A War Dawning Ch 02

Bae, rather than cause a panic, not only within the castle, but the kingdom as a whole kept a tight grip on the people moving in and out and the information they had and imparted to others. Beyond the healers and the White Guard now all but surrounding her, even the cleaning staff was sent away, told that the queen and the Guard were planning maneuvers. The queen's right hand couldn't use such a lie with the workers close enough to have seen or heard some of the event or its aftermath, but she impressed upon them that it had to be kept secret.

She knew that it'd eventually leak, and she could only hope it was later than sooner. She kept her emotions in check precisely because they ran deep, only managing to look annoyed, though everyone else in the room knew better. The queen finally had to make her feelings known. "Stop acting as though you stabbed me, Wyla."

Bae's green eyes darted to the queen before she forced herself still between the two hulking guards that stood watch. "She was allowed in. She was allowed to be close enough to the queen to try to murder her."

"They might yet manage."

Bae looked upon her with disbelief, "That you can joke about this, Majesty..."

"I'm not joking obviously, but, whatever might come, you aren't responsible." The queen watched as two guards finished wrapping cloth over the young page and carried him through the side door and through Bae's offices intending to use one of the many side passages to remove him from the castle. She looked with a heavy heart at the blood stains on the floor that were his and watched him go, the image of him was burned into her eyes, brain, and soul. She said a silent goodbye as he vanished through the doorway.

Once gone, she turned to Tanik, head of the White Guard, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "I could not believe my eyes. It was so...quick, appalling, and brutal. I just...sat there like a fool."

He gave a small nod, his brown eyes only slightly darker than his skin, carried understanding, "You are not used to the gore, Majesty. Add fear to that mix, and I have seen towering men cower like frail old women."

She took a long breath, "If not for the time he bought me I really would be dead, and not just by half." She cleared her throat to strengthen her voice, but it didn't seem to help much. "I realize that since he was not one of your own officially that he cannot be interred with your order. But...I would ask...that if you can find a way to honor the fact that, even if not your own, he acted embracing your highest values, that you do so."

"A detachment will be at his service, and I will speak the words myself," Tanik told her with some pride. "He did act as any of us would and that deserves to be noted to his House.

Her mind grabbed hold of that next thing. "I should go to his home and pay my respects directly. It's not right that he...die before me to protect me and I simply send a flowery note."

"His family can certainly be brought to the castle, my queen..."

Evaline cut her off, her voice strong this time."Told their son is dead, and then please, in your grief, make your way to the castle for an audience?" She shook her head. "No. I will go to them."

Bae balked internally. The queen still was not safe in more ways than one, but at least the fortress offered more protection than the open of the city, but she knew that look in her queen's eye. She was a heartbeat away from commanding it anyway. "Allow me time to secure a route."

The queen nodded her assent as Neral and Nelina approached the doorway. Nelina tried waiting respectfully just outside, but Neral urged her forward into the room with a hand on her back. Neral gave Tanik, Bae, and the healers a nod, giving a small extra smile to Deres as Nelina bowed to the queen. It gave her pride to see her husband at the queen's side for many reasons, not the least of which that it meant he was trusted by the queen herself. His skill and discretion was unmatched and Evaline took notice.

So did the poor and impoverished in the southern quarter. One of their own had come up from where life was hand-to-mouth for many to marry the leader of Erette's military and stand within the queen's inner circle. He gave them hope, not only by advocating for them, but just by being there at all. "General," he said with all due respect.

Each got a dip of her head. "Deres. Healer Cass."

"Stop it." Evaline brushed her blonde hair away from her cheek, deliberately averting her gaze from that spot on the floor and taking a chance to have a moment's levity. "Married for years and you still fawn over one another with glances and smiles."

"I apologize, my queen," Neral told her, her tone dappled with a touch of whimsy. She saw the hidden pain in the other's eyes and wanted to ease that if she could, even for a moment. "Would you prefer I hate him in your presence?"

