An hour or so later the Duke made it out of bed. It obviously hurt him to walk, but he insisted that they go to the Hall of Records to see his son.

'If I have to be carried, I am going!' he exclaimed. 'I had hoped to surprise him two weeks ago in time for his birthday.'

David and Samuel arranged the carriage while Martug and the Healer helped the Duke out to it. Dana and Magra came along and Martug stayed behind to wait for the staff to come in. The residence was normally only staffed when the Duke was in town and they had not been expecting him.

The carriage moved slowly through the streets and soon came to a marble building with a bridge from the roadway across a lazy stream. Two guards stood at attention on the other end of the bridge.

David hopped down and crossed the bridge to them. He talked to them a few moments and then one raised his spear and let it fall back onto the bridge. Everything shook and a resounding noise echoed in Dana's heart. A moment later, from up the road came another carriage, with an emblem upon it that Dana recognised quite well. It had been the emblem of her grandfather.

As she was staring at that a man came out to meet David, gave him a bear hug and crossed the bridge with him.

'Father, I was not expecting you in the capital until the winter festival,' he said as he approached the carriage. He opened the door and looked shocked as he saw the Duke laying back in obvious pain. 'What has happened, Father?'

'A mishap along the way. But it was worth it to protect this young lady,' said the Duke, then partly turning to Dana he said, 'Son, may I introduce you to the Lady Dana Laura Lu of the Lossington family. Lady Dana, may I introduce you to my son, Richard of the Quirnotol family.'

'My pleasure,' said Richard.

'Honoured,' said Dana. He seemed nothing at all like his father. His mother must have come from a very different stock than his father. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her.

He turned back to his father and said, 'But why should this young lady need protection, father?'

'She is the adopted mother of a dwarf and some rabble wished to hurt them.'

'A dwarf!' said Richard. 'Would his name be Marchan?'

'Yes,' said Dana excited. 'Have you seen him.'

'Oh yes,' said Richard. He's inside now with a bunch of jewels doing something with them.'

'Where is he?' cried Dana, jumping out of the carriage, ignoring all decorum. 'Come on, now. Show me. I have missed him these past two weeks.'

As she jumped down she noticed the footman from the other carriage approaching them. His livery was her family emblem. There was no mistaking it. She quickly calmed down and covered part of her face with her shawl. She looked up at the Duke and signalled him. She did not want to meet her uncle under these circumstances!

The Duke seemed to understand her meaning and called to her. 'Dee-dee,' he said. 'Get back into the carriage. David, Samuel, Richard, these women with no family are so wild and need to be taught to be more discreet.'

Richard looked puzzled but David standing beside him whispered to hima and he nodded.

The footman arrived and spoke to Richard, 'M'lord Captain, my Master, Duke Chowonga of Lossington, requests to see his son, Trevor of the Lossington family.'

At the name Lossington Richard jerked a bit, but quickly regained his composure. He nodded to the footman. 'I will send him out straightaway. I know precisely where he is. Tell your master so.'

The footman retreated and he turned to Dana, now my Lady, I think I will have to learn a bit more of your history. Would you and your companion come with me? I will lead you to your son.'

Dana got down with Richard's help, and she could not help noticing how strong he was. He turned and helped Magra down and the three of them crossed the bridge and passed by the guards. The courtyard stunned Dana. She had seen many beautifully built palaces in her childhood, but she did not remember any that were this lavish. The marble must have been carved by masters. Richard led them into the Hall proper and up some side stairs, down a hallway and found three adolescents standing outside a door.

'Trevor,' he said to one. 'Your Father is awaiting you in his carriage outside.'

'He's here!' said the young man. 'Cap'n, may I have leave?'

'Of course,' said Richard. 'Three days. The King will be back soon.'

Trevor ran off in the opposite direction. Richard looked at the other two. 'For what reason do you stand here. The King will return soon. Please be so kind as to do your work. Marchan will show us his work when he is ready.'

'Yes, Cap'n,' they both said and passing Dana and Magra walked away up the hallway.

'His work?' Dana started, but Richard raised a finger to his lips. He knocked on the door. 'Marchan!' he called out. 'I have a surprise for you.'

'Come back later,' Dana heard her son call and felt her heart go out to him. 'I am very busy.'

'Oh, I think you'll want to see the surprise,' said Richard.

A few seconds later the door opened and there was Marchan. Dana cried and hugged him. He took a second and then cried and hugged her.

'It was hard, Mother,' said Marchan. 'I've never been away from you for so long before.'

'Nor I from you for many years,' said Dana. 'I see you are well.'

'Oh, I am,' Marchan said. 'They've fed me very well. And shown me something new. I have a surprise for you. It's not quite ready but I don't want to wait to show it to you.'

