55, The banquet

“Not being able to attend? Why not?” they heard a voice behind them ask. They turned around, and the king was standing there with a group of guards and the queen.

“My apologies, your majesty. When I accepted your invitation, I did not realise my bodyguard wouldn’t be allowed to accompany me. He tells me it isn’t safe in there without him and I’m not about to argue with him,” Ayya explained.

“Your majesty, the rules clearly state no military personnel,” Zerden explained.

“Yes, they do,” the king nodded. “Protocol also states I should escort my guest, lady Teeran, to the table. But none of your aari are men. This leaves the queen in a peculiar situation. Do you think your bodyguard would accept my invitation to join the banquet as my guest and escort the queen to the table?” the king asked.

“I’m sure he would be honoured to do so,” Ayya smiled.

“Perfect. Zerden, can you tell the staff to set an extra plate next to lady Teeran?” the king told Zerden. Zerden nodded and disappeared. “I’m afraid we will need to wait for them to sort this out,” the king said.

“We don’t mind. Your majesty, may I introduce my party,” Ayya said, introducing him to Tenac, Hinat and Firlea. They stood and made small talk as they waited. Ayya tried to engage with the queen, but she seemed too nervous and insecure. Ayya realised it did more harm than good to try including her in the conversation. Zerden finally returned and nodded.

“May I have the honour of escorting you to the table, my lady?” the king asked and offered Ayya his arm.

“The honour is mine,” Ayya said and accepted it. She heard Tenac make the same offer to the queen and the queen whisper her reply. The king guided her inside the banquet hall. The noise from the chatting stopped as they entered and was replaced by the scraping sound of chairs being pulled out as everyone stood. As Ayya and the king moved through the room, the people bowed and curtsied. The king led her to a table at the far end of the hall. It stood on a raised platform and was only set on one side of the table. That way, all the guests at this table would be able to see the other tables and the open area in the middle of the room. Ayya realised that the position of the table was just as much a security measurement as a way to ensure the best view. They would have the back wall of the room directly behind them and the guards at either end of the platform guaranteed no one could sneak up behind them. So much for no military personnel, Ayya thought. As she discreetly looked around, she could see ten guards in total placed around the room. The king led Ayya to a seat at the table, he then stood at the seat to the left of her. Tenac escorted the queen to the chair to the king’s left and then stood by the one on Ayya’s right. Hinat and Firlea had escorted each other and took the two seats to Tenac’s right. The two seats to the queen’s left were filled by the head of the council and the bishop.

“Ladies and gentlemen. We are here to welcome lady Teeran and her party to our country and city. We are grateful that they dared travel all the way here in the middle of the winter to help us. Let’s eat, drink, have fun and thank god for helpful neighbours,” the king said to the room. He then gestured for Ayya to take a seat. He took his seat next and then the rest of the room sat down. As soon as everyone was seated, the first course was served. Ayya noticed a server that looked out of place. It looked like he didn’t know what to do. She was about to tell Tenac when she saw he was already watching him. Then she was distracted by the king.

“I must admit that you confuse me, my lady,” the king told her.

“I do, your majesty?” she said, surprised.

“You do. I did not expect the aari to send someone so young. And then I thought you were sent to teach us a lesson, a way to ignore us without ignoring us. But to my surprise, you are a brilliant politician and are well schooled. Now I need to start taking you serious again. It confuses me,” he admitted.

“That does sound confusing. I can just assure you I’m committed to this and that together with my companions, I do have what it takes to solve this if it can be solved,” Ayya said.

“I believe you,” the king nodded. “May I ask you something that has stumped most of my scholars?” he asked.

“Yes, but if they haven’t been able to answer your question, I don’t know how much help I can be,” she answered.

“What language is it you and your bodyguard are speaking?” he asked, causing Ayya to laugh.

“Trying to listen in to our conversations?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he admitted.

“I would have done the same. Let me guess, one of the guards escorting us speaks Salmisara?” she asked. The king laughed and nodded. “The language is Heulu. It’s spoken amongst the Che’hul,” Ayya told him. She knew the possibility of him finding someone to listen in to their conversation was minimal.

“The horse clans that roam the plains?” the king asked, surprised. Ayya should have known that a man that was as interested in hunting and horses as the king had been when he was young would have heard of the Che’hul.

“Yes,” she smiled.

“I have heard that watching the horses run across the plains is like nothing else you can experience,” he said in awe.

“It is an amazing site,” Ayya admitted. “Have you seen a Che’hul horse?” she asked.

“No, I have never had the honour,” the king admitted.

