonsense. We both know that doesn't mean a thing."
"Of course it does," countered Dan angrily. "I don't mean to be your 'champion.'"
"Who said you would be? I'll enter them myself."
Dan smiled, his anger gone. "And get yourself crippled? I'll get used to it here. I'll find something . . . " Then he changed the subject: "What's happened to Doo?" he asked.
"I haven't heard that she isn't all right," Chaldez said, sensing criticism. "Draff comes here quite often and he tells me she is fine - busy looking after the children and so on. Why?"
"You don't give a damn for her."
Chaldez flushed with anger: "That's a lie!"
"Who do you think you're fooling. Everyone knows what's going on here."
Chaldez said: "I don't know what you mean."
Dan smiled. "Ardur," he said. "Harrina. Everyone knows you see them in your chamber."
Chaldez felt disgraced. "I care for Doo," he began. "I care for her more than anyone … but you know how it is here. I'd go and see her but the queen won't let me out of her sight, hardly. Dan, I feel badly about her; that's the truth." Then he brightened. "You could go and see her for me!"
"And cover up for you? Why should I?"
"I don't mean that. Just go and see her. Tell her I haven't forgotten her. I couldn't ever forget her - you know that. Harrina and the others - they're nothing. They're not important. Doo is the only person I care about. You can tell her that for me. Will you please - for old time's sake?"
"You could have her brought here . . . " said Dan.
"That wouldn't be a good idea," retorted Chaldez. The thought appalled him. Everything Havil had said about her "not fitting in," and their relationship being misconstrued reared up at him; and she would be made to feel wretched in the company of aristocratic beauties like Ardur and the others. They would despise her. In their eyes she could only ever be his wench.