Jinx studied Andrew’s people carefully. He could see why they were dangerous. Every one of them had that strange ease which characterized combat experts. They were unafraid. It was odd, since they were facing Jinx and all his friends, including Vernon and Mick, both of whom were ready to attack with flame and magic at a moment’s notice. Sean and Peter were likewise ready for anything, their swords close at hand, and their sheer tenseness told Jinx more than he wanted to know about the situation he’d brought about.
Sean and Mick were not pleased with him for that. Mick felt that avoiding the Rovers was the smartest thing to do, and Sean had offered to stand guard over Jinx and Elanor for as long as necessary. Then Michael, who’d been brought along when Peter and Julia were gathering Jinx’s friends to discuss the situation, had asked “But what do they want?”
“Power.” answered Sean.
“No,” said Peter, “they want a strong King.”
“Do tell!” replied Mick. “Jinx ain’t strong enough for them?”
“It’s rather awkward.” said Peter. “What Sean’s suggesting, that we guard Jinx, would be taken as a sign of weakness. On the other hand, if Jinx just goes about as usual, they might take him out. I wish you hadn’t hexed Andrew, Mick, that must have hurt his pride…”
“Good.” grumbled Mick.
“No, it isn’t.” continued Peter. “If it wasn’t for that, we could be fairly sure that they’d let it slide, since they’re so bored with politics. Now, we don’t know what they’ll do.”
“I should talk to them.” said Jinx. “What good will it do just talking about them?”
Michael perked up. “I’ll go and get them, King Jinx. Be right back!”
“Wait, wait!” said Mick. “Is that safe? Maybe somebody ought to go with him.”
“Course it is!” replied Michael. “One of them’s my father!”
Michael scooted off, and Peter explained to Mick, “Michael’s father is Keith. He’s been with them for years. Michael’s position as King’s Page was King Thomas’s way of buying the Rovers’ loyalty. They may not care about politics, but they do like a show of respect…”
“So the boy’s safe then.”
“Oh, quite. It also gives us an opportunity to learn their position. They may not have known that Michael was acting as page to Jinx. Now, if they’re dead set on killing Jinx, they won’t let Michael come back, and he’ll be with his father. If they let him come back, whether or not they come along, they’re less fixed in their plans. I think, personally, that we’ll be seeing Michael again.”
“Why?” asked Jinx, for Peter seemed very certain.
“Well, I hate to say it, but if they were really trying to kill you they’d probably have done it by now.”
Sean, listening, winced. “Aye.”
Michael had fetched the Rovers, and walked cheerfully over to stand with Jinx’s friends. Jinx noticed this, and commented to Peter, “Michael’s still with us.”
“Seems to be.” replied Peter, his eyes fixed on the Rovers. “I saw his dad whisper in his ear, though. They might be up to something.”
“But they don’t have any weapons!” protested Jinx.
“Bollocks.” said Sean quietly. “They could have knives on them. And, Carl there has mage talents. And, Rob, the one next to Andrew, can kill with his bare hands…”
“Stop it.” said Jinx, and stepped out toward the Rovers. Sean and Peter promptly stepped out with him, almost pushing themselves in front of him. Elanor also pushed forward.
“Stop getting in front of me!” snapped Jinx, exasperated. “Get back with the others!”
At that, Sean and Peter fell back, abashed. They still kept their eyes locked on the Rovers. Elanor didn’t fall back, she just looked up at him and said “You didn’t mean me, did you?”
Jinx didn’t bother to argue with her.
The Rovers seemed to approve, somehow, of the way Jinx and Elanor walked up to face them. Some of them even smiled a bit. Andrew did not smile.
“Why have you called us here?” he asked. Sean’s eyes narrowed, and the group of Jinx’s friends stirred uneasily at the obvious lack of deference.
“You say ‘my liege’ when speaking to your King!” blurted Hugo, outraged.
Andrew gazed levelly at him. “I am not satisfied of that yet, sir.”
“Of what?” snapped Sean. “He’s King of Rainmoor, and he’s alive. What more do you want?”
“Quiet!” said Jinx, annoyed. He turned his attention back to Andrew.
“My liege, this man is behaving disrespectfully!” said Hugo.
Jinx glared at him. “Are you going to let me talk? Or do I have to tell you to go away? Be quiet!”
“But, my liege…”
“That’s it!” snapped Jinx. “Go away! Now!”
Hugo wavered uncertainly. “But…”
“Now.”
Hugo looked helplessly around, and when Peter gave him a curt nod, gave up and wandered off, looking over his shoulder at the scene he was leaving every few seconds. Before long he was out of sight. The Rovers did not miss Peter’s signal, and their mood seemed to darken.
“Who rules?” asked Andrew, rather formally.
“What do you mean, who rules?” said Jinx warily.
“I’m asking you. Do you rule, or do you allow anyone who wishes to decide what to do?”
“Decide what?” said Jinx.
Sean, unable to restrain himself, answered “King Jinx rules Rainmoor, you conceited…”
“Shut up!” snarled Jinx, and turned again to Andrew. “Decide what?”
