Alcingeria Chapter Thirty Five: The Grand Tour

Redmond is bored in the castle, so Lawrence offers to give him the grand tour. At the end of which however, Queen Yuka's guards drag someone into the castle...

Chapter Thirty Five The Grand Tour:

It was about three in the afternoon right now. Just as I was wondering what to do, Lawrence turned to me.

            “Would you like me to give you a tour of the castle, sir?” He asked.

That could be good. It would give me an idea of the layout of the whole castle without me needing to snoop around.

            “That’d be great, thanks Lawrence.” I said.

He smiled at me.

            “Very well then. Follow me.” Lawrence said.

Lawrence led me down the hallway that our rooms as well as a few other unoccupied rooms were located.

            “This is the residential wing, where lower class visitors stay. It’s on the East side of the castle.” Lawrence explained.

I nodded. It was kind of obvious where this was, but I figured it was part of the tour. We came to the twin staircases that led up from the doorway. The huge room smelled of roses, like pretty much every room in the castle.

            “This is the grand entryway.” Lawrence said with his arms spread out, gesturing to the whole room.

            “Impressive.” I remarked.

            “Indeed.” Lawrence said.

He led me across the walkway that the two staircases met at. We walked down that hallway.

            “This is the West side of the castle. This is another residential wing, however it is reserved for upper class visitors.” Lawrence explained.

I noticed that there were fancy paintings on the walls here as well as roses on pedestals. I looked around the hallway for a little longer, then Lawrence walked downstairs. I followed. We walked across the grand entryway’s marble flooring and went to the hallway that led to the throne room. There were many doors on either side of us that lined the hallway. There were roses on pedestals between them, just like before. Lawrence turned left and entered the closest door. Inside I heard the clatter of metal pans, people shouting and the hiss! Of sizzling food.

            “This is the Queen’s personal kitchen. Open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. For the Queen, of course.” Lawrence said.

He quickly led me back out into the hallway so as not to disturb the cooks. We went to the door across the hall. I heard the sound of metal hitting metal. The room was about fifteen square feet. There was a huge skylight open high above. All around me I saw men working away at forges and anvils. They were blacksmiths. Their forges spewed black and grey smoke that floated up and out of the room through the open skylight.

            “This is the blacksmith room. These men manufacture weapons for the Queen’s army. They each have a weekly quota to meet. If there is a surplus of their products, we ship them throughout Alcingeria for extra profit.” Lawrence explained.

            “What if the weekly quota is not met?” I asked.

Lawrence was silent for a moment.

            “Whoever does not meet the weekly quota… Is executed.” Lawrence said grimly.

            “What?! On what charges?” I asked, surprised and scared by his answer.

Lawrence shook his head.

            “No charges. If Queen Yuka says that someone is to be executed, they will be executed. No questions asked.” Lawrence said, even more grimly than before.

I looked at all the men. Upon closer examination, I saw that not all of them were men. There were boys here. Some no older than fourteen.

            “Why are there people so young working here?” I asked Lawrence.

            “You see, if someone breaks Queen Yuka’s laws, they would normally be executed on the spot. However if she believes that they show promise in one skill or another, she sentences them to a life of hard labor in that line of work.” Lawrence said.

            “Do they get paid?” I asked.

            “Their payment is the fact that they get to live to see tomorrow.” Lawrence said.

            “I want out of here.” I said, feeling sick to my stomach.

            “I understand, sir.” Lawrence told me, putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me out of the room.

We were now out in the hallway.

            “How can she do something like that? That’s… That’s… Inhumane!” I exclaimed.

Lawrence put a finger to his lips.

            “Quiet sir! Someone will hear you!” He cautioned, looked around.

Thankfully there was no one else in the corridor with us. Lawrence led me to the second door on the left hand side. I saw people sparing with each other using mock staves, I saw weapons on racks, and there were archery targets set up. There was a guard by the door, probably so that no one would take weapons from here.

            “This is the training room.” Lawrence said.

            “Why didn’t we just come here when we were sparing?” I asked.

Lawrence shrugged.

            “It is quieter outside. Plus, it smells of roses. I have grown quite fond of that scent during my time here.” Lawrence said with a small smile.

I looked around the room, taking note of its place in the corridor so I could come back here sometime. Lawrence led me back out into the hall and shut the door to the training room.  He led me to the second door on the right side of the corridor. He opened it and I saw plenty of weapons. They were all on racks. There were several guards watching the door and guarding the racks. They glared at us for a second as we came in, but they were laid at ease seeing Lawrence there.

