CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Arwen's Grace

Arwen rocked the dead boy in her arms, murmuring to his departing spirit in the sacred elvish tongue. For a long time she couldn't see or hear anything else. But then, little by little, she became aware of the sound of voices.

Angry voices.

"I hope you don't think the valiant females of this kingdom are just going to put down their swords and go back to the kitchen, Your Majesty." Captain Margo was talking to Ling Kray, the pirate who had just become King of Zin Zaraboob.

"Silence, woman!" Thundered a white-bearded Grand Vizier in an old-fashioned blue turban. "It was your evil Queen Zuleika who murdered young Prince Kassim, and imprisoned us all through foul sorcery. By law the new king ought to have the wicked queen's entire guard executed at once."

"Do I really have that much power?" Ling Kray asked, in a dazed voice. The fierce pirate had just cut off Queen Zuleika's head moments ago. He was a hardened fighting man, used to giving orders, but he was still in shock. Arwen could see that the idea of being a king had truly shaken him.

"You do not," the red-haired Margo snarled. "Not unless you defeat each one of us, sword against sword."

"Even if the king falls, we will still kill each one of you, sword against sword." The old man in the turban was not alone. More than a dozen male warriors had been imprisoned with him. They faced off against Captain Margo and her female guard, swords ready. Everyone looked very fierce and very determined.

"No more killing!"

Heads turned. Everyone looked in Arwen's direction, as shocked and surprised as if the beautiful dark-haired elf maiden had appeared out of nowhere. In reality she had been in their midst the whole time, sitting cross-legged on the tiled floor. But everyone had forgotten her, just as they had forgotten the dead child she held in her arms. Now she set the child down, carefully and reverently. The daughter of Elrond stood up tall and straight, and she began to speak, her voice solemn and her blue eyes full of quiet authority.

"Ling Kray, you will not truly be a king until Prince Kassim has been put to rest in the tomb of his ancestors. You must perform the burial with all due ceremony, and with every possible token of respect. Otherwise the whole city will assume that it was you who murdered the prince and not Queen Zuleika."

"But what about the mystic male warriors, and the Grand Vizier?" Ling Kray asked. "Didn't they come back to life through magic? Doesn't that prove I am the rightful king?"

"The people must be told the story at once," Arwen declared. "Messengers must be sent to every house in the city. One male warrior, and one female captain, working in pairs, must blanket every street in the city before dawn. They will go house to house, letting it be known that the new king, Ling Kray, will protect the rights of women while restoring the ancient ceremonies and rites that protected the city from evil. All city residents must be invited to view the body of Prince Kassim at sunrise in the great temple."

"Why should we go along with this?" Captain Margo demanded. "Maybe you're hot for the pirate, elf-girl, but we're not. What do we get out of this?"

"The pirate is now your king," Arwen said coolly, ignoring the wave of heat she felt at the crude captain's sexual comment. "If you don't support the new government, people will assume you were with Queen Zuleika all along. That you knew of her plot to murder the poor little prince."

"But if you cooperate and spread the word that my rule is legitimate," Ling Kray continued, standing by Arwen's side, "I will issue a royal proclamation pardoning you and all your girls, and guaranteeing that my royal guard will be evenly balanced between old warriors and new. Sending you in pairs throughout the city will spread the same message."

"All right, we'll play ball." Margo chewed her full lower lip. "But who is going to sit up all night over the body of the slain prince? The custom says that only family may do that."

"I will sit up with the prince," Arwen said firmly. Not one person in the hall dared to contradict her, even though she was a stranger in the land.

"Right – so let it be done," Ling Kray said, in his new kingly tone of authority. The men and women all obeyed him.

"The old women will help me bathe and dress the prince's body, and prepare me for my all-night vigil," Arwen told the king, when they were alone together.

"I want you by my side, Arwen." Ling Kray reached for her, his voice husky with desire. "You have done so much for me, for all of us. I want to honor you, and somehow repay . . ."

"Is this the time for such talk?" Arwen unglued herself from his knowing hands, resisting the heat that engulfed her. Stepping back, she looked at the king with cold blue eyes. "Let me go, Your Majesty. I need to wash the blood off my hands. The blood of the boy I swore to protect."

"You may go." The new king watched as the tall elf-maid turned and walked away, her high heels clacking on the tiled floor. He knew that the grace and goodness of Arwen Evenstar had changed him from a common killer to a king. Yet his thoughts remained low, earthy and impure.

He didn't deserve Arwen's grace.