Ceridor (Danubian #4)

10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Ceridor

By the time I returned, the courtyard had been ransacked, debris strewn all over the ground, smoke choking my lungs.

In the pale gray light of dawn I watched Danubian High King Ulbrecht challenge King Ott of West Danube to a duel. Johann was off to the side, his arms pinned behind him by a warrior with wild bright-red hair.

In almost no time at all, King Ott was slain. Poor Johann screamed and sank to his knees and my heart threatened to break into pieces from where I hid behind the garden wall.

Ulbrecht turned to the redhead and said something that I couldn't make out. Johann was hauled to his feet and led away. I crept along the wall and followed.

Johann

I'd hated my father for years, ever since he dealt with my mother's death by drinking heavily, womanizing, and beating his son when he got angry, which was almost every day. Still, seeing him murdered right in front of me was traumatic. I'd screamed and it was like the scream had shot me to another place where I watched what was happening from a distance, a thick fog enclosing me as if I were underwater. The fighter had released me, I was so dazed, and steered me just by a firm hand on my shoulder into one of the few remaining tents on the edge of their camp. A brunette had joined the redhead and together they'd untied me and given me a damp towel to wash my face, then a cup of water and told me to sit.

Eventually I surfaced from the fog enough to understand what they were saying. The redhead was asking me if I was okay.

Somehow in watching the two friends tease each other, my mind came back from wherever it had gone. And maybe that was just how it goes, because the thought that had pulled me back was noticing the way these two men looked at each other. Of all things, they had me wondering whether they were lovers.

"He's back," the redhead remarked, looking at me with a smirk. "You're Johannes from yesterday?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Kristoff," he said, pointing at himself, then he flung a hand at his partner, "and this oaf is Igor."

Igor barked a protest and shoved his friend. I couldn't believe how easygoing their rapport was considering they'd woken to an attack this morning.

"How are you not angry at being attacked in your sleep?" I asked.

"Because we weren't asleep," said Igor. "After your father didn't invite us to dinner, we were ready for trouble in the night."

That made sense.

"Ulbrecht says you can join us if you want," said Kristoff, his wild red hair framing his face. "Come with us and we can find a job for your sister in the capital if she wants."

Why were they being so nice to me? Ulbrecht had still challenged my father to a duel and destroyed him just a few minutes ago, though he'd been provoked and dishonored into doing so.

Igor brought another cup of water and kind of awkwardly patted my shoulder before returning to sit next to Kristoff.

Kristoff seemed the more vocal of the two. "We heard what your sister said yesterday. Your father sounds like he was terrible to you, but it must have still been hard to watch him die. I'm sorry this day has been so violent."

"Thank you," I managed to mumble.

I eyed the two as they horsed around. "Could I really join Ulbrecht's fighting troop?"

"He offered, didn't he?" Kristoff fired back.

He sure did. Did I dare hope?

"What about my kingship?" I asked. "I will fight under the High King to prove my loyalty, but I can't abandon my people."

Igor opened the flap to the tent and called someone over, asking him to run and confirm this.

After restating my loyalty to Ulbrecht, Kristoff and I chatted while we waited for the answer to come back.

"Ulbrecht says he's putting Harold in as a temporary regent," said the messenger. "His offer to the prince still stands."

"Harold is a skilled statesman," Kristoff interpreted for me. "He's already rehabilitated a couple of border regions for Ulbrecht. Come fight for us in the campaigns. Give Harold a year or two to stabilize things, then ask Ulbrecht for your kingdom again."

At length, I nodded. I could handle that.

An old man stepped into the tent, and with a gasp I recognized him. Every year for the last decade or more, this old man had swung by our court for a few days and sung for Father, entertaining us in the evenings and doting on Effie and me. And yet it was Ceridor—I could see him so clearly now. This was the disguise he'd mentioned because he couldn't risk being recognized, and yet he'd wanted to check in on us and carry news of us back to Magnus.

Igor and Kristoff turned to him in question.

The white-haired old man pointed to me. "That is my nephew. I am his great uncle on his mother's side. He hasn't seen me since the queen passed, but I heard there was trouble and came to get my niece and nephew. Alodia is already headed south to my holdings."

Then Kristoff and Igor as one turned to see my reaction, and I scrambled to act the part, exclaiming "Uncle!"

"Ulbrecht didn't say what to do if he doesn't want to come with us," Igor muttered. "He's not one to take prisoners."

A chill ran down my spine.

"You want to go with your uncle?" asked Kristoff.

"I need to make sure my sister is safe, then I want to join you," I answered honestly.

"She can get a job in the capital," replied Igor.

Kristoff nodded agreement. "Ulbrecht's staff can find work for her somewhere if nothing else. Take some time to let things settle down, then come and join us."

" Danke ," I thanked them.

Kristoff stood and towered over me. "Prince Johannes."

I craned my neck to look up at him. "Yes?"

He commanded, "Swear on your honor that you will never rise up against the Danubian King. I cannot let you go if you will one day return the favor with insurrection."

I didn't have to act this time. I reiterated what they had witnessed yesterday. "I swear it. Yesterday, when my sister and I visited your camp, I told Ulbrecht that if I were already king, I would form an alliance with him."

For now, I would lose my kingship. I would lose the future I'd worked so hard for, but I could work to gain it back.

"Our people feel the same way," said the old man from the doorway. "It was only late King Ott's hubris that didn't want a Danubian alliance, rather than the will of the people."

Kristoff held my gaze for a long moment, then seemed to be convinced and relented. "Alright. Off with you. May the gods be with you."

"Thank you."

The old man led me straight into the forest, then muttered softly, "Please look away if you don't want to be startled."

A whirl like a wind, and my eyes must have tricked me, because as Ceridor straightened his back until he walked upright like an athletic thirty-three-year-old rather than a weary old man, his appearance changed with him and he went back to being my Ceridor.

"That's your disguise?" I asked.

He nodded. "I learned more than just meditation techniques at the monastery."

That sounded...intriguing, to say the least. "You were that old man who swung by a few times each year and sang at court."

Ceridor nodded again. "To check up on you, and to bring news of Effie's good health back to Magnus."

"Ulbrecht is installing a regent in Father's place," I explained. "I can fight for him, and after things stabilize for a while, I might be given back my birthright."

"I heard," said Ceridor. So he had been listening in.

At length we came to his horse tied to a tree in the forest.

Ceridor stood aside and I mounted the horse, then reached down to him.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He smiled and took my hand. "To where Effie is, and to your new home."