She huffed, her spine straightening a bit. "You could at least behave like other married couples at your station, with cool detachment and indifference."

"If it pleases you we shall be sufficiently chilled towards one another in the future," Deres promised with a smirk.

Evaline shook her head, slightly galled, even as she looked at the two. "You don't even fight, do you?"

Neral looked at him, remembering many an issue between them over the years. That pleased her as well in its own way. When she chose to subject herself to a spell of love to bind them together he promised she would still be her own person. That she could be annoyed by him showed her that it was so. That she had difficulty staying properly annoyed with him reminded her that she had made herself his.

And she liked that, too.

"We do not fight, Majesty. When it comes to disagreements and fights, each has a different goal. To disagree and argue over an issue is to seek compromise that both can live with. The goal of a fight is victory over your opponent, usually at the expense of your opponent. Grind your other into the ground to win a fight often enough and you begin to kill the love because how could you not? Your other begins to fear and loathe engagement because of what you might say and how."

"Our disagreements are reasoned," Deres added. "Sometimes the volume is...somewhat raised, but the words are always reasoned."

She leaned back in the ornate chair "Both of you sicken me more than the blade does."

At that, Neral looked again to the healers, this time puzzled. Cass had been Chief Healer to the Royal House most of his adult life. He was a wizened old man who would seem frail at first glance, but was decidedly not. His eyes were sharp, his mind clear, and his voice was a smooth baritone. He gave his white beard scratch as he began to speak. "The wound was serious, but caught soon enough and it has been healed properly."

"The issue is that the blade was covered in a rather exotic poison or poisons that defy analysis."

Deres cut in. "The exotics aren't poisonous in and of themselves, but, as they break down and interact with the body they become toxic. It's quite clever, actually. I respect it from a technical standpoint."

Neral looked to the queen, beating back the trepidation she felt.

What will Erette do without its queen? What will I do without my friend?

"You cannot clear it?" She steeled herself for the answer, though she feared it wouldn't be enough.

"Not without the blade," Cass said. "We need to examine it. The toxins in her body suggests layers upon layers. We are only seeing the by-products. It's complex, but we have come up with a suitable stopgap."

With that, Evaline raised her right hand to display the ornate gold and diamond bracelet that wrapped itself around her wrist as Deres continued. "We can't clear it from her body, but we can keep it from progressing."

"If I take off the bracelet, I die," she said bluntly as she touched it. It was an odd feeling to be so close to one's mortality and doubly so to have it, in effect, be such a physical thing.

"We won't be having that, my queen," Cass said, putting a hand on her shoulder with tenderness. "My hands brought you into the world and I'll not see you leave it so soon if I can help it."

"And I certainly appreciate that. I have a bit more to do yet, I think."

Neral saw the weight of it on the other's features, from the worry in her eyes to the set of her jaw. What she dealt with now was unlike anything she could have reasonably been expected to even as queen. Neral knew that she would need those around her not to dwell on the fact and be strong in her presence so that is what Neral would be.

"Why go to all that trouble?" Nelina said before she realized she'd said it. Her cheeks blushed madly as she looked around the room, expecting to be instantly escorted out. When that didn't happen, she decided she may as well complete her display of impertinence and looked to the healers, hoping for another piece of the puzzle that this horror was just now. "There are many simple, fast poisons that would do the job just as well and in a matter of seconds."

"Which would point directly to a culprit," Deres answered. "Assassins tend to become adept at one or two methods. Those that kill with weapons tend towards certain ones and poisoners do the same. Hawkseed is quick so some tend to favor it. Queel nectar makes for what looks like a natural death so others favor that."

Cass nodded in agreement. "This is something new, so it may suggest someone new"

"It's still a poison," Neral added.

Bae agreed. "So the usual suspects with a new toy, perhaps."

"Any hint of her?"

Tanik clenched a fist close to his body as he cradled it by the wrist with the other. "She...eluded us. We followed her blood trail some distance, but lost it near the mercantile section. We've sealed the city and continue to search with army support."

