young king instructed, though he knew that Bretherford would do no such thing - knew that if Bretherford revealed his honest feelings about all of this, then Aydrian would probably be forced to kill him on the spot. Duke Bretherford had been a dear friend of King Danube's, and of the whole Ursal line. It was he who had first taken Prince Midalis to Vanguard, those decades before, when Midalis and Danube's father was the king of Honce-the-Bear.
Duke Bretherford glanced over at Kalas briefly, and Aydrian did well to hide his amusement at the exchange between the two. He held Kalas firmly, he knew, and Kalas had convinced many of the other dukes to swear fealty to this new king. As far as Kalas was concerned, Aydrian was the best choice for Honce-the-Bear, particularly in restoring the kingdom to what it had been before all the trouble with the demon dactyl. His nostalgic view of a blissful kingdom those decades ago had been generally well received by some of the dukes.
Others, like Bretherford - arguably the second most powerful duke in the kingdom, for he most controlled the great Ursal fleet - had come to Aydrian's court with considerably less enthusiasm.
"You do seem willing to allow your enemies to gather their strength,"
Bretherford remarked. "You say that this is because you are confident of victory, but is such a strategy not inevitably to cost more men their lives and to make this conflict, if a war it must be, even more bloody?"
Aydrian was acutely aware of the others in the room sucking in their collective breath at that remark - certainly an inappropriate remark for any nobleman to make of his king. This was a test, Aydrian knew, to take his measure not only to Duke Bretherford, but to some of the other noblemen as well. He took his time, pondering the question and his answer as the seconds slipped by - and that was not anything that the impulsive and cocky Aydrian Boudabras was known to do! "My mother will prove to be more a hindrance to our enemies than a useful ally," he began, and he looked all around as he spoke, even at De'Un- nero. "As for the Abellican monks... well, better that they know of the events in Ursal. No doubt they have heard a skewed version of the truth, but better that to measure their loyalty to the throne. Let them stand on one side or the other now, and be done with it." The young king didn't miss the slight grin that escaped De'Unnero at his words, nor the satisfaction splayed on the face of Duke Kalas, who hated the Church above all else and who would surely welcome an assault against St.-Mere- Abelle, whatever its reputation.
"A skewed version?" Duke Bretherford dared to ask, and De'Unnero started to argue, and Kalas started to berate the man.
But Aydrian called for calm. "This is all yet unfolding," he told them.
"We have much to learn of these folk before we label them as friend or enemy. For now, let us continue our glorious march to Palmaris. The disposition of that city will go far in telling us what we might expect as the word of my ascension spreads throughout the kingdom."
He dismissed them all, then, explaining that he was tired, and he went to his private quarters and lay down on his bed. And there, his physical form rested, but his mind wandered.
Aided by the powerful soul stone, Aydrian slipped out of his corporeal form and glided unseen across the deck of River Palace, to the taffrail, where Kalas and Bretherford were conversing.
"Are you so quick to dismiss Prince Midalis?" the smaller Bretherford asked. "To forsake the line of Ursal, that has served Honce-the-Bear for so many years?"
"I have seen the truth of our young king," Kalas calmly replied. "With all of my heart, I believe that he is the proper ruler of Honce-the- Bear."
"Despite your feelings about his parents?"
Duke Kalas shrugged. "Jilseponie has her strengths, and great weaknesses.
The strengths are what she passed along to Aydrian. And were you not ever more a friend to Jilseponie than I?"
"I pitied the woman," Bretherford replied. "My loyalties were ever with King Danube, as I thought were yours."
Aydrian watched with great interest as Duke Kalas straightened and squared his shoulders.
"I blame Jilseponie for the downfall of King Danube," he said.
"And you embrace her son?"
"There is irony in that," Kalas admitted. "But no inconsistency. The blood of Jilseponie gives Aydrian claim