Marchan led Dana into his room and Richard followed. Marchan placed led her to the window where she saw light reflecting off jewels, gems, and the most beautiful chess pieces she had ever seen. It was like the sun had come to the earth and was wrapped up in these pieces.

'Where did you get these?' she asked.

'I carved the chess pieces out of marble,' said Marchan, 'and set the jewels into them.'

Richard picked an elephant up and looked closely at it. 'Astounding,' he said, 'how did you get the stone to wrap around the jewels and make them stay so well?'

'I just did it. Can't anyone do that?'

'There's not a stone worker in the kingdom that can do that!' said Richard. 'At least, not without leaving a very bad crack in the stone.'

'Oh, well, I..' started Marchan.

'Actually, don't tell me. I probably would not understand. And it's best if I don't know. This is exquisite!'

Dana hugged Marchan again. The pieces were fantastic, and looked quite like their names. She looked at them and hugged him again.

Marchan was crying. His mother had returned! He wept into her bodice. He had always known she was beautiful, but the dress she was wearing suited her so much better than the frocks she had worn on his father's farm. They released her beauty and here he was soaking the bodice with his tears. He pulled away and apologised.

'No, it's fine, my loving son,' said Dana. 'I would rather your tears than anything.'

They started telling each other what had happened over the last few weeks. When Dana told Marchan about Martug, he exclaimed, 'Hand is here? Where is he?'

'Martug is out in the carriage, dear one.'

'Then let's go see him. I can finish my work later.'

Richard led them back out of the room and they started toward the stairs. Suddenly Dana froze and started looking for a place to hide.

'What is it, dear lady?' asked Richard before Marchan could speak.

'My uncle, he's coming. I just heard his voice.'

'Uncle?' asked Marchan. Dana had never told him that she had an uncle. In fact, now that it entered his head, he realised that he knew nothing about her family.

'In here,' said Richard and led them into a old guard room, from which they could look out but not be seen. He stepped out again to meet the party coming up and closed the door.

Within a few moments, Dana saw her uncle rounding the bend. The past 14 years had not been kind to him. He walked with a horrid stoop and leaned heavily on his cane. The young man that Richard had sent off to her uncle was beside him, almost leading, without stepping in front. She supposed he was her half-cousin. He looked like a fool beside that old man. Behind them walked four large men who were obviously not the serving men their uniforms proclaimed them to be.

'Trevor,' said Richard. 'You've come back. I thought you wanted leave for a few days.'

'I showed Marchan's work to my father and he wanted to meet the Dwarf.'

'Well, Marchan has left,' said Richard. 'You'll have to wait if you wish to see him.'

'Oh, I owe him some money, too. Now that my father is here, I can pay him.'

'I'll see that he gets it if you give it to me,' said Richard.

'I will not give you anything you peasant thief,' said the old man. 'I know your kind. You get a job for the King and think you can order anyone around. Well, you can't order us around. I am the Duke of Lossington and you will bring me to the Dwarf. I command it.'

Richard looked at him silently.

'Father,' started Trevor, but the old man waived him aside.

'Don't interfere you lilly livered sobbing heart child. Your mother was too soft with you and you think everyone should be soft to everyone else. Well, that's not how the world works. I have a much higher rank than this slave of the King. I will not be twarted by anyone and I will not be turned aside by you. I am the Duke of Lossington and I got here by hard work and I will continue to get what I want by demanding what I am due. Now, sirrah,' he said as he turned back to Richard. 'Take me to the Dwarf or I will have your guts be made into fiddles.'

'Are you quite done yet?' asked Richard. 'Perhaps you would like to continue ?'

'You are insolent, presumptuous and quite rude to your betters. I will have you caned. Boys, do your thing.'

Trevor looked up at the four men who started to walk forward and said very quietly, 'If any of you cane me you can be assured you will not leave this building as free men. You might possibly leave it alive. If you are alive you will wish you weren't as the punishment for caning a duke is quite severe.'

The four of them hesitated. Trevor shouted out, 'He is the son of a duke. That was his father's carriage outside.'

The old man turned and struck Trevor with his cane. 'You miserable worthless boy, the woman who whelped you was a botched job. The only reason I touched her at all was that there weren't any other women around that day.' Every few words were punctuated by a strike with the cane until the old man almost fell over and then he used it to regain his balance.

Just then a small contingent of Richard's men came up. They had heard the shouting and decided to investigate.

Richard turned to them and said, 'You two, take the boy to the infirmary. the rest of you, take the old man to the gaol. If any of those four buffoons in serving uniforms attempts to resist or cause trouble, kill him or lock him up, according to your choice. I will back you up. If they don't, treat them well, and let them have access to their master.'

'Yes, Cap'n,' said the leader and soon the hall was clear except for Richard. He looked around and opened the door to the room Dana and Marchan were in and beckoned them out.