"I never should have let her go," Bae spat. It was yet another of her failures in her mind.

"And every second you spent with Wyrnn is time lost to a healer," Neral told her, walking farther into the room to take a seat near the queen, keeping her posture formal, knowing well her place and that this wasn't some casual gathering.

Cass was happy besting their expectations, "With the concoction, it's clear they never expected her to live. They expected us to wasting time to attempt to clear it and fail, but Deres was inspired in that regard."

He accepted the compliment with the humility of silence.

"What do we know of Wrynn?"

"Her papers, now obviously forged, were impeccable," Bae said. No one was put within reach of the queen if they were anything but. "We may know nothing about her at all, yet we may know something. It depends upon how much of herself, if anything, was inserted into the lies on paper."

"Why, Nelina, might there be even a grain of truth hidden within the lies?"

Even with her name spoken aloud, it still took her a moment to register that it was actually the queen speaking to her directly. Her heart raced as though she were running a speed drill where the punishment for not placing would be helping to dig the latrines on one of the extended survival exercises. Her mouth dried to parchment as the queen gazed upon her in curiosity and appraisal, her blue eyes tempting Nelina to wither. The younger Jaye looked to the elder, hoping to find rescue, but only heard a level, firm tone in response. "Your queen has asked your opinion. I suggest you answer at some point."

Nelina took a deep breath and held it for a moment as she thought it through. It seemed like time was dragging to a stop when the reality was that only a few seconds had passed. "She was in her position for some time. Even making an effort to avoid others, she would never be able to entirely. There would be passing chit-chat with other workers from time to time, not to mention the fact that she was interviewed thoroughly up the chain, up to and including the queen's right hand before she found her position."

"I can speak of the grain fields in Dessin because I've been there. Speak to those she has spoken to and find out what bits she has dropped that do not conflict with one another. The more detail that exists, the more truth you may find. I have no doubt that her...vocation...has taken her many places, but if she spoke with particular affection for so much as one, it might prove itself a place to look." Nelina placed her hands behind her as a cue to stop herself from rambling before closing her mouth tightly.

"Detailed interviews with the servants are already underway," Bae informed them by way of agreement.

Tanik continued,"I'm seeing to any and all who were responsible for placing her here. Things were missed by the regular procedures by accident or design. Fresh eyes should see to it." He looked to Bae, some small sympathy in his hardened features. "I do not assign blame as, at this point, there is none yet to place."

At any other time such a thing would have been a slight against her, but what had happened suggested that responsibility should be taken from her. "Notify me if I can be of assistance."

"I will allow you to get to that task, Captain Tanik."

He bowed to the queen at the gentle dismissal before taking two steps backward through the doorway and turning on his heel.

Evaline looked down at the floor for a moment weighing her options. "So the blade must be found if I'm to be brought back from the precipice?"

Cass knelt at her side. If her father had been cool and judgmental, Cass had always been the man in her youth where she could find genuine warmth and affection, even though both were always keenly aware of their respective places. Those barriers had lifted somewhat since Evaline had taken the throne, and old habits died hard sometimes, but he took her hand all the same. "The blade or the one created the poison for it."

She nodded. "Since there are really only two of you that know what to look for, Deres, are you up to that task were you to be set to it?"

He did not hesitate. "I am, Majesty."

She squeezed Cass's hand, "Please know that I mean no insult."

"None taken, my queen." he took a second to take stock of things. "I have a fair bit of time before the next world calls, but something such as this should be left to those younger and more fit to adventure than I."

"Deres?"

He stood before her and she met his gaze with ferocity, letting loose some of the anger she felt at the attack upon her her life. "Your words are my words, your hand is my hand, and I give you leave to use both as you see fit. Do you understand?"

He took the weight of it well as he nodded. She was giving him a free hand to do whatever had to be done without question. Already, he pondered how far he might have to go. "I do."

"Can you use both in any way they might be required?"

