The Lady and the Prince
Chapter 27

Nick called, “I’ll be out shortly, Winkershime, have him wait.” He dressed carefully, and so did Elizabeth but he told her, “You stay in here. If we both go out, there will be talk. I’ll leave the door ajar so you can hear.”

Nick went out into the sitting room where the page waited. But this wasn’t one of the little boys who carried ordinary messages; this was the king’s page, Walter. Walter was a man of thirty, fancily dressed in the royal colors and used only for formal communiqués.

He bowed to Nick and said, “Prince Nicholas, you are summoned to appear before the king at noon tomorrow to answer to the charge of witchcraft. Do you have any questions about this summons?”

“No, I understand. In the formal throne room?”

“Of course.” Walter bowed and left. Elizabeth came out of Nick’s bedroom, expecting a look of censure from Winkershime, but he seemed unaffected by the fact that the two of them were alone together in a bedroom for an hour.

Winkershime asked, “Is there anything I can do to assist you, Your Highness?”

Nick shook his head. “No, other than making sure I look as good as I can with these,” he replied, holding up his manacled wrists. “But I could use some assistance from Elizabeth and Anne.”

“Whatever I can do, just name it,” Elizabeth stated.

“I’m restricted to my room, but I need some information from the library. There’s a copy of the laws there, and I need to know the exact wording of the current law on witchcraft as well as any other laws that might still be in existence. Anne knows where the books are. Searching through them could take all night, but I need to replace an excuse for His Majesty to spare me.”

“Done,” was all Elizabeth said as she swept out of the room to go replace Princess Anne.

Anne was more than willing to help. In the library she indicated an entire shelf of oversized books. “The oldest are on the left, and some are nearly illegible. The pages turn yellow and the ink fades, plus the old writing was quite different from our modern letters. I’ll fetch ink, pens, and paper to take notes while you start on the most recent book.”

Elizabeth pulled it down and sat down at a table. She opened it and found it was completely handwritten, with numbers down the left side of each page. Some laws were lined through, and some had other numbers written after them. Some of the added numbers were in parentheses, others weren’t. It was very confusing and hard to read.

Anne came back, set the writing materials out on the table, took down the next book, and sat across from Elizabeth. “We need to copy the current law exactly as written and make note of any of the numbers written in at the end. When a new law is passed, the clerks are supposed to reference any previous laws that the new law changed or superseded and put the numbers of those laws down by the new law, which will have a new number.”

“Why are some of the numbers in parenthesis?”

“Because the dolts didn’t start out with a numbering system, so whoever started numbering just picked a point and numbered forward and also numbered backward with the numbers in parenthesis. But these books are just copies and not kept up as well as the official books, so we need to replace everything pertaining to witchcraft and then go check what we have against the official books.”

“Can’t we just search the official books?” Elizabeth asked.

“No one is allowed to touch them except the three official clerks. They will turn the pages and let us read them, but they won’t sit there hour after hour doing that. We have to get everything we can from these first.”

“And we only have until noon tomorrow. Nick was right when he said this could take all night.” Elizabeth was starting to worry they wouldn’t finish in time.

“And the clerks aren’t on duty at night except by command of the king, so we’ll get everything we can and give it to Nick tonight to go over and then get to the official books at first light and give him changes as fast as we can. That still won’t allow him much time before he goes on trial.”

Elizabeth’s and Anne’s eyes locked in determination for just a moment, and then they both went to work. Deciphering the current books was difficult—reading multiple types of script, interpreting different spellings for words, and tracking the numbers. One reference number would lead to three that led to seven, which led back to some of the others or to laws that didn’t seem to have any relevance or to a number that didn’t exist anywhere they looked.

After two hours Elizabeth stopped and stretched her back. She had a full page of notes, but most of it didn’t have much value since almost all of the old witchcraft laws had been lined through.

“Is there really any point in writing down the laws that have been lined out?” she asked Anne, who stopped and stretched as well.

“Not much, but you never know. If we replace something that wasn’t lined out in the official books, then it’s still a law, at least for Nick’s trial. Even if it’s an error, it still counts until he’s judged, and then it will be immediately corrected. For common crimes those types of serendipitous errors have all been used and caught, but witchcraft has become rare enough that something might have slipped through.”

“We can only hope. The current law seems very clear. ‘Any man or woman justly accused and convicted of the use of magic, whether witch, warlock, wizard, mage, sorcerer, magicker or called by any other name, shall be burned at the stake until dead and their ashes scattered to the four winds.’ That seems rather definite.”

