The Lord and Lady in the White Tower
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own none of this. No, really. Rating: K Time: This is a sequel to the Lady in the White Tower and begins some months after that story ended.
Kate sighed.
"I suppose I should quit and begin again tomorrow. I can smell my favorite foods being cooked which means my ladies are afraid I'll lose my temper."
"You?" Rick said with a grin. "Lose your temper?"
"Yes, it does happen. However, enough about my problems. How was your day, Lover?"
"I spent most of it at Lady Elbetta's quarters trying to find out when she'll be taking over as the ambassador from Altai from me. I never did get to see her, and her people either have no idea when she's taking over or just want to frustrate me for some reason. I'm worried about this because once I'm no longer the ambassador, I won't be able to trade on my own account with Altai. I know we have a lot of money, and you can always manage to get more, but…"
"We don't have to worry." Kate broke in. "I talked to Fortalaez and Sons yesterday. They'll continue to send our trade goods to Altai, and they'll buy on our behalf what they can. We'll now have to pay customs duties on those goods, but we won't go bankrupt."
Rick smiled and shook his head.
"Whatever would I do without you?"
"You'd do the same as I would. We'd be miserable without each other. So, let's hope we never have to find out what that's like. Anything else happen?"
"I met a young lady in the palace."
Kate raised an eyebrow.
"Should I be worried?"
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be breaking hearts all over the Capitol in another ten years or so, but even then, you'll have nothing to worry about."
"How interesting. Tell me about her."
Rick explained his unusual conversation with Lady Arran.
"Do you know of any ladies of that name?" He asked Kate.
"No. But it is rather unusual that one so young should be interested in the military and navigation."
"Perhaps she has her eye on a boy who's interested in the army or the navy. She might want to seem interested in his interests."
"Perhaps." Kate said, thinking about the girl. "You say she was not dressed in the height of Imperial fashion and had little jewelry?"
"Yes."
"She might be from some poor provincial noble family, sent here in hopes of making a good marriage. Good from the point of view of her family which means a rich noble for a husband." Kate's disdain for that kind of marriage was clear.
"We may never see or hear of her again." Rick said.
"Excuse me, Lady Kate, Baron Castle?" Alexa, another of Kate's ladies, said. "Dinner is ready to be served."
"We'll be right there." Kate replied.
Rick, Kate and Lotus ate dinner. Lotus had a chair especially designed for her race. Not noticeable to the casual observer, she had very human like hands folded back against her wrist, allowing her to eat with silverware.
A small chime sounded, indicating a visitor had arrived.
"Alexis, will you check the door and see who it is?" Kate asked.
The young redhead did so, and quickly reported back.
"I'm afraid it's a message from the palace, Lady Kate, brought by an Imperial Page."
"Then we'll have to see him. Please clear Lotus' place away and take her chair away. Lotus, I'm afraid you'll have to lie on the floor and eat some raw meat.
"Do I?" The tigery whined. "That is so uncivilized. And my meal will get cold."
"We can't have people finding out you're an intelligent being, can we? The humans here are frightened of intelligent aliens. And I'll have Alana warm your food up and you'll have two pieces of chocolate cake for dessert."
"Oh, very well then."
Lotus got on the floor and began gnawing on a joint of meat.
Most Imperial Pages were quite impressed with themselves. After all, they brought orders from the Emperor himself. This one obviously wished he was anywhere but the White Tower and would leave as fast as he was able.
"B-b-baron C-castle?" He stuttered.
"Yes?"
At that moment, Lotus growled and stood up on all fours.
"Message from Emperor Paulus." The young boy threw an envelope to Castle and ran from the room.
"That was very naughty of you." Kate chided Lotus.
"He spoiled my meal" Lotus said.
"We now know when Lady Elbetta will be taking over from me as the Altaian ambassador. We're invited to the ceremony at the Golden Palace the night after next." Castle thought for a moment. "Now that I'm no longer the ambassador, I wonder what Emperor Paulus will do with me."
Then Count Paulus had ascended to the throne after the old emperor had been murdered by a renegade guard. At least that's what Paulus told everyone. The guard wasn't able to contradict him as he had been promptly killed by Paulus' men. The remainder of the old emperor's family had suffered a series of accidents, leaving Paulus on the throne.
Accordingly, Emperor Paulus was very afraid of talented, charismatic and popular officers who might ascend to the throne in the same manner as he had. Baron Castle was far too honorable to ever think of breaking his oath to the Emperor, but Paulus would rather be safe than sorry. And dead.
When the war against the Eastern Barbarians had been won, he had disbanded Baron Castle's regiment and told Castle that if the regiment wished to stay together, it would have to leave the Empire. That had brought Castle to the attention of Lady Kate. She wished to travel to the Western Lands but needed an escort. A powerful escort. They had traveled together around the world, married and he'd arrived back in the Empire as the ambassador from the Queendom of Altai.
