Suspicion

Two princes are curious about Captain Maelneth.

11.

Suspicion

 

The service at St. Darv’s was beautiful and solemn.    Archbishop Marcus spoke passionately about the service of Yesh and the faithfulness of the orc guards.   He even lifted up those of the royal court that had died.    The choir sang like the angels of Heaven as an honor escort of Queen’s Guard slowly carried the coffins out of the church for internment.

The music and scene was too much for Arianelle and she joined most of the other women (and many of the men) in the church in weeping.    She tried to do this as discretely as possible and furiously wiped her eyes.    Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned, expecting to find her cousin Nolen comforting her again.

But when she looked over her shoulder, she was stunned to find Prince Lee, who was seated behind her in the royal section, softly smiling, with his hand resting on her.

She flinched slightly, but managed to not glare at him.   Instead she managed a shy nod, averting her eyes in an attempt to convey the response that Hutcaiah women were expected to give to nobles. 

Her reaction seemed to please him, for he patted her shoulder then removed his hand and she turned around to watch the slow procession of the coffins.

 

***

“Master I have news,”   The Hutcaiah servant, Mou-Anqu, whispered to the prince as he stood in the military cemetery, watching the internment from a distance.

Prince Lee Anke Shinn squatted down and his servant joined him.

“What news?”   The prince asked.

“Master, the Bard Caravan just reached King’s Reach an hour ago.    Our spies there contacted me by crystal ball to report that the daughter and son-in-law of King Eleazar met with Prince Gamel and his wife.   However, Princess Arianelle was not with them.   They questioned the caravan guards, and they said that the Princess returned to Westmark on the same night that the caravan left here.”

“The same night?”   Prince Lee questioned.

“Yes, Master, I verified that with our spies.   She left during the night of the caravan’s first stop.   Lady Amala told those in the caravan that her niece had changed her mind and had returned to Westmark.”

“How can that be?   She has not been seen in two days.   Surely her own grandparents would know of this.”

“Perhaps she was taken by bandits in the dark on the road back?” Mou-Anqu suggested.

“Perhaps, but there would be some news by now.    The caravan could not have gone far before sunset that first day, so I doubt they had left the boundaries of the duchy.   There are very few bandits around here, with the close proximity to the capital.”

“Master, what about those pirates yesterday?    Perhaps they abducted or killed her.”

“They came by airship, so I doubt they would have seen her riding by night.   No, I suspect there is some other reason that we have not seen the princess.    I wonder…I have a new assignment for you.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Do you see that young woman standing behind the queen?   She is Maelneth, promoted to captain of a new order just established by King Eleazar.    She appeared the morning after the departure of the bard caravan.    Like Princess Arianelle, she is an albino.”

“Master, do you think she is the princess?”

“I don’t know; they are similar in some ways and yet quite different in others.   She would have had to use magic to change her appearance.    I want you to contact our spies in King’s Reach and ask them about an orphaned elven girl named Maelneth that served with the Queen’s Guard there.”

“At once, Master.”  Mou-Anqu hurried off, leaving Prince Lee scrutinizing the queen’s bodyguard from afar.

 

***

 

The funeral and burials took most of the day, but by late afternoon they were done.    Exhausted from the emotional ceremonies, the king and queen led their court back into the palace to await dinner in the comfort of the temperature controlled feasting hall.    The climate control of the entire palace through extensive use of practical magic was one of the most fabulous things about staying here.    

The place almost radiated with magic - glowing lights that could be controlled by voice, an advanced plumbing and sewer system, every room warded against rodents and insects, and of course the practical magic ‘climate control’ that kept the rooms extremely pleasant, year round.

King Eleazar instructed all of his court to be seated at the dining tables, but Arianelle positioned herself behind the queen, where a bodyguard should stay.

Everyone looked questioningly at her until the king smiled gently at her, “Maelneth, I appreciate your devotion to duty, but I feel we are safe here in this chamber and you should be seated next to the queen and join us for dinner.”

Of course she had to comply, and Aidan moved over a spot to allow her to be seated.    She was somewhat embarrassed, but sat down without glancing around.   She did not like being the center of attention.

The mood was casual and though not exactly festive, everyone tried to lighten the mood of the day by chatting and joking around while they ate.

Prince Lee told a surprisingly amusing story about some Hutcaiah nobles who went on a ‘dragon hunt’ but ended up being nearly killed by a very large wild boar.    All the ‘sheet princesses’ hovered around him as he told the tale, but Arianelle was unsettled by the prince’s eyes, which seemed to fall frequently upon her as he wove the saga.

