That evening, as Dolph had said there would be, they heard the ringing of a bell.
"We are summoned to the festivities," said Egil, slipping into a dark red jacket, accented in black, matching his accented breeks. His feet were shod in black boots, and 'round his waist was clasped a black belt with red buckle. He stuck his head out the door and called, "Dolph," and the chamberboy hurried inward. "We've not yet been to the central tower; will you guide us?"
"Ja, sir, I will." Dolph paused, then added, "But with you that axe you cannot take. Stahl only, the queen's champion, in her presence weapons to bear is permitted."
"But we're here to entertain the queen," said Egil, "tomorrow night, and it's part of my costume, lad, just as Lady Aiko's blades are part of her costume."
"Well, sir, into the great hall your axe you will be permitted tomorrow and Lady Aiko her swords. But for tonight only permitted small ornamental daggers are. Wear them all the lords do."
"Bah," growled Aiko. "In the hands of one who knows how to use it, a tiny dagger will kill as swiftly as a great sword."
Egil sighed and slipped his axe from his belt and laid it on the table, signing for Aiko to do likewise. Muttering under her breath, she unbuckled her blades and laid them beside Egil's axe. But she did not remove the four shiruken hidden in a band at her waist.
"Do we look all right now, boy?" asked Alos, craning his neck in his ruffed collar. Alos was scrubbed and groomed and was dressed in green: pale green shirt with ruffles at the collar and wrist, emerald green jacket and breeks, black boots and belt. On his head he wore a dark green hat with a black plume.
Aiko, as usual, was dressed in her leathers, but she forwent her ribands, saying that she would wear them morrow night for her performance.
Dolph looked at them, but he seemed transfixed as his gaze alighted on Arin in her simple yet elegant satin gown of russet that fell straight to the floor from a tan bodice. Brown slippered feet peeked under the hem. Her chestnut hair was garlanded with intertwined beige ribbons, matching those crisscrossing the bodice. In a breathless voice, Dolph said, "More beautiful than you, milady, none will be," then immediately blushed and turned away.
Egil grinned and murmured to Alos, "Methinks he saw neither thee nor me nor Lady Aiko, but I suspect we are presentable."
When they came to the door of the great hall, Dolph, his wards safely delivered, sped away. Arin and her companions joined a slow-moving stream of nobles and diplomats and other guests pacing inward past a posted guard. Ahead, within the hall, a steward struck a great staff 'gainst the floor and called out the ranks and names of the guests as they made their entrances. Slowly the line advanced, and at last the four of them moved past the doors.
They came into a great long chamber, beringed by pillars against the wide-set walls. Spaced along the walls as well were huge hearths, all without fire, for it was early September and summer had not yet fled the land. The walls themselves were hung with tapestries, and staffs jutted out, from which depended the colorful flags of the different fiefdoms of Jutland arranged in descending order of rank-dukes' flags above those of counts, counts' above earls, and so on, down through viscounts and barons-each flag bearing a coat of arms. Overhead, great wooden beams spanned from wall to wall, and dangling down from the timbers were chain-hung braces of lanterns; the chandeliers were lighted brightly, for only lavender twilight streamed in through high windows above. Three broad steps down from the wide entryway landing began a great center floor of smooth, polished stone, the whole ringed around by raised flooring where sat banquet tables. The amphitheater swept forward till it fetched up against four steps leading to a wide throne dais. Though the floor was awash with people, the throne itself was empty.
The hall was abuzz with conversation, and with Arin on one arm and Aiko on the other, and with Alos trailing after, Egil came to an aide standing beside the steward and whispered their names to the man. As other guests passed them by and were announced, the aide looked through a list and then said, "Ah yes. Here you are." He looked up at Egil. "You will be seated at Baron Stolz's table." He pointed to a table halfway along the left side of the chamber. "There, under the green flag with the white boar." At Egil's nod, the aide stepped to the steward, who struck the floor with his staff and then called out: "Milords and ladies and honored guests: the Dylvana Arin of Darda Erynian; Lady Aiko of Ryodo; Master Alos of Thol; and Master Egil One-Eye of Jord."
As they stepped forward down to the main floor, Arin glanced up at Egil and mouthed, [Jord?]
Egil leaned down and whispered, "Aye. Jute and Fjordland are ancient enemies, hence it would be folly to claim my true homeland when I stand in the court of the foe. And so I chose another. Jord and Fjordland are neighbors, and the Jordian accent is much like my own."
Now they moved down among the guests, and many eyes followed them, widening at the sight of the satin-gowned Dylvana and the leather-clad golden warrior at her side. As to Egil and Alos, the guests gave them little heed, their glances pausing only long enough to note Egil's scarlet eye patch and Alos's white eye, though some did make surreptitious signs of warding at the sight of the oldster's pale orb. Egil though scanned their faces closely, and he said to Arin, "Let us circle, love, for I would find Baron Steiger. Likely he'll be here, and perhaps by now has remembered where he and I met."
Slowly they wended among the throng, Alos and Aiko following. Searching carefully, they made one complete circuit about the floor, but of Baron Steiger there was no hint. "Shall we go 'round again?" asked Arin, yet in that moment there sounded a trumpet.
The steward hammered the floor three times and called out, "The queen approaches." Moving to places more or less in line with their respective feudal flags, people formed a long aisle down the center of the floor from the doors to the throne. With Arin and Egil leading, Alos and Aiko following, the four moved to a place along the aisle forward of Baron Stolz's flag. Moments later, the clarion flourished again, and the steward smote his staff against the floor three more times and called out, "My lords and ladies and honored guests, Queen Gudrun the Comely, monarch of all Jutland and of the Ryngar Isles, and her consort, Delon the Virile." Then steward and trumpeter stepped aside and bowed low.
In through the door swept a tall woman. She was dressed in a pale blue long-sleeved silken gown with a tight bodice and a skirt which flared out at the hips to fall widely to the floor. Yellow hair cascaded in curls down her back, and tight ringlets framed her powdered and rouged face. A golden tiara set with glittering jewels crowned her head. About her left wrist was clamped a silver bracelet from which a long silver chain linked her to the silver collar 'round the neck of the man following to her left and a step behind.
He was compact, no taller than she, perhaps five feet eight inches altogether. He had fair skin and pale blond hair and his age was perhaps thirty. He was dressed in dark purple, with bright lavender insets in the puffed shoulders and sleeves, and lavender ruffles at neck and wrist. His purple shoes and belt, with their lavender buckles, matched the rest of his garb, and he wore a wide-brimmed lavender hat adorned with three enormous purple plumes.
Gudrun paused, allowing any and all to admire her, and then permitted the consort to offer his hand as she descended the three steps to the amphitheater floor. Together they paced down the aisle, he once again a stride behind, and they smiled and nodded at the bowing and curtseying guests. When they came to Arin and Aiko, the queen paused and looked at them both, her pale blue eyes glittering. And no amount of powder and rouge could conceal the effects of the passage of the thirty years that had elapsed since the statue of her-the one in the hedge maze-had been crafted. She smiled at Arin, and the consort swept the plumed hat from his head and bowed low and smiled at Arin as well, though no hint of pleasure reached his eyes. Then they both moved on without saying a word.