            “What’s a servant like you doing in here?” Asked a guard.

            “I am giving a tour of the castle.” Lawrence explained.

            “Very well.” The guard replied.

Lawrence cleared his throat.

            “This is the weapon storeroom. This is where the weapons manufactured by the blacksmiths go.” Lawrence explained.

He let me looked around for a few seconds. There were swords, maces, battleaxes, halberds, shields and all other kinds of things you would need if you went to war. Lawrence led me out into the hallway again. He shut the door of the weapon storeroom.

            “The rest of the rooms in this hallway are being repurposed ad are unfortunately closed. However there is one more room I would like to show you.” Lawrence said, leading me back in between the two staircases.

Beneath each staircase was a hallway with a door at the end. To the left was the dining hall, to the right was another door. Lawrence led me down the right hallway and opened the door at the end. Inside I saw elegant streamers on the walls. There were tables that were bare at the moment all around the room. Each table had a few chairs. The walls and floor were made of flawless white marble. The walls had intricate archways as decorations. There were stained glass windows that had very complex designs. They were all sorts of colors, too. Golden chandeliers with dozens of candles on them hung from the ceiling, illuminating the large space. The walls above were lined with many balconies that ran almost up until they touches the high ceiling. I imagined they were for spectators who wanted to watch the scene from above. The place looked pretty fancy.

            “Last but not least is the ballroom. Queen Yuka hosts balls here whenever the occasion arises. The guests vary, depending on the occasion.” Lawrence told me.

            “Pretty fancy.” I remarked.

            “Yes, quite. That is the idea, no?” Lawrence asked.

            “I guess, but then again I wouldn’t really know. I’ve never been to one of these things before.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

            “What? You have never been to a ball?” Lawrence exclaimed with wide eyes.

            “Look, I didn’t exactly have noble upbringings.” I told him, sort of irritated at his tone.

He sounded like a snooty rich kid.

            “Oh, my apologies sir.” Lawrence said.

Just then, we heard the sound of loud footsteps coming from the entryway just outside of the ballroom.

            “Let me go!” Shouted a man.

I turned to Lawrence with a questioning look. He just shrugged and walked to the door of the ballroom, opening it and peeking out. I walked up behind him and did the same. I saw four guards who had the black tunics on. They all had swords in scabbards at their hips. The black tunics had red lettering stitched to the front; ‘Vulrock Law Enforcement’. Two of the law enforcement officers had a man’s arms. The man’s hands were also tied behind his back with rope. The other two guards stood back with their hands on their swords in case the guy broke free. The guy didn’t look very strong. He had blond hair and brown eyes and he was about my height. He looked to be about thirty.

            “Let me go!” The man pleaded again, struggling against the guards.

The guard who had his left arm gripped it very tightly and pulled him close.

            “You have been found aiding and abetting the vampire mafia here in Valgate. Now, if you’re co-operative, we can apprehend the members of the Valgate mafia, vampire or not. If you aren’t, Queen Yuka will have you executed on the spot.” The guard seethed.

The man struggled against the guards, but they held firm.

            “You don’t understand! Even if I do help you and you leave me alive and release me back into the city, I’ll be lynched by someone else with mafia connections!” The man exclaimed.

The guard on his left chuckled.

            “You’ve gotten yourself into quite the predicament.” He said.

The man said nothing. He just struggled against the guards in an angry frenzy.

            “Well, I suppose this ends the grand tour.” Lawrence remarked.

The grand tour had indeed come to an end. Things just got serious.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[KeithKVH]

Well, a bit fillerish but it gives some more background on the Queen's villainy and leads up to why he was there to see the man brought in. I suppose the layout of the place might be more important than it seems from what was shown as well, weapons being located in the training room after all. We've got more sighting on the vampire mafia, things sound like they're heating up soon.

Just a couple things to note:

He let me looked around for a few seconds.
He let me look around for a few seconds.

Now, if you’re co-operative, we can apprehend the members of the Valgate mafia, vampire or not.
Now, if you’re cooperative, we can apprehend the members of the Valgate mafia, vampire or not.
-Strange as it is, I believe this is correct. "Co-operative" is more like "co-host", it's like two words.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thanks for the review! Yes it was a filler and there are a few more fillers to come before the big scene: Princess Estaire's Birthday Ball. To keep the fillers less boring I have humor within them, the characters interacting and such and things like that. Things definitely heat up and the ball scene that's in a few chapters will be something to behold, lots of action in that chapter!