Come,' he said. 'We must go out to the carriages. I'll have to do something with your uncle's carriage.'

'Don't worry about that,' said Dana. 'I think I know what we can do.'

The returned to Marchan's room and gathered his belongings, which for the most part consisted of his old clothes, all his jewels and the marble and stone working tools. He carefully wrapped them all into his old tunic and they left for the carriages. When they got to the gate, Dana turned to the Lossington carriage. She walked up to the coachman and said, 'Brill, it is time to go.'

He looked a bit surprised and then dropped to his knees. 'My Lady!' he exclaimed. 'My Lady has returned!'

The remaining footman came around the carriage and dropped to his knees as well. 'Our prayers have been answered!' he cried. There were soon tears on his face. 'We thought you were dead. Your uncle has gone quite mad.'

'If you take me back to the mansion, would I receive such a welcome?'

'I'm afraid not, my Lady,' said the coachman sobering a bit and standing again. 'Your Aunt, who styles herself the Duchess of Lossington rules the house. There are very few of us left who could still recognise you and the few that do are lorded over by the scoundrels that he has dressed up in our uniforms.'

'I was afraid of that,' said Dana. 'We'll have to become stronger. How long can you hold my uncle?' she asked Richard.

'Your uncle is indefinitely mine. At least until it comes to trial that he ordered that I be attacked. I have seven witnesses, although your uncle might try to claim his son and servants can't bear witness against him. I can at least hold him until we can arrange a trial which will likely be three days at least. And then there's what he did to his son. I think that'll keep him for quite a while.'

'That should be plenty of time to make sure he forces the issue when he is released. I will see what else I can get from him. In the meantime, we will have to stay at your father's house.'

'I'm sure my father will be pleased.'

'Yes, could you go up to your father's carriage and send my two servants back here. Tell your father we will meet him at his house.'

'Yes, Dear Lady, I would be delighted.'

A few minutes later, Magra joined them at the carriage.

'Where's Martug?' Dana asked.

'Mom,' Magra said. 'He's back at the Duke's house.'

'Oh, I must be forgetting myself,' Dana said. 'Marchan, dear son, let's go back to the Duke's house and we'll see what we're going to do next.'

She had the footman, Boris, ask the Duke have Samuel lead them back to the Duke's house and they were soon riding through the city into parts that Marchan had not yet seen. He watched as the huge houses passed by. Many showed great workmanship and were made of marble. He wondered where the marble came from. It did not appear to be all from the same place, wherever it was. When they arrived at the house, Martug met them in the courtyard.

'My Lady,' he called when he saw her descending from her carriage. 'I did not expect to see you so soon. The Duke's servants have not all arrived and I have not been able to get the few that are here to properly prepare for you.'

'I'll see about that,' said the Duke. 'In the meanwhile, this is my son, Richard and I believe you've already met Her Ladyship's son Marchan.'

'A pleasure,' Martug said to Richard. 'So we meet again,' he said to Marchan. 'I told you I would do all I could to help your mother. Well, I think she has done much more for me. She rescued me from a dungeon and certain death. I know now that your mother is a good woman. I expect I'll want to serve her for many years.'

'Yes,' said Dana. 'Well, come now both of you. And you, too, Magra. We've got a family together again and I'm going to enjoy it.'

They went into the house and joined the Duke and his son who were just sitting down in front of the fire. It had gotten quite chilly as the morning had wore on. It seemed winter was approaching.

The Duke looked at the two newcomers in his home. They were joined to the young Duchess he was helping, but something didn't seem right to him. It was like she had stolen them from her uncle. He called her aside.

'So what are you going to do now? Are you going to try to take all your father's servants from your uncle?'

'Well, no,' said Dana. 'I hadn't really figured out what to do. I thought I'd scare him and his wife. Maybe convince them that I can oust them.'

'This isn't the way to do it. It'll be much better to meet with the King. He'll give you back your rightful place. Stealing, even when it's your own property, is still stealing.'

'Oh,' said Dana, a little saddened by the correction.

'In the meantime, though, we can give your father's people hope. Send these two back with news for your father's people that you're still alive and will be returning.'

'Yes, you're quite right,' said Dana, unsure that she would know that was true any which way.

They returned to the circle of people and told Brill and his companion the decision. Brill was unhappy that he would have to return to Dana's aunt.

'You're going as an infiltrator,' said David. 'I actually envy you. To be working for someone else while pretending to work for an enemy.'

'I hope that wasn't a suggestion you are displeased with working for my father,' said Richard, with a mischievous look.

'Oh, not at all!' exclaimed David. 'My Master is a wonderful master. I would not want to work for anyone else. It would be fun to be a plant, however.'

Brill accepted his new assignment and the two left, taking their erstwhile master's carriage back.