She was relieved when the food was served and she chatted with her Aunt Aidan, who - not knowing that she was speaking to her niece- asked her all about her time serving in the Queen’s Guard in King’s Reach.

Arianelle managed to sound convincing (at least she hoped) but she was very relieved when the dinner ended and the court musicians began playing some dancing music.   When Eleazar and Aurei stood up to dance, everyone around them seemed to take it as their responsibility to pair up and join them.

Arianelle just sat there, praying that no-one asked her.    At first she was avoided - Prince Lee of course asked Princess Aidan for the first dance while his female admirers stood by and jealously looked on.

She was breathing a sigh of relief when someone tapped her on the shoulder causing her to jump.   She looked up into the red eyes of Prince Nolen.   He was only a few months older than her, and had about the same percentage of drow ancestry, but he had fared better than she did.     His eyes were dark elven, as was his white hair, but his skin color was a very light ashen gray that was close enough to ‘normal’ even skin color that it didn’t make him seem different. 

He smiled charmingly at her. “I was wondering if you’d care to dance with me.”

Arianelle thought quickly. “Thank you, Your Highness, but I… I’m on duty.”

Her cousin laughed. “I think you can still guard the queen while dancing.    We can dance near them, if you’d like.”

“Uh.. well… um… I don’t really dance, I’m afraid.”   She lied, but hoped this would end his attempt.

“Oh?   You don’t know how to dance?”   He squatted down next to her.

“No - it isn’t part of the training in the Queen’s Guard.”

“Hmmm… no, I guess it wouldn’t be, would it?    Well, then what if I taught you how to dance?”

“Oh, no, Your Highness!”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be proper… a prince teaching a guard...”

Nolen shrugged, “I don’t care; there is nothing immoral about that.”

“But I’m not very good at things like that.”   She protested, almost panicking at his insistence.

“I saw you wielding your swords yesterday - you are extremely graceful.”

“Well, that’s different…I don’t think-“

Before she could finish her sentence, he had grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.     From the ease that he pulled her up, she suspected that he too wore Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.

“Your Highness-“

He ignored her and led her out onto the floor, holding her hand so she wouldn’t escape. “I’ll show you the basic steps tonight.”

“But-“

“You need to be mindful of the movement of your feet...   He launched into detailed instruction on waltzing - which she had mastered when she was a young girl- and Arianelle tried to look as if she was trying to learn with a bewildered expression on her face.

The more she thought about it, the more the idea appealed to her, for if everyone thought she couldn’t dance, that would only make her seem less appealing to Prince Lee, and maybe he’d leave her alone.

So she purposely moved as convincingly awkward as she dared, letting her cousin show her the basic steps.   She had actually danced a few times with him during family functions, but it had been several years since then, and she hoped he wouldn’t recognize anything that would make him suspect her true identity.

 

“Relax, Captain Maelneth, don’t think about the others around you,”   Nolen suggested, thinking that she was self-conscious.

“Sorry, sir.    I’ll try.    Your Highness?”

“Just call me Nolen.”

“Well… Nolen… has there been any news about who was truly responsible for yesterday’s attack?”

“Not yet, but they have confirmed that it was not any of Hobnail’s pirates… though they may have purchased an airship from them.    We’ll know just exactly who ‘they’ are in a few days… hopefully.”

“I wish there was something that I could do to help find out.”

 

Nolen shrugged. “There is not much to go on - we can’t even ask their dead through spells.    They really prepared for this attack and the consequences.   One odd thing that struck me was that all of them were human.   Every last one of them; not even a half-orc or a half-elf.”

“Do you think that is significant?”  

“I don’t know - perhaps it is just a coincidence.    Still, it bothers me… and I’m not sure why.”

“Why would they attack Westmark?”

“I don’t know… there have been several groups that don’t like elves, especially in the last one hundred years, since elves are ruling this kingdom.    But they seemed to be targeting the Queen’s Guards in particular, and most of them were orcs.”

“Do you mean something like the followers of Torrin believed?  Surely that cult is extinct by now - they were destroyed long before we were born.”

“Yeah, but there were probably a few stragglers who secretly followed Torrin’s teachings.   I’m sure that somewhere there are still those who are his disciples.     In fact, I was telling Prince Lee Anke Shinn this afternoon about Redburr’s War, and about the disciples of Torrin and the Nunmonites, and he said that when the Hutcaiah overthrew the Toi-Migg, there were remnants of them that were allowed to live as slaves to the Hutcaiah.”

