Elder Isles - Madouc Part 21

"Whatever you say. Now I am tired and I will go to my bed."

"Not yet! It is necessary that you understand the reasons for our concern. There have been rumours far and wide of your unruly behavior and wildness. Each of the guests will be watching you with an almost morbid fascination, waiting for some peculiar or even freakish demonstration."

"Bah," muttered Madouc. "They can ogle as they like; it is all the same to me. Are you now done?"

"Not yet!" snapped Lady Desdea. "I am still far from rea.s.sured by your att.i.tude. Further, the guests will include a number of young princes. Many of these will be anxious to make suitable marriages."

Madouc yawned. "I care not a whit. Their intrigues are no concern of mine."

"You had better be concerned, and intimately so! Any of these princes would happily connect with the royal house of Lyonesse! They will be studying you with keen interest, appraising your possibilities."

"That is vulgar conduct," said Madouc.

"Not altogether; in fact, it is natural and right. They wish to make a good match for themselves! At the moment, you are too young for any thought of marriage, but the years are swift, and when the time comes to discuss betrothal, we want the princes to remember you with approval. This will enable King Casmir to make the best possible arrangement."

"Foolishness and absurdity, both up and down!" said Madouc crossly. "If King Casmir likes marriage so much, let him marry off Devonet and Chlodys, or Prince Ca.s.sander, or you, for that matter. But he must not expect me to take any part in the ceremonies."

Lady Desdea cried out in shock: "Your talk is a scandal!" She groped for words. "I will say no more; you may retire now. I only hope that you are more reasonable in the morning."

Madouc deigned no reply, and marched silently off to her bed.

In the morning maids and under-maids arrived in force. Warm water was poured into a great wooden tub; Madouc was lathered with white Egyptian soap, rinsed clean in water scented with balm from Old Tingis. Her hair was brushed till it shone, after which she un.o.btrusively combed it with her own comb, so that the copper-golden curls arranged themselves to best advantage. She was dressed in a confection of blue lawn ruffled at shoulder and sleeve, pleated with white in the skirt.

Lady Desdea watched critically from the side. Life at Sarris, so she reflected, seemed to agree with Madouc; at times the scamp looked almost pretty, although her contours and long legs were deplorably boyish.

Madouc was not happy with the gown. "There are too many pleats and twickets."

"Nonsense!" said Lady Desdea. "The gown makes the most of what little figure you have; you should be grateful. It is quite becoming."

Madouc ignored the remarks, which pleased her not at all. She sat glowering as her hair was brushed once again 'for the sake of a job well done', as Lady Desdea put it, then confined by a silver fillet set with cabochons of lapis lazuli.

Lady Desdea gave Madouc her final instructions. "You will be meeting a number of notables! Remember: you must engage them with your charm, and make sure of their extreme good opinion, in order that all the sour and stealthy rumours once and for all are given the lie and nailed to the wall!"

"I cannot achieve the impossible," growled Madouc. "If persons intend to think ill of me, they will do so, even though I grovel at their feet and implore their respectful admiration."

"Such extreme conduct will surely not be necessary," said Lady Desdea tartly. "Amiability and courtesy are usually sufficient."

"You are fitting horseshoes on a cow! Since I am the princess, t is they who must supplicate my good opinion; not I theirs. That is simple and reasonable."

Lady Desdea refused to pursue the subject. "No matter! Listen as the notables are introduced and greet them nicely, by t.i.tle and by name. They will thereby think you gracious and kind, and instantly begin to doubt the rumours."

Madouc made no response, and Lady Desdea continued with her instructions: "Sit quietly; neither fidget nor scratch, neither wriggle nor writhe. Keep your knees together; do not sprawl, spraddle, slump nor kick out your feet. Your elbows must be held close, unlike the wings of a seagull as it veers on the wind. If you see an acquaintance across the room, do not set up a boisterous outcry; that is not proper conduct. Do not wipe your nose on the back of your hand. Do not grimace, blow out your cheeks; do not giggle, with or without reason. Can you remember all this?"

Lady Desdea awaited a response, but Madouc sat staring blankly across the room. Lady Desdea peered close, then called out sharply: "Well then, Princess Madouc? Will you give me an answer?"

"Certainly, whenever you wis.h.!.+ Say what you wish to say!"

"I have already spoken at length."

"Evidently my thoughts were elsewhere, and I did not hear you."

Lady Desdea's hands twitched. She said in a metallic voice: Come. The reception will be underway in short order. For once in your life you must evince the conduct to be expected of a royal princess, so that you will make a good impression."

Madouc said in an even voice: "I am not anxious to make a good impression. Someone might want to marry me."

Lady Desdea confined her response to a sarcastic sniff. "Come; we are expected."