“For instance, decide whether your Lord Hugo is to leave or stay. Why does he look to Peter for this? Why does he not obey you, Jinx?”
“Because he knows you want to kill King Jinx and take his place.” said Peter levelly.
“You too!” snapped Jinx, fed up with people answering questions for him.
“You wish to answer my questions yourself? That is courteous of you.” said Andrew, and his tone made it plain that the courtesy mattered little to him.
“No.” snarled Jinx. “I’m going to ask you questions instead. What are you going to do? You don’t like my friends, and you don’t like me either. You want to be King for some reason, too. Are you going to try and kill me? My friends say that if you are, you’ll tell me so.”
“I have not yet decided.” replied Andrew.
“Are you going to try to kill Elanor?”
“I have not yet decided.”
Jinx bristled. “I don’t think that’s good enough. I think you should say that you’re not going to kill Elanor. Now.”
“Oh, really?” said Andrew. “I suppose it’s all right if I kill you?”
“No,” Elanor snarled. “It’s not.”
“Ah, but it would be so easy! We could do it right now…” said Andrew, at which Jinx’s friends began to shout, “Get back, Jinx! Get out of the way!”
“Shut up!” snapped Jinx, and turned back to Andrew. “You could do it right now, could you?”
“Of course we could. We have our weapons, you know, we just don’t have them drawn. It can be useful to have weapons that don’t show. You don’t have any for some reason. Perhaps you forgot them. I’d be perfectly willing to let you go get them, it’s only fair.”
“Get my sword.” said Jinx, without moving his eyes from Andrew’s.
“Jinx, no!” cried Julia.
“Get it!”
Michael scurried up with Jinx’s sword. The boy looked miserable. “Please don’t?” he said. “Please?”
Ignoring him, Andrew continued, “Is your Elanor going to fight as well? I rather doubt she could hold a weapon…”
Elanor bared her teeth in a silent snarl.
“Elanor.” said Jinx. “Get back with the others.”
“No.”
“Does this mean we’re to have two duels? Or are you thinking of both fighting me? Some might feel that such a thing would be dishonorable. My people might feel that such a thing would be dishonorable…”
“What do you mean, dishonorable? Us fighting all of you?”
Andrew blinked. “Come again?”
“I don’t care how many of you there are. If you hurt Elanor, I’ll kill as many of you as I can before you get me.”
“And if you hurt Jinx,” said Elanor, “I’ll kill all of you.”
Andrew was speechless for a moment. When he finally spoke, there was something different in his tone.
“Do I understand you correctly? You are ready to fight all the Rovers at once? That is your idea of a fair duel?”
“What do you mean, duel?” said Jinx. “You said you might try to kill Elanor. You said ‘we all have weapons’. I tried to tell her to get back, but she never listens.”
Andrew was speechless again, then said, “Jinx, a duel of the sort I asked for means one person fighting one person, not ten people fighting two.”
“It does?” said Jinx, who hadn’t had much experience with that sort of thing. “Oh. I thought you were just going to…”
“Just a moment.” said Andrew, seeming deeply moved. He turned to his people. “Rovers, what say you?”
“Hail King Jinx and Queen Elanor!”
Andrew turned to Jinx again. “My liege, command us!”
Jinx sagged, overwhelmed by the strain and the sudden, inexplicable reversal. He felt like the entire world had gone mad. “Go away!” he moaned.
Andrew lost no time. “Rovers, move out!” he said, and shortly the only ones left were Jinx, Elanor and their friends. Elanor had understood even less of what had happened, and continued to watch the Rovers tensely until they were all gone.
Jinx’s friends rushed up to surround him and Elanor, which was hardly what he wanted at the moment. They flocked around, cheering and enthusing over his courage and wisdom.
“You too!” wailed Jinx desperately. “Go away! All of you! Leave me alone! Except… is there one person here who can explain what just happened?”
They looked back and forth among themselves, and finally Peter stepped forward politely. “Will I do, my liege?” He, almost unnoticably, winked at Jinx.
“Yes. Everybody else go away! Go do whatever it is you do instead of bothering me. Now!”
The little crowd melted away like magic, leaving Jinx, Elanor and Peter standing alone on the spot where the confrontation had taken place.
“Is it over?” asked Elanor.
“I think so.” Jinx replied. “Everybody left.”
“Then I’m going to go home and take a nap.” she said. “Are you sure it’s over? I’m not going anywhere until you’re safe!”
“Elanor,” laughed Peter, “he’s never been so safe in his life! Jinx managed to impress the Rovers more than anyone I’ve ever heard of! Why don’t we all go back to the cabin, you can have your nap, and I’ll try to explain what just happened. I’ll lay you any odds you care to name that they have someone standing guard already!”
“They have someone what?” asked Jinx.
“Come on, I’ll show you…” said Peter, and they headed back to Jinx’s cabin.
Outside the cabin stood one of the Rovers, with his sword ready. Elanor laid her ears back at the sight, and Jinx gripped the back of her neck to try and restrain her, for she looked ready to spring on the man if he got in her way.