“It is. No one has escaped burning under it, although I doubt more than a dozen people have been convicted in the past few decades. Have you found anything else not lined out?”

“Not yet, and we’re getting into the older volumes. Some of the laws aren’t just scratched through, they’re entirely blotted out. Have you?”

“Just one, but it’s not very helpful. It says, ‘A magicker may be put to torture to obtain confession needed for conviction. If such a one be convicted of magick but not evil, then mercy may be shown and the magicker may be beheaded prior to being burnt.’ That last part might save Nick some pain, but it wouldn’t save his life even if the official books still have it as a valid law.”

“It’s almost dinnertime. I’m going to give Nick what we have and take a break. Meet you back here afterward?”

Anne said, “Yes. I’d better hurry and change. I’m required at the royal table, so you may get back before me. Are you going to eat with Nick?”

Elizabeth nodded and went back to Nick’s suite with their replaceings so far. She found Winkershime sitting at Nick’s side, sewing something that looked like black satin over the bandage-wrapped manacles.

Nick asked hopefully, “Did you replace anything?”

“Not much.” Elizabeth handed him the papers, and Nick took them with the hand not being worked on. He sat reading as Winkershime finished and stood up.

“Dinner for two, Your Highness?” the valet asked and went off to fetch it at Nick’s affirmative answer.

Elizabeth sat quietly while Nick read. He finally raised his head and said, “Too bad this old law isn’t still valid. It says a magician should be judged by what he does with his magic, not the fact of his talent. That seems much more sensible to me.”

“We’ll check it in the official books in the morning.”

“I’m sure it’s long gone as a law, but it doesn’t hurt to look. Have you and Anne thought to look for anything specific to Incelians? There are some special laws pertaining just to them. I doubt I could claim to be Incelian, but being half-Incelian might put some doubt into the proceedings if there’s anything exempting them for magic use.”

“We haven’t looked for that, but we will. I don’t suppose there have ever been exemptions for royalty?”

“I don’t know. A law like that would have to be ancient. The Warwicks have never had any witches in their line—until me, that is. I don’t know about the Carrolls, but it’s been over three hundred years since their last king. I doubt much has survived from then.”

“A few of the older books are on vellum, and those are still in reasonably good condition, but most of the pages were reused at least once, so a lot has been lost.”

Winkershime came in with dinner, followed by Sylvie with a second cart. They set up a small table and put out very fine place settings. The dishes, as they uncovered them, included a great variety of meats prepared with sauces and decorations as if it were a great feast. At first Elizabeth didn’t understand the fuss. Then she saw Nick’s drawn face and suddenly understood. If he was convicted tomorrow, this could be his last dinner.

She had planned to rush through the meal, but now they both ate slowly. Nick took small portions of many dishes and savored them, and Elizabeth copied him. They were all obviously favorites of his, and she smiled a little at how many favorites he had.

They at last came to a selection of cakes and pies and finished by nibbling a bit of everything. Elizabeth was very full and hoped she could stay awake as long as she needed to finish her search.

She moved over and sat next to him and kissed him, both their mouths sweet from the pastries. Then she said, “I need to go back to the library. Anne is probably already there wondering where I am.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth, for trying so hard,” Nick said softly.

“Don’t you give up. We’re not done yet. What are you going to do?”

“Go to bed early so I’m fresh in the morning when you bring me the official data.”

Elizabeth kissed him again, took the notes, and went back to her work. Anne was there, and passed on Nick’s thought about laws concerning Incelians. Anne went back through the newer books looking for anything that might pertain to them, while Elizabeth carefully took down the oldest books.

Elizabeth struggled with the archaic writing, and Anne would help her at times. When they finished their two pages of notes had grown to five, but everything additional they found was lined through. It was very late. Anne took the pages with her to her suite, and both of them left word with their maids to be roused before full light.

When Sylvie came and got her in the morning, Elizabeth didn’t want to get out of her warm bed at first. But then she remembered what was happening today and woke fully. She dressed quickly and went to Anne’s suite; she was hastily eating breakfast. Elizabeth joined her for a few minutes, and then they both went to replace the official law clerks.

Elizabeth was afraid there would be some difficulty with seeing the clerks so early, but two of the three were waiting for them, and the third came in shortly thereafter.

“We need to see the official law books,” Anne said.

