Victory Keep: Chapter 17

Dinner with Prince Henry and his father was, of course, a formal affair.  Besides Richard and Henry it was attended by the King and Queen of Victory Keep, Arthur, Victoria and Katrina.  The three children were used to dining together, but not with the King and Queen, and certainly not with important guests.

'Do you have any plans for this place in the future?' Richard said to Arthur.  He seemed particularly interested in the boy, and was full of questions for him.  'It's a nice little lot.  There's certainly room to expand your town, and the forest is a good hunting spot, I'd imagine.  Maybe when we're here next, you could take Henry and me to have a go at some of the game.'

'My father doesn't go in for hunting,' said Arthur.  'I may do, when I am King.  I'm sure I should like it, but I've never been allowed to try it.'

'There's not much to hunt in that forest, Arthur,' said his father, before Richard had time to object.  'No deer to speak of - that's why we never have venison.  I'm sorry, Richard, but you'd be pressed to find something larger than a hare in that forest.'

'There are the centaurs,' said Arthur.

'Quite so,' said the King, 'but we're hardly going to be shooting them.'

'I met some of them,' said Katrina, 'when I ran away that time.'

Arthur shot her a hard look.  The King frowned slightly, while Victoria, the Queen, Richard and Henry all looked at Katrina with interest.

'They were nice,' she went on, 'but they were very keen for me to get back home.'

'They were probably worried about you,' said Henry.

'I don't know why,' said Katrina.  She furrowed her brow, trying to remember.  She had always held the sights and sounds carefully in her memory, but the centaurs' exact words were hard to recall.  'If you say there's nothing else bigger than a hare…  But I think they did say there were a few dangerous animals in there.  At least, they seemed to think I might be in danger.'

'Perhaps they meant human danger,' said Richard.  'You get some unsavoury characters going into forests at night, young lady.'

'Really?' said Katrina.  'What for?'

'To hide from the law, I suppose,' said Richard, 'and attack lost little girls.'

'Your Majesty, please!' said the Queen.

Richard bowed his head, and said, 'So sorry, Majesty.  Of course, my dear, you have nothing to fear inside the walls of this castle.'

'Nothing but boredom,' said Katrina.

'Now then, Katie,' said Victoria.  'Remember what you have been told.'

Katrina shot Victoria a sharp look, then lowered her gaze to her plate and resumed eating.

'Your Highness,' said Arthur, 'did you see our resident centaur when you were out walking with my sister?'

'Indeed I did,' said Henry.

'Resident centaur, eh?' said Richard.  'I say, what a splendid trophy!'

'He isn't a trophy, Richard,' said the King.  'He's one of our grounds men.'

'And he's a friend,' said Katrina.

'Friendly with my ward here, certainly,' the King went on, throwing Katrina a stern look.  'He's a nice lad.  Very willing.'

'Must we keep talking of centaurs?' said Arthur.  'I find the subject awfully dull.'

'Now then, youngster, centaurs are a fine asset to have in your kingdom,' said Richard.  'When it is your kingdom, of course.  Perhaps you should think of them more - you may one day find some use for them.'

'The centaurs are their own people, Your Majesty,' said Victoria.

'But they're on our land,' said Arthur.  'It's very generous of Father to let them live here at all.  Your Majesty, I shall think on what you have said.'

'Good lad,' said Richard.  'Now then, that's centaurs well and truly discussed.  Shall we move onto the subject of marriage?'

Victoria and Henry exchanged an uncomfortable look.

---

'Three years, then,' said Henry, as he and his father trundled home in their carriage.  'And then… well, there we are.'

'You'll like marriage,' said Richard.  'It's good for a man, not to mention a kingdom.'

'Why did you decide to marry Mother?  Rather than some other princess, I mean.'

'Well, I must say she was very beautiful, and I was fond of her.  But my father made the decision for me.  He chose your mother because her father was threatening war.'

'Oh.'

Henry could think of nothing more to say, and so he looked out of the window at the acres of overgrown scrap land.

