Outside the palace throne room.
"I can see him. Vishal is sitting on your throne. He has a few guards with him, but no one else is here." Sophie whispered softly, relaying the inside of the room. Heidi stood outside, supposed to be keeping an eye out for anyone approaching.
A voice called out towards them, "Sophie? Is that you over there?" Another servant had spotted them as they lurked through the hallways. She waved to the pair as she walked closer.
"Shit,"
Heidi whispered under her breath.
The servant looked surprised as she caught Heidi's gaze, "Oh my mistake, I thought you were someone else." She was briefly perplexed as she continued to stare at Heidi, trying to place her face. By the third or fourth take it finally registered, "Oh my goodness, Heidi!" The servant was apologetic as she knelt down with a shallow curtsy, "I nearly didn't recognize you! What on earth are you wearing that uniform for?"
"Shhhh! Marie, keep your voice down," Sophie poked her head out to scold the other servant. "I'm trying to spy on Vishal. You need to be quiet so he doesn't hear us," the servant explained in a raised whisper. Sophie pantomimed a shush before returning to the crack in the doorway.
"Oh my, sorry," Marie took a crouch as she covered her mouth and grouped up behind the pair of ladies. "What's going on?" she asked, "Is this another one of your pranks?"
"Something like that. Just keep an eye out for Darren," Heidi briefed. She figured it might take longer to fully explain the situation.
"Oh King Darren?" Marie started, "He was up in your room last I heard. He didn't let me come in, so I just figured he wasn't proper," she chuckled.
Heidi turned to face the servant, "He what? Did you untie him?" Her brow was furrowed, as she aggressively asked the unassuming servant.
"What?" Marie said, "I didn't untie him-Wait, why was he tied up? Actually, I don't want to know," She blushed. "I was just trying to check on you, actually. Prince Eugene mentioned that you looked a little under the weather last night, and so he requested that someone go check on you in the morning. But when I got there I only found Darren and you were nowhere to be seen. He just said you were out."
Heidi sighed. There was a chance that Darren would still be tied up in her room, but if he was awake there was a pretty good chance he could have freed himself, and he'll definitely be pissed.
"It might be easier to just explain what's really going on,"
she considered to herself. It would be helpful to have another ally against Vishal. So far it didn't seem like Marie was aware of the current situation, it was probably safe to trust her.
The Queen quickly checked to make sure no one else was in earshot as she waved Marie in close as she whispered, " Vishal and Darren have been trying to steal my kingdom. So we're trying to stop them. You're just going to need to trust me on this. This isn't some prank," Heidi stated bluntly. She didn't have the patience to delicately explain the situation.
Marie was definitely surprised by the Queen's response. At first she scoffed, assuming it was a joke, but the persistent stern look on Heidi's face confirmed the seriousness of the allegations.
"Wow. But Vishal? He's been an advisor to the kingdom since before you were even born, why would he try to-" she paused briefly, a sudden realization struck the servant stopping her mid sentence, "-I, I think I know why."
"Vishal has been serving my family for so long. He's practically been running everything behind the scenes. So he's finally taking what he believes is rightfully owed to him," Heidi elaborated on the treacherous advisor's presumed motivations while Marie nodded along.
Heidi understood that the situation she was in was partially her own fault. Throughout her entire life she had shirked her responsibilities, slowly surrendering more and more of her duties to her once loyal advisor. After more than a decade of effectively ruling Vishal aspirations finally started to encroach on the throne itself. It wasn't a secret who really ran her Kingdom, even her own servants could see the obvious power hierarchy. Marie had arrived at the same conclusion.
"So what is the plan exactly?" Marie whispered back.
Heidi paused for a second, "Um well, we don't really have a plan. I was just going to go confront him."
Marie's brow furled, "that's a terrible plan."
"Well, what would you do instead?" Heidi said, as she crossed her arms. Marie's concern, while appreciated, just irritated Heidi. She didn't need naysayers in her troup, at this point Vishal needed to be stopped, and at any cost.
