Promotion

Mortally wounded, can Arianelle's heroics turn the tide for the royal household?

9.

Promotion

 

The queen’s company fought with the desperation that comes when fighting for one’s life.   Overwhelming those on the other side of the tunnel, they then had to meet the onslaught of those posing as Queen’s Guards or palace guards.     Queen Aurei proved she still was deadly with swords, cutting down a handful of the assassins.   Her daughter, Aidan, though not interested in anything marshal in nature, had been trained well by her parents and fought with a sword from a fallen guardsman.     Prince Nolen had been training at the paladin’s field before the attack, and wore full plate armor.     Though young, his skill at arms was great and he also brought down a handful of the enemy.

Prince Lee also snatched up a guardsman’s weapon and killed three of the enemy as he fought valiantly at the side of the royal family of Marksylvania.    The battle belonged to the queen’s forces and after only ten minutes of battle, the enemy fled from the gatehouse, but not before Queen Aurei killed the traitorous Lieutenant Jost.

Queen Aurei’s forces were too spent to pursue them.     Only seven of the guardsmen still stood, and five of them were injured.    Prince Lee also was mildly injured.    The two ladies of the court had died before Arianelle had busted through the gate.    Prince Lee’s ‘toadie’ also died, though he did fight for a few moments before being cut down.     Prince Nolen only received a few minor cuts and saw to the slight wounds of his aunt Aidan.    Valiant Lieutenant Vey’s body was carried respectfully by his men from the scene of the carnage and positioned on the ground with a cloak thrown over him.

 

***

 

“Sana eam Domino!   Illa pretiosus est puer!   Filia unica mea filia Snoe!   Sana eam Domino Yesh!  Ne accipias puerum istum a me!  Sana eam Domino Yesh!  Sana eam!”   It was her grandmother’s voice, speaking in the Arcane language, crying out from somewhere nearby.   

Arianelle felt something pulled from her chest, stomach and leg, but was too weak to cry out.    Then hands fell upon her.

“PER YESH SANARI!”  

Intense power surged through her, causing her body to flex upwards as it engulfed her.    Arianelle gasped in the sensation of it and opened her eyes.

“Gratias ago tibi Domine Yesh !” Queen Aurei called out in joy, hugging her to her chest tightly.  Arianelle felt her grandmother’s tears fall on her forehead as she wept in relief.

“Your Majesty?”   she said weakly, remembering her role enough to not address her grandmother familiarly.

“Shh, child, don’t say anything right now.   You are alright, we have won the battle.   The assassins have fled and the airship has sailed away.  Rest, dear child.”  

Aurei turned to one of the Queen’s Guardsmen who clustered around her.

“Take her to my royal quarters and place her in my bed, then post guards outside the chamber.    Then you and your men report to Father Bennis to have your injuries healed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.     But one of us must guard you as Sergeant Maelneth is injured.”

“Do not worry, corporal, I am surrounded by those loyal to me.    Do as I have commanded.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Two of the orc guardsmen gently lifted Arianelle and carried her out of the gatehouse tunnel, across the yard and into the palace.

As they passed with her, Arianelle was surprised to see some of the other guardsmen stand at attention respectfully.

They carried her up the stairs to the private quarters of the royal family.    The palace was filled with Queen’s Guardsmen, palace guards and knights, all who stood respectfully by as they passed with her.

Servants helped the orc guards lay her down on the bed.    She had been stripped of her plate armor and arming doublet, but wore only the linen undergarments commonly worn under that type of armor.   Her garments were wet with her blood, but the queen’s personal maid (who Arianelle knew, yet the girl didn’t recognize her) gently stripped her of the garments and brought her a soft dressing gown.

“I’ll help you wash off that blood, sergeant.”

“I can do that myself,” She replied with a smile at the girl, “Her Majesty healed my wounds, so all that remains is just to wash off the blood.”

The maid nodded, setting down a basin of water and several towels, then with a bow to her, quickly left the chamber.

Arianelle, though entirely healed of her wounds, was sore and very weak and as she washed off, she found herself trembling as she recalled what she had done.

She’d never killed anyone before, but today she’d taken five lives.    She knew she had not had any choice, but it was a horrible experience anyway.     Alone in the chamber, not completely certain what had happened and who had died, she found that she could not stop shaking.    She managed to slip the dressing gown over her before collapsing onto the soft bed.     She began to weep hysterically, clutching the pillows tightly to her as she finally released her suppressed emotions.