“He said that for a hundred years, these Toi-Migg survivors, and then their descendants --- all of whom were humans- plotted in private against their Hutcaiah overlords.     They never numbered enough to rise up against them, so Prince Lee Anke Shinn said that the human Toi-Migg descendants began to secretly practice witchcraft that they learned from some of the orc and goblin slaves with which they had contact.     He said that after about 200 years, they hatched a very complex cursing spell that was designed to destroy the Hutcaiah as a race.”

“Really?   What happened?”  Arianelle was intrigued, but in response to her question, her cousin shook his head.

“I don’t know, he said it was a long story that he’d have to spend some time telling, so he said he’d tell me about it one evening.   He said it was a rather grim, but interesting tale.”

“I wonder if some of the followers of Torrin could have contacted these Toi-Migg descendants and maybe they are working with them to destroy all the elves in Marksylvania - and maybe all the non-human races as well!”

“Well, that is jumping to conclusions with no evidence, Captain.”

“Just call me Maelneth... or just ‘Neth’.”

“Okay, Neth, but we really don’t know what happened here yesterday.   It would be wrong to speculate.”

“But it would be a possibility.”

“Perhaps, but we haven’t heard the prince’s tale about the curse spell.     You could ask him about it - he would certainly tell you.”

Arianelle wrinkled her nose. “No, thanks.”

“He seems to be intrigued by you.”

She frowned in response and Nolen arched his brows.

“So you are not smitten by the prince’s charm?”   He asked, sheepishly.

Arianelle snorted. “No, not at all.   I mean no disrespect, but he is too arrogant.”

Nolen nodded slightly. “Well, perhaps, but really, he is not a bad guy after you get to know him.   He is very fascinated with our culture and people.”

“Yeah, especially the sheet princesses.”

“The what?”  Nolen asked her, laughing, so she explained the title she had used for the ladies of the court.   She was afraid he’d be offended, but he laughed heartily, “I love it!   It is so true, too!   I’ve been... um... propositioned so many times... uh... sorry... I shouldn’t have said that.”

Her cousin blushed and Arianelle giggled at his embarrassment.

“I didn’t accept any of their propositions!”  He assured her.

“A wise choice; there is no telling what disease you might acquire.”

“Oh, paladins are immune to disease, but not from the consequences of sin and that would certainly fall into a moral failure.”

“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, let me give you some advice.”

“Sure, but drop the ‘Your Highness’ title, okay?”

“Okay.   What I wanted to suggest is that you be very careful of women - noble women, servant women - any of them- because many of them want your attention to further their own schemes of a better life.”

“You sound like my mother.”  Nolen said with a grin.

“I just know that there are thousands of desperate women that would love to trap you into having to take care of them.   You’re an heir to this kingdom, and you deserve to find a woman that you love rather than one trying to use you.    Another thing - don’t let your parents - or grandparents-  try to force you into any sort of political marriage.   Remember, they did not marry for any reason other than love.   You too deserve that right!”

Nolen looked at her in mild astonishment at her words and Arianelle wondered if her concern for her cousin had revealed her true identity.

“Well thank you for telling me this, Neth.    You are absolutely right in everything you said, but I am surprised that you see things that way.   You seem quite passionate about it.   That is a rather odd opinion to have, for a young orphaned woman, raised by the orc guardsman.”

Arianelle thought quickly. “Actually, it isn’t that unusual, sir.   I realize the value of family and I feel that a future king should be surrounded by those who loves him - and that he loves.   Political marriages are seldom marriages of love.   I fear that future trends in the royal families will be toward duty rather than romance.    Take Prince Lee, for example.    Have you noticed how everyone has seemed to almost expect Princess Aidan and him to hit it off?    I suspect that the Hutcaiah may have some scheme to have him marry Princess Aidan and thus tie the two kingdoms together.”

“I don’t think my grandparents would force that on Aunt Aidan, and I am quite sure she would resist being forced into a marriage if she didn’t want it.   Honestly, I don’t think Prince Lee is interested in her.”

“I hope that she isn’t interested in him - she too deserves to find someone she truly loves.”

Nolen glanced down at his dance partner, “You’re a romantic, Captain Neth, do you know that?”

“Sorry.”   Arianelle blushed.

