Chapter 63: Princess Dorn (2)

“Madame Comtesse,” she said.

I should mention that we were still speaking in Elven.

Ariadne gazed at the Princess for a long time.

“Oh my dear,” she said. “Oh sweetheart.” There was such feeling in those words, such depth of sympathy and caring that it all but took my breath away. Ariadne held her arms wide and the Princess flew into that embrace.

It would seem that that was what would cause the Princesses barriers to come down and for the torrent of pain and anguish to begin to come tumbling out. She buried her head into Ariadne's chest and just bawled for everything she was worth.

I dare say that she deserved every tear that she shed and more.

I caught Ariadne's eye, and she gestured towards the door.

“Main hall,” I mouthed at her and she nodded.

I left the two women alone and fled.

I returned to the main hall. Kerrass had brought our belongings up from the Kitchens and was setting up a more permanent camp. I don't know if he expected us to be spending any more time here but it was more done as though he just needed something to do.

Malevolence was pacing off in the corner of the room.

The feeling in the air was almost exactly the same as those feelings you get when you have caught someone doing something that they shouldn't.

They saw me almost at the same time.

“Where is she?” demanded Malevolence, “and who was that that just gated into the palace hmm?”

I held my hands up placatingly. “Why don't we all just calm down?” I attempted.

“Fuck that,” she yelled in my face. “You go off, in an effort to calm down my daughter in a ruined and rickety castle and then you leave her in the presence of some strange Sorceress. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go up there and roast whoever it was that turned up.”

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

“I might like to see that,” Kerrass commented from his vantage point by the fire.

“You can fuck off and all.” Malevolence hissed at him. “Stupid Witcher with your stupid codes and things. Letting people come in and rape my daughter.”

I took the opportunity to dodge round the angry Dragon-woman and make my way to the fire.

“I might have let them do those things,” Kerrass commented mildly. “But then I hunted them down and killed them. Both them and the people responsible. I cut them down or they died accordingly. I also did the same for those men who came afterwards that assaulted your daughter. Any time I heard about them or the villagers got word to me that something had happened to your daughter again, I went and I killed them.”

I now know what people mean when they say, “that took the wind out of their sails.

“I didn't know that,” she said after a while.

“I am a Witcher madam.” Kerrass said, “I kill monsters.”

“Interesting.” She stood in the corner frowning in thought for a moment.

“Who is it?” Kerrass asked me in the short gap when the Dragon wasn't yelling. “Ariadne?”

I nodded. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“Good choice.”

“Yes, we really should have thought of her sooner. Like when we were thinking of jumping up and down while trying to attract the attention of a giant fire breathing dragon.”

Kerrass smirked a little. “I made some food.”

“Thank the flame for that. I'm starving.” I served myself up a platter of some roasted meat, bread and cheese as well as a cup of broth and a dried apple.

“Oi,” I yelled over to the woman in the corner. “Come and eat.” I held the platter out as an offer.

“I don't want to eat with the likes of you.”

“Suit yourself.” I took a large bite of cheese before folding the bread and making a sandwich with the meat before making appreciative noises towards Kerrass, who was forced to turn away to hide a smile.

Eventually, and to no-one's surprise, malevolence came over and took a chair. I passed over the bread, cut her a chunk of cheese and some meat and gave her a cup of broth.

“How's she doing?” Kerrass asked.

“Much better than I would be doing if our situations were reversed.” I said after swallowing my mouth full.

“She's going to need someone with her for a while and I would be willing to bet that the nightmare's that she's going to have are going to be something else altogether.”

Kerrass stared into space for a moment. “Yes, I supposed they will.”

“Who is this person that you summoned to help her?” Malevolence asked me through a mouthful of cheese and meat.

I exchanged glances with Kerrass.

“A friend,” he said slowly. “She's had something similar happen to her recently and so will be able to give a different insight into what's going through the Princesses mind.”

“Oh?”

“She was imprisoned.” I said. “Against her will.”

“Have you left my daughter with a criminal?”

“Criminality is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. For instance, aren't you the woman who cast a spell that caused an entire country to fall asleep and die of malnutrition while under the influence of your spell?”

“They call that genocide in some parts of the world.” Kerrass commented, supporting my point.

Malevolence opened her mouth as if to argue before snapping it shut and taking a bite out of an apple. She was eating everything in the wrong order I noticed and her table manners were...lacking.

