Tangled Engagements (The Memory Stones Series Book 4) Read online

  He agreed, and they began to eat the breakfast food and chat, until they heard a hullabaloo elsewhere in the house.

  “What’s happening?” Theus asked.

  “I’ll go see,” Coriae replied, as curious as he was.

  She promptly left the room. Theus hurriedly pulled on clothes, then left the room as well, went down the hall, then rapidly down the stairs. A large crush of people filled the front door, preventing him from seeing what was happening, so Theus went out the kitchen door and around the house.

  A large collection of horses was on the front lawn on the home, and Theus saw multiple people hugging and clasping one another near the front door. The horses and many of their riders appeared exhausted, with drooping heads and listless postures; Theus couldn’t imagine anyone being out on a long ride so early in the morning.

  “Theus! Come in here! Theus!” Coriae’s voice called him, and she waved her hand over her head from the center of the crowd at the door to beckon him to join.

  He hastened through the surrounding throng, and when he reached her he found her father and mother there as well, and then he realized that Forgon had arrived!

  Forgon had made the long, wearying journey from Stoke back to Great Forks.

  “Theus!” the heir to the Warrell name cried out joyously, and he released his hold on his mother to turn and hug Theus in a tight embrace.

  “They’re just telling me there’s no war here because you did something spectacular?!” Forgon spoke in his ear as the two of them slapped each other on the back.

  Forgon was referencing the battle with Donal, something that already seemed to have happened weeks in the past, Theus realized. The young nobleman and his companions must have been on the road ever since receiving news of the beginning of the invasion, and had received no details about the course of the struggle, let alone its outcome.

  And then Theus saw Amelia. She was standing alone, observing the reunions, her clothes bedraggled evidence of the toil of the long ride from Stoke. But her eyes were shining brightly as she watched Forgon and Theus embrace.

  Theus stepped out of Forgon’s grasp, and stepped over to Amelia, bringing a wide smile to her face as their eyes met. They each reached out their hands in front of them, and held hands as they studied one another for a long moment, then they embraced and kissed cheeks.

  “It’s so good to see you,” Theus told Amelia, speaking in her ear.

  “Theus, I’ve missed you so much!” she told him in return.

  “And I’ve missed you!” he agreed. “You’ve come with Forgon, obviously.”

  “I wouldn’t let him leave without me. He said it would be dangerous and probably deadly,” she laughed. “But I insisted he take me, and he can’t say ‘no’ to me, it seems!”

  “Who can?” Theus laughed, delighted to see the girl.

  “He’s worried now,” Amelia told him; while Theus stood with his back to the gathered Warrells, Amelia was able to look over his shoulder at them and observe the noble family. “But that beautiful girl is saying something to him, and he seems pleased. Who is she, do you know?” Amelia asked.

  “It’s his sister, Coriae,” Theus replied. The pair ended their embrace. “Let’s go meet them, shall we?” he asked.

  “Yes, and then I want to hear all about why you’re here, and there’s no war, like we were told,” Amelia held his hand in hers. “You probably did it, didn’t you, with all that great magical power you control?”

  “His sister?” Amelia belated asked as the pair stepped closer. “Is she the one?”

  “Yes,” Theus said simply. “She’s the one.”

  “Theus, thank you for bringing Amelia in,” Forgon said. “I want to introduce her to my parents.

  “Amelia, this is my father, Lord Warrell, and my mother, Lady Iris Warrell,” Forgon introduced. “And mother and father, this is Amelia, the princess of Steep Rise.

  “She and I are engaged to be married, pending Theus’s permission,” Forgon said.

  “Engaged?” Lady Warrell asked with delight. “This beautiful flower? Forgon, you’re a fortunate young man. And what’s this about Theus’s permission?”

  Theus appreciated hearing the question asked by Lady Warrell, as he was ready to ask it himself.

  “Theus is her protector; he saved her life twice. She’s named him as her knight, and her parents are deceased,” Forgon explained. “So I believe that I must ask Theus’s permission for her hand in marriage.”

