Alcingeria Chapter Fifty Eight: Princess Estaire: Young But Wise

After being caught conspiring against the Queen by Estaire, she agrees to help our heroes overthrow her mother!

Chapter Fifty Eight Princess Estaire: Young But Wise:

Wednesday July 7^th 1690

“E-Estaire!” Francella exclaimed nervously.

Estaire’s light violet eyes were cast to the ground in shame.

            “I-I’m sorry I eavesdropped on you…” She trailed off.

            “How much did you hear?” Ceberus asked, all business.

            “I heard everything.” Estaire answered nervously.

No one knew quite what to say to that. Estaire had been listening in! She’d tell her mother, then we’d all be killed!

            “Estaire, please don’t tell your mother!” Raymond pleaded.

Estaire quietly chuckled, shaking her head.

            “Give me a little credit, won’t you? I completely agree with you all. If this war happens, Alcingeria will be thrown into chaos.” Estaire said.

Again, no one knew quite what to say to that.

            “I want to help you. As the Princess and future Queen of Vulrock it is my duty to ensure peace and prosperity comes to not only my own province, but the others as well.” Estaire continued, her confidence growing.

            “You’d be willing to conspire against your mother?” William asked in surprise.

            “Yes.” Estaire replied with a nod.

            “You know what it would mean if you were caught, right?” I asked.

            “Yes. I know I would be executed for treason. However I would much rather die than assist in the downfall of Alcingeria.” Estaire replied.

We all looked at her, shocked that she would say something like that. She may have been young, but she was honorable and very wise.

            “Thank you, we could really use your help. We all appreciate your bravery.” Edwin said with a smile.

            “I love my mother very much, however I disapprove of her evil and sadistic ways. Her army must be stopped before it reaches Delron.” Estaire said.

            “You heard our plan, right?” Robert asked.

            “Yes, I heard everything.” Estaire replied.

            “Then you know what we need to do. Do you know where your mother’s weapon storage facilities and research facilities are?” Robert asked.

Estaire looked over her shoulder, worried.

            “We should go somewhere where no one else can eavesdrop on us.” Martha suggested.

            “Agreed. We can go to my room.” Estaire suggested.

            “No, there would be guards outside your door.” Martha told her.

            “True. We could go to one of your rooms.” Estaire suggested.

            “I guess mine is as good as any.” Tabatha suggested.

We all nodded and followed Tabatha up the stairs to her room. When we were all inside, she closed the door.

            “Oh, hello Miss Crawforde!” Nattallie greeted cheerily, her beige eyes lighting up.

We all jumped in surprise because we hadn’t noticed Nattallie standing in the back of the room.

            “Nattallie!” Tabatha said in surprise.

            “Why is the Princess here!?” Nattallie asked as she quickly dropped to a bow midsentence.

Estaire looked to Nattallie kindly.

            “Please, that won’t be necessary.” Estaire told her.

Nattallie stood up from her bow.

            “Yes, your highness.” She replied.

Estaire smiled at Nattallie’s respect.

            “If you don’t mind, I need you to step out for a while. I have an urgent issue I would like to discuss with my friends.” Estaire stated matter of factly.

            “Yes, of course your highness!” Nattallie said as she brushed some of her light brown hair out of her eyes and walked past Estaire.

            “Oh, and Nattallie?” Estaire called.

She turned back, lingering in the doorway.

            “Please do me a favor and don’t tell my mother I’m here.” She said.

            “Of course.” Nattallie said with a smile and a bow as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

We all looked to Estaire. She cleared her throat and continued.

            “In response to your question, I know that my mother has numerous weapon storehouses. She has one in the throne room foyer and she has a few beneath the throne room. She only took me down there once, but I saw that there are sufficient weapons and supplies down there to supply her army. She has weapons of all varieties, she even has multiple explosive charges.” Estaire explained.

            “We saw the damage only a few of those dynamite charges did to the mafia base. If Queen Yuka supplies her army with them…” Stella trailed off.

            “The results would be devastating.” Edwin concluded.

            “Do you know where her research and development facilities are?” Martha asked, running a finger through her blonde hair.

Estaire shook her head.

            “No, I’m sorry.” She apologized.

            “That’s okay. This is going to be harder than we thought.” I said.

            “Indeed. We need to get to work.” Estaire encouraged.