'Someone should make use of all that out there,' Richard said.

'Well, why don't you?'

'Perhaps I shall, my boy.'

---

Whenever Keftos visited the town he looked out for the young centaur who had caught his eye, but he never saw him there again.  Each time he left the market place clutching his day's goods, he cursed himself for not speaking to the lad the first time he saw him, and grew ever angrier about it with each passing day.

It occurred to him that the girl might provide a clue.  He asked several people whether they knew who she was, but no one would tell him.  He was sure that many were lying when they said they did not know who she might have been, insisting that his description could have applied to any number of girls.  It had not escaped Keftos's notice that this girl looked considerably richer than most who passed through the town.  He was hoping very much that she had not come from Victory Keep.

One day he even asked the blacksmith, though this was someone he tried to avoid, as he knew horses so well.  John Smith would know with certainty whether or not he had seen a young centaur posing as a boy riding a colt.  Equally, he was likely to spot an older centaur posing as a man on a stallion.  Keftos did not bring the subject up when he spoke to the smith, not wanting to draw attention to his own disguise.  He asked instead about the girl.

'Well, let me see now,' said John, with infuriating slowness.  'It could have been any one of the townspeople's girls, couldn't it?'

'I haven't seen her here before or since,' said Keftos, 'and she wasn't dressed like a townsperson's daughter.'

'Oh yes?' said John.  'Rich, was she?'

'She dressed richly, yes.'

'Then if she's from round here, there's only one place she could have come from, isn't there?  Would you like me shoe that horse for you, sir?'

'No thank you,' said Keftos, pulling on the reins and drawing away from the smith.

As he trotted away down the road, the two words swam in his head: Victory Keep.  Of course, it was the only reasonable explanation, but Keftos had not wanted to believe it.  He could not risk going to that place - not after robbing so many people outside its gates.

---

Fortia was the first to meet Xorie walking through the forest, long after she had put her encounter with Keftos out of her mind.  It was late autumn, and as the two centaurs approached each other, the leaves cracked under their hooves.

'Just my luck,' said Fortia.

'You needn't speak to me,' said Xorie.  'I'm going back to Victory Keep.'

'Why walk through here?  You know the others won't want to see you.'

'Because it's the quickest way, and I am anxious to return to my son.'

She walked past Fortia, who turned and watched her for a moment as she ventured further into the woods.  Then, forgetting her vow never to be nice again, she called after Xorie, 'You're an aunt!'

Xorie turned back and looked at her.  'Really?  Which of my sisters had a child?  And… when?'

'Thrika, and it was a long time ago.  That last time we saw you… Erini was a child then.  She isn't much younger than your boy.'

'Erini.'  Xorie looked thoughtful.  'Then Fipp has a cousin.'

'For all the good it'll do him.  Thrika won't let either of you associate with her daughter.'

'Of course not.  Thank you for telling me, Fortia.'

'Oh, and,' said Fortia, as Xorie once again turned to go, 'Keftos was here.'

'What?'  Xorie swivelled round at the waist, then turned her whole body, her eyes wide with alarm.  'When?'

'Earlier this year, in the spring… almost winter still.'

'What did he want?'

'He saw Fipp, and he recognised himself.  And perhaps you - I don't know.'

'Oh my goodness,' said Xorie.

'Go back to the castle, I would,' said Fortia, 'and see if Keftos managed to find him while you were away.'

'Yes,' said Xorie, her brow furrowed in thought.  'I shall.'

---

Fipp was dragging a wooden plough over one of the vegetable patches behind the kitchens when Xorie found him.  Her expression became agonised as she looked at him, and said loudly, 'Oh, Fipp!'

He was much grown, and Xorie realised with a lurch in both stomachs just how much of his childhood she had missed.  At the sound of her voice Fipp looked up, stared at her for a moment, then turned and detached himself from the plough before running into her arms.

'Oh, my poor boy!'  She caught him in a tight embrace, tears welling in her eyes as she ran one hand through his hair and kept the other clamped around his waist.  'I have to get you away from here.'

