The Beacon: Palisade (1)
Episode 6: "Marching Orders"
“How do you stand living in such disreputable apartments?” said a sudden, booming voice from the entryway. The voice belonged to the king, Lorens III, and it startled Adonis Santinetta just as it made servants, diplomats, and aristocrats jump when directed at them at court. As was his wont, the king had entered uninvited and unannounced, not even bothering to knock before flinging open the door and stepping through. He stood with his hands on his hips, inspecting the walls, artwork, and furnishings with a critical eye. “For as much as I pay you, I would expect you to live in decadent luxury, Uncle Adon.”
That comment elicited a bark of laughter from an inner room. “If you paid me any less, sire, I doubt I could feed myself! Besides, let me remind you that these ‘disreputable apartments’ are part of your own palace, remote as they may be to your own. Perhaps you should renovate them.” The speaker, a fit, gray-haired, weathered man of more than fifty years, stood before a full-length mirror, fiddling with his sea-green cravat, a clothing accessory he wore too seldom to master the intricate knot current court fashion dictated. As it drooped forlornly to one side, he untied it with a sigh and tried again.
The king had followed the sound of his voice and had stopped to watch him from the doorway. His immaculate attire—fine dark-blue wool pants, a sky-blue silk shirt, and a perfectly tied white cravat adorned with a diamond pin—fit his long, lean frame like a second skin. An almost fifteen years younger cousin once removed, the king had often consulted the older man in recent years as a friend rather than an agent. He shook his dark-haired head mournfully. “As I have urged you many times, Adon, you need a valet. He would keep your rooms tidy, prepare your clothes, and dress you to look presentable when you appear in public—and especially anytime you’re with me. I can recommend a good one if you like.”
Adon grimaced, bringing out the wrinkles on his face. “No, thank you, sire. You know how I feel about servants.”
“Indeed,” the king said. “So you have said many times, my friend. But that cravat could have been tied by a one-armed monkey with a banana in his hand. I would help you tie it properly myself, but firstly, I am the king, and secondly, you need to change out of that hideous attempt at courtly dress and into your accustomed rustic and stained traveling clothes.”
“Ah, once again, I am witness to why the people adore King Lorens III of Margonne! He lets them be themselves!” He gratefully tugged off the cravat and flung it over the top of the mirror, setting his thick fingers to work on the buttons of his shirt. “Where’s the fire?” he asked.
Hands behind his back, the king entered the room, pacing along windows overlooking the formal gardens below. He gazed down at the pattern of the hedges and flower beds, admiring the artistry long enough for Adon to assume he was ignoring his question. But finally, he said, “I assume that you have heard the rumors about whole towns going mad—normal, law-abiding people suddenly knifing their neighbors, robbing passing travelers, running naked through the streets, screaming nonsense at old ladies, and similar insane things?”
At Adon’s nod, he continued both pacing and speaking. “Well, our original assessment was that they were just a few random oddities, passing lunacy, or garbled reports. But now they don’t seem quite so unremarkable. Reports of similar bizarre happenings have come in from every part of the kingdom, and they are getting more frequent and cover larger areas. One even clipped part of Palisade last week—the northernmost docks on the lake—but the city guard was able to contain the worst of the madness. Fortunately, the destruction was minimal and the injuries few—no deaths as there have been elsewhere.”
By this time, Adon had donned well-worn, dark brown woolen pants and a white cotton shirt, moving on to pulling on a pair of high, supple leather boots. “What can I do about them? Do you want me to investigate a few of the sites? Ask some questions? Gauge the people’s temper?”
“No, in fact, just the opposite,” Lorens said, leaning over a dresser for a closer view of an old painting of a flowerpot hanging on the wall above it. “Asking more questions would be a waste of your time. We have had another report, an anomaly, if you will. Tell me, in a field of common wildflowers, would you spend your time inspecting them or the one rose rising above them?”
“A spot of good news, then?”
“Well, contrary news, at least,” the king replied, shrugging. “There is a small community in the foothills near The Corner where this phenomenon has no effect, it appears. The wave or bubble or ripple or distortion or whatever the blasted thing is rolled right through them, and no one behaved out of character. Not one of the townspeople began barking like a dog or poisoned the well or even slapped his sister for making faces! The only reason we know about it at all is that the headman there thought the wave to be a rare and unusual event and decided to tell us it had come through.”
“It sounds like I’m to go investigate a non-event,” Adon said, scratching his head as he passed into another room to collect his gear. “Seems like a bit of a fool’s errand.”
“Well, then, I’m sending the right man to do the job,” said Lorens, a twinkle in his blue eyes. When Adon’s head snapped around toward the king, the latter said, “I’m afraid you walked straight into that one, old man.”
He quickly turned serious again, following Adon into the next room. “Naturally, I want you to dig out why this phenomenon wreaks havoc everywhere else but placidly passes through there. Perhaps it is a fool’s errand—maybe this town is just so far away from its source that the thing has lost all its power by then. Who knows? But we—you—need to chase down any scrap of information that will help counter this thing, or at least weaken it, everywhere else.”
“All right,” Adon said with a resigned shrug. “I will go talk to these people and find out what makes them or that area different. Don’t be surprised if I come back with nothing substantial to report. A mysterious thing like this wave of evil may remain a mystery forever. We are the blind heading into the unknown here.”
“I realize that,” the king said, waving his hand dismissively, “but I hope any new information along this line will be helpful. I want you to leave as soon as you can get your people and supplies together. If possible, we need to get ahead of this situation before it worsens.” His voice changed, taking on a serious tone. “I may be removed from them by my station, but I don’t like it when my subjects die so strangely and wantonly. It is my sworn duty to help them and protect them.”
