“Oh, my,” said Twk, “I’ve never been enspelled before, and I hope to never be again. Thank Mithras, you called Nightshade to attack.”
“I wouldn’t have been able if not for you and Jester,” said Liaze. “Yet how did you know to come?”
“Well, Gwyd and I saw the witch fly down on her besom, and Verdandi said I would be needed at a critical time, and this seemed a critical time to me. And Verdandi’s sister Urd said that it was a fine thing I had done to train Jester to crow on command; I think she was telling me then and there that a cock’s crow would do the trick.”
“It did, Twk, it did. But the gold on Jester’s feet, how did-?”
“Oh, Princess, back when Urd spoke her rede, I thought it only applied to you, but then I realized it could include me as well. ‘Precious steps will get ye there, / As up black glass ye steeply fare, / Do not dismount as ye try, / Else by fire ye will surely die.’ That’s what Urd said, and I was standing there when she said it, and I had Jester as my mount. Gwyd tied on the gold coins, and up my rooster and I started on our precious steps. Yet it was too slick, and I almost quit, but then Jester started flapping, and he flapped and flapped and flapped, and between precious steps and flailing wings finally we made it, almost too late it seems.”
“I heard you coming,” said Liaze, “but I didn’t know what I was hearing. Your arrival was a complete surprise to me.”
“A surprise to the witch, too,” said Twk, laughing. “Who was she?”
“Iniqui,” said Liaze. “One of Orbane’s four acolytes, though now but two remain.”
“Hmm…” mused Twk. “It seems those four are banes to you and your brothers and sister.”
Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what Zacharie said.”
“Zacharie?”
“My steward of the Autumnwood.”
“Ah.”
Both Liaze and Twk fell silent, and Jester had tucked his head under one wing and was asleep, as on down the mountain they rode.
At last they came to the bottom, and Gwyd had a fire going and hot tea steeping.
The Brownie and the princess managed to get Luc down from the horse, and they placed him on warm blankets next to the fire and covered him with more.
Liaze accepted a cup of tea from the Brownie, and she slumped down next to Luc and said, “Oh, Gwyd, I am so weary my very teeth hurt.”
“Then sleep, Princess,” replied Gwyd. “I’ll make certain something warm gets in t’your Luc. You, m’lady, need sleep.”
The next morning Liaze was wakened by a gentle kiss, and she opened her amber eyes to look into eyes of indigo. “Oh, Luc,” she murmured, and reached up and embraced him and held him tightly and wept.
“Cherie,” said Luc, reaching for another biscuit, “when I awakened at the foot of this dark mountain, I knew not how I had gotten here, for the last I remember was being snatched out through the window, there at Autumnwood Manor. Yet Gwyd and Twk have told me some of the story, but neither one knows the full of it, and they said to wait for you to recount all.”
Along with Gwyd and Twk, they sat by the fire breaking fast; Luc was on his fourth helping of biscuits and honey and jerky and hot tea.
“It is a long tale, Luc, but first I must tell you this: I met your foster sire Leon, and he told me who your true parents are.”
Luc’s eyes widened in surprise, but he said nought.
“Luc, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle.”
Luc choked on his sip of tea, and after he had gotten control of his breathing: “What?”
“I said, you are Comte Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle. Leon was going to tell you just as soon as you had won your spurs,” said Liaze.
“My spurs,” said Luc. It was a statement and not a question.
“Yes, your knighthood, and I told him that you had more than won them in combat with the Trolls and Goblins in my demesne.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Your true pere was Comte Amaury, and your mere is Comtesse Adele. Your pere was slain in a skirmish when you were but a newborn. A year later, your mere wedded Guillaume, a vicomte with ambitions. He also had a three-year-old son whom Guillaume wanted to be heir to the title of comte after Guillaume had obtained it for himself. Guillaume had a henchman in his retinue-one Franck-and in the night Franck stole you away and took you to the woods to slay you.”
“Oh, my,” said Twk, “what a wicked stepfather.”
Liaze nodded. “That’s exactly what I said to Leon, Twk.”
“Go on, Princess,” said Gwyd. “What happened next?”
“Fortunately, Armsmaster Leon saw Franck riding away with Luc, and he followed on the would-be assassin’s heels into the nearby forest.” Liaze turned to Luc. “Just as Franck raised his blade to kill you, Leon spitted him with a dagger, and before Franck died he told Leon of Guillaume’s guilt, and that there were more men ready to carry out Guillaume’s order to kill the rightful heir.
“Leon knew that you would never be safe with the vicomte at the Blue Chateau, and so he fled away with you, Luc, far away, where he took on the guise of a woodcutter.”
“What of my mere?” asked Luc.
“Leon sent word to her by a former armsmate-a trusted courier-but by that time Adele on her own had discovered Guillaume’s perfidy, but she had no direct proof, and he had put his own men in key positions. Hence, she could do nought to bring him to justice.
“However, she is the one who-via the same trusted courier-provided the funds for your complete education. Oh, Luc, she wanted you to be raised to become a comte, and the teachers Leon hired have well seen to that.”
Luc frowned and gestured at Deadly Nightshade, and then at his arms and armor. “Is she the one who-?”
“Oui, Luc,” said Liaze. “She sent the horse and accoutrements for you on the day of your majority.”
Luc nodded and said, “And I am to become a comte.”
“You are already one,” said Liaze. “It is your birthright.”
Luc nodded and said, “Then it only remains for me to claim it.”
“Won’t that lead t’fightin?” asked Gwyd, “even t’war?”
“Not necessarily to war,” said Luc. “If Guillaume disputes me, I can challenge him to trial by combat.”
“What of his son?” asked Twk.
“Him, too,” said Luc, shrugging. Luc then turned to Liaze and asked, “Is Guillaume yet alive?”
“Oui,” she said, “or at least he was two moons ago, for he is the one who asked Iniqui to locate you.”
“Iniqui?”
“Oui. She is the witch who bore you away, and-” Of a sudden, Liaze’s eyes widened in revelation. “Oh, now I understand.”
“Understand what?” asked Gwyd.
“The meaning of Luc’s title,” said Liaze. “Luc, not only are you a comte, you are le Gardien de la Cle — the Keeper of the Key.”
“Key? What key?”
“You wear it about your neck, Luc. It is the key to the Castle of Shadows beyond the Black Wall of the World. That is what Iniqui was after, for with it she would set free her master Orbane.”
Gwyd sucked air in between clenched teeth, and Twk cried out in alarm. “She would loose that monster upon Faery again, lass?” asked Gwyd.
Liaze nodded. “She was one of his acolytes.”
“Dead and gone,” said Twk, glancing at Jester, the rooster scratching away at the cold soil. “Two are left.”
Luc sighed. “You need tell me the whole of this tale. But first I would ask this: where lies this blue chateau, this lake of the rose?”
“Ah, that,” said Liaze. “I know the way there from here, for I rode o’er it with Lord Fear and the Wild Hunt on the way to this black mountain. I marked it well, the way between, and I will take you there. But, heed me, Luc, you are yet weakened by your ordeal, and until you are fully recovered I would not have you face the one who seeks your death.” Liaze pointed back in the direction she had ridden to get to the mountain and said, “There is a town across the border yon, and there we will stay until you once more have your strength and are ready to face this usurper.”
Luc smiled and said, “As you will, my princess. As you will.”