Two nights later, Baron Castle stood examining himself in the mirror. He really didn't like formal court wear, but he had to admit that the outfit that Kate and her girls had picked out wasn't all bad. He had a pair of highly shined black shoes with solid gold buckles. His trousers were black silk from far Altai. Around his waist was a scarlet sash and over the sash was a highly polished black leather sword belt. The sword he carried had been a gift from the emperor himself, so Castle had to wear it. It was an unbalanced thing that he could never get to hold an edge. He often wondered if the Emperor handed out such useless swords so that his officers couldn't assassinate him with them.
Above the sash was a frilled linen shirt which he thought was a bit too showy, but Kate had insisted on it. Around his neck was a multicolored silk scarf tied in a fashionable bow. He wore a newly fashionable clawhammer coat of powder blue color.
All in all, he decided he was acceptable. He was, after all, a combat soldier and not an over-dressed courtier.
He turned to look at his wife. Kate did not dress in the very height of female court fashion. Imperial ladies favored heavily embroidered silk gowns with all manner of precious gems sewn on. Under that they wore as many petticoats as they could manage. Their hair was worn long, but teased and lacquered into fantastic shapes, all held together with bejeweled pins. Many had hair other than their own woven into these creations. Imperial ladies wore as much jewelry as they could get on, with multiple necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings. A group of such ladies walking together clattered so much that they could not hear themselves speak.
Lady Kate wore a simple floor length white gown that showed off her slim figure. The dress was slit to the knee on one side so she could easily walk. Her chestnut hair hung in curls down her back, held by a simple golden clasp. For jewelry she wore her wedding ring on her left hand, a golden bracelet on her right wrist, a small pair of pearl earrings and a necklace with four large and very rare blue pearls from some land far south of Altai.
"Are we ready?" Kate asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Outside, Joffree was waiting with his carriage. The carriage had been cleaned of any dirt and mud it had picked up and his horse was freshly groomed. The horse's mane had been braided and tiny silver bells were set into the braids.
Twelve of Baron Castle's Companions rode as escorts, four in front and eight in back. They were not armored and armed as cataphracts but wore a simple blue tabard with Baron Castle's livery and carried only swords. Javier Esposito, the regiment's ensign, rode in front carrying the flag of the Norren Heavy Cavalry Regiment.
Rick and Kate entered the carriage and headed for the Golden Palace.
Once inside the Grand Ballroom, Castle felt out of place. Most of those around him were courtiers and the few soldiers present were the commanders of Guards units that never left the Capitol.
Then he saw someone he thought he knew. But it couldn't be, could it?
Sandrall was an Eastern Barbarian. His older brother had murdered their father to take over the tribe. The older brother did his best to kill of all the other family members who might try to take revenge. Sandrall was the only one to escape with a small number of followers. As the father had been in favor of peace with the Empire, and the older brother wanted to attack and loot the Empire, Sandrall offered his services to the Empire. He had ridden with Baron Castle as the head of his scouts both in the wars against the Eastern Barbarians and in Rick and Kate's journey around the world.
Sandrall had only been known to bathe when he had occasion to ride his horse across a river. He had one suit of clothes; made of animal skins of animals he'd killed personally. His clothes were full of rips and tears from swords, lances and arrows. He regarded these as badges of honor and wouldn't dream of sewing them up.
He shaved his head so that all could see the tattoo he had inviting anyone to try to take his head and make a drinking cup out of it.
This man looked like Sandrall, but was dressed far differently.
His shoes were red patent leather with solid gold buckles, his trousers were of the softest deerskin. Around his waist was a golden sash and over that was a sword belt glowing with jewels. His sword was no court sword, but a fine saber. His shirt was black silk as was the scarf tied loosely around his neck. His coat was a brilliant scarlet, adorned with lace and embroidered heavily. His head was no longer shaven, and his hair was a good half inch long. Most incredible was his aroma. He smelled of expensive perfume.
Rick and Kate slowly approached the man.
"Sandrall?" Rick said. "Is that you?"
The man turned and smiled.
"Baron Castle, Lady Castle. How good to see you." He said bowing.
Rick bowed in return and Kate curtseyed.
"You've…changed." Rick finally managed to say.
"I suppose I have."
"Is that perfume?"
"Of course not. No man wears perfume. It's a manly fragrance called cologne."
"There you are, Dearest." Said a woman coming over and putting her arm around Sandrall's waist.
She was the only woman besides Kate who had not dressed in the current Imperial style. She had on a dress of red silk with no adornment and no petticoats. He long blonde hair hung loose down her back and her jewelry consisted of a signet ring on her left hand and a necklace featuring a well-cut blood red ruby.
Sandrall smiled.
"Allow me to introduce my friend. This is Ann, Duchess of Hastings. Ann this is my friend Baron Richard Castle and his wife, Lady Katherine."
TBC