'But Mother -'

'I've found it.  Somewhere we can go.  You'll love it there, I promise.  I found it, Fipp!'

'It took you long enough.'  Fipp pulled away from her, resisting her efforts to keep him pressed up against her.  'You've been gone for more than a year.  Do you expect me to travel with you for… what, half as long as that?  This is my home, Mother.  You can't really expect me to leave.'

'Oh Fipp, stop it, you don't know what you're saying.  If you just let me tell you about this other place… a forest.  It's beautiful.  There are centaurs - you'll be with your own kind.'

'I've survived this long with no other centaurs but you,' said Fipp, 'and these past many moons without even that.  This is my home.'

'Fipp,' said Xorie, 'you can't really mean…'

'I'm staying.'

'I see.  Then… I shall stay with you,' she said, 'for as long as I can bear it.  But my darling, the work they've got you doing…'

'It's valuable work, Mother,' said Fipp, 'and I want to earn my keep here.  I eat my share of what grows in these fields.'

'In the forest we'd earn a living by finding and catching food for ourselves, and making our own shelter.'

'Please don't, Mother.  I know nothing of that way of life, and I don't much care to learn.  Can't you understand that?  Listen… we should be celebrating your return.  Go to the hut, and I'll come and join you when I've finished my work.  Yes,' he said, as she opened her mouth to protest, 'I must finish it.  Go on, Mother.  I'll see you there soon.'

'All right,' said Xorie.  'But tell me, darling - how are Edgar and my dear little Trina?'

'They are both well,' said Fipp.  'You'll see them soon, I'm sure.'

'I missed them both, and that girl Sarah as well… and some of the stablemen.  Of course, it was nothing to how much I missed you, but I missed them all the same.'

'You could always stay.  I mean really stay, not just until you can bear to leave me again.'

'Oh, Fipp.'  She looked past him, at the plough and the half-brown field.  'I couldn't.'

---

'Oh, I wish I could go with you!' said Katrina, as she lay with the two centaurs in their hut, her neck and shoulders against Fipp's flank and her legs draped over Xorie's back.  'To live wild in the forest - it sounds wonderful!'

'I don't know how you'd adapt to it, my sweet,' said Xorie, 'nor how the centaurs would receive you.'

'We received a very warm reception from the humans here,' said Fipp.  'Didn't we, Mother?'

'Some of them,' said Xorie.

Katrina, though still a child, had grown too.  She still looked much younger than Fipp, though not as much as she had when they were very small.  In the forest she had found, Xorie had met three young centaur girls about Fipp's age.  Looking at Katrina now, she even fancied that the child resembled one of them.  She would have given anything for Fipp to meet her, and spend an hour or two in her company, just to see how he liked it.

For his part, Fipp was thinking of asking Xorie about the centaur he had seen in the town almost three seasons ago, but for some reason he could not or would not do it.  There was still a part of him that did not want to know: the part that had drawn him away from the market place that day.

---

'Sit down, Edgar, sit down,' said the King, waving his minister back down into his seat as he walked into the minister's office.  'I'd like some advice, if I may.'

'I am Your Majesty's chief advisor,' said Edgar.

'So you are,' said the King, smiling, as he took a seat in front of Edgar's desk.  'Well, it's about my children.  Princess Victoria has been very quiet on the subject of her union with Prince Henry of Conquerors' County.  I suppose I am doing the right thing?'

'I cannot divine your daughter's feelings on this matter, sire,' said Edgar.  'Perhaps if you were to ask her…?'

'Hmm… perhaps,' said the King.  'All right then, what about Prince Arthur?  It's time he was betrothed as well.  Do you know of any princesses going spare?'

'I'll look into it, Your Majesty,' said Edgar.

'Good man.  Well, I'll see you later, then.'  The King got up to leave, then paused in the doorway and said, 'By the way, Edgar, I suppose you've spoken to your centaur friend since she returned.  How is she?'

