Liaze turned Gustave over to Leon, and then she went flying down the steps and into Luc’s arms. Soundly she kissed him, and then she disengaged and turned to the woman standing nigh. “Comte Luc, I present to you your mother Adele. Adele, this is your son.”
Within the candlemark, Gustave and his retinue-henchmen, staff, armsmen, stripped of all their weapons but daggers-rode away from Chateau Blu, Luc granting them safe passage for a day but no more. And they took the corpse of Guillaume with them.
That evening, there was a banquet of celebration, and all the staff of the manor were invited-serving by turns so that all could partake. The Widow Dorothee was in attendance as well. There was gaiety and cheer, and good food and wine, and many a speech was given, for all were glad to see Guillaume and his ilk gone and the rightful heir in place.
Finally, Liaze stood and called for quiet, and when the banquet hall became still, she said, “Some believe that the dark of the moon brings ill things, and at times it is true, and at other times it is not. Yet heed: it was the dark of the moon when Luc was stolen and the dark of the moon when he was saved, and on this night once again it is the dark of the moon. And so unto you I say this: think not the dark of the moon only an ill omen, for on this eve-the dark of the moon-your comte is returned to you.” She raised her glass in salute to Luc, and said: “To my beloved and your comte: Luc du Chateau Bleu dans le Lac de la Rose et Gardien de la Cle.”
A great cheer went up, and all in the assembly stood and hoisted their glasses. Long did the clamor last, but then Luc stood and held up his hands, and, when quiet fell, he turned to Adele and said, “Mother, long was the road to Chateau Bleu, but I would not be here were it not for my comrades: my foster pere Armsmaster Leon, my truelove Princess Liaze, my companions Brownie Gwyd and Pixie Twk and a red rooster named Jester. I raise my glass to each of you and cry out for all to hear, ‘Hail, hail, hail!’ ”
As one the crowd shouted, Hail, hail, hail!
And when at last silence fell, Jester decided to crow, and laughter burst forth from the assembly and rang the very walls. Gwyd though, deep in his cups, sat with a puzzled frown on his face, the Brownie trying to cipher out whether or not he had been thanked and therefore would have to leave. Finally, he shrugged and called for another goblet of wine.
And joy flowed throughout Chateau Blu that most splendid of eves.
41
The next three weeks were a whirl of activity: Luc led an armed force out from Chateau Blu to harry Vicomte Gustave and his men from Luc’s demesne; upon their return from harassing the vicomte, Luc and Leon spent time recruiting and training armsmen, including sharpening the skills of the veterans, instruction having been woefully lacking during Guillaume’s reign.
Liaze and Adele, on the other hand, spent long hours speaking of offspring and titles and who would live where, for Adele would have Luc stay at Chateau Blu, and Liaze would prefer Autumnwood Manor; in the end they compromised, deciding that Luc and she would spend summers at the Lake of the Rose, and the remainder of the year in the Autumnwood; however, as soon as a second child was born to Liaze and Luc, upon reaching majority she or he would take over the reins of governance at the Blue Chateau. Until then, Adele, with Leon as her war leader and advisor, would govern while Luc was away. It was also during this time that Leon and Dorothee wedded, and she was a widow no more.
Gwyd and Twk spent their days exploring the chateau, and they found the secret alcove behind the wall where spies listened to conversations within the hunt room. The very next day Adele had the alcove bricked up.
Gwyd also often fished in the lake, sometimes from the walls of the chateau, at other times from a cockleshell. Twk accompanied Gwyd when the Brownie fished from the walls, but he refused to get in the small boat with Gwyd. “If it tips over, then I’m a goner,” said the Pixie. “A pike or trout would make short work of me.”
Twk and Gwyd also spent time in the chateau’s cellars, sampling, for Chateau Blu had a splendid selection of wines. “We be tryin t’find the best o’ the lot,” said Gwyd, “and so far each selection seems better than the last.” Gwyd and Twk also spent many mornings regretting this pastime, but the Brownie’s many-pocketed belt provided needed relief.
From the top of the battlements, Jester announced the coming of dawn every morning, and in a fenced area at the back of the chateau he found a small flock of egg-laying hens to keep him occupied. “His flying has improved,” said Twk, “what with his getting up and over and out of the chicken yard every day to announce the dawn, and then flying back in to see to his harem.”
Thus did three weeks vanish, but at the end of that time Luc and Liaze began preparing for the journey back to the Autumnwood, for King Valeray and Queen Saissa would be coming to Autumnwood Manor on their annual rade, and both the princess and the comte would have Liaze’s pere and mere bless their union, after which they would post the banns and begin planning their wedding.
And so it was an eightday later Luc, Liaze, Gwyd, Twk, Jester, and a retinue of nine set out from Chateau Blu for Autumnwood Manor, leaving Adele in charge of the demesne with Leon at her side.
The dark of the moon fell on that eve.
Starwise they went, on a bearing that some in the mortal world would call north, but in Faery it seems directions aren’t always what they appear to be. And so, Luc and Liaze and their retinue set their backs to the sunwise border and headed starwise, for Armsmaster Leon had fled that way with Luc as a babe, and starwise would take them back to his woodcutter’s cottage; he gave them a list of detailed instructions as to where to cross the seven twilight bounds so that they would not stray from the line.
In a leisurely fashion they rode starwise, and Liaze said, “This is certainly a much slower pace from that which I rode away from my manor on your trail, love.”
“Shall we go swifter?” asked Luc.
“Non!” exclaimed Liaze. “Please, beloved, non. I’ve had my fill of desperate journeys.”
Luc laughed and said, “As you will, cherie.”
And so on they fared, and they stopped in villages and inns and took meals and drank wine, and in the inns in the eves Liaze sang while Gwyd accompanied her on his silver harp.
After a moon and some of travel and after passing through six twilight borders-having fared across a realm of rivers wherein manned flatboats bearing cargo drifted in the flow; and having crossed a demesne of shallow lakes, their shorelines whispering with the rustle of reeds; and having ridden through a land of tall grass, where swift-running animals fled before them, white and tan animals much like deer, but blunt-horned, and with the tan limned in black; and having traveled through deep, quiet valleys of a snowcapped mountainous realm, where the wind sighed in loneliness; and having spent days coursing along the sands of a dune-laden seashore, where gulls wheeled and sandpipers ran and terns dived, the birds mewing and pipping and crying, and the blue ocean waves ever rolling-at last they came to the demesne wherein lay Laird Duncan’s manor.
Gwyd made enquiries, and then led the retinue to a village, where they found Laird Duncan readying a warband to retake his manse from the Goblins and Trolls. Gwyd told the laird what he and the princess had done, and he returned the decanters to Duncan. Luc pledged his men and himself to help Laird Duncan to recover his home, and the laird accepted gladly. But when the combined warband reached the mansion, they found nought but ruins, for it had burned to the ground.
Liaze gasped and said, “Ah, me, Gwyd, it seems the Goblins and Trolls were not accomplished firefighters.”
Twk upon Jester fluttered to the ground, and he and the chicken searched through the cold ruins, while the men spread out and scanned the surround.