Just then, Erin’s eyes fell on Estaire’s book.

            “Estaire? What’s in that book? I’ve seen you carry it around quite often.” Erin asked.

Estaire looked conflicted. She pressed her lips into a hard line, her eyes hardened. She then sighed and held the book out in front of her. She opened it. She flipped through various pages and showed everyone. On some pages I saw drawings (very good ones I have to admit) of various creatures. Next to the drawings near the top of the page was the title. I saw the pages for witches, warlocks, fairies and vampires. Below the picture and the title was information on them.

            “You see, ever since I was a little girl I have kept this book. I document everything I know about the supernatural.” Estaire said.

Stella’s blue eyes widened.

            “That’s so cool!” She exclaimed

Estaire laughed, a little embarrassed.

            “Thank you, Stella. I quite like keeping this book.” Estaire said.

Just then, Edwin gasped.

            “Everyone, do you realize what this means?” He asked, shifting his gaze from person to person in our group.

            “What are you talking about? What does it mean?” Macalister asked, confused.

            “It means that with that book, we have a greater chance against Queen Yuka! Estaire, does the book have anything on supernatural creature’s weaknesses?” Edwin asked.

Estaire flipped through her book and nodded.

            “Yes, but not all supernatural creatures have weaknesses.” She replied.

            “Perfect. We know that the Queen has witches and warlocks on her side. Does your book say anything about them?” Edwin asked.

Estaire bit her lip and shook her head.

            “Aside from what you undoubtabley already know, no.” She answered.

            “How about fairies?” Darwin asked.

Again, Estaire shook her head.

            “A fairy’s only weakness if its size. No offense, Walden.” Estaire said.

            “None taken.” Walden replied.

            “Based on what we heard, the machine guns are fully automatic because of enchantments. Is there any way to dispel the enchantment?” Edward asked.

Antoinette shook her head.

            “No, a witch or warlock would need to know the exact enchantment the magic user used in order to dispel it. Even if they did, they would need to be an enchantment magic user.” Antoinette answered.

            “Is there any way to break an enchantment?” Erin asked.

Antoinette and Tabatha both thought about the answer. Tabatha tapped her finger on her staff a few times, looking at the emerald at the top of her staff. She then looked up to us.

            “Well, technically we could break the enchantment if we had either a dark magic user or a powerful curse magic user.” Tabatha answered.

            “How powerful would the curse magic user need to be?” I asked.

Tabatha’s shoulders sagged in depression.

            “Around eighty to ninety percent pure or more.” She answered glumly.

            “Well, it looks like breaking the enchantments on the machine guns is out of the question.” Robert remarked.

            “I’ll say.” Walden laughed.

            “Then we need to destroy them. We need to make sure nothing like them is ever invented again.” Robert told us all.

            “Will we use explosives?” Macalister asked.

            “Of course we will.” Darwin answered.

            “There are explosive charges in the weapon stockpile beneath the throne room. We can just use those to destroy it!” Macalister exclaimed.

            “Precisely. Good thinking Macalister.” Robert praised.

            “So our biggest worry is getting past the guards.” Martha stated.

            “And Alice.” Darwin remarked.

            “If Alice catches us, we’re dead. Literally.” Erin added.

            “I can’t believe I showed kindness towards her…” Stella muttered bitterly to herself.

            “It’s easier said than done. We need to get past Alice, the Queen herself and her guards. Next we need to get down to the weapon storehouse and plant the explosives. We then need to get out and detonate the explosives from a safe distance.” Don explained.

            “No one said this would be easy.” William interjected.

            “We need to make use of everything we have.” I said.

            “Yes, and what exactly do we have?” William asked.

Walden scoffed, flying from the far wall to the one closest to us. It was as if he was pacing, but flying while doing it.

            “What do we have? We have an incredibly awesome fairy, two less awesome witches, four experienced thieves, two spies, a runner, a gardener, a stealthy listener, a linguist, a housewife and we even have the bloody Princess of Vulrock!” Walden exclaimed.

            “I’ll have you know that Tabatha’s an amazing witch!” Don laughed.

            “Hey! What about me?” Antoinette whined.

            “Eh… Mediocre.” Walden shrugged.

Antoinette shot Walden a dirty look. We all laughed, it’s been a while since any of us had laughed.

