Fortune's Fool - Mercedes Lackey [109]
“Oh…it looks like a tent,” Klava said instantly. “Oh poor Magda—she’s homesick….”
“Then we’ll have to get her home,” Katya said firmly, which ended up being the last thing she said for a while. The inviting pile of pillows pulled her into itself and she fell asleep listening to Magda humming a strange, wild melody.
Sunset painted the landscape outside the window in hues of pink and rose, with the shadow of the mountain etched across the face of the forest. Sasha didn’t know whether to feel encouraged or discouraged that it was taking the Queen so long to make a decision. The attendant kept faithfully filling his teacup and feeding him the entire time. From time to time, trays of new food were brought in, and the samovar was kept topped up; Sasha had so far gone through an entire banquet of courses in small portions, from blinis and sour cream, to mushrooms, to tiny portions of baked fish and a whole quail treated like a larger bird. It would have been a glorious afternoon if he had not been so anxious.
Finally, as he was considering asking for another round of vodka to take the edge off his tension, the door opened, and one of the advisers walked in. Sasha leaped to his feet and bowed; the adviser gravely returned his salutation.
“The Queen is with her tunnel planners even now,” the green-faced man said, without any preamble. “She has, in her graciousness, elected to help you.”
Relief made Sasha as giddy as three glasses of vodka. “And we are grateful beyond telling,” he replied, with as much enthusiasm and sincerity as he could bring to bear.
The adviser smiled thinly. “Actually, we of the Council wish to thank you. We have long felt the presence of this interloper to be a threat to the Kingdom of Copper Mountain, but we could not persuade her most gracious Majesty of this. You have, and we are in our turn grateful.”
He blinked. “Why ever wouldn’t she believe you?” he asked, bewildered.
The adviser examined his nails closely. “Her Majesty is…much older than she appears. Much. In all that time, there has never been a threat to our Kingdom from the surface dwellers. Since there never has been, she believed there never would be. She was of the firm belief that remaining neutral, and trading with all parties, made us too valuable to threaten—and too well allied. We who live shorter lives cannot afford to be so sanguine.”
Sasha nodded in sympathy. “That’s something I can understand, and it isn’t just those who live long who fall into that trap,” he replied. “I have to allow a certain amount of danger into Led Belarus, even though I’d rather not. People who never face danger never believe that danger can come to them, and never recognize threats until it is too late.”
The adviser looked up, and smiled. “You are a wise Fool indeed. Now, I am sent to tell you that we think there are tunnels leading out from the Castle already. If such exist, we will find them and strike for them. As I am sure you assumed, we tunnel very quickly indeed, especially when we need only carve a small and temporary passage. I think that is the only information you may need?”
“It is. Thank you for your help, and thank you for your hospitality.” Sasha stood up, and included both the adviser and the attendant in his bow. “You have been gracious beyond measure.”
“It is not often we have so pleasant a visitor from the surface world.” It was the attendant who replied, rather than the adviser. “Usually they are here only for lust or greed, and concentrate on the Queen and perhaps on her obvious advisers, and treat the rest of us as mere bagatelles.”
As Sasha’s eyebrows shot up, the attendant laughed. “We are all equals here, Prince. Today I served you tea and dinner. Tomorrow, if my expertise is needed, I may don the robe of an adviser. Very few of us are set in one position during our lives. We find it makes for more balanced judgment.