A Magic of Dawn

Jan ca’Ostheim

“… our troops were easily a day’s march past Il Trebbio’s borders before we had any sign that we’d been noticed. We did have a small skirmish with a company of Holdings chevarittai. Two of them were killed by our war-teni, and they turned and fled after that; none of our own people were seriously harmed. Given our last discussions, after a day there I brought the battalion back over the border. From everything we’ve learned in the last several months, Hirzg Jan, it would appear that the Holdings borders are rather porous, and Il Trebbio is certainly one of the weaker points. Kraljica Allesandra doesn’t have enough-”

Armen ca’Damont, Starkkapitan of the Firenzcian Garde Civile, halted his report to Jan as the door to the room burst open, the doors slamming hard against their stops. A trio of children entered in the wake of the disturbance, trailed distantly by one of the staff servants with another, smaller, child in her arms. “Vatarh!” Kriege, Jan’s eldest son, was the first into the room. He stamped his foot, glaring back at his older sister. Caelor, a year younger than Kriege, stood beside his brother, nodding vigorously and echoing the glare. “We were playing Chevarittai, and Elissa cheated! It’s not fair!”

The nursemaid rushed in, looking harried, and bowed awkwardly to Jan and ca’Damont with Eria, Jan’s youngest, now in her arms. “I’m so sorry, Hirzg,” she said, not looking up. “The children were playing fine and I was dressing little Eria, and there was an argument and they were running to find you…”

“It’s fine,” Jan said, grinning at ca’Damont. “Don’t worry yourself. Now then, Kriege, what’s all this about cheating?”

“Elissa cheated, ” Kriege repeated, scowling so fiercely that it was nearly comical. “She did.”

“Elissa?” Jan said sternly, his gaze moving to his daughter.

Another child might have looked at the floor. Jan knew that Caelor would have, with even the hint of a rebuke, and even Kriege looked away now. But Elissa gazed placidly back, glancing once at ca’Damont’s thin face marred and disfigured with the ridged memories of old battles, then fixing on Jan. She brushed back brown-gold strands of hair that had escaped her braids to flutter around her eyes. “I didn’t cheat, Vatarh,” she said. “Not really.”

“Yes she did, ” Kriege interrupted, stamping his foot again. “She lied. ”

Elissa didn’t bother to look at Kriege. Her regard stayed with Jan. “I did lie, Vatarh,” she admitted. “I told Kriege that I’d help him if he attacked Caelor’s keep with his soldiers.”

“She said she’d use her war-teni on her next turn and help me,” Kriege interrupted again. “And she didn’t. When it was her turn, she attacked me instead and I lost all my keeps and most of my chevarittai. She cheated.”

Jan glanced again at ca’Damont, who was stifling his own grin. “Is that true, Elissa?”

She nodded. “It is,” she said gravely. “You see, Caelor had the most keeps and soldiers left on the board, and Kriege and I had about the same. I knew I couldn’t beat Caelor by myself, so I told Kriege that I’d help him because I knew Caelor would take lots of his soldiers and Caelor would lose enough of his so that he couldn’t attack me, and then, when it was my turn, I could take most of Kriege’s keeps and capture enough soldiers that I’d probably win the game.” She glanced at her brothers. “And I would have, too, if Kriege hadn’t gotten mad and knocked the pieces all over the floor.”

Ca’Damont’s snicker was audible, and he turned his blade-scarred face away for a moment. Jan had to fight to hold back his own amusement, though it was tempered by just how much Elissa was like her great-matarh Allesandra. Jan could well imagine her doing the same as a child; it was what he’d watched her do as an adult.

“So…” Jan said to her, “you offered your brother an alliance that you didn’t intend to keep so you could win? Is that right?”

A nod. Jan looked at the two boys. “I think your sister has just taught you an excellent lesson,” he told them. “In war, sometimes a person’s word isn’t enough. Sometimes your enemy will lie to you in order to gain an advantage. And there’s more to war than simply moving your soldiers about. You should remember this. Both of you.”

“But she cheated! ” Kriege insisted, stamping his foot again.

Jan stroked his beard, trying not to laugh. “What do you think, Starkkapitan?” Jan asked ca’Damont. “Should I punish Elissa for her cheating?”

