Chapter 6 - The Doorway

Back in his chambers, the Lord Prince Frigyes removed his outer coat and boots. A page boy rushed to his aid but he waved his hand in rejection.

“Not necessary”, he said curtly.

As the page boy paused, unsure of whether to pursue his duty or to obey the lord’s preference, another person entered the chamber. This man, a few years younger than Frigyes himself, carried a knight’s sword at his side while being dressed in a steward’s attire.

He nodded at the page boy with a smile, confirming that it was alright to let the lord change by himself, and approached the lord.

“I thought the session was to continue later?”, the steward-knight asked, looking at the much more comfortable linen tunic and trousers which Frigyes was now wearing.

“Yes, but it is unnecessary. It will not be happening anyway”, Frigyes answered.

“The marriage?”

Frigyes nodded in confirmation and changed the topic.

“Are the new reports on this month’s tax collections ready?”

“Yes, lord”, the steward answered and pointed at the newest stack of documents piled onto the simple wooden desk beside the window.

He waited for a moment, hoping that the lord would perhaps explain himself more regarding the earlier topic. This did not happen however, as Frigyes immediately took a seat and begun scanning through the said documents.

“The corrections?”, the lord asked.

“Have been made, lord”, came the response.

Another moment of silence passed and the steward decided that it was time to ask for clarification.

“Leave us”, he signaled to the page boy who was still standing still in the back of the room and turned back to address the lord.

“So, my lord, why exactly is it not happening?”, he asked. “Is it the gold?”

Frigyes looked up from the paper and shook his head.

“Not gold, not land, not diplomacy. It’s for a very obvious reason, Sanses. Really, it’s so obvious”, he exclaimed.

“The princess?”, the steward, Sanses, tilted his head knowingly.

“Yes, she was just a child when we stayed in Sisa, but both you and I know that Princess Clematis isn’t a girl who can be passed around easily. The emperor is promising the hand of a daughter he has no control over.”

“So you received a message that she is refusing?”

“Not exactly, but close”, Frigyes responded as he pulled out a chest from underneath his bed which was, just like all other furniture here, astonishingly simple for a prince’s chambers.

From this chest, he pulled out a bundle of letters, varying in date from a dozen years ago to some quite recent. The older ones were written by a childish but neat, well-educated hand which progressed into beautifully ornated cursive writing in the more recent letters.

“Look at the past few years”, he said, as he handed the letters to Sanses.

There was small smile on Sanses’s face as he already had an idea of what the lord was referring to.

“I wouldn’t blame her, my lord”, he chuckled as he flicked through the pages.

“Neither would I”, the lord responded, and they both laughed.

“Her darling boy is one hundred times better than our brute Uram”, Frigyes said out loud what they were both thinking.

“When was the last time you met him, lord?”

“Hm… he was fourteen at Uram’s coming of age, so that makes it eight years ago, I suppose. Fine young lad he’d become. Anyhow, that is why”, he concluded. “I am sure we will hear from Clematis herself in a couple of days.”

The Lord Prince turned back to his desk to continue reading through the documents. Sanses drew a seat to the opposite side of the table and sat down with another stack of paper and an abacus.

“What’s that?”, Frigyes asked in a tone of dread.

“Budgets for the palace and army provisions, lord.”

“I thought you had others doing that now?”

“Yes… but I just cannot rest easy without double checking myself. I will go down to the library after this and handle the other matters.”

“In all seriousness, you must learn to let go of the little tasks”, Frigyes sighed. “The amount of work just keeps growing.”

Sanses raised his eyebrows.

“Says the Lord Prince who personally reads the monthly tax collections”, he retaliated.

“I will have you hanged for your insult!”, the Lord Prince exclaimed with a grin.

“If you do that, the king’s council will empty the treasury in thirty days, the army will starve and this palace will go back to the shroddy pile of stones it used to be”, the steward said with an equally broad grin.

