Twelfth Knight

Chapter 2

Dinner with her father and her governess, Maria, was torture for Emberly. All afternoon, she had been thinking over Kyler's supposed “plan.” She knew it wasn’t going to work. It was a foolish idea that was going to end in him being sent to prison or worse, being labeled a traitor. He had to become a knight. It was required by the great laws of Etrusca.

Dinner was a silent affair, as it was most nights. Emberly was glad for the silence tonight, however. Had her father questioned, she might have accidentally revealed Kyler’s crazy plot to ensure his freedom from the war.

The plan for tomorrow was simple. Emberly and Kyler would take a carriage to the castle in Central tomorrow morning. From here, Emberly was to meet with her grandmother’s butler, who would take her to her grandmother’s house in the city of Central. Meanwhile, Kyler was to remain at the castle as a squire, a knight in training.

Kyler, instead, wanted to take a carriage to the city of Verlent, where he would meet the physician and begin his apprenticeship under the watchful eye of the greatest physician in the entire kingdom.

Emberly thought this plan was idiotic and would inevitably fail.

Those in charge of the training program knew that Kyler was to participate. When he did not appear, the king would be notified. It was seen as treason to run from the training of a knight. And Kyler would be punished severely for his actions.

In contrast, Emberly knew how much Kyler wanted to become a physician. He had been reading every known book on the subject since the beginning of the summer. He had an intense desire to help people, just not in the way that the king wanted him to.

Emberly glanced up at her father. He didn’t look like his children. He had blonde hair to their dark auburn. He was tall, where his children were small for their sixteen years of age. His chin protruded ever so slightly from the rest of this face. From their father, however, they received their green eyes, a trait that Emberly prided herself in.

She wondered what the king would do to the earl should Kyler go ahead with his plan. Would the king revoke his rank? Would they lose Northem because of Kyler’s desire to learn to be a physician?

A part of Emberly despised Kyler for his selfishness in his plan. Their father, too, held great animosity for war, but he still served the required years in the military. He did what was expected of him as a nobleman of Etrusca. Why couldn’t Kyler do the same?

Once dinner had ended, Emberly made a bee-line for her brother’s bedroom, where she knew she would find him rereading the letter from the physician. Sure enough, she found Kyler sitting on his bed, perusing the parchment clenched in his hands.

He smiled to her when she entered. “Your plan is going to fail,” she stated bluntly. The smile quickly fell from his face. “You’ve clearly not thought this all the way through.”

“What do you­–”

“I know that you want to be a physician, Kyler, but you have to consider how your actions will reflect Father if you do this. You’ll be labeled a traitor if you do this. You’ll hang for it.”

“There are twenty men entering the program in my year,” Kyler answered her. “They are not going to notice if one person is missing.”

“It is the law,” she persisted. She had to make him see how moronic his plan was. This was Kyler’s ultimate problem. He always did everything on impulse. He never considered the consequences. “The king needs men in his army. Do you really think he would let them overlook anyone? You have to go into training, Kyler. And I have to go to Grandmother. Sometimes, we don’t get what we want in the world.”

Kyler was silent, drinking in her words. A sharp pain exploded in Emberly’s chest as she regarded her brother. He looked so terribly sad at the prospect of going to training instead of his apprenticeship. Kyler didn’t want to be a warrior, he wanted to be a physician. He was so close to his dream, but it was ripped away from him at the last moment.

He took a deep breath and sighed. “You’re right,” he murmured. His words were defeated and it broke Emberly’s heart.

“I-I could take your place,” Emberly found herself saying. Kyler looked up at her in confusion.

“You don’t know anything about physician work,” Kyler said in matter-of-fact tone.

“I’m not talking about the apprenticeship, I’m talking about training. I could take your place and you could go to Verlent to meet the physician.” Kyler’s mouth hung open in surprise. He very clearly did not know what to say. He was a fish out of water, gasping for breath.

“But you­–I mean you’re–you just not, you know–what about Grandmother?” Kyler’s words tumbled out of his mouth in a hurry.

“We’ll send her a letter from Father saying that he’s changed his mind about sending me to her. We’ll say that he’s sent me to court with Cousin Isabelle, instead. Grandmother won’t mind as long as I go to see her often in Central. She didn’t reallywant me to stay with her in the first place. I’ll dress up as a man and take your place while you go to Verlent. It’s perfect!”