'She is well, Your Majesty,' said Edgar, supposing that the King did not want him to go into details.

'She can't suckle my foals any longer, I suppose.  That's a shame.  Still, the boy's a good little worker, so I can't very well object to his mother.  See that she's quite all right, and that they both behave themselves, won't you?'

'Yes, Your Majesty.'

---

Though Xorie could hardly bear the idea of Fipp doing horses' work, she found that she could not bear to leave him again too soon, and that she could stand to stay for longer than she would have thought possible.  While the nature of Fipp's work displeased her, she seemed to approve of work in general, as she asked Sarah to teach her to sew and helped with the making of Katrina and Victoria's clothes.  Like her son, she wanted to earn her keep.

One day, when Xorie was strolling through the grounds with Edgar, she said, 'Fipp is almost grown now.  He doesn't need me any longer.'

'He has grown up so quickly,' said Edgar.  'It's hard to believe he's the same age as Katrina.'

'Katrina is less mature than he is,' said Xorie, 'and her horse of the same age far more mature.  How much longer will Starlight live?'

'Oh, another ten to twenty years, I should think,' said Edgar.

'And in the meantime,' said Xorie, 'the court prepares for the Princess's eighteenth birthday.  She is to be married to some prince of a neighbouring kingdom, you say?'

'That is the arrangement,' said Edgar, 'though I'm not at all sure that Her Highness wishes to marry Prince Henry.  I shall be interested to see what comes of it.'

'I don't think I wish to know what will come of it,' said Xorie.  'That poor girl.  I am reminded that I really don't belong here, and now that Fipp has no more need of me… I think the time has come for me to leave.'

'Well,' said Edgar, 'I am not altogether surprised, but Xorie, I am saddened.  You have been a good friend to me.'

'And you to me, Edgar,' said Xorie.  'I'll miss you, and I shall certainly never forget you.'

'I am glad to hear you say so,' said Edgar.  'I know you're not exactly thrilled with what this environment has done to Fipp as he's grown older.  Sometimes I wonder… whether I ought not to have brought you here.'

'Edgar,' said Xorie, 'you mustn't think like that.  I didn't have to follow you, but I agreed because I had no home to go to, and you provided me with one.  Me and my infant son.  For this, I shall always be grateful.'

'You must tell me where I can find you,' said Edgar, 'should I ever wish to speak to you, or bring you news of Fipp.  And tell Katrina as well - she'll need to know, after I'm gone.'

'Dear Edgar,' said Xorie.  'How I wish that all humans could be like you.'

'Even the Lady Katrina?'

'Oh yes.  As much as I like her, I think being a little more like you would do her good.'

---

Once again, Thomas found himself standing behind the Prince and watching Fipp and Katrina from a high window, this time as they said a tearful goodbye to Xorie.

'Change is afoot, Thomas,' said Arthur, the sentiment reflected in his very voice, which was so recently broken.  'The centaur mare is leaving us for good this time, and the colt intends to stay and plough our fields.  How do I feel about that?'

'I really cannot say, Your Highness,' said Thomas.

'Neither can I,' said Arthur.  'It's good to have him doing the work of a man and a horse, but he is altogether too friendly with Katrina.  I have tried to put a stop to it, but that girl simply does not do as she is told.'

'She is a child yet, Your Highness,' said Thomas.  'Perhaps when she is older…'

'You're back in the cabinet of ministers now, Thomas, aren't you?'

'Your father has granted me that privilege, Highness, yes.'

'Then you must have refrained from speaking ill of Edgar these past few years.'

'Indeed, Your Highness, I have.'

'All this,' said Arthur, 'and my dear sister about to be married off to Conquerors' County.  I do think perhaps things are improving around here.'

Things were indeed changing, but Arthur did not know then the biggest change that was about to take place.  On the eve of his daughter's eighteenth birthday, while she sat in her room worrying about her impending marriage, the King of Victory Keep - with a suddenness that baffled all, and for no reason that anyone could see - fell dangerously ill.