“Gordon!” said Peter happily. “My liege, this is a great honor: Gordon is among the best fighters the Rovers have.”
“That’s nice,” snarled Elanor. “Make him go away.”
Gordon seemed upset by this conflict of attitudes, and addressed Elanor first. “Please, no, Queen Elanor, I need to stand guard!”
“It’s okay, Gordon,” reassured Peter, “I shall be explaining things to our King and Queen. I imagine I shall have to be a First Lord again, as I’m in this uncomfortable position, but there’s no way around it. Unless you’d rather it was Hugo or somebody? And I hope you don’t object to my speaking informally with my King!”
Gordon winced. “If the King wants to listen to the counsel of Hugo, then we’ll have to live with it…”
“Actually,” said Jinx, “I’d rather he never got near me again. He’s annoying.”
Gordon brightened. “Am I ordered to keep him away, my liege?”
“Ah, King Jinx…” said Peter, “I would counsel you not to give any such commands until you have been brought up to date on the current situation…”
“Does that mean he isn’t?” asked Jinx. “Or did I already?”
“Please, may I, my liege?” asked Gordon. “He annoys me too!”
“No!” snapped Jinx. “Not until I understand what Peter’s trying to tell me!”
“Well, for starters,” said Peter, “if you command Gordon to do this, he will keep Hugo away from you at all costs, even killing him if neccesary. Am I right, Gordon?”
Gordon nodded, saying “But you haven’t ordered me to yet, my liege.”
“By the way,” said Peter, “you clearly have orders from Andrew to stand guard unless told otherwise. Might we know what your orders are specifically?”
“Well,” said Gordon, looking uncomfortable, “they’re to prevent anyone but King Jinx and Queen Elanor from entering this cabin. That includes you as well, but since the King wants to talk to you…”
Jinx had had enough. “Gordon!”
“My liege!”
“Me, Elanor and Peter are going to go in and talk. You can stay here and keep anybody else from bothering us if you want. Don’t kill anybody unless I say so. Oh, and tell your friends not to pick on Mick, because he’s my friend. Understand?”
“Yes, my liege!” said Gordon happily.
“Fine.” said Jinx, and promptly barged past Gordon into his cabin, followed by Peter and Elanor.
“Now, what’s going on?” demanded Jinx. “And stop calling me a Liege, Peter! I want you to call me Jinx, like you used to!”
“You hear that, Gordon?” called Peter.
“Got it.” said Gordon, and gave an odd whistle, calling a Rover to pass on the news.
Jinx collapsed in a chair, his tail twitching in agitation. Elanor, satisfied that Jinx was perfectly safe for the moment, ostentatiously ignored this and curled up on the bed, getting ready to fall asleep.
“Explain what’s going on,” said Jinx, “right now!”
“You’re getting the hang of it,” smiled Peter.
“No, when I say explain what’s going on right now, I mean that you should explain what’s going on,” said Jinx in exasperation, “not tell me I’m getting the hang of it…”
“I mean the ordering, Jinx, telling me instead of asking…”
Jinx gave him a look.
“Right.” said Peter. “Because of the situation that just happened, you will be expected to act like a King. You are expected to make the final decisions, and in particular, you ought not to look like you’re deferring to me or anyone else…”
“Deferring?”
“Your temper served you well there, you know.” said Peter. “You lost your temper and wouldn’t listen to reason, and since you were King we couldn’t very well disobey you… That would have only proven the falseness of your claim…”
“I didn’t claim anything!”
“I’m referring to your being King, Jinx. If you don’t like that, you’ve got problems, because in order for anyone else to be King, they’d have to remove the existing monarchy. That means you, Elanor, and the child.”
“Kitten.”
“Prince.”
Jinx shook his head violently, as if to clear it.
“I suggest that you get used to the idea, Jinx. One thing that would help is to make some First Lords again, whom you trust and who could help you learn what you’ll need to know…”
“Okay, do I need to use magic?” asked Jinx. “If I need to use magic I won’t even bother…”
“Actually, Mick would be able to help you there. As I understand it, if you’re satisfied with a candidate, a powerful mage like Mick could install the protections and links required.”
“Gordon!” called Jinx, “Go get Mick!”
Gordon appeared in the doorway, looking unhappy. “But, my liege, you’ve commanded me to guard this cabin!”
“Ah, Jinx…” said Peter, “I’ve summoned him already.”
“Oh, okay. Gordon, when Mick comes here, let him in and be nice to him! And would you stop calling me a liege?”
“Er, of course, er, Jinx.” said Gordon.
“You may wish to think,” said Peter to Jinx, “of setting up five First Lords, since that’s the ideal arrangement for the balance of interconnecting forces…”
“Okay.” said Jinx. “Gordon, have somebody else get Sean and… who was it? Rebecca. Tell them to be nice, and say I said so.”
“Of course, m.. Jinx!”
Gordon ducked back outside, and Jinx could hear him whistling for his listening friends. Jinx settled back to wait for the people to arrive.