The head clerk smiled at her and said, “Yes, Your Highness. We expected someone to come early, and we hope you replace something useful. I think everyone in the palace likes Prince Nicholas. We’ve all known him since he was in diapers, you know.”

The head clerk allowed them in and sat between them at a table. The other two clerks fetched and reshelved the law books, which were smaller and more numerous than those in the library. They went through the official books for an hour, but all they found was that the one old law about beheading a magician before burning him had also been lined through in the official books.

“I’m sorry,” the head clerk said. “I took a peek yesterday and couldn’t replace anything myself.”

Elizabeth asked, “Did you look at anything about magic use by Incelians?”

The head clerk frowned and consulted his colleagues, but they all agreed the only law about magic use by foreigners said that they would be subject to the same laws as Anglians, except for diplomats who would be ejected from Anglia for magic use of any kind.

Anne copied down that law, and she and Elizabeth went to see Nick. He had gotten his hair cut and was dressed in his guard uniform without the jacket. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he said, “Winkershime thought it would make a statement about my place in winning the war without my having to say anything. I’m a general now. I got a battlefield promotion after the fact. Did you replace anything else?”

They passed along the cancellation of the one law and the law about foreigners, but Nick didn’t see much that he could do with it. He could hardly claim to be a foreigner as the son of the Anglian king.

They sat and waited, saying little. Winkershime came in and asked if they wanted an early lunch. Elizabeth didn’t feel like eating, but Nick asked for something light for all three of them. Winkershime returned with soup, cheeses, and bread and butter. Elizabeth and Anne managed a little soup and cheese, and Nick had two helpings of soup, the rest of the cheese, and three pieces of bread and butter.

Elizabeth and Anne just watched him put away food. He noticed and said, “I get hungry when I’m nervous. I wasn’t before, but now…”

“Your Highness, it’s almost noon,” Winkershime said. Nick got up, and his valet helped him on with the rather overdecorated heavy uniform jacket, brushing away any speck of lint.

There was a knock on the door, and Winkershime left his charge to answer it. Prince Arthur was there with a dozen guards.

“Sorry Nick, it’s time to go,” he said.

Nick looked at all the guards and said, “I’m not going to try to escape, you know.”

“It’s an honor guard, brother. I would have brought a hundred if they would fit in the throne room, but it’s pretty full.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Nick went with them, and Anne and Elizabeth followed. The doors to the throne room were opened by guards as they approached, and Arthur marched in with Nick and the guards and went straight through the crowd to a clear space in front of the throne.

The king was there in full regalia with Crown Prince Edward on a smaller throne at his side. The guards spread out behind them to keep the crowd back as the princes bowed to their king.

Arthur said, “Your Majesty, I have brought before you the accused, Prince Nicholas, as commanded.” But Arthur didn’t leave the cleared area.

The king addressed him. “Warleader, you have something to say?”

“I do, Your Majesty. I have had many reports from my soldiers from several of the engagements with the enemy as well as what I have witnessed myself, and I would like to speak for the prisoner.”

The king nodded, and Arthur continued. “First, I must regretfully say that I confirm the accusation of the performance of witchcraft by Prince Nicholas. I personally have seen him throw fire and lightning and do other things I didn’t understand that no ordinary man could do. However, I can also say we would not have beaten the Francks without him. He personally slew or was instrumental in the death of both of the Franckish sorcerers, destroyed numerous Franckish ships, and killed hundreds of the enemy at great risk to himself. Never in the history of Anglia has one man made such an impact on the outcome of a war. To punish him for such actions would be a travesty no matter what the law says. The makers of the law never envisioned these circumstances and could not possibly have intended for a true Anglian hero to be executed for his patriotism. Prince Nicholas knowingly risked his life, not only in battle but in this courtroom as well by surrendering peaceably when the war was won. We should laud and reward his bravery to encourage such actions in the future by any Anglian citizen both blessed and cursed with magical abilities. Your Majesty, I beg you to set aside the law by Royal Command and spare my brother, Prince Nicholas.”

Elizabeth was thrilled when the crowd erupted in applause and cries of, “Spare him!” and she heartily joined in as did Anne beside her. Arthur bowed and withdrew back to the crowd, leaving Nick to the accolades of the audience. King William lifted his hand, and the noise ceased.

