Free Erak's Ransom by John Flanagan

Why shouldn't I go in your place?' She paused, then added with greater intensity, 'Dad, this is exactly what we were discussing a few weeks ago. One day I'll be Queen. If I don't start taking on some of these duties now, I'll never be ready to be a real queen — someone you'd be proud of.'

'Cassandra, you will not go and that's an end of it. Now let's stop this discussion. It's embarrassing.'

She sensed the weakness in his argument and knew what was behind it.

'It's only embarrassing because you know you're wrong about this. I owe Erak my life. I have a
right
to help rescue him.'

There was a matching flare of anger in the King's face now and she sensed that she had scored a point. There was no rational reason why she shouldn't undertake the mission. His objection to it was purely personal. It was understandable, she realised. But it was wrong.

'The problem is, Cassandra,' he said, also working to keep his voice calm, 'you're ... '

'A girl,' she interrupted.

He shook his head doggedly. 'That wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to say you're inexperienced and young. You've never carried out negotiations like this.'

'I negotiated the Skandian treaty,' she shot back and he shook his head like a clumsy bear frustrated by a small dog nipping at its heels.

'You had Halt to advise you then,' he said and she answered immediately, giving him no respite, knowing she had to press her advantage if she were to have any chance of winning this argument.

'He can advise me on this,' she said. She looked at the Ranger. 'Halt, you'd come with me, wouldn't you?'

'Of course I would, your highness,' he said. Unlike the King, he saw no good reason why Cassandra should not go on the mission. In Skandia, she had proved to be brave and resourceful. And she was no shrinking violet. She'd shown that in the battle line against the Temujai, when she had calmly directing her group of archers while the fierce horse soldiers overran her position. He had no doubt that she could look after herself.

'Halt ... ' the King began, looking angrily at his old friend. But Lord Anthony now interjected as well. 'Actually, your majesty, there is a certain merit in the idea. The Arridi are a matriarchal society. Succession is through the mother's line. So they have no objection to dealing with women — unlike some countries. That makes the Princess an excellent choice as your representative.'

The King came to his feet abruptly. The heavy high-backed chair he had been sitting in teetered for a moment on its back legs with the force of his movement. Then it crashed back onto a level footing again.

'I will thank you all to stay out of this!' he said, in an rather loud voice. 'This is a family matter. It is between my daughter and myself and it is of no concern to any of you! Is that absolutely clear?'

The last four words were delivered in a shout and there was an awkward silence in the room for several seconds. Then Baron Arald spoke.

'No, your majesty. I think you're wrong,' he said firmly. The King's furious gaze swung to him. Arald met it unflinchingly.

'Baron Arald, this does not concern you. Do you understand?'

Arald shook his head. 'No, sir. I don't. On the contrary, it does concern me. It concerns all of us.'

'I am the King, Baron Arald, and I say this matter is — '

Will watched Baron Arald with some awe. He had seen the burly knight's courage in battle several times but this was something different. This was a far greater form of courage — the moral courage to speak out when your conscience told you to do so.

'And those two statements contradict each other, your majesty. Because you
are
King, this matter cannot be private. Because what concerns you and your family concerns the country. In the past, you've said you valued my advice — '

'Well, I don't value it now!' the King snapped.

Arald shrugged. 'If you only value my advice when I agree with you, you don't value it at all,' he said bluntly. The King flinched as if Arald had