“No, my Hirzg,” ca’Damont answered, and Jan saw Elissa’s face relax slightly-so she had been worried about what he might do. “But I would say that there also is a lesson for her from this-that when one gives her word, others will be upset if that word’s not kept, and sometimes their reaction may prevent one from gaining the advantage they’d hoped to gain. Now no one will ever know which one of you might have won the game.”

Jan clapped ca’Damont on the shoulder. “There, you see,” he told the children. “You have it from the Starkkapitan himself. He knows war better than any of us. I hope you’ve learned well, so when one of you is Hirzg…”

“Let’s pray to Cenzi that isn’t for many decades yet, my husband.” The voice lifted up Jan’s head, and he saw Brie standing in the doorway and smiling in at the scene. He went to her, kissing her and embracing her briefly. She smelled of jasmine and sweetwater, and her hair-once the same color as Elissa’s, but darkening now-was soft even in the tight Tennshah braids that were currently so popular. If her figure had become heavier after bearing their children, well, that was like the scars on ca’Damont’s face: a sign of the sacrifices she had made.

Rance had told him that it was Brie who had sent away Mavel cu’Kella, and why. After his initial irritation, he was pleased: it saved him the trouble of doing the same.

“What’s going on here?” Brie asked. She looked at the children, at the servant holding Eria, at the nursemaid. “Rance told me you were still in conference, and we’re to be at the temple for the Day of Return blessing in a turn of the glass.” She shook her head, though the expression on her face was indulgent and serene. “And none of our children are dressed yet.”

“I’m sorry, Hirzgin,” the nursemaid said, curtsying. “It’s my fault. I’ll get them ready. Elissa, Kriege, Caelor-come with me now. Quickly…”

Brie hugged each of them as they passed (Kriege still frowning and flushed with anger, Elissa with a tight-lipped smile of triumph, Caelor as always dour and pensive). “I should take my leave also,” ca’Damont said, bowing to Brie and Jan. “I’ll have my scribe write up the full report for you this afternoon,” he said to Jan. “And we’ll see what Ambassador ca’Rudka has to say when he arrives. I’m sure word will have come to him on his way here. Hirzg, Hirzgin…”

He bowed again and left them. As the doors to the chamber clicked shut, Brie went to Jan and hugged him again, tilting her face up for his kiss. She leaned back slightly in his arms, plucking at the collar of his shirt. “You’re wearing this to the ceremony?”

“I was considering it, yes. It’s comfortable.”

“You look so handsome in that new red one, though.”

He smiled at her. “Then I suppose I’ll have to change to the red, just to please you.”

She kissed him again. “Armen had no trouble in Il Trebbio?”

“Less than I expected, actually.”

She nodded, her head against his shoulder. “The children have never seen their great-matarh, Jan. They only think of her as that awful woman in Nessantico who sometimes sends presents. I think you should consider what Sergei wants to offer her.”

“ She’s the one responsible for the estrangement,” Jan said. “And Rance agrees with me that there should be no treaty with the Holdings. If she wanted peace, she shouldn’t have supported Stor ca’Vikej in West Magyaria, and she shouldn’t be letting his son hang around the court of the Holdings. She stuffed the mattress on which she lies; if she finds it uncomfortable, well, she’s the one responsible.”

“I know,” Brie whispered. “I know. But I still wish… Children should know their relatives, and not as enemies.”

“Then let her give up the Sun Throne entirely, rather than letting Sergei propose this nonsense of naming me as A’Kralj.”

“ You put her on the throne, my love.” The rebuke wasn’t as harsh as it could have been, and she softened it by touching her hand gently to his cheek. “I know. You did what you thought was right at the time.”

“I was young and foolish,” Jan said. He opened his arms, releasing her. “And I don’t want to talk about this. Not now.” He grasped her hand and kissed it. “Let me have my domestiques de chambre find this red shirt you like so much, and we’ll go to the temple to make our appearance…”

He heard the sigh she stifled, but she smiled up at him and stroked her hand down his chest, stopping just at his belt. “Don’t call them just yet,” she said. She raised up on her toes to kiss him again as her hand remained where it was. “There’s still time, isn’t there, my love?” she asked.

He laughed. “As much as we like. They can’t start without us, can they?”

He kissed her again, more urgently. He felt her body yield to his, and that drove away any other thoughts for a time.