“A fine speech, Warleader,” the king said. “And it makes me proud to be Prince Nicholas’s father. However, it is not legal for me to ignore the duly sanctioned laws of this land any more than anyone else. I would be pleased if I could, but it isn’t one of my powers, great as they may be. Prince Nicholas, do you have anything to say? Do you admit to magic use?”

Nick took a deep breath and said, “I do admit it. I was born with magic talent. I could no more not ever use it than not breathe, but I also have something to say about the law against magic use.”

“Proceed,” the king said.

“The law states specifically ‘Any man or woman justly accused and convicted of magic’ and so forth. I contend it does not apply to me because I am neither man nor woman, but still a child. There is no law against children, boys, girls, or infants using magic.”

Edward spoke for the first time. “That’s rather implied, isn’t it? We can’t have a lack of punishment for sorcery just because someone is underage. That would open up a host of problems,” he said worriedly.

The king nodded thoughtfully. “His Highness has a point. Actually, both my sons have points. We can’t very well burn babies either, Edward. Apparently after this is over, the witchcraft law will need to be revisited. Let me think for a moment.”

The room was very quiet as everyone waited. The only sound was King William tapping the arm of his throne. Finally, he lifted his head and looked directly at Nick.

“Very well, my decision is this. Prince Nicholas is guilty of witchcraft, but due to his minor status, he cannot be executed until he reaches his majority.” The king spoke these words loudly so the crowd could hear.

But then he said softly just to Nick, “My boy, you know we will need your help again shortly. I’ll have those manacles removed so you can do that. I expect you not to run away, but to be where I command you to be until then. Meanwhile, I’m going to get whatever is left of the Council together and try to do something about the witchcraft law. It will be difficult because I need concurrence from five of my nine High Lords, and three of them are traitors and the house of Sothalia is gone. If I can’t ram something through before you turn sixteen, I suspect I may forget to tell you where you’re supposed to be. That’s the best I can do.”

Loudly again, he said, “I command Prince Nick to remain on the palace grounds. If he gives me his word he will make no attempt to defy my commands as to his location, that will be his only restraint.”

Nick said equally loudly, “I do so give my word as a prince of Anglia that I will obey my king and be wherever I am commanded to be.”

“Then strike off his manacles, and this court is completed.” King William stood, and everyone bowed and curtsied deeply. He left, followed by Edward, who gave Nick a smile and a nod as he walked past. Nick nodded back. He understood Edward had been thinking of the broader application of whatever the king decided and was as pleased as anyone that his younger brother had a reprieve.

Arthur went to his little brother and shook his hand and whispered, “Don’t worry. Once we handle the traitors, everything will turn out fine, I’m sure.” Nick just smiled at him, knowing that Arthur believed that whether it was likely or not.

Then Elizabeth and Anne converged on Nick and hugged him and walked back to his suite with him. Along the way, numerous people stopped them to shake his hand and thank him for saving them from the Francks.

By the time the three of them got to Nick’s rooms, Winkershime had a very large man and two smaller ones there with the equipment needed to remove the manacles. It was done in just a few minutes, and Winkershime picked up the satin coverings and looked at them ruefully. “And I did such a nice job on these. Oh well,” he said and threw them in the fireplace.

Nick said to him, “You know, Winkershime, we really didn’t have much in the way of dessert at lunch. Is there any cake left or maybe some pie?”

“I’ll fetch it, Your Highness. And I believe there is a bottle of celebratory wine as well.”

They had dessert and wine; even Winkershime had a small glass of the wine and joined in a toast Elizabeth proposed to her betrothed. Afterward Nick drained his glass and said, “Of course it’s not really over yet. It’s only a reprieve for five weeks. But who knows, I may get killed fighting Ulle and Alice, so the whole question may become moot.”

Elizabeth said, “Don’t say that. You beat the Francks, you can beat them.”

“I beat some of the Francks. I’ve been told I was out cold and totally useless when you killed Frais.”

“I couldn’t have killed him without you and Ralph…Winkershime distracting him.”

Anne turned to her and asked, “What about Elias? Have you decided what he’s going to ask for yet?”

“How did you replace out?” Elizabeth asked.

“A little birdie spread the word, but just within the royal family,” Anne replied, glancing at Winkershime. The valet cleared his throat and said, “I’d best clear the dishes,” and he did very quickly, although Nick had him leave the remains of his favorite cake for snacking.

Elizabeth said as she watched him work, “As far as Elias is concerned, he has decided to wait until he turns sixteen to ask for his boon. I’ve decided that he turns sixteen on the exact same day as Nick. Perhaps a certain valet and spy will pass that on as well.”