  “I’d be careful with this, Theus. What do you know about his character and judgement?” Coriae teasingly asked as she came to stand beside him.

  “You must be Coriae!” Amelia said. She stepped forward and hugged the girl. “I’ve heard so much about you, from both Theus and Forgon. And almost everyone else I met in Stoke, for that matter. You’re even more beautiful than they say.

  “Theus, don’t play any games,” she turned back to her friend. “You know how wonderful Forgon is,” she lectured him. “He’s a perfect man, just like you – except that he doesn’t know white magic. You must let us marry.”

  “Theus, please don’t have any reservations,” Forgon spoke earnestly. “I understand the unique facts about Amelia. She and I have talked a great deal. We’re learning from each other. Many times she actually helps me see things more clearly – she’s been good for me. And I hope I’ve been good for her.”

  “I can’t think of a better man for her to marry,” Theus said. He felt inspired; he reached for Forgon’s hand, then Amelia’s hand, and placed the two together between his own, as the couple smiled at one another. “They have my blessing, which really wasn’t necessary in the first place.”

  “Splendid!” Forgon said. “Now we can plan the wedding! Perhaps we can have two weddings at the same time?” he asked, turning to Coriae, who looked at him in shock.

  “Forgon, no, not now, please,” she entreated her brother.

  “We can dream, can’t we?” Forgon continued, as Coriae turned to look at Theus. Theus was feeling embarrassed by his friend’s jumping to such an unwarranted conclusion in public; there was no reason to press the idea of Theus and Coriae resuming their engagement.

  Coriae was starting to cry, Theus noticed with concern.

  “We could have a wedding in the fall, after the city is cleaned up,” Forgon was absorbed with his vision of a great family celebration. “Amelia and I could be married, and Coriae and Klermie could be married too. His family would have plenty of time to come here from Thuros, wouldn’t they, Cory?” he asked.

  “Forgon,” she snapped sharply, tears on her face. She turned to Theus, and stepped over next to him, as he looked from Forgon to her, unable to comprehend what was being revealed.

  The girl placed her hand on the back of his head and drew him down as she looked up at him. “I wanted to tell you. I’m so sorry, Theus. It was something that happened and I know why and,” she paused as she gasped for breath, crying and talking with tears streaming. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, and I was so mad and impulsive,” she was rambling, unable to develop a coherent train of thought among the emotional wreckage that was strewn among the revelation by Forgon.

  “Are you saying you’re engaged?” Theus couldn’t comprehend what was being revealed.

  She looked at him with pleading eyes. “Yes, Theus. I’m engaged to be married. I went to Thuros to visit cousins after you and I broke apart, and I met Klermie there again, and I just needed to be swept off my feet to get over my anger.

  “Oh, I wish I had never gone there,” Coriae was sobbing.

  “Take her inside, Forgon,” Lord Warrell spoke up sharply.

  “Yes, my lord,” he replied immediately, as he released Amelia’s hand and placed an arm around Coriae, drawing her away from Theus. His eyes looked at Theus’s with a pleading expression, asking for something – forgiveness, it seemed – while Amelia stood suddenly alone, looking in confusion at the emotional scene that was playing out before a pub
lic audience of the men and women from inside the mansion as well as the men and women who had ridden with Forgon from Stoke, coming to fight in a war against invaders, they thought.

  And Theus stood suddenly alone and lost, baffled by the revelation. Coriae had seemed so affectionate towards him, he thought, and their attraction for each other had been genuine.

  But she was engaged to another. It was stupefying. He could not process the waves of shock and disappointment that overwhelmed his soul at that moment.

  Chapter 4

  Theus found that Amelia’s hand was in his. Forgon and Coriae were out of sight, somewhere inside the mansion. And a crowd milled around the front of the building in bewilderment and embarrassment.

  “Is everything alright, Theus?” Amelia looked up into his face with concern writ large on her own. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” she was just a step behind Theus in not understanding the shocking revelation that had upending the spontaneous happiness of Forgon’s arrival.

