"Managed to retrieve this too," Lee said, and only then did Cimar notice he'd slung Cimar's sword belt over one shoulder. He held it out, and Cimar couldn't deny he felt infinitely better as he strapped it into place.
Cimar hugged him. "I'm going to be lost without you, but I will be happy to finally have you officially as my peer, Lee."
"Wouldn't be here without you," Lee said gruffly, and hugged him again before letting go. "Shall we return to the fracas?"
Davrin sighed. "I'd much rather not, but my fiancée would probably like my assistance. Let's go then, noble champion and victor of the challenge."
Cimar echoed his sigh, because a victory had seldom felt so hollow. There was satisfaction in knowing Ballior had been avenged and could rest in peace. In knowing the guilty parties had paid for their crimes. He would have preferred they faced proper justice, however. That he wasn't stuck with the taste of Grayne's blood in his mouth and the knowledge of how it felt to crunch him, kill him. The stupid bastard should have held to his surrender.
Shoving the gloomy thoughts aside, he drew his sword and motioned to Davrin. "Stay behind me. Lee, take up the rear. Whoever fired those arrows could be more than willing to fire some more."
Davrin nodded, Lee fell into position, and they quickly rejoined the chaos in the arena.
It had been quelled, somewhat, the people having been removed or at least driven to the edges and out of the way. Guards were standing watch, an entire circle around King Rorlen's body. Korena stood in the center of the chaos, Aliana to her left, speaking with Joffrey, Captain of the Guard, and several others. She turned her head slightly as they approached, and Cimar didn't think he imagined the relief that showed ever so briefly in her eyes as they landed on Davrin. He knew the feeling well.
Motioning to the guards keeping anyone from getting close to her, voice pitched to be heard, she said, "Let my fiancé and his knights through." As Davrin approached, she extended a hand and pulled him close, looping their arms together.
Cimar took up position to Davrin's right, and Lee stood close by, both their swords still drawn.
"Do we know who?" Davrin asked, as Joffrey bowed and departed, walking with impressive deftness across the snow and ice.
Korena shook her head. "No. Soldiers have been sent out to the likeliest positions of the shooter, but by the time we reach it they'll be long gone. Right now we're simply waiting for the crowds to clear enough we can safely escort his body back to the castle."
"You shouldn't be out in the open like this."
"I feel if they wanted me dead alongside my father, they'd have already done it," Korena said. "Be that as it may, you're not wrong. I am going to escort my father's body personally, though, no matter what the risk." She looked briefly sad but mostly just tired. "He was…" she sighed and fell silent.
Davrin smiled softly and covered her hand with his free one. "I understand."
"Thank you."
Cimar didn't smile watching them, but only because it would ill suit his current post.
Mercifully, a few minutes later Captain Joffrey returned, bowing quickly before saying, "Your Majesty, we're ready to move out. I've a cart waiting for His Majesty, and a full escort for him. The roadway has been secured clear to the gates. Your horses are being brought."
"Thank you, Captain," Korena replied, even as a pair of knights came up leading the horses. A couple more came behind them a moment later bearing Cimar and Lee's horses.
When the whole party was mounted up, and the king's body had been carefully loaded onto the cart, draped in borrowed cloaks and flowers that had been intended for the challenge victor, Korena gave the signal and the process moved out.
It was a somber affair, more somber than Cimar would have expected, given how universally Rorlen had been hated, secretly and sometimes not so secretly. The murder of a king was still the murder of a king, though. The icy wind and falling snow didn't help anything.
By the time they reached the castle, dark was falling, and he couldn't feel any part of his body, it was all so thoroughly frozen.
As they finally reached the great hall, Korena paused to speak with Captain Joffrey once more. "Secure the body in his private courtyard and have the pyre ready for after morning prayers. That should be enough time to arrange everything properly."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Joffrey replied.
The body would freeze, being out in the cold all night, and Cimar was eternally grateful to the divine that was not his problem to solve.
Joffrey strode off, likely to inflict the unenviable task on whoever he found first, and Korena waved off everyone else seeking her attention, relegating the task of dealing with them to the nearby Steward Lander, who was probably greatly concerned she might shortly be out of job with the king dead and a queen of very different mind on the throne.
Korena headed off, still escorted by Davrin with Aliana at her side. Cimar took over the lead, with Lee taking up the rear again, until they reached Korena's private chambers, at which point he took up position on the wall opposite, facing the knights guarding the door. Korena, Davrin, and Aliana vanished inside, and Cimar sighed as the door closed. Safe, or as safe as they could get, for a little while.
"What a day," Lee said. "I didn't think it could get worse than being summarily tossed out by my lovers, but I vastly underestimated the universe. I am sorry, Cimar, it feels like in all of this your victory has been completely lost."
Cimar snorted. "My victory is the least important matter today. Ballior has his vengeance, that is all I ever cared about."
"Yeah, you didn't do this just so you could make eyes at Lord Dweller-by-the-Sea at all."
"Shut it, rapscallion," Cimar said, even as the nearby guards struggled not to crack their somber miens. "Now isn't the time for such jests."
Lee's mouth twitched briefly. "I dunno, a bit of levity seems good right now, and there's never a bad time to tease you, Sir Cimar."
"Hahaha," Cimar said, and that time the guards did briefly crack.
They stood there nearly an hour, to judge by the light and the distant tolling of the temple bell, but it could have been more or less. Cimar was long ready for sleep by the time the door opened. To his surprise, though, Davrin beckoned them to come inside rather than stepping out.
Frowning, Cimar obeyed, Lee close behind. Davrin closed the door quietly behind them and led the way to a large sitting room. Korena rose from where she'd been sitting with Aliana, a beautiful, imposing, but still approachable queen, nothing remotely like her terrifying father.
"Sir Cimar, I am sorry that in this abrupt turn of events, your noble deeds have fallen by the wayside. You are victor of the challenge, and won that victory fairly and honorably, more than can be said of your fallen opponent. Formalities must wait, I'm afraid, but you are forthwith granted the Order of the Sovereign Rose."
"Yo— Your Majesty—" Cimar didn't know what to say. That merit had not been awarded for almost fifty years. It was one of the most difficult merits to achieve, and most of them wound up being awarded posthumously. He was only the eleventh to receive it while still alive. "I am humbled. Thank you, Your Majesty."