Blade of Fire by Hill Stuart

Author:Hill, Stuart [Hill, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure, Childrens, Paranormal, War
ISBN: 9781909489165
Amazon: B00DQ7CDFO
Goodreads: 20929241
Publisher: Chicken House
Published: 2006-09-04T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

The Court of Sultan Haroun Nasrid the Magnificent was at least three times larger than that of the Crown Prince. Most of the courtiers had been with him for over twenty years, as they’d cleverly cultivated his favour when he was still only a young man during his father’s reign. And now they were reaping the benefits of their gamble by living a luxurious life at the expense of the palace treasury. This they considered their proper due: after all, they created a Court that was populated with richly dressed and seemly men who provided a sophisticated, stable palace culture that reflected the society of the country around it.

But today held the promise of new events that would probably entertain the courtiers for weeks to come. Rumour had it that the foreign Prince Charlemagne from the barbarian north was to be given an audience with His Majesty, although his expected request for military aid would certainly be turned down. Refusals of the Royal Favour were always far more interesting than the granting of wishes and requests.

A flurry of movement near the main doors concentrated their minds, and they all salaamed deeply as the Sultan entered the Court of the Nightingales. The elderly monarch seemed a little more sprightly today, and he needed only one servant to help him climb the short flight of steps to his throne. The older courtiers, who knew the temperament of Haroun Nasrid the Magnificent as precisely as a drover understands the moods of his cattle, guessed that he was looking forward to an interesting change to the time-honoured order of his routine. Today, he was to meet Charlemagne Athelstan Redrought Strong-in-the-Arm Lindenshield, Prince of the country that had defeated the vicious Polypontian Empire. How could anyone with such a gloriously barbaric name fail to be anything other than entertaining, at the very least? Crown Prince Mekhmet had assured his father that the northern Prince was the most striking of individuals, not only in his physical appearance, but also in terms of personality and temperament. And this had been confirmed by the Sultan’s spies.

The Prince’s training in the Sultanate’s method of warfare was going marvellously, he was informed. The barbarian Prince shone in almost every use of weapon and style of fighting, and overall seemed to be a most fitting bearer of the name Charlemagne. After all, was it not the ancient King of Gallia who had learned how to fight using the ways of the Desert People? And was it not also this very same king who had befriended the Sultan of the day, Abd al-Rahman II? Perhaps the One had decreed that the name should return and the bearer once again be an unlikely friend of the Desert People.

The Sultan nodded to the Chief Eunuch, who bowed and raised his hand to the door porters who stood far away across the wide room. The doors were opened, swinging outwards on to a courtyard where the petitioners usually stood, but which today was empty, save for two small figures staring proudly ahead.

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