Invitations

Once upon a time there was a King, and his name was Andrew. King Andrew was a great reader of books, of the writings of great scholars of his age, and of the stories of antiquity. Indeed it was said by some that he lived more than half in a tale, and although they meant it as admonishment for his airy, dreamlike ways the King took it as something of a compliment. If nothing else it meant that he knew of certain important rules, which is why his wife was more than a little shocked when, after the birth of their first child, he announced the guest list for the christening.

"Husband." She said in that way wives have, condensing into a single word the weight of years of matrimony. "I cannot help but notice that you have invited all of the lords of the wilder places to the ceremony."

"Indeed I have." Her husband replied. "It is customary."

"But you have invited ALL the lords of the wilder places."

"I have."

"The Golden Lady of the Wood I can understand." The lady began. "The King of the White Peaks, proud as he is must be invited. The Laughing Man is welcome, and I accept that we cannot invite him without his twin, although I will find it hard to allow the Weeping Lady into my home."

"Joy does not come without sorrow my darling, and it is better to have both than neither."

"This I know, and I would not say other. Nor would I oppose your invitation of the Princess of Stars or the Marquis of the Spray. But my husband, my lord, why oh why did you have to invite Him."

"Him? Lord Mal."

"Name him not I beg of you. It brings ill fortune merely to speak of Him, much less to invite him openly into your home in gilt letters."

"You would that I had excluded Him? Him alone, amongst all the wilder lords you would have me snub? Have you read none of the old tales?"

"This is not a tale Andrew, this is our life. Our daughter."

"And you would risk passing on to her the displeasure of Lord. of the Blooded Brow?"

"Better that than invite the Hand That is Ruin to touch our child, than to invite the Prince With a Thousand Names to our daughter's most sacred rite of passage."

"And what would you say to him, to the Voice Without Mercy when he arrives of his own accord, and he will arrive of his own accord and make no mistake about it for he most of all the wilder lords goes where he will, what will you say to him when he asks in tones dripping honey and vitriol why we did not invite him? Will you tell him the truth, that we fear to let him near our daughter, or will you hope somehow to catch him with lies. It will not work my dearest wife it simply will not work. We must invite him, or face his displeasure, and that we cannot do."

And at this his wife saw that he was perhaps right, and certainly not to be dissuaded. Besides, the damage had been done, and whatever offence would be given by simply "forgetting" to invite the Cruellest Prince, to offer invitation and then to rescind it would be a thousand times worse.

So the day of the christening came, and the gentry and the nobility came from miles around. The atmosphere was joyous and the streets filled with rejoicing as the rites of naming were executed, and the name of the princess proclaimed. Helena, for her grandmother. With the rites concluded and the sun beginning to set, the time came for the wilder lords to emerge, and to offer their blessings to the child.

First came the Princess of Stars, a maiden she seemed, although her age was beyond mountains. Her dress was spun of silver and her hair black but woven here and there with bright jewels. To the child she gave great vision and great foresight. Next came the Golden Lady of the Wood, proud and strong, golden haired and auburn skinned, and dressed in a cloak of fallen leaves, and to the child she gave strength and health. After the lady came the King of the White Peaks, attired in feathers and the skins of beasts, and to the child he gave wit and song. Then came the Marquis of the Spray, a boisterous man in sailors garb who granted wealth and fortune. At last the Laughing Man and the Weeping Lady stepped forth as one their faces both beautiful and grotesque, and gave to the child a heart that would often know joy, and ever weather sorrow.

And for a moment, as it so often is in the tales, it seemed that would be the end of it. But as the assembly shifted as if to ask if it was okay for them to leave, a final figure entered the great hall. Tall, and dressed in sombre robes of stained grey satin, his left hand clutched a dagger barbed most cruelly while his right was withered and palsied. His face was gaunt and angular, his eyes like those of a dead man and about his narrow lips were the faintest traces of blood. He was the Nightmare Lord, the Murderous Eye, the Blooded Brow. He was the Prince with a Thousand Names.

He glided over to the cradle where the child lay, and he fixed her in his gaze. Then he bent down to the child and whispered to her. He stood, and as he turned to go, the voice of the Queen rang out across the hall.

"What. What did you give her?"

The Prince With A Thousand Names turned and smiled a smile that had only the scantest claim to the title. It was bereft of warmth, of any feeling at all. It was not even cruel.

"A dream." He replied. And then he left.

So the Princess Helena grew up. She was bright and strong, quick in mind and body and beloved by all, indeed it was said that she was the greatest treasure in all her father's Kingdom. This was not entirely flattery, for her father's Kingdom was a poor one - beset by enemies on all sides, and from within by the depredations of bandits - and it had few other treasures to speak of. Farseeing and insightful Helena knew well the state of her father's Kingdom, and knew also that although the man was kindly and learned in many ways, he had much to learn when it came to the proper management of a Kingdom, and there were many hard truths which he was too soft hearted to see for what they were. Or so it seemed to Helena.