            “Thanks Don.” Tabatha chuckled.

Estaire then stood up, straightening the wrinkles in her dress.

            “I should get back to my mother. I’ll find out what I can and report back to Robert and Ceberus. I trust you two can tell everyone else whatever I told you?” Estaire asked.

            “Of course.” Robert said.

            “Certainly.” Ceberus told her.

            “Good. I’ll be off then.” Estaire said as she walked out the door.

She closed the door behind her.

            “I’m going to kill you Walden!” Antoinette laughed as she lunged at Walden.

Walden cackled as he flew up to the ceiling, out of her reach.

            “Nice try, shorty!” Walden taunted.

            “I’m not short!” Antoinette shrieked as she jumped in a fruitless attempt to catch Walden.

Now that I looked at her in contrast to the other members of our group, I saw that she was one of the shortest people. Antoinette then stopped jumping. She grinned while flashing an evil glare at Walden. She raised her wand to him and his smile fell off his face.

            “I’m giving you ten seconds to come down here.” She threatened.

            “Or else what?” Walden asked somewhat nervously.

            “Or else I’ll make you hallucinate so vividly, you’ll think you’ve gone insane.” Antoinette replied threateningly.

Around five seconds went by.

            “You’re also going to apologize for that short comment.” Antoinette added.

Walden laughed nervously.

            “You’re not serious, are you?” He asked.

            “What do you think?” Antoinette asked him.

After I counted ten seconds total in my head, Walden dropped down from the ceiling, flying at eye level with Antoinette.

            “That’s what I thought.” She said smugly.

            “Alright, alright! I’m sorry for dissing your magic.” Walden told her sincerely.

            “And?” Antoinette asked with a grin.

            “…And I’m sorry for calling you short.” Walden said quietly.

            “Good.” Antoinette said with a smile.

There was a brief pause as we all waited for something to happen next.

            “Hey Tabatha?” Don asked.

Tabatha looked to Don with a grin.

            “Hm?” She asked.

            “Are all witches so devious?” He asked.

Tabatha grinned and giggled.

            “No, but most of us are.” She said with a grin as she hugged Don and kissed him on the cheek in front of everyone.

We all looked right at Don, he was blushing bright red. Tabatha let him go. She was giggling.

            “It’s about time, eh?” Walden asked us.

We all replied with hearty laughs.

            “Welp, we should all hit the sack. We got a big few days up ahead.” Walden told us.

            “I agree. I’m sure you are all tired from your duties on the task force.” Martha said.

            “We are.” Edwin said.

            “Okay. Good night to you all, I hope you get a good rest. You were all very brave going up against the mafia like you did.” Martha said.

Don clapped his hands, remembering something.

            “Speaking of which, we found out who’s leading the vampire mafia!” Don said.

            “What? Who is it?” Ceberus asked.

            “I can’t believe I forgot until now. It’s the vampire that captured Robert, Macalister, Redmond and I a while ago. His name’s Ignacio.” Don told everyone.

            “Redmond, you were telling me about Ignacio.” Erin remarked.

            “I know. He was down in the base when the explosives went off, but I doubt he’s dead.” I explained.

            “How can he have survived a blast like that?” Darwin asked.

            “He’s a vampire, we’ve seen them in action. They have increased strength, speed and stamina. Not to mention a thirst for blood. When they drink blood, their healing powers and strength get stronger. That’s about all we know.” Robert said.

            “They can also turn you into a vampire.” Macalister added.

            “Really? I never woulda guessed.” Walden said sarcastically.

            “Well, I’m going to bed. See you all in the morning.” I said.

            “Good night.” Martha told me.

I walked out of Tabatha’s room and made my way to my room. When I opened the door I found Lawrence sitting on a nearby chair.

            “Sir! You have returned!” He exclaimed.

I grinned and nodded.

            “We destroyed the mafia base and got all the magic users out, but Queen Yuka doesn’t think the mafia is beaten once and for all.” I explained.

Lawrence shrugged.

            “Queen Yuka has almost always been pessimistic. Regardless, I have prepared your bed.” Lawrence told me.

            “Thanks, I’m really tired so I’m going to go to sleep now.” I yawned.

            “Very well. Good night, sir. I will see you in the morning.” He replied.

I walked over to the bed and climbed under the blankets. I fell asleep quickly.

 

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Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!