Epilogue

To the Sultan of Al-Mansoura, the Great and Mighty Subhi El-Zamani, Praise Be To His Name

My Dear Friend,

As I write these words it has been just over three years to the day following Elyssia's tenth anniversary festival. I am pleased to be able to tell you that we have enjoyed only further peace and prosperity, and should fortune hold, Queen Katyana and I will be able to make good on our promise to visit your great kingdom one year from now. We celebrated our thirteenth anniversary with the usual grandeur which Katyana insists upon; the roasted camel has become our traditional feast for such occasions, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the gift of spices and flavorings from your kingdom which allowed us to prepare it properly for the first time!

Katyana sends her love and well-wishes. She still finds some matters of royal life difficult to become accustomed to, but on the whole she has done better than I; the most vexing matter (not to me, but to those who care about such things) is that she still refuses to wear any garb in which she could not fight if it came to it! Katyana and Duncan also continue to argue incessantly over almost every detail of any given matter of state. Of course, Duncan is no longer as active in council as he once was... I fear that he remains prone to incapacitating headaches which can last longer than a day, but his mind remains as sharp as it ever was and in the end he may outlast all of us.

I should tell you now of the passing of Lord Velimir of Reznik, whom most assumed to already be dead before now, but it turns out he has been alive up until a month ago. As Katyana had foreseen, within months of his humiliation at the hands of Liesel von Ingolstadt, not one of his captains felt compelled to remain loyal to him; the former Warlord was finally **** to seek Sanctuary at an ancient monastery so isolated that most have forgotten its existence. In this place, he has lived without purpose or hope in his life, afraid to step outside or even to pass a window, consumed with terror that the Vixen might be watching and waiting. As a result, the once-mighty Velimir slowly wasted away, until at last he became too weak to rise from his bed. As the end drew near, he begged the monks to send word to his daughter so that he might see her one last time, and it was in this way that we learned of his fate. I was not privy to their last words together, but it seems that Velimir offered Katyana a measure of forgiveness before he parted from this world... probably the best we could have hoped for from one such as he. His body rests in the monastery’s graveyard, the stone marker bearing but a single word: “Father”.

Liesel now rules Bavaria as Queen, as you know; her cousin Stephan immediately abdicated upon her return and she assumed the throne without a drop of blood spilled. While one should not believe all the songs which are sung of her (I would be astounded if some had not reached your ears by now), it is remarkable how little in the way of embellishment has been required to make her story the stuff of legend!

I fear this will be a shorter letter than most, as there are signs of imminent upheaval in the lands which lie between our two kingdoms, and I wish to give this message every chance of reaching your hands, for there is a final piece of most important news. It was but seven days ago that Katyana and I were blessed with the birth of our first child, a strong and healthy son. He has been given the name Methodius, for my old master at the forge. He has his mother's eyes.

May fortune shine for ever upon you and your kingdom,

Xavier, King of Elyssia