She cried so hard that her head hurt and her ears rang, but suddenly she felt arms around her.    She looked up into the compassionate eyes of her grandmother and tried desperately to shut off her hysteria.     Hyperventilating, she attempted to apologize to the queen, but she could do nothing but gasp and cry like a terrified little girl.

To her embarrassment, her grandmother just held her tightly and rocked her, while stroking her hair and speaking soothingly to her.

“It’s alright, sweetheart, you’re alright.”

“Sorry…”  she managed to say in between sobs.

“There is no need to apologize, child.    You are a hero, you know.    You saved us all today with your heroics.”

“Just… doing… duty.”   She gasped, still struggling to control her breathing.

Aurei kissed her forehead, and this alarmed the Sylvan princess, for though the queen was known for her compassion, the act seemed too familiar.   

Arianelle glanced up, locking her eyes with Aurei’s red orbs.

“Oh no…”  Arianelle gasped. “You… know…”

Aurei laughed gently, then kissed both of her granddaughter’s cheeks. “Arianelle, I knew last night who you were.    Don’t be mad, child, but your Aunt Amala did what any loving aunt would do - she told me about your plan.”

“Oh…”  She sagged slightly in her grandmother’s arms.

“You didn’t expect her to let her only niece play such a dangerous charade without making sure her family knew, did you?   Don’t worry, child, I haven’t sent word to your parents.    Your Aunt Aidan and cousin Nolen don’t even know.   Only your grandfather and I know of it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this morning?”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you or make you think you couldn’t pull it off.   I was going to let you keep it up without you knowing that we knew who you were.    But when I saw you laying there mortally wounded, I couldn’t do it any more.   I wasn’t sure if you had your autocaster on and I was so terrified that I’d reached you too late that I vowed that I’d reveal that I knew your secret if you recovered.”

“You must think I’m such a silly child.”   Arianelle mumbled, feeling greatly shamed that her plan had failed.

“Arianelle, you are anything but a silly child!   Do you realize what you did today?   Those who saw what you did can’t stop talking about your gallantry.   You saved us, child!     We all would have died in that tunnel if you hadn’t risked your life pulling that gate down.    Your use of those drow stones was genius!”

Arianelle shrugged. “It wasn’t like you or Aunt Aidan were in danger of dying.   You both wouldn’t have died as long as you had your autocaster rings on.”

“Sometimes they aren’t enough, sweetheart.    Don’t downplay your heroics.     You absolutely saved the day.    The Queen’s Guards are in awe of you.”

“Captain Todd!”  Arianelle suddenly exclaimed, “Yesh have mercy, he’s dead!”

Aurei hugged her close. “Yes, sweetheart, the assassins seemed to be especially targeting the Queen’s Guards.     He and all the lieutenants are dead, along with two of your fellow sergeants and about 65 of the lower ranks.   They all died valiantly… except for Jost, of course.”

“Why did he betray us?    He was a lieutenant in the guard!    He was the highest ranking non-orc in the guard, Grandmother!”

“We don’t know his reasons yet… we may never know.     But hopefully we’ll have some prisoners who we can interrogate.   I want to know who is behind this.    I seriously doubt that they were really some of Hobnail’s pirates.     This was too dangerous for them; the odds were too great for them to risk this, and why would they want to anyway?    Hobnail’s pirates are after loot.     This attack was political… though I don’t know who in the world would try such a crazy thing.”

“What about grandfather and the other paladins… are they safe?”

Aurei nodded, “Yes, the airship ascended on its own and flew off to the north.   They did not lose any men.”

“It could have been a Hutcaiah trick - an attempt to kill the royal family and Queen’s Guard, while making it appear as if Hobnail’s pirates did it.”

Aurei shook her head. “No, sweetheart, it wasn’t the Hutcaiah.”

“How can you be certain?”

“Because Prince Lee Anke Shinn was injured during the attack, and if the assassins had been sent by his father, they would have done everything in their power to avoid hurting the second in line to the Hutcaiah throne.”

Arianelle frowned slightly. “I’m still unconvinced, grandma.”