“And you thought my plan was stupid,” remarked Kyler. “Sure, they’d hang me for my actions. They’ll destroy you for this.”

“Just teach me what to do. They’ll never know.”

Kyler stared at his sister. Through his eyes, she could see his opinions of this idea. He wanted it. He wanted it so desperately, he was willing to do just about anything to get it. But only just about. Kyler would never sacrifice his sister for himself. If this were to put Emberly in danger, he wouldn’t do it.

“I can do this,” Emberly continued, trying to ease his conscience. “I know that it’ll be hard, but you know that I want more from life than to sit around and practice good manners. I can do this.”

“Have you forgotten what happened only a few hours ago? You could barely defend yourself against two bandits. Do you really expect that you’ll be able to fight in a war?” Emberly glared at him for that comment.

“In training we will learn to defend ourselves properly. And really, I had a better chance of defending myself than you would have.” She paused for a moment to assess her brother’s position in the matter. He’s face showed the conflicted feelings inside of him. This plan was ludicrous in many respects. If Emberly was found to be in training instead of Kyler…well, she wasn’t sure what would happen to her. This was completely unprecedented. Emberly could, however, imagine what might happen to her. She could die because she took her brother’s place.

That was a risk she was willing to take.

Before Kyler could voice anymore of his opinions, Emberly strode over to his desk and retrieved a piece of parchment. She dipped his quill in ink, ready to write. She glanced over at her brother and asked, “How does Father address his mother? Should I just write ‘Mother’ or is it ‘Dear Mother’?”

“’Dear Mother’ probably. I don’t know. It’s not as if I read his letters to Grandmother.” Kyler left his perch on the bed, choosing instead to stand beside his sister as she forged the letter from their father.

Dear Mother,

I understand this letter may come as an inconvenience to you. I have decided not to send Emberly to you as we had originally agreed. Our cousin Isabelle has invited Emberly to stay with her at court for the time being. I truly believe this will be a prudent way for Emberly to learn the manners and expectations of court. As you know, Cousin Isabelle is the exact representation of what a woman at court should be. I know that Emberly will learn much from her.

Emberly has agreed, however, to visit you often during her time in Central. I am quite certain she will uphold this promise.

Again, sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours sincerely,

Your son, John Dern

Earl of Northem

“Clever,” commented Kyler. “But she’s not going to believe it unless she sees his wax seal on the envelop.”

Emberly hadn’t thought about that. Kyler was right. Their grandmother wouldn’t believe this letter for a moment if it did not have the earl’s wax seal on the front. But her mind was resolute. “We’ll just have to go get it then.”

Emberly crept out of her brother’s room, making her way to her father’s study. It was dark all around her and she had to carry a small candle in order to guide her way. Quietly, she opened the door to her father’s study, somewhat terrified that she would find her father sitting at his desk, working late into the night. Instead, she found an empty room.

She was deliberate in her movements. She opened the drawers to her desk, retrieving the tools she needed. As she melted the ingredients to the stamp, she heard a voice call, “What’re y’doing?” Emberly groaned inwardly.

She glanced up to see her maid, Kyra, staring straight at her, a questioning look plastered to her face. “Nothing of import, Kyra,” Emberly returned.

“You’re sealing a letter with your father’s crest in the dark,” continued Kyra, striding into the room with determination. “Which tells me that you’re doing this without his knowledge.” Kyra raised an eyebrow. “So, I’ll ask again, what’re you doing, Emberly Dern?”

“You do know that you work for me, don’t you?” Emberly said, sighing a little. “I’m sending a letter to my grandmother.”

“I wonder what could be in this letter when you are going to see her tomorrow,” Kyra replied. She had always been able to see through Emberly’s words. Emberly breathed another sigh.

“Alright, if you must know, I’m going to take my brother’s place at training so that he can apprentice under the physician in Verlent.”

Whatever Kyra had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t this. She blinked in surprise, her words failing her for the first time in her life. Even Kyra, a servant, knew the restrictions of the law and what would come to pass if Emberly and her brother were found out.

“Well, then,” Kyra finally said, “we’ve better plan carefully for tomorrow. What have you said to your grandmother? What excuse did you give?”