We sat in silence for a long time after that. I did my best to jot down some quick notes, but the truth was that time was dragging and none of us were really able to concentrate on what we were doing.

Darkness fell and I began to feel the pull of my bedroll. It had been a long day, talking to a dead King, fighting his guards and then trying to talk to a Dragon.

But then Kerrass' head jerked up. Just a fraction of a second before Ariadne and the Princess walked through the doorway at the entrance to the hall.

I stood up and bowed. There was nothing else to do.

Seeing the way I behaved, Kerrass followed suit.

The Princess was still wearing the woollen dress that Kerrass had brought with him in his packs, but now, her hair fell long and lustrously down the Princesses back. There was a simple golden pendant around her neck and her hair was held back with a small, thin Golden band that, if you looked at it in a certain light, might look like a crown. There was a red jewel at the front of the crown and in the necklace itself. Her eyes were bright and her carriage was suddenly that of a Queen. I have yet to meet the Empress Cirilla but I have met King Radovid as he “inspected” the Quartermasters offices. We followed Radovid because he was our King, but in truth, I thought he looked rather small. I might be remembering him badly because of everything that he did, or had done, but he looked small and kind of weaselly. He was undoubtedly a clever man, more than gifted in the field of tactics and political science but if you put him next to this girl, this.... Queen, then I don't think anyone would have even looked at him.

Ariadne wore no expression. But I swear, I swear by the holy flame and the prophet that she was radiating smugness at the reaction that she had managed to illicit.

The two of them approached and it was going so well until Malevolence looked at Ariadne. There was a long moment where they stared at each other. I was reminded of two cats meeting each other for the first time.

The Princess gestured that the two of us rise up and when we did as we were bid, I noticed that the Princess had a small amount of make-up on. It suited her.

“Your friend ran me a bath,” she whispered to me with just the hint of a girlish giggle.

“Was it good?”

“It was glorious.” The Princess shut her eyes at the remembered luxury. “We had to change the water several times as I was filthy.”

I smiled.

I think it was that moment that I decided that she might have difficulty, but that the Princess was going to be alright in the end.

Further conversation was impossible though because that was when Malevolence started to speak.

“Do I know you?” The Dragon asked.

Ariadne frowned before a light went on behind her eyes.

“Draig?” she whispered. “By the force of magic that governs the world Draig it is you.” she spoke louder with delight and pointed at herself. “It's Królowa pająk,”

Malevolence's eyes widened.

“No,” she breathed. “It can't be. You died.”

Ariadne was nodding, plainly delighted. “No, I was imprisoned. A bunch of people managed to find a magic user and caught me by surprise.”

Malevolence's mouth hung open. “We all thought, you were...How did you?”

She spun on me and her eyes narrowed, “I knew you looked familiar,” before she spun back to Ariadne “It is you. I thought you were dead.”

The two women embraced, laughing, shouting and giggling.

“Close your mouth Freddie,” Kerrass muttered although he was clearly just as stunned as I was.

The Princess was helping herself to some of the leftovers.

Still laughing and wiping a suspicious tear from her cheek Malevolence pulled away. “I'm so sorry, I heard you'd died. I even tried to avenge you but I couldn't find out what had happened.”

Ariadne was still giggling. “You remember that thing with that Necromancer where Enid lost her temper?”

“Yes?”

“I got back home after that and the locals had hired a mage to lock me up in my tower.”

“How did you get out?”

“Freddie and Kerrass of course.”

Another mood quickly flashed across the Dragon's face. “If I'd known Królowa, I swear I would have rescued you.”

“I know, and it's Ariadne now.”

“How did you get that name?”

“Freddie gave it to me. It seemed to fit.”

“Oh it's so good to see you. I thought all of the old guard had died. I haven't felt anyone's presence for well over seventy years.”

“The world changed when we weren't looking at it Draig.”

“Didn't it just. When did you get out?”

“A little over a year ago now. I've been getting to know the world that we live in now and all the changes that have come with it.”

“Is it much different to how you left it?”

“Very.”

I sat back down and put some more water onto boil.

Kerrass sat bemused as we watched a dragon and a vampire catch up like two old friends.

“For a start, magic is completely different.” Ariadne went on. “Not in the flows of force but the way that people think about it. I seem to have missed the best years of magical discovery and invention. I hear about the council of mages and more recently, the Lodge of Sorceresses and think to myself. I could have been part of that.”