“You hate the Hutcaiah so strongly that it blinds your reason.”

“I can’t understand how you can not hate them too!    Your mother, aunt and cousins died due to Prince Lee’s father’s scheme.”

Aurei closed her eyes in pain, took a deep breath and swallowed. “Yes, sweetheart, that is certainly true.     They are a rather ruthless people, but we have worked very hard to achieve peace with them.     They need to abandon their pagan goddess and come to worship Yesh, and then their ruthless ways will change.    I have hope for that.”

“How?”

“Child, I hope for their salvation, because that is what Zeatt, Alvis and even my mother, hoped for.     They died for that hope and I honor their deaths by carrying on the mission that they believed in.”

“I can’t trust them, grandmother.    I know you and grandpa expect me to, but I simply can’t trust them.   I’m sorry if that makes you mad.”

“Arianelle, it doesn’t make me mad, for I understand your mistrust and deep hurt.   Let me just suggest that you keep as open of a mind as possible about Prince Lee.”

“He’s so cocky, grandmother!   So smug!”

“He’s young and has been groveled to by servants his whole life.   Perhaps a few years here will soften him.”

“I doubt it.”

“Well, he did fight for us today and I respect him for that.”

Arianelle conceded that with a nod.

 

“Grandma, how am I going to get out of this embarrassing situation?”

“What do you mean, dear?”

“Well, now that you know about me, it won’t be long before everyone knows what I’ve done.”

“Not if we don’t tell them.”

“Huh?”

“Child, only your grandfather and I know who you are.   If we let you continue your role as Sergeant Maelneth - which is an awful sounding name, by the way- then nothing really has changed.”

Arianelle looked up at Aurei with raised eyebrows, “You’d let me keep this role going?”

“If you want to, sure, why not?    You obviously are a skilled swordswoman and you’d do wonderfully as the captain of the Queen’s Guard.”

“Captain?   Me?   Don’t be ridiculous, grandma!”   Arianelle laughed.

“Sweetheart, you created a back story for yourself of distinguished service and proved it today by your actions.     Your captain and all three lieutenants are dead, and only 10 of your sergeants remain, including you.”

“So?   There are nine that are much better choices for captain then me.   For heaven’s sake, I’d be far too young, for one thing!”

“Yes, but as an elf, you age differently than an orc or human would.    You may physically be the same as a 14 year old orc or human girl, but you have had 74 years of experiences and that alone gives you a mental maturity that would be impossible for a 14 year old orc to possess.     That is why elven children are so wise - they are children for the length of time of most human lives.”

“Well, sure, but still there should be someone with more seniority than me.”

“Probably, but you don’t know how the Queen’s Guard selects its lieutenants and captains, do you?”

“Well… no.”

“All officers are elected by popular vote of their peers, from the pool of sergeants that they have.    The one with the most votes is captain; the one with the second amount of votes is senior lieutenant, and so on.     Once they elect their officers, then when a higher position is open, the next in line gets it.    But with all of their officers dead, that means they will vote.    And as popular as you are after your heroics today, you will have a really strong chance of winning.”

“But I don’t want it, grandma!    I don’t plan on making this a permanent career; it is only an undercover, short-term mission.”

“It would be good experience and a way to learn a lot.”

“I have no idea how to command them!   The paperwork and decisions!   It would be a disaster!   What about the officers from the troop in King’s Reach - one of them could assume command.”

“Only if they put their name in the hat for it, and the voting for officers will occur tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!   How do you know?”

Aurei smiled. “I told them to find replacement officers quickly and ordered a vote tomorrow morning.”

“Oh no!   Can I refuse it if I get elected?”

“That would be a slap in the face of all the guardsmen who elected you.”

“This is terrible, grandmother!”

Aurei shrugged. “If it is too much, child, you can call it off and assume your true identity.    But if you really do suspect Prince Lee and the Hutcaiah of plotting something, you would have a lot more power to stop it as an officer, or even captain, of the Queen’s Guard.”

“Yes, but I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“That didn’t stop you today, and look how well you did.    I’ll tell you what, child - I’ll help you with any decisions that you can’t figure out.    That is, of course, if you get elected.   You are the new kid in town and that may keep you from getting any votes.”

Arianelle’s eyes brightened, “Oh, I hope so!”

