Chapter Six: Meetings

The Council Room was small and dark. It was used only when the Regional Governors met in Asyrann. Soulana stormed into the room, angry and upset. The Captain of the Guard and a few of the Governors who were in Asyrann followed her.

“I want to know HOW Lazorda could get into the capital! How in the world did she get past our defenses to get to Adianne?”

The Captain of the Guard stuttered out that he had no idea, that the sorceress must have just…… appeared… and that he would find out immediately. Soulana glared at him, and said in a scathing voice, “You do that.”

The northern Governor asked how the attack had happened, and the room grew silent as Soulana told how Lazorda had almost killed the princess, and how Adianne had been saved. The eastern Governor demanded to know where the Princess and her rescuer were, and Soulana told him that they were resting in the palace’s infirmary.

“And, now, I will be going to check on the Princess and her rescuer. We will meet again after the Captain here does some more investigating.”

Ren was confused. Where was she? How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was…….. Mother!!

She tried to sit up. And fell right back down. Her movement caught the attention of someone else in the room. An older woman bustled up to her, and gently pushed her back down on to the bed.

“Hang on, dearie. You’re still a little out of it, from the medicine the Physician gave you earlier.”

“Where am I?”

At least, that’s what she tried to say. It actually came out as “wuhhhhhh.” The woman pressed a cup to her lips, and Ren drank deeply.

“There. That’s better, isn’t it? I’m Lady Brita, by the way. I’m the Lord Physician’s assistant, and his wife, of course.’ She laughed. “Those fancy Court ladies say it’s not proper for a woman to be a physician, or even a physician’s assistant. Oh, I’m sorry. I do tend to prattle on so. It’s one of my worst faults. Breton -that’s my husband, dearie- says that I could out talk a raven. If I get started, you better stop me early on, because once I start on a topic, it could be hours before I stop. Whoops, there I go again.”

The woman –Lady Brita, apparently- stood there, looking at her with a curious expression on her face. Ren, at a loss for words, finally remembered her original question.

“I’m sorry, but, where am I?”

“Why, you’re at the Palace, dearie. In the Royal Infirmary. Even royalty gets sick sometimes, so when they get sick, they come here to get well again.”

Just then, a groan from outside the room caught Lady Brita’s attention. “Oh, dear, the Royal patient has apparently woken up. I’ll be back later to check on you, all right, dearie?”

The lady bustled off, leaving Ren alone. In the Palace. With the Princess in the next room. How in the world did she end up here? Suddenly, Ren heard steps in the hallway. She tried to sit up again, thinking it was Lady Brita again.

Instead, an entirely different woman walked- no, glided- into the room. She was tall, with long silver hair that was braided into a crown around her head. The woman wore a long, green, robe-like dress that brushed the top of her slippers. She had an…… aura around her that made her seem powerful and mysterious. Unconsciously, Ren sat up in her bed, all her weakness gone, all her hurts healed.

The woman went over to the only chair in the room and sat down. Suddenly, she looked much more……… human. Ren’s memory caught up with the rest of her, and she said, hesitantly, “Mother?”

Tears started to fill the woman’s eyes. She nodded, and came over to sit by Ren on the bed.

“Can you forgive me for letting you go all those years ago?”

Ren, who was now crying, too, nodded.

“Let me tell you the entire story. Many years ago, my sister and I had a quarrel. We fought bitterly. Finally, I ended up winning the conflict, with the help of our parents and their….. familiars. I was rewarded, for winning the conflict, but it was a bitter winning. My sister and I were forever separated, our family torn apart by her own lust for power and the darkness. She hated me. She saw me as the reason why she was now an outcast, the reason why her dreams would never come to reality. She disappeared for many, many years after the conflict.’

‘And then I had you. You were a beautiful child. I loved you, and made sure that you had all that any little girl could ever want. Then, thirteen years ago, my sister, who you have probably now realized is the enchantress Lazorda, reappeared. You and I were in another country at the time, as I was working on a treaty with our northern neighbor, who is now annexed to Assyria. Lazorda, who was disguised as an old peasant petitioner, was granted audience with King Valmar, Adianne’s father. After she came into the Throne Room, she demanded that the king abdicate the throne and give the crown to her. Valmar, of course, denied her. Lazorda cursed him. Even now, he is in an everlasting sleep, in a place that no one but myself or Princess Adianne can enter.’

‘Lazorda left the kingdom in an uproar. We had a five-year old princess who was now the Monarch, and we were all worried that Lazorda would come back and curse Adianne. It took us two years to get everything straightened out. Meanwhile, I was worried about you. I knew that if my sister came back, she would not stop at Adianne. Not to be unmodest, but I was about the only thing holding this country together. If Lazorda wanted to disable me, all she would have to do is discover that I had a daughter, and she would come after you. So, I gave you to a band of gypsies whose leader I knew, and who were heading South. I had heard that Lazorda had a lair to the North, and I wanted to get you as far away from her as possible. A couple adopted you, and that was the last I heard of you for eleven years.’

‘After the crisis was over, and everything had settled down, I searched for you, trying to get you back. I couldn’t find you. All I had to go on was the band leader’s name, and all I found out about him was that he had died the year before. I had nowhere else to look.’

‘Now, after all these years of searching, you have come to me, and you have saved Adianne as well. I guess I must say that I was surprised when you used magic. But, I suppose it’s in your blood. That is the story of your birth, and the reasons why I both gave you up and then never found you again. I ask you again, can you ever forgive me for what I have done to you?”

Ren, who had sat silently through the entire story, finally found her voice. “Of course I forgive you. And you have done nothing to be that I can be angry about. I’m still a little shocked, of course, but, of course I forgive you.”

Just then, Lady Brita came bustling back into the room. “All right, Lady Soulana, this dearie needs her rest. She’s been through a terrible shock, and it’s been only a few hours since it happened. She needs to sleep. So, go on and let this little lady rest. The Captain, bless his soul, wants to see you, as well. I will tell you as soon as Breton says that she can receive visitors again.”

Soulana nodded, then turned to Ren and said, “I will see you soon, Experenza.”

Ren could just nod, feeling weak and tired suddenly.

Soulana glided from the room, and Lady Brita came forward with a cup of a bad-smelling potion that Ren had to drink. She drank it all, and the next thing she knew was blackness.