"Excuse me Sophie, let me take a look see." Marie pushed the other servant out of the way, squirming her way towards the crack in the door, "First off, you have no way of knowing if those guards are on Vishal's payroll. If he's been planning this for a while, he's likely been paying off guards. Do you even know their names?"
Heidi hesitated, "What? Like a guard's name?"
"Okay. You definitely shouldn't trust the guards," she frowned. "So you can't go in there alone, and you need people who aren't on Vishal's payroll."
"I will be fine. He wouldn't dare hurt me." Heidi proclaimed. She knew that Vishal wouldn't do anything dangerous. He'd already managed to swindle her kingdom without a peep of protest, he certainly wouldn't resort to violence immediately.
"I'm not worried about him hurting you, but you need people to believe your story. You need witnesses. Just Sophie and myself aren't enough," Marie explained.
"You need as many people as possible to see your confrontation. Those guards wouldn't dare try anything with people around. And that extra visibility would put pressure on him to just surrender. What about the other Princes? Maybe Prince Eugene is still around, and you've known each other for years!" Sophie chimed in.
"Good idea you two!" Heidi exclaimed, "If we can get as many of the guests from last night that should be more than enough witnesses!"
Heidi squeezed past Marie to get a look inside the main hall. She could see him, the snake Vishal, just pacing back and forth. The sight of the man set her blood boiling.
"I need both of you to do me a favour. Grab as many as you can, and get everyone to come to the main hall. I am going to go in there to have a quick chat with Vishal." Heidi gulped, and broke a forced smile, "hopefully you guys can be back in time to catch him in the act of something treasonous."
Heidi turned to Sophie, "Don't worry Soph," she grinned, "if he
does
try to do anything I can turn him into a sex-crazed nympho."
"Into a
what?!
" Marie exclaimed.
"Uh, it's a long story," Sophie replied.
Heidi smiled as she shooed away the servants, "Go! Go get everyone, and hurry."
"I've got a kingdom to reclaim." Heidi took a deep breath as she prepared herself to confront the advisor.
It was quiet inside the throne room. Only Vishal and a pair of Guards were present, and neither dared to speak a word to break the silence, they remained at attention as Vishal scanned through a piece of parchment. All the while, the advisor paced impatiently; his mind no doubt pondering the next steps of his plan.
A loud crash rang through the hall as the large doors were slammed open, and Queen Heidi came stomping towards the advisor. Heidi wasn't trying to hide her emotions, and she looked terrifyingly pissed.
"Ah, my Queen, just the woman I wanted to see!" Vishal smiled, his calm response attempting to defuse the visibly distraught Heidi. He tossed his parchment onto a nearby desk before opening his arms to the fast approaching visitor, gesturing a long distance welcoming hug. Of course Heidi assumed he was just feigning innocence. Or maybe he really didn't know, it was impossible to tell. Heidi could see the corner of his lip curl into a grin, but the rest of his face remained vacant. However, the Queen was well aware of his plan now, he wouldn't be able to play innocent and worm his way out of this.
"My Queen, how are we feeling today? Last time I saw you," he paused, "Well lets just say you were a little bit worse for wear. Are you feeling better?"
Heidi cut through his facade instantly, "Stop the shit Vishal. How could you do this?"
Vishals otherwise calm demeanor was betrayed when his half-grin unfurled into a full smile, "Whatever do you mean?" he said coyly.
"You and Darren are trying to steal my kingdom! You know exactly what I am talking about, I heard you two talking when you thought I was unconscious, I know everything!" Heidi exclaimed.
The two guards looked at each other, finding the sudden accusation a little hard to believe.
Vishal chuckled, "Why, my Queen! Surely you are mistaken. I would never, and have never done anything that was not in the best interest of the kingdom."
"That's exactly what I mean you snake. You mean to turn
my
kingdom into