The ring is hers

Her eyes... icy blue, eyes that you know can be diamond-hard when she wills it so, but the ice is melted now and through those eyes you can see a soul which yearns for light after so long in darkness. And so, you are moved to commit an act which would have been unthinkable only yesterday. A quick glance tells you that no one watches you save your own guard; the Sultan, fortunately, is entertaining the crowd with one of his tales from his reckless youth. Reaching back behind your neck, you pull the chain that holds the Iron Ring over your head, and deliberately place it over Katyana's.

"I have given you Elyssia," you tell her. "It is now in your power to do what you originally came here to do: to conquer this city in the name of your father, Lord Velimir, and claim its castle as your own. At your word, the gates will be opened to his armies. By your command, Elyssia's defenders will lay down their arms and surrender. At your will, this kingdom will fall without resistance. Only I could belay such orders, and by the time I reached you do to so, it would be too late. With this ring, I have granted you irrevocable faith and trust, Katyana. Our lives are in your hands."

She takes a deep breath, clutches the ring tightly, then lets it slip inside her cloak. "I have never learned words to convey what I feel at this moment," she whispers. "I know I have not earned this honor, but I swear to you, I will prove worthy of it... my love."

You kiss her hand, wishing you could do more, but not with the possibility of someone watching. "Go now, and do what you must. I will make your excuses. How long will you require?"

"I shall return to the tournament grounds before the two o'clock bell."

"Then, I bid you farewell until then... lovely one."

Katyana almost kisses you at that moment, but manages to hold herself back, and merely nods before turning to leave. You take a moment to look out at the vista below, then back at the castle on the hill, feeling sure that you have made the right choice but unable to escape the gravity of what you have done. Valerie spoke of turning points, where everything changes... surely, this is such a moment. Even to actually wed Katyana will seem like less of a commitment than what you have just made... assuming all goes well, of course.

You return to the party trying your best to look as though nothing more passed between you and Katyana than a few private words.

"...and then, just as he held me with the point of his sword to my throat," the Sultan says, wielding a cheese knife against his own neck for effect, "I reached up and grasped the razor-sharp point of his blade with my bare hand, feeling the keen edge slice into my flesh, but I held fast and pushed it away inch by inch! The blood ran in a torrent down my arm, and he tried mightily to pull his sword from my grasp; but though I could feel the steel cut deeper and deeper, I gripped it only tighter, until it seemed it would cut clean through to the bone. Then, with my other hand, I took my own sword from the floor where it had fallen, raised it high, and sliced it down into his chest with all my strength! Then I stood over him and watched the light leave his eyes, holding my sword by the hilt and his by the blade, and with that I had conquered the great threat to my people and given them both life and peace! And that, my Lords and Ladies, is how Jahwar al-Qasim, who called himself the All-Mighty, met his fate by my hand."

Subhi holds up his hand to show a thick, white scar that runs all the way across the palm, and some of those listening are moved to applaud lightly. You join in, having missed most of the story on this occasion, but it is far from the first time you have heard it. You glance at Katyana's retreating back, moving at a fast walk across the field toward the tournament stables, and notice that Sir Benedicht - who stands guard at the garden gate - looks at you with concern and even a touch of fear in his eyes. It would have been his duty to accompany Lady Katyana or at least find someone to do so; and Katyana must have shown him the ring in order to pass uninhibited. You give Benedicht what you hope is a reassuring nod; of course, your Kingsguard never questions your commands, but you cannot blame him for having been caught by surprise. When you glance over the rest of the faces in the crowd and find Duncan's, the look in his eyes tells you that he has seen what transpired... and he is definitely not happy about it!

"Ah, Lord Duncan," you say to him, injecting lightness into your voice. "I hope you can forgive me for taking a moment to talk business... I had a thought regarding the closing ceremony tomorrow, and I should like to speak to you of it now as it would require some preparation. Could we take a moment to discuss it?"

"Certainly, Sire," Duncan says, unable to quite find it in himself to match your levity. He follows you over to the small guard's building away from the tables and the crowd.

"I have not gone mad," you tell him when you are away from prying ears.

"Of course not, Sire," Duncan says tightly. "It is not my place to question your decisions."

"Don't be absurd, Duncan; that is exactly your place. I am well aware that what I have just done could very well mean our end, and if you did not question it then I would question your fitness for First Advisor."

"Then... why?" Duncan asks, and his stern expression suddenly collapses into one of despair. "Xavier, I have known you to be headstrong, bold, even a bit reckless at times, but never until now have I seen you commit such a foolhardy act! To give the Iron Ring to one such as Katyana... you say you are not mad, but what is this if not madness?"

"It is faith," you tell him.

"She is the daughter of our greatest enemy! The flesh and blood of the Warlord! How could you do such a thing?"

"Duncan, time will tell soon enough whether I have saved us or doomed us," you tell him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It is precisely because the stakes are so high that we cannot hold to half-measures; we are either fully committed, or not at all. The survival of Elyssia already depends on Lady Katyana holding true to us. I have asked for her hand in marriage, for the love of God! She will be sharing my bed at night, and I assure you that I do not plan to have one of the Kingsguard sleeping between us."

Duncan rubs his hand down his face as if trying to wake up from the awful, irrational dream in which he has found himself. "It matters not, the deed is done. Can you at least tell me your plan, Sire? What is it that you have sent her to do?"

"I... do not know," you reply, hesitating only because you fear that the old man's heart may not be able to take much more! "She asked for the ring for her own purposes, and did not tell me what she intends."