As she grew she was given more responsibilities, for her father and her mother were taxed already beyond their limits. With the lands she was given she raised taxes and raised regiments, in order that the roads may be properly guarded, and her tenants prospered in the new climate of order. So she grew in years and in power, her regiments and her guards rooting out the spies of foreign Kingdoms as well as the more mundane criminals, and making the Kingdom strong once more.

In Helena's sixteenth year, her parents sought to find her a husband, but to no avail. She was already far too wedded to the Kingdom. In her twenty- first, they died within a week of one another, and left her Queen. She felt no joy at her exaltation, for she had loved both of her parents dearly. However she also loved her Kingdom, for it was hers now and hers alone. So she went about her duties with a steadfast heart, and in the name of her mother she raised taxes to raise armies, and to rebuild the Kingdom in a new age. In the name of her father she built libraries and schools, great centres of learning that would become famed throughout the lands, for she knew this would have pleased him. And far abroad many Kings and princes heard tell of the young Queen, and her Kingdom of wonders and glories, and they brought their suit to her, seeking to claim the Kingdom for themselves. She refused them, for she would not surrender her Kingdom to the authority of another.

Five years passed, and the Kingdom grew strong and prosperous, but the people cried out for a King. Rebellion stirred in the West, and though it was swiftly put down, its leaders found and beheaded, discontent grew in the Kingdom, for a Kingdom does not like to be without an heir for too long. Seeing the need for a husband, but unwilling to swallow all of her pride, she turned to her last suitor, the King of the South. To him she made one last offer. She would accept his suit, and their Kingdoms would be united, if he would only allow her to remain lord over her own lands. He refused.

So, to Helena's mind there was but one course of action remaining. Her Kingdom had grown strong over the years, and its armies now were formidable. They marched south. It should scarcely need to be said that the King of the South had not expected such, and was certainly not prepared for the strength of the attack. The armies of Queen Helena swept from North to South, and the armies of the South crashed against her and were broken. And when next she came to the castle of the King of the South it was in triumph and glory, and she brought to the King her new proposal. That he would surrender, or he would be destroyed. He chose surrender, and his Kingdom became the first province in an empire. The King of the South became the warden of the Southern provinces, and he oversaw the rebuilding and the reshaping of the lands he once held his own in the image of the foreign Queen. In her name he built great works, theatres and galleries and libraries, always libraries.

And so it was and so it continued. The empire, for such it was now, prospered, and grew strong and secure. In the North once again rebellion stirred, and once more it was defeated, and its leaders found and drawn and quartered. And the Queen, still in need of a husband that her dynasty not die with her turned to the King in the West, and made him this offer. That she would accept his suit, if he would accept her as empress. He declined, as politely as possible, saying that he could not give his Kingdom so easily to another. So the armies of the empire marched west.

The Western campaign was short and brutal, the King of the West had been no warrior, and his armies were as children before the Queen's well-drilled, well-trained forces. When she came to the King to ask his surrender he gave it without hesitation or condition, and accepted exile without a word. So the Queen gave the West into the hands of her more trusted vassals, and charged them to keep the order, to rebuild and rearm. This they did, and the West was, soon enough, as prosperous as ever it had been.

Still the Queen was without husband, and without heir, so she turned to the King of the East. Still proud, but having little wish to go the way of the West, the King of the East having met in secret with the King of the North, and the former King of the South, and when he declined the offer of the Queen he had the surety of support. So as Empress Helena marched east, she met resistance from the North, and rebellion from the South, and it seemed for a while that she would at last taste defeat. But she was blessed by the lords of the wilder places, given to her was great vision and foresight blessed by the Princess of Stars herself, and she had not left her borders unguarded, or her allies unwatched. So the reinforcements from the North met with ambush, while the rebels in the South found that the eyes of the Queen were many, and her arms long. So the East was broken, and the southern rebels unmasked and executed and their families and associates with them.

That left the North, already beaten and broken it fell with barely a whisper, its king and his family caught and beheaded, as befits royalty. And so she became such an Empress as had never been seen before, and has never been seen since. Her domain one of order, and her rule one of peace, for those who would disturb the peace were shown no mercy. She reigned so for many years, and built much that lasts still. In her thirty-first year she married a lesser baron, his name now lost to history, but she bore no children and it is said that she ordered imprisoned or murdered all those of her husband's line, that the throne should not pass from her family. When finally she died, her Empire fell for want of an heir, and much of her legacy was lost. But much remained, and the scholars speak of her to this day, Helena the Great, daughter of Andrew the Scholar, Empress, tyrant, Blessed of the Prince With A Thousand Names.