"I know not. I am told it has always appeared on this day of the year."
"Some day it 11 die, in the natural course of events," said Eudoric. "What then will the Armorians do with the woman they've chosen thus to honor?" <t "You are too full of questions!" snapped Yolanda. " 'Twere better to study the waters." After a pause, she added: "Oh, I cry your pardon! I confess I am tetchy; waiting to be devoured doth not improve one's manners."
"I understand," said Eudoric. "I did but think that such light talk might take your mind off your predicament."
"So indeed it may. Continue, pray."
"Well then, tell me: The Armorians call you a witch, and others hint that you possess uncanny powers. Why can't you use these powers to free yourself and dispose of the monster?"
" 'Tis true that I've made some small study of the wizardly arts. I have, for ensample, a splendid spell for freezing a creature to immobility, as if it were turned to stone. Therewith, I could render Druzhok as stiff and harmless as if it were stuffed and mounted in the Letitian museum. But the spell requires costly apparatus, which I brought not with me from Franconia. When they arrested me, they seized my few bits of magical gear, all but the tube and powder for the Lesser Immobility. Those were on my person, which they failed to search. My rank protected me at least from that indignity."
Eudoric clucked sympathetically. "What is the Lesser Immobility?"
"Another spell, like unto the Greater Immobility, save that it be worked with a simple blowpipe and a pinch of powder. It has but a short-lived effect— say, half an hour."
"How long does the Greater Immobility endure?"
She shrugged. "I have never watched a victim of it long enough to ascertain; but the wizard who sold it to me asserted that, if well and truly performed, 'twould hold the subject fast for a decade or more. Besides, Corentin the jester is a more puissant enchanter than I. When his men-at-arms seized me, he cast a countervailing spell against my minor magics. Another spell, placed upon these chains, prevents my sundering them by my arts. If the Three True Gods ever vouchsafe me a chance to take Corentin's head ..." She smiled grimly.
"What had Master Corentin against you?"
"He feared that I should subvert the affections of King Gwennon to make myself Queen of Armoria, thus to overthrow the jester's mastery of the King. In a civilized land, to treat a sovran with one tenth the insolence wherewith that sneering malapert Corentin uses Gwennon would cost a subject his head. These Armorians are nought but a pack of bloody savages, beneath a film of culture as thin as this Serican silk wherein I shiver. As for Gwennon—as if I'd ever bed down with that senile lump of lard, that puppet in Corentin's hands!"
A formidable dame, thought Eudoric, not to be thwarted or crossed with impunity. He wondered whether he could somehow defer the fateful step of winning the hand of this prickly princess, at least until he knew her better.
"Speaking of matters conjugal," said Eudoric, "know you that the Armorians intend, if I defeat the monster, to wed the twain of us?"
She started visibly. "Why, the whoreson knaves! Dost mean you and me, to each other?"
"Aye."
"The fiend take them! I should have guessed they had some such zany scheme in mind. Wherefore would they foist this union upon us?"
"They have the silly notion that you were less of a danger to them wed than as a maid."
"And what if I tell them to go futter themselves?"
"They'll throw us into prison until we change our minds."
"I'll rot in their dungeons ere I yield!"
"So thought I, also. But let us not reject the plan too hastily, lest we waste away our lives. We could make it a titular marriage; on your request, I would not press my husbandly rights."
"You would find it a daunting task to press them against my will," she said ominously.
"I daresay. Then, back in Franconia, you could take legal measures to regain your single state."
She pondered Eudoric's statement. "Franconia has no divorce—but under circumstances such as these, an annulment could be had."
"Assuming that we should then wish to part," said Eudoric.
"There is that possibility. Suffer me to think."
She sat long in silence, while Eudoric scanned the seascape for a sight of the monster. After a while he asked: "You are single, I take it?"
"Aye; husbandless and loverless." She looked him over narrowly. "Now that I consider the matter, methinks that, failing better, you might do. You seem a man of capacity, not ill-favored, whom I might learn to love. I could fare farther and do worse. But are you of noble blood? A royal princess cannot wed a low-born upstart, be he never so brave and virtuous."
Eudoric sighed. "I am heir to a banneret knight's holding, in Locania. Is that noble enough?"
" 'Twill do; 'twill suffice. Are you, too, single?"
"Aye. Truth to tell, I embarked upon this journey in hopes of wiving."
"Are you complete in all your parts?"
"So far as I know, I am. But if we forgo our marital pleasures until we—"
"Oho, a reluctant lecher! Mean you that you're a priestly celibate, whom I shall have to teach about the bees and the flowers?"
Eudoric laughed. "Good Gods, nay!"
"Well then, have you any mistresses to be paid off and turned out? I'll not suffer my man to divide his affections, whatever some of our courtly debauchees do—"
"Nay, no mistresses. I've been betrothed divers times, but fate has hitherto thwarted mine honorable intentions." Eudoric smiled. "And by the bye, my lovely enchantress, how know I that, upon our first disagreement, you'll not turn me into an earthworm?"
She laughed. "Fear not! To change the shape of a living being calls for spells far beyond my modest capacity. And, since the resulting creature must weigh as much as the being whence it came, you'd make a monstrous worm. No one ever disagrees with me anyway, save my featherpated brother.
"Now, Eudoric, since fate has dealt us this curious throw of the dice, let's make the best of it." She reached out and gave his arm a friendly squeeze. "Your offer to relinquish your rights was generous, and I thank you for it; but in this parlous strait 'twere foolish to forgo any harmless pleasures we might enjoy. I confess that I, too, have been seeking a mate. Being nearly thirty years of age, I fear a lifelong spinsterhood. I hereby swear to make you the happiest of husbands and to work no goetic magics upon your person!"
"If our marriage be one of fact as well as name, would that affect your getting an annulment—assuming you'd wish one?"
She shook her head. "For a commoner it were an obstacle; but I could afford the highest bribes the hierarchy would demand."
Eudoric studied the waves for a while; then asked: "And of our issue, should there be such, what were their standing?"
"You'll never sire a king, Eudoric. Franconian laws are strict in the succession. They'd have to run clean out of Clothar's male kinsmen, unto tenth cousins, ere they'd enthrone any child of mine. Besides, Clothar has legitimate children of's own, not to mention a swarm of little bastards. Your and my issue would receive nought but minor titles, as would you as my consort."
After another pause to scan the waters, Eudoric asked: "Speaking of magic, what is the strongest spell in your arsenal?"
"I have one for evoking marids. I bought it from an old Hiberian kassaf, who was down on his luck and wanted money for drink."
"For evoking what?"
"Marids; a kind of ouph that dwells in that part of the spirit world that is congruent with the Saracenic lands. It is a dangerous enterprise, for marids demand the most careful control after evocation. One must command them in the Saracenic tongue. Would that I had fetched a few marids with me from Letitia!"
"Do you speak Saracenic?" asked Eudoric.