Youll need to demonstrate that loyalty I currently find lacking, magician, if youre to regain this courts favor.
Demonstrate? said Pug softly. I have labored to my utmost to prevent the destruction of all we hold dear.
Patrick said, Ive read the reports. Ive heard the tales. Demons and spawn of the lower hells. Yes, magic to warp the world to darkness, and all the rest of it.
Arutha looked from one man to the other, saying, Highness! Grandfather, please! We have much to do and contention in our ranks does us no good.
Pug looked at his grandson, and slowly he said, I am not attempting to contend, Arutha. My only purpose has been, from the first, to serve.
He stepped forward and his voice was filled with menace. If you command, my prince, I will obey. I will take the time to visit with the King. If you are not satisfied with my performance in recent months, perhaps he will be persuaded that the price I paid demonstrates my commitment.
Perhaps! said Patrick. He spat hot words. You gave away a duchy that by all reports you have neglected, and I have a city lying in ruins, as well as my entire Principality to the west in thrall to hostile forces. Who between us has lost the most?
Pugs throat burned as color rose in his cheeks. In a hoarse whisper he said, Lost? You dare speak to me of loss? Stepping up so that he was mere inches from the Prince, Pug looked up at the taller, younger man. I lost nearly everything, you child! I lost a son and a daughter, and the man she loved who was as another son to me. William, Gamina, and James gave their lives for Krondor and the Kingdom. You sit this throne for a few years, Patrick. When youve lived as long as I have, should you be that fortunate, remember what you said here.
Patrick appeared embarrassed as he realized he had overlooked the death of Pugs family in the war. Still, his temper got the best of him, and as Pug turned to walk away, Patricks voice thundered, I will not be addressed in that manner, magician! Duke or not, royal cousin or not, you will come back here and beg my pardon!
Pug spun. Before he could speak, Arutha turned and stood directly before his Prince. Highness! He put a restraining hand on Patricks shoulder. In a whisper he said, This brings nothing good! Calm yourself and well revisit this tomorrow. Whispering, he added, Patrick, your father will not be pleased at this.
Before the Prince could speak, Arutha turned and said, Grandfather. If you and your lady would dine with me tonight, we can discuss exactly what sort of communication with the crown shall be undertaken. To the remaining courtiers in the hall, he said, That will be all today. This court is adjourned.
He hustled Patrick through a door to the apartment set aside for him during his stay in Darkmoor, not allowing the Prince to further inflame the situation. Pug turned to Miranda, who said, That boy needs some training.
Pug said nothing, merely offering his arm to his wife and leading her to the rooms put aside for them. He knew his grandson would come to see them as soon as the Prince had been placated.
Arutha looked like a man aged years in a few hours. His eyes, normally bright and alert, were now deeply sunk with dark circles under them. He sighed and nodded thanks as Miranda handed him a goblet of wine.
The Prince? asked Pug.
Arutha shrugged. Its difficult. During the war he seemed content to follow Father and Uncle Williams lead. The preparations for the city were underway by the time he arrived in Krondor, and he simply agreed to whatever Father wanted.
Now, hes out of his element. He is being asked to make decisions that would have taxed the wits of the best generals in this Kingdoms history. He sipped his wine. Partly its my fault.
Pug shook his head. No, Patrick is responsible for his own actions.
But Father would have
Pug interrupted. You are not your father. He let out a slow sigh. No one is James. James was unique. As was Prince Arutha. The Western Realm may never again see men as able as them gathered together at one time. Pug grew reflective. It all began with Lord Borric. I have never known a man his equal. Arutha was his equal in many ways, perhaps his superior in some, but on the whole, Borric raised two sons the Kingdom needed.
But from there we are seeing a diminution of the line. King Borric was seasoned in his travels to Kesh, but nothing like his father the Prince. Pug looked out a window at the distant torchlight along the palisades of the castle. Perhaps its just the years passing, the ability to think back with historys perspective, but at the time of the Riftwar there was a sense in the West that eventually we should prevail. Now I realize that came from Prince Arutha, your father at his brashest and most reckless, others who led and those who followed.
Looking at his grandson, Pug said, You must step forward, Arutha. You will never be the man for whom you were named, and you will never be your father, but nature didnt intend for you to be either of those men, no matter how worthy they were. You must become the best man you are capable of. I know the war took as much a toll on you as it did me. You alone of all those here know what I feel. Men like Owen Greylock and Erik von Darkmoor must rise to meet the needs of the nation. He smiled as he added, You are more capable than you think. You will be a fine Duke of Krondor.
Arutha nodded. His mother, Gamina, was Pugs daughter by adoption, but he had loved and treasured her as much as he had his son, William. To lose them both within days of one another had been terrible. I know that it was worse for you, Grandfather. I mourn my parents. You mourn your children.
Pug said nothing, swallowing hard and gripping Mirandas hand. Since the end of the war he had been revisited time and again by a wave of profound sorrow and pain, and as much as he hoped for the sense of loss to pass, it didnt. It grew muted at times, even forgotten for hours at a stretch, but in any quiet, reflective moment, it returned.
Even his marriage to Miranda had been hastily conducted, as if any delay might steal moments away from them. Pug and his new wife had spent as much time together as possible, dealing with the revelations of their past lives and the need to discuss their future. Yet every moment together, no matter how joyous, was overshadowed by the sense of loss, the sense of work yet undone, and the sense that nothing could ever return to them that which was lost.
Pug nodded at his grandsons words. He sighed. Arutha, you and I have never had the opportunity to be close. After my first wifes death I distanced myself from your mother. Watching her grow old was a fate I tried to avoid. He looked deep into his grandsons eyes. There is much of both your parents in you. I know your father trained you from birth to serve, and your life was never your own, but I also know he would have found a less demanding role for you had he found you lacking; you would not be allowed to follow after him had you been less a man than what you are. So, again I say, you must step forward. Patrick may prove a worthy ruler someday, but that day is not here yet. And it has often been our history that one in the role of advisor limited the choices placed before the rulers. Remembering the rule of mad King Roderic, Pug said, Perhaps we could have used more of such men in the past.
Arutha said, Ill try, Grandfather.