  “It’s,” Theus paused. He didn’t want to talk about the revelation and betrayal he felt. He didn’t want to think about it. He wanted to run away; it was as if he were a boy in the Jewel Hills once again, learning bad news that he had no power to handle.

  But he owed Amelia some explanation, so that she would be slightly less blindsided by the dynamics that he imagined were about to unfold. He wished Coriae had been truthful enough to have been honest with him.

  “Come with me,” he told Amelia, closing his hand around hers, and pulling her through the crowd, accepting the awkward pats on the shoulder as he passed by people. They broke free of the crowd and walked on the drive, moving around the side of the mansion, heading towards the back.

  “I arrived here a few days ago, in the beginning of the battle against Southsand, and I fought Donal – magic against magic,” he told Amelia. “We both were hurt, but he left the battlefield completely, and disappeared from the city,” Theus explained.

  “Oh Theus, you beat him!” Amelia shrieked with glee.

  “But I was hurt, and I’ve been staying here to rest and recover. Coriae had been taking care of me, and I thought,” he paused again, then swallowed the lump in his throat.

  “It just seemed like we were instantly close to one another. It felt comfortable. But she didn’t tell me she was engaged,” he explained. There had been times when Coriae had pulled back, he realized, moments when she had brought their relations back within the boundaries of propriety. But she had known she was engaged.

  “I’m sorry Theus. I don’t know what to say,” Amelia told him, as they reached the door to the kitchen.

  “You don’t have to say anything. You just do so well by being my friend,” Theus replied.

  He led her up the steps and into the kitchen. “Everyone,” he spoke to the staff who were still in the kitchen, “this is Amelia, the princess of Steep Rise, and the betrothed of Forgon. She’s just ridden the miles from Stoke with him to arrive here. Can you provide her with a suitable room and facilities?” he asked.

  Blanche immediately stepped forward, putting down the clean dishes she had been drying. “Allow me to serve you, my lady,” she offered.

  “Blanche will take very good care of you,” Theus assured Amelia. He was feeling numb, and holding tightly to the formalities of polite behavior, as a crutch to help him cope with the shock of Coriae’s revelation. He wanted to go up to his room, alone. He knew what he had to do.

  “Thank you, a chance to freshen up would be wonderful,” Amelia said gratefully. “I’ll see you soon, dear?” she asked Theus.

  “Just as soon as we can,” he agreed. He waited for the pair of women to leave, then he sprinted up the stairs and entered his own room. He packed his small cache of belongings, then went back down the servants’ stairs, out the back door, and out through the hidden exit that Coriae had shown him in the armory. Less than twenty minutes after hearing Coriae admit her engagement, he was moved out of the Warrell mansion.

  Chapter 5

  Theus tramped through the city, on his way to the camp of the Southsand army refugees. He took a long way to travel there, seeking time alone, so that he could try to move past the worst part of the shock of Coriae’s engagement.

  He was halfway across the city when he remembered his first encounter with Coriae; he had served as a temporary servant to her, working on behalf of the temple of Currense in Greenfalls. He’d been fresh off the farm, just out from under Grant’s tutelage in the caravan, green and unused to the ways of the world, and he’d been assigned by Alsman to serve Coriae as her lowly servant. Among his duties that day had been to purchase a cluster of posies and deliver them to Klermie, the Thuros nobleman who Coriae had briefly chatted with in a chance encounter among the crowds at the Rainbow Festival.

  The man was not in any way qualified to seek the hand of Coriae, Theus thought sourly. Yet Klermie was the man who was going to make the astonishing woman his bride – not Theus.

  She was impetuous, Theus thought to himself. She had clearly gone off in a state of pique after the drama of the end of their own relationship, and she had run straight into the arms of the agreeable Klermie.

  Theus reached the edge of the Southsand camp, marked by a wide distance of empty space, where watchfulness was the password on either side of the boundary zone. The residents of the Great Forks suburb had no liking for the band of soldiers who camped in their midst. And the men of Southsand watchfully anticipated a potential ambush at any moment.

