Prologue #4
Larz grinned and clapped my shoulder. “Maybe in a few days. What we’re doing now is what my omak, Blake, would call ‘calling Mikos’s bluff.’ I want to give him plenty of time to notice. Then I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.”
“Do you really think we’ll have to leave Laltana for good? I really don’t want to go, Larz,” Janos said, his face creasing with worry.
“I hope not. But let’s not borrow trouble. It hasn’t quite come to that yet.”
But in the end, we did have to go. We didn’t have long to wait, either, because the very next day, King Davos himself sent a message back, answering Larz’s.
The message said that Davos and Mikos were proceeding with the plan to send the Imperial Guard to Laltana.
He didn’t openly acknowledge what Larz said about resigning his post and leaving the planet, but he said he required Prince Larz to stay at his “assigned post,” and to not leave.
That was written in bold letters in the message.
The message had a postscript from Mikos. It said that if Prince Larz left, it would be considered an act “bordering on treason.”
It was interesting that although he used the word “treason,” he also used the words “bordering on,” not quite committing himself to the full charge, but still using it out of anger and as an attempt to intimidate his younger brother.
Larz was absolutely furious. I’d never seen him so mad, except maybe for that time cycles ago, during the Athelonian war, when I accidentally said I knew all about black powder and then used way too much of it to help in Janos’s escape from the Athelonians.
I blew up half the Athelonian army that day.
Larz was pretty mad about it too, but in my defense, I’d only been nine cycles old at the time. What did he expect?
Anyway, without any more messages being sent to his Tygerian relatives, not even an acknowledgment of receipt, he told the servants to begin packing up all our things and to prepare his and Janos’s personal ship, a large, sleek, fully armed striker, and to have it ready for us to leave by the next morning.
All of the Royal Guard who wanted to go with us had been welcome to leave with us and bring their families along.
Almost all of them accepted the invitation.
Then finally, on the day we left Laltana, Larz sent a simple reply to Mikos’s charge that he was “treasonous.” He sent the message to his father, too, with copies to each member of the family. His reply was just three words: “If you think I’m a traitor, then hang me.”
He also sent a message to King Stefan of Moravia, asking for temporary asylum, and he received a quick and affirmative reply, though his brother Vannos, who always played the role of peacemaker, asked him to allow him to at least inform their father.
Vannos also called Larz personally and tried to smooth things over, begging him to let him set up a meeting to talk things over and perhaps reconcile.
He asked Larz to consider Blake’s feelings as well.
He reminded him of Blake’s advanced age for a human and his “bad health,” trying to play on his sympathies.
The consort’s age seemed irrelevant to me.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked Blake a lot, and on the occasions he’d been to visit, I’d enjoyed talking to him.
He was smart and funny and he obviously loved Larz.
He was also really nice to me and Janos.
But I thought the “bad health” thing was just made up.
The last time I’d seen him, he looked pretty damn healthy to me, and his handsome face was barely even lined.
It was said Davos gave him supplements to keep him in good shape.
His alleged “age and bad health” never seemed to come up unless and until he needed to wield it as a weapon to keep his children in line.
But since all the brothers were absolutely crazy about the Consort Blake, including Larz, it worked very well. Larz had agreed to a meeting on Moravia, though he was careful to make no promises beyond that.
As for me, I was excited and looking forward to the whole adventure. I’d never traveled off planet before, and Blake wasn’t the only one who liked a little drama. We definitely had that in common.
When I’d first come to live with Janos and Larz at their palace, Larz would allow traveling players to put on a show in the courtyard from time to time, because Janos liked it.
These traveling entertainment troupes performed in town halls and inns all across our country, Herkos, and relied on minimal props.
They did wear elaborate and colorful costumes though, and delivered powerful vocal performances, often with music and dancing and even the occasional trained animal or clowns. I have to confess I loved it.
Now it seemed as if a different kind of show was coming again after all these cycles, and even though there wouldn’t be music, the stage was set for an elaborate production.
There might not be any dancing animals or clowns—more’s the pity—but there was bound to be plenty of high drama. And I could hardly wait.