When Prince Kragen, Master Barsonage, and Castellan Norge join King Joyse, the Tor, Terisa, Geraden, Ribuld, and the Tor's physician in the Tor's tent...well, it almost gets out of hand for a moment, boiling into hostility between Joyse and Kragen.
This, despite the Tor insisting to Joyse that Kragen is an honorable man. Thank goodness for Elega being placed where she can defuse things!!
In chapter 47 of [i]A Man Rides Through[/i] was wrote:"Margonal is crafty," commented King Joyse with deceptive nonchalance, "and apparently he has grown in courage. Well, now you are here, my lord Prince. What have you learned?"
Prince Kragen allowed himself a noncommittal shrug. "I have learned that we are indeed trapped. All our heads are on the cutting-block, and Alend will stand or fall with Mordant, regardless of my instructions."
"I think not," King Joyse retorted with the air of a man pouncing. "I think you will turn against us at the last and join Cadwal, to preserve your father's true cowardice."
At that, Kragen's head jerked back; a flush of fury darkened his cheeks; he closed his fist on his swordhilt.
In response, both Ribuld and Norge braced themselves to draw their blades. The cloaked figure against the tent wall started forward, then retreated. Geraden edged closer to Terisa, moving to protect her from the danger of swords.
No, she thought urgently, you don't understand, Prince Kragen is here with us, with us.
The Tor repeated hoarsely, "He is honorable. Honorable."
"My lord King," the Prince said between his teeth, "because you are the King, and because I have been told at length why I must trust you, I will assume you have reason to accuse me of such a betrayal."
"I have reason," snapped King Joyse. "During my absence, I saved Queen Madin from her abductors. It will not surprise you to hear that when at last I found her she was across the Pestil. Her abductors were Alends, and she was being taken by the most direct route toward Scarab."
Prince Kragen's mouth tightened under his moustache. His dark eyes burned with old enmity, with decades of violence, generations of bloodshed. He looked willing to gut King Joyse on the spot.
Yet he contained his outrage. And he didn't draw his sword. "And you persist," he demanded, "in the mad belief that I am capable of such a vile act?"
"No!" Terisa protested. "Eremis did it. He told me so." What was the matter with King Joyse? How could he suddenly be so wrong-headed? "It's just a trick to keep you and the Prince from joining forces."
Before she could go on King Joyse pointed a forbidding finger at her. "That proves nothing." The command in his stance forced her to be still. "Master Eremis has a pact with Cadwal. Why not with Alend?"
"Because," the cloaked figure cried, "he is honorable!"
"You do not trust him." Elega swept the hood back from her head as she advanced, and her vivid eyes flashed in the lantern-light. "Is the Tor wrong? Are Terisa and Geraden?" She called every gaze to herself, a cynosure of indignation and passion. Bright as a flame, she challenged her father. "He held Orison in the palm of his siege for days and days. He could have taken you apart stone from stone. Yet he withheld. Does that mean nothing to you? He allowed you time to prove yourself. And you dare accuse him of dishonor? You dare that to my face?"
King Joyse looked at her as if he were stunned.
"No, Father!" she raged. "The only dishonor in this tent is yours! It was you who refused to support the Perdon, you who humiliated Prince Kragen in the hall of audiences, you who allowed Terisa's attacker to roam Orison freely, you drove Myste away. You have no right to doubt the Prince. There is no alliance between Alend and Mordant because no one is able to trust you!"
Emotions throbbed under the King's old skin: outrage; alarm; disbelief. And vindication? She carries my pride with her wherever she goes.For a moment, no one moved; he didn't move. Elega met his stare as if she were prepared to outface the world.
All at once, King Joyse burst out laughing.
"Oh, very well, my lord Prince," he chortled while the people around him stared. "You are honest, and your father is honest, and I must apologize. If I do not, she will take the skin from my bones."
Geraden's mouth hung open. Prince Kragen clenched his jaws as if he didn't dare speak.
"It was not wise to bring her with you," King Joyse went on, "a woman in battle, a useful hostage if Eremis should capture her. But it was honest. If you intended treachery, you would have left her with Margonal. And she would not love you if you had such treachery in you. I know that about her.
"My lord Prince, please accept my regrets--and also my thanks. If we can be saved, it will be because of your courage, as well as your honor."
As King Joyse spoke, the excitement came back to Prince Kragen, the strange new eagerness which had led him into risks no Alend had ever hazarded before. His mouth twisted up the tips of his moustache. Slowly, he produced a smile to match Joyse's humor.
"Why do you think the decision was mine? Have you ever been able to tell her what to do?"
In response, the King laughed again; kindly, happily. He grinned like a new day. "Tell her what to do? Me?" Elega glared at him in confusion, but he didn't stop. "I am only her father. Tell her what to do? Most of the time, I am hardly allowed to make suggestions."
Then he sobered. "One thing, however, I will tell you, my lord Prince. Heed me well. While this war lasts, you will obey my orders." Now his tone admitted no argument: his command was as clear as a shout. "If we do not work together, we are doomed."
Prince Kragen only hesitated for a moment; then, still grinning, he nodded once, briefly.
Still ignoring the surprise and consternation and hope around him, King Joyse turned to Elega.
"As for you, my daughter," he said gladly, "you are pride and joy to me." Taking her hands, he raised them to his mouth and kissed them. "No one could have done better. The Queen herself could not have done better. Alone and without power or position, you have made an alliance where none existed.
"Oh, you please me!" Abruptly, he swept his gaze around the tent, swung his arms expansively. "You all please me! If we cannot save our world now, it will be because I have failed you, not because any one of you has failed Mordant. You have all given me better than I deserve."
In sheer joy, he kept on laughing; and after a moment Geraden joined him. Then surprising even himself, Prince Kragen began to chuckle. Elega's smile grew softer and easier as it spread.
Master Barsonage shook his head, laughing as well. Terisa squeezed her eyes hard to keep herself from weeping foolishly; didn't start to laugh until she realized that the Tor was snoring as if nothing had happened.
King Joyse's strategy of driving Elega away by belittling Prince Kragen at their first public meeting pays a big dividend: it keeps Joyse himself from overreacting the way Master Eremis wished him to behave. Elega is well-placed through position and bloodline to make an alliance a reality by reminding her father he's caused some of his own problems.
[Typo edits]