  He looked around, saw no one armed and imminently ready to attack, so he walked to the camp and met his friends from Southsand.

  “Theus! It’s so good to see you; we’re worried about staying here too long. No one wants to be a stationary target,” Montuse told him.

  “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us. How quickly can your men be ready to leave?” Theus asked.

  “Give us half an hour and we’ll be on our feet,” Alamice replied.

  “Let’s go then. I’m ready to leave Great Forks. I can’t wait to get to Limber and introduce all of you to your new homes,” Theus told them. His words set off a mad scramble of men tearing down tents and packing up utensils and supplies. Fifteen minutes later, the group was a pair of columns of men, standing side by side, anxious to begin the journey to their new home.

  Theus led the way. They moved diagonally across the field and entered the main road, the long road that followed the Landwide River all the way to Greenfalls, and beyond it to the east. The group’s spirits were high, as they perceived they were finally on the way. They were leaving behind not only Southsand, but they were leaving behind Great Forks, where they had seen their army collapse and lose a battle because one man – Donal – had fallen.

  And Theus was glad to leave Great Forks behind as well. He was pleased to put distance between himself and Coriae, and all the pain and confusion she had planted in his soul. He would miss Amelia, and Forgon, and Lord Warrell, as well as many others, for that matter. But he would be able to clear his mind, and not be exposed to Coriae’s graceful stride or sharp wit or lovely face any longer. He could journey to Limber, and be a step closer to being healed in the temple. And hopefully to finding peace.

  Which would put him a step closer to being ready to take his journey to Southsand, the journey intended to bring him face-to-face with Donal, and then with Ind’Petro, to fight the battle that would be the final conclusion of the long, winding road he had been on since his parents had sold him to Grant, so many months ago.

  He shook his head, then focused on the road. The company of soldiers were professionals, a large number of them officers. They would be good men to travel with for the weeks that their trip was likely to take. Theus hoped they could reach Limber in three weeks’ time, but it was an ambitious goal. They walked along without animals to carry any of them or any supplies.

  They pitched camp that night in a different field, a pasture they were passing as the sun descended below the horizon. Theus was pleased with the pa
ce of their travels on the first day of the journey.

  The soldiers ate limited rations that night, and set up a regular rotation of guards before they all drifted off to sleep under the quickly cooled evening sky.

  The next morning, they began their march early, and despite midday rains, they made good progress again. Other travelers on the road steered wide, or fled from the road, as they spotted the marching body of armed men, but there were no troubles in any of the small farming and fishing communities they passed through.

  On the third night of their trip, they faced trouble when a trio of their members stole away to the tavern in a nearby village, and got into a fight. Theus was able to negotiate the release of the men by providing remedies to treat the illnesses of a dozen residents of the village.

  Theus never removed the ruby pendant from his chest. Because so many of the members of the Southsand company had directly witnessed his battle with Donal, or heard a vivid description of it, he retold the story of his recollections of the battle multiple times. He pulled his shirt open to show the astonishing evidence of Donal’s evil magic, the blackened flesh around his shoulder wound, contained by the thin red glowing line of power. The evidence of the magical wound and magical treatment only raised his prominence in the eyes of his new followers.

  So it was no surprise on the fourth day of the journey that the scouts for the body of men approached him as their trusted leader immediately when news of impending trouble rose.

  “There’s a cloud of dust on the road behind us, Theus,” Montrose reported to Theus at midday.

  “It’s been following us since morning, and its coming closer,” he added.

  “What does it mean?” Theus asked.

  “We think it’s men on horseback, with the speed it’s traveling,” the Southsand officer suggested.

  “Could it be a traders’ caravan?” Theus offered.

  “They pull slow wagons, don’t they?” Montrose pointed out. “I’d suggest that in the next two hours, we look for anything that might be defensible, and take up positions there, just to be safe.”