“I missed a lot of it too,” Malevolence answered. “I've been guarding this little corner of the world for a long time now. How are things going? Are any of the old guard still around?”

“Enid is still around. She and Ida are members of the newly reformed lodge of Sorceresses. They haven't changed at all. So much so that they must have worked at it to change as little as they have. When you meet them it's like they've gone backwards in some ways.”

“Well, that's elves for you.”

“I don't think you'll know any of the others. The oldest is, I think, around the hundred and fifty year mark and she is utterly lacking in any kind of ambition. I'll introduce you. You'll hate them, it'll be fantastic.”

“And just like old times,” Malevolence cackled. “Are any of them worthwhile?”

“Oh, all of them have their own qualities. They strike me that, individually they are relatively good and clever people. But as a whole they've made some costly errors. They had a naked ambition which set them against some powerful people before they were really ready for it. As a result, they lost many of their number in the earlier years of the Lodge's existence to assassins and royal whims.”

“Careless of them.”

“I thought so. They will either learn or not.”

“Are you a member.”

“No. I've had conversations with a couple of them that rather suggest that they are sounding me out about joining but I've been determinedly non-committal. There is an interesting power-play at the moment in the Lodge.”

“Oh?”

I should mention that Kerrass and I were rapt. Listening to this conversation was fascinating. While this all went on we made a more substantial evening meal between us and handed it out to the other three women.

The Princess was plainly exhausted so we made her a bed of cushions up in a corner. We agreed with unspoken words, that we would set a watch over her during the night in case she woke up and needed reminding that she was back in the real world. She ate and crawled into the blankets that we had set aside for her and just passed out.

“Yes,” Ariadne went on. “The Lodge seems to have been the brainchild of a women called Phillipa Eilhart who was advising a Northern King during the war with the recent war with the south. Long story short, her side lost but not before she was put considerably out of favour by the King in question. So she was left adrift and a fugitive. The King persecuted a lot of the mages and Sorceresses so they fled, under the guidance of a member called Triss Merigold. I've met the woman twice and she has that look of someone who has had to grow up awfully quickly. She certainly seems very different from what I had been led to believe from reading about her in the various histories.”

“Go on.”

“Well, The King was persecuting the magic users and so the erstwhile Miss Merigold led them all North to Kovir. So without really trying, she has gathered quite a lot of influence amongst the magical community. She is not interested in leading the lodge though as she is too busy getting the magical folks settled and making sure that they don't abuse the hospitality of the people that give them shelter.

“Then there is the matter of the soon to be crowned Empress, who is also a member of the lodge by the way. She regards another woman, one Yennefer of Vengerberg, as a mother figure. Yennefer did many things to annoy and anger Miss Eilhart during the war. But to hear it, those things were done in the best interests of her daughter, the Empress.”

“I think I might need to take notes.” Malevolence said with no small amount of glee.

“The Empress and her activities are worth an entire books worth of conversations as it is. But, Yennefer has done her best to retire from politics and lives with her all-but-husband in a quiet way in Toussaint, a duchey to the North of here. However the Empress still relies on Madame Yennefer for advice on an almost constant basis. Much to the annoyance of Madame Eilhart.”

“I see.”

“I'm told, by reliable sources that when she is summoned by her daughter to council meetings. Madame Yennefer simply sits in the back of the room, with a book on something that she's studying at that moment and a notepad, while smiling sweetly at whoever the Empress is meeting with at the time.”

The dragon cackled.

“Yes, I thought you'd like that.” Ariadne went on. “This gives Madame Yennefer, more than a little bit of power within the Lodge, even though, as far as I can tell, she uses none of it. She is also close friends with Miss Merigold.”

“The woman from the north.”

“The very one.”

“So Madame Eilhart keeps trying to advise the Empress, who listens carefully before turning to Madame Yennefer for confirmation. All the while, the vast majority of the magic users defer to Miss Merigold who has no interest at all in running the Lodge. Have I got that right?”

“Pretty much.”

“Oh that sounds like so much fun.”

“I thought you'd like it.”

“What's this Empress like? Apparently she's a sorceress in her own right as well as being ruler over the majority of the continent?”

Ariadne took a deep breath.

“The Empress is... The Empress is the Empress.” Ariadne frowned for a moment in thought, “We were adversaries once yes?”

