The King's Justice: Two Novellas by Stephen R. Donaldson

Author:Stephen R. Donaldson [Donaldson, Stephen R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780399176975
Amazon: 0399176977
Barnesnoble: 0399176977
Goodreads: 24611882
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published: 2015-10-13T05:00:00+00:00

My Queen’s solstice ball remained some fortnights distant, yet while I floundered in uncertainty, apprehension, and wasted blood, events within the Domicile—indeed, movements throughout the realm—appeared to quicken. Inimica Phlegathon deVry forbade unions which one baron or another had approved. She encouraged marriages which the immediate families had declined to countenance. She dismissed contentions which pertained directly to her rule over Indemnie, preferring rather to meddle in matters which properly belonged to individual baronies—matters such as grazing rights and access to timber. Thus she stirred the pot of discontent, usurping the prerogatives of the barons while undermining her own authority.

Such seeming quirks and misjudgments disturbed me in my laborium, but did not impel my Queen to summon me, either for counsel or for eavesdropping. Other events, however, were more fraught. One such I heard described in converse with scullery-maids and servers and an occasional household guard in the lower eating hall of the Domicile. For a time, the hall was rife with talk that another attempt had been made on Excrucia’s life.

This was not reported to me by my ally herself. She was occupied elsewhere, perhaps commanded to tasks or ceremonies by her mother, or perhaps restricted to the sanctuary of her chambers. I did not see her. Therefore I knew nothing of her own heart and life, certainly nothing of her efforts at my behest. However, the tale as I retrieved it from overheard snippets, direct queries, and flagrant exaggerations went thus.

In the aftermath of the first attempt, my Queen and Vail augmented their caution. Several of the household guards were placed at Vail’s disposal. Increased entourages escorted Excrucia’s movements. And either Her Majesty or Vail foresaw that the girl’s food must be tasted—a precaution which would not have entered my head, but which events proved necessary. Some ten days after our discussion of Indemnie’s need, Excrucia’s taster fell violently ill. Fortunately he did not perish, though my Queen’s physician declared poison without hesitation. Alive, the stricken taster offered a degree of guidance to Vail’s investigations. Within hours, the source of the poison was traced to a flask of wine intended for Excrucia’s sole use, she being partial to it. The wine steward and several serving-maids and boys were put to the question. After what some called minor flogging and others described with shudders as crippling torment, one of the younger maids admitted responsibility. Persuaded by her lover, whom she named as the scion of a family in service to Baron Jakob Plinth, she had added a powder both tasteless and potent to Excrucia’s wine. The reason given to the maid—so rumor proclaimed—was a desire to end the rule of the Phlegathon deVrys for the good of the realm. Baron Plinth was widely considered censorious enough to nurture that ambition.

So much was hearsay rather than confirmed knowledge. Thus I felt entitled to my doubts. Jakob Plinth was known to be dour, stern, strict in honesty, and uxorious to a fault. Among the barons, therefore, he was the man whom I was least inclined to suspect, despite his disapproving acceptance of his sovereign’s proposal.

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