 

***

She stayed in her grandmother’s quarters for several hours, and they were undisturbed during the whole time, except for King Eleazar, who returned and filled them in on the latest news.

“We’ve been unsuccessful using spells to speak to the dead pirates,” he told them, “We don’t have any prisoners and apparently they had cast spells to prevent us from using magic to question their dead after the attack.   So we don’t know who was behind this.”

 

Her grandfather agreed with Aurei’s suggestion to let Arianelle continue her role and he too vowed to help her fulfill her role if she was elected.

It was nearly midnight before she left the royal quarters, wearing clothing from the royal wardrobe.      She hoped to just sneak back into the Queen’s Guard barracks, but it had been a scene of battle and was still being cleaned up.

Though she didn’t recognize any of the guards at the entrance, they all seemed to know her and let her in with salutes.

She found the lower levels of the barracks being scrubbed by servants (mostly wives and daughters of guardsmen) and the sight sobered her to the reality of the deaths that had occurred in the building earlier that day.

When she entered the women’s barracks, she was surprised to find all three of her roommates in bed, yet wide awake and discussing the events of the day.    Arianelle was relieved to see that they had all made it, unscathed, through the battle.   The three ladies all jumped out of bed when she entered and excitedly swarmed around her.

First they wanted to hear her account of the battle that day, but after she had shared that, she was surprised to learn that there was a new controversy brewing in the Queen’s Guard ranks.

“It’s nothing new,”   Jeni qualified it, “And I don’t agree with it, sergeant.    But when the Queen’s Guard was opened to other races, many of the veteran orcs did not like it at all.    They felt that the guards should be only for orcs and those of orc ancestry.     They felt that other races would weaken the discipline of the guard.”

Arianelle shifted uncomfortably. “I had wondered about that.”

“They thought the quality of recruits would be lessened and the sense of honor of the Queen’s Guard’s would fade.    But the argument that they made that they hoped would sway opinion was that they feared that new recruits with no ties to the orc community of the Queen’s Guards would be swayed by greed to betray their duty.”

Arianelle sighed. “And now with Jost - a human lieutenant- doing just that, these veterans feel that their fears have been proven.”

Jeni and the other women nodded. “Sadly, that is exactly what has happened.    So there are many wanting you to be promoted into one of the vacant officer’s posts, but there are as many others wanting the king to remove all those of non-orc heritage, from the Queen’s Guard.    They are very adamant about it too.”

“Well, they have proof now, I guess.    Ladies, I would not care at all to just stay at the rank I am now.    I’m not seeking a promotion, as I don’t feel it is right to come into a new post and a few days later jump into a new position of authority.  Honestly, I don’t feel that I’m qualified or worthy of a rank higher than the one I now hold.”

“Well, you just might get your wish, sergeant,”   Tyru commented, “I heard some of the veterans talking during dinner this evening, and they are meeting with the king early tomorrow morning, before the gathering of the guards to vote on our officers.”

“I didn’t realize that I’d cause such a controversy,”   Arianelle mumbled, wishing that she could just fade into the background tomorrow.    But as a ‘hero’ that was not only a woman, but an elven woman, she would certainly be in the middle of the controversy.

“Sergeant, it really isn’t you that stirred this all up,”   Mellna assured her, “It was Jost’s betrayal.    That cuts deep into the honor of the Queen’s Guard.   Those against non-orcs will just use it as fuel.”

“Well, we’ll just have to trust the judgment of King Eleazar.   Now, if you’ll excuse me, ladies, I am exhausted and as tomorrow promises to be another eventful day, I think I will retire.”

They bid her goodnight and she went to her room.    Having bathed while in her grandmother’s quarters, Arianelle just changed into her dressing gown and slipped into bed.    She was certain that she would toss and turn for the rest of the night, worried about the outcome of the vote the following day.

But she was fast asleep in a short time.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...though not interested in anything marital in nature..." I'm not sure exactly what word you were looking for here (perhaps martial?), but marital is not the correct term.
"...so wore full plate armor." Maybe change "so" to "and."
"As they passed with her, Arianelle was surprised to see some of the other guardsmen stand at attention respectfully as they passed." You can remove one of the "as they passed" segments; perhaps the second one.
"...keep as open of a mind about Prince Lee that you can." The wording on this is a little off.