“Yes.”

“Would it be fair to say that I had the technique whereas you had the raw power?”

The dragon mused for a while.

“I would say that's a fair assessment. I would have had to catch you unawares but you were always suspicious. That was what made our rivalry so much fun.”

Ariadne's smile was predatory.

“I remember.” Her face straightened. “The other women in the Lodge run the gamut of power and technique. In many ways their understanding is greater than ours ever was and the raw power in someone like Madam Yennefer is terrifying and she tells stories of mages that dwarf her power. I'm not saying that I couldn't take them but I would be pressed. You see what I'm saying?”

Malevolence nodded. “I'm going to have to reassess my thinking about them.”

“That is a good thought. I certainly had to. Now put that image in your mind. You done that?”

“Yes.”

“The Empress, terrifies me.”

“What? You're joking right?”

“Look at me Draig. This is not a joke. The Empress is a terrifying woman. She looks like a woman barely out of her teens. She's athletic, beautiful, charming and fiercely intelligent. But she understands the universe in a way that no-one else does.”

Ariadne scratched her head.

“I've seen Enid once since being released. She calls the Empress “The Lady of time and space.””

“That's a hell of a title.”

“It is. I've seen the Empress teleport, without a gate, to a place of her choosing at will and at the speed of thought. She talks about other worlds as though she's visited them and says that she can go back there at will. I believe her. She talks about things like “Quantum theory,” “Molecular structure” and “the non-linear nature of time” in the same way that you or I would talk about the elements of force needed to create a fireball.”

The dragons mouth hung open.

“There was a courtier there, the last time I was at court. He was talking down to the Empress, largely because she was female and had the temerity to talk back to him.”

Malevolence snorted.

“The Empress frowned at him and he started to age, visibly before our eyes. Madame Yennefer was there at the time as the Empress had requested her presence on some matter and Yennefer cleared her throat noisily. The Empress blinked a couple of times and the man returned to normal. He apologised for the insult and fled.”

“My word.”

“Exactly.”

Kerrass had bunked down for the night by this point and I was writing in my note-book. Or rather I was pretending to write in my note-book. This modern discourse on the politics of the day was far too fascinating for my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Malevolence had turned her head towards me.

“I like your human by the way.” She said to Ariadne.

I very carefully, and very deliberately, said nothing.

“He's not my human. Which is part of the point.” Ariadne responded.

“Oh please.” Malevolence commented. “He's clearly besotted with you. I would take him for myself if he wasn't so clearly in love with a certain vampire sat not so very far away from where I sit at the moment.”

“Such matters are still being worked out. At the moment I am turning all my energies towards living with the other humans around the place and I am grateful to both of them, the Witcher as well, for the opportunity to do so.”

Malevolence snorted but their conversation got quieter after that. From what little bits I could make out, they were reminiscing about old times using names and terms that I didn't recognise. Presumably from before the pontar delta had been settled.

The Princess hadn't during the night although I had checked a few times to make sure that she was ok. A horrible thought had struck me at about midnight when it suddenly occurred to me that the Princess might have decided that the entire thing might have been too much and have taken a blade to herself in an effort to end it all. Fortunately though, she seemed fast asleep. Malevolence had vanished somewhere on business of her own although Ariadne reassured me that the Dragon would be back in the morning. I talked to her about my concern but she reassure me, telling me that the thought had occurred but that the Princess was too locked into her sense of duty to do anything serious towards an effort of self harming.

I commented that the Princess was doing well.

Ariadne agreed.

“She knows everything Frederick.” She said, looking at me with huge, dilated pupils in the very centre of her eyes. The irises a very pale blue. I didn't remember noticing her eye colour before. I've since found out that it changes according to her mood from a very pale blue down to a deep and dark, almost purple colour when she is angry. Green when she is sad although it seems to vary. I once told her that I intend to keep notes on the status of her eyes and what they might mean. She laughed and said that she would have to remember that so that she could purposefully mess with the scale.

“She knows and remembers everything that happened in the hundred and twenty years that she's been asleep. When her eyes were open she could see through them. But even when they were closed, she could still hear. She still knew what was happening to her. She said it was like she was a prisoner inside her own skull, watching what happened to her body.”

“Holy Flame.”