“Then you must let me take you down to the stables someday. We have two of them with us,” she said. The king looked like a child given a gift. His eyes got big and were filled with excitement. Ayya saw the willpower it took to not suggest they would go at once.

“I would enjoy that,” he instead said. “And I’m guessing I won’t be able to find someone to translate your conversations,” he added with a smile.

“I highly doubt it,” Ayya agreed.

“May I ask another question?” he then asked. Ayya smiled. She had been bombarded by questions all day. But these she actually enjoyed answering.

“Be my guest,” she therefor said.

“The broaches you and your fellow aari all wear, they have meaning to them?” he asked. Ayya explained the meaning of the shields to him, about the different types of magic and the colour of the stones. He nodded and listened as they ate.

“But yours is different,” he said.

“Yes, mine isn’t an official aari shield. It was given to me by my parents when I became aari and was given my title,” she explained.

“And the diamond?” he asked.

“I control all five elements, therefore my colour is white,” she told him.

“That is quite rare, if I’m not mistaken. And it would put you in the running to become the next Lady, am I right?” he asked. Ayya wasn’t surprised he knew that. He was intelligent and seemed more open-minded than his father.

“It does,” she nodded.

“Is that why you were sent here?” he asked.

“It was one of the reasons,” she nodded. “To be honest, I volunteered.” Ayya smiled.

“Why?” he asked, surprised.

“There were a lot of reasons, some I won’t go into. But I believe we can be of help to you. And to be honest, it’s stupid that there are people suffering when we can help them,” Ayya told him. A smile played on the king’s lips.

“I appreciate your candour,” he said. The dinner continued in the same manner. Ayya found herself liking the king, and they spent most of the time speaking with each other. He was curious about their culture and asked questions, but had the good taste to intermingle them with jokes and conversations. As the dessert was served, Ayya had to contain herself from squealing in delight. They were served her favourite dessert, the one she had tried to recreate in Salmis. But always felt like it was lacking since she wasn’t able to get hold of lingonberry jam. Now it was served to her, with lingonberry jam, and she could have cried out of happiness.

“This looks like the dessert you make,” Tenac said.

“It’s the original one. I can’t wait for you to taste it with lingonberries,” she smiled. She turned to the king as she started scooping up a spoon full of the dessert.

“I am very fond of lingonberries, but they are almost impossible to find at home,” she told him.

“I’m happy we could offer something you enjoy. We will have to send some jam home with you,” the king said. Ayya was about to thank him for his generosity when she, in her peripheral view, saw something shining come flying. Her instinct took over, and she threw herself towards the king as she pushed off with her legs. Making both her and his chair fall backwards. They hit the floor hard, Ayya laying half spread over the king. Tenac had tried to make the same move to her and was also entangled in them. Two soft thuds were heard from the wall and all three of them looked at two throwing daggers that were impaling the wall. Tenac shouted at Hinat and Firlea to get down. They did as he told them. On the other side of the king, Ayya saw Zerden push the queen to the floor as she hysterically cried. As one, Tenac and Zerden flipped the table, so it provided a barrier towards the room. Ayya had trouble getting up as her dress and the chair and the king all seemed to intertwine with each other. When she finally got to her knees and was about to peer up over the flipped table, Tenac put a hand on her shoulder and pressed her down. She sighed and decided that she would obey for once. He didn’t need the extra distraction. Tenac shouted orders to riders that apparently had come into the hall. Zerden shouted instructions to the guards. Ayya drew her knife, just to be safe. The king had got up from his chair as well and hunkered down next to her, holding the queen in his arms. He looked at her knife and then at Ayya. She shrugged.

“My father is the commander of the Lady’s personal guard,” she whispered, as if that explained everything. After a long time of what sounded like chaos, there was relative silence. Tenac looked down at her and held out his hand to help her stand. She accepted it and got to her feet as the king did the same. Ayya looked out over the almost empty hall. The only people left were the grey riders, although they were missing two of them, and guards. She put her knife back.

“Report,” she told Tenac without looking at him. She was still trying to piece together what had happened.

“From what we could tell, two men tried to assassinate either you or the king. One was dressed as a guest, the other as a server. Once they failed, they escaped through the server’s entrance over there. I sent two of the riders after them, together with four guards. They haven’t returned,” he started in a monotone voice. “The rest of the riders and guards emptied the hall to make sure it was safe. No injuries other than maybe a stubbed toe or so as the guest were trying to get out,” he finished. Ayya nodded and turned to him to talk about how they should plan the exit. Tenac had turned towards her as well and he became pale white and for the first time, she saw true fear on his face. Ayya started to panic. Was he hurt? Then she followed his gaze and saw the streak of dark red that ran across the chest of her dress.