The Supreme Warrior *2014 ABNA Contest 2nd Round*

CHAPTER 6: The Hunt

“But, I knew my duty to my family.”

She wants me to stay away from Alynde.

She watched Cal with her yet-unwrinkled eyes. She was quiet for a long time, and then said, “My friends and I heard many songs about dalliances with triumphant knights, but they are called “romances” for a reason.”

Did Father ask her to talk to me? Or was it Henrick?

“Though many of my friends toyed with pointless affairs, we all accepted the marriages arranged for us...”

I am not you. Neither is Alynde.

Her voice became wistful. “I would give much...to be young again.”

Calidon stared at his mother in shock.

She CAN’T approve. I must have heard her wrong.

All at once, he noticed that his mother had unbound her jet-black hair, allowing it to fall freely to her waist instead of wound into a confining plait. She wore a plaintive little smile on her face.

A flood of gratitude overwhelmed Cal.

“Do you understand, my Son?”

Cal nodded sadly. For the first time, he wondered about his mother’s happiness.

                                                                    *   *   *

Later that morning, Cal stood on a balcony overlooking the practice yard. He knew what he had to do. His talk with his mother had made his course clear. He would not accept a loveless marriage in the name of family duty. He wanted Alynde. He had to find a way to have her.

He surrendered himself to the political game.

His mind began to churn as he tried to find a practical method. As his father had taught him since childhood, Cal supressed his feelings in order to better concentrate on his goal. He let the relevant facts simmer before the flame of his reason and desire until a plan emerged from the broth.

He knew convincing Baron Helvig to accept him would not be an easy task. Helvig wanted his daughter to marry Henrick.

Whoa. Back up. How would the other Barons view a marriage between Alynde and the Heir to Dannik’s throne?

New eagerness charged Cal’s body and mind. He sensed a crack in the problem, and struggled to widen it into a gateway.

The Barons had been squabbling among themsevles for more than three hundred years. Despite the constant feuds, the Baronies had always been able to join forces when invaded by Selinger. However, friction between powerful lords like Helvig and Dannik threatened to start the sort of wide-spread conflict that the Barons had feared for decades.

Yet, an alliance between these two powers would be even worse. Helvig’s growing wealth joined with Dannik’s elite knights could produce a military juggernaut able to swallow the entire Northland. The Baronies needed a solution that could ease the situation without upsetting the status quo.

Cal’s brain exploded in a white blast of understanding. A marriage between Alynde and I could create a political breakwater between Dannik and Helvig, without creating an heir to both Baronies.

The border of Dannik and Helvig was sparsely populated due to the rough terrain. With hard work, serfs could drain and cultivate the swampy land. If the Witan granted these estates to him and Alynde, the Barons could create a small Barony separating Dannik and Helvig. Both Grelig and Dorrin would shrink from attacking their own children; by the time they died, Calidon would have had the chance to gather enough vassals to stand on his own.