“She recognised your voice as being a recent thing. She knows and can recall with perfect clarity every conversation that Kerrass has ever had with her. Apparently he is the only one who actually talked to her rather than talking around her. I think she loves him a little even though she is perfectly aware that she can't love him.”

“So she knew everything that happened.”

“Yes. If I had been here sooner I would have looked at the curse. Oh don't worry, I'm not angry. Certainly not with you. I'm furious at this Merryweather woman and Draig deserves more than a small amount of the blame to be sure. Because it was a curse of knowledge, the idea being that everyone would know what had happened between Stefan and Draig. And because it was centred on and through her. It meant that she was linked to everyone in the Kingdom. Everyone that has ever come through this Kingdom, she has been aware of them. That knowledge has become a two way street.

“I'm not sure I understand.”

“Neither do I. I suspect I could write a book on the subject and I still wouldn't understand. When you were in the outskirts of the Kingdom, you were affected by her mood. By her outlook on life and by her dreams. This was because the entirety of the Kingdom was supposed to understand what had happened beginning with her. Their knowledge was the knowledge that they received from the Princess. Because that was changed towards sleep, it also meant that they dreamt what the princess dreamt, they felt what the Princess felt.”

“So when the Princess was angry, they were angry. When the Princess was having a nightmare, or being hormonal. Everyone was having a nightmare or being hormonal.”

“Precisely. Everyone concerned should fall on their knees, from morning till dusk and worship whichever Gods or Goddesses that they pray to that it was this girl that was cursed. Not some tyrant, or the kind of girl that delights in cruelty. The other problem is that those thoughts and feelings went both ways. She knew to trust you because the villagers like and trust you. You were kind to your “companion” which is unusual enough to be noted by them and therefore it was unusual enough to be noticed by her.”

I spent a long time looking over at the Princess where she slept.

“Is she going to be alright?”

“No. No she's not. Or at least, not in the ways that we think of as being “alright” We'll know more in the morning of course. A night of proper sleep will either give her strength or strip it away from her. But whatever happens, she is going to need help of one kind or another for the rest of her days. I expect there will be many days when she thrives on the challenges that life gives her. But likewise there will be some days when she looks around herself and sees nothing and no-one that she recognises and there lies the potential for the blackest kinds of depression.”

“I'm sorry to have laid this on you.”

“Don't be. You were right in thinking that the two of us have a lot in common. But vampires are supposed to go without company for years, or even centuries at a time. It's almost as though we were designed to that end. Humans though? Humans are social creatures. It's a rare human that can live without contact for years at a time. Let alone a hundred and twenty, while also watching your body being beaten and abused.”

“I should have got here sooner.”

“No Freddie, she should never have been cursed in the first place. The damage was done, long before your Grandfather was even born. The hope is that she takes the help where it's offered and learns to be able to choose the honest well wishers from those who want to take advantage of her. I might be wrong of course. She is at least, part dragon. That might fortify her mind more than I have guessed. But she will not be alone. I have some thoughts in that direction already. I'm pretty confident that the Empress will look after her. The Empress is not so jaded yet that she won't recognise a need for kindness, pity and support. With a gentle prod, I expect that the Princess will be looked after and supported with what needs to be done to rebuild her Kingdom.”

“Good, I'm glad of that. I was rather worried that I had been cruel to her, to wake her up.”

“No, the cruelty would have been to leave her there. In the grip of whatever curse has bound her for so long. At the mercy of whatever and whoever came by. Now she has agency of her own and can act. However she sees fit.”

I nodded. “I'm glad you came.”

She smiled. “Of course I came. For you, I will always come.”

She laid a hand on my arm.

I shivered.

I tried not to. I didn't meant to. I was aware that there was the potential for physical contact and I thought I had been prepared. I don't even know what kind of shiver it was.

But I shivered and as I looked at her, her mask was back in place. Plain, beautiful features showing polite interest, a little concern, just a hint of amusement at the world but otherwise there was no sign of change. Her eye colour had deepened a little, maybe a shade or two but I might have been imagining things in the candlelight.

“I'm sorry.” I said.

“No, I'm sorry. You've had a rough few days. You should get some sleep.”

I stood up and moved away a little to take the good advice, but I turned and looked at her. She had picked up her book and was in the process of removing a bookmark.

“I really am sorry.”

“I know Freddie,” She smiled. I couldn't tell if it was a genuine smile or whether it was there for my benefit. “Get some rest.”

I did as I was told.