The Baby and the Battlefield

Chapter Seventy-Five: Answers (Part II)

Marcus tilted his head to one side, a cold lump forming in his stomach. "Your - your daughter, Your Majesty?"

The old man smiled, his deep blue eyes sparkling "Of course," he said, turning Aurelia so that they could see her face, "My darling Victoria."

Marcus' mouth fell open, "No, no sir, you're - Aurelia is - " he trailed off, not sure how one could manage to tell a living god that he was mistaken.

Aurelia smiled and giggled, patting the Emperor's knee. She then named the Emperor, very clearly, using only one word. The word was "Daddy".

Marcus felt like a black cloud of suffocating but piercingly cold smoke had settled upon him. He hardly registered when Flora Althaea started speaking,.

"I can see you are confused," Althaea began, "But, here is your proof; the baby recognized His Majesty right away. As was prophesied. It is her nature."

"But how can she be the Emperor's?" Petro interrupted, "She's half Estavaca."

The Emperor himself sighed, then began speaking softly, "I loved an Estavaca woman for some time. She had been sent here at the end of the last Estavacan War, nearly five years ago, now. She was beautiful, and clever, and since the death of the empress I had not had much female companionship. A pretty, vivacious woman sent by a sometime-enemy as a peace offering does not sound like a wife of one's heart, but I assure you, she was. She was my companion first, and later - aye, the rumours are true - later my wife.

“The marriage was morganatic, and it was secret – I did not want the crown prince to have to defend a dottering old fool of a father who married a pretty enemy. I see no need to make him defend his crown more than he must. But he is grown, and has a family of his own, and I was grateful to no longer have to be lonely.

“The woman was high ranking among her people, and that may have been what turned her against me, in the end. She had heard of the prophecy, I suppose. Perhaps even from her own people - they say the woman who founded the Order of the Blossom, though an empress and my ancestor, was herself Estavaca. My wife knew that there would be those who would seek to use the child, keep her from leading a happy life, perhaps harm her. Shortly after the child was born, my wife left the palace, secretly, and alone."

Flora Althaea added, "We suspect that Flora Cicuta tried to talk the mother into allowing Cicuta to use the child in her power-grab. The girl is a legitimate child of His Majesty, for all the marriage was legally morganatic. Of course, the fact that the girl is Able would be useful in helping convince the feeble-minded that, under Cicuta's tutelage, and that the child would grow to fulfil the prophecy."

“I wish she had come to me for help,” The emperor shook his head sadly, “As soon as she had found out that Flora Cicuta wanted the child.”

Salix frowned, still thinking of the mention of Flora Cicuta. Cicuta had been not only her superior; Cicuta had been her mentor. "And Flora Cicuta, she is - "

Althaea frowned, "Not dead. Flora Tsuga's shot was true, but the distance was great, and Cicuta will recover. And she will not die for a long while even then. We still have a use for her, especially as we do not, perhaps, know all her conspirators."

Aemilia nodded, and was silent. The Emperor continued his story.

"Of course, I wanted my Victoria back. Just because she is not my heir, or listed in the peerage at all, does not mean I do not love her. She is my daughter. My own Victoria," he smiled to himself, then added, "She was born the day we routed the rebellious Escavacan traitor's forces at the border with the empire, hence her name. How her mother wept when I suggested it. But it mattered not; the child needed a name in our language, not just her mother's barbarous tongue."

Mulberry blushed, realising that she alone, among all of them, knew what name the little girl's mother had chosen instead of Victoria. It was the name woven into the fabric of the baby's blanket - Ear-of-mouse. The blanket that Aurelia had been wrapped in when the man had wrested her from Marcus' arms. Mulberry hoped that the blanket had stayed with the child. Some day, perhaps, she would learn how to read the words, and it would help her to know what sort of woman her mother had been.

Althaea picked up the thread of the story next, "Naturally, when she decided to leave the palace, Princess Victoria's mother fled to her own people. Perhaps her own family. It is known that her father was among those who turned traitor and broke the alliance, starting this current war. It was suspected that she had crossed the border in Capea Province. However, the Governor there could find no evidence of her presence, even though he undertook to enter the Estavacan territories himself. Not feeling she could trust His Majesty, the mother took the child to her own people, only to have them betray her trust and take the child from her. At any rate, the child ultimately ended up with the group whom your army attacked, soldiers," she nodded at Marcus and Petro before continuing, “And of course, the a mother separated from her child will do anything to get it back, once she realises the child is alive. The woman you found dead in the inn was Princess Victoria's mother.”

Petro nodded, but Marcus just stared, still unable to take everything in.

“No matter how secret you try to be, you cannot do such a thing without revealing yourself in some way, to someone. And people talk. Vitus and the slave Cinnamon heard some rumours, and Cicuta tried to put a stop to their attempts to get to the bottom of things. She did manage to stop some others who were trying to do the same. I speak, Marcus Marius, of your brother.”

Marcus scowled at the floor, not looking at Flora Althaea.

“Your family will be rewarded, of course,” the Emperor said, “for raising two such excellent sons, who dedicated themselves so loyally to the assistance of Princess Victoria.”

Petro, who had been listening to all this in awed silence, grinned and elbowed Marcus, "Wow. So see? She really was the Emperor's daughter. I told you so."

Petro had misjudged Marcus' humour. Perhaps he had intended to jolly Marcus out of his funk, or perhaps he really was that insensitive. It didn't matter - Marcus' reaction would have been the same, either way. Marcus formed his right hand into a fist, and swung it at his friend.

Petro barely managed to dodge the unexpected blow. Mulberry gasped, but Salix and Tsuga instantly moved to restrain Marcus, one girl incapacitating each arm, so that he was unable to get in another puch. Cinnamon helped the staggering Petro to regain his balance. Vitus bowed low to the Emperor, saying, "I am greatly sorry, Your Majesty. You should not have to face such an outburst in your presence."

“We do not see why he would show such anger, when we are demonstrating our thankfulness,” the Emperor said, peevishly.

Mulberry, tears beginning to form in her eyes, pushed her way to the front of the group. She prostrated herself on the floor, not knowing the protocol for speaking to the man in the purple robes. She waited to be acknowledged, but did not wait long. It was but an instant before the Emperor, with a sigh, said, "Yes, Mulberry, woman of the Estavaci?"

"It is not Marcus' fault that he's angry, Your - Your Majesty," she said awkwardly, not raising her eyes from the floor.

"What?" Asked the Emperor frowning, as Aurelia - no, Victoria - tugged on his shirt and pointed to Mulberry, babbling something incomprehensible.

"It is not his fault. He . . . he loves the baby, sir. When he found her, he believed her to be an orphan, and he - he was raising her as his own child. His daughter."

The Emperor sighed, and after a long, unbearably empty pause, said, "Yes. I realise that. But she is the princess Victoria, and she will be raised here. Still, I know - I know what it is like to lose a daughter, even a baby daughter whom one has known only a short, short time."

Marcus shook off Salix and Tsuga, his expression sullen.

"Thus," the Emperor continued, "I will not have him punished for this outburst. I still intend to reward him for his services to the empire in this matter. I intend to reward all of you."