He tilted his head as though the question were a curiosity. "Might we skip the pretense given that we are in a room of people who are no strangers to the practicalities in what we're discussing? Yes. Though I am a healer by trade I could kill someone for cause, or if it were necessary to save my queen. I will do whatever must be done."

Her face was inscrutable for a time. "I do like your bluntness, Deres Valtise. And I do like you. I know I don't often say the words and that is a personal failing as much as a barrier that is part of my station. I wish you good luck for your sake as much as mine."

He bowed, giving her a lopsided grin as he straightened. "Your feelings are clear and have been for some time, but thank you. It's an honor to be of service to a queen that I can also say that I like as an individual. I will not fail you and I'll leave as soon as I can determine how best to start." He looked to Neral, warmth welling up from inside at the sight of her. She was still as perfect and perfectly beautiful as she was that day he spotted her in the upper markets. He smiled, "I hate you very much, Neral and I shall loathe seeing you at home this evening."

Her eyes displayed her laughter even if her body and tone remained perfectly composed. "You will only see me if my efforts to avoid you aren't successful."

Evaline sighed in contentment and gave a small laugh. "Much better."

After he took his leave, Cass followed suit before Evaline eyed Nelina from head to toe and back again. "This Jaye has a keen mind, though I would expect nothing less from one of Maia's children."

Neral had no less pride in her than her sister would have had she been standing there. "New to the service, but she earned her place at my side the same as any other."

"No doubt." Her voice lifted as though the next words were a proclamation. "Your aunt saved my life, Nelina Jaye. She saved my life and she wasn't even here to do it. This movement, that movement...over and over for years to the point where sometimes half our visits would be taken up with them and I dreaded it."

"Tell her why you didn't stop them. You were heir to the crown and could have dismissed me with but a flick of your wrist."

Evaline turned to her, her voice a playful dare with the sister she'd grown into having even though blood hadn't made it so. "

You

tell her if you believe you know your queen's mind."

Neral answered without looking away from the queen. "Because it gave you pride to learn those things and know them. It gave you added pride to have the skill to defend yourself in no matter how small a way. That the king thought it unseemly only led you to embrace it more."

That had been true. Her father thought it beneath her to 'wrestle about' as he put it. She had no shortage of guards to protect her, he said. He would unleash the army to protect her so there was no need for her to roll around with someone who was destined to live her days marching through muck even if she was a Jaye. They had fought over it more than once until he finally gave in, simply having more important other things to worry about. As long as she kept her rebellions within the castle walls he was willing to let the matter be.

Neral's voice softened, "It was...my way of showing you affection as well. I know the royal life. Guards are not always there even though it appears so by design. I wanted you to be safe in those moments as much as you could be."

Evaline's voice grew softer still as her eyes grew misty, her round cheeks red. "And the reason I am alive at all now is because of your efforts." She cleared her throat finding her royal voice once again. "Were you not scheduled to brief me on the Draleth and their movements?"

Neral, still straight in her chair adopted the tone of command. "My aid will be briefing you, Majesty."

Nelina, swallowed hard, green eyes, much like her mother's plotting escape, "I had thought under the circumstances..."

Evaline unleashed a full-throated laugh and it felt good, "That my near death would save you? I am still very much alive. Court and the people will know nothing of this for as long as it can be so, and, even when they do learn of it, the world still has to spin." She sank back into her chair, her arms draped over those of the chair and looked upon her as the predator looks at the prey as it bats it about. "You may begin where you believe most relevant."

She looked to her aunt and found no solace. And, for a moment, familial duty or not, innate need to serve or not, she questioned her desire to continue in the service.

***

Neral managed an adequate night's sleep. Practice in all manner of situations over years allowed her to put worries aside long enough to get the rest she needed to function, but with dawn and wakefulness, the worry returned. It had been decided that Deres and Bryana would go together to see the guild mages, as they might have their own leads to offer. Indeed, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that a guild mage alchemist was responsible for the toxin.