“I told her I would be staying with Cousin Isabelle at court. She’s one of the queen’s ladies in waiting.”

“Wonderful. Your grandmother’ll believe that. How’s your brother going to get the letter to her? He going to give it to your grandmother’s butler himself?”

“Honestly, Kyra,” Emberly moaned in exasperation. “Do you really think we’ve thought this all the way through? I’ve barely been able to get Kyler to agree to this, much less plan anything about it.”

“Well, come on then,” groaned Kyra, grabbing Emberly’s arm and pulling her up the stairs to Kyler’s room. Kyler was pacing when they entered, a worried expression enveloping his face.

“I thought Father had caught you,” he admitted in relief when he saw them enter. His eyes flickered to Kyra. Relief was quickly replaced by annoyance. “You told Kyra?”

“She found me in Father’s study. She won’t tell anyone, will you Kyra?”

“As if they’d believe me,” muttered Kyra, rolling her eyes at the Derns.

“See, she won’t tell anyone.”

Kyler sighed and shook his head. “No one else can know about this, alright? When more than three people know a secret, it no longer becomes a secret.” Emberly nodded her agreement. She had seen this first hand in the village nearby and when she was at court during the summer seasons.

“Alright, now, how are we going to make Emberly look like a boy?” In her haste, she had not considered this. Naturally, there were distinct features that separated her from the males. Thankfully, she was not as robust around the chest like many of the woman her age. If she simply bound her breasts, she could pass for having a flat chest. She was going to need strong cloth, though. Anything less could come undone during training and reveal to everyone the truth. She said as much to Kyra and Kyler, the latter of whom looked disgusted and revolted at the thought of thinking anything of this about his sister.

“What about your hair?” Kyler interjected in a deliberate attempt to change the subject.

“I’ll cut it,” she answered.

“No, you can’t,” Kyler refuted. “You promised Grandmother that you would come see her as often as possible. She’d probably die if she learned you’d cut your hair.” Emberly nodded her understanding. Still, men had short hair, especially when training to be a knight. It was a problem, a real problem.

Kyra strolled over to where Emberly was standing. With a concentrated frown, Kyra twirled Emberly’s long hair tightly around her fingers. Kyra drew a pin from her own hair and folded the twisted portion Emberly’s hair underneath the rest of her hair, pinning it carefully. The hair was still too long. But if cautiously done this way, Emberly’s hair would look nothing more than slightly longer than most boys.

“You may have to cut off a little, Emberly,” Kyra stated. “But I can get more of these pins. You’ll have to be careful ‘bout it during training.” Emberly nodded her understanding. Sure, long hair was a point of pride among noblewomen. But it had never been a point of pride of Emberly. She didn’t mind sacrificing part of her hair for her brother.

“Now, all you need is a man’s clothing,” Kyra said. Emberly and Kyra both glanced at Kyler, who looked annoyed and uncertain.

“Honestly, I can’t give you all my clothes. You know that. I can give you the training gear that Father gave to me and some of my clothes, but I’m also going to need some. You’ll have to order any more from the tailor in Central.” Emberly nodded.

Kyler opened the truck full of his clothes and handed a little less than half to his sister. Emberly’s gaze met her brother’s similar green eyes. “This is going to work Kyler, I know it is.”

Kyler wasn’t sure if he agreed with Emberly.

Kyra, who cared little of whether this was going to work or not, stole some of the clothing from Emberly’s arms. Emberly raised an eyebrow to her maid, who shrugged apathetically. “Honestly, you didn’t think you’d be doin’ this alone, did you? I was going to go with you to your grandmother’s. I’ll go with you to training. Squires are permitted one servant, after all.”

This had been a point of joking among Emberly and Kyra when Kyler had first told them of this. Kyra had laughed for almost three minutes straight, wiping tears from her eyes. “Sure, you’re a squire to do all the dirty work for the knights as you learn to be one. But, o’ course, even squires are still noblemen, they can’t get their hands too dirty apparently.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” Emberly said now.

“Alright,” Kyra returned, her indifference flowing off of her. “Don’t worry, I’m not afraid of a little danger.”

Emberly nodded, but inwardly, she hoped that this little endeavor wouldn’t end in death for both of them.