Agreement was swift. “Of course.” The great head nodded. “The child cannot be.”

“But how, Governor-Advisor, how will the child… how will it… how will you do away—” The boy-king felt a word in his mouth, some word he couldn’t quite bring himself to say.

Governor-Advisor swept his hand. “Leave it to me.”

The boy-king settled against his chair, the words leave it to me soft as cushions around him. His watched his mother exiting the chamber, her footfalls now silent. He ate another bite of honeycake; he took another swallow of cream. He sighed, enjoying the coolness. The sweetness. The quiet. Even his brow—he ran his fingers over his cheek—no, it did not ache quite so much now.

VII

INTERLUDE—ANOTHER MISFORTUNE

From the Chronicles of Bibendor of the Marsh:

And so it came to pass that eleventh-now-first assumed the throne after the Day of Accidents and Misfortune. Of feasts and celebrations were there many, and for so many months and with such fanfare and flags that even the rats and stray dogs departed the city for quieter hills.

Of rejoicing, too, was there much for the king’s mother, who, though always unsmiling and downcast of eye, was seen by all to be in a state of happy expectancy, and all anticipated the birth of the next heir with delight and relief at this sign that all Accidents and Misfortunes were at an end.

Recovered Slate of Palace Cook:

for fourth-night feast

6 peacocks

7 swans

12 turtles

3 hairy boar

100 dormice

60 eggs (30 duck, 30 quail)

20 buckets cream

as much honey as beekeep can spare

2 sacks ea. pear, plum, quince, fig

Notes Retrieved from Palace Scribe:

Morning supplicants IIII IIII IIII III

IIII: hunger/thirst (ruined crop of wheat, dry riverbed, plum trees/no flower, flooded fields)

I: favor (seeking position for nephew, admitted malingerer)

IIII II: disease (IIII—catarrhal fever, III—pox)

IIII : bandits (woodland path—II, ravaged village—II, stolen livestock—I)

I: clemency (request for exile inst. death)

From the Natural History of Limple the Sprightly:

The mountains that edge the distant borders of our realm produce the wolf, another wild beast of greater size. It has the soft paw and the long snout and the strong jaw of the dog, but it is more dangerous in its bite and in its capacity for ferocity. While its pelt is thick and gray and effectual in insulating the animal from mountain storms, it also finds refuge in rock and earthen dens. There it does raise its young. Though born with folded ears and full-shut eyes, pups grow quickly and will hunt for prey before the next season has fully turned.

From the Chronicles of Redolorosissimo the Hairy:

And so it came to pass that the time for birth of the next heir was near, and the king did proclaim that no one should attend his mother but his own former governor and trusted advisor. And all did agree that this was indeed wise, for all had heard the king’s advisor speak of his own vast learning in the mysteries of the body’s inner forms.