“Which is the real reason your people love you,” Adon said, smiling. He stuffed some changes of clothing into a saddlebag and pulled a broad-brimmed leather hat off its hook. “I’d like to read all the reports before I go. Knowing what others experienced might help me spot the differences out west.”
“In my wisdom, I anticipated you would,” Lorens said, “so I had my secretaries toil night and day on bread and water to copy them for you. You can read them on the way. Seeing that your journey is one of many miles, you should have plenty of time,” he added with a grin, winking. “You will also be provided with a current map to this mountain town and some coin, just in case you need to buy any information.”
Adon bowed his head in thanks. “My usual crew can be ready in a few hours if they are where they’re supposed to be. We’ll leave before sunset.”
“Good, I also expected you to say that,” the king said, nodding. “Frankly, had you said otherwise, I would have ordered you to leave by sunset. But you are one of the few people around here that I can count on to get to a task without excuses and to talk to me without honeyed words and half-truths. You’re not a courtier, thank all that is good, which is very refreshing.”
“It’s hard to teach an old sailor new knots, as a captain I once knew would say.” Adon moved into his kitchen, placing the few perishable foods into a wicker basket. “I’ll drop these off at Gran’s Orphanage before I go. No sense letting them go to waste.”
The king drew a coin purse from a pocket in his pants and fished out a gold piece, tossing it into the basket. “Let her know I haven’t forgotten her and her kindness.”
“She will appreciate it, sire,” Adon said. “If you don’t mind my asking, what will you be doing on this while I’m trekking the wilderness?”
“I do not mind at all, my friend,” the king answered. “In fact, it reminds me of something I wanted to mention. I have summoned the Master of the College to a mid-afternoon meeting, where I will inform him of these reports and of your mission. I will then request his aid in researching any hint of such things in the annals of the kingdom and in the histories at the College Archives. Perhaps something like this has happened before and was written down, but since it was so long ago, no one remembers it. It may take them the whole time you’re gone for them to comb the histories.”
“Sounds like a prudent course,” Adon said. “Have you considered talking to those who may dabble in various sorceries?”
“You mean witches and enchanters and fortune-tellers?” the king asked with a sudden sharpness. “Most everyone knows how I feel about such occultists, so I doubt any would come forward to answer a few questions. Perhaps I can send out a man to snoop around a fairy circle or two, but I doubt we’ll get any satisfying answers. What do they really know? They’re all charlatans, from what I can see.”
“Okay, then,” Adon said, unperturbed. Into the basket, he threw a few other oddments—a lace handkerchief, a small stone statuette of a dancer, and a pair of silver earrings—items he had bought for Grania on a recent trip. “Perhaps we can ask the senior religious authorities if they have any notion of what these disturbing waves might be.”
“And get a sermon, no doubt, for our troubles!” Lorens said, eyes narrowing. “Some of them are worse than the magicians! They piously tell you all your faults and urge you to give more to the poor. And in the meanwhile, most of the proceeds end up filling their purses and tending to their luxurious upkeep. I have little hope of getting any useful information from the likes of them.”
“You are decidedly negative on your fellow man this morning,” Adon said with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
“Only certain ones, my good fellow!” the king said with a laugh. “I have no use for hypocrites and fakes and extortionists and such. I value men of intellect and insight and action! Don’t give me blather and nonsense—I want to see things done! As you have probably noticed, keenly aware as you are, I find the most egregiously worthless courtiers far-flung posts to fill. They can be worthless on someone else’s time. Which reminds me—perhaps I can put some of them in front of one of these bubbles or waves or whatever they are on the off-chance that a few of my problems will be solved.”
“From the randomness of these events,” Adon said, giving the room a quick inspection, “that may happen whether you put them there yourself or not. It is only a matter of time before one of them crosses a nobleman’s estate or catches one of them in his carriage. For your sake, I hope it is not one of the good ones.”
He crossed to a table, pushing a chair neatly into place. “I think that’s it. I will take this basket to the orphanage and round up my crew. That should get everything moving in the right direction. I will return here—or anywhere you decide—before we leave, just in case you have any last-minute instructions for me.”
“If I do, I will leave a note on that very table,” the king said. “Otherwise, get to this mountain village, make your inquiries, and return to Palisade as quickly as you can—and I pray you return with answers.”
Adon bowed, but Lorens stepped forward and took his hand, grabbing the older man’s shoulder with the other. “Keep your wits about you, uncle,” he said with more concern than he had yet shown. “I fear this may be more serious than it has appeared thus far. And thank you for doing this. There is no one else I trust more to find me the truth.”
Smiling in thanks for the expression of confidence, Adon said, “You can count on me, sire. I may not have sailed much in the last few years, but waves don’t scare me anymore, even weird ones on land. Be well, Lorens.” With that, he picked up the basket and left his apartment through the still-open door.
A note:
Lorens III calls Adonis Santinetta “Uncle Adon.” The king’s grandfather, King Alfons, and Adon’s father, Baron Mardans Santinetta, were half-brothers. Strictly speaking, Adon is Lorens’ great-uncle. For years, Mardans had helped King Alfons with various off-the-books tasks within the Kingdom of Margonne (and a few in other nations). When age had begun to limit him, he asked his eldest son, Adonis, who had recently retired from a profitable career as a ship’s captain, to continue in his footsteps. Adon readily accepted the invitation. Having passed into his sixth decade of an adventurous life, which has left his body well-worn, he has begun to consider retiring from his second and more rewarding career.
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Great first chapter!