Sauragia

Chapter 5

Princess Alyssa carefully examined every detail of the face she saw in the mirror. She had always placed great store in her looks, having been in the public eye all her life. She was truly a well-proportioned, smooth-skinned specimen of an Alvarosaurus, but her obsessive vanity often created flaws that weren’t really there. For instance, she had always considered her snout just a bit wide, and she found her tail a touch short for her liking. So, despite what others told her, she frequently retired to her so-called beauty room to remain presentable with the help of her faithful assistant, Martha.

At present, she sat at a little desk looking herself over before bed while Martha filed and fussed over her foreclaws. She liked to chat with Martha as she assisted her mistress, as she was doing now.

“It’s a hard life being Princess, don’t you agree, Martha?” she spoke in her soft, melodious voice.

“I wouldn’t know, miss,” replied Martha in her simple, servant-class speech. “I’m sure it can be right trying at times, though. What with the daily attendance at court and all the grooming to be Queen one day.”

“Right you are there, Martha. The things one has to put up with in order to maintain her dignity.” She shook her head. “And having to look the part on top of all that. Do you think if I wore weights on my tail it might lengthen a bit?”

“Now now, miss, no need to go there again. Like I done told you before, you’re almost past your growth seasons now, and wearing weights would only put marks on that pretty tail of yours. You’ll just have to make do with what the good Creator gave you. An’ I don’t think that’s bad at all, do you?”

“No, I suppose not,” sighed Alyssa. A smile flashed across her face. “Not at all like that dirty bumpkin in court today, did you see him?”

“‘Fraid not, miss.”

“Well, he was a sight, I’ll tell you. Rough, rugged warrior sort. Said he was from the South Country.”

“Ooh! Did he talk with one o’ them lovely accents from down there?” interrupted Martha.

“No, not really,” replied Alyssa after a second. “He’s hardly of that class, Martha. Anyway, he came covered in dust with a ratty old tunic, and a ragged hunk of dull steel he called a sword. Total country hick, in other words.”

“That sounds a bit harsh, miss. Surely he couldn’t be that bad.”

“Well, he was polite and well spoken, yes, and he knew how to bow quite nicely. Very attractive to some, I suppose. After all, we do need his kind to keep the real r****e away.” She paused. “But they’re still not the sort you and I need associate with.”

“Not at all, miss.”

After a minute, Alyssa thought to ask, though she knew not why, “What do you think would make the ideal mate, Martha?”

“I’m a bit old for such thoughts, miss. But since you ask, what you just described sounds very nice. If he’s handsome, too, under all that dust, then I’d say he’s quite ideal. Did he have much of a crest?”

“I didn’t really notice. I imagine so, but I was too distracted by the horrible scars on his arms. And his eyes.”

“Pretty, were they?”

“I don’t know about that, but they were…different. There was a curious glint like I’ve never seen before. It was fearsome, yet not so fierce; tough, but gentle, if that makes any sense at all.”

Martha stifled a giggle of her own. “Oh, I know what you mean, miss. I’ve heard of it before in his kind. That one’s got a real warrior’s spark, he has. An’ if I may say, he seems to have sparked your attention as well.”

Alyssa turned a ferocious eye on her maid. Seeing this, Martha quickly corrected herself. “Sorry, milady. Just my silly chattering, you know.”

And so Martha carried on in silence attending her mistress, who seemed to have retreated into some deep, untouchable world within her mind.

In the fading rays of the day’s light, four Alvarosaurus guards watched a pair of bridges spaced about twenty paces apart. They ate supper at their posts and made light conversation, unaware that they were being observed in turn from the untamed scrubby bushes on the eastern bank of the mighty River Andarus.

King Edward was out late doing a quick patrol of the riverbank with Carl in the hope of finding possible crossing points for his army, now positioned very near the river. This looked like the best candidate. Two small bridges in such close proximity to each other were good finds, and would facilitate his army’s crossing very well—along with the boats they’d made for that purpose, of course. It would only be a matter of dealing with the border guards, which was of little concern to him.

“This is where we cross,” he told Carl. “Tell the chieftains to assemble their troops near these bridges. And spread the word: We make our crossing when the moon is black.”

Carl nodded and headed off toward their camp. Edward looked once more at the far bank and smiled before leaving. Let all of Cardolin eat and be merry this night, for soon King Edward was coming to dine.