The Druid Queen - Douglas Niles [19]
"What can we do? Is it enough to wait for this to pass?"
Again Alicia saw the sharp look between her parents, but then Robyn lowered her eyes in silent defeat. Tristan answered the question.
"When Keane gets here with the patriarch, we'll ask him to examine her," he said slowly while Robyn's eyes remained downcast. He spoke to his wife as much as to his daughter. "We've got to try it! Nothing else seems to work, and we can't give her up! I can't!"
"Nor can I," Robyn replied, surprising Alicia with the softness of her tone.
The princess understood that, with the resurgence of the Earthmother, the druid queen must regard with suspicion the intervention of any other gods into the Moonshaes. The "New Gods," they had once been called, for they were seen to compete with the treasured nature goddess who had so long made these isles an enchanted, magical place.
Yet some problems were beyond the abilities of even the Great Druid to solve, and it seemed that Deirdre's malaise was one of these. Alicia, like her father, hoped that a cleric of one of the New Gods might offer her sister some hope of succor. Yet she could sympathize with her mother as well. Alicia herself had been touched by the magic of the Earthmother, and she understood the special role that the benign goddess played in the life of the Moonshaes. She worried about any threat to that serene balance, the eternal equilibrium of light and dark, good and evil, that provided the fulcrum of her faith.
They spent several silent minutes picking dully at their bread and cheese. Somehow, to Alicia, the former tasted dry and stale, the latter crumbly and sharp-though both were fresh, in varieties she had enjoyed all her life.
"It's not like Keane to waste his time when he's on business for the king. What can be keeping him, anyway?" demanded Tristan, breaking the silence with frustrated words.
"He's not wasting time!" Alicia immediately leaped to her former tutor's defense, surprising her father with the vehemence of her statement
"What makes you so sure?" he pressed, more interested in her reaction than in her answer, for if the truth be told, Tristan felt certain beyond any doubt that the faithful Keane labored diligently in service of his king.
Alicia flushed. The emotions that compelled her beliefs were not feelings she felt ready to discuss with her parents; indeed, she was just beginning to understand them herself. "He's a loyal subject, that's all. If he's taking overly long, it just means that he's run into unforeseen problems."
"Perhaps the patriarch is busy… or absent," surmised the queen, with a sideways look at her daughter. "Keane would certainly try to find some other avenue, some other source of help, rather than return empty-handed."
King Tristan smiled wanly, unconsciously holding his hand over the blunt wrist of his left arm. "You're right, of course. I've had enough demonstrations of loyalty-from all of you-that such complaints are unbecoming. I apologize," he said to Alicia, nodding formally.
The princess blushed even more deeply, for she sensed the teasing in his words. "He'll be back soon!" she finished lamely.
"Brandon departed yesterday?" Tristan mentioned idly. Alicia didn't know if he was changing the subject or pursuing his original tack mercilessly. It was common knowledge that the Prince of Gnarhelm had sought her hand in marriage, and the fact that he had sailed away alone gave a clear enough indication of her reply.
"Yes. He had matters in his father's kingdom to tend. He-he plans to come to Callidyrr over the winter." She wasn't sure how she felt about that. The memory of his determination brought back the sensation of being trapped that she had struggled with earlier.
"A good man, that," the king continued,