In case it was not clear by this point, Sanses, the right hand man of the Lord Prince Frigyes had been the person responsible of the majority of refurbishments Brodiz Castle had undergone. These included the aforementioned gaudy decorations. His talents were not exactly of the artistic kind.

Just then, they heard a knock and the two men in their thirties immediately pulled a straight face while Sanses answered the door.

“His Majesty would like to continue the council”, the guard saluted.

Sanses raised his eyebrows and glanced back at the Lord Prince who simply shook his head drearily.

“His Highness has other matters in need of immediate attention. Please inform the council that His Highness will offer his thoughts on another day should the council require it, although we have full confidence that the council will solve the remaining issues without problem”, he responded to the guard and closed the door.

“How about a walk downtown tonight”, Frigyes suggested once the footsteps of the guard could no longer be heard.

“That would be pleasant, my lord”, Sanses smiled.

And so, the two men bent over the papers and continued their work as the sun completed it’s ark over the sky and touched down on the horizon, throwing golden rays into the room for some brief moments before giving way to the dim light of dusk. As it finally turned too dark to continue the work without a lamp, they threw on some overcoats and hurried out to enjoy the rest of their evening.

It was a common sight at Palace Brodiz to see the Lord Prince and his close attendant venture out for some fun at this time of day and there were no attempts to stop them. Despite the economic growth of the kingdom, the royal family was still treated similarly to back when they had been earls. Perhaps this was to change though if the Crown Prince indeed married the Princess of Sisa.

They strolled through the streets, searching for a good tavern to sit down. Many of the taverns served a double purpose as a brothel at night and they could see prostitutes leaning out of the windows, keeping an eye open for potential guests.

“Lords, come in for some fun!”, some were even brave enough to call out to the prince and his attendant, but were cleanly ignored by the prince and his steward who appeared to enjoy a jug of ale and each other’s company more than that of the street walkers’.

The night flew by over three games of Skizt, all of which ended in the victory of Sanses. He claimed that he only won thanks to other opponents being afraid of angering the prince. However, it was quite clear that he was the strongest player of all of them and the regulars at the tavern knew well enough by this time that the Lord Prince was not one to be feared.

“Sanses…”, Frigyes admitted sleepily after his fourth jug of ale. “I believe… I am in need of my bed.”

“Very well my lord”, the steward responded, downing his sixth jug but not showing any signs of tiring.

He lent the prince a shoulder to lean on as they stepped over some drunks on the floor of the tavern and exited the building. Sometimes it was tempting to simply collapse into a deep sleep on the spot, without making the journey back up to the palace but that would be crossing the line, even here in Brodiz.

And so they slowly made their way back up the silent streets which appeared much longer than on the way down.

“Wait, where are we?”, Frigyes asked, suddenly wide awake.

Sanses looked around and noticed.

“I do not know… lord”, he said cautiously.

He had no clue as to how they had ended up in this unfamiliar street. A slight mist was beginning to close in, barring their vision, and Frigyes lit the oil lamp he was carrying. In the absence of the ability to see far, the lamp lit up the doorway to the building in immediate proximity.

A sign hung above the doorway. A hand with six fingers.

As if drawn in by his primal instinct, the prince lifted his hand.

“Knock, knock”, went his knuckles against the door. It was certainly real, as surreal as it felt.

But there was no answer.

“Sanses, come here!”, he called out to his attendant who was facing the other direction, trying to see the exit of the street.

“Yes, lord?”, he rushed to his side.

“Look, what do you think this building is?”, Frigyes turned back and pointed at the doorway and the sign -

But it was gone.

Just another building, just another door, and suddenly the mist was beginning to clear and they noticed that they were just a couple of yards into a side street branching off the main street.

“My lord, what did you see?”, Sanses frowned suspiciously but the prince simply shook his head again, as he usually did when he did not want to speak.

“Let us return”, he said, and ushered his steward back onto the main street.

“I will tell you when we are back.”