The Burning Stone (Crown of Stars 3)

After the meat was distributed, Alberada regarded Prince Bayan with a sour gaze. “I believed that the Ungrian people had ended their custom of a man marrying many wives when they accepted the Holy Word of the Unities. According to the Holy Word, one woman and one man shall cleave each to the other in harmony, and exclusivity, in imitation of God Our Mother and Father.”

The biscop’s speech had to be translated, and Bayan listened intently and then nodded enthusiastically. “This my brother proclaim when he take the circle of God. I follow his rule. I put aside my wives when I come to marry Princess Sapientia.” He grinned at her. He had one tooth missing but otherwise a strong mouth, although his teeth were somewhat yellow, perhaps from the copious cups of steaming hot, pungently-scented, brown-colored brew that he downed after finishing each cup of wine set before him.

“You had other wives?” asked the biscop.

“All at once?” demanded Sapientia.

“Many clans wish alliance with house of Geza and send daughters as gift. Too many for him and his sons to marry, so some come to me because I am only king-brother alive. It make insult to send them back.” Then he leaped up suddenly, lifting the cup he shared with Sapientia, and called out in his own language, gesturing with the cup. A young man outfitted in a gaudy tunic trimmed with gold braid jumped up, answered him, and drained his own cup of wine, then sat down. Bayan took his seat. “That one is younger brother of my second wife. She very angry to be turned away, but I give her much gold and let her marry prince of Oghirzo.” He laughed. “I tell her he make better husband.”

“You are not a good husband?” But Sapientia had a glint in her eye, and after a moment Hanna realized with some astonishment that Sapientia was actually jesting with her betrothed. She would never have jested with Hugh.

Prince Bayan found the comment uproariously funny, and he leaped again to his feet, called every man in his retinue to stand, and led them in a toast to his bride. One table of men, still on their feet, sang a boisterous song while the rest kept time by pounding their cups on the tables. After this, Bayan declaimed in his own language a long and tedious paean to his new bride, punctuated by the translation of the interpreter:

“She is as beautiful as the best mare. As robust as the rabbits in wintertime. Her grip is as strong as an eagle’s, her sight as keen as a hawk’s, she is as fecund as the mice,” and so on until Sapientia burst out laughing.

“Your Highness,” whispered Hanna, bending low over her. “If you give offense—”

“You do not like my poem?” cried Bayan, plumping down in his chair. “It is my own words I craft, not speak another man’s.”

Sapientia choked on her laughter and turned red. “I am sure, Prince Bayan, that it is only the words your interpreter gives to those you crafted in your own language—”

“No, no!” he cried cheerfully. “Always I make these poems that others say is no good, not like the true poets. But I do not mind their laughter. These words is from my heart.”

“Ai, God,” said Alberada under her breath. “A bad poet. It is as well he is a good fighter, Your Highness.”

But Sapientia was glowing. “You crafted that poem yourself, for me? Let us hear it again!”

He was happy to oblige, and this time was not interrupted by the princess’ laughter. The poem had some kind of refrain, and each time it came around, the Ungrians would all jump to their feet, cry out a phrase with one voice, and drain their wine cups. While this went on interminably, Hanna ate the scraps off Sapientia’s platter, shoved forgotten to one side. She was terribly hungry, although now and again Sapientia would offer her own cup to drink from. The hall stank of wine, and urine.

The poem was followed by a display of wrestling, clearly meant to inflame female desire because the young Ungrian warriors stripped down to less clothing than Hanna had ever seen on a grown man in such a public place, just breechclouts covering their groins, and then oiled their skin until they gleamed, all moist and slippery. Did the curtains of the palanquin part slightly? Did she see a hand, fingers studded with rings, part the silk, and a suggestion of movement behind, someone peeking out to observe?

She leaned down to speak into Sapientia’s ear. “I wonder if you ought to offer to share food with Prince Bayan’s mother, Your Highness. I haven’t seen a single platter taken to her.”

Sapientia seemed startled by this oversight. “Will your mother not take supper with us, Prince Bayan?”

He changed color, kissed the tips of the fingers of his right hand, and made to throw something invisible over his left shoulder. “Not proper.” He glanced nervously toward the palanquin and the sheet of gold fabric that concealed the woman within. “My mother a powerful sorcerer, I think you name it, of the Kerayit peoples, very strong in magic they are. They are the enemies of the Ungrian people, that is why my father marry her. In our language we call her a shaman. For her it is not allowed to share meat with people not of her kin.”

“But you and I are to be wed! That makes me kin to her.”

He grinned. “Not wed until man and woman join in the bed. Yes?”

She flushed. “That is the custom in my land, yes.”

“Has your mother accepted the Holy Word and the Circle of Unity?” asked the biscop tartly.

He blinked, surprised. “She a good Kerayit princess. Her gods will take her power if she do not to them give the sacrifice. That is why she cannot be seen in this company.”

“A heathen,” muttered Alberada. “But you worship at the altar of God, Prince Bayan.”

“I am good worshiper,” he agreed, glancing at the frater as if to be sure he had said the words correctly. The man leaned down and whispered into his ear, and Bayan nodded, then turned to the biscop and spoke again, more emphatically. “I follow the Holy Word of God in Unity.”

As if these words gave a signal, men lit torches and set them into sconces along the walls. The biscop rose with regal grace; although not tall, she had a queenly breadth of figure. Like her illegitimate nephew, Sanglant, she wore the gold torque that marked her royal kinship, although, like him, she could not aspire to the throne—unless the rumor was true that Henry himself conspired to place his illegitimate son on the throne after him. Hanna was not a fool: she listened, and she observed. Why would Henry marry his daughter to a man who, although renowned as a strong fighter, was unlikely to command respect and loyalty in Wendar itself? Only Sapientia seemed unaware of the implications of her father’s choice for her marriage partner. Face bright and eyes glittering, she rose to stand beside Alberada as the biscop called the company to order.

“As night falls over this hall, let God’s will be worked in this matter.”

There were the usual pledges, an exchange of marriage portions: a disputed-border region made over to Prince Bayan, a tribe whose tribute would henceforth grace Wendish coffers instead of going to the Ungrian king, many precious vessels from King Henry of Salian and Aostan manufacture, and from the east two wagons heaped with gold that Bayan’s men pulled into the hall. Hanna had never seen such an astounding display of pure gold, not even on Henry’s progress. It gleamed with a muted, almost ominous presence, heaped up like so much casually discarded debris.

ntia choked on her laughter and turned red. “I am sure, Prince Bayan, that it is only the words your interpreter gives to those you crafted in your own language—”