Winkershime murmured, “I’m sure the correct parties will be informed,” and left with the meal cart.

“Spy?” asked Anne, watching him leave. “Really, Nick’s valet is a spy?”

“More than that,” Nick said, apparently finished eating for the moment. “He was training me to be Anglia’s new Spymaster.”

Anne frowned. “Who was Anglia’s old Spymaster?”

“Richard. I was supposed to take his place, but the way things are going, that might not work out. They want someone in the royal family to do the job, and Arthur is already Warleader, the king and the crown prince are too busy, so that leaves guess who?”

Anne looked dumbfounded. “But I’m a princess.”

Nick retorted, “So? The job takes brains, not brawn, and you’re smart. You’re also supposed to marry an Anglian, so you’ll be staying around. Why not you?”

Anne looked at Elizabeth and asked, “Did you know about this?”

“I knew about the Winkershime-training-Nick part, but you taking over is new to me too.”

“But there’s no reason for me to be involved. I’m sure the king will get the law straightened out, and Nick will be fine.”

Nick said, “Maybe, but when Richard was injured, there was no one trained to take over. Even if I do end up being fine, you should still learn so you can be my backup.”

Anne smiled slowly and said, “Actually I think I might like that. What would I have to learn?”

Nick said offhandedly, “Oh, you know, foreign languages, lock picking, sneaking around replaceing out things you’re not supposed to know.” At Anne’s startled look, he relented and said, “It’s mostly just reading reports and correlating data. I haven’t even gotten to the level of giving anyone orders yet myself.”

Relieved, Anne said, “Well, I can read reports. If you’re not giving orders, who is?”

“Some of the senior spies are working together and consulting with Edward and Arthur. It’s not very efficient, but it’s only a temporary measure,” Nick replied.

“Well, this has been a very interesting day so far,” Anne said. “I think I’m going to take a nap before dinner. I didn’t get much sleep last night due to a certain little brother of mine.” She left, and Elizabeth got up and took Nick’s hand and moved them both to a couch.

“Nick, Elias will be there to help with the traitors. We’re going to be fine.”

“Maybe. The Francks seemed to be working mostly from the same type of magic book that I have. But Ulle and Alice are good at runes, so maybe they have different books because mine says very little about runes, and the Francks weren’t using them as far as I know.”

“We’ll worry about that when the time comes. I was sorry to hear the king say that Sothalia is gone. It makes me sad to think of Duke Hubert and all his children dying. I know those things happen in war, but to kill little children is just wrong no matter if there’s a war going on.”

“I agree. That’s something else I need to check on, how thorough the search was for them.”

“What else?”

“I’ve been out of the spy loop for too long, I need to catch up. Arthur will be gathering up the remnants of the Anglian army, but it’s going to be hard to hold everyone with the harvest starting.”

“But the traitors are coming with their army.”

“Actually there’s no proof of betrayal yet. Ulle, Denland, and Montexter are just late with their troops at this point. Denland’s plan is just my word against his, so we need to be ready to fight but we can’t attack first.”

“But there’s surely other proof.”

“Some, but it’s all just through our spies. The word of a spy wouldn’t be taken over that of a noble, and evidence like bird messages to Franck is just secondhand gossip. We don’t actually have any traitorous messages written in Denland’s hand. And even if we did, he could just say it’s a fake.”

“So if they don’t attack soon, then the army will have to be dispersed for the harvest or we’ll all starve in the winter?”

“Well, we won’t starve, but the harvest will be reduced, and some people are going to get very hungry before spring. The thing that worries me is what if they don’t attack at all? If they just turn around and go home, then we have a festering nest of traitors that we haven’t any excuse to even arrest.”

“Oh dear, that would be bad. We need a plan.”

“We do, and if you think of one, let me know. Meanwhile, I’m going to have some more cake. It’s occurred to me since my magic is known now I can practice out in public.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“No, but the cave I was using is on Warwick lands, but not on the palace grounds, and I need more work with air. I also have never tried doing anything with water, and I probably should just in case.”

“Do you have to start today?”

“No, I was thinking of doing something else this afternoon, and this evening sitting down with Anne and going over the spy reports. I suppose you might as well read them too.”

“And this afternoon?”

Nick gave her a mischievous grin. “Well, we were rudely interrupted yesterday.”