“Don’t be sorry, Neth, it is quite charming, actually.   You seem to have a lot more sense than the ‘sheet princesses’ that dominate this court.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“So what are your dreams, Neth?   Since you are such a romantic, you obviously have dreams for your own future.”

Arianelle looked at him in surprise, for she had absolutely no thoughts of her own future.

“I...I...um... well, I really haven’t thought about my own future,”   she honestly answered.

Nolen seemed skeptical. “Really?   No dreams at all?”

She shrugged. “I guess I will just see what happens.   I’m happy to protect and serve others.   My own dreams are unimportant.”

“Nobody’s dreams are unimportant, Neth.”

“I’m just that, sir - a nobody.”

He stopped in the middle of the dance floor and took her hands in his, “Now I will have none of that, young lady!   You saved the queen and meyesterday through your bravery and ‘nobodies’ are not heroes!”

“Alright, if you say so,”  she replied, looking around nervously, as they were beginning to attract attention.

“I mean it, Neth!    You are certainly not a ‘nobody’.    In fact, I predict your future is going to be extremely wonderful.”

She snickered at that, but he wouldn’t let her blow it off.

“Why do you seem so pessimistic, Captain Neth?”  

“I don’t know... can we just go back to dancing, sir?”   She could sense those dancing around them listening to their conversation.

“I thought you didn’t like dancing?”  He teased, and out of sheer desperation, she took his hands and began waltzing.   Thankfully, he didn’t resist.

“You seem to be dancing much more gracefully now,”   Nolen commented as they swept across the floor.

“I didn’t want to be the center of attention,”  She replied, moving them away from the others, toward one end of the room.

“You seem scared of popularity, Neth.”

“I just feel much more comfortable when I’m unnoticed.”

“I don’t think that will happen, Neth, for you are very noticeable.”

“Yeah, I know.”   She sighed in frustration, thinking of her albinism.   Even with the shape-changing ring, she still stood out, though not as drastically as she had in her true form.

“I didn’t mean that you are noticeable in a bad way.    You are quite attractive.”

“Yeah, sure; attractive in a stark white, colorless, walking dead-sort of way.”  She snorted off his attempt to qualify his earlier statement.

To her surprise, he looked at her with the expression of someone who had unintentionally hurt someone and was struggling to make amends.

“Neth, please don’t say that about yourself!   You are very attractive!    I’ve seen Prince Lee staring at you too, I’d say he was attracted to you.”

“Oh, Lord, no!”  She groaned, shivering at the thought, “I don’t think that is funny at all!”

“Does that bother you to have someone attracted to you?”

“Yes, it bothers me!”  She closed her eyes and shook her head, “Prince Nolen, I’ve tried so very hard to just slip inconspicuously into the background.   It is very...frustrating... to me to receive all this attention.    It’s very unnerving.   Please, sir, can we speak of more important matters... such as the potential danger that faces the royal family?”

“Alright.” He smiled gently, “Your sense of duty is commendable.  I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“You didn’t offend me, sir,”  she answered, “I just don’t need anyone to feel sorry for me or to try to build me up needlessly.     So you said that Prince Lee’s tale might have some answers about what happened yesterday.    Do you think you could get him to tell you the story soon?   Perhaps tonight?    I really worry about further assassination attempts against the king and queen… and you too… and it is my duty as Her Majesty’s bodyguard to prevent any attempt.   So if the Hutcaiah prince has something helpful, I need to know about it.”

“I understand that, Captain Neth, but why not just ask him yourself?   If it makes you feel more comfortable, I will accompany you to speak to him.”

“Now?”  Arianelle asked, worrying about having the conversation with all of Prince Lee’s admirers hovering around him.

“Later, after the king and queen retire.    Then most of the court disperses to their private chambers and perhaps Prince Lee would privately tell us that tale.”

She agreed to her cousin’s plan without much enthusiasm, as she wanted to keep her dealings with the Hutcaiah prince to a minimum.    Yet the importance of her family outweighed her reluctance to deal with the prince, so she consented.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...watch the slow processional of the coffins." Perhaps "procession," here. ?
"...marry for any other reason other than love." You can remove one of the "other's."
"That is rather odd opinion to have..." Perhaps add an "a" after "is."
"You saved the queen and myself yesterday..." You can change "myself" to "me."
"...dealings with the Hutcaiah prince at a minimum." Perhaps change this to "...prince to a minimum."