Lady Desdea let the way: down the pa.s.sage to the main gallery and the Great Hall, with Madouc lagging behind, using a loping bent-kneed gait which Lady Desdea ascribed to sheer perversity and ignored. Folk had already gathered in the Great Hall, where they stood in groups, greeting acquaintances, appraising new arrivals, bowing stiffly to adversaries, ignoring their enemies. Each wore his most splendid garments, hoping to command, at minimum, attention or, better, admiration or, at best, envy. As the notables moved from place to place, silks and satins swirled and caught the glow of light; the room swam with color, so vivid and rich that each hue displayed a vitality of its own: lavender, purple, dead black; intense saturated yellow and mustard-ocher; vermilion, scarlet, the carmine red of pomegranate; all manner of blues: sky-blue, smalt, mid-ocean blue, beetle-wing black-blue; greens in every range - Bowing, nodding and smiling, Lady Desdea took Madouc to the royal dais, where a pretty little throne of gilded wood and ivory, with a pad of red felt on the seat and at the back, awaited her occupation.

Lady Desdea spoke in a confidential mutter: "For your information, Prince Bittern of Pomperol will be on hand today, also Prince Chalmes of Montferrone and Prince Garcelin of Aquitaine and several others of high degree."

Madouc stared at her blankly. "As you know, these persons are of no interest to me."

Lady Desdea smiled her tight grim smile. "Nevertheless, they will come before you, and look you over with care, to gauge your charm and discover your attributes. They will learn whether you are pocked or cross-eyed; wizened or wild; afflicted with sores or mentally deficient, with high ears and low forehead. Now then! Compose yourself and sit quietly."

Madouc scowled. "No one else is on hand. Why should I sit here, like a bird on a post? It is foolishness. The seat looks uncomfortable. Why did they not give me a nice cus.h.i.+on? Both King Casrnir and Queen Sollace sit on pillows four inches thick. There is only a bit of red cloth on my seat."

"No matter! You will be pressing your bottom against it, not your eyes! Be seated, if you will!"

"This is the most uncomfortable throne in the world!"

"So it may be. Still, do not squirm around so, as if already you wished to visit the privy."

"For a fact, I do."

"Why did you not think of the matter before? There is no time for that now. The king and queen are entering the chamber!"

"You may be sure that both have emptied themselves to their heart's content," said Madouc. "I want to do the same. Is that not my privileged right, as a royal princess?"

"I suppose so. Hurry, then."

Madouc went off without haste, and was in no hurry to return. Meanwhile the king and queen moved slowly across the hall, pausing to exchange a word or two with especially favored personages.

In due course Madouc returned. With an opaque glance toward Lady Desdea she sat upon the gilt and ivory throne, and after a long-suffering look up toward the ceiling, she settled herself.

The king and queen took their places; Prince Ca.s.sander entered from the side, wearing a fine buff jacket, breeches of black twill embroidered with gold thread, a s.h.i.+rt of white lawn. He marched briskly across the hall, acknowledging the salutes of friends and acquaintances with debonair gestures, and took his place to the left of King Casmir.

Sir Mungo of Hatch, the Lord High Seneschal, came forward. A pair of heralds blew an abbreviated fanfare, the 'Apparens Regis', on the clarions and the hall became silent.

In sonorous tones Sir Mungo addressed the a.s.semblage: "I speak with the voice of the royal family! We bid you welcome to Sarris! We are joyful that you may share with us this most felicitous occasion-to wit: the eighteenth birthday of our beloved Prince Ca.s.sander!"

Madouc scowled and dropped her chin so that it rested on her clavicle. On sudden thought, she glanced sidewise and met the ophidian stare of Lady Desdea. Madouc sighed and gave a small despairing shrug. As if with great effort, she straightened in the chair and sat erect.

Sir Mungo concluded his remarks; the heralds blew another brief fanfare, and so commenced the reception. As the guests stepped forward, Sir Mungo called out their names and degrees of n.o.bility; the persons so identified paid their respects first to Prince Ca.s.sander, then to King Casmir, then to Queen Sollace and finally, in more or less perfunctory style, to Princess Madouc, who responded, generally with leaden disinterest, in a manner only barely acceptable to Queen Sollace and Lady Desdea.

The reception continued for what seemed to Madouc an eternity. Sir Mungo's voice droned on at length; the gentlemen and their ladies pa.s.sing before her began to look much alike. At last, for entertainment, Madouc began matching each newcomer with a beast or bird, so that this gentleman was Sir Bullock and that one Sir Weasel, while here was Lady Puffin and there was Lady t.i.tmouse. On sudden thought Madouc looked to her right, where Lady Crow watched her with minatory eyes, then left, where sat Queen Milkcow.

The game palled. Madouc's haunches began to ache; she squirmed first to one side, then the other, then slouched back into the depths of the throne. By chance she met Lady Desdea's stare, and for a moment watched the angry signals with bland wonder. At last, with a painful sigh, Madouc squirmed herself once again erect.

With nothing better to do, Madouc looked around the hall, mildly curious as to which of the gentlemen present might be Prince Bittern of Pomperol, whose good opinion Lady Desdea considered so necessary. Perhaps he had already presented himself without her taking notice. Possible, thought Madouc. If so, she had surely failed to charm Prince Bittern, or win his admiration.