The blood drains from Duncan's face; he looks terribly green. "Sire, I believe I may be sick," he whispers.

"Duncan, you know we have a plan for bringing Lord Velimir to Elyssia before he is truly ready," you tell him. "What we do not have is any idea of what we will do once he arrives! By taking his daughter in marriage without even asking his consent, I have insulted his honor - such as it is. Velimir will likely challenge me to single combat. I am a fair swordsman, having been well-trained by the Kingsguard, but let us be perfectly frank: I have almost no chance of defeating the Warlord one-on-one. He is almost twenty years older than I, but those are twenty years of hard experience in war. Even so, I might be able to hold my own under other circumstances, but not with my shoulder so freshly wounded. Lady Katyana says she has a way in which I can emerge victorious, and I have decided to believe her. I think she truly has changed her loyalties."

"In just one day?" Duncan objects. "She barely knows you, Sire, and you do not know her any better! How can you be so sure?"

"I do not think this change in her heart has been only one day in the making," you say. "I think she has questioned her father's methods and morals for many years. I look in her eyes and I see someone of inherent goodness, someone who simply could not condone what the Warlord does, but she has had no other choice but to follow him - until now. We have shown her another way, a way which her heart has longed for but which she did not know was possible. We have shown her that courage need not equate to ****, and that a king may rule with an open hand rather than an iron fist. I am not so conceited as to say that she has fallen in love with me... but I believe she has fallen in love with Elyssia, as so many do who come here and behold it with their own eyes. I know that if I am wrong, I have sealed our fate; I am not unconcerned about that, and if we should fall then the torment of seeing our people suffer for it will be worse than any that the fires of Hell may hold. But Duncan, I feel this as strongly as I have ever felt anything in my life. Lady Katyana holds Elyssia in her hands, and she will not hurl it to the ground at her father's feet."

"I can only hope that you are right, Sire," Duncan says sadly.

"If you believe I may be wrong," you tell him, "you have my leave to gather what people you may this night, and depart the city for safe haven elsewhere. I will not think less of you; I would see it not as a lack of faith in me, but as a sensible precaution to ensure that Elyssia need not die due to one fateful decision on the part of her King. And should we win the day after all..."

"...you would all be welcomed back, with no loss of honor, to resume the duties and privileges bestowed upon each of you by the Crown," you finish.

An hour has passed since Katyana left the tournament garden, and as the tournament itself is about to resume, you have been able to take a moment to speak with all your advisors together in the guardroom below the grandstands. The chamber is small, and the table seats only four so most are standing; in addition, you have been **** to conduct the meeting in whispers, as there was no time to ensure that the room itself was completely secure from listening ears.

"For myself, there is no question," Captain Navarre says. "I have sworn an oath to defend and protect the King; I uphold that oath as a matter of honor, even if it were not the will of my heart to do so. But it is both my duty and my will, Sire. I have spoken."

General Ferdinand leans forward. "Here we speak our minds, openly and without reservation," he says. "And so I must say that had I known what the King would do, I might have stepped forward and accepted his abdication of strategic decisions when it was offered. Or, perhaps I might not have; I confess I find it difficult to imagine what I would have done in the moment had the choice been presented to me. Be that as it may, I did not accept the offer when it was made, and what is done is done. I remain here in Elyssia, and I trust in our King. I have spoken."

"I am not one to make speeches," says Lord Heinrich. "I also remain here. I have spoken."

"The King requires my services as a healer," Master Sanjay says, "but even if he did not, I would stay. I have spoken."

Lady Hypatia, the Librarian and Keeper of Knowledge, stirs in her chair. "I have only the greatest faith in our King," she says in her quiet voice. "I believe that in light of what we face, what he has done was the best possible course. However, even the best plans of men may go awry, and Elyssia could still fall even if the Lady Katyana proves trustworthy. There are books and records in the library vaults which must be preserved at all costs, which the Warlord would not value and which he would likely order burned. I would entrust these treasures to no one but myself. I will take them away from the city this night, to the monastery at Salzburg, where they will be safe. It has long been my intention to take them there so that the monks may study and copy them... I will simply do so sooner than I had planned. My faith in our King remains unwavering; I do only what I feel I must. I have spoken."

"Go with the blessings of the Crown, Lady Hypatia," you tell her, "and upon your return the Library will be waiting for you. Riders will be sent to deliver you word of what happens here. You may return to the Library to make your preparations if you will."

"I shall take my leave when we are through here, Sire," she says, bowing her head.

Only Lord Duncan has yet to speak; he looks down at the center of the table, as if he is somehow looking for his answer there. "Sire," he says, "I count my years well above threescore and ten, and my life is nearly spent regardless of what takes place in the next few days. The only reason I would have to leave Elyssia would be to show that I have lost faith in my King. This, I will not do, for I have not. But as we speak our minds at this table, I must say this now: I believe that you have made a grievous error this day, Sire. Lady Katyana should not have been given such power and freedom to act as she will; if she has a plan, it ought to have been discussed with this council so that we might lend our wisdom to it. I can understand that she comes from a place where betrayal and scheming are the way of things, where plans must be kept secret and one may only trust oneself, but that is not the way of Elyssia. I do not share the faith you have in her. It is my fervent hope that I will be proven wrong. Either way, what wisdom and service I have to offer are yours, Sire, and I remain at your right hand. I have spoken."

"The King has heard all that you have spoken," you say. "Tonight, in the city square with all Elyssia and all our guests as my witness, I will ask for Lady Katyana's hand in marriage. Look to the sunrise tomorrow, as I cannot say for certain that it will not be our last. But we shall have hope."