Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [140]
She raised her tear-stained face. “Cador lives!”
All the bells in the kingdom rang out as Amelonia’s princess was crowned before her people. Queen Tressalara stood on the banner-decked platform that had been erected in the meadow beside the river so that all who wished might attend. Noble and commoner stood shoulder to shoulder for the ceremony.
Nearby sat a white-bearded man who greatly resembled certain portraits of Saint Ethelred, the Dragonmaster, watched the ceremonies from a grove of Linden trees. Off to the side, a young couple watched from another bower of trees. Myrriden tugged his beard and looked from his beaming apprentice wizard to his beaming apprentice sorceress and back.
“You have done me proud. Niniane, Illusius, you have passed your wizard’s examination. Now for your reward. Behold, by the power that God has invested in me, I raise you to the next highest rank of beings in His hierarchy!”
A plume of sparkling smoke, a waft of incense, and the great wizard was gone. So were the wizard and sorceress. In their place stood a human lad, handsome and dark-haired, and a winsome lass with hair as golden as sunlight. Both seemed a little confused for a moment.
“Ah, don’t I know you?” the lad asked. He felt quite peculiar. But perhaps it was just that the smile from this lovely girl was making his head swim. “I’m Ill-, uh, Illus. Son of a Moravian merchant here for the coronation.”
The maid blushed prettily. “And I am…uh.” Funny how for a moment she’d forgotten who she was, just from looking into his dark eyes. “My name is Nin…Nina. The granddaughter of the queen’s head groomsman.”
The lad held out his arm. “Would you care for a glass of fruit ale? Or perhaps a sweet? I saw a vendor with a tray of marchpane over yonder.”
She smiled prettily. “You are very kind, sir.”
The two moved off, arm in arm, in perfect charity, each feeling as if he or she had known the other for a long, long time.
It was the most beautiful day anyone could remember in years. Sunlight glittered in the clear air, and a fragrant breeze ruffled the meadow beneath the cloudless blue sky. Up on the platform Tressalara stepped forward in full regalia, a queen accepting homage from her people. Her gown of iridescent silk was spangled with diamond brilliance, so that she sparkled with the slightest movement. The emerald crown of Amelonia rested upon her head, the matching seal of state upon her finger, as the cheers resounded.
The great Andun Stone stood upon a pedestal beside her, the three pieces united into one as if it had never been broken. Tressalara held it aloft for all to see, proof of her right to claim Amelonia’s throne. A wondrous light shone around her, banishing every shadow. She was a living embodiment of the Andun Stone and the peace and plenty that it would bring.
The origin of the marvelous crystal might never be known, but its powers were manifold. Famine or feast, war or peace, plague or health—death or life—the great stone could bring either. And therein lay its secret. It made and unmade. Did and undid.
Cador’s shard, and Rill’s as well, were part of one motto. It was only when the two were placed on either side of the Andun Stone that the legend could be read in its entirety.. So simple when one understood its message:
The people came forward to greet their monarch. Cador was the first to bend his knee. Sunlight turned his hair to spun gold, and his eyes were bluer than sapphires. He had never looked more virile and handsome. She held out her hand with the ring bearing the great seal of Amelonia. Her fingers shook slightly, and she prayed that he would clasp her hand in his. But the differences in their estate had built a wall between them, one that he evidently had no intention of tearing down.
Cador’s eyes didn’t even lift to meet hers. Since that miraculous night in the great hall he had not