Chapter 1
Lysannum City Square
The crowd milled around restlessly in the Central Plaza of Lysannum, capitol of Tharnirion, as they waited for the delivery of the Royal Proclamation from the balcony of the Malachite Palace. Speculation was rife, as no hint had been given as to the proclamation's content beforehand. A few shrewd individuals speculated that it would be an announcement concerning Princess Jade's long-anticipated nuptials; the king's only legitimate child was twenty-one years old, and she could hardly be permitted to remain unmarried much longer. The presence of a number of foreign princes who had arrived in the capitol over the course of the past months certainly gave weight to that theory. Some of the gathered city folk would be glad if one was chosen -- then the rest would be packed off home, and would no longer disturb the peace with their evening shenanigans and brawling.
Prince Rodger of Galadon was not one of the foreign princes who had been invited to court Princess Jade. While Galadon was one of the largest of all nations, it was on the world of Triagia, not Etherion, and Rodger had the dubious distinction of being the seventh son of Galadon's king and something of a black sheep to boot, and Galadon was just as happy that Rodger was not only out of the country, but on another world entirely, even if Etherion was one of the smallest populated worlds in the Sphere of the Universe.
No-one would have suspected that Rodger was a prince. He was handsome as princes were, with a tanned face, sun-bleached brown hair and the shadow of a beard upon his strong shaven chin, but princes held no monopoly upon masculine beauty. He wore expensive but well-used and well-maintained but undecorated plate armour, that a mercenary captain might wear, not the finery or the immaculate, polished and gilded armour that a prince was expected to wear. Still, being thought to be a mercenary captain obtained Rodger almost as much deference as a prince, and possibly more respect.
Rodger had no more idea than anyone else what the proclamation may be, despite being royalty himself. Etherion was a subtly different world to Triagia, and he was still learning all the differences. It went beyond the fact that on Etherion, no person, beast or plant was average in any way. Rodger himself was above average in most ways, but he was used to seeing average people. On Etherion, everyone was either beautiful or ugly, strong or weak, intelligent or stupid, and so on, but never anything in between. Then, there seemed to be a certain story-like theme to everything that happened here. Very little seemed to happen that was uninteresting, and magic ran deep in the tiny world. The locals understood much of it in their bones, so to speak, and had trouble communicating that understanding to outsiders.
Heralds bearing long straight trumpets, wearing the red, gold and blue colours of Tharnirion, stepped onto the balcony and moved to each end. They raised their trumpets and played a stirring fanfare before a staff wielding herald stepped onto the balcony and banged his staff against the floor seven times.
"His Majesty, King Steven the Cunning!" the old iron-lunged ex-soldier bellowed clearly despite the impressive volume of his voice. He banged his staff in the same measured pace five times more. "Her Highness, Crown Princess Jade!"
Rodger looked at the people who stepped onto the balcony with the eyes of one with much experience of people. The king was obviously an old man, given his grey-shot white hair and wrinkled skin, yet he seemed to have few obvious infirmities other than a slight limp, and he had a handsome, rakish air despite his age. His golden crown looked heavy, almost like a golden helmet, and was otherwise unadorned other than having a fur trim around the brim. Given the genuinely affectionate cheering of the crowd upon his appearance, the man was obviously popular, and probably didn't need to wear the polished, glittering heraldic cuirass that he was wearing for reasons of his own safety.
The young woman who stepped onto the balcony after the king was everything that a princess was supposed to be. Rodger had seen more princesses in person than most people in all the worlds, and on Triagia at least, just as many princesses were homely or just plain ugly as were pretty or beautiful, and a good many were just ordinary, but it seemed to be a rule here on Etherion that princesses
had
to be beautiful, and Jade was no exception. She was tall, slender and busty, with a narrow, corseted waist, all perfectly proportioned, and her face beneath her long, straight black hair was beautiful beyond belief, as if reproduced by a sculptor who, in an excessive desire to flatter, had removed all the imperfections that all
real
people had. The princess was a fair distance away, but even at that distance, Rodger could see that she had bright green eyes the colour of the stone for which she was named. It scarcely registered upon Rodger that the princess was wearing a deceptively simple but elegant royal blue velvet dress with pointed sleeves that dangled nearly to the ground.
Behind the princess, in the relative dimness of the room, Rodger thought that he could see a number of other people, though the relative darkness inside made them little more than silhouettes. He could see a number of light swords, and the glint of light on armour, and speculated that these may be the foreign princes who had come to court Princess Jade. They were probably waiting for the coming announcement to see which one's suit had been successful. There was another silhouette that Rodger found somewhat puzzling; another tall, slender but busty female form with masses of hair, but apparently with horns upon her head. Probably a faun, Rodger thought, but he had no idea what business a faun might have in the mostly human Tharnirion.
The king stepped forward and grasped the edge of the ornate stone balcony balustrade, and spoke in a voice obviously well trained to being heard upon the field of battle.
"Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for coming to listen to us today. As you may know, I am a plain-spoken old soldier, so I won't waste your valuable time with flowery words. Last week, my daughter and heir, Princess Jade, had her twenty-first birthday, and according to instructions that I had given her upon the occasion of her fifteenth birthday, today is the deadline for her to publicly announce who she will marry. As she has given no indication, either publicly or privately, which of her suitors she favours, I call upon her to do so now, or as we agreed, submit to
my
choice of bridegroom.
"Princess Jade, step forward and make your preference known" he concluded. "Please."
As the king stepped back and the princess stepped forward boldly, she paused to kiss her father upon the cheek, apparently exchanging a few quiet words. Then the princess grasped the balcony balustrade much as her father had done.
"My lords, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending to my words today," the princess spoke in a clear soprano voice as beautiful as her features. "As you know, I have had six years in which to find myself a husband, yet in all that time, I have found no man who has captured my heart, and of my current suitors, while all are handsome and accomplished, no one of them has stood out to prove himself more worthy of my hand than any other, leaving me unable to choose between them or indeed choose
any
other man.
"However, I am
not
prepared to submit to my father and king's choice
either
."
A murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd. Rodger was puzzled; did the princess truly intend to defy her father? Despite the love that they obviously shared, the king certainly didn't seem the type to tolerate any disobedience. However, from the reaction of the crowd, it seemed that
they
, at least, now suspected where this was leading... which left Rodger even more puzzled than before.
The princess continued as the crowd's surprise subsided. "I declare that I, Princess Jade Amorette Angharadsdottir, daughter of King Steven Agutter of Tharnirion, am an unmarried virgin of marriageable age and royal blood. As such, according to ancient custom, I have a right to set a challenge for my suitors!"
A sigh of understanding rippled through the crowd, though Rodger didn't share it. Why was the princess announcing a challenge for her suitors in public?